Sheila SZN: How a She-Wolf Steals "Glow" Season 3

Howling noise

The lights have never been brighter, and the episodes have never been longer, but Glow is still Glow in Season 3, which debuts on Netflix this Friday 9 August.

As you may recall at the end of Season 2, just when their TV futures seemed doomed, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling were thrown a lifeline—or rather, a live-line—when they were offered the chance to host a stage show in Las Vegas.

Last we saw them, the ladies, their grizzled director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) and enthusiastic promoter Bash Howard (Chris Lowell) were moving from California to Nevada (where the real-life Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling filmed in the 1980s).

However, as we see over the 10-episode third season, a steady gig provides its own difficulties for the star stuntwomen. For Debbie Eagan (Betty Gilpin), it means being apart from her toddler son for weeks at a time; for Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), it’s a sense of stasis when it comes to her dream acting career; and for Tammé Dawson (Kia Stevens) it’s the crippling toll of her chronic back pain.

Dealing with these dramas and more—even with inflated episode lengths—unfortunately means less time to admire their wildly impressive wrestling in Season 3 (except for one super-fun ep in which the girls swap characters; a later attempt to stage "A Christmas Carol" in the ring, however, falls way flat). Also, the way in which Glow deals with the racial implications of its characters’ wrestling alter egos, and their outside-the-ring sexual orientations, feels much broader and clumsier than before. Thankfully, the cast is still talented enough to sell it, Gilpin especially. That’s why she’s got two Emmy nominations, I suppose.

But one of her co-stars deserves a nod at the next Emmy Awards too, thanks to her stand-out work in Season 3: Gayle Rankin AKA Sheila the "She-Wolf".

Sheila has long been the most enigmatic of the ensemble; a woman with a mysterious background who refuses to be seen outside of her mangy 'wolf' garb. Rankin, a Scottish actor, has done well to not let Sheila become a one-note punch line. She’s rewarded this year with the season’s richest plot, in which we come to better understand her adoption of the "She-Wolf" character through a friendship with ageing drag queen Bobby (Kevin Cahoon). Sheila also signs-up to acting classes, revealing the depths of her ability to sink into other personas.

And then… something else happens; something Netflix has asked reviewers not to spoil in their write-ups. And fair enough. The reveal deserves to be savoured (though you can catch a few coy teases in the trailer below).

So, I’ll cut it short here, and coyly salute Sheila, the runaway hero of Season 3, and Rankin, who is playing three-dimensional chess, burying her Scottish accent underneath layers of characterisation. Her skill, and her warmth, is to be admired, just like Sheila’s.

The third season of Glow is available to stream on Netflix from Friday 9 August.