Bu wait, there’s more: Charming and character-focused, the first five episodes of the new season expand beyond the eponymous Mrs. Maisel, looking at more women ready to push back against the patriarchy. Here, the borscht belt is the picture of glamour, the service balletic, the guests greeted with scarlet glasses of tomato juice, each with a perfectly angled celery stalk. This season of Maisel takes great pains to introduce a new love interest for Midge—Benjamin—-who not only knows about Midge’s career in comedy, but also wholeheartedly supports it. Two months? Many of Susie’s arcs are treated with whimsy for very real concerns. The series’s personal conflicts are well-grounded, but the details — the upscale Jewish New York milieu, the fashions, the repartee — are idealized. Alex Borstein owns the screen as Midge’s wrecking-ball manager, Susie; Shalhoub finds both comedy and depth in the scatterbrained academic Abe. After winning the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series, the Emmy for the same category, and hitting the mainstream in a way that ensures this fast-talking, female-focused, hourlong dramedy won’t face Amazon’s axe anytime soon, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” had reason to fear a follow-up. I have been struggling to write about the second season of Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel because my opinions are continually shifting, contradicting each other and leaving me confused about my own impressions of the direction the show is taking. Sherman-Palladino may not have all corners covered, but what’s actually on the table is impossible to resist. This is one problem that Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — the first streaming series to win the best comedy Emmy — does not have. Hinkle, always a treat to watch (her turn as an anxious cheerleader in “Speechless” is under-appreciated), thrives with the extra time, dropping barbs with the wisdom of Rose’s position while showing heart-weakening vulnerability when surprised. I felt like I was watching an elaborate, goyishe caricature of Jewish life. The art direction reflects the show’s sensibility. “Maisel” gives the city the vivid “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” treatment, much as the show made over Manhattan as a kind of department-store-window fantasy of itself. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. But the opening whirlwind (Midge and her parents find themselves in Paris) left a bitter taste in my mouth—partly because it makes little sense, plot-wise, but also because it is predicated on Midge successfully delivering a comedy routine to a French-speaking audience. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Maisel” Season 2." And I spread the word—within weeks, my parents, my partner’s parents, and most of my friend group had indulged, and we lamented having to wait another year to see where Midge had ended up after her successful closing set at the Gaslight Café in season one. It would love to stay and chat but it’s gotta get somewhere. Shifting continents isn’t enough to keep Midge off stage, and the lead’s comic pursuits see more screen time with better use of it in Season 2. There are about as many black characters as your average Woody Allen movie and less angst over who’s taking care of the kids, who can’t afford to miss work, and who’s got a problem money can’t solve.