The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 finale recap: four minutes

Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Image credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video)

NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 episode 9 "Four Minutes."

It's 1965 at a dingy club in San Francisco. A grungy Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) is performing, but he's bombing. No longer the suave cultural commentator, he rants aimlessly while the crowd looks confused. After the show Susie (Alex Borstein) finds him and offers to represent him to help him get back on his feet, but he refuses. He asks if Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) is with Susie. She says no. But Midge is there. She saw the performance and is visibly upset by how far Lenny has fallen. Susie promises she will try again the next time she sees him.

Back in 1961, Susie gets arrested for assaulting a cop who tried to roust her when she was sleeping on a bench in Central Park. Midge bails her out (which is why she left work at the end of the previous episode). Susie tells Midge she asked Hedy (Nina Arianda) to get Midge on The Gordon Ford Show but she's clearly upset about it. Finally Susie tells Midge the truth about why she didn't want to talk to Hedy.

Susie reveals she and Hedy were involved but it ended badly after Hedy came home from Paris engaged. Midge asks Susie if it's the only time she was ever in love and Susie admits it was.

When Midge gets to the office, Gordon (Reid Scott) wants to talk to her. He's sulking and obviously angry but tells Midge she's got her spot on the show, and it's that night.

Midge goes to Susie's office to tell her that Hedy came through. She also calls Joel (Michael Zegen) and invites him to the show, joking she'll leave the ticket under "the one that got away." Because this is Midge, she has a minor outfit issue (she got pigeon poop on it from Susie's windowsill) and needs to change. Dinah (Alfie Fuller) tells Midge she will get something from Bergdorf's and meet her at the studio.

Midge goes over her jokes with Susie and does her makeup for the show (shoving aside the makeup artist). She finally gets a hold of Abe (Tony Shalhoub) at the Village Voice because she's been unable to get through to the house phone. She wants Abe and Rose (Marin Hinkle) to come to the studio and be there for this performance.

Marin Hinkle and Tony Shalhoub in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Image credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video)

At the pre-show meet and greet Gordon tells Midge she's not performing on the show. He only agreed to put her on the show, not to have her perform. Instead, he's going to bring Midge out as one of the writers and talk about the writing staff; he's not disobeying Hedy but he's reasserting some control.

They tell Midge to sit on the stool, Gordon asks her a few questions about the writing of the show but he cuts it to commercial early, leaving them with four open minutes to fill in the segment. During the commercial break, Midge talks with Joel and her parents. When she is walking back to her stool she sees a microphone. She looks at Gordon, still pouting and sullen. Midge has a moment of inspiration.

She tells Susie she’s thinking of doing something reckless that could ruin their careers and asks Susie what she should do. Susie says Midge started her career getting up on a stage no one wanted her to be on saying things no one wanted her to say, so "tits up." Midge responds "tits up."

She sits demurely and banters with Gordon when the cameras come back up, but quickly she takes control. She smoothly disengages from Gordon and walks to the mic. There's nothing Gordon can do as Midge launches into her act with four minutes on live national TV to make or break her career. She nails every joke. Her act is infused with real human drama, universal truths and wit; when you're real you can always find the funny.

In a moment of eating some crow, Gordon invites her to the couch for traditional banter. He is the one who gives her the name "the marvelous Mrs. Maisel." Then he fires her, knowing she's bound for bigger things.

Cut to an older Midge, taking care of business with her team then walking through her palatial home in New York City. She walks past all the glittering finery to a small cozy room filled with photos, mementos, comfy furniture and a large TV. She calls Susie, who is living in a tropical, luxurious home.

They bicker and banter while both load VHS tapes into their VCRs and get comfy on their respective couches so they can watch the Jeopardy! together. The screen fades to black as Midge and Susie make jokes and have each other laughing.

Sometimes Amy Sherman-Palladino's shows lose their way in the middle, but she definitely knows how to stick the landing.

All episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are streaming on Prime Video.

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Sonya has been writing professionally for more than a decade and has degrees in New Media and Philosophy. Her work has appeared in a diverse array of sites including ReGen, The Washington Post, Culturess, Undead Walking and Final Girl. As a lifelong nerd she loves sci-fi, fantasy and horror TV and movies, as well as cultural documentaries. She is particularly interested in representation of marginalized groups in nerd culture and writes reviews and analysis with an intersectional POV. Some of her favorite shows include Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Sandman.