I normally reserve this weekly post for I watch on TV but I guess I should take a moment to comment on something I did not watch on TV.
The Oscars were on Sunday night but Andrea and I had other things to watch. We caught up on last week's Star Trek Picard and decided to watch an episode of Doctor Who ("Fires of Pompeii").
Meanwhile, we were missing Will Smith slapping the shit out of Chris Rock.
Apparently Chris Rock made some really lame ass joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett's bald head which is not bald for a movie role or a fashion choice but because she has a disease that causes hair loss. Hubby Will Smith thinks this heresy must be answered and leaps up from his seat, jumps on stage and wallops Chris Rock upside the head with a few choice words that were bleeped for American television.
Later Will Smith would be back on stage to collect his Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard.
On one hand, I hate we missed a moment of drama on live TV.
On the other hand, Andrea and I were glomming Star Trek and Doctor Who so I still think we made the right choice.
A couple of weeks ago, I noted some concerns about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as I navigated my way through the first episodes of season 4.
Midge's anger at being fired from Shy Baldwin's tour did not seem to reflect just what kind of socially awkward position and mortally dangerous spot she put Shy Baldwin in.
Well, she has a chance to confront Shy about this... at his wedding. Seems a new management team is working to keep Shy Baldwin's gay life under wraps behind a sham marriage to a woman. In fact, Midge is distressed to see that no one from Shy's old band is part of his entourage. The new management has isolated Shy from anyone he ever knew or loved.
When she confronts Shy alone, yes, she makes it clear she wasn't happy about how she was fired, left abandoned on the airport tarmac with no chance to talk to Shy, to explain what happen and to apologize for it. She knows the potentially explosive and harmful position her stand up set at the Apollo put Shy Baldwin in and she regrets betraying his trust in such a way.
I also mentioned before that Midge is still trying to carry on with the lifestyle of up town Manhattan on the income of a down town strip club emcee but she's not feeling the consequences of that disconnect.
But then she does. The fridge is out and the bills are piling up. It's bad enough that Midge breaks her "no opening acts" rule to be the warm up comic for the new game show starring her hated nemesis Sophie Lennon. It's good money and easy money too as Sophie promises to stay out of Midge's way. A promise that Sophie breaks when she hears Midge's set killing it with Sophie's audience. A battle of egos and escalating insults crashes that opportunity for Midge.
Midge gets a gig at a political event featuring future first lady Jackie Kennedy where the marvelous Mrs. Maisel totally mis-reads the room with a bit involving cheating husbands that causes Jackie to break down in tears.
Lenny Bruce is back and after 4 seasons of sexual tension, Lenny and Midge finally sleep together.
Lenny Bruce is booked for Carnegie Hall which means he can't open for Tony Bennett at the Copa. It's a well paying, high profile, career making gig that Lenny recommends Midge for but she refuses to take it due to her "plan" to not do opening acts and only be the headliner.
Not doing opening acts and only being a headliner is a goal, not a plan and Lenny rightfully calls Midge out for her stubborn refusal to do what needs to be done to further her career. Take the opening gigs, keep getting fired but every step is one more step towards being a better comic and one step closer to be a headlining comic.
Susie Myerson who has fought for Midge and believed in her talent when no one else would is over Midge's recalcitrance against taking opening gigs. The Tony Bennett spot was a game changer and would've put the marvelous Mrs. Maisel one major leap closer to her own time in the spotlight of the Carnegie Hall stage.
With both Susie and Lenny mad at her, Midge ends the season alone on a New York City street in a snow storm. Words blurred and obscured by the heavy wind driven snow send her a message: Go Forward.
So all the hard questions that Midge Maisel was avoiding at the start of the season are coming down hard, demanding answers. I'm sure we've got an interminable wait before the 5th and final season delivers those answers.
Some side notes:
Luke Kirby is just perfect as Lenny Bruce and there damn well be an Emmy nomination (no, fuck that, an Emmy WIN!) for Luke this year.
With Mrs. Maisel as the emcee, the Wolford burlesque club almost becomes a class act with better lighting, set design and costuming. The ladies and their grumpy stage manager Boise become more fully realized characters as the season progresses. Shame the joint gets raided and shut down by the cops at the end of the season.
Susie's journey to making "Susie Myerson and Associates" a real thing beyond just representing the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel becomes more of a reality. Susie even has a receptionist, Dinah, a young woman who is not necessarily very professional (she keeps bringing her kids to work who run around the place like maniacs) but she is surprisingly efficient at making things work. And Susie lands a stage magician and another comic, a young black man. And damn if Susie didn't help Sophie Lennon become a success again. Her biggest obstacle is getting Midge to stop refusing paying gigs just because they are opening acts.
And Midge's mother Rose decides to continue her new career as a matchmaker even in the face of threats from the matchmaker mafia. And yes, that is a thing.
That's it for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase. Next week, I'll be posting about the season finale of Snowpiercer.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
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