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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.
The fourth episode of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Amazon Prime Video period comedy-drama series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 is titled, “Interesting People on Christopher Street”. It is written by Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino and is directed by Sherman-Palladino.
Following the previous episode, “Interesting People on Christopher Street” starts off at Midge’s (Rachel Brosnahan) job at the Wolfard, disastrously. The performers are clumsily strutting around with unrehearsed choreography, a random dog is barking around the stage, the curtain is stuck, and the music is way too loud for Midge to be heard. As the stagehand puts her role perfectly: she’s just a stripper who doesn’t take off her clothes and stands on stage yelling at people. But as the club’s manager Boise (Santino Fontana) claims with a nonchalant shrug, “It happens.”
Midge gives her pretty helpful suggestions to an uninterested Boise and to uninterested performers. Her magic really shows itself here as an unofficial manager. Could this allude to another potential career path? She doesn’t let the common mishaps stop her from micromanaging though because she walks out with the determined words “All of this has to get better!”
Midge continues the night on a date with some guy, and when she shows the tiniest bit of interest in the fact he used to live in Spain, The Guy takes that and el corre con eso. He spends the rest of their conversation speaking Spanish to a clueless Midge in an attempt to show off. It’s a huge turn-off for Midge and she blames her bad luck on wearing the wrong hat. Susie (Alex Borstein) comes to save the day with the cliché “child is sick” sob story which, to their luck, The Guy is a pediatrician! There to save the day! Though Midge manages to escape anyway, she and Susie finish off the night at another bar.
Midge finally inquires Susie about her own love life over some Chinese takeout. Susie makes it very clear with the retaliation that her life is “you” and has no time for anything else. She eats, breathes, and sleeps Midge’s career and so the conversation ends there. For Susie at least, Midge is tabling the conversation for another time.
Back at Midge’s apartment – her shared home with her kids and parents – Susie is lying on the floor watching an interview with Alfred Hitchcock as he discusses Psycho. I thought it was such a fitting setup with the way the camera slowly pans over to a creepy silhouette of Abe standing in the background. He’s clearly annoyed, but since you can’t see his face, also terrifying. Their night ends with an entirely whispered conversation in the hallway with Abe, Midge, Rose (Marin Hinkle), and even Zelda (Matilda Szydagis) discussing Susie overextending her welcome there.
At work the next day, Abe is visited by his old friend, Asher (Jason Alexander). In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Season 4, Episode 3 “Everything is Bellmore,” Abe had written up his infamous review on Buzz Goldberg’s They Came, They Danced musical and lightly referenced some arson-involved incident between him and Asher in their past. Asher is now salty about it because they’re put on the FBI’s radar and now they’re scheduled for an interview with a representative agent. But that happens later.
Meanwhile, Joel (Michael Zegen) brings up a great point in his conversation with Mei (Stephanie Hsu) back at his new apartment; soup should never be trusted because it claims to be food but you’re never full when you’re done with it. He delivers this sentence quite angrily, too. He also decides it’s finally time for Mei to meet his parents, though he didn’t sound very sure of it. Mei thinks it’ll be an absolute wreck because they’d think she’s their dry cleaner. Joel just wants his parents off his back and for his mother to stop setting him up with random girls. Mei leaves the argument in a rush, and understandably so.
Warren Galjour’s “Christopher Street” plays during a walking shot of Midge on (you’re never going to guess) Christopher Street in Manhattan, the site of the Stonewall Inn and a place known for birthing the gay liberation movement. What’s on Midge’s agenda? Finding a new bar for her and Susie to frequent. Why? Probably because Midge is starting to think Susie is gay. She words it vaguely to passersby, she’s asking people for places where “a girl like her” can get a drink with other girls like her and her friend. What are you up to, Midge?
Abe and Asher finally get a hold of lawyer Michael Kesser (Max Casella) and he tells them that their slates are clean so far with the FBI. They’d just have to go through one interview and everything is all settled and good to go. Now Asher doesn’t hate Abe anymore, Mazel tov!
They decide to celebrate with a family dinner that night. Abe, Rose, Asher, and Midge are all gathered around the table, laughing and fonding over memories of their past. It’s during this dinner that Asher and Rose’s short dating history is brought up for the first time to Midge. Rose and Asher brush it off as if this revelation is no big deal because it was so long ago. Although Rose and Abe were broken up at the time of this fling (Abe was an egotistical Ph.D. student/workaholic and had no time for romantic endeavors), Abe still acts unfazed but it’s clearly bothering him. He says he has known about this fling all along but the way he pauses in the hallway to catch a breath says otherwise. This is definitely the first time he’s heard of this, even though Rose had claimed to have told him about it twenty times in the past.
This obviously ignites the fire of resentment with Abe and suddenly, getting the FBI involved again seems like a fabulously revengeful idea. You can see the budding coup in Abe’s narrowed eyes.
Back in Season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Susie was kidnapped by a couple of burly men, Nicky (John Scurti) and Frank (Erik Palladino), but she managed to charm her way out of being killed and now, they’re all besties! In fact, now in “Interesting People on Christopher Street,” she’s having lunch with them at The Stage Deli. Any casual viewer of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel would view their dynamic as a sort of protective older brothers to a younger sister kind of bond. They manage to find her a new place for her to live after she’s been complaining about Midge’s family driving her nuts (Susie, they concur). Not only is this new apartment broken in many parts, a sure fixer-upper, it’s also pretty spacious. They suggest the place to be her living quarters and new office for Susie Myerson and Associates.
Too busy harping excitedly about the new apartment, Susie doesn’t realize she’s being led into a lesbian bar by Midge until they’re already sitting at a booth with their drinks ordered. It might have been the two couples making out in the background for Susie to realize, or perhaps because she basically lives in that part of that town, the scene is usually invisible to her at this point. This is Midge interfering. This is Midge trying to help. Susie makes it very clear that she never needed it.
Midge may have not made a step up in her comedy career just yet, but she did move The Wolfard an inch away from sexist management. After publicly humiliating Boise for barging into the ladies’ dressing room like he runs the place, she instills a new knocking policy. The women are impressed and clearly on her side of authority. Go, Midge!
Midge jumps on stage to begin introducing her acts, but not before a little comedy routine that certainly catches the attention of the crowd. Even some of the performers are hiding behind the curtains, sticking their heads out to try and catch a glimpse of Midge in action. Boise is watching, confused, and taken aback by the way she’s able to entertain that crowd. Like she had this talent in her all along. Does he still think she’s employed as a stripper?
Back at The Maisel/Weissman apartment, Abe and Asher sit in the living room with lawyer Michael Kesser and FBI representative Agent Webber (Quinn VanAntwerp). Their clean slate was already proven so this is more of a formality. A little proof to say they’re innocent under oath.
Resentful Abe takes this opportunity to tell Agent Webber that Asher was the one who committed arson in their younger years and that he vandalized the stock exchange in the 1920s (a bit of an irrelevant comment, but hey, Abe has a vendetta against him). It’s the final catalyst for this subplot’s climax. As Agent Webber and Michael excuse themselves for a private conversation, Abe, Rose, and Asher scream at each other for their past deceits and present lying. As an audience member, I’m worried about Asher now that he’ll probably go to prison, but it’s all washed away when his face lights up with a lightning strike idea. He’ll use this love triangle as an idea for a new play! Then he runs away, and so does this subplot.
Back at Susie’s new place, she’s visited by an old ghost from her past: The Infamous Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch). She comes to her, desperate for some management help. She said it’s the first time in 30 years she hasn’t been booked and she’s also financially overextended. I close my eyes for just a few seconds and instantly imagine the devastating wildfire that will inevitably spread all over New York City if Susie decides to lend her a helping hand. Sophie says that there’s a brand new NBC game show that she’ll be the perfect host for. Hollywood Game Night or Weakest Link USA, perhaps? I can see you, Sophie, in those roles somehow… I wonder why. In a predictable turn, Susie agrees to help her. I guess we’ll find out soon because this action-packed episode is already coming to an end.
With Midge’s tiny changes to The Wolfard, things seem to be flowing much more smoothly. The choreography is significantly better and less hectic, the orchestra is on par with Midge, and looks like they’ve got that darn curtain fixed. It all ends perfectly, that is until Midge falls into the pit.
Final Thoughts on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 Episode 4
“Love is choking in the air” is the theme of this episode, so it seems. Midge is on her unlucky dating streak, Midge tries to pry open Susie’s love life, Joel and Mei are ready–but also not ready–to take it to the next step, and there’s the whole Rose/Abe/Asher love triangle that I hope we get to see manifested as a stage musical. This episode is pretty packed, thankfully. Some of the last episodes’ conflicts were brought up and resolved and “Interesting People on Christopher Street” opens up a whole lot more doors for us to walk through. If there’s one thing I’d like to see settled in future episodes, it’s Susie’s inability to make great decisions when it comes to Sophie Lennon. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jane Lynch and I hope to see her more and more. But come on Susie, you’re a smart lady (sometimes), you’ve gotta see Sophie as a bad omen at this point.
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.
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