PITCH [1×06] Review: “Wear It”

Ginny Wears It on ‘Pitch’ but ‘Pitch’ owns it.

We’ve been on the Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury) ride for five episodes now, and it’s episode six in which she succumbs to the immense pressure she’s been put under. With a heavy forty-eight hours on her shoulders, we begin with Ginny seeing her therapist and a rewind into the intense experience she’s had.

It’s a lot. Ginny figures out Mike (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Amelia’s (Ali Larter) relationship. The Nike deal continues to be sky-high in extremities. Ginny continues to push herself at training—maybe too hard. At press conferences. And all of these things affect her game; her heart.

Blip (Mo McRae) and Evelyn (Meagan Holder) carry on being the best power couple as of yet. Guest-star Lyndsy Foncesca is a more than welcome addition as the chipper waitress Ginny recalls to her therapist.

Behind-the-scenes, Al (Dan Lauria), Oscar (Mark Consuelos) and Charlie (Kevin Connolly) clash over Ginny’s reputation and apparent power. Tim Jo’s Eliot tries to court his lady in his adorable puppy-fashion (it really is). And then he teams up with Amelia in order to track Ginny down. Meanwhile, Mike handles his break-up with Amelia a lot worse than she does by visiting his ex, with whom he’s still in love with.

Ginny finally opens up. Trevor’s (Shamier Anderson) selfies resurface. It’s awaiting another panic attack…so what does she say?

Ginny: Okay. What else have you got?

Everyone and everything falls apart around Ginny, yet the unity towards the end is what ‘Pitch’ and the Padres are all about. Team.

We start the episode with immediate conflict. Ginny is stubborn and stilted with her therapist. Al, Charlie and Oscar bicker over Ginny’s reputation and her stardom outshining the team and her focus. Mike and Amelia break up when Amelia tells him to sort his head out before he tries to start something with her. As Mike unsuccessfully tries to handle this, Amelia interrupts Eliot’s shot of happiness with Ginny’s emergency as her superstar status (and technology) get her into trouble.

The press waits. Ginny’s game falters. Everything is crumbling, and like a panic attack, Ginny can feel in those forty-eight hours those walls closing in.

Yet as we watch, throughout the episode, Ginny fall apart, so does everyone else. That’s what’s oddly likeable about this episode. Ginny is the star but she is not the only person dealing with a huge pile of terror, and it’s abundantly clear. As everyone reconciles throughout the episode, Ginny reconciles with it towards the end with a fresh attitude to Trevor’s leaked selfies. The outcome will be interesting with Ginny’s new attitude towards this kind of pressure, but the sheer beauty of that scene in which they advise Ginny to see a psychiatrist was wonderful. In stark contrast to the dollars thrown around last week, this was all heart. And everyone came together to pull it off.

Amelia and Eliot finally get the spotlight they deserve.

Ali Larter and Tim Jo have been the ones we’ve desperately been clawing at for more screen-time—and they did. Quality screen-time, too. Amelia’s priorities are clear when she ditches Mike in the middle of the night to comfort Ginny, and bluntly tells him that she’s not going any further with him unless he sorts his own mind out. As always, she’s right.

Eliot, meanwhile, gets recognition and heightened respect for his aid in seeking Ginny. The scene in which Eliot asks to be Director of Social Media for the Padres is excellently played by Tim Jo and Ali Larter. The duo finally hit that sweet spot of mutual respect, understanding and teamwork. Jo and Larter’s chemistry is undeniable, and with Eliot’s confidence boosted and Amelia being—well, Amelia—they are surely a force to be reckoned with.

It was Ali Larter’s best week; it was Tim Jo’s best week. ‘Pitch’ got a lot of things right this week, but this was the most worthy. It had to happen at some point. Larter and Jo absolutely killed it.

(Amelia’s sharp “no” to Mike at the party was brilliant).

There’s a potential opening for some great Mike/Ginny scenes.

This episode erased all of my doubts about the longevity ‘Pitch’ has. It has such a strong curve, and perhaps we should’ve spotted it earlier with Mike’s storyline. Whereas Ginny’s on a steep trajectory upwards, Mike’s star status is slowly slipping away from him, as is his mindset.

It’s why these two could easily be each other’s crutches. Whilst Ginny is revolutionary and Mike on a slightly lower-level, he would’ve dealt with that kind of pressure before. Conversely, Ginny knows Amelia inside-out. The pair can make a fierce one—as they always do—in assisting each other in their troubles. Mike’s always been an open, tough confidante from the beginning and hopefully, with Ginny spilling it all this episode, he can be of some help to her.

It begs the questions: will Shamier Anderson come back? Will Lyndsy Foncesca? Is this the very peak of Ginny’s stardom? Will that stale and pitter-patter out? What happens to the decline of a news sensation? We’ve seen it all before in real life…how will it play out on ‘Pitch’?

Final Verdict: ‘Pitch’ has been going at a steady, slow pace for a while—sneaking near a ‘best episode’ every time—and it’s hit a home run this time. Definitely.

For all the criticisms the flashbacks I’ve given, this is the singular episode in which the flashbacks worked. In an intense episode, the flashbacks to Ginny’s talk with the therapist works. Everything that felt slow and a build-up seemed to culminate in this episode. Amelia and Mike explode. Ginny explodes. Al and Oscar explode; Charlie nearly explodes. Eliot explodes. Everything works because despite what sounds like should be such a jumbled episode, this is the pace ‘Pitch’ should be at, every week. This is the episode we needed to validate that ‘Pitch’ was going to be a good bet.

The direction’s done beautifully well too, and a beautiful choice of guest-star was Lyndsy Foncesca. Charming, sweet and a potential friend, there’s open room for her return.

The real beauty of this episode is that despite all the differences between our characters, and relationships, everyone unites at the end to help Ginny through her troubles. They unite not because she’s Ginny Baker. They unite because they’re a team, and that is what makes it so gorgeous.

A home run.

Questions and Comments:

• There were two specific highlights to this episode:
  • The scene in which everyone gathers in the meeting room and tells Ginny she needs help. Not for the Padres…but for her. The unity was just beautiful.
  • Amelia and Eliot by the pool. Gaaaah. It was so good!
• Can Lyndsy Foncesca please come back? Please?!
• Evelyn’s reaction to Ginny’s dress was the best reaction ever. Meagan Holder had me laughing out loud at the way Evelyn dramatically death-grips Ginny.
• I wonder how Mike is going to manage his situation from now on. Will Amelia help him? Or is her sole focus—as it always has been—with Ginny?
  • I am so relieved that this didn’t turn out to be a horrific Ginny/Mike/Amelia love triangle. I would’ve had to neck some whiskey too.
• Can we please send lots of love to Tim Jo in Twitter for killing it this week?
• I’m so glad they tackled the issue of mental health in sport, especially when it seems to be such an “un-macho” thing yet every single person understood Ginny. It was Ginny who didn’t understand that they would.