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.
Throughout this final stab at becoming a star, much of the focus is, as always, on Midge and Susie’s friendship – the odd couple who have been through so much to get here. Fans will smile/howl at plenty of satisfyingly nostalgic nods – most notably, a special shout out to Susie’s beloved plunger, ever present in season two’s Catskills episodes. But there are also some big disagreements. Can the pair make it over this last hurdle together? Brosnahan and Borstein have done wonders with their characters’ dynamite chemistry, even commanding the series’ most tear-jerking moment (although the finale wasn’t available to review, and it could easily – and likely will – top this).
There’s also the other terrific twosome: Midge’s parents. Abe (Tony Shalhoub) spends a whole episode distraught over a correction to one of his articles at the magazine he works for. Rose (Marin Hinkle) still prods a grapefruit at every breakfast and goes to new lengths to become New York’s finest matchmaker. They continue to effortlessly bounce off one another with such zing, and a scene in which they realise that Zelda (Matilda Szydagis) getting married means Zelda no longer being their housekeeper is a cracker. Give this pair the spin-off they deserve – preferably set in Paris, a la season two.
And what of Midge’s two main love interests? While the conclusion with Lenny Bruce (a knee-weakening Luke Kirby) might be disappointing for anyone else who whooped for joy when they finally got it on last season, their story was always destined to end this way. Her ex-husband Joel (Michael Zegen), meanwhile, is deserving of his thoughtful, nuanced redemption arc.
Like the seasons before it, I already know I’m going to watch this one again and again. The whip-smart gags shoot out at such breakneck speed that you realise a new one with each viewing. And even if you replay it on, say, a squiffy-headed Sunday, there’s such comfort to be found in the sugary wardrobes (oh, the hats!) and the whimsical ensemble set pieces (last season’s took place on a Ferris wheel; this time it’s on a subway train).
But beyond all that, Midge has gone on to show more temerity, more fight, more resilience – Brosnahan has done a super job capturing this (her own career rise has seen her star in a film with Benedict Cumberbatch in recent years). It’s not my place to feel proud of Midge and Susie, and yet I do. I want to grab a bar stool and cheers a martini with them.
This isn’t the best season, but it is absolutely the right one. It is ending at exactly the appropriate moment, and these last episodes are the finest ode to what’s been a fabulously funny and exquisitely-produced series. That was Mrs Maisel – thank you, and good night.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is on Prime Video.
