I watched the final episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season Five just before leaving for vacation. So I had plenty of time to think about it. When I got home, I binge-watched the entire season again. I have to say, it was much more funny and rewarding the second time through. On first viewing, the season felt rushed and lacking in the humor we’ve come to expect from the show. But the whole season makes much more sense, runs smoother, and had a lot more laughs when it can be viewed without having to wait a week between episodes.
Don’t ask me why.
Overall, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is some of the best programming on television right now. That being said, I’m probably going to write another blog post about all the problems with it. Silly things that don’t matter, like the scene in which we find Susie in her apartment with Jackie. Jackie’s in the bed and Susie can’t leave while the bed is down–it blocks the door. Jackie says he’ll get out of bed so she can leave, but he’s naked under the covers.
What the hell? How did Jackie get in the bed naked while Susie was in this tiny one-room apartment? Had Jackie already put a curtain or door (got to watch it again) on the bathroom entrance? We’re supposed to believe that while Susie went to the bathroom, Jackie pulled the bed down, stripped, and got between the sheets? How did he expect Susie to leave?
I know, I know. They played the scene for laughs. And it was funny. But it also made no sense. Stuff like that bugs the shit out of me and I’d like nothing more than to re-watch the entire series just to make note of all those nit picks and write about them.
But not this time.
This time I want to say that, while the final season was really good–maybe not as great as the rest of it because, well, it really was rushed just a bit–it missed one really big thing: closure. On two fronts.
Sure, we should have gotten a bit more about Ethan and Esther. The writers just threw us a few bits about their adulthoods as if that was enough. There should have been just a tad bit more. Just a bit, if you please.
And yes, we absolutely should have gotten a bit more on the whole Abe and Rose dying. Not to mention Lenny Bruce, whose death they passed over completely.
I can forgive those things.
What I can’t get over yet, though, is that the show, for some odd reason, brought back Midge’s one-night stand so he could explain and apologize only to disappear again, but didn’t bring back Benjamin. What the fuck?
This is insanity. Benjamin should have been in the final season in some capacity, if only somehow being in the audience for Midge’s big break on The Gordon Ford Show. Some closure between them would have been fabulous. And it was necessary!
The other bit of closure is with Sophie Lennon. How grand would it have been if, instead of Alfie showing up side-stage for Midge’s big break, it had been Sophie Lennon? Her look of shock, jealousy, and then, perhaps, a mature realization of, and respect for, Midge’s talent–if only a tiny bit–would have been splendid.
I wouldn’t have minded a scene in which Lenny Bruce somehow witnessed Midge’s big break, too. But I understand that would have been tricky. I assume the show was taped, not live. And the flashback following the show scene with Lenny and Midge was wonderful. Perhaps that was enough.
But none of that happened. No Benjamin. No Sophie (except for an unnecessary bit earlier on). No Closure.
I am not happy.
But I imagine I’ll learn to live with it.