[yasr_overall_rating]
A rich housewife in New York in 1958 is left by her husband. Furious, she takes a bottle of wine and walks into a comedy club, where she starts, in a odd way, her career as a stand up comedian basically by having a funny meltdown in public.
That is the premise of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the new comedy series written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the creators of Gilmore Girls. Its first season is available on Amazon Prime and the second season has been already confirmed. It also won the Golden Globes for Best Comedy and Best Actress in a Comedy Show.
Anyone who was seen Gilmore Girls will recognize the (very) fast talking and the great number of cultural references in Mrs. Maisel too, only now the characters are allowed to use curse words. Moreover, the story is so well written and the characters so rich of details and backstories, it is hard to believe it has only 8 episodes so far.
Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is the housewife abandoned by her husband, but she is far from being a victim. She is a problem solver and an extremely clever woman with brilliant observations of anything around her. Her husband Joel (Michael Zegen) leaves her for his secretary, but Joel isn’t fully convinced of what he wants for his life. He works for a big company but dreams of being a stand-up comedian and, as he points out, “a dream is what keeps you going in a job you hate”. The problem? He’s not very good at it.
Meanwhile, Midge is considered very funny by Susie (Alex Borstein), a booker at one of the comedy bars and possibly the most hilarious character in the show. She is not afraid to speak her mind and knows everything there is to know about the comedy landscape in New York.
The other characters are also hilarious, with special attention to Midge’s parents Abe Weissman (Tony Shalhoub) and Rose Weissman (Marin Hinkle), who struggle with the fact that their daughter by get divorced soon.
Another great aspect of the show is how it transports us to 1950s New York with some wonderful costumes, sets, and soundtrack.
However, the most appealing thing about the show is its originality: putting a woman in an environment that is, to this day, dominated by man is extremely interesting. Seeing Midge confronting standards and standing up for herself when other men (and some women) think she is behaving inappropriately is fun and refreshing. Now we just have to wait patiently for season 2 and whatever Midge may come up with next.
