#mrs. maisel finale

[boardchairman-blog]

**Shots of the Episode**

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)

Season 5, Episode 9: “Four Minutes” (2023) Director: Amy Sherman-Palladino Cinematographer: M. David Mullen

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Lenny + Midge + Parallels, Callbacks, & Foreshadowing (Seasons 1-5) 

+Bonus

[whichcouldmeanothing]

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023) | Hacks (2021–)

[infinityinakiss]

i know, i know, i don't normally talk about the marvelous mrs. maisel on here but i need to say something about the 'were you ever a blonde?' scene in the last episode, because it was so just frustratingly beautiful. susie's out there absolutely baring her heart to midge, in a way that she never has before, and she's sort of mad at herself about it (which is honestly relatable, i too have been pissed that i had the audacity to fall for a girl.) she's accepted that this is it, this is her love life, she is forever doomed, stuck falling for rich, impossible girls that she will never truly have a chance with. but there is a sweetness to the hell she has chosen, something that makes their love worth any heartache susie goes through. midge is the love of her life, and a sweet hell with her is infinitely better than a empty heaven with anyone else.

and then there's midge, sitting across from her in her perfectly monochromatic outfit, pretending to drink coffee, and it is so glaringly obvious that they're soulmates. the way she listens to susie and compliments her from a place of genuine admiration is so perfect, so lovely, that anyone who sees them together can tell that they love each other. two remarkably different puzzle pieces that somehow fit perfectly. soulmates, in the purest definition of the word. not romantic, not platonic, but filled with the love of a lifetime.

[susiemyersonislifegoals]

In 2002, I got introduced to the Amy Sherman Palladino Cinematic Universe by someone to whose Midge I would have gladly spent the rest of my life playing Susie. She’s been out of my life since 2008, but she’s all I could think of during—maybe all I have to say about—the Maisel finale. I really hate how much I still miss her.

Somebody point me in the direction of my Hedy instead, because that story could be so much better for the Susies in reverse.

[mondieuwordnerd]

After season 4 strongly implied that Lenny loved Midge and she had feelings for him too, he was only in 3 scenes of season 6? He was one of her most significant relationships across the show and i feel like that was just ignored in the finale season. The episode showed the impact addiction had had on his career and that while, a relationship long term probably wouldn't have worked they still cared about each other and that felt like the only weighty moment between them in the whole show. She was carrying a fortune cookie in her bra from her dinner with him but little more. Not even him celebrating her success. I feel a little cheated when the finale gave time for all the other people in her life.

[mylifeincharingcrossroad]

[atlasshrugd]

CALLING ALL FANFIC WRITERS.

tits up bitches. now that the show is over us midgelenny truthers are going to need COMPENSATION. a will to live, if you will. those who have seen the finale will know which scenes need to be expanded upon. i am going to need fix-it’s, multi-chapter canon divergence, a whole spinoff as long as the torah. we need reinforcements. gather all your friends and double down. ALL BETS ARE OFF.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[adropinalimitlessocean]

Really cool rewatching this show and hearing Midge and Susie dream about the future knowing where they're going

[leavemeslowly]

Don’t talk to me for another week while I am preparing to see Luke for the last time as Lenny and Rachel’s final “thank you and good night!”

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

if i had magic powers i would use them to make everybody love midge/susie with me

[charcubed]

someday, ages after the show’s been finished, I’m going to roll up with a post compiling a bunch of screenshots of moments where Midge Maisel was subtextually queer. and I’ve just accepted that by the time I ever get around to it no one is going to care (especially since very few people would’ve cared in the first place) but that’s okay. I think the world needs it anyway. eventually. just so it’ll exist somewhere.

[infinityinakiss]

it's the best (and worst) kind of shows that leave you bleeding on the floor, and you still say "it was perfect. don't change a thing."

[katzell]

your thoughts on the marvelous mrs. maisel finale? especially, the conclusion of the lenny and midge’s storyline?

Thank you so much for the ask!

I've been thinking about it for weeks, so it's time to get into it. I'm going to mainly address the Lenny and Midge part of the question, mostly because addressing everything else would make this far longer than it already is. And boy is it long. Here we go!

After years of ranting and raving, I now know when there is a version of a show I am watching and a completely different show the writers are creating. When I realize the show I want isn't something the showrunners are interested in, I cut and run.

I nearly dropped Maisel many times over the years as it became clear Midge was never going to have her big break before the finale. It would rather spin its wheels and have more family dinners and musical numbers than grapple with the real dangers of being in show business in the 1950s and 1960s. Midge and Lenny was the only thing that kept me going, and paradoxically it was because Lenny was going to die rather than in spite of it.

I never carried an ounce of hope that Lenny was going to escape the real fate of Lenny Bruce. When the Palladinos introduced Lenny in the pilot, they never meant for him to be a regular character. It was supposed to be a fun nod to the comedians of the time and the kind of comedy the Palladinos were inspired to explore in the series. And then Luke Kirby gave a mesmerizing, unforgettable performance. From that point forward, ASP was always very careful to make most of the characters who populate Midge's world fictional versions of real people. The decision to call him Lenny Bruce and not David Blake (or something better) put limits on what that character could realistically be or do.

For ASP, saving Lenny would have meant undercutting the few ties to reality Maisel had established. And I I agree with her. Especially given how little the show really seemed interested in exploring the darkness of that world. Sexism, racism, antisemitism, homophobia were all present, but the tone was always more light and whimsical. Which is why we got so many interminable boring overindulgent musical sequences.

Knowing that Lenny's death was coming filed in some of the shadows the show itself danced (literally) around. It also allowed me to enjoy Midge and Lenny as a pair of star crossed lovers who could have saved each other, but ultimately don't because of both their own faults and the societal forces around them.

Accepting those limits, I found really beautiful tragedy in Lenny's final two appearances. The opening scene broke me. I was prepared for him to die, but I wasn't prepared to watch him fail. Immediately after the episode I was upset with that narrative choice, but rewatching his previous appearances I came to agree this moment carries more narrative weight than one terrible phone call ever could. Midge watching Lenny fail and not confronting him after was set up in season four. And it's a tragedy of miscommunication on both their parts that comes from a place of love and respect.

Lenny told Midge when he woke up on her couch that he never wanted her to save him again. He was so embarrassed at the idea of Midge seeing him at his worst that he fled her home without his shoes, without using the bathroom, almost in a state of undress. Lenny also made clear to Midge that his drug use wasn't something he would discuss with her in the hotel room. Lenny so desperately wanted Midge to be impressed by him. And yet that desire ultimately prevents any chance Midge has of actually getting close to him. At Carnegie Hall, he realizes for the first time how carefully Midge listens to him and appreciates him. The thought terrifies him. Suddenly his best self seems like it might ruin Midge. So he bolts.

Lenny and Midge could talk about the struggle of comedy and even nod to the ways the world was inhospitable to people who lived outside of the accepted cultural mores of the time, but Lenny could never bring himself to share with her the nature of his addiction. For Lenny, this subject was far more taboo and unspeakable than religion, race, and sex. Because unlike those topics, society saw (and still sees) addiction as a personal failing. For all that Lenny could call bullshit on some things, he internalized this myth. If Lenny had been more honest with Midge, if he had gotten out of the cab and gone back upstairs, if he had let Midge know more about his drug use, if he had asked Midge to bring an umbrella to support him for more than national television appearances, Midge would never have let him fall on his own.

Midge remembers everything Lenny ever said to her. His words are maxims, even prophesies. Midge believes Lenny even when she shouldn't. We see her quoting him often. She carries his fortune with her for the rest of her life. It's such a clear indication of her love for him, but it's also a tragedy. Midge probably let herself believe that the paraphernalia she found in the bathroom wasn't a big deal, because Lenny had promised her it wasn't. By the time she had heard enough to know differently, the damage was done. If Lenny hadn't told her not to save him she would have tried to pull him out of his spiral with everything she had. As it was, she sent him Susie, her best friend, her greatest asset, the lifeline she had relied on over and over. But it just wasn't enough. Midge couldn't meet him at the club and respect what he had told her. And Midge always, always tried to do what Lenny said.

That miscommunication, that tragedy, is heartbreakingly rendered by Rachel Brosnahan and Luke Kirby. Without explicitly saying anything, we know Lenny wants Midge to walk through that door and to try to rescue him. And we know that Midge wants to do just that, but cannot bear the idea of being rejected by him.

In the end, at least, we have that scene in Chinese restaurant which I think might be the most visually stunning scene of any of Midge and Lenny's encounters (I'm sorry Miami club, you are a close second!) It's a nice final reminder of what Lenny did for Midge: he acknowledged she deserved a place amongst the elites of the craft. I only wish there had been room for Midge to also validate Lenny. I would have loved her to give him some parting words that he might also treasure.

There are other ways of tragically ending Midge and Lenny's journey that I would have loved to see, but given the Palladinos disinterest in really exploring the nasty, dark, ugly parts of show business in the 1960s, I am not surprised we didn't get them. That can be a project for a fanfic writer who doesn't want to "fix it" so much as "make it worse." (Go for it fanfic writer! Sometimes we need sad things!)

I also have my own ideas of what would be a happy ending for these characters (see Midge and Lenny's Alternative Adventures). But I think the key to landing those stories (for me) is to confront this miscommunication so that Midge and Lenny can both accept and demand more from each other and to build up a new, less brittle kind of respect that comes from real intimacy. I want productive fights that tear through artifice and expose the mess underneath. Only then do I think they have a shot of saving each other from their own worst instincts.

Does that mean I liked it? Hahahahaha I don't even know. I respect it. It lingers. I felt something. And that's better than most series finales. And Midge and Lenny remain sensational.

[george-rr-binks]

I am abandoning the ship. Bias aside, the ending of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is leaps and bounds better than the ending of Ted Lasso. One of these shows had a spectacular ending and it's not the one all the Emmy momentum is behind. Brosnahan, Shalhoub, Borstein, and Zegen should be locks, but it's probably going to go to Sudeikis, Waddhingham, and Goldstein again, not that they aren't great and deserving of recognition for their performances.

But from the moment she looked at the microphone to the fade to black, Maisel gives us one of the all-time great moments of television. It's absolute magic and it's so carefully orchestrated to utter perfection. Absolutely loved it. Tits up.