This episode offered the longest introduction yet to Midge as an older Jewish mother, interacting with a completely flummoxed Ethan, who couldn’t stand that his mother still wasn’t able to call his educational journey anything but “rabbi school” when she came by helicopter to visit him on a kibbutz in Israel in 1984. Joel seemed very set on not having Ethan go to a therapist, but we saw right away how that would eventually work out. Abe did enough damage after the embarrassing mistake of spelling Carol Channing’s name wrong when he told Ethan about all the things that should really have scared him. This was a big episode for meddling parents, with Shirley and Moishe driving Joel crazy at the club and then hiring a squad of Yiddish-speaking operatives to extract Mei from China when Joel told them that’s where she went. Susie as Rose’s muscle is a humorous concept, and one that has apparently enabled Susie to establish the kind of power she’s always wanted. Midge was quite shocked that they put in her joke, and her audible groan when Gordon messed it up on air was uncomfortable. He apparently finds her charm irresistible, and that ice skating scene was one of this show’s typically impressive glorious visual sequences. It creates a sense of magic and grounds the show in its time period setting, even as the future threatens to collide with the past as this show nears its end. I’m eager to finish it up but also want to savor it before it’s completely over.
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