Tits up! Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Emmy-winning comedy-drama, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, is taking a final bow with this fifth season. Some argue that along the way, the show’s quality has dipped in parts and run for one season too many – but a woman’s journey from being a doting 1950s housewife to a divorced standup comedian was never going to be swift.
After opening with a surprise flash-forward scene (a new one is cleverly used at the start of each episode to help tell the whole story), the series returns to the usual timeline and picks things up the morning after Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) got caught out in the blizzard that ended the previous season. Having said no to the Tony Bennett gig because of her new “no opening acts!” manifesto, she is in bed, delirious with hypothermia, clinging to a frostbitten toe and full of regret. “Six months!” declares her agent Susie (Alex Borstein). That is, she is only expecting the performer to last another six months before she loses the will to carry on with comedy altogether. So it’s back to the clubs for Midge and her 10 toes (phew!), where Susie pounces on a TV producer to secure her gal a job in a joke writing room for a primetime chat show.
