From the get go, Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and Susie (Alex Borstein) have been a dynamic duo. Susie helped Midge hone her act and grow her career, while Midge gave Susie a friendship like none she ever had before. The two have been almost inseparable for five seasons (including Susie secretly joining Midge in the Catskills in season 2), which was why it was so surprising early on in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 that Midge and Susie eventually stopped working together.
Even in the world of the show, Midge and Susie's fight has taken on legendary status and has many of the characters wondering just what happened between the two. Well, in season 5 episode 6 we get the answer.
Spoilers ahead as we are going to go into detail about what caused the Midge and Susie fight and whether or not there is a chance that the two are going to make up before the series finale.
Why did Midge and Susie fight?
Midge and Susie have had their disagreements throughout the show to be sure, but they always came back to each other and supported each other. What finally drove them apart however was two-fold, involving two overarching storylines throughout the series: Joel's (Michael Zegen) continued desire to protect Midge, and Susie's connections to the mob.
In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 episode 4, Joel learns that Susie is in deep with Frank (Erik Palladino) and Nicky (John Scruti) and doesn't believe her when she says that Midge is not involved. In episode 6, we see that this leads Joel to ransack Susie's office looking for evidence of her mob connection. He finds it, learning for that every $100 Midge makes, the mob gets $30 while Susie gets $15.
To protect Midge, Joel visits Frank and Nicky, offering them an alternative. He says that he will work with them, giving them a cut of his clubs. They accept.
However, the fight doesn't come until years later. In 1985, while Midge and Joel are at the synagogue with their family, Joel is arrested by the FBI for racketeering and other crimes related to the mob (this is why we saw Midge visit Joel in jail earlier in the season). He gives a letter to Midge that explains everything, including how Susie continues to be indebted to the mob.
Midge and Susie have it out over this. Midge is livid that Susie kept how deep she was involved with the mob a secret and that she still pushed her to do things (like multiple casino gigs) to try and pay off her gambling debt. Susie says that because Midge was out, those were not related to the mob, but Midge doesn't believe her. She says her accountants are going to do an audit of Susie's books and that they are done working together. Susie claims Midge wouldn't have had a career if it wasn't for her and that she shouldn't throw away their friendship over this. Midge notes, however, that this is the first time that Susie acknowledged that they had a friendship.
The rest of episode 6 shows that even five years after the fight, Susie is still sore about Midge, with others afraid to mention her name around her.
Will Midge and Susie make up?
And yet, there is hope for the two of them. In the final moments of episode 6 at the Friars Club event for Susie, the emcee reveals they have one final surprise, a video. It is a recording of Midge offering an honest congratulations to Susie. She then waxes about all of the memories they had together and says she would not be who she is without Susie. Midge gives a peace offering, saying that the next time she is in New York she hopes she and Susie can meet up. She signs off with their signature "tits up," which Susie then repeats.
This certainly sets up a potential reconciliation between Midge and Susie, though it does raise some other questions, like is there any specific reason Midge wants to bury the hatchet now?
There are still three episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel left, so we should be finding out in the near future. Side note, this had the feel of a penultimate episode; feels curious it's coming with this much time left.
Any way, you can catch up with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel exclusively on Prime Video.
