The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 episodes 1, 2, and 3 recaps & review

Open Go TV / April 15, 2023 / Reviews

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The final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel continues to chart Miriam’s journey to becoming a world-renowned comedian and pushing boundaries while she gets there. The episodes are streaming on Prime Video.

Episode 1 recap: Go Forward

A grown-up Esther Maisel sits down with her therapist in a very distressed state to talk about her issues with mother, only taking a break to note down a major scientific breakthrough she just made.

Back in the present, Susie gets a call from Rose asking her to come soon because Midge appears to be very sick and babbling a bunch of nonsense.

After the night at Carnegie Hall, Midge walked back home through a blizzard with Lenny’s words ringing through her ears. Susie tries to make sense of Midge’s ramblings but has no such luck.

Midge finally returns to her senses and tells Susie that she will trust her completely and is ready to do any gigs that come her way. Susie tries to get in a word with Mike Carr but he sends her away without giving her a chance.

At Thanksgiving dinner, Moishe and Shirley announce that they’re getting divorced, while Joel announces that he’s getting married to Mei and they’ll be having a baby together.

However, he returns home to find Mei waiting for him with bad news. She tells him that she’s moving to Chicago for her medical residency and that there is no baby anymore because she wasn’t ready for one.

Susie is discussing a gig in Las Vegas that she booked for Alfie with all the perks but Alfie is too afraid to get on a plane. When Miriam arrives, she tells her that she can go back to the Wolford to keep her act fresh.

Mike Carr visits a Christmas tree farm with his children to pick out the perfect tree but Susie shows up there to make a case for Midge once again. He tells her to stop harassing him and assures her that she or Midge will not be allowed anywhere near 30 Rock.

Midge drops off Alfie at the airport with some calming words and then runs into her parents who were supposed to go on a trip that was canceled at the last minute. When Abe mentions that they’ve been having bad luck recently, Rose worries that it’s the work of the matchmakers.

Midge also runs into Lenny at the airport and tells him that she will not blow her chances this time. Joel gets really drunk and goes down to his bar where he makes a scene and ends up getting a beatdown.

Midge is worried about her performance at the Wolford but after a rocky start, she kills it and Susie notices that Gordon Ford is in the audience. She approaches him to get Midge a position on his show and convinces him to hire Midge as a writer.

Episode 2 recap: It’s a Man, Man, Man, Man World

In the flash-forward, Midge is interviewed by Mike Wallace for 60 Minutes where he recaps her turbulent rise to stardom as well as her split from Susie after a 25-year friendship.

Rose and Abe are befuddled by the concept of a writer at a late-night television show as Midge tries to explain her new job and asks them for help with the children.

Joel wakes up in bandages in his parents’ house and calls Midge and the kids to distract Moishe and Shirley while he tells her what happened with Mei.

Midge makes a big deal out of the outfit she should be wearing for work but Susie helps her pick out something practical. On the journey there, she runs into Sylvio who chases her down to apologize for what happened between them.

Midge reaches work and immediately feels out of her depth in the writer’s room but puts in her best. She learns a lot about how things work at the Gordon Ford show and about Gordon himself.

Rose is headed to the tea room where she meets her clients and finds that it has been burnt down. Abe meets with a director named Penelope for work and at the end of the lunch, she suggestively puts a hand on his thigh, making him very flustered.

Midge cannot get the other writers to pick any of her jokes for Gordon’s opening monologue but she still puts in the effort. She goes out with the rest of the crew to a bar and Gordon meets them there, letting Midge know that if she has any trouble she can just talk to him.

Later on, she performs one of her jokes at the Walford and it kills, leaving her extremely satisfied and vindicated.

Episode 3 recap: Typos and Torsos

It’s a month in and Midge still hasn’t managed to get a joke into Gordon’s monologue as the writers keep a scoreboard of how many each of them gets.

In the future, Ethan works at a kibbutz in Israel and is learning to be a Rabbi and Midge drops in on him via helicopter because she’s being honored for an event and wanted to remind him when she’s picking him up.

Rose is completely paranoid because of the other matchmakers while Abe is dejected because he misspelled Carol Channing’s name in the paper for which they had to put out an apology.

Ethan is having trouble sleeping in his own bed so Joel and Midge are trying out a method suggested to them by the school therapist. She does manage to get on the scoreboard when one of her jokes gets into the monologue.

Rose is worried about the other matchmakers so she visits Susie and asks if she could get a gun to threaten them. Susie is similarly devastated that the tea room is no more and says she’ll help Rose out with her problem.

Gordon is going through his monologue but when he gets to Midge’s line, he flubs it and she audibly groans in front of everyone. Everyone looks at her like she’s dead meat while Mike tells her to grovel to keep her job.

Shirley gets drunk at the Button Club and annoys the customers despite Joel’s attempts to get her out of there. He calls his father up to help him with the situation.

Midge apologizes to Gordon at the bar later but he claims that he improve on her joke which would have bombed so they get into a huge public argument. Susie reads about it in the newspaper the next day and tells Midge to get a box for her stuff when she inevitably gets fired.

Susie then gets called out to the prison where Benedetta who is one of the matchmakers, applauds Susie for effectively dealing with their threat. She offers her some terms to take to Rose as a sign of peace and Susie says she’ll pass on the information.

Joel’s club is slowly being overrun by his parents and their friends, and he doesn’t know how to get rid of them. Midge tries to get a tight five on stage but she’s heckled by Shirley and Moishe.

Shirley tries to ask Midge about Mei but Midge panics and tells her that Mei is back in China and cannot leave because of the revolution. Moishe gathers an extraction team but Joel finally tells them the truth about what happened with Mei.

Midge goes to work worried it’s going to be her last day but it goes without incident and Gordon also announces at the end of the show that they’re the number one show on television.

Everyone goes to celebrate on the ice rink in front of 30 Rock and Gordon and Midge have a chat before Gordon flirts with her and tries to kiss her.

Susie goes into Midge’s office looking for a restroom and stumbles upon Gordon’s office. She does a bit of snooping but is shocked when she notices who his wife is from a photo on his desk.

Review

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel continues to be an absolutely delightful series with fantastic cinematography and expert writing. With this being the final season, the stakes have been raised higher than ever.
The first three episodes contain several moments that showcase brilliant camera work such as the scene with Midge and Lenny inside an empty airport hallway, or the moment her joke lands at the end of a show and there’s a moment where she breaks the fourth wall.
There are several scenes where the characters are moving at full pace and yet, the writing and performances make it so engrossing that the audience is left hanging onto every word.
The peaks into Midge’s future are an interesting decision but the jury is still out on what kind of overall impact it will have on the experience.
Gordon Ford and Sylvio appear to be the potential love interests in this season and it will be intriguing to see what kind of approach these characters make.