S02.E06: Let's Face the Music and Dance

[Pallas]

With Midge's secret now exposed to Abe, tensions between them are higher than ever. Summer is nearing an end with Susie fully immersed in her Steiner persona and Joel contemplating life as a bachelor. Rose takes advantage of Astrid's fragile state to learn some surprising intel about Noah.

[SailorGirl]

"Who let the Cossacks in a room full of Jews?" :-D

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, SailorGirl said:

"Who let the Cossacks in a room full of Jews?" :-D

--which served to explore what it means to be funny, what it means to be a comic, which is also the topic Midge and her father open when they were otherwise not speaking.
Personally, I would have liked a mention (perhaps by Joel's obnoxious father) to pillaging Cossacks likely having fathered some of the Jewish ancestors, but this isn't an episode of Finding Your Roots.

This episode was packed with so many innovative and creative story-telling mini-plots, all elegantly staged and costumed. Like the sound effects of the door opening in the secret cone-of-silence room at Bell Labs. And Midge and Joel agreeing to dance with others and then parting in step.

And before I forget, the look on Alex Borstein's face when Midge's father seems ready to explode with destructive rage at the discovery of their other profession:

Thank goodness for Midge her brother turned out to be a spy whose clearance level totally emasculated her father.

Edited December 8, 2018 by shapeshifter

[QQQQ]

Again, more Dirty Dancing similarities (father discovers daughter's secret life, complicated father-daughter dynamics of guilt, approval, control, etc).

Edited December 8, 2018 by QQQQ

[Bec]

WTF, Noah works for the CIA? I mean, I figured his job had to do with some kind of super secret science project, not the kind of thing where you'd need to carry a gun around. Now I'm googling like mad trying to figure out what Cold War thing this could be a reference to. Sand in his shoes? Maybe it's Project Horizon. Would be hilarious if it's Acoustic Kitty, but it's a bit too early for that.

[Seelouis]

Susie in the show at the end!  I died.  

[howiveaddict]

I'm thinking that Noah works for NASA and not the CIA.   I can see him needing a gun in case of Russian Spies .

[lookeyloo]

On 12/8/2018 at 9:43 AM, QQQQ said:

Again, more Dirty Dancing similarities (father discovers daughter's secret life, complicated father-daughter dynamics of guilt, approval, control, etc).

including the porch confrontation...I said to Mr.  lookeyloo, where are Johnny and Baby?  And of course the Dirty Dancing.

[ZaldamoWilder]

On 12/10/2018 at 8:12 AM, Seelouis said:

Susie in the show at the end!  I died.  

As one of the guys.   Love!!! 

Also the part where she kills all her cabin mates dreams then casually turned out the light.   Bwahaaaaaaa!!! my sides!!

[rollacoaster]

Love love love how the staff has adopted Susie into their ranks! Lol to see her as a dancing "Brazilian"! I hope she had an excellent summer. 

[mojito]

I would've loved seeing Susie holding the plunger during her dance scene. I don't know, without her, I wonder if I'd still be watching this show.

[millennium]

It's hard not to fall in love with Midge.

[ahpny]

OK, why hire Jacob Kemp and omit him from an employee-end-of-summer show? Other than that, I've found this series very enjoyable in every way.

[tennisgurl]

So this week, Abe realizes that he actually knows nothing about either of his kids. Midge is a secret comedian, and Noah is a freaking Cold War spy! Maybe he really could have kicked the crap out of Joel this whole time, despite his protests to the contrary. 

Oh my God, Susie in the show at the end! As one of the MEN! And the weird woods guy in the play as the Italian guy! I also love that Abe immediately knew that Susie was a woman, and was confused as to why people wouldn't get that right away. 

Joel and Midge dancing together, only to realize that they should move on and find new partners, was surprisingly bittersweet. 

[WendyM]

So of course after watching these Catskills episodes I went down the rabbit hole looking for pictures of what happened to these resorts:

https://www.businessinsider.com/borscht-belt-photos-by-marisa-scheinfeld-2013-8#would-you-walk-down-this-creepy-hallway-at-grossingers-13

So sad. 
I love that Susie is literally one of the guys, that they sent out search parties to find her and everything. Aw, she has friends and a family.

I wonder if Noah has any involvement in nuclear shit too and that perhaps his "swimmers" have been compromised by radiation. Poor Astrid!

[mxc90]

I burst out laughing when Abe was told the janitors have a higher clearance than him!

I was waiting to see if the world tour reached Africa or Jamaica. Maybe next year.

[dleighg]

As a space geek I was very disappointed in the meteor shower scene. Anyone who has ever spent any time at all looking for the Perseids knows a) you don't use a telescope. b) it does not take place over a few minutes (it's an hours-long event). c) the best way to see them is to lie on your back. You don't point and then bring up a little scope. You experience each meteor for an instant.

Sorry for the geekiness.

[dleighg]

On 12/10/2018 at 7:29 PM, howiveaddict said:

I'm thinking that Noah works for NASA and not the CIA.   I can see him needing a gun in case of Russian Spies .

Astrid (in the service, talking to Rose) said "I can't just call up the CIA."

I thought it was funny how Rose was clearly so non-observant that she couldn't remember how to turn the pages in the book.

[NYCFree]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

As a space geek I was very disappointed in the meteor shower scene. Anyone who has ever spent any time at all looking for the Perseids knows a) you don't use a telescope. b) it does not take place over a few minutes (it's an hours-long event). c) the best way to see them is to lie on your back. You don't point and then bring up a little scope. You experience each meteor for an instant.

Sorry for the geekiness.

I agree, plus they showed the moon. A bright moon makes it har/impossible to see the meteors.

[shapeshifter]

On 12/27/2018 at 9:19 AM, NYCFree said:

I agree, plus they showed the moon. A bright moon makes it har/impossible to see the meteors.

They should've been watching an eclipse of the moon.
In the 1960s I recall watching an eclipse of the moon from my mother's upstairs bedroom window with my grandmother's pear/abalone opera glasses/binoculars.

Edited December 30, 2018 by shapeshifter

[JusticeForSimone]

On 12/16/2018 at 5:38 PM, ahpny said:

OK, why hire Jacob Kemp and omit him from an employee-end-of-summer show? Other than that, I've found this series very enjoyable in every way.

 

I created an account just to second this. His voice!!! I thought I might have heard him in the rehearsal scene (when Midge and Susie are outside talking on the bench) but from his absence in the big show, I take it that it wasn’t him. I hope they bring him back, whether it’s another Catskills arc or he and Buzz and “naked lifeguard” Josh come to NYC and attempt to create some kind of in-universe Rat Pack in search of their Sammy Davis Jr. I’d imagine that they’d approach Shy Baldwin, which would tie their story to Midge’s, and then Samuel would be like “oh, crap, she’s related to Mr. Tomato Juice.”

[aradia22]

Coming into this episode was weird. Sometimes I feel like this show is meant for binge-watching and sometimes I think it's episodic. I mean, it's really hard to tell when it's best to watch a chunk of episodes in a row and when you should take a break. I lost all the tension from Midge's last set and her dad driving her home. 

I love how this show just keeps having Nolan Funk be shirtless. Ridiculous.

Did I miss something? Have any of the other employees interacted with Susie besides the one time they told her she could have the free bunk?

Have they learned nothing??? They're going to lie to Rose again? Also, don't think I think Midge has any moral high ground here. She's been lying forever and she was probably never going to tell until this forced her hand.

Abe being humbled and Noah working on a secret project seemed a very random surprise. What was the point of that?

I was enjoying Brandon Uranowitz getting to sing and then casual racism... Sigh.

Very chaste flirting with Ben this episode. I don't think he's sticking around so I'd rather they get a move on. It would be different if I felt like he were a viable love interest. 

[shapeshifter]

On 1/24/2019 at 11:10 PM, aradia22 said:

Abe being humbled and Noah working on a secret project seemed a very random surprise. What was the point of that?

That it's not just Midge. That the parents of Abe's generation felt displaced by the next generation that grew up in a world in which science (man on the moon), technology (TV), and morés (birth control pill) were rapidly making the older generation's expertise and wisdom obsolete. 
And it has continued to happen with each subsequent generation, which makes the plot relevant.

[stillshimpy]

Well, that was hilarious.  Alex Bornstein's dancing at the end was laugh aloud funny.  

Aw, poor Astrid spilled the beans in a low blood sugar moment.  As soon as she said "The Company" I was intrigued and sure enough, the CIA proclamation followed it.   They might as well have entitled this episode "Down with the Patriarchy!"  for how many hits Abe's worldview took there.  It was a nice follow-up to his putting pressure on the Art school dean to allow Rose to stay, evidence of the limits of his importance.  I think middle age tends to contain a lot of feelings of insignificance for some people and it was interesting to see Abe's condensed into such a concentrated dose of it.   I was dying at the cone-of-silence, long parade of legal representation that followed.   

It's at least a little sad that Abe's natural response was not to be very proud and chuffed, instead, he felt diminished but that makes emotional sense.  

I do like that Midge ultimately decided that she would not simply obey her father and made it silently clear that she would not.  I guess it's Abe's turn for his own existential dilemma.  

Once again, the actor playing Astrid delivers a really tough set of lines in a way that makes her really appealing as a human being.  

I'm enjoying the expansion of the Maisel universe here to include details about the other characters and the mournful version of Go You Chicken Fat, Go also made me laugh.  Poor Abe, in his entirely altered world:  His wife is a full person with emotional needs, his daughter is following her own guidance, and his son is some kind of badass in the CIA.   I guess it was a big revelatory year for all of them.  

Except for Noah who likely just knows every damned thing if he wants to.  What a fun detail to include.  

I liked this episode, it was a good building block episode.  In terms of Midge and Joel, I know it is too much to hope for that he will really just be one of her biggest supporters, trying not to stand in her way, but I do like that the energy the actor brings to those "staring at Midge" scenes is not covetous.  He's not jealous, at least it doesn't look like it, it's more like he accepts that these are his consequences.  

Overall, I think the time spent away from NYC this season has been worth it to help reset several stages.  I think it was worth risking narrative momentum over.  Also, as seemingly the only person in the world who didn't particularly like and also stopped watching Dirty Dancing, I had fun with a different portrayal of the Catskills and found it really worthwhile. 

[MoreCoffeePlease]

After Midge and Joel parted on the dance floor, she immediately found Benjamin and they started to dance together. Benjamin / Zachary Levi was really into the dancing ... I get the impression that the actor is really enjoying this role. (I've been a fan since he was the star of "Chuck".)

I also enjoy the dating aspect of the relationship, unlike in most current shows where characters meet and have sex that same day. 😯  Guess I'm just old-fashioned.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, I loved Susie dancing in the employee showcase!

Poor Astrid - I felt bad that Rose took advantage of her weakened state from fasting to get information about Noah's secret job.

When Joel said, "I guess it's time we dance with someone else," I thought uh, yeah, you already danced with someone else and left your wife to live with her so...yeah.

I liked that when Abe said he didn't to dance, Rose said, "We can dance here or we can dance in Paris."

I'm a little sad that the Catskills episodes are over and that we're heading back to New York.

Edited October 23, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo