(CNN)Dear Ms. Maisel,
Maybe it’s the long hiatus, or maybe it’s because your performance was feeling a little dated, but the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? Not your best stuff, at least based on the first few episodes. In fact, it just feels like you’re hitting the same one-liners over and over again.
Granted, this might be a minority opinion given all the big Emmys you collected in 2018 before “Fleabag” and that guy Ted Lasso showed up. But season four — which picks up after the left-on-the-tarmac moment that ended the stronger third season more than two years ago — feels like too much of a reset, throwing you back into that stage-hungry time mode that you seem to have completed.
That’s not to say the cast (starting with Rachel Brosnahan and, well, you) isn’t great or that there aren’t some funny lines. It’s also worth noting that your ex Joel (Michael Zegen) has actually blossomed into a fairly appealing character, which certainly wasn’t apparent when the series premiered in 2017.
Understandably, the setback in your career causes a lot of headaches for your manager Susie (Alex Borstein), who is under pressure to get you back on stage.
“You know what’s great about me? When I’m me,” you tell her, referring to that thing when you throw away the playbook and just randomly start trying stream of consciousness standup routines that are, of course, meticulously written and rehearsed.
There are amusing moments with the extended family, too, although even that is starting to wear off. For example, there’s this scene where everyone on the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island is yelling at each other, which starts well and then just seems to keep going.
As a completist, it will be nice to see how and where “Mrs. Maisel” has reached the end of her journey, which has held up a mirror to the misogyny faced by a female comedian at the time and the issues that remain to this day. Luckily, on the eve of this premiere, Amazon announced that the upcoming season will be its fifth and final, hinting at a closure in the not-too-distant future.
The show helped put Amazon Prime on the programming map, so kudos to writer and producer Amy Sherman-Palladino.
But you know that little red light in the back of the house that comedians tell when their set is almost over? It’s really nice to see that even the producers have realized it’s come, an indicator that it’s time to wrap things up.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premieres its fourth season on February 18th on Amazon.
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