“I think that one of the cool things about this show,” Brosnahan says on a Zoom call with her co-stars,“is that resilience looks different on every woman. It can sometimes mean embracing a more vulnerable side of yourself and looking ahead. It can also mean being unapologetically yourself,in the case of someone like Midge,or being a survivor,as Susie’s had to do for so long. And it’s cool to see all of the different ways that resilient women can present on the show.”
Borstein makes no secret of why she’s happy to be part of the series alongside the other two women. “I love that it’s not a show where there’s one token female who has an arc,” she explains. “It has all different women kind of doing the same thing,which is busting out,and hitting and shattering their ceilings,but in very different ways. The way that Rose goes about making changes and breaking boundaries is very different than Susie,but they’re really doing the same thing.”
Alongside Midge,Susie is on her own journey of discovery after the end of the previous season,when there was a significant setback for both of them. “Susie tells Midge everything’s going to be OK,and I don’t know if she even believes that yet,” Borstein explains. But she realises that she’s got to cover herself too,that she can’t just depend on Midge and Midge’s career. So this season she’s not only looking to rebuild with Midge,but to build up her own career,to make Susie Myerson and Associates a reality,and that means taking on some new clients.”
Hinkle (Madam Secretary,Homeland,Two and a Half Men) is equally passionate about her role as Midge’s sometimes-disapproving mum. “Rose is kind of wonderfully baffling,” she laughs. “I wouldn’t have imagined at the beginning that Rose would escape her family responsibilities and all the judgements she has about who one should be,and especially who her daughter should be.
“I loved that in season two she just went,‘Goodbye,I’m heading to Paris.’ Now she’s saying,‘Okay,goodbye to the money that I grew up with. My husband’s not working any more,so I guess I have to go get a job.’ I love it. I’ve never been involved with a character that has as much of a turnaround each year.”
The job that Rose chooses is matchmaking,although the career changes aren’t confined to the female characters. Midge’s father,Abe (Tony Shalhoub),sacked from his university teaching position,becomes a cravat-wearing theatre critic forThe Village Voice. And her ex-husband,Joel (Michael Zegen),having given up on his comedy aspirations,is trying to establish a nightclub business.