Created by: Amy Sherman-Palladino
Starring: Rachel Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Michael Zegen, Alex Borstein, Kevin Pollak, Caroline Aaron
Even if Miriam "Midge" Maisel's creep of a husband didn't have an affair and rashly move out of their plush Manhattan apartment, Midge would've found a way to outgrow him and forge her own way in the world. We see early on how intelligent, humorous, and honest she is. Her husband Joel is doomed to mediocrity because he's a schmuck. Joel fancies himself as a stand-up comedian, and after he works long hours at an office job his garment-district factory owner father got for him, he heads to Greenwich Village to work a nightclub where few laughs come his way. Midge acts as his de facto manager. She makes meals which she uses to gain favor with the nightclub's manager Susie (Borstein) and thus get Joel a decent slot on the card, and supports him unconditionally as he goes on stage and mostly bombs.
Soon after Joel leaves Midge high and dry with two children and no income, she gets drunk one night and takes a taxi down to the nightclub where her husband plied his trade. She takes the stage and engages the crowd in an angry, stream of consciousness monologue which supplies more laughs than any of Joel's pathetic sets. Susie is astounded, and thinks Midge can go places with her "act".
Midge is soon arrested for indecency after swearing and showing her breasts on stage, but after being bailed out by Lenny Bruce and shaking off the hangover, Midge finds her calling as a stand-up comedian.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is about Midge's journey to independence after years of deferring her dreams to take care of her husband and children. If there is one glaring plot hole The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel doesn't address, it is how little Midge's children are shown. They stay conveniently out of the way as Midge runs around town from club to club, and to Paris in Season 2. Midge must have a live-in nanny and an endless supply of cash around to pay her. It would've been just as easy for Midge and Joel to be childless.
Midge's stand-up act isn't particularly funny, but that isn't the point. The stand-up is Midge's avenue for self-respect and living up to her potential. Susie, who is as cheerless and downtrodden as Midge is perky and uptown, lives in a one-room apartment where the door hits the bed when she opens it.
But after years living in the comedy doldrums and being mistaken for a man, Susie sees Midge as a chance to escape her humdrum existence and manage a rising star. She and Midge have genuine affection for each other and forge an unlikely partnership which blossoms into an unlikelier friendship.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel contains rich comic supporting performances with complement Rachel Brosnahan's lovable Midge. We root for her. Tony Shalhoub is Midge's Columbia professor father whose office at home is being further and further infringed upon by Midge and the kids moving in. Rose (Hinkle), Midge's mom, questions her own marriage after watching Midge's disintegrate. Moishe (Pollak), Joel's father, presides over a business which borrows money from loan sharks to keep the business afloat. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel isn't just the Midge Maisel show, but takes within an insular Jewish world of the 1950's. The show has a distinct sense of time and place. It lovingly recreates the era in virtually every way, down to the smoke-filled nightclubs and the staccato speech style. The only thing missing is characters bursting into song, which I hope doesn't happen.
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