Mad Men s5e13: The Phantom
"Stop being demure, you're already on the bed!"
And here we are, another iconic season finale. Do people ever really change? Is that all there is? And so on. Will Roger drop acid with Marie? Will Peggy get her dolt copywriters to churn out good work at CGC? Will Pete get his existential dread in check? Can Don keep it in his pants? These are the days of our lives.
are you alone?? || image courtesy of RogerEbert.com
Turns out Beth is married to a total dick! Shocking, I know. Howard's taking her to the city for shock therapy, and Pete happens to be on their Manhattan-bound train. They have an illicit bangarang in a hotel room, and Pete manages to sneak in a visit to non-remembering Beth to drop some truth bombs.
"He got involved with another man's wife."
"Why did he do it?"
"Well, all the regular reasons, l guess.. He needed to let off some steam, he needed adventure, he needed to feel handsome again. He needed to feel that he knew something.. that all this ageing was worth something because he knew things young people didn't know yet. He probably thought it would be like having a few tall drinks and feeling very, very good. And then he'd go back to his life and say, 'that was nice.' When it went away, he was heartbroken. And then he realised everything he already had was not right either and that was why it had happened at all. And that his life with his family was some temporary bandage on a permanent wound.."
Let's be real, none of Pete's confession is breaking news. #thingsmensay and all that. What counts is that he's facing the truth about his own shit both openly and voluntarily; nobody backed him into a corner. It seems as if he's gone through his fancy bag o'Pete Campbell tricks; bitching, fantasising, banging around, pout-y resentful, etc etc.. and now there's fuckall left to do but admit that he has some heavy shit to confront. It's Pete Campbell conceding that he's super damaged and confused, and it's the most self-aware thing he's ever done on the show to this point.
Megan is floundering with her auditions, and seeks out Don's help to land a part in a Butler shoes commercial– he's inherently reticent to throw her name in the ring, though he wasn't bothered by the glaring nepotism of making her a copywriter at SCDP. And even though it sucks to tell her no, he has a point. You DO want to be someone's discovery, not somebody's wife. On top of that, her acting career also ain't on his terms which he can't quite grasp; that's what happens when you help someone. They succeed and move on.
at last the 2nd floor is real! || image courtesy of MadMenWiki
Completely rattled by his laughing gas ghost Adam dentist visit, Don fucks off to the movies where he runs into Peggy. Along with his earlier visit to Rebecca Pryce to deliver a postmortem check, Don is reminded of how effortlessly the people in his life can leave him in the dust at a moments' notice.
Both Rebecca and ghost Adam treat him with understandable hostility ("it's probably difficult for you to believe, but it was even more than $50,000 that already belonged to him, so don't leave here thinking that you've done anything for anyone but yourself" and "it's not your tooth that's rotten".. fucking hell), but Peggy shows him genuine kindness and interest. Not everyone bounces after all, Don.
images courtesy of Tumblr
While Don mulls over submitting Megan for the ad, I'm taken back to The Wheel. Looks familiar– here's Don Draper in a darkened conference room as a projector flickers images of the wife who's slowly but surely slipping away. But even though he never quite knew how to captivate Betty, in this instance he's able to give Megan exactly what she wants; even if it leaves him feeling a touch used and distant from her.
Maybe Don does that favour for Megan out of wanting to show kindness to someone close to him, unlike the way he pushed both Adam and Lane away with both hands. He's not great at being close to people out of straight up fear, but baby steps in the right direction can't hurt, even if it's not necessarily the right fix longterm. Popping Megan in for Butler has healed the problems in their marriage for the moment, that old temporary bandage on a permanent wound, but now Don will probs be on edge thinking that Megan will bounce like Peggy. The transactional nature of his band-aid scrubs some of the joy from their marriage, in the same way that Joan can no longer take a particular type of pleasure from fending off flirty advances at the office.
Don begins this season doting on Megan and unable to entertain the idea of stepping out; shit between them ain't perfect, but his visceral reaction to that fever dream says it all. And now, he ends this season walking off shrouded in shadows as Megan gains the spotlight in dazzling technicolour. Gimme an Old Fashioned.
image courtesy of Tom and Lorenzo
Even though Megan knows Don's Dick secret, she doesn't really know what he actually needs on any kind of deep level; it doesn't mean that she doesn't love him, more that she simply doesn't get the guy. He doesn't know what he wants, but he is wanting. Lane's suicide would of course have a profound impact upon Don for a few reasons, something she should have picked up on. And Don ain't blameless here either– he obvi has trouble understanding women and what they want and need in a relationship. Sure, they have clear chemistry, but is it sustainable in the day to day?
~Are you alone??~
Asking a truly isolated guy if he's alone, what a hoot.
Let's see if Don fucks it all straight to hell. And as always, thanks very much for reading! I'll resume with Season 6 reviews soon!
"You hate him because he voted for Goldwater." || image courtesy of Tumblr
Mad Men s5e9: Dark Shadows
"Don't wake me up and throw your failures in my face, it's Sunday, for Christ's sake!"
Hello, self-involved garbage– as Roger succinctly puts it in this episode, it's every man for himself. Betty gets insecure and stirs the pot with Sally re:Anna, Don clips talented Ginzo's wings, and Roger's doing God knows what with Jane.. they're just grabbing whatever they want in that moment, everyone else be damned.
image courtesy of Reddit
So, there's Don and his work mojo .. or lack thereof. Shockingly, turns out all his fucking off has left him real rusty. Heading in on a now-rare weekend, Don attempts to get some SnoBall shit done to no avail. On his way out, he glimpses Ginsberg's folder, overflowing with great ideas.
He's jealous of Ginzo's raw talent, and even though Don trashes Ginsberg's (better) SnoBall idea en route to the meeting so the client would favour his pitch instead, he hasn't won the war; this is just temporary satisfaction, a band-aid on some horrifying wound. The Michael Ginsberg looming talent threat persists, in spite of Don's cultivated façade of indifference.
Though Betty is actively trying to better herself and get on with it, it's one step forward and 2 gigantic steps back. At least Henry is a steady positive in her life.. and actually present for Thanksgiving with his family. Waiting to get the kids one weekend, Betty snags an accidentally intimate look at Don and Megan's lavish lifestyle on Park Avenue, and immediately feels intensely uncomfortable and insecure. Can you blame her?
Oof. That love note to Megan is probably the best writing Don's done in awhile. Seeing him being so outwardly kind, romantic and loving with someone else can't feel good for Betty.. especially after all the bullshit he put her through for years on end. But Bets, don't forget that appearances can be deceiving. Don didn't immediately land on his feet after the divorce, after all.. and shit's a damn mess on and off with Megan.
Every one of these characters experiences moments of great happiness tempered with terrible real life shit. Betty's life, though cushy from the outside, can be just bleak as we know Don's can be. It's all a real mixed bag; good shit happens, bad shit happens, just like Forrest Gump's Mama said. What matters is holding onto your humanity, keeping an eye on your moral compass .. which can be exceedingly difficult when life circumstances throw everything they've got at you. Gotta keep your shit together during times of adversity, which is harder than it looks.
In this case, Don's lie about his upbringing and being previously 'married' to Anna is a lie so big, so insurmountably massive to Betty. Sally's doing some busywork family tree for school, but to Betty, there's an exposed nerve there; it kicks up a whole bunch of bad vibes and negative feelings.
But when she's with Henry and living her day to day, Betty shows real flashes of insight, clearly absorbing the life advice from her Weight Watchers meetings. There's some understanding and personal growth, slowly unraveling why she feels the way she does about shit in order to get on with it. But Betty is also human; she really could not sustain this level of zen as she felt jealous and sad about Don's new life. Though this may be petty and absolute shit, it is relate-able and human.
Absolutely apoplectic that Betty casually mentioned Anna Draper to Sally, Don blasts towards the phone to give her an earful. Megan astutely tells him that's a bunch of shit, effectively putting him in his place; let her stir the pot, Don. One step forward, maybe. Megan ain't wrong.
Remember, bad behaviour is generally motivated by alienation and fear, irrational things that we all feel every now and then. Betty is natch capable of compassion and affection, but those behaviours fly in the faces of immaturity and selfishness.
And even though doing acid hasn't actually changed much of Roger's day to day, it's impacted how he deals with his own feelings as well as how he deals with the people around him. It's given him a touch of introspection and clarity. The morning after he and Jane have a bang in her now tainted Clean Slate(TM) apartment, he shows real remorse for brazenly hurting someone he once cared about a great deal. Think about this Roger versus the guy from a season or two back; he would have made some super sardonic quip and sauntered off about his business. There's some semblance of growth with Roger as Don and Betty backslide a little.
Thanksgiving 1966 brings a gigantic toxic cloud to descend upon Manhattan, a pretty literal vision of the negativity and selfish garbage floating around in this episode. Shit'll clear up soon, guys and gals.
"This is a setback. You're always thinking about other people, and then you're angry because no one's thinking about you.. But I am. It's so easy to blame our problems on others, but really we're in charge of ourselves. And I'm here to heIp you, as you're here to help me. We'll figure out what's next."