The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season Two)

After a very strong first season, I was pleased to see that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was able to turn things up a notch in its sophomore campaign. The show explores Midge's continuing progress toward stardom, including battles against Sophie Lennon, unhelpful gig bookers, her family, and per usual, misogyny. Unlike in Season One, there's fewer questions surrounding Midge's comedic ability and more focus on how difficult it can be for a woman in the late 50's to make it even if talent is taken as a given.

The best arc of the season involves the three episodes in which the Maisel family heads to a summer vacation spot of sorts in the Catskills with many other families. Susie, still trying to get gigs for Midge, humorously finds a way to get room and board at the site simply by walking around carrying a plunger (to which she develops emotional attachment), because everyone assumes that she's on the janitorial staff. One of said gigs puts Midge's comedy life and her family life on a collision course in possibly the most dramatic and hysterical way possible. "Midnight at the Concord" is probably the high point of the season, and the series' best episode other than the Season One finale, "Thank You and Good Night".

The series' other characters have excellent seasons as well. Susie gets noticed for her talents as a manager, and Abe's descent into madness over the course of the season is extremely amusing to watch, because Tony Shalhoub sells the eccentricity so well. Joel continues to grow as a sympathetic character, and a guy who could have simply been a knucklehead who was written out of the show after the first episode gets a chance to grow as a businessman and a person. He even has a few heroic turns during the season. The show's handling and development of Joel has consistently been a strong point of the series, and he's probably the best-drawn character other than Midge.

There's no shortage of cliffhangers at the end of Season Two as Abe contemplates a career change, Midge's comedy act could take a dramatic new turn (which may test her professional relationship with Susie), and Midge's romantic life is an absolute whirlwind. The little universe this show has crafted is extremely well put-together, and I'm very excited to return to it for Season Three.

Season Grade: A

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season One)

If you watched last summer's Emmy Awards, you know that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel absolutely cleaned up, winning the awards for Comedy Series, Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Rachel Brosnahan), Supporting Actress (Alex Borstein), and Casting for a Comedy Series. It was straight up dominance, and after watching just a couple episodes of the excellent first season, it's not hard to see why everyone was so in love with the show.

Maisel is set in the late 1950s in New York City. Miriam "Midge" Maisel (Brosnahan) is a housewife to her husband Joel (Michael Zegen) and their two children. Both Midge and Joel come from Jewish families, and the show explores their often complicated relationships with their parents. It's established early on that Midge is essentially a flawless supporter of Joel, going over the top to make him happy and help him to be successful. In particular, Joel is an aspiring stand-up comic and though he's not funny at all, he achieves whatever modest success he has to Midge's assistance with preparing him and setting up his gigs.

Joel is unappreciative of what he has in Midge and winds up leaving her, which leads to Midge getting drunk and trying her own hand at stand-up comedy. She's wildly successful, which gets the attention of Susie Myerson (Borstein), who encourages Midge to pursue comedy and becomes her manager. That's essentially the set up for Season One.

Over the course of the season the show covers the fallout from Joel and Midge's separation, including the complicated effect it has on the parents of each. Midge's stand-up career has its ups and downs, and the difficulties of trying to make it in the comedy world -- even for someone as clearly talented as Midge -- are made clear. Maisel has rich, multi-dimensional characters; even Joel, whose behavior early on garners him no sympathy, experiences a great deal of growth to the point where he's not completely loathsome by the end of the season (which is really saying something).

One odd observation I had about the first season is how little Midge and Joel interact with their children. Midge ostensibly goes out all the time to practice comedy and enjoy parties. She seems to enjoy the relative freedom of a childless woman. It seems like she just dumps the kids on her parents all the time. I have two kids who are each about a year older than the two kids on the show, and as my wife and I are in a comparable stage of life, it just seems bizarre to me. 

Brosnahan is absolutely stellar in the lead role, and Borstein is hilarious as the sarcastic, quick-witted Susie. Tony Shalhoub was nominated for an Emmy for playing Midge's stern, math-professor father, and I thought that was a well-deserved honor. Maisel kept us laughing throughout while keeping us invested in the characters' storylines. Season Two is out now as well, and while we have some other TV to catch up on in the interim, continuing this show is pretty high on our priority list.

Season Grade: A-