The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 episode 8 recap & review: The Princess and the Plea

Open Go TV / May 19, 2023 / Reviews

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In episode 8 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge pushes Susie for a huge favor after a meeting with her old friends, and Abe has a bit of a late-life crisis. The episode is streaming on Prime Video.

Recap

Midge and Joel are summoned to Ethan’s school and as they sit there waiting for the teacher, they reminisce about some of the good times they have spent together. Ethan’s teacher invited them to complain about Abe who has been visiting the school regarding Esther’s enrollment.

Ever since he saw her effortlessly play the piano, Abe has been obsessed with confirming whether Esther has the famed Weismann intellect.

Midge is attending a class reunion at her alma mater and she’s looking forward to it. Diana tries to smooth things over with James and tells Susie that she needs to meet him in Baltimore to fix their relationship and book him on Jack Paar.

Midge meets all her old friends and they discuss how their lives are going. While everyone else is still married and having children, Midge has gone through that phase and is now divorced and living an independent life with an exciting career.

They visit an old shed where they had left messages for their future selves and when Midge opens up her note, it just says “Dont”.

At work, Gordon gets some great news as they have managed to book Princess Margaret for the show thanks to Gordon’s wife, Hedy. He thanks her with a big kiss in front of everyone and then gives everyone a task for the show.

The writers are supposed to come up with a comedic skit for the princess and Midge says she’s got it covered if they take care of the monologue because she knows the most about the princess.

Princess Margaret appears on the show and is an absolute hit thanks to Midge’s skit. They all celebrate at Toot’s Shors after and Hedy approaches Midge to compliment her for her work.

Midge brushes it off but Hedy tells her to always take the credit, whether it is due or not, because that’s what the men have been doing since forever. They have a brief conversation about Susie and while she doesn’t know the details, she does learn that Susie knows Hedyn well.

She goes to the train station and greets Susie on her return from Baltimore. She tells Susie to use her connection to Hedy to get Gordon to book her. While Susie is reluctant to talk to Hedy, Midge gives her no choice.

Abe meets Gabe and some other friends for dinner but he’s in a downtrodden mood the whole night. He tells them that he’s beginning to wonder whether he ever saw the world for what it truly is or just spent his life dismissing things without giving them a chance.

The table has a conversation about the world changing around them and how it is tough to keep up with that change but Abe believes that it’s not that it’s changing, it’s the men who have blinders on that have stunted the progression of humanity.

Susie meets Hedy and asks her to talk to Gordon about booking Midge on the show. Hedy sees how committed Susie is and asks her if Midge is just a client or does Susie feels something more. Susie just reiterates her request and walks away.

The next day, Midge walks into work and sees Hedy who meets with Gordon and strongly insists that he book Midge on the show. When Gordon asks her why she’s suddenly making such a request, she says it is because he owes her.

Gordon isn’t too pleased about this development and walks out to the balcony and watches on as Midge accepts an emergency call and has to step out in a hurry.

Review

This episode is filled with moments that have you hooked to the screen. This show has excelled in these moments and they are great examples of television.
The discussion between Abe and the other men at dinner, the conversation between Susie and Hedy, and the complete lack of a background score or background noise so that their words get all the attention, are scenes that are beautiful and engrossing.
Even though Midge has had several other romantic interests throughout the show, her best relationship has to be with Joel (although Lenny Bruce would have something to say about that). Even though things started out rocky, it’s very clear how much they love each other and the beginning of this episode shows that.
Even in the most crowded settings, the show excels in highlighting where people’s attention needs to be and drowning out all the other distractions.