Thoughts on Mad Men 507 At The Codfish Ball…

Looks like this week Weiner didn’t partake in the writing credit to this week’s episode, which would make the first time in 6 weeks that’s hasn’t happened.  No matter, it was still well crafted and had so much drama that time literally flew by for me as I watched it.

Best Lines of the Night:

Emile (Megan’s Dad):  “And someday, your little girl will spread her legs, and fly away.”

Megan:  Wings, daddy.

Glenn: “So, how do you like the city?”

Sally:  “It’s dirty.”

Best Scenes:

1.  Roger getting a blowjob by Marie.  Now it kind of begs the question, is the person sucking on a popsicle or some other device to get the action right?  If it really was done by guest actress Julia Ormond, she once again jumps a few notches in my book.

2.  The 5-shot where Emile, Marie, Megan, Don and Sally, just staring off into space.  None of them expected what would happen by the end of the night, and seemed a perfect way to cap off the episode.

Overall, it’s funny how this week’s episode kind of dealt with “expectations,” or the lack thereof.  What we perceive for Don to receive such a high honor was just smoke and mirrors.  After all, just because they love you today doesn’t mean they’ll be with you tomorrow.  It also gives a hint that rough roads are still ahead, since every company either depends on new business, or continued business relations in order to keep the money flowing in.  Don didn’t just set his bridges on fire — he kind of blew up ones he never knew he’d ever make, and that could be a very dangerous thing in a business where referrals are key.

From the outset, it seemed that Megan’s folks have lead an estranged and struggling marriage, one in fact that dabbles in double-cross and double-dipping:  Emile with this apparent affair with a grad student, and of course, who can forget Marie’s tryst of “find the salami” in Roger’s pants.  It’s a relationship that has survived through mutual disgust and grown hatred, which ironically Don is trying to get away from since having survived a toxic marriage himself.  Poor Megan, she just wants to make her way in the world, and her father spends his time and comments chiding her — why have you given up on your dreams?  The line where Emile says that Megan has skipped passed the struggle and onto the riches couldn’t be far from the truth — Megan is working hard, albeit the elephant in the room will always be the fact that she is sleeping with the boss, and that you can’t shake off so easily.  I guess even Megan herself acknowledges this when they’re back at the office doing their victory laps over Heinz — she should be the happiest person in the world, yet she doubts herself because it might have been all too easy for her, in her view.

Speaking of views, the subplot of Peggy and Abe moving in together was also an event that shook Peggy’s faith in having love and happiness.  Though Joan shouldn’t be shilling advice on love and signs, she nonetheless supports the optimism that Peggy needs.  Joan’s own marriage has gone to complete shit, and I think she’s currently living vicariously through Peggy ’cause there’s even a glimmer of a chance that Peggy could be headed down a road that is a better path than hers.  It’s almost as if Peggy herself is trying to make the best of things with Abe, since Abe didn’t really propose, but in fact, proposed an idea that Peggy herself didn’t seem that all objectionable to.  I think she really sees a future where she could be with this guy, despite the fact that her mother basically shit on the whole idea of them moving in together because she feels that Abe is just doing this for the “practice.”  But in fact, isn’t all love about risk and reward and failure?  If that’s the case, Peggy at least gives it a shot instead of getting a cat.

Now let’s not forget Sally — a girl on the verge of becoming a woman, she saw something that night that she won’t be able to forget for the rest of her life.  It was a moment where she wants to be grown up, but given a glimpse of the depravity and exploitation of motives, she might still relish her years as a budding teenager still.  Out of the chaos does come order, and could Glenn actually be the most normal thing in her life?  I think we’ve established that Glenn and Sally are in each other lives, and to have someone go with you on the same journey through adolescence could be a blessing.  No man is an island, and children know to form island chains when possible.

On a side note, seeing Mona again after such a long absence was also refreshing.  Instead of hate and utter disgust for the man that dumped her after almost 20 years of marriage, she herself has since become a divorcee with a life, that in which Roger still foots the bill and for she can still bat around once in awhile.  Would Roger be willing to go back to his first wifey?  Eh, probably not.  I’m not exactly sure if his tryst with Marie is going to be a one time thing (secretly, I’d love to see Julia Ormond come back on the show).

I guess what I take from the episode is that although we have perceptions and dreams, the outcomes are usually what make us or break us.  Expectations can be raised and met with joy, or sunken in and plundered by others.  We can try to see what else life has out there, or take what’s right in front of us.  Therefore, destiny by design is probably the most powerful force in our lives, one in which “some things never change.”…

Thoughts on Mad Men 506 Far Away Places…

Is it just me, or is Matthew Weiner all over the writing this season?  I remember previous seasons where he might come in on the story construction part, but it seems this year he’s helping to write almost everything that goes on-screen.  Is this a trend that’s going to keep up, or something unique to the fact that they had such a long hiatus this time around?  A polish of a polish is almost unheard of this day and age, but if Mad Men can handle it, it kind of makes everyone step up their game a bit.  Series Creators usually write the premiere and ending episodes of a season, so this might get others to try writing more.  But other creators usually have to write for Network, and network requires a lot more episodes so that could cause some burnout pretty fast.  The club of Michael J. Strysinski, Aaron Sorkin and Matthew Weiner is a very, very exclusive one.

This week’s character study gave us Peggy, Roger and Don — always a great combination.  Most seasons will have at least one episode where it all takes place in the span of a day within three different perspectives, and this one is definitely better than the one  in Season 2, which I guess kinda started rolling the ball on this type of episode style.  Anyway, here’s what I thought was neat and worked:

Peggy:  You’re Great At Telling Me What You Don’t Want

The balance between relationships, work and authority continue to elude the great Ms. Olsen, and as we can tell in this story, she’s kind of reaching the vertical limit on her work with Heinz, which then in turn puts stress on everything else in her life.

The argument with her boyfriend was almost about nothing, but it seems that the only way Peggy knows how to love is to put everything on the line.  Her ultimatum of if you don’t love me then leave me is something we’ve seen throughout the series — as we all know that she might need sex once in awhile, but she can’t live without the work (we’ll circle back to the sex in a minute).

The confrontation with the Heinz guy has been a long time coming.  Ever since the dancing beans fiasco, she’s starting to take the rejection of her work personally.  First of all, Don is not there to back her up and two, her ideas are great but they are without charm.  The Heinz guy then admits that he’ll stop bitching about this when they finally understand what he wants — but how can she?  I really don’t thing that guy knows either, but it’s Creative’s job to crack that nut.  Although Peggy has come far, she still has a way to go when it comes to persuasion of a good idea — which would be a good time for Don to step in and show her how.  Even Cosgrove tried to smooth things over, to which I think if he was part of creative, he might have had the solution by now.

The movie theater scene once again proves that Peggy continues to take bad habits from Don.  Kudos to the D.P. for figuring out an angle where we see Peggy’s arm move up and down without showing the actual “act.”  I guess that’s why there was an extra parental discretion logo before the episode aired.  You see, this is how she relieves stress — when you go big or go home, sometimes that applies to how you deal with setbacks.  She’s taking what is stereotypically a male action and making it her own.  She’s becoming a female lothario that engages in bad behavior so long as she can get away with it.  Sigh, I always feel bad for the boyfriend because he’s really holding on to a wing and a prayer here.

Finding out more about Greenberg was great, as his response to about being from Mars was almost as believable as his being born during the Holocaust — which is also probably not far from the truth.  And we all know that the characters with the biggest skeletons in their closet make for the most interesting on this show.

And in the end, Peggy still shares this with the boyfriend — which means that she wants to fool around like a man, but be held like a woman.  Can she really have her cake and eat it too?  Probably not.  Tragedy is just a part of Peggy Olsen’s story…

Roger: So You Want The Truth, or Just The Truth?

Roger has been unhappy since last season when he realized that even though you marry the hottest piece of ass in the world, at the end of the day, if there’s no love, there’s nothing.  So Roger has been floating around work, floating around his marriage, and the death nail couldn’t been sweeter than with his LSD trip with Jane and her mates.  I think the beginning of the scene was supposed to be stodgy just to put the viewer in a start of boredom right before the acid trip happens.  The musical whiskey bottle and the shortened cigarette were seriously hilarious.

It’s ironic that it would take such a surreal trip to get them to the truth — that their marriage is failure at best, and shambles in the worst.  Powerful drugs can bring out powerful revelations, and although Jane even admits that this divorce is gonna cost a pretty penny, Roger seems resigned and, dare I say it, relieved to be going through with it.  So, will this be the opening he needs to get back together with Joan? Hmmm…

Don:  Come for the Sherbert, Stay For The Misery

Now of course, Don gets the juiciest part of the trilogy because his phone call appearance in the Peggy scenario seemed to point to something dire happening, which makes you wonder what the heck happened on the way to that Howard Johnsons.  For the most part, Don has been putting on airs and shit-eating grins for alot of the season so far, so it was kind of refreshing to see him smile about something so inane as Orange sherbert — apparently, that’s like his thing.

This part of the episode also addressed another conundrum that has been plaguing him and Megan — when does Megan act as the wife and when is she just another employee?  Don continues to treat her like her job is a hobby, whereas Megan genuinely wants to be working (which is actually quite comical since every other woman on Mad Men would rather be doing nothing).  Although Don is all for equality, he’s still kind of backward in the sense that he’d rather have Megan on his beck and call than anything else, which after the fight they had at the Motel, seems to show that they are on two different courses entirely.

Now, the freakout he has when he can’t find her then brings us back into his corner because we do think the worst has happened, or could have happened, and if it were me, I would be going supernova.  But apparently he still had hope since he drove all the back to Manhattan only to find Megan had come home from a fairly long bus ride.  The micro-flashback he has in the car with Megan and Sally showed an earlier time when he thought the course of his life, metaphorically and physically, was going in the right direction.  Could he have been wrong?  Did he not have everything he wanted now?

Although Megan and Don reconcile in the apartment, after a ridiculous chase around the flat with the only victim being the bed lamp that smashed on the ground, it still seems that they are still on shaky ground with one another, and what they both want from this relationship.  It’s a match made in relative convenience, and they could be heading toward a destination the neither of them was prepared to go.

The overall theme of this episode seemed to show that idea of “purpose” — what are we to do with our lives?  How do we deal with things that don’t go our way?  And, is there a chance that we could be wrong.

Now going back to Weiner being part of the scripting this season — the final scene with Cooper and Don in the Meeting room also kind of reflected a sense of art imitating life.  I’m not saying that the quality of the show has dimmed, but it has been certainly better with Weiner also on the reins of this crazy ride this season.  Could Cooper telling Don to get back in the game be what people are telling Weiner to do to?  It’s easy to get complacent and expect the best from your team, but the leader also has to be there too.  Anyway, I might be reading too much into it, but that’s where my mind headed by the end of the episode.

It’s always the grandest pleasure to have drama and stakes to be high without it being shoved down my throat, and Mad Men serves it up like Orange sherbert — tart, melting, with a tinge of taste that makes you beg for another big spoonful…

P.S.  Marie spoke English this entire time?  Incredible!

 

 

My Thoughts On Mad Men 505 “Signal 30″…

Another week, and another amazing character study — correct that, character studies with some of our favorite periphery characters.  Although Don is always the central draw, this episode gave a lot of attention to the other cogs at SCDP, and when they do it’s always refreshing.  This week’s episode seemed to center around Pete, Ken and Lane, to which it could easily said that they didn’t really have the best of weeks.  But as always, conflict makes for great television, so let’s dive right in.

Pete Campbell:  My Life Is “Dripping” Away

Pete’s arc was the most complex I’ve seen in a long time.  Wrought with literal and metaphorical meaning, it seemed to show through in the metaphor of the “drip”.  The episode starts with him unable to sleep because of a drip in the kitchen.  He fixes the problem, and thinks that it’s gone away.  However, when everyone was over for Saturday night dinner party, the faucet sprung the leak, in which Don the super hero had to step in and save the day.  On the surface, it seems utterly innocuous, but to Pete, it showed that he was not completely a master of his domain.  It was a persistent problem, and also seemed to show through everything else he did in the episode.

Another problem he has is his continuing “wandering eye.”  Whether it be the sexual attraction to a young teenage girl, or to have his way with a vivacious prostitute, Pete has an insatiable appetite for sex outside the marriage because he continues to feel trapped in the world that he himself has created.  This is not the first time we’ve seen Pete cheat on Trudy, but this was the first time we saw judgement in Don’s eyes because of it.  Also, the fact that Don didn’t partake in the “festivities” shows that his restraint is getting better, or, more likely, Megan continues to fulfill his every need up to a T.  Pete losing out to the younger teenager only made his tragedy sweeter — he is no longer the young man he used to be, as he is starting to see that growing old and setting into a pattern is what people getting older do.

Back to patterns:  Pete, as an account man, knows that sometimes to get the job done you’ve got to get a little dirty, and getting Lane’s friend a prostitute was just par for the course.  However, he didn’t expect it all to backfire when Lane’s friend confessed everything to his wife, who then confessed to Lane’s wife, and the rest is history.  Pete is cocksure in his sense of what he does is right because it has always worked, but he has never foreseen the idea of what if when the plan ever fails.  Because of this, Lane cleaned his clock, and Roger, Cooper and Don had front row seats to a full-on, nerd-vs-nerd fist fight.  Did Pete deserve it?  Probably.  But so did everyone else in the room, so they all got off easier than Pete.

The final scene where Pete is still watching the driving school films and we hear the “drips” in his head — that was a real classic moment.  Somehow, I don’t think he’s going to be able to fix the tap that’s surely broken in his head.

Lane Pryce:  Loves His Football, Fights Like A Jaguar

This episode also explored something that has been hinted at for awhile:  What “Is” his role at SCDP?  Sure, he’s the CFO, a partner and someone who is important, but I think his character feels that if he was able to get the Jaguar account himself, it would give him a bit more self-worth in what he was doing.

Now, even with all the coaching Roger gave him, Lane still couldn’t close the deal.  Why?  Because he’s not an account man!  Being the guy that butter’s the ego of a client was never in his wheelhouse, and for that, he should have known better than to try.  But I can see that he though he might have had a shot because his fellow compatriot was also from England, but of course, that was all that they had in common.

It wasn’t even as if Lane was all that upset about his friend wanting to fool around as much as losing the account — For Lane, he was mad because he deplored the methods that are usually employed by account men.  He himself holds to a higher standard.  Of course, Lane has some sizeable skeletons himself, but in the heat of the moment, all he could focus on was the rage he had for Pete for having taken things thus far.  The real culprit was Lane’s friend — you never leave evidence of a tryst, even if it’s gum stuck to your ding-dong.  But I will admit, it was awesome to see Lane beating the crap out of Pete, even if that seemed to go a bit too far.

And when Lane kissed Joan in the spur of the moment, it only reinforced the fact that he’s not really that great a guy — well, not by much.  But there is hope that he can be, this time around.  But around this lot, he’s practically a saint.

Ken Cosgrove:  Accounts By Day,  Writing Sci-Fi Accounts By Night

Now, this arc has always been around since Season 1, but to have it reiterated made it a point that Ken has never really stopped dreaming.  Although we’ve come a long way from he and Kinsey’s literary rivalry, it seems that Ken has only gotten better, writing stories that were probably ahead of his time, but probably something that’d be turned into a SyFy movie of the week by today’s standards.

When Ken confesses to Peggy about the literary meeting, it showed that Ken really has a passion for this, even though he thought it would have been dismissed as a fad.  Even his wife Cynthia is proud of him, although he’d rather just keep this writing thing on the D.L. but hey, she’s gonna blurt it out amongst friends — who, well, end up telling other people anyway (as Pete was probably the one that blathed about it to Roger).  And when Roger confronts Ken, it’s almost like Roger is imposing his will of what can and can’t be done around the office.

Of course, even though it seems that he’s given up, we are left with a final scene showing us that Ken continues to defy them all, by even continuing to write with another pen name (if I have read that scene correctly), and this time, it was an allegory about Pete himself, and the metaphor of dominion and control as the central theme to his next masterpiece.  I think Ken’s secrets are only going to get buried deeper and deeper, and he’ll probably never tell anyone he’s still writing ever again.  At least not to any more of his co-workers.

In all, this episode explored a lot of what goes into what we perceive as self-worth, and self-value in what we are trying to do.  Whether it’s trying to fix a sink, land an account, or nail down a literary contract, to strive to be more than what we’re worth, isn’t that all we can really ask for?  I mean, what do we really leave behind, besides just our bones?

Again, great job this week Mad Men.  Oh, I think it also helps that Weiner is leaving his fingerprints all over the place this season…

Anyone Else Glad The N. Korean Rocket Failed?…

I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous when I first heard about it. But then I realized that a country that redefines the definition of “backwards” was trying this, it gave me a moment of pause — they can’t even keep the lights on at night. Their laptops make our speak-and-spells look like supercomputers. And it’s not uncommon to get cataracts at 25 over there. And they want to launch a rocket?

Unabashed patriotism and nationalism can only get you so far. The dog, as they say, has to hunt. I’m sure the grand leaders and others higher up are trying to spin this — it’s because of Western voodoo that caused the rocket to burst! Blame it on the winds blowing from South Korea! The great people of North Korea didn’t “will” it enough to happen!

The only thing better is if it all happened on Friday the 13th…

The Pros and Cons of OCD…

Pros:

1. There’s almost never a mistake that you’ve made that you didn’t catch and or fix before it became a full blown catastrophy.
2. You always remember where you last left your car keys.
3. Everything you do almost feels like you’ve looked it away in an emotional Rolodex.
4. Important pieces of info like you’re driver’s license, SS, and passwords to hundreds of things is permanently tattooed into your brain.
5. You almost never owe anyone money. Except when you do, and you remember exactly how much

Cons:

1. You’re stuck being ridonkulous because you’re worried that you’ve left the garage door open when you’ve already checked it a few times.
2. Also, the stove — you think the stove might have been left on.
3. You second-guess everything you do because you feel like checking it three times is the magic number
4. You fret over tiny things like where the hell my carkeys are if you don’t feel them right away in your pocket.
5. You have rituals for EVERYTHING.

Believe me, living with this and having a name to call it is both a blessing and a curse. It’s like a could get treatment, but it would mean lobotomizing a part of my personality. I just couldn’t imagine a day where I was care-free and free from worry ALL THE TIME. It’s ironic, I know. The prison is also my key to freedom because of precision.

God maybe, I should just move to Barbados…

5 Things You Need To Stop Facebook Updating…

1. How “hot” the club is. If I want to be surrounded by drunk people and loud music, I could just stop by my Uncle’s Friday night poker game. The fact that you haven’t shattered your phone into a million pieces typing this nugget of life up is a miracle in and of itself. You’re out, you’re tipsy, you’re ready to make some bad decisions — I’m just not ready to hear about it.

2. What your pets are up to. If they do something cute once in awhile, awesome, just take a photo and send it on it’s way. However, unless your cat learned to flush a toilet or your dog has learned to juggle, please keep this news to a minimum. I don’t want to hear how bad they’re feeling, or why they won’t eat something — this is stuff you can just journal.

3. People stressed out about finals and exams. Yeah, we’ve all been there. Life is a test, everything is a test. You’re gonna pass, so you don’t need me and God to get you through. Besides, put down the Facebook and study and you should do just fine.

4. How “boring” something is. Really? That’s the best you can come up with? Two boring observations in a row don’t make one exciting moment. This is filed under “who really gives a shit”.

5. Responding to well-wishers about something that is happening to you that you have not explained to everyone. Did you almost die? Is someone about to die? Did you accidentally kill someone? What is it? Just send those messages in private to those that care.

I just think we can all do a little better when we status update — it’s all about sharing our favorite moments, or things that make us feel. Try something clever. I might like it, or hate it.

But I’ll always be coming back…

Mad Men 504 “Mystery Date”…

Wow, tonight’s episode featured neo-noir, suspense, hyper-surreality, blackmail and a dude that won’t admit that he’d rather be around death and uncertainty than be a family man. So what worked for me?

1. Sally, her Step-Grandma and a bigass knife — the thread of the killer and the 9 victims was a great touch that affected different parts of the episode. And when Sally’s curiosity got the better of her, to turn to Step-grandma was a change in direction I didn’t expect. And to have Grandma Francis break it down to Sally like that, well, that showed that Sally might have found the mother figure she has always been looking for. And ain’t nobody gonna get between Sally and Grandma as long as Grandmas got the big ass knife.

2. Don and the, uh, dead ex-lover? — Now this one tripped me out in a good way. Did he or didn’t he? And with Megan keeping both eyes on him at all times really got buried into his psyche. What worked was you knew he was really sick, but at the same time, they went as far as showing Don choking out his Vogue-buddy in such graphic detail that you’re still left wondering if this really is a hallucination. It also kind of went along with the “darkness in all men” motif that was spread around the episode, so even after the big reveal, you’re still questioning reality. In another way, Don choking out his ex-lover metaphorically is like he’s trying to figuratively destroy that part of his personality, that lustful part of him that gets him in trouble. But then again, that doesn’t explain why he would still have sex with his hallucination first, so my theories only hold some water.

3. Greg choosing war over family — now this part of the episode really put an end to an arc that’s been going since Season 3. Joan and Greg’s marriage was never cheered on, and with the rape that occurred in Don’s office in Season 3 always made him a villain from the start. So it was no surprise to me that they would write Greg off in this manner, as Joan has been carrying the bulk of the relationship through sheer force of will. Of course, we as the audience know that Vietnam is not going to be a picnic, but for a man to turn his back on his family like that, well, it may or may not serve him right. Also, the part at the restaurant when the guy was playing the accordion was a nice touch and a great denouement to the scene. Oh yeah, and since Greg isn’t the real father anyway sort of ties up all the loose ends nicely should they go that route. That makes the secret babies count up to 2, including Peggy’s.

4. Peggy and the bribe, and helping Dawn out — how she manipulates Roger by helping to do Roger’s copy work was awesome. It really showed how far Peggy has come since being Don’s secretary, and how much smarter she is now with a little experience under her belt. Which then lead to getting a whole lot of cash, but stumbling in on Dawn sleeping in Don’s office because it’s too rough for her to go home in Harlem. The shot when Peggy is reaching for the door handle was so Hitchcock. And even when Peggy left her purse on the sitting room table – it was like, does she not trust Dawn with her money laying about? Peggy reaching for the empty beer bottles was a nice save, but in that quick exchange spoke volumes about the state of racial tension and fear that everyone was experiencing at that time.

All and all, a very solid episode that absolutely deserves more than one viewing. Also, did anyone catch that Betty’s getting slightly thinner? I wonder how much time has passed since the previous episode. As always, can’t wait for more to come…;)