A marvelous show has warm, witty finale

A marvelous TV show has its final episode today (Friday, May 26).
Like most great ones, it’s leaving too soon. Unlike some, it has an exceptionally good finale.
Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (shown here) departs after five season, during a week overloaded with departures. On Sunday, HBO’s “Succession” ends after four; the following Wednesday (May 31), Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” ends after three.
These decisions were all apparently voluntary. But they don’t seem fair in a world that gave nine seasons to “Alice,” 12 to “My Three Sons” and 14 to “Ozzie & Harriet.”
Still, we’ll quit grousing (maybe). At least, the modern streaming set-up makes it easy to go back and watch “Maisel,” “Succession” (via Max) and “Lasso” from the start.
The storyline of the “Maisel” finale was embargoed until today. We’ll go ahead now, without revealing spoilers:
When the season started, Midge Maisel was wandering in the November cold, ready to abandon her stand-up comedy career. Susie, her agent, knew she needed something big: She tried to get her a stand-up spot on the late-night “Gordon Ford Show”; instead, she got her a job as the first woman on Ford’s writing staff.
The catch is that Ford flatly refuses to let any of his writers be on the show. Last week, Susie used some not-yet-explained connection, to have Ford’s wife talk to him.
That’s where we start now, with questions: Will he do it? If he does, what will it be like? And what is Susie’s connection, anyway? Those are answered in ways that are often funny and, in one case, quite moving.
Some of the surprises have been spoiled by the show’s odd habit of having flashforwards. We know that Midge eventually becomes a superstar …. And that she fires Susie, who used Midge’s bookings as a way to pay off gambling debts (just as Col. Parker was accused of doing in the “Elvis” movie) … And that she later suggest she might be forgiving.
This episode jumps forward a little in the beginning, in a rather dour look at Lenny Bruce, the real-life comedian who is Midge’s friend in this fictional series. It also jumps forward a lot at the end, for a brief bit that’s a real delight.
But the real joy is in the middle. As Midge nears her may-or-may-not night, the usual family chaos ensues. A marvelous show is departing in ways that are noisy, messy and great fun.