The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (4.6) Episode Recap: Going for Broke

Over almost four full seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, one of the most impressive aspects is its dedication to reviving an era of New York that manages to feel both specific to the time in its setting and some of its characters (like Shy Baldwin and Lenny Bruce) and universal through its imagined characters and their stories (like Susie, Abe, and Miriam). Joel’s club is in Chinatown but we haven’t had much of a chance to see the surrounding area until this episode when Susie is looking for Alfie.

The increasingly elaborate performances at the strip club that Miriam works at both allow for fun asides of performances sometimes akin to the gymnastics of Cirque Du Soleil and leave the audience clues at what has been happening all season. Miriam has started to shift the power dynamics of the club away from the spectators and the owner and back to the women performing. In doing so, the performances (including Midge’s stand-up act between shows) are not just part of a set piece of a club that exist illegally at this time in New York. The performances are vibrant, thematic, colorful, artistic, and fun. They stand as yet another example of this time in New York carefully crafted by Amy Sherman-Palladino and the rest of the team to show people and stories closer to the margins. Those margins have been the focus a number of times throughout the show’s run, so much so that it’s baked into the DNA of the show itself.

Another detail that expresses the dedication to the period piece is the outfits. I would be remiss if I didn’t take some time to spotlight those outfits in the discussion of recreating 1960s New York. This episode had my favorite of the season so far: Midge’s outfit to go see L. Roy Dunham.

The major plot detail from this episode the deal brokered between Midge and Sophie that culminates in the chaos at the end of the episode when the two play dueling comedians on stage. In the last episode, Midge and Shy got closure of sorts. This episode, almost completely the opposite happens with Sophie. Instead of the two working together and going about their business, they continue to butt heads (even when agreeing specifically not to do that). The minute Sophie sees that Midge is getting big laughs opening for her show, she steps in to take the spotlight. Unsurprisingly, Midge does not take kindly to this and starts making jokes about Sophie right back. While we don’t see the fallout by the end of this episode, it sets the stage well for ensuing drama for the last two episodes of the season.

There were a number of delightful interactions between Dinah, Susie’s new secretary, and Susie. But there were none better than this when Susie asks Dinah to get ahold of Sophie: