The marvellous Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and other reviews

I haven't even finished watching the entire final season of the show, and yet – in a testament to how good it is – I felt compelled to fire up the old blog and write out a review declaring that it is the best final season of any show I've ever seen.

This is oddly specific praise, right? "Best final season." The show has been fantastic so far anyway, but the final season that I'm watching currently – yes, present tense, since one episode comes out every week – has been particularly fantastic.

First, some background for those who never got around to watching more than a few episodes: (which is what I say when someone asks if I've seen a show I've never heard of): It documents the life and times of Miriam Maisel née Weissman (played spectacularly by Rachel Brosnahan) and how she winds up becoming a stand-up comic in 1960s New York City, while coming from an upper class, well-off Jewish family.

The general praise for the general aspects of the show (which I'm absolutely not qualified to give out, and yet I will) is that it has great art direction, beautiful costumes, great character building and absolutely beautiful dialogue. Oh, the dialogue.

Being an appreciator of words, I have a penchant for wordy shows in general (House M.D. for instance). This one is as wordy as it gets, but they're all written and delivered to perfection. There is one episode in particular, the last episode of Season Four titled "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?", where the final sequence is just a passionate conversation between two central characters on the stage of an empty auditorium (Yes, you guessed it – Carnegie Hall). I've barely come across an impassioned speech written better than that one.

In more praise of the general aspects of the show, what I really loved is the way New York City of the 60s is almost a member of the cast. The show seems almost as if filmed from the perspective of the city. You never need to ask who's narrating the tale, since it seems almost obvious: New York. What does that mean exactly? I don't know.

Nah, okay I'll explain a little bit: it means that there is no bias of any kind towards any character, just as the city is just a neutral backdrop in all of our lives. It also means that the peculiarities of the city are presented without description or explanation – they just are there, and it is up to you to understand them.

For someone who only recently visited for the first time (here's a plug to an article talking about that), this seems quite comparable to what one's experience in New York can be like. I saw something quite similar in this sense recently as well, but I'll talk more about that at the end. (Spoiler alert: The Oscar nominated "All that breathes.")

And now, finally, the final season: without spoiling much, this season has taken a turn that I did not expect. At all. As with most things of this sort, "What?" was my initial response. As the episodes have rolled on, however, it has turned out to be a masterclass in final-season making. I'll tell you why: one of the sour points about finishing a show you like is that, well – it finishes. You feel bad about leaving that world and snapping back to reality, never to see those characters again. Always to wonder what became of them. What they've done with this season helps audiences soft-land, so to speak, to the ending. They're gently caressing you goodbye, with as much closure as you could have needed. In a good way, I will not feel sad at all when the show ends. (Hopefully, unless they bring in some sort of tragedy by the end. Remember this is an ongoing season.)

Update: I've watched the final episode now and my word was it better than any praise I've heaped on the final season in this article. It truly was, for me, the best single episode of television I've seen in my entire life. A fitting finale, which ties together ends you didn't even remember remained to be tied.

All That Breathes

In more cinema-watching, I also got to see "All That Breathes" in a late rainy night screening at the Habitat Centre. The documentary short tells the tale of two brothers who run a hospital for injured kites in Delhi. I liked it quite a bit, since it is a documentary which is unlike most documentaries. It doesn't try and say too much at all: it lets the characters speak., and even they don't have much to say at all. The film is just them going through their lives. There is a backdrop of pollution and the religious violence that the city saw in 2019-20, but it isn't "presented" to us at all. It really looks like a film that was made by someone who lives in the city, although I'm not sure if the director does. If he doesn't, he has done a spectacular job convincing the audience.

The cast and crew surprised the audience by showing up on stage when the screening ended, and answering a few questions. I loved how the director spoke in a very, very measured manner. He spoke about the grey skies of the city from "November to January" – which is a nice little detail that I see missing from most writers who talk about "Delhi's pollution problem."

I've never experienced watching a movie and then seeing the cast in flesh and blood immediately afterwards before. It humanises the whole thing a bit, which helps your appreciation for their art grow. The main reason I liked the film was the two brothers themselves: they come across as exceptionally honest, composed and intelligent people – normal – but also not-normal – in a fascinating way. They are screening the film in festivals around the country, so if you get the chance, watch it!

The recommendation is even stronger if you have any ties to Delhi. The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel of course is a longer time commitment than that, but I would recommend that equally strongly. Even more strongly if you have any ties to New York City. That's it for this one! Thanks to a well-wisher for telling me I should write more non-serious stuff like this more frequently.