Change the conversation: Mark unpacks Mad Men season 7
One thing that disappointed me about the commentary surrounding Time Zones was a general unwillingness on behalf of most critics to get stuck into not just Freddy's pitch but the first scene generally. I understood why well enough, it was a depressing episode and seasoned fans have been well trained to mistrust the surface glamour of Mad Men's premiers, which in the normal course of things turns to crap after the first half hour. But in the end that didn't cut it for me, for two reasons. Firstly, because the opening pitch so often serves as the key to unlocking a season's trajectory, and secondly, because Freddy's first words, a confident and joyous starting gun on a gloomy story, were designed to nag.
"I want you to listen carefully. This is the beginning of something."
The idea that these words heralded the beginning of the final season and nothing else seemed unlikely. Because, come on everyone, this is the final season. Every detail is important.
Initially the main effect of this nagging, this jarringly incongruous celebratory voice echoing across the ruins cheering the new day, was to force me to re-evaluate many of the scenes and plot beats most reviewers took for granted were evidence that things will never go right for Don. Then it got me thinking about the downward spiral of the season more generally, eventually concluding that this, like Don's descent in six which led to that beautiful final scene, was probably a good thing too. I was listening, I was paying attention, and it occurred to me that the Something Terrible Don drew down with that first ad pitch in The Doorway probably wasn't through with him yet. Megan leaving him to pursue her career in California and his getting fired was only the start of it. Things needed to get about as bad as they could before the pendulum would swing the other way.
Quite simply, I realised this season is about nothing less than the destruction of Don Draper.
How marvellous!
Posted by amypoodle
Filed in Mad Men, Uncategorized
Tags: A Day's Work, Dick Whitman, Don Draper, Frank Bullit, Freddy Rumsen's pitch, If you don't like what they're saying about you change the conversation, It's not a time piece it's a conversation piece, It's time for a conversation, Mad Men, Mad Men season seven, Peggy Olsen, Steve McQueen, the death of Don Draper, The Runaways, Time Zones