The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Episode 8 Review: The Princess and the Plea
Mary Littlejohn
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Midge's post-divorce life hasn't always been a fairy tale, but here, she gets not just a princess but also a benevolent fairy godmother.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Episode 8 is a reminder that this is indeed one of the best shows on television. How wonderful it is when a show can go out on its own terms, and how lucky we have been to have watched Midge's journey.
"The Princess and the Plea" covered a lot of ground, from Joel and Midge's memories to Midge's reunion at Bryn Mawr, the Princess Margaret storyline, Abe's epiphany, and, of course, Susie's confrontation with Midge and a subsequent plea to Hedy.
Joel and Midge's memories were a telling way to see how they viewed their relationship.
Midge's memory was of them fighting but making up when he admitted he was wrong. His memories were of introducing her to his parents and realizing she was the one, followed by messing it all up with Penny on a mere whim.
Midge sees their relationship for what it was, and Joel sees the ideal and what he threw away.
Knowing what Joel has done for Midge in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Episode 6, we now see Joel no longer taking Midge for granted and cherishing his time with her.
The fact that they are friends, co-parenting, and actively involved in their kids' lives now that Zelda's out of the picture means they are as healthy a family as they have ever been.
College roommates loomed large, with Midge reunited with her friends from Bryn Mawr.
This helped crystallize for Midge what she wanted and hoped to get out of life. She has always wanted this for herself. She set aside these feelings because she felt she was supposed to, but it all got awakened that fateful night at the Gaslight.
When she found that note in the bottle to her future self, it stirred something in her, but she couldn't remember what. What did her younger self know or understand about her future?
Hedy Ford: Don’t.
Miriam "Midge" Maisel: What?
Hedy Ford: Don’t.
Miriam "Midge" Maisel: Okay.
Hedy Ford: If the credit’s yours, take it. If it’s not, take it, that’s what the boys do.
Another college roommate featured prominently and fatefully. After a notable absence, Hedy Ford, Susie's former something, returned, along with that one powerful word from the bottle that shook Midge: "Don't."
It is poetic that, in the end, it is an influential woman who gets Midge her break. This is a story of women helping women. Hedy gives Midge advice that she will undoubtedly carry for the rest of her life -- do not diminish your own worth.
It is also such a blow since it's only because Hedy (presumably) broke Susie's heart that she probably feels some sense of guilt. Perhaps it is a mixture of fondness and atonement of her own that Hedy agrees to Susie's request.
Hedy crushed Susie's heart and dreams, but without that, Susie wouldn't have the emotional high ground she needed to ask the favor she knew Hedy owed her.
As I mentioned in my review of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Episode 4, Susan still means something to Hedy, so she wants to do her a solid.
Their scene in the empty studio was beautifully staged, with Hedy in the power position, looking down on Susie.
Nina Arianda is electric, exuding sexy confidence, and she understands the importance of what she's doing.
The way she looked Midge in the eyes as she stood on the staircase, without saying what she was doing, was so powerful. There was a lot of gravitas in that little moment between them.
And then there's the fact that Gordon just takes it at Hedy's word. She calls in the Princess Margaret favor quickly. Gordon doesn't know about Susie. Hedy doesn't explain it. He's baffled, but he'll do as she asks.
That's how their relationship works. "Behind every great man..."
Kate Abbruzzese is marvelously dry Princess Margaret.
Given the build-up, I expected her to do more, but she was a fun, bright spot. (In real life, Princess Margaret didn't visit the USA until 1965).
If you've been watching this show since the beginning, you were undoubtedly worried for a moment, like me, that Midge would somehow ruin things with Princess Margaret.
But no, this is the penultimate episode. Midge is done fucking up. She's on her A-game now. She's finally being set up to succeed.
The whole scene with Midge and Susie at the train station went hard, laying out the truth, yearning, and frustration. After all, it's true -- Midge is a terrific comic, and if she were a guy, she'd have easily made it by now.
There were so many layers to this scene. Midge couldn't understand why Susie wouldn't use her past "friendship" with Hedy to Midge's advantage.
Susie Myerson: What do you do about the Gordons and the Petes and all the fuckin’ men that run the fuckin’ world?
Miriam "Midge" Maisel: You go around them. You use whatever you can and you stop at nothing. Guess who taught me that?
Susie couldn’t say, for fear of making herself look vulnerable.
It also made a good point about show business. It's a golden combo of tenacity, talent, and connections. You can still make it with two, but it's much more challenging. Sometimes connections are what you need for that big break.
It's not desperate to want to use the gift of Hedy to their advantage. Susie just doesn't want to disclose why she feels uncomfortable, but in the end, she knows Midge is right.
She does it out of love.
What kind of love? Now, that's a question that, if it hadn't at least crossed your mind in the last few years watching this show, you'd be lying.
Susie's silence tells us nothing when Hedy asks if there is something more to her passion for Midge, but we can always speculate.
It's better left unsaid. We can believe what we want about Susie's feelings toward Midge. Borstein plays that very close to her chest. A lot is going on there, but keeping it ambiguous is the right call.
Alfie Fuller's Dinah never gets much screen time, but she has done well establishing her and Susie's mutually respectful relationship.
Susie knows Dinah will always give it to her straight, calling her out when she's being emotional.
They complement each other well, which is why Dinah remains her #2 well into Susie's later years. It was important for her to mention that James didn't get handed anything, either.
Susie only saw James as a man succeeding where a hard-working, talented woman kept coming up short, forgetting that being Black comes with its own struggles, and he deserved his success as much as Midge does.
I think I emerged from my mother’s womb giving advice on how to deal with the umbilical cord.
Abe Weissman
The dinner scene with Abe, Gabe, Henry, and Arthur at dinner was masterful and riveting.
The men -- Shalhoub, alongside Patrick Breen's Henry, veteran character actor Kenneth Tigar as Arthur, and Chris Eigeman as Gabe -- handled the pacing and the philosophical dialogue superbly.
These are intellectual men of a certain age. Abe is finally coming to terms with his myopic view of the world and his complicity in the patriarchy, and he is shaken to his core.
He may be unable to make it up to Midge, but he can make it up to Esther, and he will probably spend the rest of his life doing so. How many fathers underestimate their daughters?
I have to see if my granddaughter is the grandson I’ve been waiting for.
Abe Weissman
If you are the father of a daughter, go and lift her up, see her as a person, and help her become the best person she can be.
This is one of the best scenes in the entire series. It's loaded with important ideas that are expressed clearly.
It shows the other side that we maybe didn't know we wanted to hear, covering what the men of the "old" world must have felt as they came to terms with mortality and shifting morals (with some artistic license and ample grace).
Change, to our predecessors, were sudden, exogenous events -- earthquakes, floods, an eclipse, a saber-toothed tiger lunging at you out of nowhere. They were things to be dealt with in the moment. Then things naturally reverted back to the norm. But now change happens over you. Change itself is the flood. Change itself is the saber-tooth. Change itself is the norm.
Henry
It's funny that Gordon Ford talked about getting an Emmy here because it's likely this episode could yield Emmys for Brosnahan, Borstein, Shalhoub, as well as Dan Palladino, who wrote and directed.
This was certainly a heavy episode, but it didn't feel heavy-handed. All the emotion, the frustration, the depth of feeling, felt earned.
It is emotionally preparing us (as prepared as we can be) for the end. It was all quite profound, but in a way that didn't feel overly pretentious.
One final episode remains, and it will likely be Midge's triumph. Let's go forward and watch her nail it because we know she will. It's her time.
What do you think the finale will hold? How do you feel about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 up to this point?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Mary Littlejohn Mary Littlejohn was a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic.
