2x09 Vote for Kennedy, Vote for Kennedy

[8.4/10] So much fun stuff in this one, and some meaningful drama to boot. Let’s get the B-stories out of the way first.

For one, I enjoyed Abe’s world falling apart around him. We knew it would be tough for him to learn that his daughter is a (sometimes blue) stand-up comedian and his son is a spook. But we get real indications in this episode that it’s caused things to fall down in the rest of his life too.

He’s not getting anymore funding from Bell Labs. His colleagues, students, and even janitors want him gone from Columbia. He threatened to stab the head of his department in the eye with a cheese knife. He’s clearly at his wits’ end over all of this, and it’s affecting his work. That seems on brand for Abe, and his speech to his students is a hoot. He, like Midge once was, is seeing what he thought was his perfect life upended.

But he has a heart-to-heart with his son and starts to feel a little better. He watches his daughter be hilarious on (national?) television, smile a little bit, and seemingly realize that she’s talented enough to have a real shot at this. There’s still the ticking time bomb of the fact that it’s her blabbing about his Bell Labs project in her act on tour that got sent his project “tits up” (an amusing phrase to use, since it’s Midge and Susie’s watchword), but at the end of the episode, he seems more at peace with things. It’s done in an unshowy way, and I really like that.

We also watch Joel get fired by his dad...but in a good way! It’s a really sweet speech and gesture from the oft-cartoony Moishe. He’s still kind of a stereotype, this time over his cheapness and gaucheness at taking money from his son’s bar mitzvah, graduation, etc. But here, you see the heart of gold that lurks within the man, returning the funds to his boy with interest and “lots of guilt.”

Because he sees what Joel’s done for his business, sees the visionary way Joel turned his knowledge of the business world and his connections to put his dad’s mess of a garment concern into a professional and legitimate operation. His dad sees the potential, and doesn’t want to watch Joel get “stuck” in his father’s business, giving him the money to find his own way. Joel’s sly glance at the end of the episode suggests that he might invest some of it in Midge, but regardless of what he uses it for, there’s a warm sort of father/son magnanimousness to the whole thing.

Then there’s Midge herself! The showpiece of the episode takes place when she’s working the telethon, but there’s lots of fun stuff before that. For one, her and Susie’s game of telephone around the Stage Deli is a hilarious way to open things. For another, her conversation with her parents that flips from pleased and supportive of the telethon when she describes it to them, to grousing and skeptical once they find out Midge is performing in it, is pure Gilmore Girls-esque family dinner magic.

There’s some good material on the Benjamin front as well. I really enjoy the scene where Midge is caught unawares and feels frazzled when he shows up at a park under Rose’s direction, with Midge feeling awkward about him meeting Ethan without Joel’s approval. And yet, the moment is smoothed over when he mentions the possibility of engagement, cheekily asking if he’d get to meet the kids then. It’s a nice way for him to convey that he’s cool with however Midge wants to handle this situation, while also conveying a sense of commitment (even if it’s an airy, general one). Plus, as Gilmore Girls fans know, whether fiancees are allowed to interact with your kid can be a surprisingly dicey proposition in the Amy Sherman-Palladino Cinematic Universe!

But then we get to the telethon itself, which is a blast. It’s one of those great TV set pieces, where you have tons of gears spinning all at once, with plenty of time for the audience to check in on all of them. Susie and Midge try to make good with the control crew so that they’ll help her out with shooting and angles. She runs into one of the Rockaway thugs who abducted her and they have a convivial chat. There’s amusing acts like twirlers and Cowboys and other goofy telethon shtick.

The throughline, however, is Midge and Susie’s continued feud with Sophie and Harry. For starters, Sophie’s act is hilarious (in an anti-comedy sort of way). The show goes whole hog on the hackiness of her routine here, to the point that it wraps back around to being funny again. What’s more, I died laughing at her strained attempts to pretend to be “emotional.” Jane Lynch is a treasure.

Midge bristles at being sidelined thanks to Sophie’s influence, but Susie takes matters into her own hands. She threatens Sophie for threatening her girl, and her heart is in the right place, even if it’s questionable whether her manner is the thing that could actually fix this. There’s an interesting notion of Susie as a blunt instrument. She's good at bulldozing, but not necessarily finessing (which is also reflected in the way she reacts to the arrival of Benjamin at the Gaslight, whom she’s clearly threatened by.

It’s a good scene, you can tell that Susie mean’s well. But Midge is also right that they were trying to put this behind them, and that all Susie did was reignite the feud. It’s particularly telling when Sophie says that all Midge had to do was apologize, and that if she was a good manager, Susie would have told her to do so. You can sense a reckoning between manager and client, and I’m curious as to where and how it’s going to go.

Still, the episode is largely one of triumph. Given a crap time slot, Midge still makes the most of it, putting on a hilarious set that’s clean (mostly) non-political, and full of her improvisational charm that shows what a talent she is. There’s few things more triumphant than watching every corner of her life, from the Stage Deli, to the Gaslight, to Joel, to her coworkers, to her parents, to randos across the way seeing her act and laughing their behinds off, taking some kind of credit or pride in knowing her. It’s a sign that she’s made it, or is at least making it, and a nice vindication of her talent.

Overall, this is another roundly enjoyable episode of the show, with great humor and some strong character work to boot. Bring on the finale!