‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ bows out with rave reviews: ‘As intoxicating as ever,’ ‘A last hurrah that is powerfully funny and touching’

Jacob Sarkisian
·4 min read
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“The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” is, sadly, coming to an end. The fifth and final season of the Amazon Prime Video show is now available to air on the streaming service and fans and critics alike will soon mourn the end of one of TV’s most charming shows. The hour-long comedy series chronicles the life of the newly single Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) who pursues a career in stand-up comedy. She meets a cast of colorful characters along the way including Alex Borstein‘s Susie Mayerson, who runs The Gaslight Café where Midge begins her career in stand-up.

The final episode of “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” merit a jaw-dropping score 0f 97% at Rotten Tomatoes and an equally impressive Metacritic grade of 80. Below, just a sampling of the rave reviews:

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Chris Barsanti of Slant Magazine observed that “the show’s mixture of comedy and fantastical nostalgia is as intoxicating as ever.” Barsanti wrote: “Through its first four seasons, ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ kept an increasing number of plates spinning at a speed that could leave you at once in disbelief and laughter, and always felt on the brink of losing sight of its main story and character. The fifth and final season of the Amazon dramedy is a course correction of sorts, paring back the clamorous side plots that had started taking up too much of the show’s oxygen while retaining its electric spirit.” He continued: “Its characters’ rat-a-tat dialogue and cheerful boozing, not to mention the show’s impressive period design, all suggest ‘Mad Men’ as a zany Broadway farce.”

Thelma Adams of The Wrap thinks that the final season “triumphs”: “There are so many high points from Season 5. I’m partial to a scene late in the season where Tony Shalhoub’s Papa Abe Weissman attends an intimate wine-soaked dinner at what appears to be Manhattan’s famed, now-shuttered 21 Club with his ‘Village Voice” colleagues.'” She continued: “The final season, like its central character, is a little scatterbrained but compensates with charm, chutzpah and an ability to spin emotional truths into comic gold. To the end, Mrs. Maisel rocks one amazing costume after the next, as the marvelous series sashays into the sunset with one last killer set in the spotlight. Midge came, she saw, she slayed.”

Peter Travers of “Good Morning America” said: “I’ve seen all nine fab episodes and it hurts to say so long, especially to Rachel Brosnahan, who’s won nearly every award for playing Midge Maisel.” He said: “It’s a tribute to the humor and heartbreak that Amy Sherman-Palladino and her co-showrunner husband Daniel Palladino — both write and direct — pack into every frame. They’re definitely going out on top with a last hurrah that is powerfully funny, touching and vital.” He concluded: “Not only is “Maisel” the best-looking series you’ll find anywhere, from costumes to production design, the ensemble cast ranks with TV’s finest. The great Tony Shalhoub as Midge’s father has a scene of realization about the women in his life that belongs in the acting time capsule.”

Cristina Escobar of Roger Ebert noted: “What has been the greatest strength of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — under its protagonist’s impeccable hats and charmed life —  is the story of workplace relationships, ambition, and female friendship. Watching Midge and Susie create trust, work through conflict, and build careers in showbiz together has been the glue for this often fluffy show. It’s their relationship I will miss the most.”

And John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal concludes: “In addition to Ms. Brosnahan’s Audrey Hepburn-meets-screwball creation, the show has been blessed with supporting actors who have lost nothing over the life of the series.”

The first four seasons of the show have taken home a whopping 20 Emmys in all, including Best Comedy Series for its first season back in 2018.  Brosnahan won Best Comedy Actress that year and Borstein collected the first of two consecutive Best Supporting Comedy Actress trophies.

Buoyed by universal critical acclaim, we predict that this fifth season will earn a nomination for Best Comedy Series. We have it in sixth place (out of a predicted eight) in our odds chart, with “Wednesday” and “Poker Face” below it. Above it are “Barry,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Bear,” “Abbott Elementary,” and, in first place, “Ted Lasso.”

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