Its so good, its almost distracting
That’s what my me and my guy used to say about Downton Abbey. Yes, the acting was fabulous, the writing pithy, but the aesthetic…it was sublime. What would Lady Mary show up in next? Or the Dowager Countess? And the aristocratic locations, what better place to be a fly on the wall.
Move over Mad Men, the latest show to engage the eye to that extent is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (on Prime.)
Come for the chic gowns, but stay for 1950s New York in the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Rachel Brosnahan plays Midge Maisel, a smart, vivacious well-heeled graduate of Bryn Mawr college, who reinvents herself as a stand up comic in 1950s New York when her husband Joel leaves her. Its obvious to the audience why he left. Not because of the affair with his secretary Penny (the reason that is posited) but because as Joel says toward the end of the first season, Midge is a lot. How can a guy with garden variety insecurities compete with all that Midge? Everything Midge thought her life would be seemingly evaporates. She doesn’t even control her own apartment – her father-in-law does. And he’s put it on the sales block. So Midge moves back in with her parents, along with her young son and baby daughter (who has an unfortunate resemblance to Winston Churchill).
This is Amy Sherman-Palladino’s latest offering– Amy of Gilmore Girls fame. I should have liked Gilmore Girls. It has all the things I like: a strong, quirky, female lead, clever, witty dialogue, well developed characters. But I was never quite able to warm up to Lorelai. Yet Mrs. Maisel had me from hello. The supporting cast are spot on: Marin Hinkle and Tony Shalhoub as Midge’s parents, Michael Zegen as the feckless Joel, Alex Borstein as Suzie, Midge’s butch manager, and notably Luke Kirby as Lenny Bruce. But perhaps the most important supporting character is Midge’s wardrobe.
Veteran costume designer Donna Zakowska delivers outfit after outfit that often threatens to steal the show. Apparently Zakowska looked to fashion icons Audrey Hepburn for season one and Grace Kelly for season two as inspirations. She pored through period fashion magazines, and ultimately came up with both jaw dropping ensembles and a colour palette that lingers on the retina.
Zakowska is known for exacting research and planning. 
Moreover the palette follows Midge’s character arc. Pink when all is well in her world. More subdued tones when things fall apart. Red when she meets Joel for dinner after their breakup. Conservative in the tones for her job at the makeup counter at B Altman (for this she got a degree in Russian literature?). Perhaps my favourite would be the jewel tones of the outfit she wears to meet the lawyer who will represent her in her court following her arrest for indecent activities at the Gaslight. Sophisticated black at her culminating comedy set at the conclusion of season 1. And into season 2, she branches out into florals and more exuberant prints. Ms. Zakowska, hats off to you.
1950s New York is similarly an enticing character in Mrs. Maisel. Production designer Bill Groom shares a version of the Upper West Side and Greenwich Village are both familiar and fabulous. My god, the apartments, the delis, the clubs. I loved them all. In season 2 Groom goes to town, seducing us with a version of Paris that is compelling – a postcard that’s just a smidge sweeter than authentic. Meanwhile, the overall plot delivers an experience that becomes totally nostalgic for anyone who has been given the stink eye by a concierge or shared a brasserie meal with a lap dog.
Next stop, is the fictional Steiners , a resort in the borscht belt of the Catskills. (Hearing that many Mrs. M sets were shot at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios, one wonders if this is not the source of the resort’s name). This summer camp for adults offered plenty of environmental eye candy.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zakowska said of the synergy between herself and Groom:[Groom’s] colors lean toward realism, and my colors lean toward magical realism and seem to have hit a good balance” .
I can attest to actually laughing out loud in seasons 1 and 2. With only 3 episodes left in season 2, I already know the wait for season 3 will be interminable. I may suffer from colour-blindness.
Jennings' Pennings 