Ethan… Esther… Chaim
Episode 7 of Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 4 starts with Midge gushing to Susie over a handsome man she’s been bumping into in the park. Things have been going great, and eventually the pair end up hooking up. Midge reflects on how she hasn’t been as spontaneous as she perhaps should be and needs to do more of this going forward. So how does this story turn out? Well, this handsome man is actually married and when his wife shows up, kicking and screaming after their lovemaking session, Midge high-tails it out. So why is this relevant? Well, as Midge talks to Susie, she tells her she wants her dress back. Meanwhile, Abe finds himself confronted by an Irish woman named Molly, who demands he talk to his wife and stop Rose’s matchmaking. Abe hightails it out, afraid to be ganged up on by these intimidating women. Midge meets Joel but he’s flustered. When she finds out he’s having a baby, Midge isn’t exactly happy. Miriam reminds him that this is going to affect her life a lot and worries about his ties with Mei. When she learns Joel’s parents haven’t even met Mei yet, and they’re on the verge of getting married and having a baby, Joel pleads with his ex-wife to stay quiet while he figures this out. Susie’s business is on the up, and this time she brings good news to Miriam. She’s managed to bag her a 1000-seat gig in Croatia, Zagreb. Miriam passes up this gig though, refusing to fly over to Croatia as she wants to be big on the “western hemisphere.” Susie exasperates and tells her there isn’t a better gig she can get for her. On the way out her office, Midge runs into Frank and Nicky who offer their services to find out more information about Mei. Although she initially refuses, eventually she succumbs to curiosity and agrees. Not only that, at the club she’s offered a lucrative gig from Gloria. There’s a big New York fundraiser coming up called “Wives for Kennedy” and none other than Jackie Kennedy is throwing it. Miriam is urged not to say anything dirty and needs to be careful. That night things escalate and take a turn for the worst. Miriam heads out to support Alfie’s first gig, but Susie is worried about the audience. With no booze and the acoustics all wrong, she’s a bag of nerves. Miriam appears with her family, as Alfie takes to the stage and asks for a volunteer. That volunteer happens to be Rose, whom Alfie hypnotizes into doing Miriam’s gig from the strip club. Ironically, Rose ends up doing more stand-up than Miriam has the entire season, which is absolutely hilarious – and utterly tragic. She recites Miriam’s entire gig, complete with some scathing jokes about everyone in the family. After the event, Miriam confronts Rose and ask why she hasn’t bothered to tell her she was at the Wolford. Rose shrugs it off, claiming that she was curious about Miriam’s act and wanted to see it in the flesh. She’s depressed about her matchmaking gig but Miriam encourages her to keep fighting, given she’s happier now than she has been in years. Back home, a spooked Frank appears at Miriam’s door and tells her he’s not looking into Mei anymore. He implores Miriam not to tell anyone what they’ve done and that Mei’s family are dangerous. The sort of dangerous that would see them killed. Miriam does her gig for Jackie Kennedy but despite starting well… things eventually take a turn for the worst when she mentions the cheating story from the start of the episode. Given what we know about Kennedy, and his ties with Marilyn Monroe, the whole thing goes completely awry. Jackie bursts out crying, the place is lost in a sea of stunned silence, and Midge is left twiddling her thumbs up on stage. She’s messed up again. Meanwhile, Susie heads out for lunch with Dinah where a stand-up happens to be rambling, a guy by the name of James. Susie sees potential and catches up with him backstage, giving him some solid advice. Susie even offers to manage him for six months. What starts as a difficult conversation about firing Dinah, turns into a big business opportunity so Susie decides to keep her on as a secretary after all. As the episode closes out, Miriam settles in for the night where she notices Lenny Bruce on TV, asking for people to come and watch his show. It’s clear she’s feeling sentimental toward him and contemplates going. At the same time, Joel plucks up the courage to talk to Moishe about Mei and everything that’s going on with him. As they talk at the bar, Moishe suddenly collapses.
The Episode Review
Anyone else find it amusing that until the Jackie Kennedy gig, Rose has done more stand-up this season than Miriam has? Maybe it’s just me but the series about a stand-up comedian without much in the way of stand-up doesn’t quite work. The earlier seasons flowed effectively because Miriam riffed on her day to day life and we saw her thoughts and ideas transcribed into quirky comedy that allowed her to thrive. Now though, that seems to be lost somewhat and while the show continues to deliver decent drama and the production design is still good, the actual plot feels meandering and lacking direction. It’s also a little questionable that Miriam didn’t take the gig in Croatia. I know it’s a fair distance and not ideal but given her whole shtick this year has been about clawing her way back to the top and proving herself, sacrificing to make it big seems like a much more worthwhile plot than rejecting this outright. Then again, she immediately lands the lucrative gig with Jackie Kennedy… which she immediately messes up despite being told to keep things clean. Maybe Miriam is always destined to mess up her big opportunities. Or maybe she’s going to make good in the end and come out on top. Either way, it feels like she needs a kick of motivation from someone who’s going to really tell her why she’s been messing up. Who knows. One thing’s for sure though, this season has not been as strong as what we’ve seen before.
