In the first episode of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the luminous, five-season Amazon Prime hit that will come to an end on May 26, a frustrated Joel Maisel asks his wife, Miriam (Midge), “Do you know what a dream is? A dream is what keeps you going in a job you hate.”

Granted, Joel, masterfully played by Michael Zegen, utters this question as he’s packing his suitcase and leaving his wife and children for a shot at comedy stardom (and to be with his receptionist). But I believe there’s a piece of Joel in many of us — a yearning to, at least, be afforded a chance to fulfill a dream, even if we fail.

And if there’s a small piece of Joel in most of us, there is a huge chunk of Midge in others: Midge also has a dream (to be a famous comedian), but unlike Joel, she possesses the talent to realize it, if only the omnipresent gatekeepers, whether nightclub owners, talent managers or talk show hosts, would allow her entry through the metaphoric gates that stand between Midge and her dream.  

A lot has been said about the show’s extraordinary appeal to our senses: The late 1950s/early 1960s set designs, costumes, colors, music and camera magic are deliciously vibrant. The acting is so memorable that viewers may not be able to associate the cast with anything other than the show for a long time. And I believe the writing is as good as it gets in Hollywood. 

I’ve watched the show since its first episode in 2017, and far from feeling like I was watching a television show, I always felt that I was enjoying every moment of a great, 50-minute film. 

At the heart of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is an important truth about the human experience: the innate need to be seen for what we can offer, and to be more than who we are.  

At the heart of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is an important truth about the human experience: the innate need to be seen for what we can offer, and to be more than who we are. 

That’s why I’ve never forgotten Joel’s description of a dream as something that “keeps you going in a job you hate.” Expanded further, a dream is the lifesaver that keeps you afloat in any state that’s intolerable, whether you’re living in a run-down apartment or surviving day-to-day in an unhappy home. 

I revere stay-at-home mothers as much as I respect working women, but Midge had much more to offer than the limitations of being an early 1960s housewife allowed. And I would bet that many of us have so much more to offer than what our present reality has allotted.

Even Joel, whom I loathed in early episodes for his immature womanizing, had so much more to offer as a husband, father, son and eventual entrepreneur. To the writers’ (and actor Zegen’s) credit, Joel’s character arc is a reminder of why we will still need and love complex characters; the show introduced Joel as an irresponsible adulterer who broke his family because he was unsatisfied at home and work. And then, as each season progressed, he emerged as a verifiable good guy who relentlessly protected his loved ones, especially Midge. 

In fact, Joel’s soft spot for Midge (and Midge’s soft spot for Joel) is so heartwarming that for five seasons, viewers like me have held out hope that Joel and Midge will end up together again. I should note that as of press time, I have not seen the final episode of the series because it has not yet aired. And even if I had watched it, I would never spoil the surprises because they’re just too good. 

Yes, Midge is more talented than her husband. And she’s more talented than all of the other comics who appear on the show, with the possible exception of the real-life (and larger than life) Lenny Bruce, played so well by Luke Kirby. Luck and timing are vital for success, but if “Mrs. Maisel” has taught us anything, it is that we also need the reassurance that we live in a world in which those who possess the most talent will inevitably float to the top. Extraordinary talent has to be rewarded with great success, doesn’t it?

For five seasons, Midge’s talent has still gone mostly unrewarded. But her persistence and resilience were the ultimate reasons why I tuned in each season, with home viewings turning into a sanctified ritual (kids asleep, phones put away and popcorn, Chinese food and a cocktail within arms’ reach). 

The sheer brilliance of the show was that Midge had to succeed. She simply had to. 

And viewers knew that despite the near-impossible hurdles female comedians faced decades ago, if someone with Midge’s talent didn’t make it, what chance would there be for the rest of us to realize our dreams? 

Fewer things are more gratifying than rooting for someone with genuine talent, who is trying their hardest to succeed at what they love most. That’s why it was so satisfying to interview Michael Zegen (mentioned above) by phone last week and to learn how badly he wanted the role of Joel. 

“There was no doubt in my mind that this [show] was going to be something very special,” he told me. “But I had to jump through hoops, I wanted it so badly that I auditioned three times.” I asked Zegen if he had an early inkling that the show would become a worldwide hit (it has won 20 Emmy awards and is accessible in 200 countries). “The fact that I read something on my computer and actually laughed out loud at some of the jokes, that’s so rare, for me, personally,” he said about reading the script. “And being a Jewish show, so to speak, it was something that I felt a kinship towards. I understood this world, this character and the humor.” 

Zegen is Jewish, as are many other actors on the show. And I was never bothered by the fact that the title character, Midge, was played non-Jewish actress Rachel Brosnahan, or that Tony Shalhoub played her father, Abe Weissman, and Marin Hinkle her mother, Rose. What mattered most to me was that the acting was superb. 

After his last audition (and a screen test with Brosnahan in front of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino), Zegen had to wait two weeks to learn if he had secured the role. “Every day was a rollercoaster,” he said. One day, Zegen, who lives in New York City, walked for miles along the Hudson River to put the auditions out of his mind, but, as he reflected, “it’s impossible when you want it so badly.” That day, his agent finally called with the good news. 

The first people Zegen called were his parents, Jeffrey and Rachelle. “They were just excited to hear I’d gotten a job, but it being a Jewish show was the icing on the cake,” he said. And then, Rachelle, like any good Jewish mother, warned, “Be careful what you wish for.” 

Zegen was so excited that during the show’s first season, he brought a DVD of it to a New Jersey assisted living facility where his grandmother, Szoszana, a Holocaust survivor, lived. Now 99, Szoszana began carrying with her a magazine featuring an interview with her grandson even before she moved into the assisted living facility. 

I asked Kevin Pollak, who played Joel’s lovable father, Moishe Maisel, how the show has served as an important ambassador of Judaism and Jewish American practices, albeit midcentury, New York Jewish experiences. “Based on what fans have insisted to me, and from genuinely all over the world, the biggest connection, or impact is always family,” he said. “For Jews all over the world that I have spoken to, there is tremendous pride from their connection to the show, also on a family level, but with the deep-rooted Jewish connection as well.”

Zegen also understands the family connection as an invaluable part of the show. The Maisel and Weissman families are loud and intrusive (has anyone ever made such a fuss on Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel, even if it was a replica?). “The one common thread that everybody can identify with is family,” said Zegen. “Family is universal. That’s why the show resonates with people in India or China or anywhere else.” 

He told me about the time he was shopping at a Manhattan CVS and a girl who was visiting the United States from India approached him. She asked Zegen if he would pose for a picture with her and her family, then informed him that they happened to be in the middle of a “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” walking tour. “I had to tell her I wasn’t part of the tour,” he quipped. The girl told Zegen why the show is so beloved in India: “It’s all about family.” 

For many worldwide, “Mrs. Maisel” may have offered their first glimpse into the lives, quirks and customs of Jews, or, at least, Ashkenazim in New York. “Especially now with antisemitism on the rise, it’s nice to see lovely, funny Jews on TV,” Zegen said about a show that has featured everything from a summer in the Catskills to a Tisha b’Av scene and an impromptu declaration in which Midge announces, “We got the rabbi!” for a Yom Kippur break the fast meal.

“Amy and Dan do that rare thing of writing brilliantly, then casting to perfection in their minds,” Pollak said. “Then they allow those actors to bring these words to life.” Pollak added that he received minimal direction other than “pace it up.” 

A masterful comic and impressionist, Pollak was only 10 when he began performing in a way that showed real talent. “My mother commented, ‘Well, this is what you’re going to do now.’ There was no stopping the little pisher.” 

For both Pollak and Zegen, “Mrs. Maisel” was “lighting in a bottle,” a term both used to describe a show that Pollak described as “so magical and cinematic.”

What am I going to do now that this show, which has meant so much to me, ends? And from where will I find comparable writing? Pollak was right when he told me, “The creators and writers have such love for their characters; there was never character assassination for the purposes of a gag or to move the stories along.” This show has been so good to me as a woman, a mother, a writer and a Jew that last year, I wrote a column for this paper titled, “‘Mrs. Maisel’ is Making Me Marvelous.”

But like the good father he played on “Mrs. Maisel,” Pollak also offered me reassurance about saying goodbye to a show that has felt like an old friend. “You’ve got an opportunity to rewatch, either from the beginning or your favorite episodes,” he said. “It is a profound experience to be involved with your heart, your mind and your need to spend time with these people.”

In the end, the Maisels and the Weissmans were more than characters; in Pollak’s words, they’re people. When I told Zegen that I am experiencing the blues while contemplating that there will be no more new episodes, he said, “I’m having a hard time coming with the ending as well.” 

For his part, Pollak began recording a podcast with the show’s writers, directors, cast and key department heads during the final season. “My Mrs. Maisel Pod” will premiere June 5. Zegen is busy with the limited HBO series “The Penguin,” starring Colin Farrell, which is a spin-off of “The Batman.” Zegen will play a villain and mobster named Alberto Falcone. Zegen’s no stranger to mobster roles, having played notorious Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.”

As for me, I’ve been told numerous times that at the end of the day, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is still “just a show.” But I can’t help it. After six years, I feel like part of the family — the long-lost Persian Jewish cousin who entered the Maisel mishpacha through marriage and whom everyone wants to join at Passover because she serves rice.  

After six years, I feel like part of the family—the long-lost Persian Jewish cousin who entered the Maisel mishpacha through marriage and whom everyone wants to join at Passover because she serves rice. 

It took a long time for me to realize that in rooting for Midge, I was rooting for a part of myself that I wish could be seen — an internal flicker of individual exceptionality that we all have in one form or another, which has the potential to turn into a fiery blaze. 

The gatekeepers will still be there, as always, but perhaps we may assign them less power. And maybe, in Midge’s words, we can finally ask, “What if we discover one day that we were always the ones in charge? Just … no one told us.”

Timeless Wisdom from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

Midge: “Does anyone really read corrections?”

Abe: “Of course they do. I start every paper reading the corrections. That’s how you know who the idiots are.”

Susie: “I don’t mind being alone. I just do not want to be insignificant.”

Abe: “Life isn’t fair. It’s hard and cruel. You have to pick your friends as if there’s a war going on. You want a husband who will take a bullet for you, not one who points to the attic and says, ‘They’re up there.’”

Midge: “Comedy is fueled by oppression, by the lack of power, by sadness and disappointment, by abandonment and humiliation. Now, who the hell does that describe more than women? Judging by those standards, only women should be funny.”

Tabby Refael is an award-winning, Iranian American Jewish writer, speaker and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TabbyRefael