YMMV / The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

• Adorkable:
  • Abe is endearingly nerdy, especially whenever he gets excited about his latest hobbies and work.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Upon meeting Midge at the Apollo, Moms Mabley's manager throws an absolute fit about the suburbanite white girl who got the prime spot in the lineup over Moms, and his posture becomes altogether threatening. Moms steps in to talk him down, and cordially greets Midge and wishes her luck. However is Moms genuinely trying to smooth things over, or is it all a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing act as part of a calculated bit of intimidation to put Midge off her game?
  • When Imogen and Midge talk about Susie's finances, did Imogen really have a Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense moment, believing that Susie's meager finances from just managing Midge should be enough? Or did she realize Midge was being irrational, but wanted to make her feel better as her friend by assuring Midge she was right?
  • Is Susie in love with Midge? The final season confirms she's a lesbian, and when her ex-girlfriend Hedy asks if there's "something more" to her devotion to Midge, Susie doesn't actually answer the question. It's clear that, platonic or not, Midge is the most important person in her life, and the scene where Susie pours her heart out about Hedy and how badly hurt she was by their breakup, and Midge saying she thinks Susie will find love again, can come off as a Second Love situation.
  • In the final episode, after Midge does a set on The Gordon Ford Show against explicit orders, Gordon fires her with a smile on his face. Midge simply smiles back. Gordon does this after she completely kills and wins over everyone in the audience (including him), and he's the one who officially dubs her "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" In-Universe and makes it clear he intends to invite her on the show again. So, was his firing her a final act of spiteful revenge (especially given that, after how he acted earlier, she probably would've quit anyway), and her shrugging it off being because she knows she doesn't need him anymore? Or did he fire her because he knows she doesn't need him and is about to become a superstar? His expression could be interpreted as him keeping on a happy face for the cameras despite being pissed, petty satisfaction over getting one last shot in, or Gordon being a Graceful Loser, and maybe even a little proud of Midge.
• Award Snub:
  • An odd case as the first season did spectacularly well at the Emmys, winning eight of its nine nominations. However, that single loss was for Tony Shalhoub, causing many to shout that he deserved it too. However, this becomes Downplayed when you take into account that he lost to overdue legend Henry Winkler, and Shalhoub would go on to win the next year, and also achieved the rare feat of repeat wins at SAG for a supporting role.
  • Despite winning for her guest arc in season 2, Jane Lynch was unable to join costars Alex Borstein and Marin Hinkle the next year’s supporting actress lineup.
  • While Sterling K. Brown’s performance in season 3 was very well received, it’s not unpopular to say that Michael Zegen and Leroy McClain would’ve made more deserving nominees given they both had way more to do than Brown.
• Base-Breaking Character: Joel. While his character matures a lot over the course of the show and he becomes a much nicer and less insecure person overall, a substantial portion of the fanbase still dislikes him because of his cruel behavior toward Midge in the earliest episodes and his continued tendency to treat her with a certain degree of entitlement. Anxiety over the possibility of him ending up back together with Midge is likely also a factor, as a lot of viewers either prefer her with someone else or just would rather see Midge end the series single. On the other hand, he also has die-hard fans who are rooting for him and Midge to finally work things out. And then you have another set of Joel fans who like him just as much but don't want him to wind up with Midge.
• Designated Hero: Several fans started to see Midge this way in Season 4, with viewers noting that despite still being framed in her valiantly crusading light from earlier, the character was indulging in increasingly self righteous, petty, and egotistical behavior whilst being insensitive to those around her.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Lenny Bruce's extreme popularity is especially notable given that he only appears a few times each season. Luke Kirby even managed to win an Emmy for his perfect portrayal of the iconic and fascinating comedian.
  • Benjamin is well liked for being an intelligent, charming Nice Guy who’s a genuinely good fit for Midge. He only got better once he got to deliver one helluva "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Midge over her unfair dumping of him.
  • Astrid’s high strung but well meaning nature has earned her a fair share of fans. It also helps that she’s a loving wife to Noah and a bit of a woobie.
  • Shy Baldwin has also become quite popular for being his suave showmanship, his friendship with Midge, and for bringing newfound diversity to the show, being a positive and sympathetic portrayal of a gay black entertainer. The fact that he gets to showcase his lovely voice quite a few times helps as well.
  • His manager Reggie also has his fair share of fans as well due to his quick wit, loyalty to his friend and client, being just as stylish as Shy, and the fact that he’s probably the best agent on the show. That’s not even getting into him being played by Sterling K. Brown.
  • Mei achieved this status due to her mysterious nature, dry delivery, and heartwarming romance with Joel.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Midge/Susie and Midge/Lenny are both substantially more popular than the canon pairings of Midge with either Joel or Benjamin. The first is a Les Yay ship in a show with an ostensibly straight main character and no out-and-out LGBT representation; the second, due to one side being a Historical Domain Character, can safely be considered a permanently Anchored Ship. As of season 3, however, that last conclusion is starting to look more questionable, and the introduction of the show's first confirmed gay character (Shy Baldwin) may mean a non-zero chance of Midge/Susie becoming canon.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Gilmore Girls, since they share creators and a number of actors from the earlier show appear in Maisel (particularly in Season 4).
• Genius Bonus:
  • In season 2, Midge gets recommended a therapist who "did wonders for Sylvia Plath." Plath would famously commit suicide in 1963.
  • In Season 3, Midge makes fun of Shy Baldwin's clothing, including describing his shoes as being Judy Garland-like. By the 50s and 60s, Judy Garland's status as a gay icon had been cemented, and it was common for homosexuals seeking romantic partners to ask if someone was a "friend of Dorothy" to discreetly determine whether or not they were also gay. This was probably the statement that sent Shy over the edge and made him decide to fire her.
  • In Season 3, viewers can catch what the "head of food and beverage" at the casino does when he's first introduced, being that "head of food and beverage" was how mafia casino operators skirted Nevada gaming license rules.
  • In the Pilot, standup aficionados might recognize the Bob Newhart bit that Joel plagiarizes and know that it came out two years after the episode is set. They’d also realize that it’s actually a great example of how Joel just doesn’t quite get comedy because of his lack of understanding of what makes the bit work. It comes from an album called The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart and Newhart’s white collar background (he’d worked in both advertising and accounting before comedy) was part of his act. Joel leaving his white collar job to go to a Bohemian club in a pseudo-Beatnik costume to perform Newhart’s act is just an example of his cluelessness.
• Jerkass Woobie: Joel cheated on his loving, devoted wife and leaves her in the dust out of nowhere, which is rightfully vilified by their friends and family. Still, he quickly realizes that he's made an enormous mistake and even after all his attempts to make things right for his family the poor guy is still plagued with guilt.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Midge, who now has three canonical love interests plus Susie.
• One-Scene Wonder: The show has a reputation for finding notable guest stars to fill bit roles:
  • Wallace Shawn as Herb Smith in "Doink." He later makes a very brief appearance in "Panty Pose" as one of the writers of Sophie's standup material
  • Rufus Sewell as Declan Howell in "Look, She Made a Hat".
  • Wanda Sykes as Moms Mabley in "A Jewish Girl Walks into the Apollo..."
• Padding:
  • A few fans thought Season 3 featured too many vocal performances from Shy Baldwin given they repeatedly showed his numbers in full despite most all of them not having a direct impact on the plot and effectively stopping a comedy show from moving on with it's actual comedy.
  • Season 4 got hit with similar complaints in regards to its burlesque performances, not helped by some fans feeling the extended fanservice scenes clashed with the show's feministic streak. Additionally, while Shy's performances could at least be excused for focusing on a major player, the women getting focus here are otherwise background characters, making the turn they take up all the more noticeable.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: After the first episode spends most of its runtime getting the viewers to fall in love with Midge, Joel didn't exactly endear himself to the audience when he leaves her and reveals himself to be an adulterer. As the show's gone on though, Joel had repeatedly shown himself to have grown into an all around better person, effectively winning over many fans in the process.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: A somewhat interesting case in that most of the shippers in the fandom seem to get along just fine; the only notable conflict in the fandom currently is between those who want Midge to get back together with Joel, and those who really, really don't want that. People back their own horses and root for different endgame ships, but "Team Anyone But Joel" is essentially its own faction.
• Seasonal Rot: The first season received near-universal praise. The second season is considered to be a step down in quality from the first though still considered fine. But by Season 3, criticism started in that the show no longer felt fresh and had as much of a wow factor as before.
• Stoic Woobie: Lenny. He says very little about his feelings or the many problems going on in his life beyond making the occasional joke about them, and difficult life events like his divorce are often left for the audience to either infer or look up on his Wikipedia page. In 2x10 "All Alone", it's made clear that he struggles with depression, and he does have a moment of vulnerability with Midge when she offers a listening ear.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Some viewers find Midge hard to sympathize with because of the small amount of attention she seems to give to her children. We hardly ever see her interacting with her kids. As the show goes on, more screen time is dedicated to showing Midge's struggle to balance her budding professional life with her parental responsibilities as well as Joel's increasing willingness to pitch in while Midge is away. The subject of parenthood gets brought up a lot by fans, and the cast and crew have had to point out that the show's focus isn't on parenthood, so it simply gets less screen time. Perhaps in acknowledgement of this pattern, Season 5's flash-forwards show that Ethan and Esther are not on particularly good terms with their mother.
  • Abe and Rose in Season 3, after Abe quits his job and they give up their apartment and move in with the Maisels. We're supposed to feel sympathetic for them because of how annoying Moishe and Shirley are, ignoring the fact that they are voluntarily living rent-free in the Maisels' house so they don't have to pay to live somewhere else (including the fact they turned down their son and daughter-in-laws' offer of staying at their apartment due to the accommodations not being up to their standards and Rose turned down living in an area that wasn't up to her's).
  • Midge refusing a large sum of money from Shy Baldwin's representatives asking that she stay quiet on his love life. This prideful response is already questionable since they're not requesting a moral compromise, she notes that she was already not going to say anything. But the fact that Midge is refusing substantial financial aid while her family has money issues and she's way behind on her payments to Moishe does not reflect well on her. Tropes Are Tools, and here "Honor Before Reason" gets played as both a positive and a negative.
• The Woobie:
  • According to this article, Astrid can qualify. She is often the one-dimensional punchline of jokes regarding her status as a convert to Judaism (the article states that many in the community are still suspicious of converts even in 2018...) and doesn't seem to be presented with much identity outside of the Convert and her attempts to have a baby, she is a token and she tries very hard to be accepted by her in-laws, taking Challah baking to impress a mother-in-law who doesn't eat bread.
  • Midge's happily married life gets turned around when her husband leaves her for someone else, with her now having to find her own way and deal with the fallout and drama of his actions. And despite finding her own calling and achieving success, she regularly has to deal with the difficulties of rising through the comic profession as a woman.
  • The failure of his daughter's marriage alone throws a major wrench in Abe's life, and then it almost ends his own marriage. After saving it he then starts to question his own authority as a parent when he discovers both of his children have taken on secret jobs that are completely alien to him. Whilst trying to come to grips with this, it eventually leads to him realizing that he's been leading a life opposed to his own views, quitting his job and desperately seeking to get in touch with his earlier roots while dealing with the financial issues that this has caused him.