For fans of Hard Knocks and The Office, Netflix is offering a series that merges comedy with the uncertainty that comes with running a sports team. When Isla Gordon is suddenly promoted to Team President following her brother Cam's removal from the role, it finally allows her to put her basketball knowledge to good use. Underestimated and ignored regarding her basketball opinions for her entire life, Isla finally has the chance to shine and prove herself as the new head of the Los Angeles Waves. Except, Isla's promotion is not so easy as just stepping into a job and letting everything happen exactly as she wants it, especially when her brothers get involved.
Running Point, at its core, is about a dysfunctional family who work together. Luckily, Isla is not entirely reliant on her brothers to help her work through her job, as her biggest supporter, Ali, is the Chief of Staff for the Waves. Between Isla and Ali, there is almost nothing the two can not achieve when they work together, and Kate Hudson and Brenda Song's performances elevate the script and create an amusing working environment as everything repeatedly falls to shambles around them. Isla's relationships with her brothers, both oppositional and supportive, play an integral role in understanding the Gordon family backstory and the issues each of the siblings had with their late father.
The Netflix series relies on a mixture of comedy and grounding in relatable events, such as the drama that Isla faces regarding the players on the team she has no relationships with yet, the ally she finds in Coach Jay, and the emotional impact of how Isla's new priorities impact her relationship with her fiancé, Lev. Running Point creates plenty of reasons to root for Isla, from her underdog characteristics to her real knowledge of the game and what it means to recruit players and make trades, to how much she cares about the team's players as people rather than a means to an end. Isla Gordon is making a name for herself as the Waves Team President rather than just listening to what her brothers have to say or following in her father's footsteps. Running Point surrounds itself in developing relationships that allow the show to be a feel-good easy binge-watch.
The relationships between the players get development as well, as plenty interesting moments come from not only seeing Isla's relationship with the players, but how the players interact with each other. It allows for the characters to be given a real sense of personality rather than just being people Isla is forced to deal with who never get any screen time for themselves. Allowing the players to be people as well offers Running Point a deeper layer of exploring the conversations surrounding the interest in sports teams, and how the players respond to that pressure.
Like many shows, Running Point ends on a series of cliffhangers meant to entice the audience into coming back. While comedies may not always need to end on cliffhangers, these ones create a conflict for Isla that will be both personal and professional and encourage the audience to return for a potential season two to see how Isla handles them. Running Point is a Netflix comedy series that wants its audience to laugh while also encouraging them to ground themselves in the complications and highs and lows of family dynamics. Season one delivers a fairly simple story and prepares the possibility of an even more complicated season two.