I personally thought "Mother of All Matches" was a real treat if just because it gives complete focus to two specific characters: Tammé and Debbie, "Welfare Queen" and "Liberty Belle" respectively. The episode isn't as much about their big match later that night as it is about their motherly roles during the day. Tammé couldn't be any different than her character on the GLOW show, a strong, hard-working mother who sacrificed and dedicated her efforts to raising her son well and seeing he made it to college. Good grades and a solid upbringing, defying the odds and giving love and support to her son, the offensive character of Welfare Queen-some supposedly lazy mother-of-many-children sucking life from the government without a care, throwing shade at the audience as they boo-Tammé merrily and proudly accompanies her son to Stanford, proclaiming her boy as a scholar, while he kind of somewhat wishes she'd dial it down a notch. But what I especially was fond of was how he ultimately cherishes and respects his mother, which is why Tammé fails to tell him of her current occupation as a character he'd probably find reprehensible. We know that such a character would certainly be held accountable by those behind her creation, but within the context of the show, set during its specific time, GLOW hits a fantastic note through the incredible sympathy it produces for Tammé, especially at the end of her match when the Belle character brings out an apron from fast food, gaining a crowd chanting her to "get a job". With her son, Ernest (Eli Goree), looking on from the stands, refusing her pleas to stay at Stanford; Tammé is overwhelmed with grief that he has to witness her fully embody the character when he knows she is far from some abuser of any system. Kia Stevens is just such a wonderful revelation on GLOW, getting some focus on the show allows her to charm us and all the more admire her when pulling into a drive-thru (later important for when Belle ridicules Welfare Queen) for some quick food, talking to a fellow hard-working African-American woman who had been on the job for ten hours. Then when in the ring after a nice, little conversation with Debbie before their match talking about their kids, later having to fulfill the workings of the "crown change"; Tammé holds it together despite disapproval from her son who can barely watch as the audience around him jeers her, eventually retreating from the ring when the rejection gets to her. And then Ruth-in her Russian heel Commie character, takes a little girl fan of Belle, just as the crowd is about to turn on the Liberty character because of their sadness for Welfare Queen-thinks on her feet, reading the crowd, and opens a new storyline...she "kidnaps" Belle's daughter!
Debbie's marital troubles and divorce has truly been a major storyline outside the ring (and behind the scenes of the show), often serving as a nuisance as she tries to develop her career as Liberty Belle. The episode splits the two stories in two halves: Debbie's selling off all her house's furniture and furnishings (except what was in her baby's room) in order to dump memories of her husband and marriage. This stems from her husband's secretary calling Debbie about the name of their bedroom mattress. Clearly a bone of contention (the marriage's dissolution and her husband's infidelity a major cause of it), whenever he tries to seemingly hurt her (which he often doesn't intentionally do so), Debbie responds in overt fashion to strike back. But when Mark tells her at the end that he just wants his own house to resemble hers so that the baby can better be acclimated without much discomfort it reminds her how overreaction can only be a detriment to her life. But the adultery and marriage's end has greatly impacted Debbie's life and trying to recover has not been easy. One of the episode's highlights is her coming apart to a potential buyer of a picture frame, in tears when discussing her son's face changing to resemble Mark's. And her realization that the crowd is about to revolt against her when Welfare Queen flees in tears, Gilpin's performance gets the point across...she's barely holding it together outside the ring so the fans loving her is important to her.
The wrestling match between the two is actually better than what you would see on the show itself, but this isn't about the performance in the ring as much as the behind the scenes stories of the ladies who portray the characters.
Debbie's marital troubles and divorce has truly been a major storyline outside the ring (and behind the scenes of the show), often serving as a nuisance as she tries to develop her career as Liberty Belle. The episode splits the two stories in two halves: Debbie's selling off all her house's furniture and furnishings (except what was in her baby's room) in order to dump memories of her husband and marriage. This stems from her husband's secretary calling Debbie about the name of their bedroom mattress. Clearly a bone of contention (the marriage's dissolution and her husband's infidelity a major cause of it), whenever he tries to seemingly hurt her (which he often doesn't intentionally do so), Debbie responds in overt fashion to strike back. But when Mark tells her at the end that he just wants his own house to resemble hers so that the baby can better be acclimated without much discomfort it reminds her how overreaction can only be a detriment to her life. But the adultery and marriage's end has greatly impacted Debbie's life and trying to recover has not been easy. One of the episode's highlights is her coming apart to a potential buyer of a picture frame, in tears when discussing her son's face changing to resemble Mark's. And her realization that the crowd is about to revolt against her when Welfare Queen flees in tears, Gilpin's performance gets the point across...she's barely holding it together outside the ring so the fans loving her is important to her.
The wrestling match between the two is actually better than what you would see on the show itself, but this isn't about the performance in the ring as much as the behind the scenes stories of the ladies who portray the characters.
