Imogene, Midge's eccentric yet endearing best friend, offers a profound insight in the climactic scene of Mrs. Maisel's finale. Eager to broker a match between her daughter Estelle and Midge's son Ethan, she sees the quirky ventriloquist hired for their joint birthday bash as a golden opportunity. With a mischievous glint in her eye, she declares, "Since they'll have endured the same strange ordeal, they'll comprehend each other's deepest fears with utter clarity!" This profound statement aptly mirrors the complex bond between Midge and Joel, whose blissful early days have been glimpsed throughout the season's flashbacks.
The surrounding humor serves as a backdrop to the season's overarching puzzle: How did two seemingly perfect individuals, blessed with beauty, intelligence, wit, and wealth, manage to stumble so badly? As the aspiring Beat poets at the Gaslight might lament, society itself is to blame. The Maisels strived to be "respectable" citizens of their time, a journey that began on their wedding night when Midge opted for a doorman and a Frigidaire over the Village's bohemian charms. Now, both twenty-six, they're realizing they were unprepared for the responsibilities that have shackled them, even as their true selves are beginning to emerge.
Despite their attempts to evade the root cause of their troubles — their marriage — Midge and Joel find solace in each other's understanding of their respective traumas. It's no wonder they reunite after Ethan's birthday bash, seeking to recapture their innocent past by sneaking around in Midge's childhood bedroom. But the dynamics have shifted: Midge still harbors distrust towards Joel after his dalliance with Penny, and she's stopped hiding the cracks in her efforts to please him, from her early morning makeup routine to the powdering away of her bra lines. Meanwhile, they both attempt to deny the significant changes in their relationship. Midge slides her wedding ring back on, measures her ankles and calves, and cheerily assures a skeptical Abe that she's ready to give it another go. Joel, on the other hand, angles for a promotion at work and tries to rekindle his comedy career, hoping to succeed and fulfill Midge's every desire.
Yet, Midge hasn't confessed the biggest secret of her downtown life, where she's struggling to hold onto even the most meager of gigs after her outburst at Sophie Lennon and the ire of her powerful manager. Frustratingly, the show doesn't delve deeply into why Midge made such a decision or even allow Susie to express justifiable anger. Instead, she resigns herself to the situation. ("It was genuinely hilarious," she tells Midge as they order another round of drinks to drown their sorrows. "And who needs a good laugh more than the truly, deeply screwed?") Even as she suffers the consequences of Midge's actions, getting demoted at the Gaslight and seeing her client banned from her own club, Saint Susie remains a steadfast believer, always ready to sacrifice for Midge. When Joel returns to the Gaslight to grab a comedy slot, she even resists the easy opportunity to scold him and expose Midge's secret.
Instead, Joel was startled by an unexpected revelation: the recording of Midge's first drunken performance, which caught his ear as he aimlessly browsed through party albums in the record store. Stunned by Midge's audacity to air their dirty secrets in public, his mind was so consumed that he faltered during the crucial presentation that might have catapulted him to promotion, ultimately resigning mid-session.
Penny Pann, too, stumbled upon a fateful moment, her voice finding its strength at the most inconvenient time. She erupted at Midge, accusing her of stealing "her" man at the makeup counter. ("He moved out, Penny." "But his things are still there, his socks." "Socks, or just a lonely sock?") Nevertheless, her blaring accusation of Midge as a "tramp" was sufficient to land her in hot water with her strict boss—though the outcome remains uncertain.
All this culminated in a dramatic confrontation at the Gaslight, where Lenny Bruce graciously offered Midge the opportunity to open for him, aiming to reverse her blacklist status. A dejected and drunken Joel stumbled in to catch her set, and though I might not entirely admire his character, Michael Zegen brilliantly captured the heart-wrenching cocktail of pride, frustration, personal defeat, anger, and resignation etched on Joel's face as he realized that Midge was pulling no punches in her performance, surpassing even his wildest aspirations.
This led to a pivotal showdown between Joel and Susie, the two opposing forces vying for Midge's destiny. Susie emerged victorious, her dismissal of Joel as "a cliche from a bullshit male catalog" was immensely satisfying, and her final "fuck you, Sal Mineo" was both hilariously revealing and far more poignant than any of Joel's feeble attempts at humor. However, we know that dismissing Joel won't be as effortless for Midge.
The episode concludes with Midge triumphantly commanding the stage, oblivious to the fact that Joel is outside, defending her honor against a heckler. "She's good!" he shouted as the fight was broken up—because, deep down, he knows she truly is. The question lingering is whether he'll be willing to forfeit his own aspirations to enable her greatness. This is the ultimate unresolved query amidst a finale laden with such profound questions. The jokes in Mrs. Maisel may be effortlessly digestible, but the harsh truths always leave a lasting impression.
