Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

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Mrs Maisel is Marvelous

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We started watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in January 2025 and Christina and I watched the last episode last night. We both loved the show.

“After her husband leaves her, young mother of two Miriam “Midge” Maisel discovers that she has a talent for stand-up comedy. Could this be her calling?” And I have to say with a resounding yes that this is absolutely her calling!

During the five seasons and 43 episodes, we went through a beautiful journey with Rachel Brosnahan (as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel), Alex Borstein (as Susie Myerson), Michael Zegen (as Joel Maisel), Tony Shalhoub (as Abe Weissman), Marin Hinkle (as Rose Weissman), Kevin Pollak (as Moishe Maisel), Caroline Aaron (as Shirley Maisel), Joel Johnstone (as Archie Cleary), Bailey De Young (as Imogene Cleary), Luke Kirby (as Lenny Bruce), Jane Lynch (as Sophie Lennon), Stephanie Hsu (as Mei), Reid Scott (as Gordon Ford), LeRoy McClain (as Shy Baldwin), Erik Palladino (as Frank), John Scurti (as Nicky), Alfie Fuller (as Dinah Rutledge), Gideon Glick (as Alfie) and Matilda Szydagis (as Zelda).

Rachel Brosnahan (as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel) is the superstar in a way I’ve never seen an actor in any other comparable show. No wonder she has been chosen to be the next Lois Lane in the Superman movie to be released soon.

Rachel Brosnahan is more like the main actor of a major movie instead of a TV show actress, in the sense that everything great in the show involves her. She masters acting and she has an enormous amount of charisma. Her relationship with both Michael Zegen (as Joel Maisel, her past husband and forever admirer) and Alex Borstein (as Susie Myerson, her manager and best friend) is fantastic to watch.

The Jewish family dynamics as portrayed by Miriam, Joel, Abe, Rose, Moishe and Shirley is also very fun (even in these times and days…). I loved Abe’s monologues and Moishe’s directness, Rose’s innocence and Shirley’s compassion. The fact that, even at the very end, none of the oldies really understood that Miriam was a great comic was absolutely hilarious.

At this point, I have to quote Elle Magazine (of all magazines!): Midge Maisel [is] one of the best-dressed characters on TV. Every single of the 43 episodes was a marvel for the eyes, from the set, the lighting, the colours chosen and, of course, the way Miriam dressed.

We loved how the show ended last night. I hope no one will ever have the ludicrous idea of making another season.

Breaking from Prison Break

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Christina and I started watching Prison Break on 3 March 2025 and decided to break from it on 5 April 2025 after three seasons. The TV show, which ran from 2005 to 2017, is about “a structural engineer [who] installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.”

More precisely, the first two seasons were about breaking from the prison. The third season was quite bizarre as it took place in Panama in another prison and the new characters introduced were too improbable: I am looking at you Gretchen (played by Jodi Lyn O’Keefe).

And, apparently, the fourth season is bad and, even if the fifth and last season has better reviews, we have decided to stop watching Prison Break.

The actors were good in general even though the acting and editing look a bit dated in 2025: Wentworth Miller (as Michael Scofield), Dominic Purcell (as Lincoln ‘Linc’ Burrows), Robert Knepper (as Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell), Amaury Nolasco (as Fernando Sucre), Peter Stormare (as John Abruzzi), Rockmond Dunbar (as Benjamin Miles ‘C-Note’ Franklin), Lane Garrison (as David ‘Tweener’ Apolskis), Wade Williams (as Brad Bellick), William Fichtner (as Alexander ‘Alex’ Mahone), Paul Adelstein (as Paul Kellerman), Marshall Allman (as LJ Burrows), Stacy Keach (as Warden Henry Pope), Robin Tunney (as Veronica Donovan) and Sarah Wayne Callies (as Sara Tancredi).

All in all, we enjoyed the first two seasons and felt like escaping during the third season which we eventually did.

Finishing Numb3rs and understanding its essence

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Last night, Christina and I finished watching Numb3rs which ran from 2005 to 2010 over six seasons. As succinctly explained on IMDB, “working for the FBI, a mathematician uses equations to help solve various crimes.”

The young mathematician is Charlie Eppes (played by David Krumholtz) and he works with his brother, Don Eppes (played by Rob Morrow), an FBI team leader, and his team of FBI agents.

Other interesting characters are Judd Hirsch as Alan Eppes (Charlie’s and Don’s dad), Navi Rawat as Amita Ramanujan (a computer scientist who is also Charlie’s girlfriend) and Peter MacNicol as Larry Fleinhardt (a physicist / philosopher / best friend of Charlie) who, during a few seasons, falls in love with Diane Farr as Megan Reeves (Don’s No 2 in the FBI).

This love story between Larry and Megan is probably the cutest thing in the whole show. Larry as the awkward geek and Megan as the one being agreeably amazed by Larry’s behaviour is very nice. Megan left after a few seasons to pursue her career.

Other characters are Alimi Ballard as David Sinclair, Dylan Bruno as Colby Granger, Sophina Brown as Nikki Betancourt and Aya Sumika as Liz Warner (all FBI agents in Don’s team with the latter the “rebound” girlfriend of Don during a few episodes).

Nikki and Liz are cool badass FBI agents. They are strong, decisive and have powerful personalities, unlike their male colleagues (David, Colby and, even, Don) who are more passive. Makes for lot of interesting situations where the girls take power (or lead the conversation).

Lou Diamond Phillips as Agent Ian Edgerton is also another badass. He is a sniper and catches bad guys who flee (including abroad). He appears in 8 episodes only but, as he has an imposing personality, he is quite memorable.

Finally, I need to mention Michelle Nolden as Robin Brooks (an Assistant US Attorneys who is Don’s real girlfriend). She is not as memorable as Ian but she plays an important role in, at the end of the show, anchoring Don to what is important in life: living.

I liked Numb3rs. The maths is interesting (mostly) but the characters, being mostly nice and genuine, make the show.

In fact, it’s not a show about the FBI but about developing friendship and love.