LOOKING 'MARVELOUS'
‘Mrs. Maisel’ brings humor, warmth to second season
In just the last 10 days, both “The Simpsons” and “Saturday Night Live” have ripped streaming service Netflix for its practice of throwing bags of money at every pitch imaginable and flooding the marketplace with too many hours of TV for anyone sane to watch.
Netflix rival Amazon Studios has taken a much more conservative approach and has far more of the gold Netflix craves — those sleek, shiny Emmy statues.
As the second season of Amazon’s 1950s-set Emmy Award-winning comedy “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” opens, Midge (Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan) has been exiled to the switchboard in the basement of the ritzy department store B. Altman.
The other operators suffer panic attacks at the volume of calls. Not Midge.
“Trying manning the Revlon counter on a free makeover Friday,” she says.
Meanwhile, her nighttime alias, Mrs. Maisel, is hotter than ever, especially after her last show with Lenny Bruce. Her agent Susie (Emmy winner Alex Borstein) is sure Midge will be bigger than Totie Fields. But both face the repercussions of making their mark — they crossed Some Very Bad People. (Susie ends up taking a ride with two hoods that ends far differently than she could have ever imagined.)
A crisis draws Midge and her parents to Paris, and while Amazon wants to lock down spoilers, it’s not spilling any plot to note that Abe’s (Tony Shalhoub) and Rose’s (Marin Hinkle) decisions will have far-reaching consequences.
Abe is not thrilled with the accommodations, nor the questionable folks lingering outside.
“Everyone here has murdered at least three people in their lifetimes,” he sputters.
Midge discovers that even though she doesn’t speak a word of French, she can still be a hit in a club.
She and estranged husband Joel (Michael Zegen) try to figure out their marriage now that both understand the truth about each other.
“We have children,” Midge reminds him. “We will have to see each other forever. Until we are dead, and then for four to six months after.”
“OK, apparently you know something I don’t,” Joel replies.
For every victory Midge wins onstage — as when she annihilates four male comics who are waiting to see her fail — she suffers a setback, as when she gives a toast at a friend’s wedding and unwittingly humiliates the bride.
Emmy winner Amy Sherman-Palladino, the series creator, writer and director, has imbued “Maisel” with more genuine humor and warmth than any of her other previous work. This cast is ready to impress.
Amazon has already renewed the series for a third season, so “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will have many more curtain calls in its future. Hold the applause and dive into the binge. — mark.perigard@bostonherald.com