The first two episodes of Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel were released on February 18, 2022. I loved the previous seasons. I rewatched them more than once. Rachel Brosnahan is hilarious in her role as Midge, but I especially love Alex Borstein as Susie. And I don’t think I’m alone in that sentiment — not by a long shot.
Susie is plucky, brutally honest, non-conforming to societal standards, and really has no f*cks to give. Susie’s doing Susie and no one is going to stop her, and she’s also effortlessly funny. Although she fits into the surroundings of Greenwich Village in the 1950s, she is very much an outsider in the 1950s female standard at large: always sporting trousers and a cap.
I’m gearing up to watch the new season — hyping myself up, if you will. Here we are, three seasons in and we are still waiting for someone to address the elephant in the room. Susie is gay af. Don’t at me. You cannot tell me that you, a Sapphic yourself, have watched this show and your gaydar was just chillin whenever Susie is on screen.
Susie has never had a romantic interest (but she would certainly walk through fire for Midge,) and any minuscule mentions of her love life are obtusely vague. Quite honestly, I think it’s lame. I think the writers are afraid to commit and I think it’s intentional and I think it’s kind of shitty.
There was no woman in 1950 New York City walking around like Susie, completely self assured in being herself, who wasn’t a big homo. Remember, it was illegal for men and women to wear too many items of clothing meant for the other sex. This is how police would raid gay bars and arrest gender nonconforming patrons. I’m not buying it. No, do not sell me on the superfluous pansexual identity either. Susie is a good, old fashioned lesbian.
Call a spade a spade, and call a butch a butch. This is what’s so silly about The Marvelous Mrs Maisel writers failing to give Susie her due. It’s undeniable to everyone watching — just ask all of us women loving women out here — that Susie is gay.
The creative team wasn’t afraid to incorporate Shy Baldwin’s homosexuality into their storyline, but does the buck stop when it comes to a woman being explicitly unavailable to men? Are you afraid to upset the men watching? Truly, I am just failing to understand the decision on this.
In a potential effort to appeal to everyone, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is losing its appeal, in my humble opinion, by refusing to acknowledge or truly represent Susie’s sexuality. Listen, I do not go around pitching fits about everything being homophobic. I think that song and dance has gotten really tiring and adults need to learn to be adults and not be constantly triggered. That being said, I feel it’s disrespectful to give Susie no backstory or sexual interests, especially with other women! Everybody else on the show is getting three-dimensionality, so where’s Susie’s romantic storyline?
So here we go, Season 4 — show me what you got. And please let Susie out of the closet.
