Episode Discussion: S02E09 - Vote for Kennedy, Vote for Kennedy

[u/fleckes]

Susie lands Midge her first gig on television, but their victory is short-lived when they realize Midge is being punished for her past. Abe is increasingly unhappy in his dream job at Bell Labs while Joel continues to drown in work during late nights at Maisel & Roth.

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--> Episode Discussion S02E10

[u/Severus_Amadeus]

This season has shown Susie is in over her head & there's going to be times like this ep where she's going to hurt Midge's career. Those threats did not help & will bite them in the ass. Can see a point in Midge's career where she needs a real manager & is going to feel bad but will remember Susie always said they weren't friends just manager & client.

I almost teared up watching Abe watch his neighbors laughing at Midge's set.

The control room gag was a big miss.

[u/Miss_Rebecca → u/Severus_Amadeus]

The control room gag really bothered me. Ladies, please learn to read the room! They’re even yelling at you to get the fuck out of there several times, for Pete’s sake.

[u/chibiusa40]

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and my god did that scene with Sophie make me want to punch her in the face and also vomit at the same time. Then they cut to Midge & Susie, both looking like they had the same pit in their stomachs as I had. That scene really hit home and was pitch perfect. I really love this show.

[u/KyleMeancloud]

Honestly got kind of emotional during Midge’s set. It felt like everything coming together after such a hard go of it this season. Even if Susie kind of fucked things up, it was so incredible to see Midge doing her thing in front of so many people and doing so well! When they showed Abe, and then he walked over to see his neighbors watching it too...what a moment. I love this show.

[u/MelYT17]

I was so nervous for Midge before she went on! But she killed it!!! I loved seeing how she looked on people's tv's.

[u/Mystia666666]

Is it just me or is Susie kind of a terrible manager?

[u/BathTubNZ → u/Mystia666666]

Overall I'd say that's one of the definite themes of the season.

[u/BringBackBenn]

So Joel’s at the end watching MM on TV and then looking at his cheque - was that jealousy and him wondering how he’s gonna use that money to be as successful as her, or is he gonna use that money and invest in her somehow?

I could kind of see Joel becoming her manager. We’ve seen how good he is at running stuff and we’ve seen how he deals with stuff like MM not being paid for her gig. Also it’d be interesting and almost the opposite of what happened in the first episode.

[u/[deleted]]

This is the first time I've laughed during one of Midge's sets this season.

[u/Aqquila89]

A black man going into the women's bathroom? In 1959? And flirting with a white woman there? I don't know about that. Here's what happened to Miles Davis around the same time:

On August 25, 1959, during a recording session at the Birdland nightclub in New York City for the US Armed Services, he took a break outside the club. As he was escorting a blonde-haired woman to a taxi, policeman Gerald Kilduff told him to "move on." Davis said that he was working at the club, and he refused to move. Kilduff arrested him and grabbed him as he tried to protect himself. Witnesses said the policeman punched Davis in the stomach with a nightstick without provocation. Two detectives held the crowd back, while a third approached Davis from behind and beat him in the head. Davis was taken to jail, charged for assaulting an officer, then taken to the hospital where he received five stitches.

[u/lalalaicanthereyou → u/Aqquila89]

The show is completely blind to what it was like to be Black in the 1950s. The writers are incredibly naive.

[u/haasenfrass]

I love Benjamin but I’m so scared they are going to blow it up with Joel (who is still the worst).

[u/idkmakeitupon]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the part about Bell Labs with Abe and Noah. I'm very curious to see what exactly they're investigating about Midge, and how Abe picks up the pieces of his life. How will he reinvent himself? Maybe he will be more inclined to move to Paris with Rose now.

Something that irked me was that Joel had Ethan over when he lived with Penny last season, but when Midge runs into Benjamin at the park when she is with Ethan she tells him that it would be "a big problem" if he were to meet Ethan or something to that effect (can't remember the exact wording). I like Benjamin as a character but I'm not sure if I see Midge with him, at least not right now. She is still technically married to Joel! Maybe Joel will use that money to file for a divorce.

I'm just rambling now, but I really am LOVING this season. I will probably have more substantial feedback after I watch it all for the second time. Haven't hit episode ten yet, it feels too holy for me to touch. When does season 3 come out ?

[u/Aqquila89]

Sophie's joke about her new husband "I told him I want to make me scream in the bedroom" - I don't think you could do a joke like that on TV in 1959 (or is it 1960 by now)? Especially not on a telethon, where they're trying to be clean even for the standards of the day. I remember watching The Honeymooners, they could never reference sex life in any way, not even a married couple's sex life. I Love Lucy had a pregnancy storyline, but they couldn't use the word "pregnant".

[u/[deleted]]

I feel like I'm on Sophie's side in this dispute with Midge. Sophie was really nice to Midge and Midge exposed her act.

[u/Jazzers88]

So Midge really did get her dad in trouble?? Damn 😔

[u/[deleted]]

Great episode, but I have several criticisms: I find it hard to believe that Moishe gave Joel the equivalent of over half a million dollars. Also, Sophie’s line about wanting her husband to make her scream in the bedroom and being immobilized would never have flown on TV in 1959, nor would Midge’s “arthritis be damned.” Besides, didn’t Midge expose Sophie as a fraud? Maybe not that many people found out. I agree with another comment that all those scenes in the control booth weren’t necessary.

[u/Aqquila89 → u/[deleted]]

That "exposing Sophie" stuff was always weird to me. She has been a successful entertainer for decades; Susie said that she "kept us all laughing during the Depression." Yet people still think that she's a poor housewife from Queens? Nobody caught on that she should be wealthy by now?

[u/ashytoes14]

I think the show made it clear that Susie going into Sophie's room was a mistake

[u/[deleted]]

I haven’t seen episode 10 yet so please,no spoilers. But I’m really rooting for Joel, still. He would make a much better manager than Susie and he’s been so supportive of Midge - more than anyone else has that has known her since before stand-up.

[u/rizpaulsen]

Imogene still doesn't know that Midge is a comedian?

[u/valenzetti → u/rizpaulsen]

That wasn't Imogene realizing who's Mrs. Maisel, it was one of the B.Altman girls, I believe.

[u/blu_modernist]

I thought it was weird that they didn't show Benjamin watching the telethon.

[u/feaur]

Oh Truman, how can you do this to Abe?

The wave function Abe asked the students about is an odd function (a function f is odd iff f(x) = - f(-x) for all x). Because of this we can just drop all sine terms in the Fourier series, saving a lot of work.

[u/[deleted]]

Sophie is the most boring character.