Love, but not timing
Midge knows she's in love at the airport, and the realization is devastating.
I've been trying to track how Midge feels about Lenny for years. He's someone she aspires to be like. He's someone she can count on in a tight spot. He's the person guaranteed to make her laugh. And at the same time she craves a kind of intimacy from him. Midge wants his attention and loves that he flirts with her. And of course she's attracted him; she's got eyes. But Midge doesn't necessarily associate those things with love. Love is something women like Midge give to nice boys with day jobs who own property. For the first four seasons Midge is still an outsider in this other world of clubs and gigs, trying to learn its rules and its codes. Lenny is both an aspirational figure and a friend to Midge. But even when they sleep together I don't think she immediately sees it at love, but the natural escalation of a growing attraction. Oh its surprisingly lovely and wonderful. But before Midge can really parse that, Carnegie Hall happens.
At Carnegie Hall Midge loses face not just in the eyes of a lover but a mentor. He shatters her pride and lets her know she's been the one thing a Maisel never should be: stupid. That's a lot to process, particularly when you spend a few days in danger of losing a toe. But the conversation haunts her in a way that is familiar and awful. So Midge ignores it. And she certainly doesn't try to call. Midge wants the time to build herself back up again before she sees Lenny. She wants to come in from a position of strength. But there he is at the airport.
After she spots him, for a second Midge looks ready to bolt. But she can't, because for as much as she is hurting, the idea of ever walking away from Lenny is impossible. So she walks up using all of her willpower. And still, Midge looks like she might unravel when Lenny smiles, and even more when he tells her he's making a semi-permanent move to LA.
"Lucky girl," she says, when Lenny confesses his kid is moving in. Midge knows she's in love when she delivers that line, and also knows she can't possibly ask him not to go.
For his part, Lenny fell in love ages ago in a club in Florida.
To Lenny, Midge was a cute very funny girl who reminded him of the kind of girls he'd grown up with and the kind of girls who never paid him any attention. He revels in her gaze, in her wit, and in the way she thinks he's worth talking to. It's fun not to be the screw-up sometimes. Then Midge looks out for him, supports him, and lets him a little bit into her world, and Lenny has to admit Midge isn't just a girl anymore, but a friend. Everything Lenny learns about Midge is more impressive, more alluring.
In Florida he takes her out to his tv show and then to the club hoping to impress her in turn. He flirts with her because Lenny flirts with pretty girls. But you can see the world tilt under him as they stare at each other across the room. When they dance his ability to speak fails him. And when her head nestles into his shoulder Lenny knows he's absolutely gone.
If Lenny weren't in love with Midge he wouldn't have a problem waking up from a shitty night in her child's bedroom. Lenny isn't that fussy. But it's Midge, and he can't handle what he must look like, especially with this newfound glimpse into her home life. With Carnegie Hall Lenny can reclaim some dignity, let her put him back on his pedestal a little bit. He needs her to be impressed by him. Until, of course, he realizes the damage that little pedestal has actually done. Lenny doesn't call Midge. He's not good for her after all.
But at the airport I think he realizes she loves him back. It's just not enough to change anything. He can't offer her anything right now other than to push her towards her dream.
And maybe in a different world they'd meet again a few years down the line, and they'd fall back into the same dance, as if no time had passed at all.