The Mrs. Maisel Appraisal: Episode 5

The moment I’ve been waiting for all season arrived: Midge finally confronted Shy Baldwin (the musician who kicked her off of his international tour). Midge and Susie got accidentally invited to Shy Baldwin’s wedding, and they decided to go, mostly to cause a bit of chaos (and of course, for the open bar). Their behavior at the wedding was absolutely hilarious, with them mixing scotch, gin and champagne in their glasses (do not try this at home folks), eating all of the appetizers and messing up the floral arrangements. They were essentially acting like toddlers—and that was the fun.

But the most anticipated part, where Midge actually got to talk to Shy, was not the explosive sparring match I was hoping for. Instead, it was a very amicable apology and reconciliation between the two performers. In hindsight, it was the right thing for these characters, but it left me a little confused due to all of Midge’s fury at the beginning of the season—where did that go?

Another of my favorite parts of this episode was that we got to see Susie at work, displaying her actual management style. Susie was able to land Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch), a former-star-now-ostracized comedian and Midge’s professional enemy, a spot on a late-night talk show. I am glad that we finally got to see Susie shine as a manager and appreciate how she is always able to talk her clients into gigs.

I also appreciated the running joke throughout the episode about Susie trying to hire a secretary for her new office. There was an uproarious montage at the beginning of the episode of Susie in interviews with various prospects, having no idea what to ask them. She kept running to a different room to consult a management book or call a friend to ask what to ask the interviewee. The whole scene was shot in short little clips to make it feel very fast-paced, and it was overall very funny. Susie did end up hiring a secretary: Dinah (Alfie Fuller) is as witty and comical as Susie is, and I already know she’s going to be a favorite of mine.

Midge’s quip corner: “I have a father… he goes by Abraham. He thought I’d grow up to be the perfect lady. And here I am, slinging d*ck jokes in a strip club to a bunch of men with various degrees of syphilis.”