In the John Cheever story "The 5.48" a philandering Madison Avenue ad-man from Westchester County gets his comeuppance from a crazy woman he slept with and then completely forgot about. The TV series Mad Men takes place in the same time period and milieu as "The 5.48," and I've been dreading the appearance of a crazy lady with a gun since about episode 2. When Don Draper, the philandering ad exec who lives in Ossining, started seeing a nutty school teacher, I felt sure that this was how season 3 was going to end....
It didn't. Betty Draper, the enemy within, was the one who plunged the metaphorical knife, ostensibly because of Don's serial affairs with a bevy of brunettes, although it seemed to me that Mrs Draper decided to end their marriage more because she discovered he was poor white trash from West Virginia or thereabouts. She, of course, is a Main Line Bryn Mawr girl cut from the same cloth as Grace Kelly's character in High Society. And now that I think about it, I suspect that rather than following John Cheever as a model for future shows the writers of Mad Men will take us on a dance a bit like High Society (or the better original The Philadelphia Story) where Betty will have to choose between one of several suitors including her ex husband.
...
Most of the reviews I've read of Mad Men have raved about another brilliant season, but actually I think this series was weak and unfocused with a lot of non sequitur storylines and tangential plots. The secondary characters grew duller and were absent for much of the time. Did Kurt and Smitty have any lines at all this year? And I really missed Joan giving it the old boom shaka boom shaka boom round the office. At least we did get our weekly dose of Martian Pete Campbell trying desperately not to blow his human cover. Still, much of it was thin gruel. I wasn't impressed by the appearance of Conrad Hilton and I thought the manufactured fight between Roger and Don was pretty lame - Don really could do with a Moriarity but Roger isn't it. What saved season 3 for me was the strength of its final two episodes - last week's mournful riff on the Kennedy assassination and this week's exciting industrial espionage romp. Matthew Weiner has distilled Mad Men back to its essence and we're now literally in a small hotel room with all the main characters as they try to start a new company. Roger, Coop, Pete, Peggy and Joan allied with Don will make for good TV next go round.
29 comments:
I've never watched Mad Men but I should given so many friends of mine with like interests love it. (By the way, that Mad Men picture you posted is very provocative.)
Holden
Joan is one of my favourites on the show.
oh and er, spoiler alert...
Adrian, no problem with spoiler alert. I won't remember the details by the time I get to season 3 anyway -- my mind is like a sieve.
As much as I, too, would have hated the schoolteacher with a gun (or her brother coming back with a gun), the show could sometimes use a little more Cheever (or Updike) and a little less movie inspiration.
One of the things I really like about the show is what has consequences and how. (oh, spoiler alert and all that). Do you think it will ever come up again that Pete Cambpell raped the au pair girl?
It does seem like Betty was more upset about Don being white trash than the affairs.
Makes you wonder how she'll react when she finds out what a "fixer" for Governor Rockefeller really does...
Holden
I though season 2 went through a similar dip at the beginning but really picked up near the end.
John
I dont think Pete raped her as such, although he certainly didnt behave like a gentleman (or indeed as a human). I think Pete may have been one of the fore runners of the lizard aliens in the new V series - he's got those odd cold reptilian eyes.
A lot of things weren't followed up. I've never been in a writer's room but I always thought disciplined show runners kept extraneous plots and characters to a minimum. There was a sawn off shotgun approach to a lot of the plotlines in Mad Men this year which I didnt care for, but I thought they redeemed themselves with the last few episodes.
There may have been some issues in that writer's room.
John
That is a very odd story. She's his babysitter and gets promoted to head writer, wins an Emmy Award and then gets mysteriously fired. If I was Mrs Weiner I'd want to look into this.
The backstory in the writer's room actually seems a lot more interesting than anything I've seen on the show.
It gives the whole Peggy Olsen story a lot more resonance than it's had for me so far.
I don't know--maybe you had to come in on the series at the beginning to be wowed by it, but it all strikes me as a bit, well, mad.
Seana
No it is a good show. Especially season 1 where everyone was firing on all cylinders.
I like Mad Men and I watch every episode, but I wish it was better. It's show (like 30 Rock that people WANT to be good so much they bring more to it, and forgive it more, than most other shows.
We can claim it's all in the subtext, and maybe it is, but I don't really think it has, as The Sopranos might say, the flex.
Like you say, Adrian, it's sloppy about leving plotlines dangling, it inches towards things and then forgets about them and let's itself off the hook pretty easily.
I do like the way the Don and Betty relationship crumbled with no good guy, with everyone being kind of slimy and the baggage of their lives being too much for them to get over (on another blog people are talking about what Sally and Bobby are doing now - they're my age, so that's pretty interesting for me).
I also like the idea of using advertising - where everything is a fake front - as a vehicle for a guy with a hidden past.
It's my favourite show on TV and I wish there were more like that.
Next Sunday in the same timeslot on the same network will be the new version of The Prisoner. Should give us something to talk about, at least...
I think you've articulated pretty well what I feel about the show, John. Visually, it's stunning, you can't complain about the actors, and it's a great premise, but the storylines fail to convince.
My friends who watch it have a great interest in the children's perspective in the series too, as we are all of that era. But I don't find them particularly plausible either.
Thanks for the heads up on The Prisoner, by the way. It seems a dubious idea to remake it, but I'll give it a go.
John
Did you see that the Onion's AV club named Mad Men as one of their top ten shows of the decade? Its actually a good list apart from Lost.
Seana
I think the girl who plays Sally is actually pretty good.
Its strange though, I think the best episodes were the last 2 of seasons 1, 2 and 3.
Regarding the Onion's AV club choices: BBC's The Office is one of the best TV shows EVER. I also love The Sopranos, especially certain seasons, but feel way out of it because though I've heard of the rest of those shows, I've never watched any of them.
Friday Night Lights is about 10 spots too high on the Onion AV list. Excellent start to S4, Kyle Chandler is about twice as intense as last year.
Friday Night Lights has started already? I am so out of it.
Adrian, you're right the kid who plays Sally is good. It's just the feel of the family that doesn't feel quite right to me. Hard to pin point, and it may be that it just doesn't resonate with my life all that well. Of course, even the script says it's an unreal family in some ways.
I haven't seen the series through, but I'll catch up.
By higher I mean lower, of course, or whatever. Anyhow, God Bless DirectT V.
Somehow, I actually understood what you meant, Matt, even though I haven't actually seen the Onion list. But I'm still mad that FNL seems to have started at an odd point in the season without informing ME... I mean I'm a fan of Kyle Chandler's from way back. There should at least be some sort of email service...
Holden
Definitely second the office. I'm also pretty partial to Arrested Development on that list.
Matt
Still havent caught FNL yet. I will eventually though.
Seana
Follow the link on my reply to John and youll get the Onion list.
That's an interesting list The Onion has.
The Wire, The Sopranos (I would reverse the order of those two), Deadwood AND Freaks and Geeks and Arrested Development?
I often feel out of place with the cool kids when a show like Arrested Development wears off for me after a couple of episodes.
The top 4 TV shows of the last 10 years for me are:
* The Office (BBC)
* South Park
* Dexter
* The Sopranos
BBC's The Office is for sure number 1, but the ranking of the other 3 just depends on the season and/or episode.
Oh, wait, I forgot Curb Your Enthusiasm. It ranks up there.
John
I still havent seen much of The Wire. I've seen the odd episode and been very impressed, but I feel I should watch it from the start.
Holden
Yeah Curb can be very good.
Adrian, I think you should watch The Wire from the start.
The one my friends impress upon me to see is Deadwood. I don't know what my problem is.
I know everyone always cites the British Office as superior, and I do think it's excellent, but I like the American show about as well. I am in general not much of a laugh out louder--it's a defect--but I did laugh out loud at least twice and maybe more during last nights show. I don't remember why, but there is something about the sensibility of it that strikes me in that way.
I'm with John on Arrested Development as well. Clever, but the cleverness doesn't carry you the whole way.
There are a lot of show that I haven't seen, like The Shield, just because I didn't have access. My mom is actually the one who told me how great Freaks and Geeks was. What can I say? She's a continuous surprise.
Post a Comment