It's time to stop criticizing Midge Maisel's parenting skills, according to the show's Emmy-winning star. In a new interview with SiriusXM Stars, Rachel Brosnahan said she's done with Midge being mom-shamed on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. As a single mother and aspiring stand-up comic in the 1950s, the titular Mrs. Maisel frequently travels, takes late night gigs, and works a second job. As a result, the show doesn't devote much time to her two kids, but Brosnahan has had enough of viewers judging the character.
The way Brosnahan sees it, Midge's kids have plenty of caretakers who are making sure they feel loved as their mom pursues her dream. "Midge is someone who is pursuing a brand new dream and she's sometimes self-centered in that pursuit but Joel, the father, has stepped up in a huge way and a way that's particularly modern for this time," she said, per Entertainment Weekly. "They have four loving grandparents, they have a Zelda; they have the privilege of having so many different people around to help them raise their children."
Midge may not be there for every single bedtime, but she's setting an amazing example for her kids by putting in the hard work to build a career she loves in an era where women were expected to be stay-at-home moms. And as Brosnahan pointed out, the kids have plenty of people looking after them.
One of those people is Midge's dad, Abe, played by Tony Shalhoub, who also had some thoughts on the trials of parenting, fictional or otherwise. "Parenting is a losing proposition," he said. "Now you have people that are mom-shaming, but you also have helicopter parents — that's the other extreme. What in God's earth is good parenting?"
There's no easy answer to Shalhoub's question, but providing a safe and nurturing environment for children to grow up in is definitely a good start. And Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is going to continue to explore how Midge and her ex-husband Joel work together as co-parents to make sure their kids never feel like they're missing out. "You'll definitely see that Joel is going to become a primary caretaker, which is very progressive for the time," Brosnahan shared.
However, Joel is also on his own path, too, which makes his primary caregiver role a new wrinkle for his character to deal with in Season 3. In an interview with Us Weekly, Joel's portrayer, Michael Zegen shared that he doesn't think Joel and Midge were ready for children. "They’re not the best parents, and it's only because I don't think they were ever really ready to have kids," he said. "They're both kind of on their own path to find what makes them happy, and unfortunately, they have these kids who are … not the main focal point."
They may not have been 100% ready for kids, but the exes are still working as a team to provide for their family. As a result, Midge isn't a full-time mom, but she's still a — ahem — marvelous parent. Even though the show doesn't always explore the logistics of Midge balancing parenting with her comedy career, Brosnahan is certain that her character is both a good mother and a stand-up queen. And she's more than ready for people to stop shaming Midge for her parenting choices.
