‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ finds more to explore during Season 2
NEW YORK – On a recent morning at a temporary re-creation of the storied but now-shuttered Carnegie Deli, Alex Borstein is everywhere you turn.
“Look! There’s another one,” said the actress, whose face is plastered across the mock “Carnegie Wall of Fame” along with photos of her “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” co-stars.
The iconic deli was reopened to promote Amazon Prime’s second season of the Emmy-winning comedy, which began streaming Wednesday. But unlike Susie, the gruff, cash-strapped comedy manager she plays on the show, Borstein’s not shoveling down the pile of hot pastrami and pickles set before her.
“There’s nothing to keep you from eating too much like looking at pictures of yourself,” Borstein said, joking.
Literally and figuratively, Susie is hungrier than ever in Season 2, as she hustles to book gigs for sole client Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), an outspoken ’50s housewife turned aspiring stand-up comic, who’s attempting to get back on her feet after facing personal and professional setbacks.
Not only has she been blacklisted from major comedy clubs since badmouthing star female comedian Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch) at the end of last season, but she’s also been demoted from makeup-counter girl to switchboard operator, following an altercation with her estranged husband’s new girlfriend at the department store where she works.
“She’s trying to clean up the giant mess she’s made and get back on top,” said Brosnahan, who was born in Milwaukee and grew up in the Chicago area.
That includes reaching an understanding with husband Joel (Michael Zegen), who’s still hurt by her searing jokes about him on stage and gives her an ultimatum: Choose comedy or their relationship.
Even as she gets a potential new love interest, Midge’s friendship with Susie is still at the core of “Marvelous.”
“They’re kind of learning how different they really are,” Borstein said. “Midge has been coddled her whole life and Susie’s scrapping to survive, so it’s like this very tame house cat and feral cat trying to make it together in the world.”
The “Marvelous” universe also gets bigger, as Midge travels to the Catskills on an extended summer holiday and, in the season premiere, jets off to Paris to try and save her parents’ (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle) marriage. The cast and crew flew to France to film the episode, in which Midge performs an impromptu comedy set at a Paris bar while a French woman translates in real time, which Brosnahan describes as “one of the most challenging things I’ve ever shot.”
For the married producing team of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (“Gilmore Girls”), it was important to get Midge out of New York.
Midge “is soon going to become a road comic and the life of a comedian is mostly lived outside of the home,” Daniel Palladino said. “New York is always going to be her base, but to keep it real, she is going to be out in the world more.”
The Palladinos aren’t concerned about viewers’ higher expectations following the show’s eight Emmy wins in September, including best comedy series, actress (Brosnahan), supporting actress (Borstein), writing and directing (Sherman-Palladino).
The show is also expected to figure in the upcoming Golden Globes; the nominations will be announced Thursday morning.
And while the show’s dauntless female protagonist and empowering message have resonated more strongly amid the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, they didn’t directly influence any Season 2 story lines.
“It just shows how far we haven’t come,” Sherman-Palladino said. “It’s kind of a bummer, actually, to think, ‘Really? Are we still fighting that damn battle?’ But we are, in skirts and corsets.”