GLOW (TV Series)

The Liberal Chokehold (2017)

Christopher Lowell: Bash Howard

Photos 

Quotes 

• Birdie : Well, I believe in 1986, we're not only gonna keep control of the Senate, we're gonna break that liberal choke hold on the House too.

  Bash : You see, Birdie? 'The liberal choke hold.' You do like wrestling.

  Birdie : Ah. Hello, sweetheart. Aw. Ooh, you smell nice.

  [Birdie looks at Debbie] 

  Debbie Eagan : I'm Debbie Eagan. I'm a friend of Bash's.

  Birdie : Oh. You certainly wear a lot of makeup.

  Debbie Eagan : Oh, thank you.

  [nervous look on Debbie's face] 

• Bash : I'd like to toast my mother for organizing all this.

  Birdie : Aw.

  Bash : But before I bring her up here, I'd like to... bring up some other... powerful, equally admirable women. Women who have struggled with drug addiction. Women who have found that, showing up at a gym every day, to learn how to wrestle, has kept them sober. These are the women of WAD. Wrestlers Against Drugs. They've come here tonight to share their stories. If you're moved to support them, please, open your hearts, and your checkbooks. Thank you.

  Birdie : For the love of God.

  Carmen Wade : My low point came two months ago, when I woke up on a bench at the mall, naked... and high.

  Reggie Walsh : Then I spent all my money on... the crack.

  Tammé Dawson : So my husband said, 'It's either me, or the crack.' I chose the crack.

  Stacey Beswick : Crack should be my middle name. And also my first and my last name.

  Rhonda Richardson : Eggs, bacon, bangers and mash, toast, Marmite, and crack.

  Melanie Rosen : I went to three rehabs. Uh, Hazelden was the best one, so, you know, you guys know... Now, if you have, like, a... If you have a fucked-up kid or whatever. Also, I did a lot of crack.

  Jenny Chey : [speaking in Cambodian]  ... crack!

  Birdie : Tell the girls to stop talking and introduce me.

  Bash : No, wait. Last one, last one.

  Ruth Wilder : I've... made a lot of terrible decisions. Some of them I don't even remember.

  [pause] 

  Ruth Wilder : I hit rock bottom when I slept with my friend's husband. I was really wasted at the time. But... the second time, I wasn't. I knew what I was doing. I was sober and insecure, and I think I was acting out of this deep well of resentment. I didn't even know I had and it was just... buried. And then every... It all came out, and... fucked up a real friendship.

  [pause] 

  Ruth Wilder : But then, I found wrestling... and it saved me. Coming to the gym every day, seeing... these women struggle... to use their bodies and... learn something new, and we did! And it's a better feeling than drugs. Crack, specifically.

  [Bash gives a thumbs up] 

• Bash : Hey, Gary. What a turnout tonight, huh?

  Gary : I'm sorry, Sebastian. You're on the list plus one, not 20.

  Bash : No, no, no, no, no. These are the, uh... the girls. The former drug addicts from WAD?

  Gary : What? WAD?

  Bash : Uh, WAD. Wrestlers Against Drugs.

  Gary : Yeah, well, they're not on the list.

  Bash : 'Cause they're speakers, Gary. I mean, they've turned their whole lives around through commitment to physical fitness and wrestling.

  [Bash grabs Jenny] 

  Bash : For God's sakes, this young lady, two months ago, she, she was literally selling her body for crack. Now she's training every day, living in a halfway house. She came here tonight to tell her story.

  Jenny Chey : Yeah, I...

  Bash : Through a translator, because she doesn't speak English.

  [pause] 

  Gary : [sighs]  Just don't touch anything.

  Bash : Okay.

  [Bash and the ladies enter the party] 

  Gary : Please don't mingle, don't talk to anybody. Steal nothing.

  Sam Sylvia : I'm their drug counselor.

  Gary : Sir.

  Sam Sylvia : Choose life.

  Gary : I did.

• [Bash starts collecting checks from guests] 

  Bash : Wow. Uh... Hester, Martin, I... I know we've just met, but I'm gonna hug you.

  [Bash hugs Martin before they walk away. Ruth gives Bash a check, but Birdie grabs it from her] 

  Birdie : Now that... is misappropriation of solicited funds.

  [places check inside her dress] 

  Birdie : What's your name?

  Ruth Wilder : Ruth.

  [clears throat] 

  Ruth Wilder : Ruth Wilder.

  Birdie : My housekeeper's name is Ruth. She's wonderful. She cuts my fruit up into little pieces.

  [pause] 

  Birdie : You know, I've always been embarrassed by Bash's obsession with wrestling. I've been embarrassed by a lot of things my son chooses to spend his time doing... but wrestling always sounded like... pure trash. But what you said... now that, is the first time I have come close to getting what all the fuss is about. So... thank you.

  [Birdie looks at Bash] 

  Birdie : Now, tell me again, what do you need?

  Bash : Nine thousand for a venue?

  Birdie : No. I'm not giving you any more money. But we do have... a ballroom at the Hayworth. Unless that's too fancy for wrestling.

  Bash : No, it's great. It's, it's perfect.

  Birdie : Give me the checks.

  [Bash hands her the checks before she walks away] 

  Ruth Wilder : You should hug her.

  Bash : No, we don't do that.