In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge and Joel share a lot of history together and their love for each other matures as the show progresses, mirroring one of Lorelai’s relationships in Gilmore Girls — not that of her and her soulmate, Luke Danes, but that of her and Rory’s father Christopher. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Gilmore Girls are both created by Amy Sherman-Palladino who has also directed, written, and produced the two hit series alongside her partner and husband Daniel Palladino, and while the shows are different in many ways, they share many similarities like pace, style, and relationships. One of the largest parallels between The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Gilmore Girls is seen in the ups and downs in the relationship between Midge and her (sometimes ex) husband, Joel, much like that of Christopher and Lorelai.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel begins in the late 1950s, with Midge living a happy life as a housewife on the Upper West Side with her husband, Joel, an aspiring stand-up comedian. Midge’s life as she knows it ends, however, when Joel is discovered as a fraud and decides to end their marriage rather than suffer her disappointment in him. Devastated and angry, Midge (played by House of Cards’ Rachel Brosnahan) takes to the stage herself and discovers she is far better at comedy than Joel ever was and, with the help of her friend and agent Susie Myerson, builds a huge career for herself. Joel tries to come back to Midge, but she refuses him and they divorce, only to remarry when Joel visits Midge on tour in Las Vegas in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 3. At the beginning of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4, the pair are still married though neither of them seems to take the marriage seriously and the fate of their second marriage is unclear.
In Gilmore Girls, Lorelai Gilmore is a young, single mother who ran away from her upper-class life when she got pregnant at sixteen. She starts a new life for herself working at an inn in the fictional small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut where she raises Rory and, later, falls in love and marries the local diner owner, Luke Danes. There is another important relationship in Lorelai’s life, however: that of her and Rory’s father, Christopher, who is a series-long love for Lorelai as well. Here’s why Joel is Midge’s Christopher, not her Luke Danes, and who Midge’s real soulmate may be.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Midge and Joel Have History
Like Gilmore Girls’ Lorelai and Christopher, Midge and Joel have a long history. They share children together, they know each other’s families, and they have collective memories that breed stability between them. Joel and Midge are also both Jewish in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a tie that binds them through shared culture and traditions like that of the rules associated with Lorelai and Christopher’s wealthy upbringing.
Joel and Christopher have similar arcs as well. Like Christopher leaves Lorelai to return to the pregnant Sherri, Joel leaves Midge in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Also like Joel (Michael Zegen), Christopher works hard throughout the series to be a stable, committed force in Rory’s life, an arc that is reminiscent of Joel caring for his and Midge’s children while Midge is out on tour.
Why Joel Isn’t Midge’s Luke Danes
Unlike Lorelai (Lauren Graham) who despised life in high society, Midge loved her life on the Upper West Side. She loved it so much that, in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 3, when she is earning good money on tour with Shy Baldwin, she buys her and Joel’s old apartment back on the Upper West Side and moves her parents in with her. So, while the life that Lorelai lives in Gilmore Girls is built of her own volition, Midge’s life in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is born of Midge’s desperation to survive after Joel leaves her. Thus, while Lorelai’s soulmate, Luke Danes, was someone from the life she sought out and created for herself, Midge’s soulmate may need to be part of both the life she was once happy in and obviously seeks to have again and also the new life she has created for herself.
Who is Midge Maisel’s True Soulmate?
There is one character in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel that fits all the criteria for Midge’s soulmate: Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby). Fellow comedian Lenny Bruce understands first-hand what life as a comedian is like and finds ways to support Midge during the beginning of her career like when he hosts a show at the gaslight to get her career back up and running after Midge is blacklisted for making jokes about Sophie Lennon (played by Glee actress Jane Lynch). Lenny is also Jewish and has gone through a recent divorce, allowing for another sense of comradery and an underlying understanding of each other’s backgrounds.
Furthermore, like Lorelai and Luke’s relationship built slowly over many seasons, Midge and Lenny’s relationship has as well. Introduced in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 1, Midge meets Lenny in jail (having both been arrested for their comedy acts) and posts Lenny’s bail. The pair meet occasionally through the escapades of their careers and the spark between them is undeniable. In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 3, Lenny surprises Midge at a bar while she is on tour with Shy Baldwin and the tension between them grows. The night ends with the promise of more when Midge (barely) decides not to further the relationship by staying with Lenny at his hotel, and the pair make a date to carry on in the future. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Lenny Bruce character is modeled after the real-life comedian by the same name, however, which may limit the pair’s future.
It could be that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is taking Midge in a different direction than Gilmore Girls’ Lorelai Gilmore. As the series has recently announced that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 will be its last, the show’s final two seasons will show the brink of a new world for women with the birth of the Women’s Liberation Movement. This could mean that, while Joel and Midge will likely always share love and respect for each other like Lorelai and Christopher did in Gilmore Girls, the goal of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel may be one of self-reliance rather than romance, forgoing a Luke Danes character in the series. In the end, it could be that Midge’s soulmate is herself, an independent woman in charge of her own life and career.
New episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premiere every Friday on Amazon Prime.
