The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 finale recap, review & ending explained

Open Go TV / May 27, 2023 / Reviews

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In the series finale of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge finally achieves her goal of getting on The Gordon Ford Show but it isn’t exactly how she dreamed. The episode is streaming on Prime Video.

Episode 9 recap: Four Minutes

Lenny Bruce is performing at a club in San Francisco in 1965 and doing a terrible job on stage. Susie is there watching the set and she approaches him to help him get back on track.

Lenny accepts that he’s past his prime and asks Susie if Midge is there too. She lies and says she isn’t but Midge is waiting outside the club, devasted to see what has become of one of the most incredible comics she’s ever met.

Four years earlier, Susie had just asked Hedy to get Midge on the show and spent the night sleeping on a bench in the park before getting into trouble with the cops the following day and getting arrested.

That’s why Midge had to rush out of work in a rush just as Hedy told Gordon that he needs to book Midge. Midge takes Susie out for a meal where Susie explains her relationship with Hedy.

Midge apologizes for putting Susie through that and then heads back home to change. Rose tells her that they’ve received multiple calls from her workplace so when Midge goes in, she scolds the writers for not giving her some space.

However, it turns out that Mike was calling her because Gordon wanted to see her. She goes into Gordon’s office and tells her that she’s going to be on the show that night but makes his displeasure about the whole situation very clear.

She goes back home once again to change and then heads to Susie’s office to tell her the good news. They go ahead and call everyone they know to tell them to watch the show that night while Midge calls Joel and her parents and invites them to the studio.

Abe goes home to tell Rose that they need to get to the studio but Rose says she’s not going because Midge didn’t bother to call her. Abe says that she tried but couldn’t reach her and Rose realizes that the phone was off the receiver.

As soon as she puts it back, she receives multiple calls telling her to come to the studio and they rush out to get a cab.

Midge is in the dressing room planning out her set with Susie when Gordon walks in to welcome the other guests. When Midge asks him about her set, he tells her that she’s not performing, she’s coming on as a human interest piece.

Susie goes after Gordon to get some clarity on the situation and Gordon repeats that he’s going to introduce Midge as one of the writers and then ask her a few questions about the job.

Susie goes to Mike and brings up the issue and he says he doesn’t know anything about that. He’s just as surprised as Midge and Susie and asks Gordon to reconsider but to no avail.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 ending explained in detail:

How does the interview go?

Midge is brought to her spot behind the curtain and she sees two stools placed in front, meaning that she’s not even getting a spot on the couch.

She goes to sit there and Gordon sits down next to her as they go live. Susie told Midge to be herself and make the most of the situation so Midge is charming with her first few answers.

Seeing the reaction that she’s getting, Gordon immediately goes to the commercial even though it isn’t planned. Mike panics and tells him that they still have four minutes of runtime after the commercial so he needs to continue interviewing her.

What does Midge do?

As she sits down, Joel looks at her and gestures to find out what’s going on and she gives him a look to tell him she got screwed. During the break, Midge goes to talk to her parents who are very supportive and glad that she’s on television.

Midge gets an idea and tells Susie that she might be about to do something that might ruin both of them and Susie tells her to go for it.

When they get back from the commercial, Gordon asks Midge how the job is and Midge uses the question to segue into telling people that she’s a comedienne and offers to perform.

She goes to center stage and grabs the piece against Gordon’s wishes and then performs a set for the final four minutes that wins over everybody in the audience and earns her a standing ovation.

She appears to have won over Gordon who invites her to the couch but as he’s signing her off, he leans in close and whispers that she’s fired.

How is Midge’s future?

6 months before she appeared on the show, Midge had dinner with Lenny where he continued to praise her talents and insists that she’ll be famous one day.

He gives her tips on how to be famous and reads out a made-up fortune while holding a fortune cookie with lucky numbers on it. Midge finds that fortune on the same night of the show.

In 2005, Midge was deep into her latter years but she’s still busy performing and booking dates. She’s sitting with her team planning out her next few weeks and months and when she finds out she has a free day, she insists that it is filled with some work.

Later that night she calls Susie who is retired somewhere in a different country. They both have a recorded episode of Jeopardy on tape and they decide to watch it together with the phone on speaker.

They make jokes and laugh and have a good time as two lifelong friends do.

Review

The episode begins in such a heartbreaking fashion as there shows a mostly accurate description of a Lenny Bruce performance during his final days. For a character that was so captivating and integral to the show, it’s respectful that they stuck to the true performer’s end.
Gordon Ford proves that he was the “villain” all along with his reaction in this episode and Reid Scott has performed a difficult role quite well. He was initially pushed as a potential love interest but his true colors came out eventually.
Pretty much everything that involves Lenny Bruce on the show has been gold and his dinner with Midge right at the end was made even more impactful by everything that transpired before.
Midge’s final set is magnificent and could be considered one of the best throughout the series. She stays true to her character and ends the series the way she began it, grabbing onto a mic she wasn’t supposed to.
The way the lighting adjusts during her performance to focus the spotlight on her as she builds momentum is a beautiful moment of on-screen magic.