Summer TV Review: The Second Level of Mad Men

Sometimes we mix our pleasure with pain and it seems like Don Draper takes the same approach with a prostitute in the season premiere of Mad Men. With a cadre of flawed characters, Mad Men has always let us live with an uneasy relationship where we like unlikable characters and dislike those we would normally become sympathetic to in the real world. Take Don or Roger Sterling--lovable womanizers--and I'll take them any day over Betty Draper or Peggy Olson--beat down women not worthy of sympathy. It made me queasy even writing that last sentence but that foreign place that Mad Men makes us sit (even more foreign to many of us than 1964). But while most of the show has been a back-and-forth struggle between Don Draper and his work-home life, "Public Relations", the season premiere of Mad Men, seems to be pushing the show onto another level. Bert Cooper may "refuse to be any part of that charade" (one of the best lines from the first episode), but I'm ready an excited for what's in store for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (or SCDP as they are now known) this season on Mad Men.

Don debates who he really is during the Season 4 premiere (AMC)

We've spent the better part of three seasons trying to answer our opening question: "who is Don Draper?" The answer that we have received so far has been pretty consistent, a self-assured man hell-bent on keeping his personal life under wraps and surviving in a fast-changing world--while trying to keep up the airs that his personal life is A-O-K. Is it any wonder that Don felt somewhat uneasy by the questioning of the one-legged man from Ad Age (like Jack Hammond, Draper was also in Korea--and he too came back with something false) as it delved into Don's personal life and his marriage? It's no wonder that Don seemed to be more at ease by the end of the episode in his interview with the Wall Street Journal talking about the "scrappy upstart" as SCDP instead of Don Draper.

The problem may be that Don Draper is in full-on identity crisis. His wife is with another man tending to his own kids in the house he technically owns. His dating life is different now that he's a divorcee and bachelor instead of a married philanderer (and now that it's 1964). His office* and job responsibilities are new and different. While last season he was dealing with Hilton, this season he's dealing with a "two-piece" bathing suit company that doesn't want to be raunchy. Don's still a brilliant ad man, but he's also a hypercritical boss (and more about this later) who doesn't really know how to relate to people. While everyone (including the aforementioned prostitute) has plans on Thanksgiving, Don is left by himself in his bachelor pad in the Village (reminding me a lot of the 30 Rock Valentine's Day episode). He's a lonely soul who doesn't want to eat what the housekeeper makes for him and seems to only sleep at the office.

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24 Recap: You Down With EMP?

Now that was a lot better, wasn’t it? Sure there are plot holes bigger than New York City potholes and a sideplot dangerously close to Worst.Sideplot.Ever. status. But we finally have some action and some intrigue and something to look forward to as the season progresses. My hope coming into this episode is that 24 would find a way to salvage their last (my hope anyways, despite reports to the contrary) season with a furious finish. Well, while it’s certainly not great, we’re seeing glimmers that at least we’ll end this show on a bang. But before we get that far ahead of ourselves, we had a bang of our own this episode: welcome back EMP!

Getting the [Electromagnetic] Pulse

24 is not the first to use the EMP. Ocean’s 11 did it with Don Cheadle. And in 24’s 4th season, with Habib Marwan as a threat, and Jack and Paul Raines (Audrey’s ex) hot on their trail, a corporation (McLennen-Forster) set off an EMP to destroy all their own files*. So while I was surprised to see it again, I wasn’t shocked. And this time, the EMP was actually used by terrorists instead of some corporate execs trying to avoid a slap on the wrist.

*Side Note: Then the corporation took the impending blackout as a chance to send a private militia after Jack and Paul which resulted in Jack having his one nice moment with Islamic people in the first 6 seasons of the show (when he had to take over their ammunition shop to cover from the militia). It also resulted in Paul getting shot and Audrey ridiculously switching allegiances from Jack to Paul even though Paul had been stalking her life since the separation (and refusing to give in to a divorce) and Jack and her had fallen deeply in love—and Jack had just risked his life by going solo against a base full of terrorists and blown them all up to save Audrey and her father. Audrey, you are an ungrateful bitch.

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Mad Men Finale: The Episode Where Everyone Decides to Grow a Pair

This blog started out as a clusterfuck of information. We had politics, sports, news, humor, television, movies, restaurants, deals, etc. Over time we've narrowed down to mostly just sports. But every once in a while we need to take a break to look at the world around, especially the television world. The Mad Men finale from Sunday night is one of those times (warning: spoilers below).

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?
  

This show has grasped my attention and I can't wait for Season 4. The last two episodes with the assassination of JFK and then the blow up of a marriage and a company was so powerful that it has left me wanting more and more. Too bad I can't just wait for Sunday for that fix.

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).