Chapter 9: Waiting for Mrs Maisel

Tonight I had brisket for the first time in my life. Being a huge fan of the first two seasons of Amy Sherman Palladino’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, I’d heard a lot about the dish - I knew that it was meat based, that it takes forever to cook and that Midge Maisel uses it to corrupt people. I didn’t know, though I could have guessed it, that, though delicious, it’s one of the heaviest dishes I have ever eaten and that it is going to sit on my stomach forever. Charitable as ever, I would put down the nausea solely to the food, and not to the entertainment, except that I started watching season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel when it came out yesterday, and the feeling of dizziness took hold of me with the very first scene. In fact, the dizziness that was undeniably provoked by the impossibly fast dialogues, the never-ceasing change of scene, the brightness of the costumes, not to mention the plotless babbling, was significantly abated in the second half of the season. The first episode was almost impossible to watch. I kept checking that it was indeed the first episode, that I hadn’t missed any essential logical link between season 2 and this freak show. I’d sooner believe I am too dumb even to successfully binge-watch a show on prime video rather than I’d been waiting for a year on the edge of my seat for this;yet, it seems I am not that dumb, and that Daniel Palladino has sadly taken leave of his sense of humour. I say this, firstly, because both he and his wife Amy Sherman Palladino, the geniuses behind Maiseland Gilmore Girls (which isn’t a show - it’s a lifestyle; it’s a religion), have taken leave of their senses a long time ago, and that did them and the world a lot of good. The first season of the award-winning show was hysterical and idiosyncratic and it was pure, undiluted genius. The second season - wasn’t. But it wasn’t anywhere as bad as the first four episodes of season 3, which Daniel Palladino wrote and which, though always aesthetically pleasing, are rarely funny and never interesting. I lost all interest in the characters (except Lenny Bruce, which doesn’t count because God invented him, not Amy Sherman Palladino) within the first 20 minutes of episode 1, which would be ok if there was decent dialogue or even, the last resort of the unimaginative, a plot to follow to keep my head from spinning. As it is, only the show’s wonderful costumes and my own 20-years-old faith for the Palladinos kept me going. Come to episode 5, I was happy that it did. As beautiful as the ready of the season, this episode was also as funny as I knew the show could get, and far more touching than I had anticipated; it was perfect. Unsurprisingly, it was written by show creator Amy Sherman Palladino, who also wrote episodes 6 and 8 which, though not as good as 5, contributed to save the season for me (in defence of Daniel Palladino, episode 7 is also pretty good). Still, the season is definitely worth watching, if only for Lenny Bruce and episode 5. I just wish such trul marvelous moments weren’t lost in all the gambling. And in Las Vegas. And in Florida. And in the goddamn singing and dancing. Overall, its fatal flaw was a general lack of gravitas, which is sorely needed to anchor the crazy carnival that makes the show great in the first place. December 2020, however, will still find me sitting on the edge of my chair, rewatching season 1 and 05x3 over and over and over again as I impatiently wait for season 4, which I will dive into with the same unshakable faith, expecting nothing less than the very best my favourite producers, writers and creators are capable of. But next time, no brisket.

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