‘Mrs. Maisel’ Finale: A Feminist Tragedy of Solitude.

The curtain closed on Amy Sherman-Palladino’s cinematic masterpiece, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” last week after five seasons. The final season, and especially its finale, elicited mixed reviews from critics and viewers.

I’ve been a faithful viewer from season one, episode one of the Prime Video show. The gorgeous cinematography and witty banter hooked me, and Rachel Brosnahan’s classically feminine wardrobe alone was enough to keep me watching. But by the start of season five, I started to lose interest, because — spoiler alert — as a 20-year fan of Sherman-Palladino’s shows, I already knew how it was going to end: “Midge” Maisel would certainly succeed, at least, she would succeed in her quest to become a famous comedienne. But her personal life? Not so much.

Indeed, the show whispers of Midge’s fate from the very start of season five, where the first few episodes open with “flash-forwards” to the ’70s and ’80s. We see an older (still impeccably dressed) Midge ascend to atmospheric levels of success and mind-bending wealth, yet we also learn of her quasi-estrangement from her two children and “four marriages” (we are not told whether the fourth marriage stuck, but the absence of a spousal appearance in these future scenes indicates it did not).

The season finale confirms what earlier episodes signaled: We flash forward to the year 2005, where an older Midge sits in a glorious penthouse surrounded by staff and advisers, discussing her upcoming events and travel schedule. It is clear that Midge (still impeccable!) has no plans to slow down her career.

Yet when her staff disperses, she walks alone through her cavernous rooms, including a dining room with a long table that could easily accommodate two dozen guests. She sits down to eat dinner in an industrial-style kitchen, professional chefs milling in the background, but she eats her meal alone.

The older, elegant Midge eventually makes her way to a small den that is reminiscent of her old bedroom in her Upper West Side apartment, switches on her television, and phones Susie, her longtime friend and manager. The season ends with Susie, located thousands of miles away in her own palatial quarters, and Midge reminiscing, watching “Jeopardy!,” and laughing together. When the laughter fades, so, too, does the scene and the series.

Grappling with Competing Priorities

Given Sherman-Palladino’s track record of sending her protagonists’ personal lives into spirals, it seems clear that this omission was intentional. From the days of “Gilmore Girls” characters’ gut-wrenching breakups that seem to have no legitimate justification, Sherman-Palladino’s protagonists are seldom, if ever, allowed to flourish both professionally and personally. Woman after ambitious woman in her world is presented a false binary between pursuing their own dreams and accepting a life of personal sacrifice and, with it, deep fulfillment. And when given the choice, it’s clear which one is sacrificed.

This is made further evident by how the successful marriages she does

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