Slo Pitch Episode 7 ‘The Real Housewives of Mississauga’ and Episode 8 ‘Birthdays and Bong Rips’ serve as the perfect penultimate block of episodes for the show because they give us a lot of forward movement for Barb’s plot, as well as Joanne and Saha, not to mention Leanne. But they’re also really good at giving Joanne, who has felt like she’s been more than a little lost all season, a chance to shine.
Joanne is a good coach; she is. Her team loves her, and they want to win for her, and that’s often the most important thing. This isn’t the MLB; no one’s going to get discovered and go on to win the MVP of anything. This is a beer league, and these people just want to have a good time and hang out with their friends. Joanne is their friend, and when she forgets to be so anal about things, she’s actually quite fun.
What she does for Barb in Episode 7 is really sweet, and what she does for Sasha in Episode 8 is really sweet in a different way. The thing with Barb is a little like “she’s annoying, but she’s ours.” Though she really is Boris’, but that’s neither here nor there. That feels like the kind of thing the show will need to explore when it has more time to do so. (*cough* Season 2 *cough*).
But even though Joanne ends up being not that helpful, the message of what she said to Barb remains true. She is part of the Brovaries. And that’s why everyone showed up to help her when she needed it, even if the methods used to do so might have been questionable at times. And also, this camera crew is good. Never let it be said they missed a single second of drama.
The Sasha thing is different, of course. In every way. Because Joanne actually likes Sasha. We knew that, even before she admitted it at the end of Episode 8. We also know Sasha likes her back. It’s just that Sasha isn’t used to real feelings and has been avoiding them for a while. So actually liking Joanne and having Joanne like her back is really the worst thing that could have happened to Sasha. It’s freaked her out.
In the middle of that, we have Leanne. And when I say in the middle, I mean literally in the middle, physically. Leanne is the kind of person who always needs to be the center of attention. That means that even though she’s dumped Leanne and is now playing on another team, she wants Joanne and the Brovaries to pay attention to her. I’d say that’s probably why she left Joanne in the first place; she was flatted by the fact that she got attention from someone new.
But this episode proves a thing we already knew: Leanne isn’t honest about caring about the Brovaries, much less Leanne. They’re just important to her in the context of how much they can help her or make her feel better. That’s why she really loved the compliment part of the team-building exercise, even if no one could find a good compliment for her. And that’s why she runs away when everyone sees through her facade.
The interesting part about Slo Pitch is how much stuff I was able to write about character motivations, and how easy it is to understand what everyone is thinking and feeling, despite the mockumentary format. I’ve said it before, mockumentary is hard. You have to be funny, which these actors are, but you also have to be intentional, because at the end of the day you have a story to tell.
We’ve learned a lot about Joanne’s story, and about Leanne’s. We know a lot about Barb and Boris. We know a lot about Sasha, and Lee, Zari and Ann. But almost as importantly, we want to know more. Great stories have been told this season, but now that we know the characters, we understand that there are a lot more great stories to be told.
So, Season 2, anyone? Where do we have to picket? And who’s bringing the beer?
New episodes of Slo Pitch release Fridays on Crave.
