A warm blanket made of glass

The first season of Blown away crashed on Netflix in July 2019. At the time, I characterized it as an ideal summer display, but I was wrong. Blown away, whose second season hits Netflix today, is a Winter show, it always has been, and it should have been obvious to me two years ago.

The series is structured like virtually any other competition program that has ever existed: Ten contestants engage in a different challenge during each episode, with one person being knocked out in each installment until, in the end, a champion is named. What is different is that it focuses on blowing glass, a physically demanding, primitive and tactile effort that most people probably never witnessed, much less tried on themselves.

Certain aspects of this process make this watch inherently winter, which means that it is the type of show that fits perfectly into any hygienic routine you have established. Put on the furry socks, prepare the hottest tea, hide under your favorite blanket and call Blown away.

For those who have not previously been exposed to the world of punties (the rods used to carve glass) and glory holes (this is what they call furnaces where the glass sculptures are heated – really, it’s not dirty!), There are a major action adjacent to the ASMR in Blown away. The things that can be done with glass, especially when it is hot and pliable, are fascinating to watch. Competitors stretch it for several meters as if it were a huge, infinitely flexible piece of gum. They explode – hence the name blown glass – on the punties to expand the bubbles and balloons on the other side. They shape and press what look like big goo bubbles, but will eventually harden in sculptures, vases or perfume bottles. Even though I knew it would burn and possibly permanently remove my skin from my body, I kind of want to bathe in a scorching liquid glass tub while watching Blown away?

Artists also often roll their pieces still in progress through fries, pieces of hard and crumbling glass that stick to the primary surface in the same way that kosher salt sticks to the edge of a margarita, another extremely tactile and satisfying thing to witness. Although the general sensitivity of Blown away emphasizing the pressure that artists experience to complete their work in a short period of time, the camera occasionally pauses to linger, almost lovingly, on some of these more hypnotic steps in the process.

Glass making can be soothing, but it is also an athletic effort, carried out in an environment that is stifling. The show’s setting, heralded as the “largest hot shop in North America”, is filled with ovens, torches and other tools designed to generate sparks and smoke. Sweat runs down the competitors’ noses and hits their eyes. There is more sweating in Blown away than sometimes in the entire first half of an NBA game. And in winter, you love to see it, especially when it’s freezing outside. Blown away warms the blood.

The main point of hygiene is that it should generate feelings of warmth and contentment, something that does not align with the stress of most reality shows. But Blown away is very kind about it. The chief judge, the artist and teacher Katherine Gray, is demanding but super cool in her behavior. I believe she could raise your voice if she wanted to – I’m just not sure if she actually did it. Really, the most shocking thing that happens in Blown away it is when someone breaks or breaks a part they are working on, leaving little time to repair. Are you going to be speechless when that happens? Probably. But it won’t kill the vibe.

Certainly there are conflicts between some of the competitors, or at least the suggestion of conflict triggered. But even these are very discreet. If there is a “villain” in the second season of Blown away, is Chris Taylor, the group’s most experienced glassblower and one who frequently arrogantly asserts that his artistic vision is far more formed than that of his colleagues. “Chris Taylor doesn’t have wide eyes,” he says in episode three, suggesting that he won’t fall to the level of sculpting a cartoon character during a challenge that literally asks competitors to sculpt a cartoon character. Men who think they understand art more than anyone else in the room and are therefore superior make me explode in hives of anger. But Chris later reveals some things about himself that show a more vulnerable side. Even the most openly hateful person in Blown away can’t really be hated.

This should probably be obvious, considering this is a shattering show Blown away, but each episode is filled with extremely mushy puns. “Is this gallery lit?” asks host Nick Uhas before he and the judges begin to evaluate the pieces that are supposed to conjure flames. “I just hope it is not a fire in the trash,” adds guest judge Deborah Czeresko, champion of the first season. Daddy’s jokes are celebrated on this show almost as much as the art of glass.

Blown away it is a Canadian production, which explains a lot about its affable friendliness. Even when the glass breaks at this show, it’s usually okay. Nobody bleeds. Generally, a part can be recovered. And when you’re watching while quarantined, the best part of seeing a mess of shards on the floor is knowing that you don’t have to move a muscle. Someone will clean it up.