Want to hear more from the actors and creators of your favorite shows and films? Subscribe to The Cinema Spot on YouTube for all of our upcoming interviews!
I am an English and Film major, cinephile, and aspiring writer! When I'm not buried in school work and lectures, I'm usually in the depths of streaming services and their plethora of film options. Or reading.
Continuing from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4, Episode 2 — “Billy Jones and the Orgy Lamps”, Episode 403 — “Everything is Bellmore” begins at the burlesque club that Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and Susie (Alex Borstein) were in the previous episode, The Wolfard. The episode is written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino and is directed by Palladino.
This episode of the period comedy-drama series starts off with a bang, literally, when a dancer walks head-first into a stage prop right before her performance and cries pleadingly for help behind the stage curtains. In true Midge fashion, Midge runs out and jumps at the opportunity of an empty stage to spew out some comedy. Although, it’s not the crowd she’s probably looking for because they all yell at her to “[t]ake it off!”
It turns out that quite some time has passed between this episode and the last, because during that period, Midge had been hired as the club’s new emcee during the night. During the day, she’s selling Tupperware products to her girlfriends. Her versatility shouldn’t be surprising at this point. It had me wondering; how many more episodes can they get away with this recycled narrative before Midge and Susie actually make moves to change the comedy industry, as they so claim?
Susie returns home to find out that her roommate and longtime friend, Jackie (Brian Tarantina), had passed away suddenly, thrusting her into a state of shock and depression. Tarantina passed away back in November 2019 and this was the comedy-drama series’ tribute episode to him. Considering the sorrowful reality behind the scenes, this episode still contained its usual humor and distress, albeit lightly. Midge let Susie bunk with her and her family back at her apartment because Susie thought it was too creepy to stay in a place where someone died. Rose (Marin Hinkle) drew the short straw and was tasked to babysit a sulking Susie and Abe (Tony Shalhoub) got to frolic around in his cape. (In my honest opinion, it was the best thing about this episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.)
Everything else seems to start off well for the Weissmans; Abe is instructed to write a review for a new Broadway show for The Village Voice and Rose’s matchmaking business is setting off. Abe decides to bring the whole family, including the Maisel clan, out to the theater for opening night. However, the problem lies in the fact that the musical’s creator is an old family friend–fellow Steiner member Buzz Goldberg (Brandon Uranowitz)–and Abe thought the show was absolutely terrible. So instead of writing the specificities, he writes about everything that’s wrong with the theater as a whole. Of course, this doesn’t translate well to Buzz and it burns a hole in the Catskills family.
Susie had been floating around this episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel like a sunken ghost and although she’s usually head-strong with a no-nonsense persona, she had finally reached her emotional breaking point at Jackie’s funeral. It’s the most we’ve seen her so passionate about a personal relationship and everything that’s been eating her up on the inside is finally exploding out through her eulogy. She’s mostly mad at herself for treating Jackie like a fly on the wall instead of as a person with a real history and family. It took his death to find out who he was as a person; a brave Veteran, and overall good guy that cared about her too. After discovering she was only one out of a handful of people, Midge included, to attend Jackie’s funeral, she angrily hijacks the full room next door and gives her eulogy to a crowd of strangers then.
Final Thoughts on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4, Episode 3
The first three seasons of Sherman-Palladino’s period comedy-drama series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had been a fabulous bottom-to-top journey and this fourth season is slowly proving itself to be solely for the fans. Don’t get me wrong, I love Midge’s acts, the Weissman banters, Joel’s (Michael Zegen) business ventures, and New York City in the 1950s, but after every episode, I die more and more waiting for Midge to finally climb to the top of the patriarchy. Three established seasons seem like more than enough time for Midge’s parents to accept their daughter’s lifestyle. Also, I hope we get some answers to the unspoken romantic tension between Midge and Lenny Bruce! It’s been ignored for far too long now…
RELATED: Read my spoiler review on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 premiere!
I am an English and Film major, cinephile, and aspiring writer! When I'm not buried in school work and lectures, I'm usually in the depths of streaming services and their plethora of film options. Or reading.
2 Comments on “‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Season 4, Episode 3 Spoiler Review – “Everything is Bellmore””