.A mantra.

Midge is one of my icons and I aspire to be bold, audacious, and courageous like her and build the life of my dreams. May we all be so inspired.

This is just my opinion so please don’t be offended.

I find her so unlikeable. I’m only on season 2 ep 9 so hopefully she gets better but as a character - I can’t stand her.

I like the show as a whole, but she has no regard for how her actions affect others. She seems like a terrible friend and is entirely stuck up in her own little world. She is a judgemental person & just goes around wreaking havoc with no regard for others time/financial situation/ feelings. I feel it’s a running thing that she keeps forgetting/missing/being late to things and then showing absolutely 0 remorse.

I don’t think the writing is bad - I get that coming from a wealthy family, she may say/do things that are in line with her upbringing. Also the time period will have an impact on how she acts in terms of being judgemental/entitled etc. (for example being rude about peoples appearances).

Is she meant to be a likeable character? I’m hoping as the show progresses she can show her caring and compassionate side but currently not seeing it!

Isn’t that why we love her? She’s human and says the truth… regardless of how far it goes… Susie noticed it instantly and knew Miriam could and would self-sabotage for the sake of being who she is/ herself… like not being able to NOT EXPOSE Sophie Lennon… Miriam loses friends throughout the show because of what she says and is inappropriate- but isn’t that what makes her HER?

Susie mentions it talking about her throughout the series….

I just so so much want to see the blooperreel from that scene. Genius!

I just wanted to point that out. I loved Midge, but she tore him apart from his friends, his partner (his Suzie), control of his own life, and then when he wanted to take her out to drink she had the gall to be all like we are not friends.

It has been about a year since I finished the show but I'm rewatching it and thought I would give my thoughts on it.

Overall Feelings about the Show: I love this show; it is one of my favorites, and it is so easy to watch. It is funny, heartwarming, and really charming. I would recommend that people watch this show, as it has great moments and is overall so amazing.

Favorite Characters:

• Susie: Every scene with her is hilarious and she's such an interesting and compelling character. I love her.
• Joel: If someone wants to know how to develop a character, look at Joel. He had some of the best character development and went from one of my least favorites to one of my favorites, and I think he was great.
• Abe: I like him because I relate to him in a way that I can't explain but he is funny and also has really good development, and when he realizes how remarkable Midge is, it is heartbreaking in a good way.

Things I Liked

• The Catskills episodes were a great change of scenery, and the episodes were so great and funny.
• Midge's outfits were both so cute and unique and I relate to her in the fact that I could see myself also calling someone at 5 in the morning because I realized that my outfit must be a certain way.
• The ending for me was great and I liked how it ended with Midge and Susie laughing together. It's one of the best endings of any show I've watched.
• Susie's and Midge's friendship is probably the best part of show and it's so great.
• Midges and Joel's relationship, which could have gone in many directions, but I love the way it turned out, emphasized how much they truly loved each other even though they weren't married.
• How quotable this show is, I reference it a lot in my daily life and use lines from the show in conversation.
• Devotion is one of my favorite tropes and this has devotion.

Things I Disliked

• Midge being a bad mother, it does make sense that Midge would not be able to be so attentive because of her job, but they really doubled down on this in the last season and didn't really like it. Before, it was up to debate whether she was a bad mom, but she had been shown caring for her kids only to not care whatsoever and make jokes about them constantly. She went from what seemed like an average working mother to one who just didn't care at all, and I didn't like it because it kind of came out of nowhere.
• It was crazy to me that in season 4, they framed it like Midge had the right to be upset about Shy Baldwin firing her and wanting revenge when what she did could have cost him everything. Now Midge was allowed to be upset but she did this to herself and yes, it was mistake but instead of sitting and listening to why what she did was horrible, she wanted revenge and felt like she should have been given the right to apologize as if that would fix everything and that what she did was minor. The way the show framed this, as if Midge was right and Shy was evil for what he did, is not okay. It just gets worse when Midge also feels she should be able to go on stage and say whatever she wants because it might get laughs.
• Almost the entirety of season 4, it is basically the weakest season, and once again followed the trope of many shows today where they add so many new things while also stopping character development right before the last season, resulting in having to quickly tie up loose ends in the last season, making the last season feel rushed. I don't think there is one episode of season 4 that I really like; it does have some good moments, but I don't like it.

Big fan of both shows. There is an easy chance if they were in the same universe they would run into each other, what do you think a don and midge run in would look like?

I’ve been saving this show for the longest time, waiting to watch it when I really needed a good and long comfort show.

It’s finally that time and I watched several episodes. I didn’t understand one scene/joke and looked it up just for google to keep referencing season 5.

Did the same scene/joke happen in season 5? That would be weird..

Then it dawned on me. When I clicked on the show on Amazon prime and clicked start episode 1.. it started me on season 5 episode 1 😭

I now know the basic endings of pretty much the whole trajectory of the characters up to the last season.

Who currently performing is most similar to Midge’s style? Not a one liner comic but a story comic?

So I was reading this ao3 fic where the main ship is Abe and Rose and they write in how she suffers a miscarriage between Noah and Miriam, and Miriam is their “rainbow baby.” At first I was like whattt but the more I think the more it makes sense.

First of all, Rose projects so much onto Midge to be perfect and I can sense her being overprotective of her especially as well. Ik that’s a trope w Jewish parents but we don’t see her interacting with Noah in that way at all, and there’s been opportunities for that (S2E6) . It could be simply bc midge lives closer and just difference in dynamics but idk.

Also the “three before thirty” talk w Drina in S1E2. She said “that was my mistake I waited too long between Miriam and Noah” or something along those lines. She seems like the type who’d try hard for that, and might blame herself for “waiting too long” aka not having the chance to have another one stick.

Any thoughts on this? Idk i could be out on a limb fr but this seems possible in my hc so im wondering what others think. But mannn the scene in the fic is so damn sad

It seems like the societies back then was really different then ours now. Kinda dystopian hidden within a utopia. It's all idealistic and proper clean cut and nice borders. When something breaks the surface of the still pond and disrupts the calm mirror. Miriam if you will. Everyone shows thier true colors and then the disingenuous side appears. (Damn the mirror became more accurate with the disturbance) the utopic society is then revealed as a dystopia with all the misogyny and repression of both men and women. Then tou got the street subcultures with a more unific bent than the idealistic one. People show each other more kindness and kinship than the idealistic one. Is this just the Jewish American subculture? I find it fascinating.

What to watch next? I watched this in a week and some days

joel moves in with penny in episode 3 (i think) after the fight at dinner where moishe reveals that joel and midge had no money of their own & the apartment is in moishe's name. do you think moishe funded this apartment? was it penny's apartment? not really that important but something i noticed on my infinite rewatch

I’ve got my own thoughts but wanted to put this out there.

View Poll

I think the reason Joel was dumb enough to step out of Midge was because in the first season and following seasons, when they look back on their lives and you see how they interact, she's too perfect. He might think she has no flaws. He married up and he knew it. She never looked off, she kept in perfect shape, she kept an immaculate home, cooked, she was witty, smart, etc. Midge had to be hyper independent and sure of herself. He couldn't see how difficult it was for her to grow up with such self involved parents. Brilliant and conceited.

I googled the image and couldn't find anything on this and it seemed like an Easter egg or something. This is season 3 episode 6.

I really wish we got to see a little bit more of alfie! I really started to love his character and would’ve loved to see at least one more act from him. What are your thoughts on him?

Okay, I think it's been enough time since I last posted here, lmao.

On my last post, giving an overview of my takeaways after finishing the show for the first time ever, someone suggested that I make a separate post asking folks what y'all think about the last season. So here it is! Lol

As I mentioned in my "takeaways" post, I'm still not sure how I feel about it overall. I absolutely LOVE the final scene, and one of my favorite episodes of the entire series is the one dedicated to Brian Tarantina (Jackie), but overall I just don't know yet. I was thinking, just before posting this, that I think I'll need to rewatch the series sooner than I normally would (for ANY show - I prefer to wait at LEAST a year between watches and longer is even better) to decide.

I love watching interviews of casts/writers/showrunners of my favorite shows, just my favorite actors in general, and/or actors I currently crush on (like Tony, lol) so now that I've finished the series, I've been watching a LOT of Maisel-related interviews, panels, etc.

And there was one I watched I think last night where Alex says, in response to a question about how fans will respond, something about how it's satisfying but it also leaves you with questions, something to that effect.

And I guess that that's part of how I feel? I don't have questions about major things but I dunno, there are certain threads that are opened up that just kinda stick out of the material and, as someone said on my "takeaways" post, it's the kind of stuff that I wish they had an extra season to explore.

And this is a great segue into the time jumps conversation in general, as I feel like that's probably the main reason why I have questions? And also maybe a major thing that a lot of fans have something to say about?

I don't know how to feel about them as it pertains to the series itself. (As in, I love time jumps in media in general, though not in every usage because they don't always work or work in theory but aren't executed well in my opinion.) I mean the time jumps were certainly a bit of a shock, lol, but it wasn't like I was immediately turned off or anything. I dunno. I just don't know how I feel yet.

It's too soon for me to rewatch it though, so maybe I'll revisit it in six months. 🤔 Would love to hear what everyone else thought. Maybe it'll help me sort my feelings.

I can't recall a show's ending ever leaving me so...not out of sorts or even confused, but just...uncertain? Unsure of how to feel overall? Like I think about the endings of Monk (ugh, Tony 🫦🥰) or Buffy (my favorite show OF ALL TIME 🤌🏾) or House, M.D. (nods approvingly) or House of Cards (ugh 🤦🏾‍♀️ but also how I first discovered Rachel!) and like my feelings about their endings and the characters I grew to love are VERY clear.

Also, if anyone else watches the interviews on YouTube, I need someone to chat with about them one-on-one, please and thank you. 😩😩😩 I'm on the app so I use the chat feature.

I have a series of Penguin Hardcover Classics designs for songs etc., and I just made one for Maisel! The pillow looks so good I am so happy with how it all turned out!

https://preview.redd.it/a3w9re9kv8tc1.png?width=788&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0a15747bb9968ba2680643c725e3d1fc0a45bab

Link!!

P.s. I'm rewatching the show with my s/o, who had never watched it before. We just finished s3 ep 4. You know what's coming next.

Just finished the series, love it and thought the ending was largely very satisfying. (Some potential mild spoilers in the below but not on any major plotline.)

One unanswered question I have is about how the mob are involved in Susie's talent management business in later years.

We are told that Frank and Nicky are going to get 30% of all the revenue from Susie's clients (>!except Midge because of the deal Joel made!<). But Susie is also revealed to be managing some of the biggest names in showbusiness in the future.

I know that relationships between organised crime and showbusiness were common, and maybe still are to some extent. But is this 30% arrangement at all realistic and viable? Why would any of the world's biggest acts sign with Susie, or stay signed with her, if they have to give the mob 30% of everything they earn, on top of the 10% they are already giving Susie?

I would understand if the arrangement was that Frank and Nicky get 30% of what Susie earns personally. But not her clients. That seems unsustainable and I highly doubt that could ever happen. Maybe they reached some new arrangement in later years but that was never spelt out.

!I'm also guessing that the writer only introduced the 30% thing to set up the conclusion to Joel's storyline (ie sacrificing himself for Midge).!<

(These aren't in any particular order, for the record.)

NOW WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO (in general but also to get my Tony fix, lol)??? 😭😭😭

Seriously, I stalled so hard on the last half an hour of the series finale just because I didn't want it to end. 😩😩😩 Whyyyyy must these things end??? 😭😭😭

And yet, five seasons feels...right. An extra season would've been fine, for sure, but beyond that? Eh. A show with too many seasons is like a movie that's WAY too long. Procedurals (medical and criminal justice related) get away with it way better than non-procedural shows like Maisel, but even they can drag it, lolsob. stares in Grey's Anatomy I like to think that Amy and Dan felt the same way, but who knows? Maybe they had a 10-season outline.

That being said...

1. ...my FIRST takeaway (that was a pre-takeaway, lmao) is that I knew from the first few episodes of the very first season that this would be one of my favorite shows OF ALL TIME. 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾 (Honestly that list is getting longer every year it seems, lmao. There is just so much good television - honestly sometimes it's annoying because I can't watch it all. 🥴 But nothing will ever top Buffy for me. ❤️)

2. I assume that most people have concluded that Midge and Susie's relationship is the heart of the show? If not, well I disagree with you, lol. There isn't a soul in the main cast I don't love, and they're ALL fucking hilarious (though I think Michael [Joel] gets the least amount of time/chance to be funny 🥺), but the show is nothing without Midge and Susie. Hell, it's nothing with just Midge by herself and Rachel is the star.

3. Gordon Ford is a prick, lmao. Reid Scott is great though (and now I watch him on OG Law and Order)!

4. I was so sad to learn that Jackie's death was a real death of the actor. That always makes me sad. 😮‍💨

5. The fucking MUSIC!!! 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾 What the hell else can I say? Lol I meeeeeeeaaaaan...top fucking tier. I was either a fan of or familiar with a lot of the songs and/or artists featured, as I love all kinds of music across decades and jazz, while not the only genre featured in the show, is one of my top four favorite music genres, but I still discovered new (to me) stuff. I'd just like to personally shout out Ella Fitzgerald (one of my favorite vocalists PERIOD, across time and genre) and Barbara Streisand (talented and absolutely gorgeous to me swoon) specifically. I need to talk with whoever chose the music for this show and Scandal (another "OF ALL TIME" favorite show), you know, besides Amy, Dan, and Shonda Rhimes, lol.

6. I...dunno how to feel right now about the structure of the 5th season. 🫤 Not that I dislike it. (I literally just said that I don't know how to feel. 🥴) I just...I dunno man. Some things I love for sure (like the last scene 😭😭😭). While others I'm like 🤷🏾‍♀️ Is there a consensus among fans about the final season?

7. Speaking of seasons, I might need to do my first ever rewatch next year to be sure, but I think that I agree with whoever said here that seasons two and three are their favorites. Seasons five and six of Buffy are tied for favorite season for me (out of seven total, for those unfamiliar) and I think that this happens with shows a lot, maybe even all the time, where seasons in the middle are the best. And, maybe it's just me, but I think that a big reason for that is just that the narrative structure of storytelling for the screen lends itself to that phenomenon. In my opinion, the best parts of movies are often somewhere in the middle as well.

8. I'm not a big fashion non-binary girlie, lol, but I do like nice clothes and I not infrequently wished that I could clone some of Midge's outfits in my size. 🤣🤣🤣

9. I'm a born and raised New Yorker and I will never NOT fucking love this place. 🥹🥹🥹 Bravo, New York! A character unto itself, just like in the Law and Order franchise.

10. I can't do takeaways of the series and NOT talk about the acting. 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾 Rachel and Alex are both so phenomenal (as the heart of the show), but everyone is in top form: main, supporting, guests (c'mon Jane Lynch and Luke Kirby 👏🏾). Shit, even extras. And everyone is fucking funny, which, yanno, is important for a comedy. 🥴 But that makes the "serious" bits all the more special. Abe calling Midge "remarkable." 😩😩😩

11. I wish that the Shy Baldwin thing had been handled better, though I think that Midge had every right to be angry.

12. Similar to New York, the show just wouldn't be the same without Judaism front and center. There are many successful (white) Jewish people in the industry, but as someone who also practices a minority religion (not an Abrahamic one, to be clear), who seriously considered converting to Judaism in undergrad AND who, as a New Yorker, took my experience for granted and was shocked to later learn in undergrad that Jewish people only make up like 2% of the population (I can't recall if that statistic is U.S.-specific or global), it was unbelievably refreshing to see it portrayed unapologetically episode after episode. I would love to see more of this for other minority religions and for Jewish people of color and non-Ashkenazi Jews specifically, on TV and in film. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

13. And, last but CERTAINLY not least, the writing. 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾 We wouldn't have Midge and Susie's relationship without the writing for the actors to play off of. Their grasp of comedy specifically is beyond admirable and something I now look up to as an aspiring screenwriter, along with Quinta Brunson of Abbott Elementary. (I never watched Gilmore Girls so I don't have it as a reference.) I didn't always agree with choices made (because of course not and I'm human), but ultimately they're the professionals, not me AND there's a lot more to praise than to criticize, by far in my opinion.

I'm gonna stop there, but I could talk about good TV (and movies) all day, lol. Also gonna stop there because that's how many Jews Moishe saved. 🤣🤣🤣 I have more thoughts, so please feel free to comment, ask follow up questions, etc.

I'm off to figure out how I get my next Tony fix without watching Wings. 🥴🥴🥴