Would you do half the things for your spouse that Joel Maisel does for Midge? I don’t think so. For five seasons, Michael Zegen’s Joel has been trying to properly atone for cheating on his wife, and sometimes, it feels like the poor guy can’t catch a break. In the last season, we witness how devoted Joel truly is, and it proves to us that part of his heart will always belong to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
At the beginning of this final season, Mei leaves Manhattan and moves to Chicago to pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor. Everything turns upside down for Joel, not just because their relationship comes to an end, but also because they are not going to become parents together. We can’t help but think back to when Joel walked out on Rachel Brosnahan’s Midge, but the tables have turned. Is this a parallel or merely a coincidence?
“I didn’t necessarily think of it as odd,” Zegen admits. “I have discovered that Joel is falling back into the same patterns. When he is with Midge, he feels trapped with a dead-end job, and he’s strapped with kids—kids that he always expected to have. They had them young, but I think they were unprepared for life. Now that he has found himself and he has this club that’s thriving, he’s back to feeling trapped again since Mei is pregnant. It’s not so much a parallel since he self-destructed with Midge, and with Mei, he’s on the other side of that. It’s interesting how each circumstance was, but as bad as it was with Mei doing what she did, maybe it was for the best.”
Joel gets drunk as soon as he can, and he ends up getting his ass handed to him by Mei’s family members that are running the illegal gambling ring below his club. Even when he’s down, Joel Maisel can still take another punch.
“For some reason, Amy and Dan think that I am some action star, and they throw in some big Joel fight scene which I welcome,” he jokes. “I never thought in a million years that I would be partaking in those kinds of scenes.”
Even when Joel throws himself into work at The Button Club, problems follow in the form of his parents, Moishe and Shirley Maisel, who are threatening to divorce. In one of Zegen’s best scenes, Midge is on stage trying to workshop new material, but the bickering Maisels are stationed at either end of the audience with their son trying to make the peace. Which Maisel parent does Zegen think causes more mischief?
“Both are equally bad,” he says with a laugh. “If I had to pick one…maybe Shirley? She’s a bit louder and unpredictable, especially when she drinks. I think Moishe has the capability to hold himself together a little more. That being said, any time I get to work with Caroline [Aaron] and Kevin [Pollak] together, it’s such a great day.”
Many fans of Maisel have rightfully pointed out how great the old-age makeup looks on the younger faces of Zegen, Brosnahan, and Marin Hinkle. Zegen even got to keep his hair for when we see Joel in prison for taking the fall for the tangled financial secrets brought on by Susie’s meddling. He may be in the slammer for a number of years, but Zegen was eager to pack on the makeup when we flash-forward.
“The makeup is incredible for everyone who got to do it,” he says. “We had the best of the best in Mike Marino, who just did Colin Farrell in The Batman among many other movies and TV series. He is such a premier talent. His studio is out in Englewood, New Jersey, so I went out there to do a face scan. Originally, they wanted to do body stuff as well, so they scanned my body to make a whole suit for me. A fat suit, so to speak. I guess Joel can’t remain that slim forever. I’ve always been a fan of movies like The Nutty Professor with Eddie Murphy, so I was excited to play around with prosthetics. I think I looked pretty good. Doing something like that was always on my bucket list.”
There is a loveliness between any scene between this former husband and wife. When we see Joel and Midge sitting down (with a brisket, naturally) during a visit in prison, I was swiftly reminded of how easy their chemistry is. It doesn’t matter where this couple is, Zegen and Brosnahan never lose that core bond that has evolved and stretched over these five seasons—and, in the show, literal decades.
“I love my scenes with her throughout the entire run of the show—she’s just the best,” Zegen says of his co-star. “She always gives everything and expects so much of you in return, and I’ve always thought that we’ve had a great back-and-forth dating back to the chemistry test together. I always felt it. It’s very comfortable acting with her, and that’s all you can hope for as an actor. Joel and Midge have a continuous love for each other whether they go anywhere above that or not.”
We have always seen how Joel throws himself in defense of his friends or family. He doesn’t even seem to hesitate when he walks in to speak with Frank and Nicky about Midge’s money.
“Joel is a tough guy, but I don’t think he knows exactly what he’s getting himself into,” Zegen admits. “He also just confronted the Chinese mafia not too long ago. It might be a false sense of confidence, and I am not sure if that he thinks about it too much. All he is thinking about his love for Midge. You know Joel will have your back—if he likes you.”
Throughout the season, Zegen’s Joel has been down but never out. He’s never been pathetic. Has he made dumb choices? Of course. Will Midge ever walk away from this man entirely? Never. Zegen has always had one of the toughest jobs on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel because we are so used to rooting against the philandering husband characters, but he taps us into Joel’s giving heart. What would Zegen tell Joel if they walked into each other on the street?
“Oh, man, there’s so much,” he muses. “Despite prison, I would tell him that everything is going to be okay. He beats himself up so much over ending his relationship, but that was the catalyst for everyone else on the show to figuring out who they really are. He spends so much time feeling sorry for himself, and it’s kind of a waste. Everything happens for a reason, and everyone ends up rather happy. As we see from the flash-forwards, Midge becomes a huge star. Susie is a star in her own right. Rose finds success in the ’70s, and Abe is a writer. Sure, you’re going to prison, but he will be out in a few years. I would tell Joel Maisel not to fret.”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming on Prime Video.
