Even though I’m still not fully convinced Midge has been sufficiently humbled, at least “Billy Jones and the Orgy Lamps†forces her — and Abe! — to take a hard look at what it means to pursue a career you love. Especially if it’s a career that isn’t paying you what you’re worth.
We open with Midge charging full speed ahead with her financially precarious plan to move back into her old apartment. This includes visiting the local merchants and charming them into extending her credit line. Because she has no cash, of course. Tell me why this was a good idea again? Oh, and for some reason, Midge has decided that the best way to purge the memory of Joel dumping her is to feng shui her furniture in such a way that she risks breaking her kneecaps every time she enters the bedroom. Ooookaaaayyyy.
The only decision Midge makes in these early scenes that makes a whit of sense (narratively speaking, that is; Rose and Abe would’ve killed Shirley and Moishe by now if they had stayed in Queens) is inviting her parents to come live with her and the children. “And, of course, Zelda.†It should be a simple transaction, but hey, who am I to complain if this scene is peppered with feminism-shaming and another one of Abe’s fabulous monologues about The Twilight Zone? (On the agenda tonight, “A Stop at Willoughby.â€) Anyway, Rose likes Midge’s idea, while Abe thinks it’s “stupid.†Not because he’s embarrassed his daughter is taking him in — he still thinks a woman owning her own apartment will damage her future marriage prospects.
I’d be infuriated with Abe’s misogyny if I wasn’t laughing so hard at Midge’s sick Twilight Zone burn about how “either everyone’s dead, and they don’t know it, or they think they’re dead, but they’re actually alive. Or they’re from outer space, and they don’t know it. Or they think they’re dead but from outer space, and they don’t know it!†There’s no question Rod Serling created a seminal television program, but he did overuse those tropes. Including the alternate-reality one.
So the Weissmans agree to move in, but only on the condition that they have a cover story: Rose and Abe bought the apartment back for their daughter. “We can’t have the neighbors thinking we’re charity cases,†declares an on-brand Rose.
Back in Non-First-World-Problems Land, Susie is at a bucolic country estate, receiving similar instructions to the ones Clarice Starling was given before her first meeting with Hannibal — like not mentioning past paramours (who knew Jan and Dean could get it?). Bedecked in her jewels and turban, Jane Lynch’s Sophie Lennon remains formidable even in a “severely fragile state.†I put that in quotes because apparently Sophie’s post–Miss Julie “nervous breakdown†was a carefully curated business decision. Or was it? The fact that Sophie refuses to terminate her contract with Susie suggests she may rightfully belong at this mental=health facility. Clearly, Sophie’s “Lucille fucking Ball†signature signals a continued collaboration this season whether Susie wants it or not.
It doesn’t take long for Midge’s lack of cash flow to start biting her in the ass: The milkman won’t deliver to her apartment on a credit basis (the old account was in Joel’s name, so Midge has no credit history). And things only spiral from there. A morning news program announces Shy Baldwin’s engagement to his “longtime girlfriend,†causing a distraught Midge to drop the F-bomb in front of Esther during the kid’s first on-camera appearance in season four. (If you’re interested, Rachel Brosnahan discusses the art of professionally cursing at a toddler — and having to pay for this kid’s therapy someday — with Jimmy Kimmel in this clip.)
Midge then calls her own therapist Susie in a panic. Fortunately for Midge and her knees, unloading her setbacks onto her manager convinces her to rearrange her bedroom into one fit for human occupancy. But Midge and her problems take a back seat to Susie’s own. Good news: The insurance check is finally being cut. Bad news: This happened because Tessie slept with the formerly apprehensive insurance agent, and now she’s working for the insurance company.
Between Sophie’s unstable behavior and Midge’s newfound refusal to play anywhere she can’t speak her mind, Susie needs some management mentorship, stat. She accosts Harry Drake in Central Park, where the man who once sent two hitmen after her is now offering some of the soundest praise of her career. Ah, showbiz. It turns out it doesn’t matter that Sophie had a meltdown during Miss Julie because Susie got the “Put That on Your Plate!†comic on Broadway, which means people are talking about her. Susie, that is. Not Sophie. It’s just the motivation our scrappy manager needs, giving her the confidence to take Harry’s advice: Get Midge back onstage — in a venue that pays. As in, not the comfy-cozy Gaslight.
Susie drags Midge to a club downtown, where the booker won’t let Mrs. Maisel perform, but when has that ever stopped her? Midge warms up by downing a few and reciting the predictable comics’ “hack†routines along with them. When the next hack, Billy Jones (of episode title fame), is called to the stage during his cigarette break, Susie locks him out of the building, allowing Midge just enough time for a tight ten. Except Midge doesn’t do her tight ten, she does Billy’s tight ten. Because she does those acts better than every other comedian who walked onto that stage — and in heels. Except now she’s been thrown out of the club, banned for life, and arrested for offering people a “good time.†It’s a fucking man’s world indeed.
Midge holds court in jail, speed-grousing about the male-female double standard. But not without The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s most self-aware moment to date: Someone asks Midge if she’s in for cocaine. It’s there that Midge meets a young woman named Gloria (Kayli Carter of Mrs. America), and she persuades Susie to bail her out as well. The three women head over to Gloria’s place of business — a strip club — so Gloria can pay Susie back.
At the strip club, Midge wanders over to the stage, where she overhears that the in-house comedian is moving on. Are those wheels I hear turning in her head?
I hope so because I want to see Midge and Susie become financially independent if only so Susie never has to come crawling to Joel for help ever again. Once she has the insurance check in hand, she presents it to Midge’s ex (or is he? Do we know if they ever got that drunken Vegas marriage annulled?), effectively settling her debt to him. Look, I know Joel is on edge when Susie creeps into his office apartment; Shirley tried setting him up with a divorced pregnant woman, and he couldn’t bring himself to tell his mother about Mei. But that is no excuse to get menacingly possessive about your former wife WHEN MEI IS ASLEEP IN YOUR BED.
When Midge returns home, it’s time for a sobering conversation with her father. Although maybe sobering isn’t the right word considering Abe is so wasted he doesn’t bat an eye when his daughter announces she was arrested for prostitution. Abe, to his credit, is slowly beginning to understand why Midge pursues a career with little-to-no financial benefits. Now that he’s employed as a theater critic for The Village Voice, he’s in the exact same position: He loves the work. He loves the people. He loves that the people love him. What he doesn’t love is the meager salary. Man, when Abe’s face fell upon seeing that first paycheck, every journalist felt that pain with him. “Both of us are pursuing our art. Although one of us pursuing banking would’ve been smart,†he remarks to Midge.
Well, maybe not banking. Rose’s nascent matchmaking service is still flying under the radar, but I predict she’ll end up the brilliant businesswoman of the family.
More Maisel Musings!
• I know Midge had to get arrested so she could meet Gloria, end up at the strip club, and have a lightbulb career moment, but can we just stop with putting Midge in jail already? It’s so season one.
• Even if it’s true, you never want to tell a pharmacist that they’re “the best drug dealer in town!â€
• The Pyrex! It’s back!
• Dawes the butler serving Sophie her pills in full white tie is just chef’s kiss.