Call this perceived sophomore slump a classic case of calibration error. Last year this show came out of nowhere to delight just about everyone, a nice little December surprise from Amy Sherman-Palladino about a pretty and witty idle rich housewife in 1950s New York who accidentally stumbles into a career as a standup comic. It was good! And the thing is, it's still good! But I think everyone (as in, everyone who influences which aspects of pop culture get elevated into a temporary zeitgeist) kind of wildly overreacted to Mrs. Maisel last year and then wildly overreacted in the other direction this year. I mean, this second season isn't tanking by any means, but the first season was this endlessly charming delight that swept both the Golden Globes and the Emmys last year, and then the second season wasn't even worse than the first one in my mind - bigger, maybe, what with Paris and the Catskills and two more episodes - and apparently the same pop culture overlords are crying, no, too much! Back off, Mrs. Maisel, you're not the charming little delight we thought you were!
Is this just, uh, hmm, is this just how it is with female-driven comedy? I can't remember a backlash to a beloved first season of a comedy series this strong since Girls all the way back in 2013. (That one was much worse - and honestly, earned, but still!)
Call me crazy, or wrong, but it's weird to me that the first season of this thing was met with universal praise and adoration, and then came all the success at the Globes and the Emmys, and then the second season came back with the exact same beats and rhythms that the first one had, and now the Internet says, "enough with this shtick already!"
I dunno!
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was my #17 show in 2017 and my #18 show in 2018. (Huh, look at that.)
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