In comedy and romance, timing is everything.
I am fairly confident there is no greater TV feeling than when your favorite will-they-won’t-they couple finally stops tiptoeing toward the kissing line and fully embraces the crackling chemistry that has been driving viewers wild for years.
Yes, there are plenty of cautionary tales littering the television landscape, from the Moonlighting curse to the lusty highs and fizzling lows of New Girl’s Nick Miller (Jake Johnson) and Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel). But few characters have perfected their consummation timing as well as Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) and Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby)
After four seasons of playful banter and increasingly heated eye-banging, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel did the one deed I assumed would never come—or at least, figured Amy Sherman-Palladino would wait until the fifth and final season to give us.
Instead, a police raid and a blizzard provided the circumstances: The pair found themselves alone in a fancy hotel room with no other distractions except for each other.
Considering how up and down this season has been it wouldn’t have been surprising if this duo had remained in the burning gaze stage of their dynamic. There was still time, of course, in “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?” for Midge to make her excuses to leave and for the unresolved sexual tension to linger as it had done in Miami the previous season.
What is watching TV in 2022, if not to be constantly left needing a cold shower?
Thankfully, the whisky and the impossible-to-ignore smoldering stare from across the table were enough to stop her from venturing out into the snowstorm.
I am thrilled that a public declaration made on Twitter nearly three years ago—“I know it’s never going to happen but I really need Lenny and Midge to bang”—has been proven incorrect.
I am far from alone in wishing the MidgeLenny (there is no snappy portmanteau for this ship) consummation into existence. A quick scroll through the hundreds of comments on the official Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Instagram and Tumblr tag (yes, I still frequent those parts) proves the popularity of this long-awaited hookup.
No one likes the thought of wasted heat between actors (seven years later and I am still furious Alicia Florrick and Finn Polmar never kissed on The Good Wife), and will-they-won’t-they dynamics as a drawn-out trope can go horribly wrong—or right. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has thrown other love interests Midge’s way, but it is safe to say each of these other attractive brunette men of varying heights does not match the Lenny factor or electric energy Rachel Brosnahan shares with Luke Kirby.
Of course, Joel (Michael Zegen), Benjamin (Zachary Levi), and guest star Milo Ventimiglia (in a very brief Season 4 cameo) don’t come with the same complicated baggage as a character based on a real person—a real person who would die from a morphine overdose less than six years after the finale is set.
From the outset in the pilot episode, when Midge and Lenny first smash into each other’s orbit, the wheels of this horny bus were set in motion. Midge might be the one bailing the comic out of jail, but Lenny instantly takes on a mentor role of sorts, later turning up as if by magic when Midge needs a guiding hand or a flirty pep talk. It isn’t simply the fact that these two extremely hot people look great together (I mean, they do), but that Lenny has a deep respect and appreciation for Midge’s raw comedic talent makes the pairing irresistible. Lust and wonder flicker in his deep brown eyes, and he doesn’t need to decode Midge’s professional desires.
Sporadic (and often unannounced) appearances add to the heightened reality of their interactions, which helps address the complex issues that could arise from this portrayal. This isn’t Lenny Bruce per se, but a version of the comic that lives in this aesthetically elevated Mrs. Maisel version of New York City. Nevertheless, the series also isn’t trying to sweep his addictions under the rug. Season 4 made it clear the dark reality is awaiting in the wings.
In fact, the reason Lenny comes to see Midge in the finale at the illegal strip club The Wolford is to make amends for his shitty behavior when she picked his drunk (and passed out) ass off the sidewalk and took him home in Episode 6. Unable to resist his puppy dog apology expression, Midge quickly lets her frosty guard down, only for the cops to interrupt this familiarly flirty back and forth. (Rude.) For most people, this wouldn’t be a prelude to romance, but this pair did first meet under similar circumstances.
Another callback comes when Lenny takes off his suit jacket and gives it to Midge, who is wearing a fabulous (but impractical) sleeveless frock. In Miami, this borrowed garment is draped casually over her shoulders in a moment of easy intimacy, but in the present, this gentlemanly act is not enough to keep the chill at bay. Thankfully, the hotel room Carnegie Hall has provided for the star comedian (and redecorated in a shade of blue for him) is around the corner.
What follows is the usual snappy Maisel dialogue, but even that crackling banter can’t distract from the penetrating gaze and unavoidable electricity in the room. This is the kind of sexual tension that cannot be bottled or replicated. The mere mention of Midge’s very pretty but uncomfortable “show corset” is a flashing sign pointing to the unthinkable.
Pauses are deployed with great seductive effect: Midge taking a beat to lay the ground rules only elevates the anticipation. Before they “do some very blue things in this very blue room,” she wants him to promise that, after they have done the deed, he will “never ever forget that I am very, very funny.” They down some drinks, and then I blacked out. (It was finally happening!) Thankfully, I came back around in time to see smiles melting into kisses, and a dress that isn't ripped off but falls to the floor in one sweeping unzipping motion.
This is not the first time Kirby’s charming talents have been put to good use. Sarah Polley’s intensely erotic Take This Waltz and hidden gem Sorry For Your Loss have both tapped into this beguiling aspect of his performance. Take This Waltz switches out whisky for martinis in a scene—take a moment to watch, I’ll wait—that is seductive and intimate without a single touch.
Brosnahan more than holds her own. Her inability to hide her heart-eyes in Lenny’s presence is perfect—and relatable. It’s not the sex that leaves Midge speechless (though it does a good job), but a confrontation at the end of the finale about her recent stand-up choices that render her mostly inert . “If you blow this, Midge, I swear… you will break my fucking heart,” is not a romantic declaration in the conventional terms, but this is not a conventional will-they-won’t-they—even after the hotel room hookup.
A dearth of hot TV couples with scorching chemistry is something Variety’s Caroline Framke recently noted while discussing the flaming hot Bertha (Carrie Coon) and George Russell (Morgan Spector) Gilded Age pairing. I am in agreement regarding this period drama duo, and while the set-up couldn’t be more different—the Russells are married, after all—they share a devotion to each other’s ambitions and a desire to jump each other's bones. Switching between tender and primal is no easy feat, and both duos are equally charged and at ease with their scene partner.
But back to the hot sex: In the post-coital haze of the blue Manhattan hotel room, Midge grabs Lenny’s discarded signature white shirt. For once, I didn’t roll my eyes at this post hookup cliché. Midge’s other options are her show corset and the performance frock. Wearing nothing but Lenny’s button-down (and a smile) she basks in the afterglow before a glimpse of illicit substances breaks the spell.
This flash of Lenny Bruce’s reality is a reminder that the couple is unlikely to tip into endgame territory, and I’m not mad about that either. Acknowledging and acting on this desire is as close to a Mrs. Maisel happily-ever-after for this duo, and in the long annals of will-they-won’t-they TV history, this timing is nothing short of marvelous.
