The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season Four Premiere Early Review

The following is a spoiler-free review of the first two episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4, premiering this Friday on Amazon Prime Video.

Our favorite 1950s female stand-up comedian is back for another season along with her trusty sidekick. After a promising opportunity opening for Shy Baldwin was unfortunately cut short, it was now up to Midge and Susie to pick themselves up from this learning experience and get back in the game. However that will ultimately go remains to be seen but these first two episodes went a long way into establishing a new dynamic for the season while featuring plenty of laughs, dysfunction, and moments of female empowerment along the way.

Now that Midge and Susie were no longer going on tour, they needed to find a way to get over their bad feelings so they could integrate themselves back in despite the financial shortfall as a result of their removal from Baldwin’s tour as there appeared to be more to that story. Midge used her contract as collateral towards her loan from Moishe to buy her and Joel’s old apartment. Little did she know, Susie had to fix her own financial situation which seemingly was a lot worse. Burning down her dead mother’s house with her sister-in-law Tessie in hopes of the insurance, she was relying on that cheque but claiming it would be easier said than done thanks to the comical hoops they needed to jump through. That being said, Tessie was up to the challenge. On the other hand, Susie found herself running around though sooner or later, she needed to come to terms with reckless management of her and Midge’s money.

Joel’s club was doing well, so much so that he had plans to build on that success. However, that success was not lost upon his mysterious landlords who underestimated him and gave him a deal on his lease. With the club becoming more successful, it would also attract more eyes towards their more illegitimate business. Nevertheless, his girlfriend and intermediary, Mei, was not deterred. Meanwhile, the Weissmans and the Maisels were doing their best to make it work despite the fact that they each drove the other insane with their respective insecurities and dysfunction. The moment when the whole family was finally all together was a showcase of the writing and the chemistry of the cast and did not disappoint.

However in the end, in order for them to move forward, Midge had to take a different approach to her career, one that allowed her more freedom to be herself all while a potential dark cloud loomed over her and Susie. This season saw her exercise some of that freedom a lot more in making herself more comfortable but the more things change, the more they stay the same in what was a fun refresh of sorts that just hit differently. Everyone knows that Midge isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind and that trait got her in trouble during what was a hilarious encounter at a club though it may have led her to a new opportunity.

As far as season four of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is concerned, it is off to a great start with the writing and performances firing on all cylinders. Changing up characters and dynamics, it was fun to watch all those pieces work together in new and compelling ways. What more can be said about Rachel Brosnahan as Midge? She and her comedic timing were stellar once again as Alex Borestein and Tony Shalhoub were also impressive as Susie and Abe.

In Midge we trust.

still courtesy of Amazon Studios

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.