Amac Productions

Joel really isn’t earning my favor.

At all.

And while Abe is definitely not husband of the year material either, he’s somehow not as bad.

Not by much though.

After all, his wife walked up to him and said she was leaving because she no longer felt like she had a purpose there and that no one needs her. Or cares about her. She told him what he was having for dinner and left.

Which no one noticed!

Not even Midge.

Which I swear, is less awful than Abe.

That’s her daughter. She’s working late nights playing comedy clubs, working a day job, dealing with two kids, and worrying about why Joel has suddenly disappeared from her life. Again. You know, she’s busy. Even though she lives in the same damn house.

Yes, she should have noticed.

But the man who sleeps in the same room as her every night, definitely should have noticed that she wasn’t there. For a while. That all of her things were missing.

Or maybe the fact that she told him she was leaving. Maybe that should have been a clue. I don’t know.

I do feel Midge has less blame to carry here.

She’s got her own life she’s trying to handle and work out. I get that she was not paying attention to her mother’s every move. Especially given that she’s actively avoiding telling her mother that she and Joel may get back together, so she doesn’t get her hopes up. Per request of Abe.

Which also not a good thing.

But I get why Midge may not have noticed.

Still terrible.

No one is winning family awards here.

Then we’re off to Paris to attempt to bring her home.

Abe is appalled to see the place she’s living in and that she has a dog and somehow that she loves it so much there. Because she does. And I love that for her.

I love that she was having a good time and loosening up. She freaking needed that. After all, this crazy woman measures herself so she stays appealing to her husband. Does all these crazy things so he doesn’t realize she’s human.

Which also, should lead me to blaming her a bit too. But I’m not going to.

She’s the woman, she did what she had to do to secure her future and then she taught her daughter the same thing. It’s a form of armor for her. One she’s decided she can no longer stand to wear.

And Abe is getting a look at what life would be like without her.

Which he cannot handle. Nor can he handle that she would be totally fine without him.

She could live in a sham of an apartment with a dog speaking French and finally enjoying her life.

I say stay in France. Seems like a good place for you. It also appears that you like the freedom it affords.

Meanwhile, Joel is having some sort of meltdown – once again proving that he is the absolute worst because Midge said things about their marriage during her set.

Well, sir, if you look back at season one – that’s your fault.

Midge was perfectly content to be your housewife and have you children while you work your job and do comedy skits at night. Ones where she bribes people to get you a good spot. She was content with this.

Then you left.

Midge did what she had to.

Maybe the comedy wasn’t entirely necessary. However, she found something she loves and she’s good at it. Something she wants to work for and have for herself.

She got a job. Stood on her own two feet. Found childcare. Worked out an arrangement with you to have the one child you seemed to care for. Got rid of the apartment. Moved on. Looked into getting a divorce. She made a life for herself without you.

And now! Now, because you’ve deigned to return to her life – you want things to go back to normal.

You can’t stand to watch your wife be better at something than you could ever be. You can’t handle a few jokes mad about you that are completely justified, because Midge has every right to be mad that a woman stormed into her job, and screamed at her. A screaming she didn’t deserve as she points out on stage. Second, the yelling that cost her the job she loves. Demoting her down to work as a phone operator.

Though with everything – she makes the best of it.

Something you can never do Joel.

You’re horrible.

Because you want her to give up something she’s good at to be with you or you can’t handle watching her be great. Wow. What a winner.

I’m with Abe from season one. Joel was just simply a weak man and a terrible choice.

My goodness. I hate him so much.

Will I ever watch an episode and like this guy?

Because I thought I hated Joxer in my Xena reviews and somehow, I really like him now. Though – as much as I like this show – it’s not Xena and never will be. Magic happened for that series. Check out my reviews if you’re interested in my thoughts.

I do like that Midge doesn’t want to give it up.

Sorry, not sorry Joel. You can’t just say screw it to your life and then make demands when you want it back.

Overall, it was a fine episode. I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it. Definitely am not loving Joel or Abe right now. Because what the h*ll guys?

I did love Midge keeping everyone calm at the call center.

And her wonderful little show of being a mom when she was summoned home for an emergency and checked all of her children for blood or missing limbs or teeth. Then moved on once she was certain they were fine. I did love that.

Rachel Brosnahan is a delight as always.

Her scenes with Tony Shalhoub were amazing as they circled the apartment confused and disagreement as they tried to determine where Rose had gone. Only to discover that they were both horribly insensitive and ignorant of their surroundings. Thus, off to fetch Rose.

Which went poorly.

I love the dynamic between Abe and Midge. Very father daughter, while also the reverse as she babies her father and tells him exactly what he ought to do in order to make things right. Essentially holding his hand through the process.

These two play off each other well and capture the complicated dynamic they have.

Love it.

Well, onto the next episode!

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