We talked about Mad Men when I previewed the summer shows and when I talked about my favorite shows on television. Mad Men continues to keep us guessing as they move along the narrative to Season 4. We left Season 2 with the knowledge that Putnam, Powell and Lowe were taking over Sterling Cooper. Now we leave Season 3 with the knowledge that Sterling, Cooper, Draper & Pryce (commas and ampersand inserted by me) is the new firm in town. How did we get here*? Well everyone grew some balls. Let's take a look:*Side Note: For those who also watch Lost, how much did this feel like Lost? We had a lot of "how did we get here?" feelings and all the cast reuniting back in a familiar, but unfamiliar setting. It was like when everything reset in Lost: everyone came back who was there before--except for certain people, who will have to be explained why they didn't end up back with everyone else. I mean look at the group that ended up together: we have two head males about equal age (Roger and Don vs. Jack and Sawyer), two females who can't stand each other at times (Peggy and Joan vs. Kate and Juliet), an old guy (Locke vs. Cooper), a comedy-driven guy (Harry vs. Hurley), the "unwanted" child (Peggy's child vs. Aaron), the vicious male (Pete vs. Sayid), and the Other (Lane vs. Ben). It was like all these characters were seeking some sort of personal redemption amidst all their daddy issues and were doing so in this new place. Very, very Lost-y minus the smoke monster and The Others. Just my two cents.
Roger Sterling - Always the wise-ass and carefree character, I feel that Sterling is always searching for acceptance from Don and Bert. He wants him and Don to be friends and needs Bert to put him in his place as a de facto father figure. Always the comic relief (his line to Harry after he asked if they were really starting a new firm was great), Sterling was the one who dropped the worst news of all to Don: his wife had someone else. I don't think, until that point, Don truly realized that his marriage was finished--which has tremendous irony in the contempt that Don has always shown for Roger's sham of a marriage. He even decided to swallow his pride and call Joan to get the job done. But in the end, I feel like Roger was just waiting for the chance to grow a pair and do exactly this: start a new company where his name was not on the wall because of his father.
Bertram Cooper - Movieline's always amazing "Mad Men Power Rankings" has this to say about putting Bert Cooper in their rankings this week: "for finally showing some spunk instead of sealing himself and his employees in a golden tomb. He’s not going to go three-years-and-out and keel over on the golf course. There’s plenty of rapey, octopod-based Japanese art yet to buy for his new office." I couldn't agree more. Bert's best line of the entire season may have been this episode where he threatened to lock Harry in the closet if he didn't join the new company. I have no clue if he was actually kidding.
Peggy Olson - After a season plus of taking shit from Don, she was ready to do so no longer. For the first time I think she saw the leverage she had in the situation for two reasons: she had the option of defecting to Duck and she knew that Don needed her more than he let on. She not only told him off at the office, but was ready to throw him out of her apartment, until he bared his soul to her in ways that we haven't truly seen before from Don (at least in an honest way). Take away a point for having a fallback for actually growing a pair, Peggy finally did what we all wanted her to do and stand up to The Man.
Lane Pryce - The best reaction to being fired since Jerry Maguire asked who was coming with him. Just awesome. "Very good! Happy Christmas!" Like amazing. Even left Moneypenny confused. Pryce was the ultimate punching bag this season (more than Peggy, more than Pete, more than Betty) and he finally did what he's always wanted to do: say screw you to Mr. Sheffield from The Nanny. I think that he's out of his league with Cooper, Draper and Sterling--especially without his total authority to fire anyone he wants--but I think that Pryce brings a good element to this new firm.
Pete Campbell - Pete wasn't happy about how much more everyone loved Kenny than loved him. So he finally decided to do something about it. Amazingly, despite the fact that Don, Peggy and others had one foot out the door, Pete actually had left the door. His demand list was a bit much, but his feelings were genuine and finally expressed. Pete had been acting like a company man for too long and needed to tell the men how it really was. Again, like all characters on this show, Pete has serious daddy issues (seriously, is there anyone on this show that does not have daddy issues? anyone?!), so Don's acceptance and praise of him is really all he wanted. But he was finally willing to grow a pair and demand it (which surprised even Don and Roger).
Betty Draper: I have to come out and say I've lost all patience with her character. In some ways, I hope this is the end of her on the show (although I do love January Jones). That being said, she finally did what we all expected her to do a long time ago: grow a pair and just kick Don to the curb. Again, a woman can't do that in Mad Men until they have a man to back them up; so just as Peggy has Duck, Betty has Henry Francis. I agree with many who say that Betty not fighting Don for money and just relying on Henry to be her sugar daddy is going to end up very poorly. At least Betty is with someone who loves the kids now, what happens when Henry loses interest in her? How fast will she crawl back to Don? I mean, unless something happened that we didn't see, Betty is running off to marry a man she's only been in the same room with a few times. This could end very badly. But in the meantime, she gets a point for growing a pair and finally bidding adieu to the man who could never truly make her happy.
Sally Draper: She's never one to hold back what she's feeling, but she finally told both her parents what they needed to hear. Good for her. Movieline's Mad Men Power Rankings does a Sally Draper patricide watch but I'm more worried that she's gunning for her mother now.
Don Draper: Figured I'd end with him. In the end, his growing a balls was finally doing what he's always wanted to do: work in a place that was his own. I think the reason he had one foot out the door was because he never wanted to feel trapped by other people. In this episode, Don was freed of all entrapments. He was the one who started the ball rolling with the whole "let's get fired/buy the company" movement. He was like Danny Ocean going one-by-one, selecting his gang of thieves. And maybe Don growing a pair was finally just growing some humility and swallowing his pride for once. He told Peggy, Lane, Roger, Pete and others that he really needed them and told his wife that he would let go. He finally seemed to be genuine. I think this may be a positive step forward for a man who has always hid behind a mask. A few last thoughts:
- I think everyone had that Sal was coming back when they couldn't open the art department door. It was good to see the writer's resisting that hokey play and instead just having Don kick down the door
- I don't think that Kenny, Kinsey and the rest of the leftovers are done. This was supposed to be a skeleton staff and I think more will be added later (though hopefully not everyone).
- Where does Season 4 start? Right away (the Beatles are coming!)? Once they really get set up (and risk the age question with the two kids)? Or is there another time jump?
- So many question: Has Joan's husband gone off to Vietnam and does she stay with him? Is Peggy still with Duck? Do we find out what really goes on with the now-happy couple of Trudy and Pete? Is Don single? Is Roger still married to the bimbo? Is Connie Hilton really done with the show? What goes on with the Draper children? Is anyone actually happy?
Some good reading for you if you're looking for more as well: The Mad Men Power Rankings, Movieline's episode review, James Poniewozik always-great TIME Magazine recap, and What's Alan Watching? views on the finale (where the Pete image came from).
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As I told Andrew, this was just like when the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. They came in, cleaned up shop, and by the next morning they were a new firm (although Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is a really long name, especially if it becomes Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Campbell).
ReplyDeleteI think it was finally great to see Lane break out. For ages it seemed as though he was a puppet for PPL who wanted much more. He really wanted to be a permanent part of what he was involved in and not just an outsider making change. Cooper, Sterling, and Draper finally included him in something much bigger and I think he relished it. Interesting to see what Lane's wife will think about staying in New York. Perhaps they use Lane to reach back into the the British market?
I know Andrew and I both agree that Betty has just become miserable. The interesting dynamic will be how Sally develops amidst all of these changes. Sally and Don are so close. I can only imagine what will happen between Henry and Sally. Can't see how she ever would have tried to kill her father, but her mother and stepdad? Do we see the development of a late 1960's radical?
It'll be very interesting to see who does and doesn't come back. I can't imagine that we've seen the end Sal, Ken, and Kinsey (maybe one or two of them). Roger took Lucky Strikes with him so that could rule out Sal. Pete is a partner so that would be an automatic demotion of Ken. And Kinsey, I think he is the most likely to join the new firm, although Don has grown tired of him. Hopefully we've seen the last of Smitty and Kurt Smith. Can we bring back Freddy Rumsen? Will Lane try to bring Moneypenny on board?
One of the interesting things we will see next season is a complete change of scenery. How much will we actually see of the Draper residence next year? Have we seen the last of the Sterling Cooper office?
All in all, this episode rivals the Season 1 finale (although nothing quite rivals the Carousel scene so I still give the edge to that finale).
nice analysis. however, in regards to your question about joan and her fiance, i think that something is gonna happen between her and don. i mean, although some themes in mad men are very nuanced, we haven't really had any love triangles. and we all know that the joan-don relationship would just be TOO hot. they both are people that are curt and often say what is on their mind. sterling of course will be the other point on the triangle...it's been building up in all the seasons. we all know that joan is really the woman he wants. although this move might be cliche seeing it on film will be shocking, and again cause some tension between don and sterling, sterling and his new wife, joan and her fiance, and betty and don when she comes crawling back---we all know that she will, there is gonna be some karmic retribution for her walking out on her husband when he finally revealed who he truly was---a bastard child that didn't come from money. but who knows?
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