New season of Mrs. Maisel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait an someone explain her breakup with Suzie and when did they get back together? I watched it all but maybe I forgot. I think they broke up because of the money / gambling and. Joel fixed that - but when did midge and Suzie reconcile?

They broke up because Susie got mixed up with the mob and in order to clear midge of it, Joel quietly gave over control of his club businesses to Susie’s mob associates. Midge found out when Joel eventually went to prison and midge lost it at Susie for getting them in this deep. That was in the mid 1980s.

They made up after Susie’s roast in 1990. Midge extended an olive branch

It was more than that. She was mixed up with the mob and gave them a cut of all of Midge’s earnings, which Susie failed to tell Midge. That’s why Joel wanted to clear Midge from being entangled and indebted in any way to the mob.

I liked the flashback to the Chinese restaurant and Lenny Bruce but did not like Lenny’s downfall at all. I felt there were a lot of things that weren’t needed at all this season: the kibbutz scene, the daughter and the psychiatrist, the scenes at the preschool, every scene with the maid (her marriage and compulsion to continue working), the marital problems of Joel’s parents and then their stupid fur coat/shower reconnection scene, the stupid scenes with Susie and the woman in the office across the way (where the bucket was stuck), the dad agonizing about having a typo corrected in his article, etc. just a lot of wasted time that could have been better spent developing another aspect of the show.

Lenny Bruce was a real person. His downfall was based on facts.

Of course, I know that. But his downfall was drawn out with his bombing of his act, which he did in real life. But the series wasn’t about lenny’s life, so watching it go on and on added little to midge’s story. It had nothing to with midge by then. The scene made no sense to me - as it wasn’t a show about him and he’d not been a focus in her life for awhile. (Maybe if they had reconnected in a meaningful way after she’d found his drugs and we saw that connection and her continued draw to him over time…) but to throw Susie in there offering to help, it was too forced for me. It showed what happened to him…and felt forced to me and added nothing. (I would have rather seen Sophie Lennon screen time with her seeing Midge take off.)

The actor playing Lenny was a fan favorite and they needed to wrap up his story in the finale. Midge cares for him, so it made sense she would reach out. I’m glad they included the scene at the Chinese restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Lenny's downfall was the very definition of not drawn out. They addressed it and moved on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lenny's downfall was the very definition of not drawn out. They addressed it and moved on.

Agreed. It was honest, but also respectful to his memory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the final season did the whole show great justice and especially the finale.

The previous season lagged for me so I came in with lower expectations but they did great.

my thoughts exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait an someone explain her breakup with Suzie and when did they get back together? I watched it all but maybe I forgot. I think they broke up because of the money / gambling and. Joel fixed that - but when did midge and Suzie reconcile?

They broke up because Susie got mixed up with the mob and in order to clear midge of it, Joel quietly gave over control of his club businesses to Susie’s mob associates. Midge found out when Joel eventually went to prison and midge lost it at Susie for getting them in this deep. That was in the mid 1980s.

They made up after Susie’s roast in 1990. Midge extended an olive branch

It was more than that. She was mixed up with the mob and gave them a cut of all of Midge’s earnings, which Susie failed to tell Midge. That’s why Joel wanted to clear Midge from being entangled and indebted in any way to the mob.

I liked the flashback to the Chinese restaurant and Lenny Bruce but did not like Lenny’s downfall at all. I felt there were a lot of things that weren’t needed at all this season: the kibbutz scene, the daughter and the psychiatrist, the scenes at the preschool, every scene with the maid (her marriage and compulsion to continue working), the marital problems of Joel’s parents and then their stupid fur coat/shower reconnection scene, the stupid scenes with Susie and the woman in the office across the way (where the bucket was stuck), the dad agonizing about having a typo corrected in his article, etc. just a lot of wasted time that could have been better spent developing another aspect of the show.

Lenny Bruce was a real person. His downfall was based on facts.

Of course, I know that. But his downfall was drawn out with his bombing of his act, which he did in real life. But the series wasn’t about lenny’s life, so watching it go on and on added little to midge’s story. It had nothing to with midge by then. The scene made no sense to me - as it wasn’t a show about him and he’d not been a focus in her life for awhile. (Maybe if they had reconnected in a meaningful way after she’d found his drugs and we saw that connection and her continued draw to him over time…) but to throw Susie in there offering to help, it was too forced for me. It showed what happened to him…and felt forced to me and added nothing. (I would have rather seen Sophie Lennon screen time with her seeing Midge take off.)

The actor playing Lenny was a fan favorite and they needed to wrap up his story in the finale. Midge cares for him, so it made sense she would reach out. I’m glad they included the scene at the Chinese restaurant.

Yeah that was really lovely how they interspersed the different timeline scenes to end with a sweet memory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lenny's downfall was the very definition of not drawn out. They addressed it and moved on.

Yes I agree. It was sketched out very ably - and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a great depiction on screen of a mixed mentorship/friendship/romantic relationship.

[Anonymous]

The final season was so awful that my partner and I are now rewatching previous season episodes to figure out how such a terrific show in season one could turn into such a flameout in the final season. Crazy, just crazy. What happened?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The final season was so awful that my partner and I are now rewatching previous season episodes to figure out how such a terrific show in season one could turn into such a flameout in the final season. Crazy, just crazy. What happened?

I didn't dislike the final season but I think the timeline with the rest of the seasons was awkward. She was not in a good place or handling things well at the of the last season (which is why Lenny yelled at her in one of the last scenes), and then they had to show how she fixed everything, as well as lay out the future, in one season. This task was hard, and IMHO, they did very well actually. But it was a lot to accomplish and maybe sort of disconcerting.

[Anonymous]

The final season was so bad for so many reasons. Can someone help me on some questions?
Why was Mrs Maisel being interviewed on 60 Minutes at a shipyard? Not sure how that fit in.
How could she, or anyone, bounce back so quickly and jauntily from delirium and near frostbite?
The scene at the kibbutz—what was the point?
Why did Joel go to jail?
Why did the writers turn her father turn into a goofball?
And so forth.

At the end, I wish had I hosted the talk show so that I could have fired Mrs. Maisel myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved this season and the finale! Some thoughts/reflections:

- This season seemed much more realistic about the trajectory of how a career is made. The first few seasons were too fairy-tale. But this season seemed realistic about the ups and downs and big breaks and lost opportunities.

- One thought I had was that this show is a love letter to women working. Every scene shows a woman doing her job seriously and competently and like a boss, even if its just the coat check. You see how all the "small" jobs make the world go around. Every woman's work is taken seriously. It's like a walking Bechtel test. The main relationship is about work! Even Midge in season one returning the burlesque dancer's pasty-tassel to her shows how women's work is work, taken seriously by other women no matter what it is.

- Somehow this season tied up all the stories in an emotionally satisfying way, without being treacly. I loved the subplot of Esther being a genius. The goodbye to Lenny was devastating but not overplayed at all. I wish we found out what happened to Mei.

- I wanted to know who else Midge married! Does she marry Gordon Ford for a while? I think so!

- The finale was really emotionally satisfying too. I loved seeing how Susie makes it and brings everyone up with her (reference to Dinah becoming a powerful manager on her own). Do we think Susie was in love with Midge? Or maybe it doesn't matter? At the end, you can tell that even if so, they are best friends.

- I really really loved the end credits of the finale with all the sets and locations!

- loved loved LOVED the scene with Abe and his friends in the steakhouse in episode 8. This is a show, no doubt, about women and their friendships. But this whole scene was like a love letter to men, specifically the way men get sappy as they get older. The ASP snappy dialogue/patter is really perfected here with the counterpoint of the waiter against the seriousness of the men. Abe's monologue at the end had me bawling and thinking about my own dad.

- Finally ... one thing I love about ASP which she really perfected in this show is the diegetic dancing and music. (Diegetic - fancy film studies word for music that is part of the action of the movie, not the soundtrack added over the action. I think it can apply to dancing as well.) Loved it in Bunheads too. The culmination was the little sitcom with the sitcom of the show that Susie pitched (made up on the fly) on the golf course - with Sutton Foster (LOVE her) and Hank Azaria starring as an odd couple. Hank's song at the end to his daughter was just *chefs kiss.*

ASP this you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I liked the ending and love that she ended up with Susie in the end not some dude. That was the real “love” story, the enduring friendship between these two

Yes, that was very satisfying.

[Anonymous]

Just finished watching this show. I thought the ending was decent. Although Gordon Ford’s change of heart as she performed struck me as wildly unbelievable.

Thinking back, I thought season 2 was mostly in the Catsgills, but I guess it was just a few episodes. I must have really hated those episodes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The final season was so bad for so many reasons. Can someone help me on some questions?
Why was Mrs Maisel being interviewed on 60 Minutes at a shipyard? Not sure how that fit in.
How could she, or anyone, bounce back so quickly and jauntily from delirium and near frostbite?
The scene at the kibbutz—what was the point?
Why did Joel go to jail?
Why did the writers turn her father turn into a goofball?
And so forth.

At the end, I wish had I hosted the talk show so that I could have fired Mrs. Maisel myself.

Don't have the time to recap and explain a whole season "and so forth," but if you didn't grasp why Joel went to prison you weren't paying attention. Quite a few important scenes were devoted to setting it up. And it was vitally important to the series as a whole and to Joel as a character. He went to prison to save Midge from a potential lifetime of being financially, professionally and personally in thrall to the mafia; he offered himself in her place. This same storyline is why Midge and Susie had a gigantic and (for a long time) irreparable rift. Strongly suggest you re-watch because you missed an arc that concluded stories from a couple of seasons and profoundly changed Joel's and Susie's lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lenny's downfall was the very definition of not drawn out. They addressed it and moved on.

Agreed. It was honest, but also respectful to his memory.

DP. +1. Well done, just enough of it, and then the episode moved on. Luke Kirby as Lenny was pitch-perfect throughout the series and was used just enough and not too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The final season was so bad for so many reasons. Can someone help me on some questions?
Why was Mrs Maisel being interviewed on 60 Minutes at a shipyard? Not sure how that fit in.
How could she, or anyone, bounce back so quickly and jauntily from delirium and near frostbite?
The scene at the kibbutz—what was the point?
Why did Joel go to jail?
Why did the writers turn her father turn into a goofball?
And so forth.

At the end, I wish had I hosted the talk show so that I could have fired Mrs. Maisel myself.

Don't have the time to recap and explain a whole season "and so forth," but if you didn't grasp why Joel went to prison you weren't paying attention. Quite a few important scenes were devoted to setting it up. And it was vitally important to the series as a whole and to Joel as a character. He went to prison to save Midge from a potential lifetime of being financially, professionally and personally in thrall to the mafia; he offered himself in her place. This same storyline is why Midge and Susie had a gigantic and (for a long time) irreparable rift. Strongly suggest you re-watch because you missed an arc that concluded stories from a couple of seasons and profoundly changed Joel's and Susie's lives.

We needed closure on the mob goons! What did their old age look like? I loved those two guys.