The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

It’s a glorious final season that leaps from the 1960s, when comic Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) and her manager Susie (Alex Borstein) get their big break, into the next century when their sisterhood rightly anchors a classic series that is powerfully funny, touching and vital.

The last season is stuffed – and remarkably so. It gives newcomers like Reid Scott and Jason Ralph a good foothold in the series and suggests there’s much more that could be mined. ... Season Five wasn’t just business as usual. “Marvelous” is only one word to describe it.

Its mixture of comedy and fantastical nostalgia is still an intoxicating as ever, and its characters’ rat-a-tat dialogue and cheerful boozing, not to mention the show’s impressive period design, all suggest Mad Men as a zany Broadway farce.

As much as the flashforwards hinder some of the momentum of the season, they do at least guarantee one thing: We’ll get closure for Midge’s story and, in the process, get a glimpse into the future of the characters that have captured the hearts of the audience for six years.

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.

Mostly delightful and at times unabashedly poignant fifth and final season. [24 Apr - 7 May 2023, p.6]

The challenge is to comfort the fans as they say goodbye, not ditch them for a new audience. In that regard, this last season fits like a tailored burgundy peacoat. It proves that there’s going to be something to miss when it’s gone.

This final series may prove more divisive amongst devotees – the prolepsis, which opens episodes, is not entirely successful – but the accomplishment over these five series still stands.

The will-they-won’t-they of this season is not if Midge will make it or what man she picks next. It’s whether she’ll find a way back to Susie. And that has been the greatest strength of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"—under its protagonist's impeccable hats and charmed life, it's the story of workplace relationships, ambition, and female friendship.

Midge has always been front and center, but a massive part of the show’s enduring popularity has always been the strength of the ensemble cast across the board, and that remains true in the fifth and final season despite the need to bring everything to a close by the time the credits roll on the finale.

"Maisel" is still that charming, or irritating (your call) embrace of ethnic stereotypes, and filled with that dazzling, or grating, patter of quips, wisecracks, put-downs and zingers. It remains more about presentation, less about plot or character development.

Watching these episodes, with their detours and digressions, it seems fairly clear that for better or worse, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel can’t stray too far from the comfort of its old routine.

Some might embrace this bold development [flash-forwards]. I’m afraid I was wrenched out of my pleasurable escapist viewing – and not just because the ageing effects are so unnerving.