The whole season of Prime Video’s A League of Their Own, an adaption of a famous classic, premiered on Friday.
Here’s a recap of what happened in the first episode:
The Prime Video adaptation, of course, is based on the 1992 film and focuses on Carson Shaw, portrayed by Abbi Jacobson. Fans of the film will recognize the opening scene, in which Carson hurries to catch a speeding train that will transport her to baseball tryouts, much as sisters Dottie and Kit did in the film. On the other hand, Carson hasn’t been individually scouted like Dottie; she heard about approaching auditions for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and we later find that she packed up and departed for Chicago in a huff, although her husband is returning from the war soon.
On her way to the auditions, Carson meets fellow league aspirants Greta and Jo, and the three soon form a warm, friendly dynamic. And, while the characters in the Television show differ from those in the film, don’t Greta and Jo remind you of Madonna’s Mae and Rosie O’Donnell’s Doris?
The next day, Greta, Jo, and Carson get positions on the Rockford Peaches. Still, two other, more fascinating subplots form here, one of which is Carson and Greta’s obvious romantic connection. Carson is caught aback by Greta winking at her at the baseball tryouts, and later that evening, she begins writing a letter to her husband.
Carson finally admits to Greta that she had no intention of attending the league tryouts, but when she received a letter from Charlie announcing his return from the war, she packed everything and hurried to the train as a woman possessed. Greta responds that Carson isn’t running away from anything but toward her destiny; later, the two women work drunkenly on a very honest letter Carson delivers to her husband, disclosing her actual intentions to him.
Meanwhile, the premiere introduces us to Maxine “Max” Chapman, a Black woman with a powerful throwing arm who aspires to play in the women’s league. However, the bigoted guys in charge of tryouts denied Max the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities.
Carson and Max run into each other outside the bar later that night, and Carson notes Max’s tremendous throw during tryouts. In the episode’s last shot, we witness contrast between the Peaches, happily admiring their new jerseys in the locker room, and Max, who appears suddenly motivated as she tosses baseballs into the brick wall outside her mother’s salon.
