'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Pilot Episode Breakdown
One of the best ways to learn how to write a great TV Pilot is to read and analyze successful pilots. This article takes a close look at the structure, pacing, themes, setup, style, conflict, and beats of the pilot episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Created By: Amy Sherman-Palladino
Genre: Dramedy
Pilot Run Time: 57 minutes
Pilot Page Count: 79
Pilot Air Date: March 17, 2017
Number of Episodes To Date: 18
Where You Can Watch It: Amazon Prime
Premise/Logline
When her husband announces that he’s leaving her, a whip-smart housewife stumbles into the cutthroat, male-dominated world of 1950s/1960s stand-up comedy.
How Many Acts in the Pilot Episode?
Since Maisel is a streaming show, it doesn’t have the traditional commercial breaks that would signify act breaks. The script is also written without acts. So I’m just speculating here, but I believe “Maisel” is typically a teaser plus five acts. The pilot is different in that the teaser is attached to act one.
Storylines
The pilot of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is unique in that its storylines are chronological. The story follows Midge and Midge alone, so as her journey changes, so does the storyline.
A-Story — Everything is fine. Midge’s life is perfect. She’s the ideal wife and daughter.
B-Story — A disastrous set at the Gaslight club leads Joel to admit that he’s been cheating on Midge, he’s unhappy, and he’s leaving.
C-Story — The aftermath of Joel leaving.
D-Story — Midge gets out of jail and, against all odds, might be okay.
Characters Introduced
The pilot episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel introduces 12 characters to the audience — most of whom are mainstays throughout the series (to date):
Miriam “Midge” Maisel
Joel Maisel
Abe
Rose
Suzie Myerson
Penny Pan
Zelda
Imogene
Archie
Baz
Lenny Bruce
The Setting
New York City (1958) — More specifically, the Upper West Side. Midge and Joel live in the same building as her parents and live a happy, perfect life. They head downtown every weekend to moonlight as bohemians at the Gaslight Café, but come from comfortable backgrounds and wanted for nothing. The stand-up scene in the 60s was primarily male, and raunchiness or nudity could get you thrown in the slammer.
Important Motifs / Details
The pilot episode of a show sets the tone for the series, largely through the use of stylistic motifs, pacing, and details like dialogue choices. The pilot episode of Maisel establishes two motifs that define the rest of the series:
Rapid-fire dialogue
Slight flashbacks are possible (non-linear storytelling)
Opening Scene
Midge Maisel gives an incredible speech at her own wedding. The story starts where most romantic comedies end — the wedding — signaling this won’t be the traditional happily ever after arc you’d expect from a young, successful married couple in the 1950s.
Inciting Incident
The inciting incident for Maisel isn’t actually seen onscreen. It’s only mentioned. Because Joel’s lunch meeting runs long, he is unable to get downtown and secure a good time to perform at the Gaslight. This causes the chain of events that includes him bombing that night and ends in him telling Midge he’s leaving her.
Main Conflict
Midge versus Joel (Or: Midge versus The Perfect Life)
The primary conflict in the pilot is between Midge and Joel. Their relationship is crumbling is what causes the plot to progress. Further into the episode, Joel is less of an “antagonist,” and Midge’s “opponent” becomes the idea of a perfect life, and the fact that without Joel, she won’t be able to maintain it.
The Turn
Completely frazzled, Joel attempts to change up his act on the fly. He bombs in front of a full crowd, including their friends Imogene and Archie — who got a babysitter so they could see his set!
The Twist
Joel not only tells Midge that he’s leaving her but admits that he’s been having an affair with his secretary, Penny Pan, who can’t figure out how to use an electric pencil sharpener.
The Big Moment
Drunk on the wine that was intended for Yom Kippur, Midge ends up on stage at the Gaslight and rants about the mess her life has suddenly become. It’s raw, honest, utterly hilarious, and (gasp!) includes some nudity.
Theme(s) Stated
“I don’t mind being alone. I just do not want to be insignificant.” (Suzie)
—
“Do you love it?”
“Do I love what?”
“Comedy. Stand-up. Do you love it?”
“Seriously?”
[Midge nods]
“Well I’ve been doing it a while. Okay, let’s put it like this: if there was anything else in the entire world that I could possibly do to earn a living, I would. Anything! I’m talking dry cleaners to the Klan, crippled kid portrait painter, slaughterhouse attendant. If someone said to me, ‘Leonard, you can either eat a guy’s head, or do two weeks at the Copa,’ I’d say, ‘Pass the fucking salt.’ It’s a terrible, terrible job. It should not exist. Like cancer. And God.”
“But do you love it?”
[Lenny shrugs, grins, and walks away]
“Yeah… he loves it.”
Closing Scene
Midge bails Lenny Bruce out of jail and asks him if he loves stand-up. (see above)
What Comes Next?
Like any good pilot episode, the viewer is left with a strong sense of the protagonist and the world she inhabits, but numerous unanswered questions. The stage is set, the tension is palpable, the journey has begun, and the story is ready to unfold with audiences left asking:
Will Midge and Joel get back together? If not, how is Midge going to keep that giant, gorgeous apartment?
Is Midge going to become a stand-up comedian?
Are Midge and Suzie going to be a good working pair?
What will Abe and Rose think of Midge’s arrest?
Did Midge get her Pyrex back???
The pilot episode of Maisel is a master class in creating tension, subverting expectations, establishing themes and motifs, and drawing viewers into a series focused around the journey of the protagonist as she struggles against easily identifiable yet cleverly written obstacles. It’s fantastic.
Originally written for The Script Lab, published December 10, 2020.
None of the photos in this post are my own.