‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Season 4 Early Review: Midge And Co. Have Learnt Their Lessons. Now It’s Showtime!

‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Season 4 Early Review: Midge And Co. Have Learnt Their Lessons. Now It’s Showtime!

You know what I love about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? It isn’t just the comedy and its incredible Emmy-winning ensemble cast, headlined by Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein. Or the many cameos it has from the Amy Sherman-Palladino -verse, if I may call it so. It’s that this confectionary-coloured show is as much about a female comedian making it in a man’s world without dropping her femininity as it is about the eternal struggle of the artist in the spotlight to achieve fame and riches, which comes off as starker when set against the perfect aesthetic of Midge Maisel’s 1950s New York life. And with Season 3 leaving Midge stranded on a tarmac, her finances in shambles after Susie gambles with them, and her career suffering a huge setback thanks to a man’s ego, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is finally entering its adulting phase, where all the pretty things come at a steep price. Of course, Midge is all in and she’s going to play high risk. But will it return with a high reward? Well, at least we know she’s had three seasons worth of preparing for it! Now, it’s showtime!

 

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Season 4 brings back Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Michael Zegen, Kevin Pollak, Caroline Aaron, Stephanie Hsu, Luke Kirby, and Jane Lynch. This season comes with two special and highly talked about additions—Gilmore Girls alums Milo Ventimiglia and Kelly Bishop.

 

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But before we dive into what this ensemble is up to in Season 4, here’s a quick recap.

When we last met Midge (Brosnahan), she had packed her numerous pieces of luggage, and her manager Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein) in tow, to depart for Prague as she was to open for singer Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain) on his tour. But thanks to her last raucous opening act for him, in which she almost outs Shy as gay, his manager Reggie (Sterling K. Brown) fires her right before she’s about to board the flight. You might remember, that before she was to embark on this career-defining tour, Midge buys back her old apartment from her father-in-law Moishe Maisel (Kevin Pollak) using her contract for the Shy Baldwin tour and the promise of a Christmas special with Bob Hope as collateral.  

Midge can, of course, rely on the money she had saved from her last tour, and given to Susie to manage, to pay it all back. Only, unbeknownst to Midge, Susie had used the money to pay off her sports gambling debt. In fact, Susie had committed arson in cahoots with her sister, Tess, to set their mother’s house on fire so they could collect insurance. But the insurance wasn’t coming through, not yet, so you know what that means? Trouble trouble. Meanwhile, Abe Weissman (Tony Shalhoub), Midge’s father, now retired, is about to start working as a theatre critic at The Village Voice after his earlier article is printed in the New York Times. He and his wife Rose (Marin Hinkle) are living with the Maisels in Queens, having had to move from their university-granted apartment after Abe retired from Columbia.

As for Joel (Michael Zegen), his Chinatown bar has had a successful opening, helped graciously by Mei (Stephanie Hsu), of course, who solved his liquor licence problem and is now his girlfriend. But something tells me that the gambling den underneath his bar might have issues with both his professional and personal tangling with Mei.

Also Read: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 Trailer Has Dropped And We’re Loving The Power Trip Midge Is On

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel trailer made one thing clear—Midge is done with opening acts for other more successful artists. Why? Because she’s had the biggest epiphany after being kicked off the tour so unceremoniously by Shy Baldwin. So what if he found her set at The Apollo offensive? The crowd loved it and she brought the house down, being billed ahead of black comedy legend Moms Mabley (Wanda Sykes). And it was all because she was out on that stage speaking her mind and not some rehearsed set which had clichéd jokes about lousy room service. Midge was fire when she was ranting, being her unabashed self, the rebel, the rogue, the sailor-mouthed comedienne who could make women cackle with laughter while men averted their eyes because much of those jokes were at their expense. 

 

 

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Having been swindled and let down once again by a man, Midge is ready to change the way business is done in the city, as she so grandly proclaims to Susie, her manager. But here’s the thing, rebellion comes at a cost, and it rarely pays the bills. Midge knows this, she has seen Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby). And even though she wants to be Lenny Bruce 2.0, her lifestyle comes at a cost that her career choices might not be able to keep up with. What’s more, it isn’t just her career that’s at stake, is it? After blowing up her managing gig with Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch), Susie is back to square one: managing one client only and one that doesn’t pay all that well. 

The eternal dilemma of pursuing one’s passion and taking risks is an even bigger one for Midge and Susie because they are women. We see, in a hilarious nightclub scene, where Midge is so easily dismissed because of one setback in her career, while male comedians continue to dominate the stage despite clearly being lazy and less talented. 

What’s interesting this season is that Midge isn’t the only one who, as I like to say it, is coming of age. Her father, Abe Weissman, has chosen to pursue a creative gig that doesn’t pay well, much like his daughter, while Rose has given up her family’s fortunes and decided to manage finances on her own. The Weissmans have a taste for finer things that can’t be sustained with the money they’re earning, and we see in the first two episodes, as Midge uses her wits to get by with what little income she has. There’s a lovely scene between Abe and Midge at the end of Episode 2 that really puts things in perspective. Her family has finally come to terms with her profession, but how long will they support her ambition if the money doesn’t come pouring in? Or worse, if she decides to do something they’re not fine with?

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

For that matter, even Joel has had some growing up to do, with opening his own bar and stepping out of his marriage to Midge. But the looming prospect of introducing Mei to his family and the fallout from his little arrangement with Susie could cause some serious trouble. 

I have a feeling, this season is going to be a real test for all of these characters, who’ve grown so much in the past three seasons. Plus, the safety nets are all off, and bigger risks have been or will have to be taken. And I love that for them!

The opening monologue about ‘revenge’ is easily the highlight of the first two episodes for me, because ooof, Rachel Brosnahan is incredible. She’s such a presence on screen as Midge Maisel, I can barely steer my eyes away from her. That being said, I love every scene, like the one at Coney Island, that brings the entire cast together—the Maisels and the Weissmans—because, from the resulting chaos, some truly capital humour is born. Tony Shalhoub easily deserves all the Emmys is he gets for his Abe, and the rest of the cast is just gold. I cannot wait to see more of Luke Kirby’s Lenny Bruce; NGL, that night he and Midge spent together was palpably hot, but I am more interested in how he supports Midge through her decision to follow in his footsteps. 

Verdict

Of course, this is only a snippet of my review based on the first two episodes of Season 4. But this being the penultimate season—yes, ICYMI, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been renewed for a fifth season which will be its last—I am all for life coming in full circle for these beloved characters who have had quite the arcs over the past three seasons. They’ve come of age, they’ve learnt their lessons and it is now time for some adulting and risk-taking. And knowing Amy Sherman-Palladino, this is going to be great. Just somebody please tell me how Milo and Kelly Bishop will feature in this? And will we see Zachary Levi as Benjamin again, because he was a doll!

Thank you and goodnight!

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, with two new episodes dropping every Friday.

 

 

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Jinal Bhatt

A Barbie girl with Oppenheimer humour. Sharp-tongue feminist and pop culture nerd with opinions on movies, shows, books, patriarchy, your boyfriend, everything.

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