Warning: Spoilers ahead.
It’s a wrap, folks! And what a wrap it was. Prime Video’s award-winning megahit historical dramedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has finally come to a close, with a final season that’s damn near perfect.
A Pretty Flashy Show
Raise your hand here. Who thought Joel (Michael Zegen) would end the series in prison? Not us. Same goes for Esther (Alexandra Socha) and Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) being estranged, Midge having four husbands after the show ends, and the final, poignant closing shot of her in her grand apartment, accompanied only by staff – a bittersweet visual metaphor for how lonely the peak of success really is.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel gives us just the right amount of flash-forward, giving us a tantalizing glimpse of the future while skillfully avoiding robbing the show of its stakes. Thanks to the flash-forwards, we know Midge will reach her dream of becoming a comedienne – now the drama comes from figuring out how she gets there. From the start of the flashback sequences, the audience can let out a sigh of relief. Our Mrs. Maisel will truly become marvelous. Her dream is safe.
The flashback sequences also serve another function – they provide plenty of dramatic fodder set after the closing of the show. How, exactly did Joel end up in prison to protect Midge? Will Midge’s relationship with her children ever recover? Speaking of which, what was Esther’s road to becoming a brilliant scientist like? Why did Susie and Midge have a falling out? Who are Midge’s other four husbands? Is this all possible spinoff fuel? Or just fanfiction ideas handed to us on a platter by the writers? Only time will tell.
‘Four Minutes’ of Some of the Best Television Ever … Both In-Universe and Out
The first eight episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are very good. Solid. Not spectacular, but still very good. “Four Minutes,” the series’ final episode, is spectacular. It’s a home-run hit when your team is down in the ninth. It’s scratching off your lottery ticket and seeing the winning number. It’s nailing your audition, it’s baking the perfect chocolate cake. It’s all that and more.
We’ve seen Midge struggle for four long years – against her parents’ wishes, her duty as a mother, against the male-dominated world of standup comedy. She’s spent all this time clawing her way to the top – only to be denied at every turn. And now, in the last moments of this show, she takes that chance – and wins.
The cinematography in this scene is excellent – it’s done in a “oner” (an extended shot with zero cuts) that’s focused squarely on Midge’s face for the entirety of the shot, giving the viewer the impression of being planted directly in her shoes. There’s no background music, only the sound of Midge delivering a standout standup routine that is at once a razor-sharp demonstration of her wit, a manifesto of who she is as a person, a rebuke of the in-universe audience that refused to accept her for all these years, and a plea for acceptance by the same.
And it works.
The acting in this scene is nothing short of incredible – the nervousness and determination slowly blossoming into confidence and joy given to us by Brosnahan, the ecstatic thrills of Midge’s friends and family in the audience, the way Reid Scott takes his character of Gordon Ford from dismissive and irritated at Midge to humbled and proud of her. This single scene, viewed on its own with no context of the preceding five seasons of television, has been proven to make viewers want to watch the rest of the show.
And with that, the show ends. Most works of fiction surrounding creative pursuits start with their protagonists’ big break, thus letting the audience see the wonders of stardom from their point of view. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel takes a different approach, letting us see how difficult it can be to even get your foot in the door – and making it all the sweeter when our Mrs. Maisel does.
If this is the first you’re hearing of this show, it’s definitely worth a watch. If you’re looking for a review of Season 5, it’s more than worth a watch – it’s worth savoring every frame.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming now on Prime Video.
