Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s sports comedy-drama series, ‘Running Point’ follows the trials and tribulations of Isla Gordon. Her family owns the LA Waves, a major basketball team in the country, and for years, she has dreamed about working in the family business. However, her father was more interested in passing on his legacy to his sons. He put the eldest, Cam, in charge as the president, and for years, he had the reins of the team and the company. Her other two brothers, Ness and Sandy, also received major positions within the company, but she was always kept on the sidelines.
After partying away her young years, Isla was brought into the fold by Cam, who decided to keep her away from the bad things by giving her a purpose. She was put in charge of the charity wing of the company, which didn’t mean much. She tried to present her ideas, but her brothers, like her father, didn’t pay her much heed. Having been ignored for so long, Isla never thought about running the team. This is why she is caught off guard when Cam, who is in the hospital and has to go to rehab later, puts her in charge.
When Isla takes on the team, the respect associated with the job doesn’t immediately transfer to her. She is yet again ignored and underestimated, which is why she has to take charge of the team and make some radical decisions, some of which are not appreciated, at least not immediately. Before winning the trust of outsiders, she has to win the trust of her brothers, two of whom try to oust her and one of whom secretly works against her. Meanwhile, her personal life also goes through a massive upheaval, making her reconsider a lot of things. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Do the Waves Win or Lose the Championship?
No matter how many challenges come in one’s path, all the struggles and follies are forgotten when the end turns out well. When Isla takes over the Waves, she is in a tight bind. The team is not doing well, the finances of the company are in disarray, and a weak image of her family as leaders is projected. When she becomes the president, all the doubts and suspicions increase tenfold, but soon, Isla proves herself a strong leader. She cancels major decisions like giving up Travis Bugg, quashes the rumors of their star player Marcus Winfield leaving the team, and brings in Dyson Gibbs, a player from the D-league whom no one believes in.
In the midst of this, she also experiences some major bumps, like the Hoopli deal falling through and coach Jay Brown announcing his departure just as the team makes it into the playoffs, among other things. The more the team gets closer to the championship, the worse Isla’s anxiety gets. Right when she thinks everything is on track, she is faced with a decision that could make or break the team in more ways than one. It turns out that Travis has a drug problem. While she is suggested to keep him on the team for the championship and keep his problem a secret, she eventually decides to take the high road and send him to rehab rather than allow him to participate in the playoffs.
Fortunately, things start to take a turn for the better when Jay returns just in time to coach the team, and the Waves win the games one after another. This is a huge deal for Isla and the entire company, as she has done what previously seemed impossible. The team had been doing rather badly before she took charge, and to have them in the finals and a chance at winning was a victory. The players do their parts well, even Dyson, who takes granny shots, not worrying about how it would look. At the end of the day, even when they come close, the Waves don’t win. The defeat takes Isla by surprise, as she believed that her hard work would pay off, and she would win in the end. However, she is reminded that life works differently than it does for underdogs in sports movies, and sometimes, one has to learn to accept failure before one can take the win.
Will Ray Leave for Boston? Do He and Isla End Up Together?
Apart from the developments in her professional life, Isla also sees a major shift in her personal life. Her long engagement with her fiance, Lev, which should have culminated in a wedding, turns into a breakup when he calls her out for not being attentive enough toward their relationship. She tries to fix things, and while Lev appreciates her efforts, he also doesn’t come back to her and asks for some time to figure out what he wants. However, this isn’t the only major step in her love life. Since she takes over as the president of the team, she finds herself in the orbit of the team’s coach, Jay Brown. He helps her navigate the team dynamics and figure out how to deal with each teammate. She learns a lot from him, and over time, they develop a friendship.
At the same time, Isla cannot ignore the fact that Jay is extremely attracted. She keeps her feelings at bay because she is with Lev. Her being engaged is also a reason for Jay to stay away from her. But then, she and Lev break up or are on a break, and Jay sees this as the opportunity to make his feelings known. It must also be considered that at the same time, Jay is dealing with a personal upheaval of his own. His ex-wife is moving to the other side of the country and is taking their kids with her. Her decision catches Jay off guard and leads to him lashing out at his wife’s new partner. Because he doesn’t want his kids to grow up without him, he decides to move with them, which means leaving the Waves.
Ideally, he wouldn’t be allowed to do it because he has two more years in contract with the team. But Isla understands his situation and decides to free him of the constraints of the contract. If he didn’t have enough reasons to like, he does now. In the end, when the team has lost and Isla is drowning her sorrows in her tears, Jay walks up to her and tells her how even getting this far is a huge win in itself. He consoles her that each loss will hit just as hard, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she has changed the team for the better. It lifts her mood, but that’s not where he stops.
Before leaving her to her own devices, Jay kisses Isla, and she kisses him back. It comes as a surprise for her because she didn’t think Jay thought about her that way. More importantly, she thought she was still in love with Lev, which meant she couldn’t have feelings for anyone else. So, kissing Jay means acknowledging her attraction towards him, further complicating things between her and Lev. As for Jay, this confession of love is his last chance to show his feelings because he is leaving for Boston. So, in the long run, the kiss shouldn’t mean anything. However, considering what happens next, both he and Isla will have to face the consequences of the kiss.
What Does Cam’s Return Mean for Isla?
Because Isla was never on anyone’s radar in the company, everyone is surprised when Cam chooses her as his replacement. He could have gone for Ness or Sandy, both of whom had been working within the company in different capacities and understood it better. If he didn’t trust them to be effective leaders, he could have opted for someone else more competent than his brothers. But he chose Isla, and it isn’t simply because he believes in her. It is precisely because he underestimates her, like the rest of the world. He knows that his brothers are power-hungry, especially Sandy, and if they are put in charge, they will first make sure that Cam doesn’t return. At the same time, he also has to accept that neither of them has the faintest how to run a basketball team and they would ruin everything.
With Isla, Cam believes he will have more control over the situation. She is just a temporary thing, and once he is back from rehab, it would be easier for him to convince the board members to bring him back into the game because they would be desperate to get rid of Isla. But then, when she starts to exhibit the competence he hadn’t expected, he tries to sabotage her. He is the one who spreads the rumor about Marcus being traded, which makes the player angry and he refuses to play. The better Isla does with the team and the company, the more desperate Cam gets because he knows it will make it impossible for him to return.
In the last scene, as Isla walks into her office, she finds Cam there, which confirms that he has found a way out of the rehab. In a previous scene, he is seen bribing the rehab owner to let him leave in return for funding several new things for the building. His offer works, and now he is back in the game. However, this doesn’t mean that he will immediately become the President again, and Isla will be forced back into the charity sector. If anything, by far, we know that Isla has learned to fight for herself, and she will do anything to keep herself in charge of the team that she has rebuilt successfully. Now that she has tasted power, she will not let go of it, and sure enough, her brother will fight for the same, and we know he doesn’t mind playing dirty.
If anything, Cam being in charge again means he will not allow Jay to be free of his contract so easily, which means he and Isla will have time to figure things out between themselves. In him, she will also have an ally, and it will be interesting to see which way Ness, Sandy, and the players of the team lean when Cam and Isla go to war. Both have their work cut out for themselves, and both siblings have exhibited their desire for power and knack for winning. The team’s loss in the games might work against Isla, but many other things will work in her support, especially Cam’s dark habits. Only time will tell how this war turns out, but if we go by the real-life person who inspired the show, Isla’s win is already set in stone.
Read More: Is Running Point a True Story? Is Isla Gordon Based on a Real Sports Executive?
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