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| Don Draper (Jon Hamm), watching his wife Megan (Jessica Pare) getting ready to star in an ad on the season finale of "Mad Men" |
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
The following were on my mind between Monday, June 4th and Monday, June 11th:
- "Mad Men" aired its fifth season finale last night, and thanks to Dish Network having thankfully not dropped AMC just yet (instead just moving it to a new channel that had four digits beginning with a "9" in a act of pettiness), I was able to watch it. As you can imagine, I have quite a bit of thoughts regarding it. And so, in similar veins to my thoughts on the show's
third and
fourth season finales, here are they all, listed in lettered points so as to avoid having to give all of them in one single, articulate statement:
1. As a whole, I would consider season five to be one of my favorite seasons of the show to date, if not my sole favorite. It was a season where the show wasn't afraid to get dark, a season full of ballsy, well executed plot developments and different experimental approaches to both its structure and storytelling that I admired, and featured what I thought was one of the series best stretches of episodes to date (that would be the four episodes between "Signal 30" and "Lady Lazarus"). It's for this reason that I'm a bit saddened to say that I thought this season finale was probably the worst the show has done. It's not that the episode is bad, from far it, and I didn't mind how it lacked the bombshells that the previous few episodes had as some others have mentioned. But compared to episodes past, this really did feel like one of the show's weaker efforts. I just felt that this episode felt too rushed, like Matthew Weiner tried really hard to resolve a bunch of the season's major storylines while also setting things up for the next. Also, like Alan Sepinwall pointed out in
his review, I didn't like how the show focused most of their time on Pete and Megan, as I found the Pete/Beth affair and Megan's pursuit of an acting career to be one of the least interesting things about this season.
2. I will say this, though: the final ten minutes of this episode were spectacular and saved the show from leaving me feeling sour by the end. For instance,
that wideshot at the end of SCDP's five most important individuals, staring out the windows of the firm's newest floor? Beautiful. Don walking away from Megan's commercial shoot, into the darkness? Stunning. That montage of the show's various characters, most of which looking unhappy and unsatisfied (except for Roger, who looks at peace experiencing LSD in the nude)? Very fitting, and another reminder of the show's theme about these characters, despite their various successes and moments of happiness, can never be truly fulfilled or satisfied.
Finally, there was that moment when the young blonde woman asked Don if she would like to get with her brunette friend on the other side of the bar. I found that scene to be very important, not only because it sets up the possibility of Don returning to the philandering Don Draper that he promised to not be anymore, but because it also highlights just how much change has occurred in the Don/Megan marriage over the course of the season. A few months ago, Don would have never even considered the possibility, as he was determined to not let this wonderful marriage to this near-perfect woman be risked from ending in the same way that his previous marriage to Betty did (he even dreamed of choking an old fling who proposed such a thing in "Mystery Date"). Now, here we are many months later, where we find Don becoming increasingly disappointed in his wife, first with her quitting the advertising job that he thought she was good at against his wishes, then with her many childish hissy fits and once more with her begging him to get her a starring role in the Butler ad despite her once saying that she didn't consider the industry to be high art. There's a 90%-95% chance that Don rejected the offer by the pretty brunette, but with Don's increased frustrated and his tendency to following the hobo code of walk away from relationships as soon as it gets bad, this loyalty towards Megan may start to change at some point.
3. Boy, Matthew Weiner has really not been subtle with his symbolism this season, hasn't he? It just seems that more than ever the show has not been able to trust its audience in guessing many of their themes, so instead have tried to make them pretty even more explicit, as if to say "DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS IS SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT NOW?," like with Peggy, Pete and Joan's baby in "A Little Kiss," Glenn's frustration with everything turning out crappy in "Commissions and Fees," and even the "toxic" smog at the end of "Dark Shadows." Sadly, this episode probably had what I considered to be the series' most egregious violation of this to date, with Don and his "toxic tooth," and how the lingering pain he has is reminiscent of Lane Pryce's suicide and all the other various mistakes and feelings of guilt that he just wish would go away, yet still remain present. It's bad enough that they kept on bringing it up throughout the episode, but then they brought back his dead brother Adam during the dentist's office, and well...I'm just glad that they didn't also have pop-ups pointing their message out.
4. I have a good feeling that Peggy is going to return as a regular next season, despite her move to the rival agency. While the main focus of "Mad Men" has always been about Don, this series has very much remained Peggy's show as well. To see her journey from Don's secretary to this very bright and talented advertisement creator all come to an end this quickly, with maybe only a few occasional "where is she now?" guest spots would be really disappointing, and I'm certain that Weiner knows this too. The fact that the ad agency she's now in is a fake firm specifically in the show's universe must help her chances of staying on as a regular.
5. I liked how this episode began with an AMC graphic that warned of this episode having brief nudity, only to strip away most viewers' expectations by having that nudity be John Slattery's bare ass. The fact that this was probably the most skin that any regular on the show had to bare makes that moment even more hilarious for me.
6. Besides that scene, John Slattery's Roger Sterling had himself quite of an episode in general. Not only did he also have the episodes best lines ("What's a regina?"), he also convinced Megan's mom to sleep with him thanks to a sneaky ploy that had him pretending to be Megan's dad drunk over the phone (thank God for no caller IDs back then, amirite?). It should be interesting to see how the Roger/Marie boils over into next season (that is, if the show decides to bring it up at all).
7. Another one of the episode's best moments was the scene with Don watching footage of Megan's casting call over the projector, a great callback to the season one finale when he gave the famous
Carousel speech. Only while the scene with the pitch saw Don looking back to a nostalgic time that he wished he were back in, this time we saw Don in a boardroom alone, watching his second wife only to have his expressions change upon realizing that the emotions that Megan is showing are the same ones that he's been seeing throughout their marriage. All throughout, she was using her acting chops him, like she was to the camera, and not revealing her true self (there's also a possibility that she just saw how bad of an actress she was, although I tend to believe more with what I said first).
8. For the second time this season, we got to see Pete Campbell punched in the face, although this time I think we can all agree that this punch came in a more honorable circumstance.
9. I know she wasn't in this episode, but I'm kind of glad that the show at least kind of reward Betty this season for all the trouble they put her through by having the last images of her comforting her daughter after she had her first period, a moment of her actually being a good mother for once (even if those final moments included her gloating to Megan about this in a phone call).
10. I have a feeling that those who expected this season of "Mad Men" to finally deal with the racial problem after the season premiere and the show hiring Dawn and Don's new secretary came out of it very disappointed by how they pretty much ignore the thing soon after. Maybe it's just a sign from Weiner that he doesn't really feel like confronting the issue at all, since that was never one of his main focuses in the first place. Or maybe he's just setting it all up for next year. We'll see.
11. As a whole, I really enjoyed the show having Megan this season. Many viewers have often complained of her presence, whether it's because of how they believe that Weiner was portraying her as being too perfect, or because it stopped Don from being the philanderer that they loved, but I disagree. I just really enjoyed watching her relationship with Don unfold, and thought she served as an important sign of the growing culture wars of the 1960s.
11. Speaking of next season, if you thought that this season was bleak, then next year should be when shit starts to get real. If past seasons are meant to be a precursor, then this means that the series will be jumping forward in time to 1968 by the season premiere, a year that included LBJ declining a second term, the Vietnam War heating up, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the infamous Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Richard Nixon's presidential victory, and even the Jets winning the Super Bowl. Hard to believe that many of these big events and the continuing radical shift of the American culture will be left ignored.
12. Emmy predictions time! As always, I expect the series to be considered locks for an Outstanding Drama nomination, as well as for a few nominations in the writing, directing, and hair/makeup department. I also expect to see Jon Hamm picking up a fifth Lead Actor nomination, John Slattery picking up a fifth Supporting Actor nomination, and Christina Hendricks picking up a third Supporting Actress nomination.What should be interesting to see is what Lead Actress nominations the show will be receiving, as both Elisabeth Moss and Jessica Pare have submitted themselves for that category. For my money, I'm going to say that it will be Moss who gets her name heard during the announcements of the nominees, while Pare won't, but then again it's the Emmys, so you never really know.
13. At the end of my thoughts on the season four finale, I predicted that it would be nine months until the show would return. Thanks to Matthew Weiner's contract negotiations with AMC earlier last year, it turned out that fans have to wait 17 months instead. So, with that in mind, I'm not going to be making any guarantees regarding the show's return this time around, and will instead hope that the break between last night and the sixth season premiere turns out to be a lot shorter this time around.
If you want more opinions on this episode, specifically from people who write about television for a living, I recommend that you read the recaps of the following people:
Now, let me talk about some other stuff...
- Speaking of awesome AMC shows, "Breaking Bad" is returning July 15th, and the network has officially released their
first promo image of it last week. Not only that, but
a fifteen second teaser was released while the credits rolled for last night's "Mad Men." Since I was already excited for the season premiere to begin with, then these two things just left me completely begging for next month to come around.
-Sometimes I just wonder if Quentin Tarantino is one of those white guys that secretly wishes that he were black.
- First, they made Edgar Allen Poe into some kind of a detective in "The Raven," then they made a movie out of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," and now they're making Isaac Newton into
some kind of action star. What's next: Benjamin Franklin, Ninja Warrior?
- Can't believe that one of my favorite pop culture humor sites, BestWeekEver.tv, is actually
coming to an end. For me, it's like losing one of my favorite friends, a friend who happens to enjoy posting videos of cute animals and making snark comments about TV shows.
- Well done, boxing. Not only does your sport keep dying in popularity and continues to become increasingly uninteresting to the younger demographics, now you've managed to piss off the 99% of remaining fans that you have left by having two of your judges blow the decision in the Timothy Bradley/Manny Pacquiao fight, giving Bradley the win despite the fact that stats have shown Pacquiao to have landed over a hundred more punches throughout the course of the twelve rounds. If boxing were an Internet company, it would be Netflix.
More random thoughts to come next Monday. I have a good feeling that "Mad Men" will not be discussed as much.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
