“Some people say that women aren’t funny” and “You think the fact that she’s attractive is a problem?” are just two of the lines from season two of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel that are as depressing as they are revealing. The Amazon Prime comedy drama set in 1959 is focused on a New York housewife who secretly becomes a stand-up comic, but you only have to read interviews with contemporary funny women like Katherine Ryan to discover that not much has changed in 60 years.

Thankfully, that’s the only depressing thing about The Marvelous Mrs Maisel – on the whole, it’s a fast, funny, romp of a show, but with a huge heart. During the first series, Midge Maisel, the titular character played with piles of charm by Rachel Brosnahan, accidentally turned to stand-up comedy when she found out her kind of sweet but somewhat pathetic husband Joel (Michael Zegen) – a struggling comedian himself – was cheating on her with his secretary. It became Amazon Prime's breakout hit of the year, winning two Golden Globes and nearly swept the board in the comedy categories at the Emmys, with eight wins.

Season two begins with Joel finding out about his estranged wife’s secret double life – by day she’s a department store telephonist (and a very efficient one too – it seems there’s nothing Midge isn’t good at) but by night she’s lighting up the comedy scene across New York and catching the attention of big names like Lenny Bruce. As Midge and Joel attempt to salvage a friendship from their broken marriage, there are some sad, tender moments, leaving us – and indeed them – unsure whether we want them to reconcile; he’s so weak and she’s so awesome, but there's a lot of love between them. If they did get back together, it certainly wouldn’t be for the sake of their children; once again this season, Midge mostly seems to forget they exist at all.