Mad Men Watch: His and Hers
SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, load up your Kodak Carousel and watch the Mad Men season finale.
There is something in people that loves persuasion, yet knows to fear it. Maybe that's why it's the devil's greatest power, not fire or magic. Eat this fruit. Cast yourself on these stones. And Don Draper: what a persuasive devil. That carousel speech--if there is any justice, it's Jon Hamm's Emmy clip--was not just a sales pitch. It was a display of emotional weaponry. "It's not called a wheel. It's called a carousel. ... It's not a spaceship. It's a time machine. ... It lets us travel the way a child travels. Round and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved." Damn. Not many shows could have gotten away with having one of their own characters moved to tears by the speech, as Harry was, but Don (and Hamm) obviously knocked it out of the park.
But just as the showmaker's children go barefoot, the persuader's wife goes unpersuaded. Betty finally voiced her suspicions about Don, but while Francine's cheating husband and Don's secret calls to her shrink helped push her, it was Don's own words that sealed the deal: "Who knows why people do what they do?" That's basically Don's self-exculpatory philosophy of life, and, as a response to Francine's story--and Betty's implied cry for reassurance--it made a pretty lousy sales pitch.
Betty's response was marvelously handled, from sending a message to Don through her treacherous psychiatrist to her breakdown in from of Helen's son in the parking lot. People have been describing Betty as "childlike" emotionally, both because of her connection with Helen's boy and, maybe, because they too easily agreed with the doctor's assessment of her. But the parking-lot scene, contrasting her with an actual child, showed that that's an oversimplification. Betty wishes she could be a child, wishes she could wipe the slate clean, and doesn't feel she has anyone to talk to in the compromised world of adults, but she's too far gone to see the world the way Glen does. (Speaking of which, his inarticulate dialogue, trying to keep up in a conversation that he knows is over his head, is perfect, reminding us what a child he really is: "I don't really know how long 20 minutes is.")
So Betty isn't convinced by Don. But Don is, hearing in his own sales spiel and seeing in his family photos what he won't hear from his wife: "He doesn't know what family is." He heads home on the train, with the desperate fantasy of swooping in and coming along on the Thanksgiving trip at the last minute. Instead, this fantastic season ends quietly, with Don sitting at the foot of the stairs--the site of his first flashback to his childhood--alone, the persuader persuaded, just a little too late.
Well, the season ended quietly for Don. For Peggy--wow. It started with a bang and ended with a wail.
Let's save the baby bombshell for last. First: how amazing was she finding her voice and her confidence in that recording booth? A dog playing the piano indeed: She banged out Rachmaninoff's Third there. One of the many beauties of this story is that, even though Peggy is clearly and realistically fighting to make it in a man's world, Matthew Weiner hasn't made her into a feminist saint. What she demonstrated--in her first assignment and here, brutally managing the voice talent--is that she can manipulate her own gender better than the boys can. (Incidentally: anyone think they're foreshadowing a future relationship with Ken Cosgrove?)
So she proves herself by preying on another woman's insecurity. So she moves up in the company partly because Don wants to stick it to Pete by putting her on the Clearasil account (which Pete's daddy-in-law gave him as a stud fee). So what? Saving the world and womankind is great, but it's hard enough sometimes to save yourself. And when Don handed Peggy her promotion to junior copywriter, it was a fist-pumping, thrilling moment, because we were cheering, not just for some abstract historical-social justice, but for Peggy, a flawed person we've come to love. Because that's the kind of show this is.
And then a baby. A baby! I watched the episode twice. The first time, I thought this was a huge mistake. The second time I didn't, but I still wonder if it could have been handled better. I mean, it certainly explained the foreshadowing weight gain. It raised the dramatic stakes and will give Peggy one more hard choice to make just as she's gotten what she wanted at work. If Mad Men is, in part, a show about the past that's about today, this is about as stark an example of the "work-life balance" issue as you can get. And it definitely makes me all the more anxious to see season two.
Still, couldn't they have achieved the same thing by having Peggy find out she was a few months pregnant? You'd still have the obvious, creepy connection back to Pete. (I don't recall when their couch hookup was, but certainly Weiner could have engineered the timeline to make it work.) You'd still have her newly promoted, facing the decision of whether to keep it. (Although, please God, I hope this wasn't yet another example of a TV show doing anything to avoid a woman character having an abortion. I expect better of Mad Men.) You have the same stakes and drama, without a Ripley's Believe It or Not twist to knock us out of the story.
Before you say it: Yes, I know has really happened. (Often, it seems to women far bigger than Peggy.) I'm not a doctor, but I've Googled some examples. But you know what? Lots of things "have really happened." It's a big world and mankind is two million years old. The fact is that, on top of Don's fortuitous combat identity switch, this is maybe one possible-but-freakish event too many. Put it another way: while I have no doubt that it was entirely medically possible, having to think about that--wondering about Peggy's menstrual cycle, her contraception, her weight gain, whether she would ever have felt a fetus kicking--gets me thinking like Peggy's OB/GYN instead of thinking about Peggy the person, and I don't see, as they say in the ad biz, the benefit.
That said, this episode, and this season, and Elisabeth Moss's performance, have all been so great that I doubt this will bother me for long. There's a baby now, a parallel to Don, the "baby in a basket" (maybe she'll name it Moses!) and I can't wait to see what happens next.
And you know, it's an appropriate enough metaphor for this show. It came out of nowhere from AMC, when nobody knew to expect it--"It's not possible!"--fully formed and kicking, a strange and surprising new creature. I'm keeping it.
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1
Really enjoy this show, but more for the supporting cast than for Don Draper. Every character is interesting, with something to like about each. But Draper is just a cold fish. Even Tony Soprano showed more warmth and concern for his family than this guy does!
Loved that Peggy was promoted to junior copywriter, hated the baby part. I hope this doesn't follow soap-opera fashion and have Pete and his wife adopt the baby, not knowing it's Pete's.
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2
The thing about the baby is that I feel like it removed a lot of tension for Peggy. She didn't have to debate what to do, she didn't have to consult Joan about abortions, she didn't have to freak out that people would notice. She just gets this baby that no one ever realized existed, and seemingly gets to give it up for adoption. Not a hard choice as she seemingly never knew about the baby. I think the show has to do more than that, as why write in a baby if that's the resolution, but for now it seems like a very hollow story.
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3
The show is built on denial. It was poetic, I think, that as Don and Betty were facing up to what they had been denying - Betty, the fact that Don was cheating; Don, his need for family - so it went with Peggy.
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4
The good news for the show creators is that I will spend the next year pondering the plausibility of the baby storyline.
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5
I watched this show on demand after so many raved about it. I think this show is brilliant but I don't know how I ended up feeling about it at all. Every episode I didn't connect emotionally with the characters but every character on Mad Men is so completely drawn that I saw them as real people. This show is like a car wreck of humanity that I can't turn away from.
Betty last night was a perfect example. Who talks with a child like that? How broken is this woman? The first time she babysat that kid I figured he was the creepy one and was totally on her side slapping Helen. This time, maybe it's the idea of someone talking to my kid like that, I wanted to slap some sense into her.
And the games people play. It's like there's no reality in the core characters lives at all. They live inside themseleves so much and don't connect, then they wonder why they're so unhappy.
Anyway, this got way to long and self-involved. I have nothing brilliant to say beyond great job to all involved. Watching Mad Men was like reading a book, something by Tolstoy. Or watching a play. The world seems so closed off and contained. Maybe 'cause I was born in '80 and I have no point of refernce to this time. But I enjoyed this show a lot.
I hope it gets a second season. First time I watched AMC since they went commercial.
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6
One of the many beauties of this story is that, even though Peggy is clearly and realistically fighting to make it in a man's world, Matthew Weiner hasn't made her into a feminist saint... And when Don handed Peggy her promotion to junior copywriter, it was a fist-pumping, thrilling moment, because we were cheering, not just for some abstract historical-social justice, but for Peggy, a flawed person we've come to love.
Most feminists aren't fighting for "some abstract historical-social justice." They are doing exactly what Peggy is doing: simply trying to survive in a world that sees them as less than. I'm not sure if you are commenting on the high quality of the show's writing in specific, or the poor portrayal of progressive movements on other television shows in general.
I liked the baby that just popped out. It was so cute! I would have held it. I didn't see it coming out of nowhere. Miracle babies do occur in the real world, and the writers worked it into Peggy's story of sex and weight gain. It's more plausible than many of the plotlines of comparable dramatic series on other networks.
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7
Ugh. Really enjoyed the last few episodes, and then the baby just yanked the rug out from under me. The weight gain being due to pregnancy was pretty predictable for quite a few episodes (even tho they never hinted at missed periods or morning sickness or anything else that Peggy likely would have experienced), but to have her discover her pregnancy and then deliver the baby, all in 5 or 10 minutes? I just felt very let down by that. It was very Grey's Anatomy, and that is not a compliment. Of course, if it was Grey's, her labor would have been triggered by the Relaxiciser.
On the other hand, I'm relieved that we won't have to see the fat prosthetics and makeup on Elisabeth Moss anymore. Let's get her back in West Wing shape.
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8
Not happy with the baby scenario myself either. However, that Kodak Carousel scene will be remembered as one of the all-time classic TV scenes (although as a graphic artist, I disagree with the actual "Carousel" font and rendering they chose for the ad...more 90's 3-D than 1960 to me) As for Draper being a cold fish, I think Hamm is channeling some heavy Rod Serling energy and he's perfect to me! Awesome performances by the whole cast.
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9
When I was a teenager, a woman my mom worked with had an "unknown" baby. For years we talked and laughed about it.."How did she not know!!!" So I have experience with it happening. James I agree with your read of this, babies as plot device are always sketchy, but in the end I liked how they navigated this.
I am predicting that next season we will see a story line where Pete & wife have trouble concieving, and us viewwers will have this special knowledge that Pete's baby exists in the world somewhere...
I am upset and relieved that we have to wait intil summer 08 for season two. The greedy side wants more, more, more but I see a year of writing and production paying off big....
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10
If you read from a variety of blogs about this show, and read the reviews of the finale from media folks, you can't come away without unrestrained respect for this new show. In the blogs, over and over again writers dig deep into the characters and their complex motivations, and everybody seems to have their favorite archtype. The women are especially strongly drawn, like them or not. For me in the finale, Betty went to the front of the line, from a woman on the verge of a mental breakdown to one at the chasm of self-awareness in terms of understanding and resenting her husband, the very complicated (is he weak, is he strong?) Don. Try reading some of the reviews from this one or Tim Goodman or Alan Sepinwall, and you quickly get the idea that it isn't only the viewers that have become enamored with this show, despite individual criticisms with certain plot twists (Don, Sterling, Betty, Peggy, Pete). Check out amctv.com for hundreds of comments from bloggers, some pretty pedestrian, but a surprising number of fairly sophisticated appraisals. The actors and writers and producers of this show have a right to feel proud of their work. And it will most probably pay off at Emmy time. Bravo!
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11
The actors and writers and producers of this show have a right to feel proud of their work. And it will most probably pay off at Emmy time. Bravo!
I think you mean, AMC!
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12
man, i love this show... its so brilliant. but whos the father of peggy's baby?
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13
Carol, why would you even remark that Pete and his wife would adopt Peggy's baby?
NYC is a big city, it even was in 1960 (which is the year of my birth in that city, btw) and there are lots of families looking for a child.
I don't even remember Pete's wife talking about a baby.
What I wish is that Peggy would take this forward with her and become more of an feminist activist I'm hoping that's the direction we take in season two.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 2 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 3 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 4 hours ago
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