The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 4 - All Episodes
March 19, 2022 11:17 AM - Season 4 (Full Season) - Subscribe
The fourth season finds Midge enraged and humiliated after being dropped from Shy Baldwin's tour.
I enjoyed it at the time but once this season was done, I agree that I'm not really sure how much forward progress was made. I'm tired of Midge getting in her own way all the time and her relationship with Susie, whch to me is the true core of the show, was kind of put on the back burner.
posted by edencosmic at 12:58 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by edencosmic at 12:58 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
I bailed on this series during this season. I understand that the characters are eccentric and we are supposed to be amused by their antics, but they came across as very annoying this season. The behavior of Midge and Susie at Shy's wedding reception was just crass. Susie doesn't know why she wants a secretary. Midge is too dim to realize the refrigerator is broken. They just don't seem fun anymore.
posted by SPrintF at 3:09 PM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 3:09 PM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is the Susie show for me this season.
Realizing that Midge is just not reliable (or maybe just reliably self obsessed), and trying to move on.
The phone call with her sister after she got her new job at the insurance company was maybe one of the funniest scenes in all four seasons. The magician was believably annoying, too.
I've also been very interested in Mei (May?). She has been interesting in every scene so far (I'm pretty sure I'm not done the season yet).
I did appreciate how Midge essentially took it on as her mission to improve working conditions at the strip club. I think that shows a better side of her than her standup act.
posted by Acari at 4:59 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Realizing that Midge is just not reliable (or maybe just reliably self obsessed), and trying to move on.
The phone call with her sister after she got her new job at the insurance company was maybe one of the funniest scenes in all four seasons. The magician was believably annoying, too.
I've also been very interested in Mei (May?). She has been interesting in every scene so far (I'm pretty sure I'm not done the season yet).
I did appreciate how Midge essentially took it on as her mission to improve working conditions at the strip club. I think that shows a better side of her than her standup act.
posted by Acari at 4:59 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Preferred the only-occasionally-seen semi-divine-being Lenny Bruce of earlier seasons. Turning him into an actual character in the story (one who wants to have sex with Midge) seemed like a step backwards. A heroes with feet of clay step I suppose.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:58 AM on March 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:58 AM on March 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
This wasn't the best season obviously. I think it was a transition season, marred by COVID. They had to get Midge from the low of getting fired by Shy Baldwin to seeing a way to "go forward". There's an arc there, however small. And hopefully she finally learns how to read a room.
I still love the big set pieces this show pulls off. Midge on Christopher Street, the tracking shots through the burlesque theater, etc. Whatever money Amazon is pumping into this, it's showing up on the screen.
Susie is in so deep with those two mafia goons it is going to take Mei's family to get her out. Or maybe they'll be used to stop the gang war with the matchmakers. But to me, that's a gun sitting on the shelf.
Moishe's near-death was a reckoning for so many characters, that was well done. So was Midge's monologue that night.
I somewhat enjoy Sophie but after her last insane act, it's time to retire that character.
posted by Ber at 9:35 AM on March 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
I still love the big set pieces this show pulls off. Midge on Christopher Street, the tracking shots through the burlesque theater, etc. Whatever money Amazon is pumping into this, it's showing up on the screen.
Susie is in so deep with those two mafia goons it is going to take Mei's family to get her out. Or maybe they'll be used to stop the gang war with the matchmakers. But to me, that's a gun sitting on the shelf.
Moishe's near-death was a reckoning for so many characters, that was well done. So was Midge's monologue that night.
I somewhat enjoy Sophie but after her last insane act, it's time to retire that character.
posted by Ber at 9:35 AM on March 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
We just wrapped this up last night. Still mulling it over - it wasn't as strong as some other seasons and I do agree with the sentiment of not turning Lenny Bruce into a regular character. I guess it was necessary to get to a scene where someone could get through to Midge.
I'm enjoying the show, though, and I'm invested in all the characters. I really appreciate that they've made the in-laws so much more sympathetic, and I really want more time with Mei.
The bit with Shirley being hypnotized and doing Midge's act was... a bit of a stretch, to be honest. I'd seen a clip of that elsewhere before seeing the episode and assumed she got up to do the act of her own accord. The hypnosis angle was a bit hard to swallow. I get why they wanted to turn the tables and put Shirley on stage, but the path to it was a bit strained.
Probably my least favorite season so far, but some of my favorite individual scenes. Still interested in where they're going with it, for sure.
posted by jzb at 9:00 AM on March 25, 2022
I'm enjoying the show, though, and I'm invested in all the characters. I really appreciate that they've made the in-laws so much more sympathetic, and I really want more time with Mei.
The bit with Shirley being hypnotized and doing Midge's act was... a bit of a stretch, to be honest. I'd seen a clip of that elsewhere before seeing the episode and assumed she got up to do the act of her own accord. The hypnosis angle was a bit hard to swallow. I get why they wanted to turn the tables and put Shirley on stage, but the path to it was a bit strained.
Probably my least favorite season so far, but some of my favorite individual scenes. Still interested in where they're going with it, for sure.
posted by jzb at 9:00 AM on March 25, 2022
My involuntary anachronism alert was again triggered several times this season:
• Midge saying "It sucks" while in the diner: It wasn't until the 1970s when "sucks" became a pejorative.
• Rose having trouble lighting the gas stove as its igniter clicks: I'm pretty sure that electric lighters for gas stoves didn't appear until at least the 1970s. A gas stove in 1960 would have had a pilot light. Couldn't find when consumer gas stoves with electric igniters came out, but here's an article from 1977 about banning gas stoves with pilot lights.
• The salad spinner wasn't developed until the 1970s.
• Moishe saying too much salt caused his heart problems. This one I'm not so sure about, but I have the feeling in 1960 salt wasn't the health risk it later became considered.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:57 AM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
• Midge saying "It sucks" while in the diner: It wasn't until the 1970s when "sucks" became a pejorative.
• Rose having trouble lighting the gas stove as its igniter clicks: I'm pretty sure that electric lighters for gas stoves didn't appear until at least the 1970s. A gas stove in 1960 would have had a pilot light. Couldn't find when consumer gas stoves with electric igniters came out, but here's an article from 1977 about banning gas stoves with pilot lights.
• The salad spinner wasn't developed until the 1970s.
• Moishe saying too much salt caused his heart problems. This one I'm not so sure about, but I have the feeling in 1960 salt wasn't the health risk it later became considered.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:57 AM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
The comedy remains good but I agree the plot for the season was all setup and no resolution:
1. The Maisels still don't know about Mai, and the bit they do know almost killed Moishe.
2. Joel's Button Club money is stolen, with no resolution or apparent impact.
3. Rose finds a rich new client, but there's no resolution for that or her marriage mafia antagonists.
4. The most plot progress is that Susie has an office now, but she owes the mob a favor and the insurance arson fraud remains a loose end for sure.
5. Abe's incident with "Mister Fibbi" seems either unresolved or resolved out of sight.
6. The Weissmans still can't afford to live in their community, having gone from living in a spare room in their ex-in-laws house to a spare room in an apartment their ex-in-laws also own.
If season 5 is the final season, that's a lot of rifles that need to fire. It's gonna be tough to tie everything up in a neat bow in 8 episodes, plus, the show appears to be building up for a JFK assassination episode and presumably Migde's plot ends with a 1965 talk show endorsement "you're gonna be a star!" quote.
I'm also unsure what to make of Midge's season 4 plotline. Her season opening monologue was about revenge, but the quest quickly turns quixotic, as her nemeses are all minorities: a black talent manager, a gay crooner, a woman journalist, a jealous senior actress, and even her own mother. IMO only one of those is satisfactorily resolved, though the show makes some throwaway comments that ambiguously resolve them-- the awful Sophie promises to deal with L. Roy Dunham, just before sabotaging Midge again, Reggie is fired or paid off depending on who you ask. Sophie has her show and presumably blew her chance to use Midge to recruit Susie. At best the real enemy is faceless: a legal team monitoring Shy 24x7, a corporate policy denying divorced women credit, or a fairly open minded accountant running the books at an illegal burlesque show. But really the main villain of Midges' season 4 plot is Midge.
posted by pwnguin at 1:47 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
1. The Maisels still don't know about Mai, and the bit they do know almost killed Moishe.
2. Joel's Button Club money is stolen, with no resolution or apparent impact.
3. Rose finds a rich new client, but there's no resolution for that or her marriage mafia antagonists.
4. The most plot progress is that Susie has an office now, but she owes the mob a favor and the insurance arson fraud remains a loose end for sure.
5. Abe's incident with "Mister Fibbi" seems either unresolved or resolved out of sight.
6. The Weissmans still can't afford to live in their community, having gone from living in a spare room in their ex-in-laws house to a spare room in an apartment their ex-in-laws also own.
If season 5 is the final season, that's a lot of rifles that need to fire. It's gonna be tough to tie everything up in a neat bow in 8 episodes, plus, the show appears to be building up for a JFK assassination episode and presumably Migde's plot ends with a 1965 talk show endorsement "you're gonna be a star!" quote.
I'm also unsure what to make of Midge's season 4 plotline. Her season opening monologue was about revenge, but the quest quickly turns quixotic, as her nemeses are all minorities: a black talent manager, a gay crooner, a woman journalist, a jealous senior actress, and even her own mother. IMO only one of those is satisfactorily resolved, though the show makes some throwaway comments that ambiguously resolve them-- the awful Sophie promises to deal with L. Roy Dunham, just before sabotaging Midge again, Reggie is fired or paid off depending on who you ask. Sophie has her show and presumably blew her chance to use Midge to recruit Susie. At best the real enemy is faceless: a legal team monitoring Shy 24x7, a corporate policy denying divorced women credit, or a fairly open minded accountant running the books at an illegal burlesque show. But really the main villain of Midges' season 4 plot is Midge.
posted by pwnguin at 1:47 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
All of the above. I only watch for Lenny, Imogene and Susie's sister. Gotta endure the dross for the gold.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 7:19 AM on March 28, 2022
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 7:19 AM on March 28, 2022
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Overall, I found the season a bit underwhelming. I don't feel like many pieces moved throughout the season, especially with Midge, who I'm not sure had much of a character arc. I thought the season was spinning its wheels a bit.
posted by synecdoche at 11:18 AM on March 19, 2022