The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - Season 1 Review
This review of Season 1 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is spoiler-free.
Amazon. Not exactly a place people used to associate with good television. "The website that does all the online shopping?" Yes my fellow media nuts, the website that does online shopping (but that is also slowly taking over the world but that's for another day). If you weren't aware to this point Amazon Prime is a pretty big deal nowadays. They've had major success with a lot of their original properties and I'm here to tell you that out of everything I've seen on Prime, or for that matter anywhere on TV: there's nothing like Mrs. Maisel.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is the story of a young housewife, from the creator of Gilmore Girls, living what she considers to be the perfect life. She has her two children and husband Joel Maisel (Michael Zegen) in the upper east side of New York City. It's hard to truly describe this show in depth without getting into the nitty gritty, but after her life is uprooted in the pilot she discovers she has a knack for something very unexpected: comedy. The first season tackles all kinds of themes with the 50s world and the general idea of a female comic, along with dealing with issues with her family and children. Sure that doesn't sound all that exciting from the get but there's one thing that really gets the ball rolling in the right direction and sold the show for me immediately: Mirian "Midge" Maisel.
Rachel Brosnahan is absolutely brilliant in this show. From the very pilot I found myself invested in her story and wanting to know what happened next. The range of emotion she shows throughout the show is incredible and something to behold. She carries this series of great television on her shoulders with some help from the other major pieces of the cast. Honestly, there aren't really words to describe how great she comes off and how enjoyable and sympathetic she makes Midge. The 50s atmosphere I feel almost plays to her strengths, as she's able to work with the history of the era and deal with stereotypes presented by being a woman comic and it's just works so well.
Speaking of the 50s, let's get into the look and feel of Mrs. Maisel. First of all, I'm a huge fan of this period of American history. Not necessarily the darker areas behind the curtain but I love the look of this decade along with the music of the entire early 20th century. Being such a huge fan of this I really felt like this was nailed down to a T. Seeing the little details like exit signs in the far of sets changed to appear older and more worn down was incredible. I have to praise set designers and costume designers for simply understanding this period and matching the tone of each scene to the atmosphere around the characters. Midge's perfect life involved living in a very lavish apartment with her family right nearby and I just always found myself loving the contrast between the two worlds presented in the show: her housewife life and her comic life.
Speaking of Midge's two lives there are a few other characters I felt really fed into the success of this show as a whole. Her parents, Abe and Rose Weissman, while maybe not scene stealers are both excellent additions to the cast. They represent everything Midge realizes she fears, becoming a normal 50s family who is just regular and normal. Seeing her differences with them is great and the clashing styles of characters creates excellent scenes. I never felt the emotion shown by her parents was unnecessary, it always made sense. The other major character who played a major part in the show is her "agent" Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein). Susie is an absolute killer and I grew to care about her just as much as Midge. Understandably though, her story revolves around that of Midge, as she uprooted her world to help Midge because she saw something in her that proved to her she would make it in the industry.
If there was one thing in the show that really didn't stick for me, and I'm sure this is completely different that many other pundits in this field, it would be Joel Maisel. After doing something terrible in the pilot, they attempt to rebuild his reputation and show how much he suffers from the choice he made. I never could understand what his story was about, whether it was meant to show he should be disliked or liked. Up to his very last scene in the season, I was left confused about this and really just want to know what the purpose of his arc was to be. I was left thinking we should be happy about how it ended, but I'm sure some would say it was an emotional ending to the first season.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a testament to a genre show having something for everyone. Everyone could pass this off as just another female dramedy, but we would all be stupid to do this. If there's one thing Mrs. Maisel taught me it's that we need to go and try the things that maybe we don't necessarily think are for us. I did that with this show, and I think we all should give it a go not just here, but in all aspects of life. This is a show that despite a few flaws, stands out as some of the great television this year.
