I will never forget how intimidated I was by Rose Weissman when The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel debuted its first full season back in November of 2017. Rose is glamorous and dramatic (the wailing when Miriam tells her Joel left makes me snort to this day), but she can also cut you down with a stare or a simple phrase. It was easy, however, to fall madly in love with her thanks to how Marin Hinkle, over the course of five glorious seasons, explored her insecurities, her unwillingness to move, and her unexpected ambitions. Hinkle infuses Rose with such genuine aplomb, but when she is shaken, it rattles Rose to her core. It has truly been a privilege to watch this character grow when she, herself, wasn’t looking.
I spoke with Hinkle on the premiere of the final episode of Maisel‘s fifth season. The mood was bittersweet but optimistic since this final season has been so well-received by fans and critics alike (the season consensus is the strongest of all the seasons of the Amy Sherman-Palladino comedy). When we spoke, Hinkle had just attended a premiere for the finale, and we talked about that moment when Midge sees the microphone as she might be denied her break by Gordon Ford. The room goes silent, and we realize that it comes down to nothing more than Midge and that mic.
“I enjoyed being able to watch it in a big space in a theater as if we are watching a movie together,” Hinkle says wistfully. “There were about four moments that got me, but that moment really hit me. I had a friend who brought her daughter who is around college age, and I told her that I want all young people to see this and be taken by the notion of following one’s heart. There are so many things that can get in our way–be it money, buying property, or deciding to have children–and there can be so many obligations that we think we need to fulfill as we get older. I love that Midge goes to Susie when she realizes the risk before she takes the mic. We were there for five days on set, and we were asked to be present for whatever is going to happen–that’s very rare. Normally, it’s very fast-paced, but this felt like it was about getting up and watching Rachel take that chance. This was no exaggeration, but she did that set about thirty times, and she didn’t miss one word. She was so in it and offered herself to what was happening that I was so taken by her. Tony and I would hold hands while we watched. It was a beautiful moment.”
Fans of Maisel have been wondering when and if Rose was going to fully support her daughter’s dream. It wasn’t easy, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for Rose to see her daughter throw away everything Rose thinks she needs to survive. Rose’s point of view will always be different than Midge’s even though Midge can influence, cajole or convince. When Midge tells her parents that her husband left her, Rose speaks first, and she says, ‘Joel left you? Why? What did you do?’ Seeing Rose get excited and run through the streets of New York City desperate to watch her daughter perform is so satisfying for someone who was worried that she would never get to that place. The pride that Rose feels for her daughter is something that Hinkle didn’t want to let go of.
“You know what’s funny,” she asks. “A lot of times, Rose loves the theatricality of her feelings and how she talks. It was delightful to her. We had rehearsed that scene in Brooklyn with taxicabs, because the most amazing thing is that’s a one-er. The camera is being tossed to other people and passed around. What they choreographed was unbelievable. We brought it to the Upper West Side to shoot, and I have never really gotten a chance to improv on this show. The delight that Rose is having to finally get to see her daughter perform on television is so big that she gets to the bus, and everything came spilling out of my mouth. And a lot of that was improvised. I had the same feeling that I feel now that the show has fully aired for the last time, and I turned to Amy and said that we need to keep working. Rose needs to run down the streets of New York City, because, I, Marin, didn’t want the scene to be over. It was harrowing, but it was exquisitely harrowing.”
Something that shouldn’t go unnoticed is how Hinkle uses Rose’s voice and intonation to signal her stress or excitement. There is a sing-song-y way that she moves her voice upwards and down.
“This is a character that is so different than me,” Hinkle says. “Rose is fierce, self-involved, very attuned with what people look like, and she knows how to keep up appearances. One of the biggest differences is that she uses language with panache. She’s performing at lot of the time. Amy put in the stage directions of the pilot episode that Rose ‘enters as if she is in her own MGM musical.’ That’s such a beautiful embrace of something large.”
At the top of season five, Rose and Abe win a trip from Rose’s bank, but the flight is abruptly canceled with seemingly no explanation. The more successful (and defiant) Rose becomes regarding her matchmaking, the more she realizes that her business is a dangerous and unwelcoming one to those threatened by her success. Is Rose naïve to what is going on around her, or does she know deep down who is bringing all of her misfortune?
“Rose is so good at covering the truth like when she told all the neighbors that she and Abe were letting Miriam stay with them,” she says. “Similarly, we see that when we jump forward in time when Miriam is taking care of Rose in her older age. I know a lot of fierce women in my life that I took from to make up Rose, and they were able to survive is because they were able to live, somewhat, in denial. Rose wants so badly to be a matchmaker that she can’t confront the truth.”
We get to see Rose in one flash forward, and she is filming a commercial for her matchmaking business (the ludicrously fun Rose Weissman’s One Plus One Equals Love Romance Emporium, to be exact). The camera crew is tired, and we can see that Rose is insecure with her blocking and having all of those eyes on her. We rarely see Rose embarrassed in front of such a crowd, and it’s a lonely moment for her. Tony Shalhoub’s Abe isn’t there to offer guidance, and we get a sense of how adrift Rose must feel.
“I had a really hard time with that scene, and I think it’s because the closest we get to Rose’s death,” Hinkle says, carefully. “We don’t know how much time we have with Rose before she is gone. I was grappling with that a lot. One of the gifts of spending five years with a character is that I got a deep understanding of who Rose really is, but we only got to see Rose later in life once. Maybe you saw my insecurity in performing her that day, but maybe that served the role for that specific scene. Rose could’ve done better with camera crews when she was young, but I think her body is in pain. I think she’s really near the end, and the fragility of being near the end was hard for her. I think kids today are aware of being on camera lot now, so maybe they won’t have that insecurity. Rose didn’t know that her beautiful daughter was going to have to turn around and be a caretaker for her. I loved doing that scene because of how complicated it was for me and for Rose.”
When Abe and Rose attend a dinner after the premiere of a new play, Abe and Rose get into an argument over the subject matter and themes. She thinks it’s more upfront in its presentation and when Abe offers a deep dive into the thematic material, he essentially calls his wife stupid. When you have been married for so long, you sometimes don’t even know what you are saying, but insinuating that your partner isn’t on the same intellectual level–even if you insinuate it for a moment–can be crushing to someone you love.
When Abe and Rose are in their respective twin beds afterwards, they know that the other is awake, and Abe silently grovels by tossing rose petals on Rose’s lap before collapsing on her in apology. Rose slowly rests her hand on her husband’s head as if not to say she forgives him, but it lets him know that she knows he’s sorry.
“I am very anti-tension, and I like having the peace,” she admits. “Rose isn’t like that–she’s more of a fighter. Rose is so hurt by what happened, and I think the large question is, “does my husband not have the intellectual respect for me?” That is a feeling that many women of that age felt or, sometimes, still feel. I think that night is kind of like when Rose comes back from Paris in season two or when Midge says that the happiest she ever was was the night before she found out her husband cheated on her. In some way, something cracked just a little bit at the restaurant. Rose will recover, but will she always wonder? I respect Amy so much, because that’s the more challenging choice to do as a director. Some networks would ask a director to put in an ending to that scene that would let audiences know that everything is going to be okay. Rose was out of her element, but she thought she had something to add. That is one little scene, but it’s so much about Abe and Rose.”
If you watch Maisel closely, you will notice that Rose is always eating grapefruit at the breakfast table. After an open, steady conversation with Hinkle where we tackled a lot of heavy material for this final outing, I had to know…would Hinkle ever eat grapefruit again?
“I love that you asked that,” Hinkle says with a laugh. “I love grapefruit, and they didn’t know that. I got to experience it an entirely different way since I was playing Rose. I will eat grapefruit until the end of time.”
Because Hinkle has given Rose Weissman such affectionate pluck, I have no doubt that Rose will live on as one of the greatest mothers of all time. She’s complicated, fussy, and utterly sublime.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming now on Prime Video.
