Interesting People on Christopher Street
Episode 4 of Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 4 starts with Midge’s show getting underway but it’s not exactly going to plan. The curtain is stuck, there’s no cue for the musicians and the microphones fail. With the crowd thinning out and eventually leaving, Midge questions Bosie about their under-produced burlesque show, wanting to try and turn it into something special. The thing is, he doesn’t have the money or the enthusiasm to see that happen. On her way out though, Midge tells the girls that they need to get better for the next show. That night, Midge heads out for a date with a guy called Liam. He constantly speaks in Spanish though, which catches Midge off-guard. Eventually she plays her trump card to get out of this, bringing in Susie to claim there’s a family emergency and she needs to leave. The truth though, is that she needs to get away. Susie implores Midge not to date a civilian, given this is leading to a string of bad moments. Hilariously, she suggests dating a ventriloquist instead. Miriam instead turns her attention across to Susie, asking about her love life instead. Given she spends all of her time stopping Midge getting into trouble and helping her career blossom, she admits there’s no time for her to entertain this idea. Issues at home continue to escalate though, with Abe unhappy with Susie staying in their apartment; with the TV blaring out late at night he wants her to leave. When Susie actually shows up in the corridor and asks what’s going on, even suggesting to turn the TV down, Abe brushes it off and tells her it’s okay. Susie does sense that she needs to find a new place to stay though, and she’s shown an apartment she immediately falls in love with. She gushes over the view, excited about the future. Meanwhile, Joel tells Mei that it’s about time she meets his parents. She’s not exactly happy about it, and believes they’re going to criticize her and curse constantly about her being Chinese. Joel tries to convince her otherwise but it’s no good. She grabs her gear and runs. Joel is left exasperated. Out in the park, Miriam tries to find a new bar for her friend to frequent. After getting nowhere, she eventually sits on a bench where a man named Lazarus speaks up. He tells her about a new hang-out spot, and after writing it down, takes Susie there that night. As Susie excitedly chirps about the apartment, she realizes Miriam has led her to a lesbian bar. Susie is incredulous and reminds Miriam that she’s not in the mood for romance right now. She’s focused on Susie Myreson and Associates and isn’t exactly happy with Miriam interfering. After a failed bar trip, Miriam opens up her show with another rousing stand up but there are still issues with the curtains and backstage woes. Meanwhile, Abe meets Agent Webber where – under oath – he incriminates Asher and tells the agent that he was waiting outside the building. Asher was the one who lit the fire and committed arson, with Abe severing ties between them. But why? Well, it turns out Abe is still hung up over Asher and Rose dating in the past. So he’s selling him out to the FBI on the back of this incident 35 years back. Asher is livid and eventually packs up his things and leaves. Miriam heads off to Joel’s bar and riffs about her issues. Joel is not exactly thrilled with her working in a strip club. He thinks it’s a step back, especially after opening for Shy Baldwin. Joel does eventually cave though and lets her do a 10 minute gig, urging her not to stink the place out too much. Susie heads to her new office and begins drawing up a list of things that need to be replaced. While sorting out her desk, Sophie appears. She admits she’s actually unable to be booked and she’s over-expended too. Her manager has left but Sophie needs Susie’s help. There’s a new NBC game-show and Sophie believes she’d be a great host. Only, no one is returning her calls. Susie admits there’s nothing she can do but with Dawes gone and Sophie left alone, Susie takes pity on her and agrees to help as long as she loses her number afterwards. “What the f*ck is wrong with me?!” She says, exasperating, as Sophie leaves. As the episode comes to a close, Miriam heads back to the strip club and unlike the opening of this episode, her show does ahead without a hitch. Well, save for Miriam falling in the pit after the show. Other than that, everything has gone swimmingly!
The Episode Review
Marvelous Mrs Maisel returns with another episode that’s not exactly marvelous. We’re halfway through this show and barely anything has really happened, save for Miriam determined to “change the game.” The subject of love is a recurring theme here and that’s typified through all of our characters and what they’re going through. While that in itself is interesting, it also loses sight over what this show originally was – a story of a housewife making it big as an empowering stand-out comic. A lot of Miriam’s issues have been self-inflicted so in that respect it’s hard to really empathize with what she’s going through right now. However, the show manages to instill just the right amount of comedy through Miriam’s stand-ups but these are few and far between in what’s otherwise been another pretty mediocre episode. Hopefully things pick up toward the end of this season.
