The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (4.7-4.8) Episode Recaps: No More Hiding

I admit that it is a peculiar exercise to write and post a recap of a TV show that ended three or so months ago. You risk whatever you write being irrelevant. But lucky for you, I am expert in exercises in futility. Why do you think I picked the career path that I did? (I promise if you know me, that joke would’ve killed.) As I sat down to map out what I wanted to write throughout June in an attempt for consistency on this website, my brain wouldn’t let me get past the two missing recaps of the fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Rather than separate recaps of the two episodes and break down their individual merits though, my focus was continually drawn to just how these episodes worked as an extension of the storylines built throughout season four. More specifically, how the episodes established stakes, resolved them, and built the stage for a fifth and final season.

In my previous episode recaps, I wrote about how much of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s fourth season felt like the show was spinning its wheels. This season was only eight episodes, and it often felt like the showrunners approached the show like it had a 22-episode season order. What those other six episodes did do though was set up these final two. The final two episodes pushed the show into its next (and final) phase as well as hit on what has made The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel so enjoyable from the start.

The first of the final two episodes does do quite a bit of scene setting for the second, but the familiarity of the episode provides a warmth we hadn’t seen since the episode of Jackie’s funeral earlier this season. Furthermore, it was the best of use of the show’s ensemble since the Ferris wheel scene at the beginning of the fourth season. The embrace of the ensemble allowed one of the show’s unsung heroes to shine: Marin Hinkle (as Rose). As part of Alfie’s stage act – which after a largely dull storyline ends up being marginally interesting – he brings Rose up on stage and hypnotizes her. What ensues is what this show (as well as Gilmore Girls) does best. It’s self-contained hilarity that bounces off each member of the cast. Rose starts to act out Midge’s stand-up act, complete with an impersonation of her. Hinkle sells it with a straight face and a deadpan, nailing each punch line with a detached yet detailed eye. As she does this, the camera bounces between Midge, Abe, Noah, and Astrid. They slowly start to sink further into their seats, even as they riff off Rose’s jokes on stage. (A personal favorite: Noah clarifying, “Dick. Dick jokes. She’s slinging ‘em.”) When she is finally pulled out of the trance, each family member confronts her in the street outside the club as she talks with Midge. In a sequence filmed similar to how you might see Lorelai interact with a number of her neighbors in Gilmore Girls as they walk past her in the town square, Rose is finally able to start bridging the gap with her daughter that has existed since she found out she wanted to be a comic. The bit is rightly played for laughs, and Marin Hinkle nails each joke in the tenor Brosnahan uses playing Midge. Lurking under the bit though is the truth that Rose and Midge are much more connected than either of them realized. In my previous recaps for this fourth season, I dug deeper into how Abe and Midge’s journeys parallel each other. All the while, the parallel of Midge and Rose was bubbling beneath the surface. Both of them are women whose roles in life have been defined and redefined, largely without their permission and largely in service to the men in their lives. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel does not just mark Midge’s attempt to break out of that box she was in, but her mother as well. Having Rose perform Midge’s act in a hypnotized state is just icing on the cake to demonstrate the connection between the two.

The second use of the ensemble – admittedly a more accurate use of the word ensemble on my part too given the majority of the focus on Midge and Rose in the scene described above – was at the end of the seventh episode into the beginning of the eighth episode. Majority of the core cast from Joel to Midge to Abe to Shirley and more rally around Moishe when he has a heart attack and is in the hospital. It is the event of bridges the two final episodes of the fourth season. In doing so, it also destabilizes the lives and priorities of the show’s primary characters. It also gives each character to find clarity about their own lives as the show heads into its final season. Where the ensemble shines collectively is in the opening moments of the episode. The show cycles through each character being certain they were responsible for Moishe being in the hospital. It is a scene that not only embraces some of the show’s propensity for dark humor but further strikes at one of the most consistent parts of the show: the relationships, however tumultuous, between these characters are what makes it sing when it does.

I would be remiss in recapping this season – especially this final episode – without exploring Midge and Lenny. The chemistry has always been omnipresent between Luke Kirby (playing Lenny) and Rachel Brosnahan (playing Midge Maisel), but it regularly resisted romance despite the consistent flirting between the two. In the final episode of the season four though, both Midge and Luke give into the flirtation. There’s no pretense of dating. Both the show and the characters embrace the moment. It is difficult to portray a scene like that without having the audience examine the consequences, the before and after, the “what does it mean?” of it all. But that is precisely what The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel does in bringing Midge and Luke’s relationship to crescendo. Because the following scenes set the stage for what is in store for the final season of the show. Lenny takes her onstage at an empty Apollo Theater, turns the lights up, and delivers a call to action. He implores her that now is her time. He makes one final plea, and it is as strong a monologue as I have seen delivered on TV this year.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s ending is a mystery, but if there is one thing that the final scenes of season laid out: try or fail, Midge will be swinging for the fences.