User Reviews

I'm going to be forgiving and say this is a transitional episode. There are some links to first episode. We have the frenetic Mrs. Maisel zooming around getting her apartment in shape. She then gets her parents to move in, but it's on the condition that people think they were paying for it. Susie goes to a mental institution to visit Jane Lynch to get her to sign off on her obligations as a talent agent. There are a few little moments. But Midge's behavior is almost as out of control as it can be.

Nice episode. This show operates better when it doesn't overdue the chaotic over the top dialogue. And when it focuses on the story rather than keeping up with their style.

There are more than a few extended and excellent verbal exchanges in this episode. They are witty and insightful. The wittiest? Susie's 'nut house' visit with Sophie Lennon. It shifts from surreal to cunning to a hilarious punch line seamlessly. The most poignant? Again, it's Susie talking with the old agent in the park. He explains comedians to her and also reveals a lot of what it must be like when you hitch your wagon to them. It's so very well done.

One more 'Susie' moment involves a phone conversation with her sister. Probably meant to be some sort of comment on what women have to do to get things done, it's so darn funny that as a stand-alone it's right up there with any Abbot and Costello routine imaginable.

I'll omit my personal quibbles about too many story lines to get right to the highlight of the show, the visual metaphors. Whether it's Midge rearranging her bedroom (the slightest visual treat and almost over-done with pratfalls) to three exquisite representations within the storytelling.

First there's Midge on stage. A woman in a man's world which tosses her aside. Then Mrs. Maisel in 'language prison'...literally. Honestly, this scene alone would make the episode outstanding. But then, it gets even better.

At the end of the episode we see Midge exploring...wondering and then wandering through a sleazy theater. We take the journey right beside her. We're there. And then she sees, as do we, that if she does what others want her to, her life will become a sad burlesque of what it could, what it should, be. She won't be telling jokes. She'll become a joke. And, a sad one at that.

When is it going to get funny? She isn't doing clubs or shows of any kind. Three people complaining about how the kitchen is organized is just ridiculously bad. Did they lose all their writers.