Chris: I don’t know what will happen in the remaining episodes of this season but I think this will be everyone’s favorite episode as it is mine. First of all, it’s by far the most fun with the bond Ruth has with all the other girls being put on display as they try to make her hospital wait as painless as possible.I’m still a little weirded out by Sam trying overly hard to not let the camera guy be the night and shining armor and I really thought he was gonna try to lean in and make out with Ruth when Sam was telling her that he won’t make the show without her but luckily, the show didn’t go that direction. And of course, we finally get the blow-up argument between Ruth and Debbie that had been bottled up the entire show. What I liked about the show is how realistic that argument aftermath was, they got it all out and it seemed like they both felt a lot better afterward and seemed willing to be in the same room with each other again without any tension. It set the emotional trajectory of the show in place so that, I presume, the remaining episodes can focus on how they’ll put together the remaining shows and possibly might save it.
Joel: Whether we realized it or not, this is the episode we’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the show. The tension between Ruth and Debbie has been building since the early episodes in the first season. Their relationship has tried to adapt as they’re forced to work together, but this whole time it’s been dancing around the ticking time bomb of this scene that would eventually have to happen. The blow up between Ruth and Debbie is a fantastic payoff scene. It’s a cathartic release of the tension we’ve been watching build for a season and a half now, but it’s also a moment that really gets to present the long term relationship between these two. This doesn’t just feel like a fight rehashing the actions that we’ve seen in the show, but it builds beyond that. This is a fight that feels like it’s been a long time coming, not just since the first episode of the show but before that as well. It’s a cathartic release that at the same time is able to present a real, complex relationship between two characters that feel complete.
One other thing worth mentioning in this episode that seems to get glossed over a lot is when Sam asks who in the group of wrestlers has health insurance and is shocked to see how many of the wrestlers are going without. This is, unfortunately, a situation that reflects reality all too well. Not only in the independents, but even wrestlers in the WWE are technically considered independent contractors and are therefore expected to provide their own health insurance. Of course the stance of the company is that the wrestlers are paid well enough that they should be able to pay for their own insurance, but there is a all to common link between wrestling, a job where you are putting your body and heath on the line every night, and people just risking a life without health insurance.
Alexa: Aside from the escalating pissing contest between Russell and Sam, this episode is really a beautiful exploration of female friendships. It doesn’t matter how much beef you may have with a friend. When another member of your friend group is in trouble, you drop everything and help her, and that’s exactly what the team does for Ruth. Despite competing for screen time and sometimes engaging in petty arguments, these women truly care about each other, and that comes through in their reaction to Ruth’s injury and their often hilarious attempts to make her feel better. On the other end of the friendship spectrum, Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin do such an impeccable job of capturing the complicated nature of Ruth and Debbie’s relationship. Beyond Ruth’s affair with Mark, they unpack years of pent-up hurt and anger in their hospital room confrontation, and both women convey a multitude of conflicting emotions in their facial expressions and mannerisms. And it’s clear their emotions are so intense because they still have a sisterly bond, despite everything they’ve been through. They may not be besties again anytime soon, but there are clearly many more layers of their friendship to explore. If that means more outstanding scenes between Brie and Gilpin, then I can’t wait to see how it evolves next.
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