By Jennifer Baldwin. Guh. How could an episode in which the Lucky Strike catastrophe from last episode explodes in Roger’s face and SCDP is suddenly on the verge of collapse be so annoying and almost … boring? I blame Peggy and her useless storyline. I don’t think the writers of Mad Men are capable of writing a “bad” episode of the show, but this episode was one of my least favorite of the entire season.
I understand what Matthew Weiner is doing by showing Don repeat the same old insecure, emotionally closed-off, sleeping with every cute young thing that comes along pattern – it’s a way to show how hard it is for people to change and break out of their destructive behavior. I get it. But my lord, it’s getting boring! We all knew it was coming and then it did – Don and Megan the secretary did the horizontal mambo – but it was such a forgone conclusion that there was no drama there. I suppose we were all supposed to go, “Oh no! What about Faye?!” But really, who didn’t see this coming? Don seems incapable of making any lasting change for the better, and while that may be true to life, it makes for stagnant drama. I don’t mind Weiner exploring the idea that it takes a long time for people to mend their ways and break out of patterns of sin and bad behavior, but at some point he needs to transform this theme into something new. Don can’t be a man-whore forever.
I think this is why I’m slowly losing interest in Don as a main character and want the show to focus more on characters like Roger and Pete. In fact, the Roger storyline was probably my favorite of this episode, quickly followed by the Pete stuff (Peggy has gone back to annoying me again).
Roger is the spoiled rich kid who never grew up, but John Slattery’s acting and the writing’s snappy, quick-witted dialogue makes Roger a paradoxical character — charming rogue meets pathetic loser. Even as he behaves like an incompetent fool, he elicits a measure of sympathy. He breaks your heart even as he makes you shake your head. He doesn’t take things seriously, as Cooper pointed out, which is both his charm and his curse. That last troubling shot of Roger on the couch with Jane, those copies of “Sterling’s Gold” — his ridiculous and unintentionally hilarious memoir – resting like millstones on the coffee table, all point to a Roger who might not be long for this world. And I don’t mean a heart attack. Cabs of New York, beware of falling objects.
Pete is also a fascinating character, one who has gone from almost the villain of the show to one of its unsung heroes. He’s a much more interesting “youth” character than Peggy, she of the boundless creativity and plucky spirit (and for the moment, great sex life). Gah, she annoys me! Pete, however, is often morose and whiny. He’s spoiled in a way similar to Roger, and yet he’s a hard worker, he’s someone who wants to get ahead. He has ambitions and a strange sort of prescience about where the culture is headed. He’s both a misfit and a man yearning to fit in, and his struggle to reconcile the two makes for a compelling character arc.
I found his struggle this episode between family obligations and work to be much more interesting than Don’s turmoil over the loss of Lucky Strike and his strained relationship with Faye. Don’s story seemed like a rehash, whereas Pete’s had the feeling that something was truly at stake. He’s at the point in his life where he needs to make the decision between family and work, between security and ambition. Don has already “lost” his family; all he has is ambition. Pete, however, faces a real choice. And frankly, I’m torn on his behalf as well. I love innovative, forward-thinking, misfit Pete. But I also believe that family and personal relationships, ultimately, are more important than worldly success. Pete, for his part, seems as ambivalent about his choices as I am.
Some other thoughts:
• I cheered when Faye stood up for her ethics and rejected Don’s plea that she poach client information from other agencies and give it to him. I cried “NO!” when Faye gave in and offered Don the information about Heinz. Faye is much too good for Don. I wanted these two to work out, but now I think Faye needs to run far, far away. I worry that her actions will jeopardize her career. And all for what? For a man who sleeps with his secretary only a few hours after fighting with his girlfriend?
• Joan and Roger’s final embrace was a killer. She had no choice but to break things off completely with him – but my gosh, if I didn’t shed a tear for both of them. Many props to Christina Hendricks’ performance here. Their moment for happiness passed a long time ago, and there’s no way things could ever work out now, but it’s still sad to see. As much as I joke that Joan and Roger are my “one true pair,” I’m not sure they were every truly in love. Theirs is the tragic melancholy of two people who have realized at last that they should have been in love and now it’s too late.
• I chuckled at Jane in her artsy upscale apartment and Auntie Mame boho outfit, listening to classical music – the perfect picture of what she thinks makes a rich woman of culture. She’s such an empty poser! Roger has now lost two good women of taste – Mona and Joan – thanks to his own immaturity, and he’s stuck with vapid Jane.
• There’s absolutely no way we’ve seen the last of Ken’s fiancée and her family. A show doesn’t hire the great Ray Wise for a bit part with a couple of lines. The intriguing thing is what could possibly be so important about Ken’s future in-laws that they need to hire a recognizable name actor to play the father?
• FREDDY RUMSEN RETURNS!!! Alas, for one scene.
• I’ve never heard the phrase “Chinese Wall” before, so I had to Google it. Apparently it’s a business term having to do with information barriers and conflict of interests and so I guess it has relevance to Faye’s ethical dilemma over giving out client information to Don. I’m still disappointed Faye caved.
• Finally, something has got to be up with Megan. Her unconvincing speech about wanting to learn the advertising business and being an artistic person and blah, blah, blah Montreal left me questioning her motives. What’s her game? Is she going to try to bring Don and SCDP down with some kind of blackmail? Is she an operative of Teddy Chaough sent to destroy Don from within? Or is she just a Jane type, angling for a rich husband and life on easy street? Something is not right about the way she seduced Don. I fear nothing good can come from their fling on the couch. Only two episodes left to find out …
Posted on October 8th, 2010 at 9:07am.
Jennifer – I always like the personal angle you give on the “Mad Men” episodes. The only thing is, after Jon Hamm made those comments attacking the Tea Party as racist, it just turned me off and now I don’t want to watch. I just don’t feel like watching the guy. What are your thoughts? I know we’re not supposed to let actor’s personal politics affect how we see a show or movie they’re in, but honestly, it just gets to me sometimes. Lots of conservatives support “Mad Men,” so why does its lead actor have to go and deliberately insult us?
I wasn’t as sour as you were on the episode, but yeah, Don’s boring me too, and Peggy isn’t getting much interesting to do. But I’ll be 42 in a couple of days, so “new romance” doesn’t interest me much.
Don can’t find happiness (I can’t think of the grown-up way to phrase that just now) because Don Draper is dead. Until Dick sheds Draper and starts being Dick, if that’s possible, he’s lost. What Weiner’s can do about that, I can’t see. But instead of dealing with that, we’ve gotten these distractions of his drinking too much and then his trying to find romance. … I don’t care for Faye, not since she dropped the role of competent professional and took up the role of insecure “I choose not to have children please reassure me” arm-clinging girlfriend.
Geez, Faye beds Don ASAP, Peggy beds Abe (and Pete and cheeseburger-in-the-bar boy) ASAP. At least Megan’s known Don for a while before hopping on – I guess she’s the restrained woman on the show! I hope Megan’s going to take us somewhere interesting…
If one of Weiner’s beliefs is that people don’t really change, then we have to congratulate him for holding our interest through four seasons.
This season, Peggy seems more a character used to illustrate points than a character in her own right, as she did back when she was wrangling with Father Gill.
I like Roger, I wish we could get some more background on him. But I never hoped for a Joan-Roger relationship; he never was able to take her seriously. Just after his heart attack, he told her how much fun sex was with her, period, which isn’t true of Joan but IS true of Roger.
Pete’s wonderful, and I wish Trudy was around more. Those two are wonderful together. Who the hell chooses “Community” over “Mad Men?”
I was also very happy to see Freddy Rumsen again, and I’m sorry he gets nothing to do. I like Stan – he may talk about how ridiculous women are, but put a strong-willed, creative woman in front of him, and he’s got little throbbing cartoon hearts circling his head.
To Brightstar98: Weiner himself has expressed pleasure that Obama won and that McCain lost. I don’t care as long as the show interests me. Weiner and Hamm are brilliant at what they do. As least “Mad Men” isn’t politically like “Boston Legal!”
To internet browsers: When I foolishly click the [X], how about a “You got a nice long post there you ain’t posted yet. Sure you wanna close? [Yes] [No]”
Seriously, Pete and Trudy are AWESOME. I love them. I hope we get more than a brief scene between the two of them in the finale. Like you said: Who the hell chooses Community over Mad Men?! Come on, Trudy, get it together! 😀
Stan is growing on me, because he’s kind of a doof and the whole macho man thing is a total put-on. But that whole subplot with him kissing Peggy was pointless. Peggy’s story this week was pointless, except as an attempt by Weiner to make some thematic point about how she’s got her priorities in order. Bleh.
And yes, I really miss the Fr. Gill storyline. That was meaty and showed some different layers to her character. I don’t like when Weiner uses Peggy as a contrast to Don, like he’s doing everything wrong, and she’s doing it right.
Brightstar98, I hear you. Jon Hamm’s comments were totally clueless and I actually found them personally offensive. I’ve never gone to a Tea Party rally, but I agree with the Tea Party message, so Hamm was calling ME out as a racist. My first thoughts were: “What an ignorant ass.” His comments were disgusting.
But they weren’t surprising. The fact that most current Hollywood actors, writers, directors, producers, etc. are raging liberals who actively HATE conservatives, Christians, and Republicans isn’t news. They’ve actively, openly hated us for nearly a decade. Some of these talented idiots bug me to no end and I can’t stand watching them or their films (i.e.: Sean Penn, James Cameron). Others, for whatever reason, don’t bug me and I can watch their films/shows without frustration. I’m able to forget their politics while I’m watching them work.
Jon Hamm falls into this second category for me. I can’t explain why; maybe it’s because I fell in love with his performance and the show long before he made these ignorant comments. Maybe it’s because this is his first annoying comment, but if he continues to blather about things he doesn’t know, I’ll get turned off eventually. I really don’t know. All I know is that the spell of the show hasn’t been broken for me. I’m sorry if the spell of the show has been broken for you.
As for why Hamm went and insulted us — despite the conservative support for his show — I think the answer is that Hollywood stars, for the most part, lack a sense of gratitude. It’s not just a conservative vs. liberal thing either. They lack gratitude towards all of their audiences.
The folks in Hollywood today have no sense of humility or gratitude — no thankfulness for the wonderful opportunity they’ve been given to do what they love for a living. I’ve watched and read interviews with older actors from earlier eras, and they always give off a deep sense of “I wouldn’t be here without my fans and for that I’m grateful.” Is it just the growing narcissism of our age? Is it a general loosening of values since, heh, the 1960s? All I know is that I DON’T get this sense from a majority of actors/filmmakers/etc. They don’t seem to realize they won’t have jobs if don’t have an audience.
Though it is difficult, I try to judge an artist by his or her work and talent. It does not mean that “artists live in their own moral universe,” to quote Woody Allen, but we presume that they have eccentric perspectives as we roll our eyes at what they say and do. However, the caveat is that we tolerate them if the ratio of talent is higher than the sum of their idiocy.
In the case of Hamm, it is more difficult to accept his rant cause he ain’t that talented, only handsome. It makes me realize that f I had a dollar for every artist that was a narcissistic fool, I would have enough money to buy Van Goghs to cover my bathroom walls.
As for this chapter of our favorite soap opera, I do not begrudge Don Draper for banging his beautiful secretary…and after seeing her, and Roger’s wife in the same episode, I have some very dirty thoughts! OK…back to “reality.” Don is just doing what James Bond or JFK would have done and got on with the schtupping. I bet he doesn’t really enjoy it that much either, and probably cannot wait for the women to leave…and leave him alone. Don will fit right in with the upcoming “ME” decade that followed the 1960s.
As for the other characters, Pete’s is the most interesting now. He is carrying the water for all at this point, but seems to relish the role. Kartheiser is a good actor because he can make you hate his character and like him at the same time, with body language alone…and Hendricks is stealing the show!!
Don lives in an emotional desert which is exacerbated by living a lie in the identity of another man.
Oh Anton, I disagree — Jon Hamm IS talented. He’s not Marlon Brando, of course, but he reminds me of Rock Hudson — a very talented man whose talent often got overshadowed by his ridiculous good looks. There are hundreds of hot guys in Hollywood working as “actors,” but their hotness isn’t enough to carry a show for four seasons. The Don Draper character isn’t flashy, so a lot of the acting from Hamm has to be subtle and internal. His ability to switch between the Draper persona and the real Dick Whitman is masterfully done, IMO.
Getting back to the episode: Yes, Pete is the most interesting at this point in the story and Christina Hendricks has been stealing the show for four seasons now!
I love the way you put it: “Don lives in an emotional desert.” So true. But the pathos of the situation is that he KNOWS it and yet he can’t escape the desert. Obviously, it’s because of his stolen identity as Don Draper, but it’s gut-wrenching nonetheless. I think the show really needs him to “drop” the Don Draper persona at some point — perhaps in the last season, we see Don become Dick for good, and that will be how it ends.