*** Spoilers ahead
I don’t know where you’ve been if you haven’t at least heard of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,
which premiered last year and garnered six Emmy nominations in its impressive freshmen run.
The show centers around a 50s housewife, Midge, realizing her gift for stand-up comedy after her
husband leaves her for another woman. The second season largely retains much of what made
the first season such a hit.
The show is as quick-witted and fast-paced as ever. In the season premiere, the show is taken
away to Paris in an unexpected move. Midge goes along to Paris with Abe when he realizes
that poor Rose left New York to go find her place in the world (despite explicitly telling him that
she would). Along the way, Midge unsurprisingly finds a bar where she delivers one of her best
spontaneous stream of consciousness stand-ups, one that becomes a little disorienting the
faster she talks, coupled with the translator whose rushing alongside her. During her impromptu
set, we finally get to flashback to Joel’s reaction of Midge’s stand-up. In a devastating scene, we
see Joel hand over his wedding ring and explains that maybe this wouldn’t bother another
man. To which I screamed, YEAH, A better man! In a season that focuses slightly less on Joel
(thankfully), we first encounter the underlying question of the second season: Can a person
really have it all?
The answer is seemingly no. In episode 7 Midge meets a famous painter (that her new boo,
Benjamin admires) who never sells his work. After Benjamin goes to take a call while they’re at
the artist’s place, the artist shows Midge a secret room where he keeps his best painting. The
camera lingers only on Midge’s face and the artist’s when the painting is revealed, never
exposing the work of art. The artist, Howell, goes on to explain that he painted it for himself and
that he was always waiting to build a family so he could hang it in his own home. Now he
realizes he can never find himself a home because everything he had, he put into creating the
painting. The moral of the story being that you can’t have everything (like a sense of home) if
you want something great. This is a tad dark for a show that likes to keep things light in the face
of its more serious issues. Without giving away the sad-ish finale of season 2, it does show the
question of being able to have it all is something that is still very much on Midge’s mind.
Wanna know the true gem this season? The sexism. At a gig in episode 2, the male comics all
assume Midge got it by sleeping with Lenny Bruce (who is actually a gem). The disrespect
continues when she gets kicked to the last slot of the night. By the time Midge goes on she’s
sweaty, smelly, and has a huge mustard stain on her dress. Obviously, that doesn’t stop her
from killing her set and simultaneously calling out the male comics who stuck around for the
possibility of watching a comedienne fail. Here’s a tip to any like-minded assholes out there: DO
NOT mess with Miriam Maisel, she will demolish you in front of a crowd of people while they
laugh at your pain. Which will honestly be a little too much fun to see. Throughout the second
season, people continually underestimate Midge and think she is too pretty to do stand-up, so a
lot of the time she gets mistaken for a singer. Sexism is strange.
Susie remains one of the best characters of the show, delivering the best lines and being part of
the greatest storylines. It’s no shock that actress Alex Borstein won an Emmy for playing her in
season 1, but it would be strange if that was her last win for this show because she is
phenomenal. Watching her navigate life in the Catskills is reason enough to watch. Plus,
watching her handle two goons who are meant to murder her, and becoming friends in the
process is definitely a highlight of the entire series. The more that Susie interacts with various
characters of the show that she didn’t get a chance to in season 1, the better the show gets.
She also continually pokes fun at the fact that Midge’s family is still unaware of her career. At
one point she says, “I mean this with all due respect. Your parents are fucking idiots.” Midge’s
secret does become tiresome and is a big relief to the viewer once it is revealed.
Meanwhile, Joel remains the worst person on the show. He grapples with being able to find
forgiveness or redemption. BUT I DON’T CARE. I’m really done with him. If you feel the need to
roll your eyes every time Joel’s on screen, I’m right there with you pal. All of his problems would
be solved if he just took Midge back, making it hard to have much sympathy for him. Although,
Midge would obviously be better off without him. But this is all he would have to do to improve
his life: 1) Stop being an idiot; 2) Be with the woman you love; 3) Do that despite the fact that
she’s good at something you suck at. That’s it. That all. Yet he’d have to complete step 1 first,
and after two seasons of watching Joel, it feels more likely that he’ll grow wings and fly away.
Which doesn’t sound too bad now that I think about it.
Overall, the second season was a fun and wild ride with an ending that puts a slightly bad taste
in your mouth. Though, not to the point that it undoes all the great episodes before it. The
supporting characters become more three dimensional this season, while also maintaining the
aspects of what made season 1 such a hit. Susie and Midge’s dynamic remains the backbone
and gold mine of the series. The only issue I have is that Midge’s journey to comedy stardom
isn’t as front and center as I would like it to be. Too often throughout season 2 does it get
pushed aside for something else much to Susie’s dismay (and mine), like the trip to the Catskills
about halfway through season 2. C’mon Midge, recognize that Susie needs you to work
because she needs money for a little silly thing, like survival. My other issue with season 2:
anything involving Joel. That’s it, the show is generally great.
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