Sad Fans: The End of the Mad Men Era (Yes, Spoilers)

Though Mad Men concluded beautifully it’s still hard to move on. Much like it’s always been hard for Don Draper to truly move on. Zing! Don, of course, has repeatedly shown great aptitude at appearing to move on but his frequent visitations into his past, to his old loves, and his old lives, pretty much suggest that he will never really be anything but someone trying to hide in an identity that’s just a little too big for him.

But Don is smiling! He made a Coke ad for McCann-Erickson! Okay, okay, yes, it does seem that perhaps Don has recognized at least part of who he is and has learned how to manipulate that aspect of himself to achieve a “modicum of control” over his own destiny. Good for him. But what am I supposed to do now that there’s no more of him to watch?

For eight years I watched Mad Men with near religious fervor. Other than Community, which has drastically changed, Mad Men was the only show in my queue that I began and ended in real time. In other words, I started watching it as it aired and kept up with it as it aired. There’s never been an occasion for a first-time Netflix-style binge. In many ways, that alone made the show special for me. I expect that a binge viewing of Mad Men would not create the same feelings of remembering and nostalgia that a prolonged better-part-of-a-decade climb did. After all, Anna Draper mentions that her husband (Lt. Donald Draper) wanted to marry her sister, who “looked just like [her] but with two good legs,” and many episodes go by, only for us to see oh hey, Anna Draper’s sister, who does indeed look just like her with two good legs. Freddy Rumsen disappeared at the beginning of season two only to return several more times. As I have always put it, Mad Men always tricks you into thinking that its forgotten something when, in fact, it’s just waiting for the right time to punch you in the soul. (A moment for Sal, please.)

I’ve always expected that this was how Don himself lived life. Every time he thought something was put away, it came roaring back. Usually his feelings. But possibly also his concern that he might be found out for being the deserting traitor he could rightly be called. (This element generally being used to trace the emotions more than the plot.) The visual and skillful, colorful, vintage-period shots were perfect for the messages being traced but the true artistry of Mad Men has always been in the idea that it reflects a life. Characters don’t “do” much but a lot happens.

As I sat to finish watching the finale via Amazon Instant Video on my Roku player, I realized that when I started watching Mad Men in 2007, Netflix Instant was mostly a fever dream of a couple dozen bad made-for-tv movies and television episodes and my original means to obtaining MM episodes was through a $60/month cable subscription that I kept for Comedy Central, FX, & AMC. There were no Roku players. There was no AIV. I couldn’t use my Prime subscription to catch up on back episodes. Any missed episodes had to be retrieved from OnDemand services. In many ways, that recognition journeyed on with me as I thought about the show itself. I sat with it for nearly a decade, a time during which Android and iPhones came to power, a time during which Breaking Bad came and went (2008-2013), and a time during which the United States saw ever more economic despair and divisiveness in politics. Maybe it’s a form of escapism to sink into the perils of someone else’s life, to try to work out fictional problems with hope and finger crossing, but I’m still going to miss it.

Your TV is Static. Mine is Plastic.

Two weeks until new Futurama starts! Official countdown begins now. I refer your attention to Facebook for the next fourteen days.

 

Also, Mad Men. Seriously, are you trying to kill me? Episode 12. Oh, man, the pain that caused.

The Other, Other Woman

There aren’t many television shows out there which I routinely ensure I watch to stay current. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy a lot of shows but most of them are ones I generally don’t mind watching later on Netflix or DVD.  I don’t have cable or even broadcast television and my time is limited so Netflix generally serves the rest of my needs. What I actually watch in near real time is limited to a very small collection:

1. Community
2. 30 Rock
3. Futurama
4. Mad Men

Since Mad Men is the only show that is currently airing episodes (though it’s approaching the end of its season rapidly) that’s the one I’m here to talk about right now. I will warn you, this is full of SPOILERS. MANY, MANY SPOILERS.

This week’s episode The Other Woman, was perhaps one of the most devastating episodes in the show’s entire run. As Television Without Pity said in their recaplet, “It’s sort of the most Mad Men episode of any episode of Mad Men, or like what you would think the show would be like if you’d only ever heard people talk about it: “T**s, ass, whoring out of secretaries, cheating on wives, smoking, day-drinking, whatever. Real gross.” I, for one, don’t necessarily find prostitution in television shows to engender the same hurt that is created when I think about real prostitution but this particular episode, where someone willingly (well, in a sense, willingly) engages in prostituting herself; it hurts. It hurts so very, very much to see her again robbed of dignity and to see the way she denigrates and demeans herself to achieve something she considers more important. Joan’s decision to trade herself for a partnership at SCDP was a devastating one, especially with the rough editing that demonstrates Don’s impassioned plea coming after she had already given herself over to the hideous car executive.

It’s strange to see Don so genuinely worked up over an issue that doesn’t directly affect his family or his work but as other reviewers out there have pointed out, his mother was a prostitute, and given that knowledge, he could easily be responding to the situation in light of that knowledge. Ironically, he throws cash at Peggy Olson as if she were a whore, again failing to give her the needed credit for her work.  (Since she is constantly saving everyone’s butts and never being properly acknowledged for it.)  Meanwhile with Megan at home doing what she wants, when she wants, but not getting what she wants, it’s easy to see another Mad Men episode that centers on the woman’s changing role in society. (We’ve had a few of these before and in the past they included Betty Draper as the third lady.) Peggy’s decision to leave SCDP was liberating (she’s kind of my hero in a lot of ways) but also heartbreaking. She goes through so many moments of excitement, and we have to remember that it has been seven years since she first walked into Don Draper’s office as a twenty-year-old secretary from Brooklyn, her skirt too long, and her hair pulled back in a childish knot. She’s a grown-up, a power playing professional, a woman who is every bit Don Draper’s equal. I love the obvious symbolism as she reaches to shake Don’s hand, standing over him. The power in their relationship has shifted but Don kissing her hand rather than accepting the offered handshake seems to indicate that his love for Peggy is still present. He actually doesn’t want to lose her but his complicated feelings surrounding not only their relationship but the recent acquisition of Jaguar makes him look downright weak. (Though for a moment there, it’s almost creepy how much Don lingers to kiss Peggy’s hand.)

I suspect the most hurtful part of this entire episode is the fact that it actually has been seven years and where are the ladies now? They have advanced but they haven’t. Their roles are still defined by how men perceive them. Even when Peggy meets with Ted Chaugh, it’s obvious that he understands this fact, too. He lets her know that everybody else will ask about her marital and motherhood statuses, because they will. He does this, of course, to show that he is not the same as everybody else but his tone still establishes how commonplace this experience is for a woman in Peggy’s position. She’s got a job men would envy, so naturally, she has to sit in a difficult space. Meanwhile Megan’s audition is essentially just an excuse to stare at her T&A (as done by several very dirty looking men, who try to make it seem okay by using pet names.)

The only saving grace, I think, is Joan’s silent acknowledgement of Peggy’s awesomeness as Peggy does finally go out and get what she wants, as we get to hear “You Really Got Me” while she steps into the elevator. That, of course, just makes one wonder what’s going to happen to Peggy. You can’t have Mad Men without Peggy. She’s Don Draper’s mirror, and her presence is utterly vital to the show demonstrating the kind of person Don is. With two episodes left in the season, I don’t know whether to expect more heartwrenching hurt or if I should just be prepared for a Mad Men esque skip ahead with only minor resolutions.

Others have already proposed where Peggy might be going next. So I won’t. I’ll leave you with this link.

Where Does Peggy Olson go from here?