The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is set to make Mei’s family the biggest threat to Joel’s happy ending. The series has hinted that Joel’s medical student love interest, Mei, might be far more of an obstacle than previously implied. While Mei is a brilliant match for Joel in temperament and wits, showrunners Amy Sherman Palladino and Daniel Palladino appear to be priming the show for a darker plot twist—specifically in the form of her allegedly terrifying parents.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel explores the rising star of comedian Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel, who discovers in the first episode of the series that her bored, failing comedian of a husband Joel is leaving her for his secretary. The show dives into the four-season stand-up career of the jilted former wife. Despite starting out as a generally awful character, Joel has seen something of a redemption arc over the series, with the latest season featuring his devotion and commitment to Mei, along with their expected baby. However, when Midge asks mob associates to look into Mei’s family, she finds them terrified and unwilling to risk anything which might turn the mah-jong club owners’ attention towards them.
Mei’s parents appear to be connected to something far more sinister than a simple underground gambling society, and Joel’s successful club and his relationship with their daughter might draw him into their crosshairs. The audience has only seen Mei’s parents interact with her and Joel to either instruct him on keeping his club lower in profile, or to express their discontent with him overall. Despite the fact that Mei and Joel’s relationship is great for Maisel, Mei is reluctant to inform Joel’s parents because of her fear that they’ll disapprove of her culture and her race. However, the prospect of telling her own parents is met with even more hesitancy and an outright refusal on Mei’s part.
Amy Sherman Palladino and Daniel Palladino notoriously enjoy exploring flawed protagonists in their shows. Joel is a complicated character, in a series that thrives on relatively imperfect and often plain unlikeable characters. Midge cheats on her fiancé with her ex-husband who cheated on her, Susie mishandles and loses Midge’s profits from the Shy Baldwin tour, Sophie Lennon bullies and bribes her way into various areas of the main protagonists’ lives, and Lenny Bruce is set to die from a drug overdose in the 1960s. The show writers also seem to enjoy taking characters on the cusp of something potentially great, only to rip it away from them as it’s within their grasp.
Mei’s parents remain shadowy figures in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but the fact that Susie’s mob associates casually discuss a bloodstain on the floor of her new apartment yet flee terrified at the prospect of angering her family should spark some unease for what could happen once they discover that Joel is dating their daughter. Joel is the club owner currently drawing too much attention to their illegal gambling club. If their dangerous nature is turned to Joel, the fact that he is expecting a child with their daughter and endangering her pursuit of becoming a doctor might be the motive that pushes them off the edge.
