Mad Men Watch-a-thon: Episodes 3 through 6
I said in my last entry that this show was engaging in a slow burn, and I haven’t come here to revise that statement at all. I vaguely remember early reviews of this show—when everyone had seen the commercials with the cool music and the striking images of broad-shouldered ad guys in their James Bond suits and was wondering if the show was worth watching (because…AMC? the American Movie Classics channel that today is apparently airing a Stallone marathon?)—and the reviews were mixed. There was a lot of “it’s pretty, but there’s nothing there.”
For my part, I’m still holding out that there’s something there. It won all the Emmys and everything for a reason. But right now, the show feels a bit remote; it’s offering me a lot of stuff, but it’s not the stuff I want. It’s like the show is Don Draper and I’m Don Draper’s wife.
Speaking of, I’m kind of tired of Betty, Don’s wife, already. I thought a show set in an ad agency would spend more time in the ad agency. So far, there’s a LOT of suburban ennui, the home lives of the mad men and their mad wives. And though I like Betty’s mouthy friend (the chain-smoking pregnant one, played by that actress who got killed off House), I think Betty herself adequately fits the description of “it’s pretty, but there’s nothing there.” Yes, she’s deliberately cultivating that image. I get it. I saw her in Episode 6 putting lipstick on her tiny daughter etc. etc. Yes, I know The Feminine Mystique is still a few years in the future for her. She still kinda bores me.
At least some of the other characters are getting fleshed out—Joan, the vivacious redheaded secretary, has got a plotline, finally. Also, in Episode 6 Peggy (the girl with the bangs who played Bartlet’s daughter on The West Wing) inadvertently reveals her smarts by saying something particularly well-expressed to an ad guy. He’s like, “That’s very funny, who told you that?” and she’s like, “Um, I thought of it myself…?” and he’s like “does not compute…” I can’t wait to see her discover the proverbial glass ceiling. (Actually, I’m ‘spoiled’ as they say, because I know what happens to Peggy further on down the season. Still, I’m enjoying her character.)
It is interesting that, other than Betty, and other than Joan in Episode 6, the women in the ad agency are sort of shuffled off to the side. Their “plotlines” as such are more like longing looks and wistful sighs. Not giving the show’s women proper attention is just as sexist as the behavior they encounter in the show. Maybe the show intends to express the sexism of the 60s through some postmodern metacommentary, both literally and figuratively. Or maybe I just need to watch some more.
Anyway, the details are still exquisite, which is great; good writing is so often in sharp details. Episode 2 (I think—it’s been a week or so) featured a birthday party for one of Don’s kids, where the kids were playing the most realistic game of “house” ever: “get your shoes off the couch!” “I don’t like your tone!” Peter expressed his frustrated creative drive by claiming that he invented direct marketing: “I thought of that! Turned out it already existed, but I arrived at it independently.” Possibly the funniest scene so far was in Episode 6 when Don Draper’s mistress took him to a club in Greenwich Village to see all the beatniks and commies and whatnot. Jon Hamm does a great bemused expression.
Comments
Posted by: tom
Posted on: July 15, 2010 09:42 AM
love it!