The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Review: On Her Final Outing, Midge Sticks the Landing
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The post The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Review: On Her Final Outing, Midge Sticks the Landing appeared first on Consequence.
The Pitch: The fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime doesn’t begin the way viewers might expect — we’ve become accustomed to a black screen, laughter fading in, and our titular character onstage. Instead, from the get-go, the show establishes that this last outing will be a bit of a departure from what we’ve seen the past few seasons.
Instead, Season 5 starts with a time jump; we’re quite far in the future, and, rather than spoil who the viewer gets to spend the first few minutes with, it’s perhaps better to just encourage anticipation for some rapid-fire dialogue and a pitch-perfect young actress. In other words, it’s a great Amy-Sherman Palladino cold open.
This final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel spends quite a bit of its time jumping between years — we find out pretty early on what becomes of rising comedienne Midge (Rachel Brosnahan, sharp and luminous in a way that recalls the earliest, buzziest episodes of the show), her scheming manager Susie (Alex Borstein), husband/ex-husband/lover Joel (Michael Zegen), father Abe (Tony Shalhoub), mother Rose (Marin Hinkle), and the colorful cast of characters in their dreamy version of New York City. Somehow, though, this structure doesn’t diminish the tension or anticipation we feel from watching these events unfold. Instead, this season spends its time establishing a road map and filling in the gaps along the way — and the journey is a worthy last ride for Midge and the show.
Where You Lead: Amy Sherman-Palladino is a very good writer, and she and her husband, Daniel Palladino, make an undeniably good creative team. They have their trademarks as writers and directors, and that’s largely because fast-talking dialogue, whimsical set pieces, and familial drama are all places where they excel. While Sherman-Palladino seems to love her characters — as she should, she’s created some fantastic figures throughout the years — to that point, she also has a proclivity for loving them so much that she is hesitant to force them to experience consequences for their actions. Remember the exact point that Rory Gilmore felt like an unsympathetic monster? Answers may vary.
That was a problem that plagued Season 4 of Maisel: Midge had genuinely messed up at the end of Season 3, but she and Susie proceeded as though they had been dealt a bad hand, acting as if the problem boiled down to the fact that Midge was a woman, rather than the fact that she had nearly outed a closeted Black man onstage at The Apollo — erasing the nuance that had been thoughtfully constructed throughout the season. Thankfully, the course correction here avoids making that same mistake again. Midge struggles, and the narrative of Season 5 shows almost all the core characters experiencing fallout in some form or another for any less-than-heroic actions.
Cut to Commercial: Another wise shake-up was removing Midge from the cycle we’ve seen throughout previous seasons, one that revolved around being on the road, playing bigger and bigger stages, and essentially moving the audience through vignettes of our central comedienne either killing or flopping. Instead, Season 5 puts her in business with Gordon Ford (Reid Scott, great and only slightly softer than he is in Dan Egan mode), and a refreshing slate of side characters and adventures.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video)
While there’s no Tracy Jordan or Jenna Maroney, it’s very fun seeing Midge take the halls of 30 Rock The Gordon Ford Show by storm for a steady gig that provides opportunities for guest appearances by Hank Azaria and Sutton Foster, and a bump to series regular for very vexed assistant-turned-producer Mike Carr (played by Jason Ralph, real-life husband to Rachel Brosnahan). Meanwhile, one strong breakout episode focuses on what becomes of Susie Myerson, another place for some Palladino players to appear (Gilmore Girls alums Sean Gunn and Danny Strong).
On the note of the Palladinos, it’s increasingly clear that these people desperately want to direct a musical, and multiple sequences in this season make a stellar case for letting it happen. One episode features a sequence of a production onstage that’s complete with three original numbers and stretches nearly 20 minutes, and it’s, quite honestly, a total delight. Trash can lids as tap shoes? That’s Newsies behavior, folks! (A compliment.)
The Show Goes On: Of course, there’s also the Midge and Lenny of it all. Menny? Lidge? Gone are the days of Tumblr-style ship names, but these two continue to be a point of interest for many viewers. The undeniable, white-hot chemistry between Midge and Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that Lenny Bruce died quite young; this could’ve been a different show had Kirby’s character been more of an homage to the real-life controversial comedian, but this is the one we’re working with, folks.
In past seasons, any moment Lenny Bruce wasn’t onscreen, his presence was missed. Without entering spoiler territory, the showrunners handle this narrative — and that of Midge’s love life overall, in fact — delicately, and perhaps as best as they possibly could have, considering the corner they’ve narratively backed themselves into. There’s the gratification that came with seeing these two finally get together (if just for a night) in the previous season, coupled here with the heartache and sadness that comes with the harsh morning light and the many days and nights that follow for both characters.
The Verdict: This final season is most certainly worth watching for anyone who has made it this far. There are laugh-out-loud quips, endlessly watchable antics from our side characters that feel far less grating than previous seasons, and even some tear-jerking moments; a few sequences towards the end might hit particularly hard for people working in creative fields, throwing everything they have at a dream, even if loved ones in their lives don’t understand.
That’s what the show has always been about — chasing dreams. While Midge’s comedy career may have started as an accident, it also feels like she was preparing to step onstage and take the mic her whole life. Without spoiling the last moments before our last fade out, the series finale provides a highly satisfying ending — rest assured, the right people get the last laugh.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premieres with its first three episodes on Amazon Prime this Friday, April 14th. Episodes will subsequently be released on a weekly basis.
Trailer:
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 5 Review: On Her Final Outing, Midge Sticks the Landing
Mary Siroky
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