The Marvelous Mrs. Maiselis back with a double dose of Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) in “How to Chew Quietly and Influence People” and “Maisel vs. Lennon: The Cut Contest.”
Susie (Alex Borstein) begins the search for a secretary, and she is sorely underprepared to take on the task of hiring someone. She stumbles her way through interviews, asking useless questions, forgetting to look at resumes, and attempting to force the interviewees to eat apples—just in case they’re loud chewers.
After her tumble into the pit last week, Midge continues to encourage improvements around the strip club, leading to a little friction with the management middleman Boise (Santino Fontana). With Midge paving the way for major changes around the club the demographic begins to transform, with women flocking to the club for a fun night out in a relatively safe environment.
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Midge’s forward momentum is put into a bit of a tailspin when she receives an invitation to attend Shy Baldwin’s (LeRoy McClain) wedding reception. She and Susie reluctantly attend, determined to drink the most expensive alcohol at the open bar, steal parting gifts, and cause a little trouble, but all of those plans get dashed after Midge gets a moment alone with Shy.
She attempts to mend the burnt bridge between them and apologizes for the jokes that she made at his expense. Surprisingly, Shy takes it all in stride and attempts to bring her back into his circle, but Midge ultimately decides that they shouldn’t be friends. When she and Susie attempt to make a hasty getaway, they’re whisked into a smoky backroom where Shy’s new manager is waiting to bribe Midge into silence. Midge points out that they don’t need to pay her for her silence because she had no intention of discussing Shy Baldwin’s sexuality with anyone.
The execution of this plot resolution still feels a little clunky, but at least Midge is owning up to the mistake she made. She seems to genuinely regret the fall out of her actions andThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiseldoes a great job in showcasing how controlled Shy’s life is. In order to maintain appearances, he was forced to let go of his band, marry a woman, and let his managers dictate and control who is in his life. It’s the price of fame for a queer Black man in the 1960s—something that Midge could never fully understand.
It is intriguing that across these two episodes, Midge is presented with three opportunities to get paid. The first comes in the form of the hush money, the second arrives at the strip club where she might get a bigger cut of the receipts, and the third arrives in the form of Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch) bribing her into being her opening act. With so much of this season’s premiere being focused on the financial setback Midge faced, it’s very clear this is a recurring theme for her.
Rose’s (Marin Hinkle) matchmaking business is really starting to hit a boon, and she is hired to find matches for a particularly difficult pair of girls. With so much on the line with this job, Rose decides to do a little snooping into where Midge is working and discovers that she’s working at a strip club. She sneaks into the club to watch her set and later confronts Midge about her job. Rose wants her to quit. Midge refuses to quit. And the whole conversation goes nowhere for the time being.
Episode 5 ends on a serious cliffhanger that will make you hit the next button faster than Midge Maisel can talk. And as frustrating as it is that Prime Video is burning throughThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiseltwo at a time, this week it was a blessing in disguise. Episode 6 opens on Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) passed out on a twin bed that belongs to Midge’s son Ethan and looking a little worse for wear.
The scene he stumbles into is disturbingly domestic. Abe (Tony Shalhoub) and Rose give him breakfast recommendations, while Midge rambles about her daughter’s potty training and Ethan’s newly acquired taste for money. No one seems terribly alarmed by the fact that he’s half-dressed, hungover, and recently plucked off the streets of New York by Midge. It’s a tremendously fun moment that feels torn straight out of the best fanfics a girl can find—with Abe and Rose exchanging snarky remarks and Midge trying to track down Lenny’s missing accessories. ButThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselisn’t fanfic and Lenny Bruce is quick to excuse him from this quaint existence. Partially out of embarrassment and partially out of underlying guilt.
Midge follows him out of the apartment complex as Lenny tries to make a quick escape with only one shoe on. Their interaction comes to a head right before he flees as he draws a very clear line between comedic buddies and friends who know about each other’s lives, their kids’ names, and what song is used for potty training. We may be a few years out from Bruce’s final spiral, but we’re already starting to see the signs of an impending train wreck and it hurts. A lot.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maiselhas an absolute powder keg of potential in this duo, and it’s a shame that nothing will likely come out of their chemistry and unexpected friendship.
As the title suggests, “Maisel vs. Lennon: The Cut Contest” is focused on this rivalry between Midge and Sophie—not just in the comedy business, but also in unexpected areas of Midge’s life. Susie hooks Sophie up with a comeback interview, thanks to Mike Carr (Jason Ralph), who happens to be Brosnhan’s real-life husband, and it sends her back into a prime time slot with a game show that Midge’s parents are obsessed with. So obsessed that they’re willing to eat TV dinners on the sofa!
Sophie eventually reveals that she’s been having Midge followed to gather intel on her, and she uses it to essentially blackmail her into being the opening act for her. Midge does need money—especially with a broken fridge, bills due, and the potential for her career at the strip club to impact her mother’s source of income. Midge agrees, and it goes about as well as anyone could have anticipated.
With all of Rose’s concerns about Midge’s strip club MCing being a potential reason for her matchmaking career to hit a snag, she is sorely unprepared for the powerhouse that is Bernadette (Kelly Bishop), whoAmy Sherman-Paladinofans will instantly recognize as the Emily Gilmore fromThe Gilmore Girls. Rose has inadvertently set foot in a matchmaking turf war, and she has no one but herself to blame for it.
Joel (Michael Zegen) plays a minor role in this week’s episodes, but the handful of scenes he’s in end up having a major impact on the trajectory of the character this season. Joel and Mei (Stephanie Hsu) are finally ready to meet his parents, but when the night arrives for them to sit down at dinner, she ends up getting sick and he has to go alone. But it isn’t just a cold or a meet-the-parents stomachache, it’s the kind of stomach bug that lasts for nine months and then requires eighteen years of care and companionship.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maiselcontinues to bring the laughs, but this pair of episodes has a lot more real-world weight behind them than some previous seasons. Midge is stuck between a rock in a hard place, her mother’s matchmaking career may be at an end, Lenny Bruce is starting to spiral, Susie is floundering, and Joel might become a father again—unless Mai’s burgeoning medical career gives her an opportunity to terminate things before they progress any further.
We may have crossed the official halfway point of the season, but it’s hard to tell where Season 4 is headed. Will Midge find another cash stream that keeps her out of Sophie Lennon’s crossfire? Will Susie take Sophie back as a client? When willMilo Ventimiglia’s character arrive? What’s happening with Abe’s career atThe Village Voice? Will Rose continue matchmaking? Will Joel do right by Mei? Or will they explore the 1960s and abortion? So many questions and only four more episodes to get the answers.
