by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
TV has seen four amazing shows end their runs as titans of the small screen. Each of them puts prestige TV on the map as they rack up fans and awards throughout their run. A lot of rightful attention has been given to these shows, as they mark the end of an era. Who will the Emmys and Golden Globes give their awards to now that they have ended? You’ve seen reviews so far of the other three shows that have ended, as Barry, Succession, and Ted Lasso have ridden off into the sunset. But the often-overlooked one, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, concluded its five-season run with a mic drop for the ages on Amazon Prime Video.
The series follows Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) in her quest to find success as a female standup comic during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along the way, she’s had to deal with mistakes, disappointment, rejection, and hostility toward her new career path. The final season takes place after a particularly hard few years for Midge’s comedy career, as she has some big disappointments that have caused her to rethink her career entirely.
I’m late to the party for the Amazon staple, so I watched most of the seasons all at once. Midge’s comedy career is a roller coaster. She’s had some amazing highs, but the lows are devastating. Season Five finds Midge in a low place due to stubbornness and losing her way. At the beginning, Midge finally gets a break, but even then, she has to work herself up to the top.
The change of scenery for Midge, with her being hired as a writer on The Gordon Ford Show, presents a new era filled with opportunity. She does not want to work behind the scenes, but she needs to start somewhere. I enjoyed this aspect of the season a lot. It presents a new group of people for Midge to interact with, where she can learn something about comedy from others. Midge is wildly talented, but having a group of people with whom she can riff and make jokes that help her more than she realizes. The best addition to Season Five is Gordon Ford himself (Reid Scott). He represents both a path forward for Midge, and the same barriers that men have always presented to her path to fame. Gordon is different because he has some great chemistry with Midge, but he also respects her as a writer for his show. He’s also a bit of a sleaze ball to her, like many of the men Midge encounters throughout the series.
The part of Season Five that is rather uneven is seeing what happens to Midge in the future. A lot of different aspects of her life are explored, from her relationship with her kids, to what happens between her and Joel (Michael Zegen), to what happens between her and Susie (Alex Borstein). It’s a lot to take in and it spans a lot of time. With the scope of everything that happens, it can often be distracting; plus, there’s a lot that is left to the imagination. I did enjoy the insight provided by the episode focused on Susie, who’s up to her usual tricks and working tirelessly to make things happen for Midge.
The final episode of the series is among the best of the show, and one of the best series finales I’ve seen in a long time. There’s everything that I was looking for in a series finale: stakes, laughs, callbacks, iconic performances and moments, and emotional payoff. I realize this is a lot to ask, but The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel delivers in so many ways. Before I even get to what happens with Midge, her parents, Abe (Tony Shalhoub) and Rose (Marin Hinkle), have a wonderful moment where they’re struggling to get to Midge’s set. The lengths they go to get to her performance show how much they’ve grown to accept her as a comic. There’s also a great moment involving Rose that calls back to how no one ever gets in touch with her. It’s a fun joke to reprise in the final episode.
Watching Midge call everyone about her performance in the final episode is amazing. She’s so excited, and in turn, everyone is excited to watch her. Joel even tells her that she can make jokes about their marriage, something he’s very sensitive about. He understands how important this opportunity is for Midge, so all bets are off, as up to this point, she has spent the final season struggling to find her place and get her big break. She’s been on the verge of death, made mistakes that could have burned professional and personal bridges, and had to pull strings that she hoped she never would have had to use.
Midge’s final set is one of my favorite moments of television in 2023. Brosnahan is stunning and absolutely crushes this scene. The set she pulls together, along with the stakes of it, has a lot of great callbacks. It is a fitting way to end the series, and shows how much Midge has grown from the raw talent she exhibited when she originally got on stage. The set begins with an amazing heart-to-heart between Midge and Susie, which is both sweet and inspiring to see. Their talk is capped with the signature line they say to one another, in a nod to how much their relationship has grown. Midge mixes both prolific things to say about women of the time, and how being independent and fearless are not things women are taught in the early 1960s. Her jokes are also unbelievably funny, spanning being about her kids, her marriage, and her parents. As a standup comic, Midge has always been at her best when she talks about herself. This final set is legendary, I’ve rewatched it numerous times.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is past its prime, but the ending is a stark reminder of how hilarious the show was. It’s hard for me to choose which series that recently ended had the best ending, but Mrs. Maisel is creeping slightly ahead of Succession for the top spot for a series finale. I binged all of Mrs. Maisel this month, and I will greatly miss the aesthetics and costumes of the 1950s and ‘60s, the commentary about women and how much they’re held back, and the sharp and witty dialogue. Most importantly, I will miss the Marvelous Mrs. Midge Maisel and her amazing comedic chops. Amazon is losing one of its best series.
Score: 9/10
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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