The Divorce
Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 3 episode 2 begins with a poor set from Midge, doing nothing for her confidence following Susie’s bombshell announcement about her managing Sophie. While she heads off stage and heads home, bemoaning Susie’s choice, Abe makes some new friends but singing and dancing all night causes Midge to confront them over the noise in the morning. However, this leads to several reveals as Midge’s lawyer happens to be Abe’s too. While Rose heads out to Providence alone in a bid to bolster her family trust fund, Joel continues to feel stressed regarding the Chinatown operation, especially given the basement is seemingly housing an illegal gambling operation. He hands the kids over to Midge but as he does, he learns their divorce has been moved up because of the tour. Incriminating pictures of Midge circulate too, prompting her and Susie to fall out right before her divorce settlement, which happens to run right before a photo session. In the middle of the formalities, Joel lends her moral support which causes the judge to have second thoughts about allowing them to divorce. He tells them to think it over again and after some back and forth, eventually bangs the gavel and makes it official as they look at each other one more time. While Joel tries to find out whose in charge of the gambling operation, Rose returns home after a fruitless endeavour out of town with news that she’s completely given up her trust fund, plunging them into a more precarious situation. At the party that night, Shy’s manager Reggie takes Susie aside and sizes her up. He attempts to intimidate her and afterwards, the episode closes out with Midge and Susie laying out all their issues out on the table, as Susie toasts to Midge always being her number 1. With Midge and Susie seemingly on the same page now and Shy’s tour about to get underway, this episode ultimately serves as a stop-gap, a way to lay the foundations for the season ahead whilst progressing our characters forward. Joel’s situation is an interesting one too and quite what will come of the gambling situation remains to be seen but ultimately it’s Susie’s choice to manage Sophie that appears to be the main talking point here. This could cause a rift to grow between her and Midge but for now, this appears to have been stifled. There’s another really impressive shot here too when Midge returns home to a house full of people and this stylish glamour is enough to keep the show feeling fresh and energized while the story is a little slow. Quite what will happen next though remains to be seen but for now, the door is left wide open as we prepare for Shy’s tour.
