Paula Pell has become Girls5eva's most reliable scene-stealer

Variety

"At first glance, as the show is well aware and leans into every chance it gets, Gloria is the most unlikely member of Girls5Eva," says Caroline Framke of Pell's character. "With her gray hair and omnipresent frown, and standing a good several inches shorter than everyone else, she immediately goes against the visual grain of the group. Dawn, Wickie, and Summer haven’t changed so much from their younger selves that they’ve become unrecognizable. Gloria, though, has not just aged, but settled into herself as the straight-talking lesbian she always was underneath all the painfully heterosexual girl group glam. She’s evolved so much from her 2000s era self, in fact, that when an episode includes her in a flashback, Gloria’s played not by Pell, but by another actor entirely (Erika Henningsen, making the most of it). As far as character journeys go, Gloria’s is simply the most varied and compelling — though it helps, of course, to have someone like Pell playing her, too."