‘A League of Their Own’ Recap: ‘Full Count’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Seven of ‘A League of Their Own’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
Whenever life becomes quite difficult or we need to take a moment and find ourselves, we tend to escape into a safe space. Where we can recoup and breathe and take inventory of our current situation to find our solution or to indeed immerse ourselves in a journey that is essential to our mental health. Wherein we do indeed come to discover who we are and what we need before returning to the world with a new outlook on life or a new approach to something that ails us. But what is fascinating about this journey, is that not everyone is eager to return from it. Because sometimes… it is so wondrous and so freeing that leaving it seems like it would do us a greater disservice. But one way or another we are going to return to the everyday world and face ourselves and our problems, as evidenced by the next episode of A League of Their Own on Prime Video.
​
For ‘Full Count’ is a story that saw the pristine and safe world that several characters have been residing within, be shattered. Forcing them to face the reality of their situation when of course… there should have been no reason for that. For we are who we are and that should be celebrated. But alas, in 1943, that wasn’t the case. You were expected to fit a mold, especially as a woman and that hard reality arrived for the Peaches when Jo was returned to the team from police custody, and promptly traded to the Blue Sox to keep the truth about her sexuality a secret. Not to mention, Charlie made his way to Rockford to reunite with Carson after returning from his tour overseas and that… helped to hammer home that the Rockford Peaches and the league was indeed an escape for so many. 

One that was going to come to an end for the team in a couple of weeks, but truly ended for Carson and Greta on this day. Since Greta no longer had her support bestie in the slightest and that terrified her since she would have to finally face the fact that she could no longer run and hide with ease and would need to finish what she started here. Plus, Carson had to reconcile with the reality that she was leading two lives… one with Greta and one with her husband and she would have to figure out how to handle that. Which led to some powerful storytelling, the kind that really explored what it means to be forced into hiding because of one’s sexuality, and how difficult it was to be free and yourself in that era, and it will be fascinating to see how this duo handle their own feelings for one another when the season ends. 

However, while that was a sobering and uncomfortable sequence to watch, there were some uplifting moments to be found in this tale. For instance, Lupe and Jess tracked down Esti and helped bring her back to baseball and the team through an endearing sequence that may or may not have revealed that Esti is Lupe’s long-lost daughter. Plus, Maxine… finally got her shot. For it turned out that the woman she kissed and romanced at Bertie’s, was a pitched named Esther. Who played for the All-Stars, a touring troupe of African American Ball Players who just put on a show with other smaller teams around the nation, and the bond they shared that night combined with Esther’s understanding of how badly Maxine wanted her shot… gave her a shot at taking the mound. Wherein she dominated the Rockford Screws and landed a job as a pitcher at last. 

If anything, this was just… a brilliant episode through and through. One that slapped all of us in the face with the sobering reality that while we’ve enjoyed a wonderful journey of discovery for Carson and others, they live in a time where such a thing cannot happen… ergo, they either have to find balance in the finale or leave it behind… all while warming our hearts with beautiful moments and well, you can’t ask for much more from a penultimate episode than that. Because now we get to see if Carson and Greta and others are up to the task of being true to themselves in a way that doesn’t keep them from going mad, and of course… learn what awaits Max in her new journey and the only way to see how that plays out, is to continue the journey… post haste. Until next time.

---

Powered by JustWatch