Win or Lose, a show made by Pixar (streaming on Disney+), has recently reached its conclusion, and one thing that has greatly surprised me, even bemused me, I might say, is the fact that no one’s really been talking about the show at all.
It seems like that task has been left up to me, Gator, to tell you folks how it is.
So I’ll be going episode by episode – there are only eight after all – to describe my opinions of them, along with the input of my friend who watched them with me.
Episode 1: Coach’s Kid
This episode focuses on Laurie, the one who’s the fabled “coach’s kid,” as she shows herself continuously failing at playing softball for her team, The Pickles. She specifically gets struck out every time she tries going up to the plate. Moreover, the episode also showcases Laurie’s anxiety, presented as a literal blob of sweat (gross!) I couldn’t tell you if the representation of anxiety is done well, as an unabashedly confident alligator, but my friend said they did a good job on it. Either way, the episode's good at showing her worries about not being good enough, especially when comparing herself to her
teammates. It’s also shown through the fact that she receives no cheap star stickers from the coach to put on her helmet, which of course is the real tragedy. Her anxiety grows over time and all of her worries really accumulate at the championship game, where she gets hit in the face. Ten out of ten.
Episode 2: Blue
This episode definitely feels the most out of place compared to all the others. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do like it, but it centers around the umpire/teacher, Frank, who for all intents and purposes in the series, just
doesn’t really do much. The episode is about his failed romance with another teacher, and about his video-game-like trials on a dating app. Basically he was too guarded – literally, as he's shown with a knight's outfit that animatedly appears – in his relationship with the teacher and broke it off, and he was sad. Then the very normal janitor tells him to get on a dating app, so he does, but he misses the teacher too much and stops, but then when he tries to talk to the teacher it’s reveal-ed that she got engaged, and now he’s sad, again. It was alright, I liked the visuals, they were fun. I just don't think it flows as well with the rest of the
episodes. Also, this is the one episode where the coffee shop lady with no nose makes her appearance. I know some people were riled up about her design, but it really wasn't that bad. She only shows up for around a minute anyways. I think people just like to be angry sometimes.
Episode 3: Raspberry
Raspberry centers around Rochelle, the catcher, as she tries to raise enough money to continue playing on the team. She raises money by “tutoring” other students, and it ends up with her being caught helping a student cheat during a test. Meanwhile, her mom, Vanessa, is trying to be a content creator. Her mom is generally shown as quite childish throughout the episode, but it also does show how she cares for her daughter, as she
gets her a pair of expensive cleats. Then, after a short fight between Rochelle and Vanessa, Rochelle storms to her room and decides to post a listing for the shoes her mom got her, to get the last $200 she needed. She ends up getting a buyer, and he asks her to give the shoes to him in person at a party he’s throwing. But unfortunately the guy turned out to be an evil, lying teenager and all this causes her to end up missing the championship game. It also ends with her calling her mom in desperation, hoping that she’ll pick up, but the episode actually ends with the phone still ringing. Now, this is one of the episodes of the
show where a lot happens, but it’s also an episode where the show does really well visually. For example, the scenes with Rochelle panicking – as you can see everything start floating in the background, as gravity loses its meaning – were just, dare I say it, pretty cool.