Recap: Navratilova as Paltrow's lover on 'The Politician'

Ryan Murphy's Netflix debut, The Politician, contains a lot of moving parts.

Over eight episodes, a central storyline features Ben Platt as Payton Hobert, an adopted high-school senior hellbent on becoming student body president.

Then there's the rest of it. With story arcs slap-piled on top of arcs, Martina Navratilova plays Brigitte, a minor character smitten with Gwyneth Paltrow's Georgina—mother to the Platt character.

Equine scenes—Navratilova plays a horse trainer who can also fly small airplanes—show Navratilova and Paltrow's perhaps ill-fated lovers (no spoilers here) meeting clandestinely. While her acting might appear a bit stilted, it's partly also a take on the character's guarded and distrusting spirit. It's also another plume in Murphy's casting cap—a display that he can get next to anyone he wants on his shows.

Navratilova appears in just half of these season-one episodes. And there will certainly be a second season, based on late-breaking appearances by Bette Midler and Judith Light, and in light of how quickly we know it's being shot (per Light on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live program).

Whether Navratilova will reemerge on The Politician remains to be seen. Her scenes, solo and with Paltrow, move between love-that-dare-not-speak-its-name and heart-searing in tone and delivery.