Category: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

SOPHIE LENNON, FOUR

The great Jane Lynch has created an indescribable character. Sophie is a successful comedienne of the most cliché and painful humor. Even she doesn’t particularly like her alter ego, and in real life she’s nothing like her stage presence. Gosh, where do I even begin?

She wanted to do theater. She aspires to be a dramatic actress, and when she hires Susie to be her manager, she gets the opportunity. And blows it. Instead of chancing success on a risky, vulnerable move, she slides into her Sophie-from-Queens persona and ruins the play. How she falls is squirm-worthy.

And then she comes back. She grants an interview and opens up. Honest, humble, and hilarious, she saves her career. Afterwards she becomes a successful game show host who combines all the best aspects of her talent. She’s still a pretentious snob, but she might finally find professional fulfillment.

Don’t forget her vindictive side. Midge, in one of her fatal flaw moves, blurts out the truth about Sophie, something she knew Sophie guarded carefully, to an entire audience. Sophie has every right to be mad. She kills Midge’s career in revenge.

Lynch always makes me want to go with Four or Nine because she’s such a tall woman and a physically dominating presence. These are the numbers her real life body suggests to me, and it’s hard to shake that impression. Is Sophie one of these Enneagrams? It’s funny that when I was thinking of comic personalities, and I suggested they would be Ones or Eights, I also thought of Fours. They bring a different, self-deprecating kind of humor. The wit comes at a different speed, but it’s there. I want to say that Sophie is a Four.

Sophie forgives Midge long before Midge forgets what Sophie’s done to her. It’s not that Sophie’s avoiding conflict (a Nine trait) but that she lived her lowest point, reacted to it, and has moved on. Her alter ego is brash, crude, and unsubtle. Sophie is not like her at all, and yet she seems genuinely content with the brand of comedy that worked for her. Again, Sophie rolls with the lows and enjoys the highs. It’s just that single moment in her theater debut that she freezes and retreats.

Well, I can’t promise that I didn’t talk myself into a Four Sophie. The portrayal is truly sublime. Probably only Lynch knows for sure what she’s playing, and I guarantee she knows every corner of this character. I couldn’t tell how much of Sophie was on the page, and how much was Lynch creating from pure genius. I’ll stick with my instinct and declare Sophie a solid Four.

ROSE WEISSMAN, TWO

When Rose escapes to Paris I fell in love with her. In Season 1 she’s a respectable and predictable mother, wife, and grandmother. Midge and Joel caretake their own children less than she does. The two kids sleep over in her apartment while the couple goes out club hopping as if they’re single. Rose is solid and stylish. Her almost invisibility sets up her Season 2 renewal, which is really fresh writing. She comes back from France and begins auditing classes at Columbia.

My God, I genuinely can’t remember what Rose does after that. She visits her family in Oklahoma! That’s weird. They come from oil money, and Rose wants to increase her allowance now that Abe quit his job and lost their apartment. Instead, she resents her brothers’ misogyny and refuses any money. Meanwhile, Abe has let beatniks overrun their home for the time they have left.

Then she and Abe move in with Joel’s parents. (The Maisels are fabulously written and played. So sharp!) Do they suffer there through all of Season 3? I think so. Then in Season 4 they move in with Midge back at their original apartment building.

I mean, honestly, what is that? So much character promise for Abe (which I discussed on his page) and Rose vanishes. Where is that plucky woman who survived a mid-life crisis? Where is that curious person who found a reinvigorated relationship with her husband? Oh, that’s right! She starts a career as a marriage broker! She has a intuitive instinct for matching people, so she’s encouraged to go professional with it. And they need an income, because Abe is still pretending to be an irresponsible teen.

Alright, enough of my complaining. What is Rose? She connects with people. That’s why she’s good at matchmaking. It’s more than observation, as a Five would excel at. She has a natural gift, a way of understanding others. I want to say Heart Type. She’s no Three. The way her family walks over her is something a Three would never support. Two or Four? She’s too undramatic for a Four. I guess that makes her a Two.

Her role as the perfect homemaker fits that. Her sudden fling to Paris is a fun Two slide to the strength number, Four. It’s selfish, and it can’t last, but it’s a wonderful free time. And then her personality is subsumed under Abe’s crazy breakdown. That’s also Two, to not complain when your family is taking advantage. It’s all there, and it’s a solid Enneagram, but . . . sigh, I think Rose could’ve had so much more.

ABE WEISSMAN, NULL

What do showrunners do with a genius like Tony Shalhoub? In Season 1, you ask him to play a version of Monk. He’s on-spectrum, brilliant at math, and able to connect with almost no one. He likes his library, playing piano, and being left alone. All of his students are idiots in his opinion. He’s a strange side character, probably an ivory tower Six.

In Season 2, when Rose has her mid-life crisis in Paris, Abe shows amazing sensitivity. When he finally realizes she’s gone (lol) he follows her and lives with her, jumping into French life. His practical self from Season 1 is still there, though. He makes it clear when Rose wants to take an apartment that their life is not here. He’s firm, persuasive, and calm, and Rose returns with him. He’s left the ivory tower and taken a more main character position. He could still be a Six. His coffee time with the French philosophers is very Head Type. When they get back to New York, he schedules dance lessons for them so they’ll be better than they were on the banks of the Seine. He brings Rose into Columbia to study. It’s an intellectual world, still distant to him.

It’s Season 3 that begins Abe’s transformation to a different Enneagram number. (Needless to say, I’m horrified.) He’s no longer a Head Type, but a Heart. He’s quit Columbia, he’s lost his apartment, and he’s surrounded himself with young, restless people. He’s no longer romantic towards Rose, but wrapped up in a rebellious, beatnik lifestyle that is a mid-life crisis on steroids. He doesn’t collect things (not a Two), and he’s not successful (not a Three), which would make him a poorly-written Four.

As you can already tell, I’m labeling him a Null. You don’t change numbers. You don’t upend character. Even if you’ve cast Shalhoub, you don’t ask your actor to make sense of an arc that twirls about and goes nowhere. Everything I loved about him is gone. It’s heartbreaking.

JOEL MAISEL, TWO

As Midge’s husband, Joel is barely tolerable. His character is predictable and pitiful. When he separates from her, though, and begins his own career as a club owner, he becomes much more intriguing.

He’s an unhappy mid-level manager married to someone more clever than he during the first season. At that point he’s probably a Null. He doesn’t do anything fresh or distinct. Later, though, we can see an Enneagram come through.

The show makes a point of stressing his ease at instigating a marriage separation. Midge is socially screwed, and Joel is unaffected. He can walk away with no repercussions. However, he’s a good father, responsible and loving, in an era that didn’t expect such behavior. (This is the first non-Null thing he does.)

Later, he also begins to connect to his father’s business in the garment industry. Now he wants to sharpen the finances and strengthen the family factory. He’s a dedicated worker and a non-fussy, jump-in kind of guy.

When he opens his own nightclub, he starts a relationship with a woman who suits him much better than Midge ever did. He’s striving, he’s a good egg (the club comes with a surprise gambling hall in the basement), and he’s effective. Susie brings him Midge’s earnings to manage because he’s so reliable. All of this money competence suggests a One, but he’s completely lacking in a One’s characteristic wit.

So, where do we end up? He’s an Envy person. Midge’s success ate him alive for a while. He’s not a Three, though. He spent too much time at the beginning knowing nothing about what he wanted from life. You know, he might be a poorly-written Two! He collects jokes. At first, he steals them from Bob Newhart’s comedy album. Then that side of his personality drops from the story. Then he opens a club where he can produce and encourage lively acts.

It’s a stab, I admit it. Joel’s character could’ve been streamlined to make him a solid Two. It would’ve been hilarious! We’ll see where he goes in the next season. He has potential, but so far he’s not a solid Enneagram. He’s trying, though, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

SUSIE MYERSON, EIGHT

When I grow up I want to be Susie, lol. She’s such an Eight. 

Although she doesn’t have a prominent bosom as a Woman Eight would, Alex Borstein leads with her torso and chin. Whatever the world is going to do to Susie, she’s gonna take it front and center. That’s great acting. Borstein knows Susie so well (and her character’s written so strongly) that she perfectly physicalizes her personality.

The way Susie befriends the men who’ve been hired to kill her is such an amazing sequence, and a great indicator of her Eight-ness. Eights are not intimidated by the unvarnished truth and will face unpleasantness head-on. They’ll also speak out, no matter the consequences. I mean, there it is! Watch Susie, watch an Eight. It’s a consistent, brilliant portrayal. Her lack of sentimentality, and yet her loyalty and deep feelings — again, textbook.

I’m cracking up thinking about her “job” as a plumber at the summer resort in the Catskills. She bullies and bullshits her way in, and maintains a ludicrous position until the lie becomes real. Employees scour the woods looking for her when they think she’s lost! Oh, my God, I’m dying as I remember it. Every Susie moment is perfection.

I could go on and on. (I won’t.) I had some difficulty with aspects of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but Susie kept me coming back. 

MIDGE MAISEL, ONE

Any comic who does live shows will be very quick-witted, very spontaneous. (Do all comedians fit into a certain Enneagram slot? Wow! There’s a thought!) Midge, however, has something more than a gift for stand-up: an impulse control problem. She should push the boundaries, of course. Like Lenny Bruce, she goes to jail for saying forbidden words. It’s more than that, though. She damages her career and her friendships by blurting out jokes that she regrets in hindsight.

Immediately I go to One. They are some of the funniest people and some of the quickest. A One is not afraid to shock. (How many professional comics are Ones or Eights, lol? They are the most willing to speak bald truth in a way that surprises and delights.) Is Midge an Eight? No, she’s not aggressive enough. Her weapon is her incredibly fast brain. Her best routines are when she riffs rather than when she goes with prepared notes.

Also, as Body Types, Ones can cultivate an unhealthy obsession with their physical shape. When Midge measures her thigh circumference, it’s creepy. It’s supposed to be. In the show it represents her focus on being the “perfect little wife” trope, including her nighttime cold cream and curlers that she hides from her husband. She breaks free from these restrictions, which is the point. But, lol, it’s also a One indicator.

However, a One will not necessarily sabotage their own professional life with loose lips. That trait belongs solely to Midge. It’s her fatal flaw. It bugs me, actually, that she doesn’t seem to learn from her mistakes and adapt her behavior. A One is extremely competent. I would like to see Midge in future seasons get a handle on her carelessness. It would help her to have an Enneagram character that rings true. And it would help me to not curse at the TV. Heh.