Mad Men

[Baggio 0]

I might give this a go, I've ran out of quality shows to watch lately so I'm watching the Sopranos again since my other half hasn't seen it.

[Happy Face 29]

It's nowhere near as good as the best (Sopranos, West Wing, Wire). It's just another relationship drama in another setting. Who's sleeping with who bullshit...but it caters much more to blokes than Grey's Anatomy, Ally McBeal and all that bollocks. the men are men, they drink and smoke and shag, and it's actually funny.

 

Word of Caution above Baggio. Don't give up on it if you just think it's canny.

 

It gets better and better....like most of those other shows.

[Gemmill 36059]

The last series was unreal and it got better with each episode. Ah man I want to ask you what happened at the end of that episode that had you blubbing cos I can't remember. Spoiler it!

[Happy Face 29]

The last series was unreal and it got better with each episode. Ah man I want to ask you what happened at the end of that episode that had you blubbing cos I can't remember. Spoiler it!

 

 

Joan sold herself but the bit that got me was when Peggy left right at the end. Don was a twat and then he kissed her hand. Proper soft twat me.

 

[ChezGiven 0]

Crying over Don Draper, what are you? a fag?

[Gemmill 36059]

 

 

Joan sold herself but the bit that got me was when Peggy left right at the end. Don was a twat and then he kissed her hand. Proper soft twat me.

 

Nah stuff gets me every now and again. Stuff that ten years ago I would have scoffed at if I'd even noticed it. All parts of the ageing process, I reckon.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

I can imagine him and Juan Cole holding each other and shivering on the couch as Tellytubbies reaches its climax.

[Happy Face 29]

Crying over Don Draper, what are you? a fag?

 

I was nails cos i kept it in man.

[Baggio 0]

Word of Caution above Baggio. Don't give up on it if you just think it's canny.

 

It gets better and better....like most of those other shows.

 

Will do.

 

I've been stuck in a loop of Sopranos, Dexter and Oz so could do with something new.

[Happy Face 29]

 

Did you expect this – that one episode would contain so much? A single 47-minute episode no less, of a series that seems to delight in delaying narrative gratification. Did you expect to see Peggy walk out on Don, Joan become a partner, Roger reveal his true colours, Pete make his move to the head of the firm, Lane to undermine that same firm's entire future and the blessed Megan have her dreams sourly squashed? You may have done. I certainly did not.

 

This was an epic episode with a thoroughly disquieting tone. It is sometimes said that none of the characters in Mad Men are likeable. Such thoughts were borne out spectacularly in this hour. The weight of obnoxiousness falls exclusively on male shoulders too. If every plot event this week wasn't set off by a misogynistic act, then you could have fooled me.

 

First among equals in this regard is Pete Campbell. I have not felt a loathing so visceral for a TV character in a long time, if ever. (If I did, it was probably for Grotbags). It wasn't just the depravity of his actions; his decision to actively pursue the idea of Joan selling her body so to improve SCDP's chances with Jaguar. Neither was it the way he picked the thought up without anybody asking and pursued it with such gusto. No, it was the way he rationalised the proposal as a business decision or transaction not much different from schmoozing a client. And what's more, she'd get paid! "We've all had nights in our life when we've made mistakes for free", says Pete, equating a drunken tryst with being sold out by the closest thing you have to family. "I hope I haven't insulted you. That's all that matters to me." Get out of my face Campbell!

 

Not that his colleagues were much better. Roger Sterling, the man who just last week was scoping out the possibility of rekindling romance with Red, had only this to say when it comes to the crunch: "I'm not going to stand in the way, but I'm not paying for it." Lane? He was convinced he was acting with compassion – "I've put your interests above those of the company" – but he couldn't see that his plan to wrangle a partnership meant he was still treating Joan's honour as a commodity to be traded. Bert Cooper, meanwhile, does nothing but issue a limp, tardy "Let her know she can still say no."

 

It's pretty clear that if Joan did say no, while the company might not fail, she would be held responsible for any downturn in fortunes (by Pete, at least). How much a sense of corporate duty influenced her decision though, I'm not sure. I would say more it was a sense of abandonment, and an accompanying flight of self-respect. It was self-loathing that drove her.

 

Well, that and the money. It struck me that Joan did end up conducting a Cost Benefit Analysis on her indecent proposal. And she decided the benefits were worth it. Admittedly a refusal might have ended her career, but her acceptance of the offer had at least three distinct advantages. First, it paid well and would support a woman and her child for a lifetime (as Lane says). Second, it gave her a status within the organisation to which, judging by her daily behaviour, she had always felt entitled; Third, it gave her a win over Peggy Olsen. (And if you think that didn't matter to Joan, check the sly glance across the office as she celebrates and Peggy makes her exit.)

***

The man I didn't mention as being complicit was Don, because he wasn't. That doesn't mean he didn't have his own moment of misogynist madness; a reckless, disdainful gesture that brought his protege to walk away from her mentor. "You wanna go to Paris? Here, go to Paris." With an intensity that came out of nowhere, and – as far as I was aware – a complete misreading of Peggy's interests (she wanted the account, not the trip), Don chucked money at his colleague in an act reminiscent of a punter at a strip club.

 

Don doesn't own Peggy. But in this moment he acted like he did. And while the tone may have simply flared up in the middle of a stressful period – Ken attributes Don's actions to a belief that SCDP had lost Jaguar – the sentiment didn't. Later when, saying goodbye to Peggy, Don couldn't help but snap "Let's pretend for a minute that I'm not responsible for everything good that's ever happened to you." Really, it's not a good look.

 

I thought Peggy's departure came as a surprise. I knew she was struggling with her workload and lack of recognition, but I didn't think she'd exactly been impressing anyone either. This week, of course, she pulled out a piece of spontaneous impro copywriting, thus reminding us of her credentials just as she cashed them in.

 

I am slightly puzzled by the final shot of the episode though. We had another massive musical climax, with the Kinks' You Really Got Me kicking in as the credits fade up. This rush of rock'n'roll seemed significant, as if it was representative of all the exciting adventures yet to come for Peggy. It was even corroborated by Peggy herself, a previously pensive look slipping into a sly smile as she stepped into the lift (and not, presumably, the lift shaft).

 

But why? Why was she smiling? What was exciting about her departure? She'll get more money, she'll get a different title but surely it won't be any more creative? This ability that Peggy purportedly has, to make every ad campaign personal, will that really be encouraged in other places any more that is had been to this point? I wonder. And I wonder therefore whether her move was actually not about self-determination but about being wooed. She was made to feel wanted; to feel special. "First day of work ends with you and me at La Caravelle," says her suitor from Cutler, Gleeson and Chaough - and that was all she was looking for.

***

In the final contribution to the section marked "the systematic degradation of female Mad Men characters" we pass briefly over Megan. The Perfect One got a callback after an audition. This was exciting news for everyone. Less exciting for Don was the fact Megan chose not to tell him that, if she were to get the part, she'd be immediately pushing off to Boston for nigh-on three months to rehearse. Megan had chose to hold back on that particular piece of info and, after revealing it, accused Don of denying her dreams.

 

Other fantasies were to be dispelled at the callback, however, as Megan, dressed plainly and neatly, was instructed by her auditioners not to read her part, but give them a twirl. Advertising may be a wheeze for shifting product, but the acting trade is not quite as high-minded as Megan might have convinced herself.

 

Canny write up, but no mention at all of the bigger themes. It was the most blatant "issues" episode there's been with characters verging on the uncharacteristic to try and ram the point home. I think they got away with it like, everyone acting on self-interest.

 

Joan is the past, she used her sexuality to get something, and it wasn't anything close to equality, it was objectification and scant reward. She's still way below the men in the pecking order and scraping around to survive. They have her completely under control. The idea that she's won and was lording it over Peggy is ridiculous. Peggy's smirk was because she's the future. An independent, intelligent woman that has men fighting for her non-sexual services. Having spent the episode thinking Joan was the woman the Jaguar replaces, what all men want and can't have, having seen her be obtained by a fat salesman you realise Peggy's the one that the Jaguar is a replacement for ("you really got me, you got me so i don't know what I'm doing") Men can't fathom, control or subjugate her at all. Even a smoothy like Don.

 

Apologies for the OTT analysis.

 

It were great.

 

 

 

[Jill 0]

As it's now being shown from the start on one of the channels, I've started watching this. Only watched the first 2 episodes so far with another one on the planner to watch, but not sure if it's for me so far. Seems really slow moving, which isn't my thing. I don't necessarily dislike it, I just don't tend to enjoy shows that go on for ages without much happening. Is it worth persevering with? If it continues at this same rate I might just bow out, but if anything starts happening in the next few episodes I'll keep on with it.

[Gemmill 36059]

First series is slow as shit. Season 2 might be the same actually. There is a payoff if you stick with it though.

[Shane 3]

 

 

 

Canny write up, but no mention at all of the bigger themes. It was the most blatant "issues" episode there's been with characters verging on the uncharacteristic to try and ram the point home. I think they got away with it like, everyone acting on self-interest.

 

Joan is the past, she used her sexuality to get something, and it wasn't anything close to equality, it was objectification and scant reward. She's still way below the men in the pecking order and scraping around to survive. They have her completely under control. The idea that she's won and was lording it over Peggy is ridiculous. Peggy's smirk was because she's the future. An independent, intelligent woman that has men fighting for her non-sexual services. Having spent the episode thinking Joan was the woman the Jaguar replaces, what all men want and can't have, having seen her be obtained by a fat salesman you realise Peggy's the one that the Jaguar is a replacement for ("you really got me, you got me so i don't know what I'm doing") Men can't fathom, control or subjugate her at all. Even a smoothy like Don.

 

Apologies for the OTT analysis.

 

It were great.

 

 

 

 

Interestingly that whole analysis is completely off the mark once you see the remaining episodes of the series and the Kink's musical finale is more a lead to the coming evens than a reflection of all that has happened before.

 

btw all 5 series are slow burners, with unexpected shifts driving the story.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Shane

[Happy Face 29]

Interestingly that whole analysis is completely off the mark once you see the remaining episodes of the series and the Kink's musical finale is more a lead to the coming evens than a reflection of all that has happened before.

 

I've watched the remaining episodes. Not sure what you mean. Can you explain?

[Happy Face 29]

Back soon.

 

A couple of years ago Sloop recommended I watch The Century Of Self. It was an Adam Curtis series. At the time I watched the first episode and thought it was fascinating, but never got around to the other 3. Since then Curtis has had 'All watched over by Machines of loving grace' on the BBC too. I watched that at the time and raved about it on here but never linked it back to sloops recommendation. Over the weekend I was reading his blog (the most read blog on the BBC) which is as good as his films and I looked on YouTube and found Century of self again. I've been watching it from the start again and am struck at how much of an excellent companion it makes to Mad Men.

 

It looks at the world of psychotherapy, how it started on returning war vets (like Don) and blossomed into an industry used by governments and corporations to control the masses. Having been stuck by the similarity of the stories they tell I googled "History of Self Mad men" and (inevitibly) was linked back to a very interesting article Curtis wrote about Madison avenue when mad Men first started.

 

I'll not quote it because he deserves the hits on his blog and because there's video clips embedded that you should visit the site to see...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...son_avenue.html

 

And here is century of self....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7EwXmxpExw

 

Cheers Sloop