“See. You can do it when you have to.” – Bill
It’s here! The long awaited, highly anticipated series premiere of Pitch is here! Pitch follows Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury), a young woman who is making history as the first woman to pitch and play in the Major Leagues. The premiere is big as we follow Ginny on the day of her Major League debut with the San Diego Padres. Spoilers ahead.
The show sets the tone for this show right off the bat, with a show of flowers for Ginny from Ellen DeGeneres and Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the very best way possible, without even saying anything, this show immediately makes a strong statement that Pitch is about female empowerment so you can take a seat in the stands and watch or you can walk. I loved it.
Ginny receives a warm welcome from a fellow player who trained with her before, Blip Sanders (Mo McRae) but the same cannot be said for the entire team. Right away, Ginny’s hit with condescending, sexist comments from the white guys who think they’re the only ones who matter in this world and work hard to earn success.
Throughout the episode, one of her teammates even approaches her, trashes her, and when she doesn’t give into what he’s saying and give her the response that he’s looking for, he calls her a b*tch. It’s truly mind-blowing and maddening the things men think they’re entitled to and to say when a vagina is in their presence.
Aside from threatening guys with self esteem issues by her presence alone, Ginny is under immense pressure and has high expectations to fill as the first woman to play in the Majors. The pressure builds and she flops during her first game but soon enough, she tosses out all of the voices – except for two – hers and her father’s – and starts to play the game how she was raised to play it. Well.
Speaking of Ginny’s father, Bill (Michael Beach) a moment on my favorite scene from the premiere. The scene in which Bill tells her to throw a strike and she fails time and time again until her brother comes outside to tell them that dinner is ready, and Bill brings the son farther out of the house to help out. Only helping out means Bill shocking them all and slapping his son across the face, forcing Ginny to suit up and do what needs to be done to avoid another slap. And it works. She throws a strike. Even better, as they’re walking back inside, Bill tells the son that he’s okay. Ha ha. Yeah. He was fine. He is fine. The things that we do to help other people often hurts but in the greater scheme of things, we’ll be fine. And on the smaller scale of things, the pain was only temporary and definitely worth the sacrifice. The things we do for the people we love. I loved this scene. Just as much as I loved seeing all of the little black girls smiling, looking up to Ginny in the crowds on her big day. So beautiful!
I can’t say that I was on board with the revelation at the end of the episode that Bill is dead and this entire episode, the scenes with Bill and Ginny have been a figment of her imagination. Her inspiration has been pulled out of her mind so that she can be the best player ever. That part is great. But I wonder if this is going to be a running theme this TV season, main characters having a dead loved one at their side to guide them along the way. I like the flashbacks in the show but I really don’t need this trope in my life. So.
As for the rest of the cast? NJ native, Ali Larter stars as Amelia Slater, Ginny’s fierce agent and Tim Jo stars as Eliot, Ginny’s social media handler. I don’t know anything about Tim Jo but so far, he’s great. From what little we did see of him in the premiere, it appears he provides us some much needed comedy in a setting that is tense at just about every other moment. Mark Consuelos plays Oscar Arguella, the San Diego Padres General Manager and as of right now, there’s not much to his character but surely we’ll get more from him as the season goes on, as more drama unfolds and he’s needed in the mix.
Finally, Mark-Paul Gosselaar has truly transformed himself to play Mike Lawson who is the team captain of the Chargers and has quite the captivating dynamic with Ginny. She’s not only a rookie in his eyes but a woman and when he tries her, she checks him and that challenge to the “alpha dog” allows Mike to gain a respect for Ginny that he previously did not have. I’m very interested in seeing more of this dynamic and seeing the relationship between these two players grow to a level of unconditional respect. Very much looking forward to exploring more sports politics all around, as a woman of color makes herself comfortable on the field.
Pitch has a stellar cast, excellent writing, and is the show about female empowerment and women of color empowerment that network TV has needed and been missing for so long. Pitch is long overdue. Pitch knocks it out of the park with its premiere, earning its place on the Thursday night Fox lineup.
Also, the music on this show is fantastic and kudos for the show knowing what tone it wants to set, knowing what kind of show it wants to be right out of the gate. At least that’s what it feels like. Pitch is optimistic and confident in what it’s delivering and for good reason. It’s the perfect commentary for today and the writers are taking their time exploring all aspects. What a wonderful opening to what is bound to be one of the most talked about shows this season. Pitch is undeniably gripping. I’m not even a huge baseball fan, but I am totally, completely on board for this show. You can guarantee I’ll be watching all season long.
Watch Pitch Thursdays at 9/8c on Fox.