One of my very few complaints about the Pitch pilot was that I felt like the show’s supporting characters, specifically Ginny’s agent, Amelia (Ali Larter), needed to be better developed. While Ginny, Mike, and Blip seemed like real, believable people, other players in Pitch’s universe lacked depth and complexity. However, as I acknowledged in my review last week, there’s only so much character work a pilot can do, especially when it’s trying to establish a premise like Pitch‘s, and fortunately, tonight’s episode, “The Interim,” addressed my concerns even better than I could have expected.
While a good portion of “The Interim” centers on Ginny’s struggles to be “one of the guys,” with her face plastered on every sports channel and a two-year-old controversy involving the Padres manager, Al, being unearthed, the episode also does a terrific job at exploring the lives of Pitch‘s other characters. The conflict surrounding Al, which comes from sexist comments he made about Ginny almost two years ago, allows viewers to learn more about him, not only about the pressures he’s facing as the manager of a losing team but also about his family, as we discover that he’s the father of three daughters, one of whom is a doctor. Dan Lauria really shines in every moment of screen time he receives in tonight’s episode, especially the scene in which Al apologizes to Ginny, and while it appears that Al’s days as a manager are over (maybe Oscar can somehow stop Al’s firing now that the team has begun to win again?), I really hope Lauria remains a presence on this show.
In addition to Al, Pitch also digs deeper into Amelia’s character, flashing back to not only her first meeting with Ginny in San Antonio but also to the moment she decided to give up being an entertainment agent and bet her career on Ginny’s success. Even though Amelia tries to present herself as the toughest woman in the world, “The Interim” allows us to see past that facade and discover her vulnerabilities. After Amelia was unable to conceive children, her husband ended their marriage, leaving her with nothing but a job she hated and a broken heart. When Amelia watches Ginny on the television screen during her meeting, she doesn’t just see an opportunity to make more money or create a bigger name for herself; just like all the young girls that cheer Ginny’s name in the stands, Amelia finds hope in the rookie pitcher, a lifeboat from the drowning waters of her old life. Near the end of “The Interim,” Amelia insists that Ginny needs her, and that might be true; however, she needs Ginny in her life just as much, if not more. The two of them make each other stronger.
But, of course, similar to last week’s Pitch premiere, “The Interim” does its best character work with the show’s three main players: Ginny, Mike, and Blip. Out of the three stories this week, Blip’s is by far the lightest and funniest of them, as he allows superstition to get the best of him when he can’t find his lucky t-shirt. He blames his shortcomings at the plate and in the field due to the fact that he’s lost that special piece of clothing, but thanks to Evelyn’s encouragement (and the fact that she orders him a new shirt on Ebay because she’s literally the best wife ever), he gets his head back into the game and starts producing for the Padres again.
Meanwhile, Ginny must figure out a way to stand by Al while also using her platform to stand up for a female sexual assault survivor, who, like Ginny, is the only woman on an all-male team. With the spotlight consistently shining on her, Ginny, at first, rejects all the attention she is receiving, wishing it would just go away so that she could work on her relationships with her teammates. Not to mention, Amelia keeps restricting what she can say, promising Ginny that she’s only doing what’s best for her. However, during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ginny abandons the plan of playing a decorating game with the late-night talk show host and instead uses her time on the show to not only support Al but also discuss how America needs to change how it talks about and views rape.
“A woman’s not responsible for her own sexual assault because she went in the wrong locker room,” Ginny tells Kimmel. “That’s not only wrong, it’s dangerous. We don’t need to make sure that every girl goes in the right room. We need to make sure every boy knows it’s wrong to rape.”
In light of recent events, specifically the Brock Turner case, it’s impressive and important that Pitch‘s writers touch upon issues like rape. Furthermore, it’s even better that the show has a strong and complex protagonist in Ginny, who is able to work through her own personal issues with her teammates and the media and express something that needs to be said on the most public stage she’s been on so far. And Ginny doesn’t say it because she’s told to, or because she’s expected to; she speaks out on Jimmy Kimmel Live because she believes it’s the right thing to do, and it’s more inspiring than any strike she throws or wins she gets.
We’ll have to wait to see what the response to that Jimmy Kimmel Live interview is until next week’s episode of Pitch, just like we’ll have to wait and see exactly what happens between Mike and Amelia after they end up sitting next to each other at the hotel bar. Even though Mike appears to be the coolest, most relaxed player on the team in Pitch‘s pilot, he’s shown to have many more problems in “The Interim,” especially when it comes to his ex-wife, Rachel (a sports reporter played by JoAnna Garcia Swisher). Similar to Amelia, we see Mike at his most vulnerable in this episode, not only as he deals with the fact that his career could be coming to an end but also as he realizes that he’s lost the love of his life for good. And what did he lose her for? A group of teammates that he can barely stand to be around.
Mike allows his anger and frustration to pour out of him through the speech he gives to the rest of the Padres in the clubhouse (which is impressively and powerfully spliced together with Ginny’s Kimmel interview), but that outburst is not enough to make up for the loss he feels. It’s also not able to distract him from his newest problem: his attraction to Ginny. For that, Mike turns to Amelia, and although there’s a chance this could be a type of fresh start for him, I’m guessing that, more than likely, it will blow up in his face. Mike might be the best ballplayer on the Padres right now, but when it comes to the game that is his life, he’s still got a lot of practicing to do.
Other thoughts:
- As an Agents of SHIELD and UnREAL fan, I loved seeing B.J. Britt as Ginny’s brother, Will, during the flashbacks in this episode. Hopefully, he’ll be back in future installments, because the scenes between Britt and Kylie Bunbury (especially their last one together) were fantastic.
- It was cheesy as all hell, but Eliot’s little Jerry Maguire moment, as he followed Amelia out of the office with Goldfish in hand, was very funny and clever.
- Is it just me or does Frank seem like a much meaner, colder owner in this episode than he was in the pilot?
- My only real complaint about this episode is that it had so much good stuff in it that it felt a little cramped and didn’t allow for each episodic storyline to have a satisfying conclusion.
- “You know I have a thing for Mike Trout.” Of course you do, Evelyn. Who doesn’t?
What did everyone else think about this week’s episode of Pitch? Comment below and let me know.
[Photo credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX]
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