While much of the show has perceived the controversial comic with rose-colored glasses, bolstered by the mad chemistry between Brosnahan and Kirby, the shades ultimately come off. The big love that got away, Luke Kirby’s Lenny Bruce, gets his final curtain. (As are his parents, played to irritating perfection by Kevin Pollak and Caroline Aaron.) Caroline Aaron, Kevin Pollak, Michael Zegen, Rachel Brosnahan, Marin Hinkle and Tony Shalhoub in a still from “The Marvelous Mrs. It’s a testimony to the show that while he cheated on Midge in Season 1, he’s still very much a part of her and their kids lives in Season 5. Midge’s romantic partners continue to pile up: her ex, Joel (Michael Zegen), gets his own heartbreaking comeuppance (karma’s a bitch). The setting is “The Gordon Ford Show,” a fictional nightly talk show in the Johnny Carson vein. After being stymied in her stand-up career, Midge lands a job as the only woman in a TV writer’s room. Maisel in the big time (and on the small screen), even if at first it seems like a step backward and away from the spotlight. One of the season’s central set pieces charts the career shift that ultimately lands Mrs. Alex Borstein and Rachel Brosnahan in a still from “The Marvelous Mrs.

This gives the season’s nine episodes the ability to hop between eras, a strategy that allows the knitting of many loose ends, but that can also be confusing and a bit exhausting. This device allows the mature Midge to be a talking head in a fictional present, reminiscing over the many incidents fans remember - and revealing the connective tissue between the decades. In a narrative set-up that echoes “Daisy Jones & the Six,” much of the final season whipsaws in time. In a series that celebrates friendship and collaboration, it turns out that Midge and Susie are the central couple. They put on their big-girl pants and triumphed. They mobbed up and broke some hearts themselves. Ultimately achieving the self-expression and fame that they so fiercely sought together, the pair became an odd-couple case study in self-actualization against the conventional tide. Midge has evolved from the hyper, heartbroken Upper West Side Jewish mama of two who side-stepped into the standup comedy spotlight, bolstered by her downtown manager manque Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein).

Maisel’ Lands Hank Azaria, Darren Criss and Sutton Foster as Final Season Guest Stars

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