by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, like Amy Sherman-Palladino’s show that came before it, is about a witty brunette. But unlike her previous contemporary shows, this one’s a period piece set in the 1950s and ‘60s. And it’s about Jewish characters (though I will mention that they are not all played by Jewish actors, notably the main character and her family). Premiering in 2017, this show was fashioned as a nod to her father’s experience as a Borscht-belt comic and to early female comedians like Joan Rivers. It follows Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) as she navigates motherhood, divorce, and a career as stand-up comedian. After its first season, the show raked in five Emmys and two Golden Globes. And it has continued to be nominated for and win several awards in its subsequent seasons. While it’s won fewer acting awards for recent seasons, it continues to win a number of production awards. Now that we’re five years and four seasons deep, I’d like to take a good look at this sometimes quite marvelous show.

A quick rundown of the show’s premise: Midge’s husband, Joel (Michael Zegen), leaves her after he has a disastrous stand-up comedy set. She gets drunk, goes out in her nightgown, and absolutely kills an off-the-cuff stand-up routine of her own. And thus, Mrs. Maisel the comedian is born. She partners with Susie (Alex Borstein) as her manager, and they begin working together to build a career in comedy. Throughout the seasons, Midge encounters rival comedians, faces getting blackballed from performing, discovers the highs and lows of touring, and gets arrested several times. Her parents, Abe and Rose (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle), struggle first with her divorce, and later with her career choices. Midge gets hired by a famous singer, who brings her on tour until she makes awful gay jokes about him during a set. All in all, this show has very high highs and some low lows.

One standout element of this show in particular is the way it looks - it’s a feast for the eyes. The cinematography is gorgeous, the costuming is incredible, and the sets are delightful. A lot of the production team, including the production designer, worked on Boardwalk Empire before this, so they’re an established crew, familiar with period pieces. And my word, it shows! The difference here is that everything is vibrant and usually pink. When possible, Maisel shoots on location, in New York especially, and later in Vegas and Miami in season 3. Where Gilmore Girls felt cozy and warm, this show feels extravagant. Midge’s clothes are always to die for, and the camera really wants you to see them in gorgeous color. The elaborate oners in each season are always fun to watch, and Sherman-Palladino outdoes herself in the elaborate, extra-filled scenes that make the world, especially New York City, feel so big.

Pulling back a bit, I grew up watching Gilmore Girls with my mom, so I have a strong appreciation for Amy Sherman-Palladino’s work. Now, what most people with any familiarity with her work can tell you is that it’s full of witty, fast talking. And her stories are focused on women, usually female friendships, and they always feel real, even when they’re doing something completely batshit. Because I’ve spent many years watching, rewatching, and forcing friends to watch Gilmore Girls, I know her strengths and weaknesses. While I haven’t seen Bunheads, what I know about it falls in line with Sherman-Palladino’s work as a whole. I don’t think she could have made Maisel without her experiences on her previous shows.

In Maisel, she’s really honed what I think makes her writing so special. In this case, Midge and Susie become close friends as Midge develops her skills as a comedian and Susie attempts to guide her through the bullshit misogyny a woman faced in that line of work at that time (and often still faces). Their fast dialogue is expertly written and so well delivered, it’s a joy to watch them have simple conversations. Susie says early in season one, “I just do not want to be insignificant,” and she knows that her partnership with Midge could really mean something. These women grow to care about each other and do their best for themselves and for each other.

Also, Amy Sherman-Palladino knows how to write a romantic arc. Not just anyone could pull off the four-season will-they-won’t-they between Lorelai and Luke the way that she did. There are hints in the earliest episodes of Gilmore that they two have feelings for each other, and it takes so, so long to get there. But the ride is fantastic. Maisel is no different here. Midge has fantastic chemistry with several men, including her ex-husband (who you almost root for at some points), Benjamin (Zachary Levi), and Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby). More to come about Lenny later, but let me just say, Amy’s really delivering the will-they-won’t-they goods here.

And as far as weaknesses, Amy Sherman-Palladino has a few. Her shows are overwhelmingly white, and the few people of color that appear rarely have fleshed-out arcs. We’ve seen it with Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls, and you best believe we see it in Maisel. Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain) was a great opportunity to portray a fully realized Black character, but by the end, he’s propped up on two characteristics; he’s a famous singer who’s closeted. Mei (Stephanie Hsu) was also an interesting addition to Maisel last season, but beyond being Joel’s Chinese girlfriend who wants to be a doctor, we know very little about her. At this point, I’m begging for some fully fleshed-out characters of color.

Midge is an interesting choice of main character, as she rides the line between socially conscious and naive. In her stand-up, she often comments on how unfair the world is for women, but she’s seemingly unaware of other people around her. In season two, she says, “Comedy is fueled by oppression, by lack of power, by sadness and disappointment and abandonment and humiliation. Now who the hell does that describe more than women?” That is, of course, an interesting thought if you think every man lives by the heterosexual white male standard, and every woman lives like Midge. When you compare Midge to Susie, even, Midge’s complaints start to look a bit silly. When compared to the Shy Baldwin storyline in season three, it feels even flimsier. There’s also the episode in season three when Midge almost does a live ad for Anita Bryant even after her father tells her how horrible Bryant is. She’s in the recording booth, reading the awful, racist ad, and finally decides to save her voice for things that matter. She’s naive, but only sometimes. She’s well-informed, but unless it’s during her feminist stand-up sets, it’s only once someone clues her in.

And finally, Amy Sherman-Palladino wants to poke at her own shortcomings. She knew that people had long been upset with how certain characters in Gilmore Girls were coded as gay but never confirmed. So in A Year in the Life, the Gilmore Girls revival series, she confirms that Michel is gay, while also strangely leaning on the idea that the entire town thinks that Taylor is gay too. Why? Well, to show us that Amy heard the criticisms! She does this same thing in season four of Maisel with Susie. Fans have long speculated that Susie is a lesbian. So, Midge takes Susie to a lesbian bar and tells her that she accepts Susie. But Susie isn’t a lesbian? Or she is, but she doesn’t want to talk about it? She’s focused on Midge and seemingly angry to be asked about this. Which leads me to believe that Sherman-Palladino is angry that her audience wants to know more about one of the lead characters? Interesting.

And in season four, which released in full earlier this month, a lot felt stagnant. Midge’s parents are still adjusting to her comedy career, her mother especially. Joel and Midge are still figuring out how to be divorced, and still friendly. The classic characters come back to revisit their same storylines, most notably Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch) here to antagonize Midge, and stress Susie out. Sophie has been Midge’s antagonist for four seasons now. While Jane Lynch is an incredible comedian, this character feels finished. By contrast, the new additions were competently acted, but didn’t feel very exciting. I also had a field day spotting all the Gilmore Girls cameos (four in total, one I recognized by the actor’s voice before seeing their face, thank you). While some were more exciting than others, none really added up to much by the season’s end. I’m most excited to see more of Kelly Bishop, as she’ll hopefully be back as Rose’s antagonist next season.

And finally, the most frustrating thing about this season is Midge herself. For the first four episodes, Midge is convinced that she was wronged by Shy Baldwin, not the other way around. The audience laughed at her set full of gay jokes, she killed it onstage, and, therefore, Shy was wrong to fire her. She wants revenge - she claims in the first episode. However, by episode five, when Midge sees Shy at his very expensive sham of a wedding, she’s singing a different tune. She insists that if he hadn’t fired her, she would’ve apologized to him! She’s sorry now. And you might think it’s because she sees the farce Shy’s team is putting him through to assert his heterosexuality, but no. Midge tells him that she hopes he’s happy with his wife. For a show that’s made several “in on the joke” kinds of gay jokes in earlier seasons and understands the social climate it portrays, Midge is far too naive about this.

Beyond the misplaced anger about Shy, Midge also insists that she won’t do opening acts. Canonically, it’s been a couple years, and she’s tired of paying her dues. Plus, she wants to be able to say exactly what she wants. Because Susie can’t create headlining gigs out of nowhere, Midge finds herself a job as the emcee at a strip club. But she’s really just hiding. She doesn’t want to risk being fired again, so she’ll only perform at the strip club or at Joel’s club, because she’s safe there. She branches out once to do a warm-up set for Sophie’s game show, which Sophie ruins. Susie tries several times to get Midge to reconsider, to take a job, but she refuses. When Lenny pulls strings for her to get her a gig opening for Tony Bennett at the Copacabana, she refuses! She won’t even take the call! Infuriating stuff.

But there were two standout scenes that worked for me for similar reasons: Susie’s eulogy for Jackie (Brian Tarantina, who passed away in 2019) and Abe reading the obituary he’d written for Moishe, who ends up surviving after having a heart attack. In some ways, these are both about honoring those important to us after they’ve passed, when they never really got their due in their time. But in Abe’s case, luckily, Moishe recovers in enough time to hear it and live another day. These are poignant scenes, driven by human emotion, and they work really well.

The best thing about the season is Lenny Bruce and Midge’s relationship. Possibly Amy Sherman-Palladino’s best will-they-won’t-they. And in season four, it comes to a head. His first appearance in the season is supporting Midge’s work, but things go off the rails in episode six. Midge picks him up off the street and brings him to her home, letting him sleep it off in her son’s bedroom. This newfound closeness freaks him out. It’s supposed to only be about work between them, he insists, as if he’s not already in love with her. Bless his heart. They make up in the final episode of the season, after Midge does a very emotional set about her ex-father-in-law’s heart attack. Afterward, they sleep together, finally cashing in four seasons of delicious chemistry, and it is absolutely worth the wait. But Amy Sherman-Palladino is going to do her thing. So, of course, there’s still time for some conflict. Midge finds drugs in Lenny’s bathroom, but the real conflict comes later. Finally, someone gets through to Midge about her comedy career. After a standout set at Carnegie Hall, Lenny tells Midge that she’s hiding, afraid to step into the limelight again after being fired. He insists that she can’t miss her window of opportunity in the business. After a season of watching her flounder, boy, this scene is welcome. The season ends with Midge looking for a way forward.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is an incredible showcase of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s strengths and weaknesses. The issues that always plagued her work are still here, but the strengths really shine. Her previous work in Gilmore Girls is evident here in her family drama elements, and her work in Bunheads shows, especially in the many dance sequences. Season four feels a bit stagnant to me, but with season five the planned ending, I hope she can go out with a bang. It is notable that she has never gotten to complete a full multiseason show. She left Gilmore Girls after season six, with another showrunner completing the final season. She did return for the revival series in 2016. Between those two projects, Bunheads ran for one season of ABC Family. I’m excited to see if Amy and the show can stick the landing, and if so, I think Maisel can stand the test of time as flawed but compelling television.