The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: 5 reasons to binge-watch the first season this weekend

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino have struck gold once again with their new show on Amazon, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and you need to watch.

There are only two types of people in the world: People who have watched, loved and become obsessed with Gilmore Girls … and normal, regular people who sit in ignorant bliss without realizing what they’re missing. Within the crazy, over-caffeinated Gilmore Girls fandom, part of your pedigree involves keeping tabs on everyone who starred or was involved with the show.

So when you hear creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her hubs/creative partner Daniel Palladino slapped together another show, you’re pretty much all over the scene. But when I say “slapped together,” I’m really downplaying the sheer magnificence of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a show set in the late ’50s that chronicles Midge Maisel’s foray into stand-up comedy.

When I started with the pilot, I wasn’t expecting much because I’m a) a tough sell on a period piece and b) guilty of missing the Bunheads boat. The following night, I’d devoured all eight episodes and cried over the fact that season 2 wasn’t already available.

The best thing about the show is that it feels incredibly refreshing and familiar at the same time. You don’t need a special Palladino/Gilmore fan ticket to enjoy it. Now that the weekend’s here and the beginning of December is a rather slow television/movies month, here are 5 reasons you should be watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:

1. The Palladinos

I’m going to just get the obvious one out of the way because everyone likes sharp writing. Like, if you want tight, quality content, you’re in good hands. While the television landscape has certainly become competitive, that doesn’t mean that everything out there is good. More importantly, it doesn’t mean that everything out there will make you feel good.

Inspired by her father, Amy Sherman-Palladino set out to create a show that essentially paid homage to the stand-up comedy scene, and per usual, she put a “certain type of woman” front and center. Combined with how much work and thoughtfulness went into crafting the show, watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is practically like going home and hanging out with your family. Except your family is compromised of a loud Jewish family known as the Weissmans.

If you’ve ever been dying to spend a half hour with the Palladinos, TVLine’s Michael Ausiello sat down with them for the TVLine podcast. So go listen after you’re done binge-watching for the full scoop.

2. The jokes

It’s about stand-up comedy, so the funny part is implied. But The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a non-stop riot. The pilot hooks you right off the bat because it name-checks a few legends like Don Rickels and Bob Newhart before Rachel Brosnahan closes the episode by throwing herself into the character of Midge Maisel and going topless on stage in the middle of her tirade-turned-comedy-routine about her husband’s infidelity.

Even when someone’s not standing in front of a mic, I find myself barking with laughter over the dry wit and mile-a-minute zingers. It’s not regular broadcast television, so you’re going to get hit with a few f-bombs along the way and it’s magical.

3. The relevancy

You’d kind of think that a show taking place more than half a century ago would be completely irrelevant to 2017, yet, everything about Mrs. Maisel feels relevant to what the world looks like now. At first, it makes you feel bad that women are still viewed as second-class and worry so much about their bodies while dealing with cheating husbands and the mistresses who stole them away who accuse you of being mean, but … there aren’t any cellphones and the period costumes are made from scratch, so it’s not quite the same.

There’s a scene at the dinner table where Midge’s father, Abe Weissman (Tony Shalhoub — yes, it took three episodes for me to stop seeing him as Spy Kids‘ Minion), says the family will move to France if Richard Nixon becomes president. Now, doesn’t that sound familiar? If anything, it makes me feel like everything’s going to be okay, because if we survived then, we’ll survive now.

4. The girlhood/buddy-cop goodness/”womance“

Susie Myerson: Midge’s self-appointed manager. I don’t know what she’s doing or why she dresses like a stockier version of Tiny Tim. I don’t know whether she’s in love with Midge or has ever been in love before. But what I do know is that Alex Borstein imbued something in her too special to be ignored. Whatever they’re playing up (or playing down), Susie remains the perfect foil to Midge’s otherwise-used-to-be-perfect life. It seems like neither of them has ever dealt with someone like the other before, and their ability to say whatever they need to say to each other makes me wish I had my own Susie to yell at me.

Their emotional breakdown at the end of episode 6 left me speechless. And I imagine their friendship and “professional relationship” will easily become the crux of the show as they try to navigate showbusiness. Because they’re both so sure of who they are, it’s such a delight to watch the characters bounce off each other and create those tensions and laughs in a scene.

Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maiseil in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017) Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. Image Courtesy of Amazon Video.

5. Midge

But Midge herself? Boy. Part of the reason that the show feels so perfect is because of its titular character. Midge is unapologetic about everything in her life: She likes attention, to be doted on. She likes to feel pretty. To be loved. She’s also incredibly Jewish and frank about motherhood.

Fortunately, the whole time I’m watching the show, I never felt like Midge was too far out of reach. I hate when I’m watching a show and there’s one scene or bit of dialogue that makes me realize, “Oh, this character wouldn’t like me” or “we couldn’t be friends.’ It ruins everything. But Midge is kind, even to the worst people. And Midge is loyal, radiant and confident. Despite how the cards stack against her, she’s not leaning into that tinge of bitterness that made Lorelai Gilmore so nuanced.

Television serves as escapism. Most of the time, I’m just looking for another fictional character to be in my corner. And I promise you, Midge will be in your corner. In the good times, Midge is such a champ, and in the bad times, too. She’s such a one-of-a-kind character — the woman who returns to a club looking for her Pyrex and ends up getting arrested or applies to a department store to work the elevator — you should watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel just to meet her.

Related Story: West Wing reboot, anyone?

Alright, now what are you waiting for? Go watch! Or hit me up on Twitter so we can talk about the Mrs. Maisel goodness. Season 1 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is now streaming on Amazon Video.