How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall
What is Moishe’s condition in hospital?
Episode 8 of Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 4 begins with Miriam and her family rushing to hospital to check on Moishe. Shirley believes that Moishe is going to die, while Miriam takes Joel aside who’s distraught and is blaming himself for what’s happened. Out in the hallway, Joel reveals that he got flustered and blurted everything to Moishe in quick succession about about Mei. Shirley is encouraged to stay over at Miriam’s for the night. She’s still hung up over Moishe potentially dying, calling God cruel and pointing out she hasn’t even been to Turkey with her husband like she planned either. The pair discuss the nature of death, with Abe convinced that he would be the one to die first rather than Rose. She promises to be there to help if Rose is the first to pass.
What happens with Mei? How does she take Miriam’s news?
At Susie’s office, the phone lines are ringing off the hook. Given her good work with Susie and now Alfie hitting it off, she’s a busy woman. Miriam manages to eventually get through to her though, asking for cover down at the club as she’s bound to head back down to hospital. Unfortunately, Susie has no one she can offer. Funnily enough, Miriam meets Mei for the first time at the hospital. She wants to have a chat about their living arrangements and, specifically, how it’s going to work with her own children. Miriam completely overwhelms Mei, who’s left in stunned silence as the gravity of the situation hits home. Boise rings Miriam, telling her that things down at the club aren’t going to plan and she needs to show up and salvage the situation. After all, there are a number of women in the club and they want to see her perform. Unable to get cover, she hurries back and agrees to do one set before leaving.
Does Miriam get a big break?
Miriam’s stand-up gig is excellent, and it’s taken a long time for us to actually get a riff on Miriam’s feelings and thoughts this year. She discusses death, her father-in-law and even calls Joel her husband… correcting herself to call him ex-husband. Her entire set really strikes a chord with the audience. Backstage, she finds Lenny waiting for her. He apologizes for his rudeness several episodes ago and points out he has a big opportunity for her. He’s received a call from Tony Bennett’s people. The comic is doing five sold-out nights at the Copa and they wanted Lenny to open for him. However, he’s already booked in Carnegie Hall, giving Miriam a massive opportunity. However, before she can give her answer, the place is raided by cops and they’re forced to leave. Lenny and Miriam eventually reconvene in the former’s hotel room. Sparks fly and the pair hook up and make love. However, Miriam notices medicine in Lenny’s bag but he shrugs it off, encouraging her not to worry and that everything is okay. But is it really?
How does Moishe react to Joel’s news?
At the hospital everything is okay there too. Moishe is still alive and certainly not dying after all. Abe, flustered, shows up with Moishe’s obituary in his hand. Abe is encouraged to read it, and he struggles to hold it together as he calls Moishe a good man and that he’d miss him very much if he passed. Everyone begin talking amongst themselves as Moishe mouths a “thank you” to Abe. Given all their hardships and ups and downs across the season, this is a big step for them. It also seems like there’s a newfound respect between the pair now. Meanwhile, Moishe heads home and speaks to Joel about Mei. He doesn’t care that she’s Chinese and wants them both to be happy. As for Shirley though, that’s a whole different subject. In the room next to theirs though, Abe embraces Rose and encourages her to keep going with her matchmaking business. This inevitably causes issues with the other ladies, who all receive a letter from her. “We’re at war.” One of them ominously retorts, leaving this open for season 5.
Why does Miriam refuse to warm-up for Tony Bennett?
Miriam shows up at Susie’s office with the big news about her playing for Tony Bennett. Susie urges Miriam to take this up but she refuses. After all, her whole plan this year has been not to be an opening act, so she turns down this massive opportunity. Frank and Nicky think she should do it but Miriam is dead-set on not breaking her promise. Lenny Bruce ends up doing his gig at Carnegie Hall. His stand-up is a massive success and he even gets a standing ovation too. Things have obviously gone really well and Lenny revels in the glory of it all.
Is Lenny’s show a success?
Backstage, Lenny meets Miriam but he’s not happy with her. He worked hard to get her the Bennett job and her nonchalantly shrugging it off in the way that she did has really rubbed him up the wrong way. With no opening act gigs and refusing to fly out to Croatia, Lenny confronts her and reminds her of the business they’re in. Lenny tells Miriam to stop hiding and to claw her way back to the top. Even if it means she’s arrested every night. “90% of this game is how they see you.” Lenny reminds her, pointing out that there was a time when Miriam wanted to be a comic and not just funny. If she’s hanging with Tony Bennett then she looks like she deserves to be there. If she’s doing gigs in a strip club, then that’s all people will ever see of her.
How does Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 4 end?
Lenny’s words hit home, and as they stand on the stage together talking, Miriam realizes that he’s right and thinks twice about her plan. With a blizzard raging outside, she sees a sign – a massive billboard for the Gordon Ford show. This seems to hint that Midge is going to try and go the same route as Sophie, heading onto the talk show that ignited her career and trying to follow suit. We’ve seen things dip and weave between good and bad, but it would seem season 5 will actually start to improve Miriam’s prospects and really pick things up.
The Episode Review
Finally someone has come out and said exactly what Miriam needed to hear. She has to go out and work to make it to the top and that’s something she hasn’t done this year. She’s been plaiting the pity party over Baldwin for a good chunk of this season and then messing up the gigs that she has been given, refusing to head abroad or do opening gigs. With the show already renewed for a fifth season, season 4 feels like a stop-gag in Miriam’s journey back to the top and I’d imagine season 5 will actually showcase a bit more stand-up comedy, which is something we haven’t seen a whole lot of this year. The story involving Moishe having a heart attack feels like a ploy just to bring tension into the story and in the end, he doesn’t even care that Mei is Chinese. The whole subplot with Joel feels wasted, and in fact it’s left unresolved by the end because we don’t actually see Shirley learn the truth. We also don’t see Mei again really after her shocked reaction in hospital, and she could even call the whole thing off too if she ends up that spooked. Despite its flaws, Marvelous Mrs Maisel has been a decent watch and while it hasn’t fired on all cylinders like seasons past, it’s been good value for its 8 episodes all the same. This finale rounds things out nicely, leaving the door wide open for where this may go next
