3x02 It's the Sixties, Man!

[7.0/10] It was hard to like Midge for a lot of this episode. She was, in no uncertain terms, a bitch to Susie. Her pointed set at the Gaslight, her rude behavior at the Stage Deli, her curt demeanor over the phone in light of the whole Sophie Lennon thing were all really childish and unfair. There’s times when Midge definitely seems like she thinks she’s the center of the universe, but this is the point where it crests being an amusing character quirk and verges on “you’re a bad person” territory.

But there’s two wrinkles to it that make me okay with what this episode does on that front. The first is that Midge is going through some shit right now. She’s having to say goodbye to her childhood home (or at least a place where she’s spent much of her life) with Abe and Rose moving out of their Columbia-provided apartment. She’s embarking on her first big tour and taking a big chance that leaves her understandably anxious. And most of all, she’s finalizing her divorce which, no matter how much she tries to take it in stride, is something that clearly pierces her.

She’s not in a good emotional place right now. She’s already dealing with the fruits of her husband’s disloyalty, so acts from Susie (no matter how understandable) that she perceives as disloyal are going to hit extra hard right now. It’s not likable, but it’s comprehensible, which is all we can ask for from characters.

The second is that she sees the light. I love how Imogene is, almost unwittingly, the one who points out how unreasonable Midge is being -- that Susie can’t subsist on only one client and that Midge hasn’t exactly been making it possible for her to do so given their arrangement. (Not for nothing, Susie also had threats on her life thanks to Midge’s actions.)

Their reconciliation at the end is very uplifting. Susie makes the rare emotional appeal, in her own gruff way, basically saying that their friendship is more important to her than the career opportunity of a lifetime. In return, Midge tells her manager that she wants her to have success and its fruits, and that Midge will be OK sharing Susie with Sophie. Susie tells Midge that she’ll always be her “number one girl,” which is a nice affirmation and salve for the temporary bad blood between them.

The catch is that it’s done in a very broad fashion, which goes for pretty much everything in this episode. I know I’ve beaten this horse before, but you can tell this is a Daniel Palladino-penned episode because of how cheesy and broad the humor gets. Case-in-point, the communist caricatures in the Weissmans’ apartment isn’t terribly funny, but is in Palladino’s wheelhouse.

The same goes for the courtroom scene with the reproving judge and wacky interruptions from Susie to try to move things along. I will say that I really hope the point of this scene was to show how small-c conservative the family courts were in the late 1950s and not to suggest that just because they’re amicable, Midge and Joel should still be together, because I continue to not see it.

But we do get movement on Joel’s story. He makes contact with the same Chinese woman he had brief Beatrice/Benedict chemistry with in the prior episode, and through her, makes contact with the owners. The ensuing scene is still pretty broad, but has a more amusing sense of patter to it, particularly with the cross-language-barrier snickering and the continued ability for the woman to put him in his place.

That just leaves Rose’s trip to Oklahoma to visit her brother. This one feels like a real missed opportunity. There’s something very interesting about cosmopolitan Rose coming from Oklahoma oil money, and an insightful dynamic where the good ol’ boys network in Providence, OK looks down on her as a yankee, while just supervising the actual workers and saying “good job.” Rose rejecting the patriarchal nature of all of that is a good beat. But again, the execution of all of this is very broad and very blunt, which weakens a good idea.

There is the interesting thread here that, whether they like it or not, Midge has inspired her parents to some extent. Abe is standing up for what he believes in after Midge’s admonishment about free speech. And Rose is asserting her independence (after an on-the-nose speech about all this).It’s a little oversimplified, but again, I like the concept.

(As an aside, I wonder why the Weissmans don’t just move to Paris, since they seemed to have a more cost-effective lifestyle there and both seemed happy and fulfilled.)

That just leaves the introduction of Sterling K. Brown(!) as Shy Baldwin’s real manage. I like the idea that “Uncle Lou” is just the face presented to white society, while Brown’s character pulls the strings. His conversation with Susie is a good one, and it’s a boon to have him in the mix.

Overall, there’s a lot of cheesy shtick in this one that brings the episode down, but I like where they ultimately land with everything, including with Midge and Susie.