Pixar announced in 2020 that they would be developing an original series for the, at the time, very new streaming service Disney+. After many delays, the series is finally here for our viewing pleasure. So the question is, is the series a home run or yet another failed attempt by Pixar?
I am pleased to report that the series is beyond exceptional and a great return to classic emotional Pixar stories. The series follows a small Co-ed softball team called the “Pickles” as they deal with different problems during the week leading up to their big championship game.
The episodes follow the characters of: Laurie, the daughter of the coach who can’t hit, throw or run to save her life; Frank, the European umpire who is way to defensive in his love life; Rochelle, the catcher of the team who feels the need to be the adult in her life and help make money for her family; Vanessa, Rochelle’s influencer mother who struggles to make ends meet while trying to be a positive influence in her daughter’s life; Ira, the imaginative and wild little brother of Taylor who is one of the players on the team; Yuwen, the internally emotional and outwardly confident lovesick pitcher of the team; Kai, the best member of the team who has to struggle with the very demanding and high expectations her father has; and Coach Dan, the coach of the Pickles team and Laurie’s father who struggles with the criticism his team gets.
As you could probably tell, each episode is told from a different character’s perspective and it changes more than you might think. Every character has totally different interpretations of overlapping events. For example in Episode 1 from Laurie’s perspective, Yuwen expresses his crush on Taylor, which was very casual and not a big deal, but in Episode 6 from Yuwen’s perspective it’s a huge deal for him and he feels like he’s screaming his love for Taylor out to the world. This change in perspective is wild, super creative, and inventive, but I will admit it does make understanding what actually happened a bit confusing and the story hard to follow.
Besides every character having a different perspective, the characters also have what is basically their own super power that represents what they struggle with or how they feel. For example, Frank, the umpire, is very defensive in his personal life, so whenever he’s faced with a stressful situation or personal problem, a huge suit of blue knight armor appears on his body and defends him from everything.
In another case, Yuwen is outwardly confident and sort of obnoxious but on the inside he’s a sweet and shy little boy. This personality is represented by a tiny cardboard cutout of himself inside of his heart that has a cute and childlike voice while saying what he truly feels inside.
In the finale of the show, we see everyone using their powers in a very chaotic way. It’s very difficult to figure out which powers are metaphorical and how many are literal, but to be honest, that’s just kind of an issue with the show in general.
The art direction of the series is also really good. It’s expressive and cartoonish and that is the best combination. Lately, Pixar has been going way more simplistic in terms of art direction when it comes to their newer projects and I honestly believe it’s the best decision the company has made in a while. The series has had some really bad marketing that hasn’t actually showcased how good the show is, because despite its very minor worldbuilding issues, “Win or Lose” is a home run for Pixar. It is a very special watch and brought me unique positive feelings that I haven’t recently felt after finishing a Pixar production.
