The Marvelous Mrs Maisel season 5 episode 7 review: “Lame horses were friends we made along the way”

With only three episodes left in the series, episode 7 seems like a lame horse limping towards the finish line, which is funny considering the title is literally “A House Full of Extremely Lame Horses”. In fact, the title of the episode is supposed to be related to the subplot played out throughout the episode, which basically goes along with the idea that Midge and Joel’s kids are lame. With Zelda out of sight (sort of) and Midge busy working in The Gordon Ford ShowAbe (Tony Shalhoub) finds himself increasingly involved in the lives of his grandchildren Ethan (Colin Keene) and Esther (Ireland And Sedona Carvajal).

Near the beginning of the episode, during a parent-teacher conference at Ethan’s school, Abe learns that Ethan isn’t very bright, but he is happy. Which is unacceptable. Naturally, this gets Abe out of control, because he firmly believes that every Weissman’s first child is a genius. Of course, Ethan Meisel, not Weissman… and we all know Joel’s parents. This subplot allows a brief revisiting of Abe and Joel’s interaction before he and Midge got married. In 1953, Abe laid out a set of rules for Joel to ensure that their firstborn would be a genius like all the Weissmans before him, but one of those rules includes Joel telling Joel not to talk to his son until he was at least six years old. . years, which, given the rare moments when Joel actually raises his children, was not a rule he followed.

The gist of this plot is that although Abe is too focused on the fact that Ethan is happy instead of being smart, he completely misses the fact that his other grandson might have the abilities he hopes for in the sequel. Weissman lines. Actually, this is the whole joke in the middle of this arch. Ethan won’t get anywhere because he’s happy, and we already know this because we’ve seen him live a peaceful life as a lettuce farmer, while Esther is visibly troubled and talented - if her mum-problem therapy session is any indicator. In fact, The Wonderful Mrs Maisel tries to say that emotionally unbalanced people are hidden geniuses, and happy people are ordinary people. I certainly can’t imagine how Midge and Joel as parents and the Weissmans and Maisels as grandparents could play a role in this nature versus nurture scenario.

This may seem like a lot of attention to this seemingly minor plot, but that’s because once again Prime Video has very kindly requested that certain plot points not be included in the reviews. Unfortunately, these plot points make up the bulk of the episode. Broadly speaking, Midge’s storyline once again relies on the fact that she is a woman in a man’s world. Every time she is given the opportunity to move forward, some man ruins her plans. In this case, thanks to Susie (Alex Borstein) constantly rejoicing, she finds an unexpected ally in Mike (Jason Ralph), but that goodwill can only go so far. Especially when she has Gordon FordReid Scott) takes on too much responsibility for Midge and stifles her potential due to his tiny ego. Of course, given the flash forwards that have been circulating in the previous six episodes, we know that she will make it eventually. Flash forwards show, not tell, which is the rule of thumb in storytelling. There’s no emotional investment in her struggles, now that we know she’s becoming a megastar who still pines for her jailed cheating ex-husband.

Toward the very end of the episode, there’s something neatly tied in with flashforwards that eat up the runtime of the episode. After another crushing blow to Midge’s career dreams, she returns home to her mother (Marine Hinkle) fusses over the fact that no one cares about her matchmaking, least of all Midge. It’s a great little line that should have been given more time to develop over the course of the season rather than relegating Midge’s proof of her mother’s devotion to a flashforward.

Somewhere in the haze of all these loosely connected Zelda plots (Matilda Shidagis) the story continues to play out. The Weissmans can’t live without Zelda in their lives and much to the chagrin of her new husband Janusz (Alexander Gemignani) she just can’t stop showing up to save the day. It’s a theme throughout the episode, and while clearly meant to be played for laughs, it just makes the Weissmans seem like absolute “lame horses”. It also seems very inconsistent with past storylines (especially when Rose fled to Paris) that Rose is completely unable to figure out how to turn on the stove, or just read the book that Zelda left them to use to figure everything out. Hopefully they pay off in the remaining episodes, but that seems unlikely.

In addition to flashforwards, Amy Sherman-Palladino seems intent on concocting irrelevant musicals and half-hearted television episodes from the world in order to eat up the fleeting time that viewers have left with The Wonderful Mrs Maisel. The crappy musical a few episodes ago was fun enough, but it ran too long and felt very self-aggrandizing, and once again Episode 7 finds something new to waste time on. Sutton Fosteris, like a number of other beloved musical theater stars, Sherman-Palladino’s favorite collaborator, so it’s no surprise that she appears at the beginning of an episode in Shirley (Caroline Aaron) and Moishe (Kevin Pollack) favorite black and white sitcom. This is a fun little scene that introduces Danny StevensHank Azaria) into history (because it appears on The Gordon Ford Show later), but then the “episode” returns when the credits play at the end of Episode 7, which is almost four minutes long. As if Sherman-Palladino saw WandaVision and thought, “I want to try my hand at this!” and forgot about the show she was actually doing.

Perhaps if The Wonderful Mrs Maisel if he had put the energy he put into the fake sitcom and the musical number into the real show, the final season wouldn’t have been so lackluster. Between hard-hitting retrospectives and repetitive plot twists, there are glimpses of what made this show one of Prime Video’s best series. Star Midge Maisel may be on the rise, but it seems like the sun has already set on this show and the final episode hasn’t even aired yet.

Rating: C+

First seven episodes of the final season The Wonderful Mrs Maisel streaming now on Prime Video.