Maisel VS Lennon: The Cut Contest
Episode 6 of Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 4 starts with Lenny Bruce waking up in Miriam’s house. He’s disorientated and eventually Miriam catches up and tells him what’s going on. She found him wandering around drunk the night before, and she brought him back to crash at hers. Nothing happened between them but Lenny, now down on his luck, urges Miriam not to get involved next time. He’s upset that he’s thrown into a completely differently environment and it’s clearly rattled him. He even mentions that he’s got a daughter but as they’re “creatures of the night”, then the pair have never spoken about this. Eventually Lenny hails a cab and heads home. Meanwhile, Susie’s business is starting to do really well, with Sophie sending over a whole bunch of different baskets as thanks for her reigniting her career. Susie eventually delegates over to Dinah, who instantly finds Joel and gets his number. She tries to win her way into getting Alfie a gig, which actually works too. Joel agrees to give him a shot, potentially setting up a monthly slew of shows – but only if he’s good. Sophie is doing well and presenting on-air just as she wanted. Abe and Rose are enamored with her, claiming she’s their “new Chaplin” but Miriam isn’t exactly happy. She blames Sophie for messing up her career but her parents wave her concerns away, claiming it’s “water under the bridge.” Meanwhile, Miriam’s fridge goes kaput but Zelda is unhappy she wasn’t told about it the night before. However, drama in the living room sees Abe (and his new secretary Imogene) and Rose disagree over who should have the room to work. Of course, the latter is playing matchmaker now so she’s technically working too. Susie’s workplace turns into a sea of gifts, all of which from Sophie. It’s too much for Susie though, who rings her butler (who’s back now) and tells him to take them back. It also doesn’t help that Dinah’s kids are running riot around the office too. Things are definitely heating up here. At the same time, Miriam rings Moishe and delays her latest payment. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to fly this time but it doesn’t stop her from hanging up. Things take a turn for the worst at the club though, threatening to see Miriam out on the street again. The crowd is filling up with the “wrong crowd”, at least according to Boise. The thing is, the talent backstage are actually happy about the change in clientele and women tip more, helping out the workers. Not only that, drink sales are actually up as well. You can smell the misogyny from afar but the finances speak for themselves. Susie senses an opportunity and decides Miriam should take a cut of the bar tab, given she’s the one who changed things. The owner agrees to think it over and get back in touch. L Roy Dunham has written about Miriam again but Susie encourages her not to read the article – especially as the show was actually pretty good. However, Miriam refuses to let this go and marches over to the paper, determined to confront Dunham. Only, it turns out he’s actually a woman, going under a male alias. She believes Miriam is a goldmine of news. As Miriam tries to play her feminist hand, Dunham bites back, pointing out that it’s tough being a woman in journalism and writing about Miriam, and all of her failures and issues as a comic, is helping to improve her own career. Miriam is speechless and eventually walks away. When Miriam heads home, Sophie happens to be waiting in her living room, entertaining the staff. She needs her help to bring Susie in as her manager. This explains all of the gifts and how she won’t leave her to it. Miriam though is seething with anger and resentment for Sophie. However, Sophie knows that she’s in debt, thanks to her hiring a PI, and suggests she comes and present on her show. In doing so, that would allow Miriam to be paid lucratively. Oh, and she’ll also stop Dunham from posting articles about her too. Of course, all of this would allow bridges to be mended and Sophie to go back to being Susie’s client. It’s a pretty good deal in truth, and one that Miriam seriously considers. Meanwhile, Mei shows up at the club and breaks the news to Joel that she’s pregnant. Joel promises to help her out, and support her through this. He also reassures her that she’s going to be a doctor, although a no-show Alfie at the club is equally problematic right now. Susie catches up with him but he’s spinning out, unsure whether he can actually proceed with this gig. Susie agrees to sort out rebooking him, allowing another 24 hours to get his affairs in place and perfect his act. Miriam is invited across to her Small Business Women’s Society where she learns the truth surrounding the basket with the word “stop” written on. These women want her to stop matchmaking, pointing out that they’ve carved up a lucrative slice of the piece each already and there’s not enough to go around. They even use Miriam’s strip club gig as a blackmailing tool to get her to stop. Eventually we see a little more stand-up as Miriam speaks up and does her shtick before Sophie suddenly takes the limelight and decides to riff, encroaching on her gig. Naturally, things turn sour. Their jokes turn really nasty as Sophie brings up the Shy Baldwin gig and Miriam talks about her drug addiction. Thankfully they’re cut short before things really escalate but this is likely to cause big trouble going forward.
The Episode Review
Marvelous Mrs Maisel rounds out its double-bill this week with a good episode, one that sees Sophie and Miriam eventually butting heads and seemingly losing whatever hope there was for Susie getting back with Sophie and Midge sorting out her financial woes. Instead, it seems both comics are destined to continue sabotaging their own careers, which is ironic given they’re both doing it to each other now. Meanwhile, Mei’s pregnancy is a pretty big shocker while Joel continues to try and juggle the running of the club with setting up this dinner with his parents. Hopefully things will go okay when they see Mei but you can never be sure with Moishe!
