Betty Gilpin is an Emmy nominee, her first, for portraying Debbie on GLOW. GLOW is amazing. I loved season one, and somehow, season two is even better. No sophomore slump here, GLOW not only maintained everything great about season one, but built it up in season two in a way that defies expectation of second seasons in general and sets an incredible bar for GLOW, specifically, going forward. The star is Alison Brie, and she is terrific, but Gilpin’s performance as Debbie is a big engine driving the show. She might be a screen tyrant, the way she sucks up all the air in a scene, but it’s also the way Debbie is written—seething, broken, furious, sad. GLOW is like a live-action BoJack Horseman, rib-cracking hilarious one second—one of TV’s greatest scenes this year is Bash explaining the plot of Muppets Take Manhattan to Debbie and it is a straight up travesty I can’t find a video clip of that—devastating the next, with well observed Hollywood satire laced throughout. I could go on forever about GLOW, but I won’t. Suffice to say it is very good.
Let’s talk about Betty. She is also very good, but Betty Gilpin isn’t just a good actress. Watch any interview with her and you’ll notice right away she has an AMAZING way with words.
“Male gaze-y car accident classes”, “A ninety-five-year-old pony that fell down the stairs”. See what I mean? She has a way with words. And it’s not just being a good interview, she has also written several essays that are obnoxiously good. How long before someone gives Betty Gilpin a book deal? Why hasn’t someone already given Betty Gilpin a book deal? The woman is clearly a talented writer, she’s funny, she is open about body issues, depression, home renovations. I would read the f-ck out of any book she was to write.
Gilpin was out all weekend partaking in nominee events before the Emmys. She’s in a competitive category, up against a slew of SNL favorites, Megan Mullaly, Laurie Metcalf, Alex Borstein, and fellow breakout Zazie Beetz. A win is not assured. But it also isn’t necessary (nice though it would be, I’m sure), because she has SO MUCH working for her. She’s beautiful—she does kind of look like “Britney Spears’ mean aunt”—she’s funny and multi-talented and she’s a stand-out on a stand-out show. Betty Gilpin’s moment is just getting started.
