Conversations About Mad Men

April 28, 2013

6.5: Heart Exploding Love and Awkward Hugs

Just last week we were lamenting how this show emphasized a stagnant Don Draper over the other compelling characters. This week, not only did Don immediately get more compelling when placed against the backdrop of the MLK assassination and paired with his young son, Bobby, but the other characters got some important screen time, as well.

I have been wanting Mad Men to tackle the riveting racial flashpoints in the late 1960s, and finally the show got to it. The reactions:

Joan: “We are all so sorry,” to Don’s black secretary, Dawn, followed by an awkward side hug.

Don: Here’s a man who pretends everything, even his “love” for his children. But in the aftermath of the assassination, when he takes Bobby to his favorite sanctuary, the movies, Don feels real love for his son. His heart is gonna explode. He has to drink through it. An amazing monologue performed by Jon Hamm, as a new parent I “got” what he was saying even without having a “difficult childhood” like Don’s. If love were plotted on a line chart of your child’s life, the moment he or she is born is not likely the point where the line is at its highest. You do find your love grows deeper and fuller even though you can’t imagine it getting any more intense. And it’s wonderful. Don’s issue, of course, is that feeling anything at all, especially something so authentic and powerful, nearly wrecks him.

Pete: As slimy as he is, has long been the most socially progressive of the account men. Even in the halcyon days of Season 2, it was Pete who was pushing the agency to do work in “the Negro markets.” The argument between “old” world mentality (represented by a different-kind-of-slimy Harry) and Pete’s worldview seemed a little heavy handed in the way the director framed that shot. But how about that Bert Cooper stepping in to broker peace, eh?

In general, I thought the writers handled the sense of tension and the rush to find out more information in a time way before Twitter quite well, in that it didn’t totally overtake the episode. It originally got laid out much as they depicted the Kennedy assassination, but obviously the reactions to MLK were and continue to be far more complex.

Loose Ends

- We were treated with more Michael Ginsberg, whose own position as a bridge between old world (his dad, devout Judaism) and new world (the Mad Ave life, creative bohos) creates a real point of friction for him as he wrestles with growing up and — who knew — virginity. More Michael, please.

- Don’s so great at exploiting loopholes. Young Bobby is not allowed to watch TV for a week, but Betty didn’t mention movies. Planet of the Apes. “Jesus.”

- “I was trying to communicate without words, but it’s not working.” That was one of many gems from Randy the creepy insurance guy (and also the crazy guy from Lost). Roger mentioned Randy “talked me off a roof once,” which leads me to believe Roger has continued his LSD trips.

- What was going on in Washington? The killing of MLK led to a series of dark, dangerous riots in the U Street neighborhood, which finally started revitalizing around the 2008 election of Barack Obama. Read more about the riots from The Washingtonian magazine, which did a look back.

- Harry Hamlin is a long way from his days on LA Law.

Megan winning the award for advertising after all, Betty’s identity crisis and Peggy’s effort to buy her own apartment as a single woman, are additional themes I also want to explore but this episode was so packed that I hope one of you other bloggers can take on those stories.

As Tecumseh said, Heya ho, ho, ho, heya huh huh ho,

Elise

11:36pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZQnFDyjno-rH
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(Notes: 1)

April 24, 2012

5.6: The End or the Beginning for Don and Megan?

One question that I’ve been chewing on is whether Don and Megan’s epic chase and fight signaled the end of our protagonist’s “love leave” or the beginning of what’s a more true relationship between Don and his young wife. I begin with an excerpt from my colleague Linda Holmes’ recent post:

There was a surprising amount of “This marriage works very well, because they really get each other” analysis going around after “Zou Bisou Bisou” and the later quasi-violent sex scene in the season premiere, and it was a relief to see the show deal with the fact that this marriage is, in fact, ridiculous, and it is based on the same fundamental lack of respect that marks Don’s other relationships with women.

She goes on to lay out the argument that while the season premiere’s cat-and-mouse “fight” really resulted in some hot sex, this apartment chase displayed real fear on Megan’s part — she was actually scared of her husband in a way that “diminishes this whole thing.”

What I saw in that fight wasn’t the chase or Megan’s fear so much as Don’s fear that she would leave him. The way he clung to her at the end like a little boy against his mother. The way that was blocked, with Don on his knees and his face in Megan’s stomach, made it evoke even more strongly that boy/mom image. The honeymoon may be over — she expresses that she doesn’t “like everything” after all — but the overnight scare forced Don to realize how much he really NEEDS this wife, this woman.

It was just two episodes ago when I said I worry Don has a propensity to domestic violence even though the majority of you (and the pro reviewers) saw Don’s strangling-to-death of the former lover as the effort to symbolically crush his libido and primal desires to stray. I think it’s both — Don could hurt a woman because of his insecurities and his constant need for control (which makes me scared for this marriage), but he’s also constantly trying to punish himself. Remember what he needed from the prostitute last season? He wanted to be slapped again and again while having sex. So maybe there’s hope for him and Megan because she makes him at least sometimes WANT to change and be a better man.

On the flip side, one message made clear by this show is that people don’t change, and that bad mothers wreck a man’s life for the long run. If that’s the case, this marriage is headed to disaster faster than we can say orange sherbert.

Don and Megan… did this episode represent a step toward real intimacy and communication in their marriage, or was it the beginning of the end?

The truth is relative,

Elise

11:18pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZQnFDyKHDEge
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(Notes: 2)

Filed under: Don Draper don draper a bully don draper self loathing Don and Megan Don Draper and women

September 12, 2010

4.8: Power of the Poontang

It’s quite a predicament for women at SCDP - and women in the workplace everywhere, isn’t it? You’re either just a sexy secretary or you’re an overzealous climber bitch. (Monica vs. Hillary, anyone?) As Joey the freelance art director becomes more and more misogynistic toward Joan, (because apparently his mother was the same way), Peggy steps into to save the day and show Joey the door.

Peggy thinks she’s done something magnanimous for Joan. But Joan knows better. Now Joan’s the damsel in distress, saved by a “humorless” chick with a dick. While we’re forty years forward and situations have gotten better for women, I can’t say I don’t understand the perception predicament Joan describes in the elevator.

And this episode really explored the show’s ladies, didn’t it? Bethany’s back, and willing to meet Don’s, uh, draper. She needs a more from him, and says it. “We really are from different generations,” Don replies. But now that we’re hearing his internal thoughts for the first time, a la Carrie Bradshaw, we know he doesn’t think much more of her than he did Betty Draper. She’s beautiful, charming, but not on his level.

The women on his level were traditionally Don’s mistresses - they tend to be the aggressive, modern, independent ladies who could take him or leave him. Midge, the hippie from season one, Rachel Menken, who headed her own stores, Bobby Barrett, who was responsible for the entire Jimmy Barrett machine, Miss Farrell, the enlightened teacher who worried how DON was doing after he ditched her in the car … and now, Faye. The ad doctor of persuasion is actually getting to hear Don’s actual thoughts and worries - he discusses Gene’s upcoming 2nd birthday with her, that he’s out of sorts, etc. etc. Where he keeps the dancer at arm’s length (and later muses that he already “knows her” - is that a reference to how similar she is to Betty?), he seems to let down the mask when he’s with Faye. What a contrast.

Speaking of contrast, I’m not sure how I feel about actually hearing Don’s internal monologue. The show opened with narration and immediately I thought of Sex and the City and wondered if we’d get a “I couldn’t help but wonder” moment. I’ve long believed the beauty of this show is the subtlety in the story and the acting WITHOUT getting into the characters’ heads and actually hearing what they think. While it’s helpful to know Don is now making a bucket list (yay Mount Kilimanjaro) and wants to “gain a modicum of control over” the way he feels, we could have figured that out without the exposition. (Okay, maybe not the mountain climbing part.)

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

-Henry Francis, God bless him. He looked like such a sad, lonely creature mowing that lawn. And he really is stuck with a child. I loved his line “Hate’s a strong word. I hate Nazis.”

-No Roger again!?! Arrrgh.

-Francine’s reminder to Betty is an important one. Who is Betty but a woman who has defined her life through men? And then she acts out with the men she’s with? I can’t decide if it’s bad acting or bad writing that’s making this woman so one-dimensional and irritating. Shouldn’t I feel bad for her a little - I swear I have before in earlier seasons.

Anyway, I’m anxious to hear what y’all think about the new use of narration and the issues about sexism that came up for the girls. And whatever else.

Use kindness and gentleness where force fails,

Elise

September 6, 2010

4.7: On toughness

“So, Bert has no testicles?”

Friends, it is with a heavy heart I write this post knowing we’re now more than halfway through the season. These episodes keep building on each other so well; I expect we’ll be watching episodes 11 and 12 with our mouths agape.

Episode 7, aptly titled “Suitcase,” returns our main characters to the suitcase motif from the end of season two. (Remember the end of that season, when Don left his bags at the California hotel to go off with the Eurotrash, and his suitcase wound up on Betty’s doorstep?)

And what a fitting motif it is. As the SCDP team comes up with ways to describe a Samsonite’s toughness, we find the principals - Don and Peggy - struggling to keep their emotional baggage inside. It’s a test of toughness not only for their clients product, but for these way-too-similar characters, whose mental suitcases are constantly being tossed off the Empire state building.

“You’re not going to start giving me morality lessons, are you?”

Most of this episode was devoid of anyone but Don and Peggy, and the exploration of their relationship together was a huge payoff to viewers, if you ask me. We never really knew what Don knew about Peggy’s baby situation (clearly he still doesn’t know the father), or that her family thought Don was at fault, or that Don was the only person to visit, and how Peggy feels about dealing with it. Don shares with Peggy that he watched his father get killed by a horse when he was only 11; Peggy (in keeping with the reflexivity of their characters) reveals she too watched her father die in front of her when she was also a child. They both avoid what’s in their suitcases by giving everything they have to their work. I wonder, in fact, whether their personality types are somehow well-suited for advertising because of the way their brains can imagine another reality… or something… ? Anyway, Peggy said a lot come morning, when Don found out for certain that his beloved Anna died. “She was the only one who really knew me,” Don said, of Anna. “That’s not true,” Peggy replied. She may not know Dick Whitman, but she knows Don as well as anyone can.

Speaking of reflexivity, that Don versus Duck drunken wrestling scene was about as far away from that Cassius Clay boxing match as we could have gotten, I reckon.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

-Good riddens, Mark. You were a loser. And Peggy’s right, who invites a girl’s family (that she hates) to her romantic birthday dinner?

-Loved that random pink paper crown the boys probably made for Peggy for her birthday. It seems like they have a nice motley crew going, even with that annoying Danny kid around.

-Really not missing Betty. This season is so much better with her absence.

Re: Tim’s question. I think the answer is, Duck wouldn’t bother to wipe his ass. Matt and I loved the Duck wanting to take a shit in their office scene so much that we kept rewinding the DVR to the moment he squats down and lets out a little fart. Did y’all notice that?

Ida was a hellcat,

Elise

11:25am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZQnFDy107sm1
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Filed under: peggy olson, don and peggy, don Don Draper don don draper self loathing mad men Mad Men mad men mad men season 4

August 30, 2010

4.6: The Lost Weekend

I think I’m going to save the recapping to the others and focus instead on the idea lingering with me since the episode’s end. Did Roger Sterling ever really hire Don Draper?

We explore in this episode the continuation of Don’s total free fall. His drunkenness is now all out in the open, and seriously affecting his work and personal life. When we saw that glimpse of known-drunk Duck Phillips at the awards ceremony, I thought, it won’t be long before Don lets his dog out into the Madison Avenue. (I’m still so sad about poor Chauncey.)

The parallel narrative throughout the episode is the story of how Roger met Don and how Don worked his way into a job at the old Sterling Coo. At the end, it appears Sterling has hired young Draper, but Sterling doesn’t remember it, possibly because he was in a drunken stupor, but - dare I say - was it because Don conned him into it? I know it’s extreme, but Don/Dick’s already created a new identity for himself, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for him to con his way into a job using the boss’ blackouts. No?

Speaking of blackout, the director and writers did a great job of making me feel a bit disoriented as Don was living through his lost weekend. Let me see if I can piece this together correctly. During his binge, Don presents to Life a stolen idea, makes Peggy lock herself into a hotel room with the douchey art director, beds a pretty brunette but then gets rid of her and beds a waitress named Doris, starts going as Dick instead of Don, somehow sleeps until Sunday (thereby forgetting his kids) and then comes to with no knowledge that any of it had happened.

Note, of course, it was Peggy who showed up at his door to snap him out of his stupor. The reflexivity between their two characters continues. It was Don who rescued Peggy from her post-Pete’s-baby stupor, and Peggy who rescued Don from jail after he drunkenly crashed his car while going away with Bobbie Barrett.

Ultimately, Don ends up hiring someone he doesn’t want to because of a drunken mistake. Is that what Roger did too? Did Don just TELL Roger he hired him, since Don’s exactly cunning enough to know that Roger goes from “lubricated to morose” enough to make a drunken hire believable? Don’s whole personal and professional genius is selling a different version of reality, isn’t it? Looking forward to your responses.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

-We finally find out just how far back Joan and Roger’s relationship goes. That couple was together for years! I loved Joan’s late fifties ‘do.

-While we were watching this episode, over on NBC the show was winning more Emmys, including best drama on TV. Word.

-Bravo, Peggy. Not only was the award-winning Glo Coat idea actually yours, you made Don clean up the “cure for the common cereal” mess honorably AND your naked take down of the chauvinist art director made me feel proud for womankind.

-Did y’all notice that John Aniston, father of Jenn Aniston and “Victor Kiriakis” on Days of our Lives, was the awards emcee? Oh, the good ol’ ‘Days.’

Aspiration’s as good as perspiration,

Elise

12:45am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZQnFDyziLhi
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Filed under: drinking, drunken stupors alcoholism don draper self loathing Don Draper drinking problems

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