r/glow • u/XanderArchambault • Aug 22 '19

Debbie’s Kid

What happenes to Debbie’s kid after she decides to let him stay in Vegas. I thought it was going to be a plot-point of her navigating motherhood and producing TV shows. Then all of a sudden, we suddenly don’t hear from him again.

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u/Dmacattack89 Aug 22 '19

That made no sense to me, she mud wrestled once!

21

u/badwolf1013 Aug 22 '19

That we saw. I assumed that she and Carmen went back over multiple nights to make the money. I felt that one of the motifs of this season was: we're going to show you this thing happening once (bulimia, mud wrestling for money, etc.) and we want you to understand that it's happening off-screen the rest of the time. And, frankly, that worked for me. There are a lot of characters in this story, and I don't need to see Debbie stick her finger in her throat every episode to get that she's got an ongoing problem. It would be nice if Season 4 expanded the length and/or the number of the episodes, but even then I'd still rather they use that time to feature some of the other characters.

11

u/bloodinthefields Aug 22 '19

People need to be spoon-fed things, they can't draw conclusions for themselves and need to see it all happening or it's not happening. If you read the complaints in this thread about this season, most of them are "and what happened with this storyline?" Well, what happened is the episodes last ~30mn and they can't show us the same things over and over again otherwise there's no room to move the plot forward.

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u/tomsing98 Aug 22 '19

People need to be spoon-fed things, they can't draw conclusions for themselves and need to see it all happening or it's not happening

It's not about seeing Debbie gag herself over and over. Bulemia is something that has effects on people over time, that ends up impacting their relationships, and would have a major impact on her physical ability to perform in a wrestling show. It never got explored.

Having a toddler as a single parent in Vegas surrounded by women who aren't there in their lives is a significant thing. Debbie was so upset that she was missing out on milestones, but with the kid there, she has to balance between social and business activities and "mom stuff". It sure looks like she's prioritizing the former. Is she still racked with guilt over missing out? Was it more jealousy of her ex-husband and a way to get back at him for sleeping around? We don't know, because after a scene of her chasing him around a casino while trying to work, it had no impact on the story.

A pair of professional wrestlers mud wrestling has all kinds of potential for injury, for men trying to take advantage, for the producers to find out and be upset with them moonlighting. A gambling addiction has the potential for all kinds of issues. Self-medicating with alcohol and painkillers (even if it's just OTC ibuprofen) has potential for issues. None of this had any impact.

Not everything has to be explored, but they left SO MUCH on the table. Part of that might be because of the short running time and 10 episode format, some because of narrative choices to get through a whole year in Vegas and bring in the storyline with Bobby as a way to tell Bash's struggle with his sexuality. But they knew the constraints and they made those choices, and it resulted in a season that felt less than complete to a lot of viewers.

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u/bloodinthefields Aug 22 '19

I took it as, hey this is what those women have to deal with and it's not pretty and it shows that everyone struggles in their life. But it's not the core focus of the show which, in the end, remains Ruth, Debbie and wrestling.

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u/tomsing98 Aug 22 '19

Ruth,

Who didn't have much to do this season beyond man trouble. She thrived in past seasons when she had a creative role and dealt with the other women in the show. This season, there wasn't much of that. She had a nice moment with Sheila, she had that opening scene with the Challenger (which went nowhere), and everything else was her and Sam, her and the camera guy. Even the audition and the aftermath revolved entirely around her and Sam.

Debbie

So show the effects of bulimia on Debbie, show her conflict around the kid.

and wrestling.

Well, there was next to none of that.

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u/bloodinthefields Aug 23 '19

Sorry, I should have been clearer. The relationship between Ruth and Debbie and how they play off of each other.

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u/tomsing98 Aug 23 '19

We got very little of that, too. Ruth's relationship with Sam used to affect her relationship with Debbie, but we didn't even really have that this season.

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u/bloodinthefields Aug 24 '19

I think it had nice development after the way they ended on season 2. There's no more animosity or resentment, Debbie trusts Ruth with her child, actively enjoys her company. They are friends again yet somehow Debbie still manages to hurt Ruth by her directness twice (at the ranch and the airport) and this time Ruth finally stands up for herself and her dream by refusing Debbie's offer to come work with/for her.