SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for The Madison Season 1, Episode 5.

The Madison Season 1, Episode 5 is the gut-wrenching event that viewers have been bracing for. Everyone knew given the premise of the Paramount+ drama that there was going to be a funeral episode, and everyone who saw the final season of Yellowstone knows how well Taylor Sheridan can write those. “No Name and a New Dream,” though, might outdo Yellowstone in its portrayal of mourning.

The episode almost entirely centers around the day of Preston and Paul Clyburn’s funeral, as it should. The entire point of The Madison is grief and loss, so this is something that needs to be a focus. To that end, the beginning of the episode is devoted to the minutiae that viewers likely don’t think of when they consider memorials. Van Davis and Cade Harris talk about the logistics of getting the caskets to their final resting place. Abby Reese gets into a phone argument with her daughter’s school as an unheard coach takes exception to Bridgett missing a volleyball match. Liliana, it turns out, forgot to locate a preacher to oversee the proceedings. These things aren’t dramatic or even necessarily interesting, but they are truthful.

When it comes to the depiction of the funeral itself, TV viewers are likely to be surprised by how low-key and how not dramatic Sheridan has written it. On so many other shows, there would be heartfelt speeches, massive music swells, and lots of tears—and there’s not anything necessarily wrong with that. Sometimes certain plots are better served by that version (one example being Paradise and the funeral of Cal Bradford; it would have been out of place to not make the mourning of a President a major affair). In The Madison, viewers may feel left wanting by Stacy not giving some kind of speech, given that Michelle Pfeiffer has carried such emotion all season. This would seem to be Stacy’s chance to say everything—and Sheridan’s chance to write a moment Pfeiffer would knock out of the park. Instead, Stacy declines to speak, and nobody else steps up either.

Is this a missed opportunity from a writing standpoint? Absolutely. But Sheridan finds other ways to show the impact of this moment. Paige is the voice of the audience when she’s stunned at the silence and storms off. As the proceedings wind down, Abby walks to Paul’s gravesite and blames him for the death of her father. And while there’s no monologue from the family, audiences get an excellent speech from Bill, when he stands in for the missing preacher. It’s not that there are no words; it’s that the words aren’t the ones fans expected.

Sheridan could potentially have stopped there and just made all of “No Name and a New Dream” about the funeral. But, perhaps because he only has six episodes to play with, The Madison then finally shifts its attention back to New York. This is so the audience can see how hard it is for the family to return to their regular lives. All of them struggle in different ways. Viewers will be most entertained by Stacy meeting a therapist named Phil, played by Will Arnett. Arnett is an excellent match for Michelle Pfeiffer; his calm, dry approach contrasts against the anxious energy that Stacy always carries. And Stacy quickly develops a habit of insulting Phil that creates a repartee which allows Arnett’s comedic talents to be put to use. This is In Treatment gone sideways.

But even more notably, Paige continues to grieve, leading Russell to call Stacy and Abby for help. This is the most in-depth the show has gone into Paige and Russell’s marriage all season, and an opportunity to add more depth to Paige’s character, too. There’s a lot of humor that’s come out of both of these characters, yet they also both have more than that to offer. That comes out in the episode’s most underrated scene between Pfeiffer and Patrick J. Adams, when Stacy and Russell wind up in a neighborhood dive bar. It truly feels like just two people looking for something. Stacy wants to know what Russell wants, and even takes a cheap shot at him when she askes him if he has any independent thoughts. But the thoughtfulness of Russell comes out in that moment, when it’s clear that he’s still trying to figure that out. He’s earnest and a little flustered but unafraid of not knowing. He continues to be the voice of the audience, and it’s great to see a moment that’s just him and Stacy, putting him into better focus.

“No Name and a Dream” delivers the heart-wrenching, contemplative farewell to the Clyburn brothers that The Madison has been building toward. This episode and that moment needed to have that epic Taylor Sheridan feel, and they do. What makes it such a great episode, though, is how it doesn’t sacrifice anything to get there. This big turning point of an episode ends in a dive bar that doesn’t even have a name. Sheridan can sometimes go too big, or too on the nose, but in The Madison he’s almost underselling himself, and that makes the story he’s telling resonate even more.

The Madison streams Saturdays on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.