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octothorp · 06-06-2023, 11:43 AM

Thoughts on the final season of Ms Maisel, with major spoilers:

Spoiler!

I hated the flash-forward sequences, and now that the season is over I can't think of a single thing that I learned from a flash-forward that I actually cared about. That she became incredibly famous and successful? That she has a good relationship with her mother but that her mother would die at some point? That she and Susie had a period where they weren't speaking but in the end they became friends again? That Joel would face consequences for the way he went about supporting Midge? That Lenny Bruce would ultimately flame out? That one of her children was a genius and the other would become an aspiring rabbi, but would be ####ed up from her fame and lack of parenting?

All of those facts were either unimportant, or adequately implied within the storyline. It seems like they *really* wanted to tell the whole story of Joel getting arrested for his actions, Midge blaming Susie, and then eventually forgiving her, but I don't see that as completing their arc in a way that they couldn't have done within the main timeline.

That's not to say there's some very good moments in this season, and the main-timeline ending was a decent payoff, but would have paid off more not knowing the future, IMO.

For how great the show started out, I feel like they entirely forgot their formula. I can't help comparing it with Ted Lasso. Both shows had a great formula in season 1: for Ms Maisel, it was using her standup as a way of showing a thoughtful perspective on the events she was experiencing; in Ted Lasso, it was using the game of football as a metaphor and lens into the relationships of characters and their personal struggles. Both shows had some early success in branching out from that formula, but Ted Lasso never forgot the formula and returned to it when it needed to. Ms Maisel basically abandoned its formula for the last season, with almost no standup until the final episode, and that final standup, basically a summation of her life and career works in part because we've seen her doing almost no standup this season... which feels like a safe and cheap way of making that final standup pay off.

06-06-2023, 11:43 AM	#3745
octothorp Franchise Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: not lurking Exp:	Thoughts on the final season of Ms Maisel, with major spoilers: Spoiler! I hated the flash-forward sequences, and now that the season is over I can't think of a single thing that I learned from a flash-forward that I actually cared about. That she became incredibly famous and successful? That she has a good relationship with her mother but that her mother would die at some point? That she and Susie had a period where they weren't speaking but in the end they became friends again? That Joel would face consequences for the way he went about supporting Midge? That Lenny Bruce would ultimately flame out? That one of her children was a genius and the other would become an aspiring rabbi, but would be ####ed up from her fame and lack of parenting? All of those facts were either unimportant, or adequately implied within the storyline. It seems like they really wanted to tell the whole story of Joel getting arrested for his actions, Midge blaming Susie, and then eventually forgiving her, but I don't see that as completing their arc in a way that they couldn't have done within the main timeline. That's not to say there's some very good moments in this season, and the main-timeline ending was a decent payoff, but would have paid off more not knowing the future, IMO. For how great the show started out, I feel like they entirely forgot their formula. I can't help comparing it with Ted Lasso. Both shows had a great formula in season 1: for Ms Maisel, it was using her standup as a way of showing a thoughtful perspective on the events she was experiencing; in Ted Lasso, it was using the game of football as a metaphor and lens into the relationships of characters and their personal struggles. Both shows had some early success in branching out from that formula, but Ted Lasso never forgot the formula and returned to it when it needed to. Ms Maisel basically abandoned its formula for the last season, with almost no standup until the final episode, and that final standup, basically a summation of her life and career works in part because we've seen her doing almost no standup this season... which feels like a safe and cheap way of making that final standup pay off.