Shhh… 1958. Now you know the PIN code of my bank card. What do Odessa of the Ukrainian SSR and New York of the USA have in common? The Jews. And, although Aunt Faya from Odessa sells on Import, and Aunt Rosa from New York is the professor’s wife and a youthful grandmother, their speech and way of thinking are surprisingly similar. And always completely serious, which is especially hilarious. The Weissman family from Manhattan finds out the relationship through verbal ping-pong, the grace of which other presidents will envy.
The daughter of the Weissmans, Midge, absorbed this grace and quickness of reaction with her mother’s matzo, but now she herself is the mother of two children and the wife of Joel Meisel (Michael Zegen), a young man with a good job and a dream of becoming a stand-up comedian. In these American-Semitic circles, where everyone is amused from birth, Joel is a restless spirit with a sad and fiery look. If he had been born an Englishman, he would certainly have seen something Byronic in him, but Joel is who he is, and therefore his throwing is also funny, only on stage he is not funny at all.
Midge is good in bed
Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is always impeccably elegant, fervently sexy and supports her husband in his dream, often coming up with his jokes for him. Performances at the Gaslight Club are held in the bewildered silence of the public, which aggravates the suffering of young Maisel. A sure remedy for the condition that Jews call “depression” is a secretary. A prudent lawyer or accountant would keep the affair as an affair, but someone who is a comedian at heart will not go the wrong way.
There follows a gathering of senior Maisels with senior Weissmans. The family happiness of the young couple flew to tuhes, additional expenses will be required. Midge gets fervently and sexually drunk and flies like a moth to the Gaslight, where she gives an impromptu for life, she is raked into jail, there she meets the famous sharpshooter Lenny Bruce, nee Schneider (Luke Kirby), barmaid Susie (Alex Borstein) makes bail for Midge, Midge makes bail for Lenny. This is how friendship and cooperation are born.
High hopes
Looking for friends, business partners? Go to jail! Suzy, a sentimental hybrid of a pug and a longshoreman, immediately catches the potential of Mrs. Meisel as an actress of a comic monologue, offering the services of a manager (to hell with your “manager”, I don’t speak Yiddish). So the funny beginning of the carbon monoxide path to rye glory was laid. The author of the series (to hell with your “showrunner”, you know…), Amy Sherman-Palladino is the daughter of an actor of a comic monologue, who absorbed the sparkle with her daddy’s matzo.
Brilliant humor of bickering, subtle wit of dialogues, ease of observing everyday collisions – the amazing Mrs. Sherman-Palladino honed her pen for years of producing sitcoms (“Ballerinas”, “Gilmore Girls”) in order to present to the jaded viewer a masterpiece at the peak of her skill. Fortunately, the material for jokes is the richest: the life of American Jewry in the 1950s with all the conventions; marriage in the 1950s with all the consequences; an attempt by a cheerful woman to get into the male genre. And most importantly – no strained feminism, LGBT agenda, other art-destroying rubbish.
The elevator operator. There is such a profession.
Only a juicy picture, a great game by Rachel Brosnahan (“House of Cards”, “Manhattan”) and the entire large cast, the harmony and unpredictability of the plot. And no rock’n’roll, there’s a decent society here! The series has been renewed for the fourth season, and this is a holiday for people of both sexes (there are two of them in nature, as you know), but with good taste and a sense of humor. Azokhenvey, lehaim and other mazltov (still picked up …)!
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