This post contains spoilers.
Ginny Baker's (Kylie Bunbury) nude photos leaked -- and that misfortune was supposed to be the central plot in episode 7 of "Pitch." However, it ended up being more about catcher Mike Lawson's (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) backstory.
I'll come back to Ginny and her nude photos, but let's talk about Mike first. Apparently he had a rough childhood. He grew up with a single mother -- who may or may not have been a con artist -- and was told that his baseball coach was his dad as they dramatically drove away from his hometown in a flashback scene. All of this explains the chip on Mike's shoulder, and maybe his hyper-masculinity as well.
Mike is constantly telling people how much of a "man" he is, and tries to present this macho persona. However, we, as viewers, know he is a kind-hearted guy who is still in love with his ex-wife Rachel (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), but the Mike Lawson shown to the Padres' clubhouse is the dude who stands up (totally naked) from an ice bath to greet his new competition with his (implied) penis exposed. Even with shrinkage, he's we'll ... impressive. That's what we're supposed to believe, anyway.
It was nice to get this peek into Mike's past, and hopefully that leads into Ginny's teammate and friend Blip's (Mo McRae) background, and his wife Evelyn's (Meagan Holder) history.
But, back to business, let's talk about Ginny's naked selfies. In episode 3, we were introduced to Trevor (Shamier Anderson), an old flame of hers. Apparently over the course of their relationship, some suggestive photos were exchanged, and when Trevor's computer got hacked, we knew problems were on the horizon.
For the last handful of episodes, however, there have been no key developments on this topic -- and that's kind of been the theme of "Pitch" this season: delayed gratification. We are given nuggets of information (like who are Ginny's former friends, ex-boyfriend, brother and etc.), yet those threads haven't been explored in subsequent installments.
Ironically, this has only been true for Ginny's character. Mike has developed a storyline around his relationship with women and how he defines manhood, and each episode builds on that complexity. Similarly, team GM Oscar's (Mark Consuelos) Latino identity has been explored.
Thursday's episode finally built on one of those threads to give us a conclusion, and in doing so, hit some awesome feminist notes -- including a little bit of commentary on paternalism and female sexuality.
When people found out about the photos, their first instinct was to critique Ginny. Why would she do that? Why would she put herself in this situation? Isn't she smarter than that?
First of all, Ginny is only 23, and these photos might have been taken up to six years ago (the timing is unclear), which would make her potentially underage in them. Secondly, Ginny and her agent Amelia (Ali Larter) shut all of that down faster than you could say "naked." The reality is that it shouldn't matter what she does with her body; the fact that these photos are coming out reflect more about the hackers invading her privacy and breaking the law, than they do about Ginny herself.
The feminism, however, wasn't even the best part. That came when her male teammates stood up for her by baring it all for ESPN Magazine's annual "Body Issue." (They said that, not us!) The guys who previously viewed her as an outsider, made her life harder, didn't want to hang out with her and thought she was a distraction showed up for Ginny because she is their teammate. And they did so without grumbling. They didn't have to do this, but they did it for her. That matters, and is such a powerful statement.
Unity in nudity? Perhaps. It seems to have worked for Ginny and her teammates.