In the fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) has a confrontation with the singer Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain) in the bathroom of his wedding reception. Midge had accidentally been invited to his wedding, which is awkward considering what had transpired between them in the Season 3 finale. In this scene, the audience gets another dose of Midge's lack of acknowledgment of her privilege and her need to present herself as a victim. What sticks out from this scene was the chance to have Midge reckon with her own racial status and have her grow as a character but doesn't do that.

It's no secret that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a predominately white show. Yes, Midge and her family are Jewish, but despite being set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, there's barely any reference to the Civil Rights movement or America's white supremacy. Granted, the show is set in a largely white New York and de jure segregation could be found mainly in the South, this advocation of Black liberation still had a larger impact on American society and culture. It was not until a full two seasons passed that the show had nonwhite characters in the spotlight.

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The Shy Baldwin Story

Midge spends Season 3 as the opening act for the African-American singer Shy Baldwin. Shy and Midge over the course of the season and the tour, form a bond with each other. The bond could be informed by the fact that they are both not white men who are performing in an occupation that is mostly white men. It gets to a point where Shy comes out to Midge after he is attacked by his date, because of the sense of trust he has for her and explains why he has to keep that a secret for obvious reasons. It's a moment of vulnerability that Shy, a gay Black man in the 1960s, gives this straight white woman. That turns out to be Shy's mistake when they perform in Harlem.

In Harlem, having to reckon with the fact that she is a white girl who is about to perform to an all-Black audience and open for a Black act and also having taken Moms Mabley's spot, Midge is anxious at the thought of being an intruder (the closest the show gets to Midge realizing her white privilege). However, she was able to perform a set that the audience loved. Unfortunately, that set included veiled jokes about Shy's sexuality with remarks that paint him in a feminine way that counters the 20th-century idea of what a man is supposed to be. The audience loves her, but as a result, she is taken off the tour. For Midge, it was a misunderstanding, for Shy, it was a joke that could endanger his life.

Being gay was considered a mental disorder in the 1960s, a singer in Shy Baldwin's position would never risk anything that put not only his career in jeopardy but also his life in jeopardy. Kicking Midge off the tour was not so much out of pettiness, but out of safety. Of course, one shouldn't immediately expect Midge to know all this, considering the fact that her life prior to doing stand-up avoided the messiness and hardships that come with being a marginalized minority. However, it's the fact that she doesn't come to that realization of that even when she confronts Shy that becomes a major flaw in her character.

The Problem With Midge

Rachel Brosnaham in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Image via Prime Video

In their first encounter after that in that bathroom of his reception. Midge apologizes for her set, but it rings hollow because it's layered with her defending herself and adding a smidgen of the victim with the phrase: "If you had just let me on that plane," as a way of saying that he's partly to blame for the dissolution of their relationship. The show doesn't even allow Shy to give his side of the situation as Midge is the only one allowed to comment on the event. The show denies Shy's perspective in order for Midge to dominate the space. This could've been an opportunity for Midge to see her own privilege and realize that she was still able to survive and thrive (she'll have the opportunity to open for Tony Bennett). There could've been a scene where Shy explains the pressure he's under as a Black entertainer or what would happen to him if he was outed. Instead, he has to be talked to by Midge.

Let's set aside the fact that she still sees herself as the victim of Shy's rejection for the moment, and really look at the entirety of Season 4. Midge puts herself in a position to not be screwed over again and won't allow anyone else to stand in her way in pursuing comedy. She uses it to have no opening act gigs and only to do gigs that she wants to do. This instance of her potentially harming a friend of hers was used to motivate her instead of interrogating her own character. The events of the Shy Baldwin fallout were less about the show examining the consequences of Midge's actions, but a plot device used to motivate her attitude in Season 4 — an attitude that Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) chastises when she turns down a gig opening for Tony Bennett. The closest we get to seeing Midge having a sense of acknowledging the trouble Shy will face is seeing how tortured and lonely he is in this sham marriage and having his crew gone as a result of new management. She doesn't understand or empathize with him, but rather she pities him.

There's nothing inherently wrong with having a character being clueless about the lives of others or unaware of their own privilege. Oftentimes, it makes for great storytelling, however, the show has to make itself known that it recognizes the character's flaws and will challenge them. It says more about the show's blind spots rather than the character's blind spots.