Pitch
Season 1, Episode 6: “Wear It”
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Last week I mentioned that Pitch had lost some of its magic from the pilot, but this week that magic came back. Ginny is finally forced to face the emotional struggle that has accompanied her rise to success in this week’s episode “Wear It.” I was both apprehensive and excited for “Wear It.” I wanted the episode to highlight that her letting loose was a combination of her reacting to the pressure of the Majors as well as her just acting her age. I was worried though that the episode would focus on the exploitation of Ginny’s rebellion instead of the act of rebellion itself. Thankfully, the writers of Pitch dealt with the story line perfectly.
The Nike Endorsement
The day has finally come…Ginny has her first big time endorsement. She has signed a deal with Nike and is now the company’s new face and the center of their new campaign which includes a commercial comparing Ginny to other boundary breaking Americans such as Jackie Robinson, Sally Ride and Obama.
As the old saying goes “with great power comes great responsibility,” and in this case that translates to “with an endorsement deal comes an endorsement launch party.” The night before the party, the pressure of her newfound status manifests physically as Ginny has a panic attack. She reaches out to Amelia, her biggest supporter, confidant, and rock, to help her get through it. Over in Mike Lawson’s bed, Amelia receives Ginny’s call for help and rushes over to calm her down.
I saw people asking why Ginny would be upset about Mike and Amelia dating if she didn’t have feelings for him. Well the question was answered loud and clear during “Wear It” when Ginny was having a bad game. Mike approaches the mound, as catchers tend to do in this situation, to talk to his pitcher. But unlike most pitcher/catcher convos, Mike asks Ginny if her poor performance is due to her having another panic attack. Ruh Roh. Mike you done and messed up. This right here is why Ginny was upset about this pairing. Amelia and Mike occupy two very important, but different roles in Ginny’s life. Amelia has been with Ginny every step of the way. She has been her champion and her support system. Someone she can trust. And Mike is her mentor, the person she has looked up to since she was a kid. The guy who stood up for her in the locker room and who is showing her the ropes. But there are things she will talk to Mike about that she would never talk to about with Amelia and vice versa. And that was okay because their lives were not all intertwined. She did not have to worry about any of that information leaking from one to the other, but now she does. So in essence, Mike and Amelia dating results in Ginny losing two of the most important constants in her life.
So when Amelia brings Ginny her launch party dress the next day, she gets frost bite from her interaction with Ginny. After a bit of probing from Amelia, Ginny tells her that from here on out their relationship is strictly professional and nothing else. Poor Amelia, I just want to jump through the TV and give you a very long hug.
The Launch Party
The Nike launch party is chalk full of jumbo sized images of Ginny and once she gets in all people want to do is take pictures with her. (Is it too soon for Ginny to pull a Bieber and just say no?) When it becomes just too overwhelming Ginny finds a hiding place in the service hallway to get away from it all and a cute young cute waitress named Cara delivers Ginny a special drink: a KGB Mule (I am going to pretend this is a shout out to Alex from Nikita). After seeing how uncomfortable Ginny is at the party, Cara asks her if she wants to ditch the party and Ginny says “Abso-fucking-lutly”
While part of me was wary of Ginny leaving the party with a legit stranger the other part of me just wanted her to let loose. And let me just say, my Twitter feed explooodddeedd after this with speculation of a potential fling. (Granted I have a pretty gay Twitter feed). The two head off to a house party where the millennials are doing millennial things like playing Wii and beer pong. But more importantly, they all treated Ginny like a normal 23 year old which is all she wanted. As the night progresses, Ginny consumes more alcohol and beats everyone at every game they throw at her including Roomba Beer Pong (side note: playing beer pong with an MLB pitcher seems like a recipe for disaster).
Her final challenge is to dunk a ball into a pool side hoop, which she successfully does while wearing her launch party gown and a borrowed pair of New Balance sneakers.
Cara watches Ginny with a careful eye, letting her have her fun, but also making sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble. After Ginny’s pool stunt Cara and Ginny head to the bathroom to get her out of that dress and dry off, and fall into an empty bathtub in the process. The two then make out, and Ginny and Cara fall in love and Cara comes to all of Ginny’s games and they live happily ever after. Oh wait, that excerpt was supposed to go into my Pitch fanfic doc. So everything I said up until the “making out” part is true. But once the two fall into the bathtub Cara and Ginny do not make out. Instead Ginny has a breakdown as she tells Cara how much she is drowning under the pressure of being put on a pedestal.
Ginny is able to bounce back from “emotional breakdown” to “fun drunk” fairly quickly and Cara brings brings her to a late night drive-thru. Sadly any hope of them making out in the car is thwarted by a random third wheel sitting in the backseat.
The Morning After
The next morning Ginny wakes up in the parking lot of Petco Park in the backseat of Cara’s car. Cara wanted to make sure that Ginny made it to the stadium in time for the game, and even called Amelia to let her know. Amelia and Ginny head to a meeting with Al, Oscar and the new owner Charlie to discuss the previous night events. Ginny assumes that all she will have to do is make amends with Nike for wearing NB shoes and apologize for her drinking, but this meeting is about so much more. Amelia shows Ginny the video of her breakdown in the bathtub that Cara took. Guys don’t worry, Cara the sweet angel that she is did not post the video.
She gave it to Amelia because she was concerned about her new best friend and then promptly deleted it from her phone. But that does not change the fact that Ginny needs help to handle what she is going through and Ginny agrees to see a therapist.
Ginny spends most of the day employing every avoidance technique she can think of to not open up to the therapist. Finally after an entire day of the therapist wearing her down, Ginny opens up about her biggest fears:
Ginny: What if I don’t want to play baseball? I mean, I can’t quit. I’m the first woman in the majors, I can’t just decide to do something else.
Therapist: Why not?
Ginny: Because I’m not just me. I’m also that. That person in the ad. The in quotes “Ginny Baker.” But I’m not that, I’m just me, and I don’t know if I want to do this.
By acknowledge these fears as valid they are no longer something she has to be ashamed of and keep to herself. By saying them out loud she is free of their shackles.
I know that this show is made in partnership with the MLB, and that it is a drama, but I really do hope that the way the management handled Ginny’s situation is somewhat realistic. I hope that they do put their players in front of the franchise sometimes and realize that these are young kids who are still in need of guidance. They are not just pawns as Oscar put it so eloquently last week. Also I think it is impossible to not love Al after seeing him tear up while telling Ginny he cares about her and needs help.
Eliot
Let’s just say that this was not a great week to start my Pitch drinking game where one of the rules is “Drink every time Eliot has a line.” Not only did he have lines, he had his own legitimate story line!! It all begins at the signing of Ginny’s endorsement deal where Eliot starts making eyes with the Nike personal assistant. He continues to try and spit more game at the Nike girl at launch party. After asking what she is drinking, Eliot starts rambling about how he likes “girly drinks” and while it is adorable, it is not the best pickup line.
So he tries again and this time with more success. They are hitting it off but their flirty dialogue is interrupted by Amelia frantically sending a hundred 911 texts alerting Eliot that Ginny is missing. Eliot initially tries to ignore Amelia, but once he realizes that Ginny is actually missing, he goes into work mode and helps out his boss.
Eliot uses his genius social media/IT skills to find the exact location of the house party Ginny attended, but by the time they arrive everyone is gone. When Amelia starts complaining that Ginny is ruining everything that she has worked for over the last two years, and shows no appreciation for Eliot’s contributions, Eliot loses his cool. He tells Amelia that she isn’t the only person that has made sacrifices for Ginny’s. Eliot took a chance and quit his job to accompany Amelia on this journey. He left his family, his band, his (possibly existent but not sure) girlfriend behind. This job is his whole life too and he wants Amelia to acknowledge and respect his contributions.
I have to admit, Eliot’s speech made me look at him in a different light. Earlier in the episode, I was upset that Eliot would choose flirting with a random girl over making sure they knew the exact location of Ginny. And then I started thinking about Eliot and the position he is in. I am guessing that he probably started working at Amelia’s former firm right out of college. Let’s say he was there a year or two before quitting with Amelia two years ago. That would make him approximately 25 years old. He is only a few years older than Ginny, and yet his entire life is dedicated to her. He sleeps, eats and breathes Ginny. So when he gets a text from his boss saying that Ginny is missing, it is understandable that he would brush it off because to him Ginny is the same age as him, she isn’t a child. So basically, this scene gave me a newfound respect for Eliot (a character who I already adored). But more importantly, it gave Amelia newfound respect for Eliot, which resulted in a job title promotion.
Blip and Evelyn
There was not a ton of Blip and Evelyn in “Wear It” but what we got was quality.
Evelyn’s best moment: When Ginny confronts Amelia about her relationship with Mike:
Evelyn: “I’m gonna… not excuse myself because I wanna hear this.”
Best couple moment: Blip and Evelyn literally had the same exact reaction to Ginny after she told them about Mike and Amelia. They tried to act surprised and say “Whaa!” slowly with their voices 2 octaves higher. It was amazing, I love these two.
Other Things
Mike and Amelia broke up at the launch party and Mike proceeds to get hammered. He then drunkenly shows up at his ex’s house where he has to sit through an awkward dinner party with her new fiance.
