Toward the beginning of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 2, Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein) gets the opportunity to housesit for Midge’s (Rachel Brosnahan) parents while she and her father, Abraham “Abe” Weissman (Tony Shalhoub), trek across the Atlantic to find his wife, Rose (Marin Hinkle). What results is a Home Alone-esque montage that looks as fun as it probably was to shoot for the Family Guy and MADtv alum.
“I enjoy any moment that doesn’t have tons and tons of dialogue,” Alex Borstein tells Metro. “So yeah, getting to lay in the bathtub was a nice break.”
Alex Borstein talks The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 2
Co-created by Gilmore Girls showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of the most verbose, witty and fast-paced shows on television today. Every single one of its performers has been tasked at least once with delivering a weighty monologue, or participating in a lengthy dialogue, throughout its first season, and judging by the first five episodes of season 2, this hasn’t changed one bit.
As much as Borstein’s comment may sound like a complaint, however, it’s quite the opposite. The Emmy Award-winning actress has known Sherman-Palladino for years, and since taking the role of Susie, she has come to love the challenge of working on such a complex production.
“It’s like boot camp. We work for five to six months and then we get a break from it, so I can’t complain,” says Borstein. “And there are definitely surprises. Sometimes you go, ‘What the hell is Amy thinking.’ But there are also some great surprises, too. Like, this season has some musical elements in it that, when I first heard them, I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ So there’s definitely a lot of that with this show, and it’s great.”
She also loves getting to spend so much time with Brosnahan, who’s Midge is Susie’s constant companion. Borstein gets most of her screentime with her fellow Emmy winner, and she adores it.
“I like that Midge and Susie get to explore their relationship on a deeper level this season,” she says. “In a way, they’re a little bit like a couple in a new relationship, that’s finding out all about their annoying habits while being in very close quarters for lengthy periods of time. That’s really fun to do. It’s a kind of ‘Odd Couple’ thing that we have going on. That’s really fun for me.”
As for whether or not Susie will finally get to meet Abe, Rose or anyone else in Midge’s family, that remains to be seen. In fact, Borstein spends so much of her time on set with Brosnahan and some minor characters that she only met some of the show’s other featured players recently.
“Halfway through the day, I’m like, ‘By the way, my name is Alex,’” she laughs. “There’s still a lot of people I haven’t worked with yet, so that’s kind of fun. It’s going to be a fun to finally meet everyone as the show goes on.”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 2 premieres Wednesday, Dec. 5, on Amazon Prime.
