Pitch Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Wear It
Jasmine Blu
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It has been a fantastic week for baseball. The Cubs won the World Series, and this quiet little show about a female pitcher in the Leagues continues to break boundaries, barriers, and hearts!
I didn't expect much out of Pitch Season 1 Episode 6, but by the end of the episode, I was speechless. I certainly didn't expect to be sitting in the middle of my hotel room on the verge of bawling my eyes out.
This show is amazing. It's so multi-dimensional and touching. There's a reason why fans are so drawn in, and are passionate enough to trend #RenewPitch hours before the episode even aired. It moves people.
"Wear It" was probably the best episode to date. I may have said that once or twice before, but the show truly does get better with each and every episode. It's amazing how they're able to flesh out these characters and make this storyline so compelling.
But where this episode differs from anything before it, is the fact that it isn't just a culmination of everything we've been shown about Ginny so far, but everything that she has been since the day she threw her first baseball.
The show worked itself up to this achingly beautiful but devastating moment of Ginny breaking down. The flashbacks were never more effective than they were in this episode. The 48 hours were like a crescendo, increasing in intensity and emotion until that confrontation with her superiors.
Let's start easy. What have the last 48 hours been like for Ginny Baker?
Dr
Rita Wilson did a remarkable job playing Ginny's therapist. I loved the way she had Ginny walk through the last two days, but let Ginny do it on her own terms in her own way. Ginny needed to be physical while she delved deep emotionally, and sometimes that meant her therapist partaking in those activities with her.
They literally had to meet each other halfway.
Mike: What's going on?
Amelia: Everything's okay.
Mike: Is it okay if she can't breathe?
Honestly, it was only a matter of time before the stress and pressure got to her. And Kylie Bunbury was at her best yet, because you could visibly see Ginny unraveling while watching that Nike commercial. Seeing her in the throes of a full blown panic attack while reaching out to Amelia was still jarring.
Another great aspect of this episode was getting back to that bond between Amelia and Ginny that we were presented with in Pitch Season 1 Episode 2. For a bit it was easy to forget that Ginny and Amelia were close.
Amelia either treated Ginny like a child, or treated her like a project, and both could be a bit of an issue. But Amelia being the first person that Ginny called spoke volumes. So did Amelia frantically driving around the city in search of Ginny.
Despite Ginny's frosty retort, and even Amelia's own words, Ginny is so much more than Amelia's client. I doubt Amelia would have lost her marbles the same way with George Clooney, or any of her previous clients.
Do you wanna get out of here?
Cara
It's no secret that I have been dying for Ginny to have a female friend her own age, preferably one that didn't really care about baseball. They finally gave us that with Cara. Yet, I spent most of the episode afraid that she would somehow sell Ginny out.
And isn't that what the problem is? Ginny is so lonely and isolated because of who she is that it makes it hard to trust people. It makes it hard to have people.
But Cara was amazing! She took Ginny out for the night of a lifetime. Ginny was finally able to just let loose, have fun, and actually behave like a normal 23 year old!
She didn't have time to think about the fact that she isn't. It's sad, because if any of the guys had gone and did what she did, which was as innocent as it could get as far as having a rebellious night out, no one would have batted an eye.
Ginny taking off had all the higher ups losing their minds.
My love/hate relationship with both Oscar and Charlie was in full force. Oscar was quick to jump to the worst conclusions and make presumptions about Ginny that he wouldn't have made if she was a man.
Oddly enough, Charlie seemed most supportive. Although I did scoff when he said that line about Ginny being more than money when he was all about money in Pitch Season 1 Episode 5.
What a surprise, the exact opposite of what I want. You know I used to think you were doing what Frank told you, now I'm not so sure.
Al
And then there is Al. God, I love him. He's not the most politically correct, and he's made some mistakes along the way, but he recognized them and moved on.
Al was probably the one advocating for Ginny the most. And when he later called her out on not being as okay as she was pretending to be, it was with such tenderness and fondness, I teared up a bit.
I can't believe I have to go back. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. I just don't want to do it anymore.I don't wanna, like...I don't want to take secret exits. I don't want to give careful quotes.I don't want to smile when I don't want to smile.
Ginny
That video confession by Ginny was absolutely soul crushing!
Again, I can't emphasize enough how absolutely incredible Kylie Bunbury's performance is as Ginny. It's easy to get caught up on Ginny coming across as a girl who doesn't have as much confidence as she should, but it's just so raw and real.
I'll never be able to emphasize enough how powerful it is to see an African-American woman so vulnerable, and struggling with the anxiety and the pressure. It's not something that is shown often, and it's certainly not something that's openly discussed.
Ginny: Guys, I appreciate the concern, but really, I'm fine.
Al: No, you're not.
Ginny: No, I'm not.
Even Ginny finally admitting that she wasn't fine was monumental.
I loved that a great deal of what Ginny was going through in the present stems from her relationship with her father and who she was expected to be. In fact, the entire episode was an identity crisis.
Ginny recognized that she never actually got to be a kid. She never got a childhood and she still isn't getting to be "normal" now. And she was working through whether she was doing all of this for her father or for herself.
She kept implying that she didn't want to talk about her father, and yet he was the only thing she kept bringing up. Because a lot of who she is now is due to him. And it didn't seem like she resented him so much as she wondered what would things have been like if she chose the dress over the mitt.
And to think the biggest issue we thought would come out of this whole ordeal was that Ginny chose to wear New Balance after just signing a Nike deal!
Mike: I still love you.
Rachel: You only want me because you can't have me.
Of course it couldn't be more perfect that as Ginny was working through some issues, the other half of her bromance was struggling, too.
Despite the news finally breaking that Mike and Amelia were an item, and Ginny being hot and cold about the whole ordeal, I didn't expect Mike to break things off so quickly.
One of my only real concerns about the pair was that their relationship would impact the relationship each of them have with Ginny. I loathed the idea of Ginny being their pillow talk, and in a way, that was addressed.
Mike's genuine concern for Ginny had him letting it slip that he knew about Ginny's panic attack. That obviously sucks. That was what I was afraid of.
But it wasn't anything that they couldn't have hammered out. But Amelia called it when she said Mike wasn't all in, because of course he's still in love with his wife.
I'm not a big Rachel fan. And after that awkward scene outside of her house, I'm not a fan of David either. But I truly love the friendship that Mike and Rachel seem to have.
Rachel knows Mike. So of course she's the one that can give him the best advice and tell him about himself. Their one-on-one scenes, including that near kiss, was a glimpse into just how much they loved each other, and still do, in a way.
Mike runs from good things. I may have been concerned about his dynamic with Ginny being affected by his relationship with Amelia, but in the end that's just an excuse Mike can hide behind. I was pretty indifferent to Mike and Amelia as a serious couple, but now I like it more than ever.
Additional Notes:
- I thought this episode would be as intense as it gets until Amelia broke the news that Ginny's nude selfies are out. I'm so proud of Ginny's "What else you got?" response. Because I'm freaking out for her!
- I was going to chalk up Elliot's barely there arc of trying to get laid as the ultimate waste of time, until things got real. I loved the serious turn it took. He demanded respect and acknowledgment that he gave up his entire life, too, and he negotiated a raise. Good for him.
- Did I mention how much I love Al? He's so special to me! He's the only one that doesn't bother me when he looks at Ginny like a kid that he wants to protect at all costs. It's so sweet.
- The support that everyone gave Ginny in that scene nearly moved me to tears. Seriously this episode had me so emotional.
- Funniest line of the night was Elliot's quip about that $10,000 dress not having pockets. For the love of God, every freaking dress should have pockets! And none of that quarter, stiched shut pocket crap either! What's the deal with women's clothing and the lack of proper pockets?!
- Please, please, please bring back Lyndsy Fonseca!
- Shout-out to the show FINALLY acknowledging the fact that Ginny isn't the first black woman who played baseball professionally. Mamie Johnson, Toni Stone, and Connie Morgan, are too often forgotten, incredible women who broke barriers in the Negro Leagues.
- After watching that nail-biting World Series and the oh, so emotional Pitch, I might begrudgingly be becoming a baseball fan.
So what did you guys think of the episode? Did it make you cry? How amazing is Kylie Bunbury?
If you have missed episodes, or just want to relive them all over again, don't' forget you can watch Pitch online here at TV Fanatic!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
