The second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is ten episodes long. Each episode is around 45minutes to an hour long, and is once again an Amazon Prime Original. Set in 1950’s New York, it continues on after a short amount of time from the end of the first season. Midge is still working, although she is now demoted to a switchboard operator after the scene that was caused by her husband’s ex-lover. Meanwhile, she has also seemed to ruin the prospects of coming back together with her husband, Joel.
Joel starts off being as selfish as ever and after all the mistakes that he had made, he now cannot accept his wife effectively trash-talking about him when she goes onstage. Having to see Midge becoming a standup comedian and actually succeeding in making the audience laugh, something he never could have done, makes him jealous and he cannot live with it. Joel’s behavior actually improves though. While he still cannot accept Midge as she is now, he’s a lot more tolerant of it. He truly loves his kids, and still harbors feelings for Midge. Both sets of parents have now given up on the pair ever reuniting and instead are pushing them to finding new partners, which feels weird considering the time period that the show is set in.
A prominent theme of the season has both Midge and Joel moving on. While it is obvious that their hearts are still with each other, both of them cannot accept something of the other, thus preventing them from making up. As a result, we can see the characters flirting with others, and finding new people to date. Like the first season, the show puts Midge’s journey to a successful standup comedian as something that happens in the background, never talking the full focus. Instead, it looks into her life and how it starts to fall apart around her. The first episode throws you off since it doesn’t even touch upon Midge at first. Instead, we see the fallout of her parents instead, and all the stress that they had been experiencing due to Midge’s marriage breakdown. The season reveals a lot about Midge’s family, such as the father’s job and that Midge actually has a brother.
Midge continues to discover what a struggle it can be for a woman comedian. She is often insulted by the other males, who are adamant that woman cannot be funny. Yet, she manages to make the audience laugh. Her biggest obstacle is making a name of herself such that she can get away with her content, which often causes controversy with the owners or other performers. It is a tough road for her as she eventually, although slowly, ventures out of New York City.
While Midge is finally gaining more success for herself, we see how this is slowly changing the way she acts too. She’s cruder, and swears a lot more. She misjudges her audience and uses inappropriate jokes. This means that there are scenes where you will cringe at how badly Midge has misread the audience and fails spectacularly in making anyone laugh. Midge has been able to keep her comedy side gig a secret from her family and her friends. However, her parents are starting to suspect something, since you know, their daughter has been sneaking out nearly every night going to who knows where. It doesn’t help that a lot of Midge’s content is based on the people closest to her, and she does not speak of them in a favorable light.
While Midge and Susie are very compatible with each other, they do get into each other’s throats from time to time. Susie’s expectation of being a manager can be different to Midge’s, and their clashes can be ugly. The good thing is that they are such good friends that it blows over fairly easy and quickly.
Things can become a bit confusing, moving back and forth, especially during the season finale. Midge makes various big decisions that will have a significant impact to her life, and her idea of an ideal life. Her parents aren’t any better, as they are experience crises of their own. It is a double edged blade since while it’s great to see Midge finally getting the recognition she deserves, at the same time, it is pulling her away from her old life (which she had enjoyed) more and more.
Overall, the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is noticeably stronger than the first season. The pacing is better and the jokes have improved. Characters now have more depth to them and thus it is a lot easier to empathize with them. The focus on life during that era, as well as Midge’s various interactions with other people is done well, keeping the show interesting.
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