Revisiting Mad Men...

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With Mad Men nearing its end in a couple of weeks (two episodes left) I began thinking about doing a revisit from the beginning. But I find myself unable to wait until the series finale.

I started watching Mad Men from the very beginning. Back before the series premiered I caught early promotional spots for the then upcoming show and there was something about them that intrigued me. Thinking back I’m a bit hardpressed to recall what it was exactly that caught my interest. I’m pretty sure there was something about the period setting that intrigued me. And there also seemed to be a hint of mystery to it as well. Somehow it just seemed somewhat more substantial than most everything else that was being aired at the time. There is also the fact that the 1960s were my formative yeasr (I was born in 1959) so much of what I saw had a measure of resonance and memory for me albeit from a child's perspective.

So I made a point of tuning in for the very first episode…and I have been a regular viewer since.

On the face of it this is basically a soap opera. But somewhat similar to the primetime soap operas (like Dallas) that began in the late ‘70s and unlike the daily daytime soaps Mad Men went somewhere. The stories and characters evolved and moved forward. And from the very first each episode seemed to say something—sometimes small and sometimes large. There seemed to be meaning in what we saw unfolding onscreen. And that’s something I do like seeing film and television I find genuinely interesting, be it science fiction or contemporary or period drama.


Season 1

Episode 1: “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”

The premiere episode nicely sets up the period setting. And what we see strips it bare of any real nostalgia. On the face of it we see the world as it was presented in television of the era such as Leave It To Beaver, Daddy Knows Best, My Three Sons and Bewitched. Here we see it’s all a façade and behind it we see a world that in many ways doesn’t seem that removed from our familiar contemporary world despite the outward appearances. Look past the dated fashions and music and social mannerisms and the people are just as complicated as today. They have different sides to them. They’re not wholly bad or wholly good, but the mixture varies in degree.

Don Draper is the central figure and when we first meet him he is the apparently ideal executive: youngish, Hollywood handsome, impeccably groomed, talented and accomplished. But bit-by-bit we start to see that facade peeled away. First we see him having an afternoon tryst with a woman named Midge. We don’t really think anything of it because we don’t know yet that Don Draper is married with children living in a picturesque house in the suburbs—the picture of the American dream. So the young Playboy style executive that looks to be the envy of any aspiring young male turns out to be a husband and father cheating on his wife. Up to now we could kind of like Don Draper, but a bit of doubt begins to raise its head.

And that isn’t the only thing. We next see Draper act completely unprofessional and even outright rude to a potential client. And it all (well mostly) stems from the client being a woman who is educated, intelligent and has the temerity to actually speak her mind. And unlike many other women of the period she doesn’t cower at the sound of a stern male voice. She is also rather different from the other women we have met so far, represented by Office Manager Joan Holloway and Draper’s new secretary Peggy Olsen. Those women speak constantly of navigating the male dominated world by forseeeing mens’ needs and enticing them with tantalizing glipses of sexual possibility. In contrast the potential female client, Rachel Mencken, navigates the same world using her intellect and business acumen. Rachel is the woman that many other women of the period might aspire to be if they believed they actually had a chance. But Rachel seems to have made her own way despite the obstacles. Joan, Peggy and the others represent a past era that was already beginning to change while Rachel represents the future somwhere over the horizon.

Beyond Don Draper the rest of male characters introduced are definitely not impressive. They are a clutch of little dickheads with overinflated egos and hormones to spare. They are best represented by young exec Peter Campbell who is ambitious and gunning for Don Draper’s job even as we see he hasn’t anywhere near the talent and ability. He is a plain little shit right off.

If we saw these characters, particularly the men, behave as they do in a contemporary set drama we would shake our head in disbelief. But what allows them to get away with their attrocious behaviour is the very fact that Mad Men in set in the world of 1960 where their misogynist behaviour was familiar, expected and openly tolerated. We can find their behaviour appaling even as we can find it fascinating.

There is a powerful sense of nostalgia to Mad Men, but the show honestly reveals that that it is only a foggy and wistful sentiment because the reality of that time had little to do with the nostalgic image.

 

[Push The Button]

I was born in 1966, so for me the show was a sort-of glimpse back at how the world really was around the time that I entered it. To quote Billy Joel, "the good old days weren't always good".

 

[Guy Gardener]

I shouldn't laugh.

Institutional rape and all.

But I read this title wrong.

"Resisting the Madmen"

 

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Episode 2: "Ladies' Room"

Betty Draper is Don's wife. She's the ideal American housewife: young, pretty, always well coifed and well mannered. Again we're introduced to another facade because Betty is insecure and seems to worry a lot about inconsequential things. Her inner anxiety--over what we don't yet know--apparently manifests itself as occasional numbness of her hands which leads to a minor car accident and after much discussion with her husband, Don, results in Betty beginning to see a psychiatrist. What Betty doesn't know is that Don speaks to her doctor to find out how things are going. And the doctor apparently has no qualms about it. Probably wasn't unusual back in the day, but today it strikes me as a real intrusion of patient/doctor confidentiality.

Betty is what many women of the time aspired to: the stay-at-home wife of an attractive and successful husband. But we see here she apparently "has it all" and yet she doesn't feel settled. She also indulges in gossip with one of her neighbours revealing how they have all these accepted assumptions and judgmental opinions about people they know practically nothing about. On this point people then and now remain exactly the same.

This episode illustrates how everyone seems to wear a carefully and constantly touched up image to perpetuate an idea of themselves to others. It's a funny game everyone plays. It extends to social mannerisms. The characters can appear more formal and civil than today, but it's also part of a facade. The more formal language makes the people of the era seem more civil than today, but it barely veils many of the same behaviours we still see. Today we can think of people in general being shallow compared to the past, but Mad Men shows us how those who came before us could be just as shallow only more nicely groomed and with seemingly better manners.

I'm also amused by the sight of how children played back then, partly because it is exactly what I remember myself. Kids could be left to their own devices (within limits) for long periods without the constant supervision kids have today. Perhaps some parents today would be mortified, but we were free to really exercise our imaginations and make our own fun with what we had at hand rather than having toys and devices in abundance to occupy us. Little Sally Draper is playing spaceman with her little brother and she's running around with a clear plastic sheet over her head--the equivalent of putting your head into a plastic bag--and her mother thinks nothing of it. Today's young mom would probably shriek in horror over her child doing something so dangerous. Wow. Can you imagine parents today letting their kids play with lawn darts? (-: On top of that the kids get rambunctious in the car without wearing any seatbelts and even climb back-and-forth from front to back seat while Betty is driving. She'd be arrested and charged today for negligence.

This episode reinforced some impressions I had from Episode 1. One thing it clearly illustrates is how prevalent smoking was then. Seemingly everyone smoked and they smoked everywhere, including doctors while examining their patients. From today's perspective it seems like such absurd and inexcusable behaviour and yet it really was like that in many places. As a child I remember very much the same thing and it was simply accepted as normal. Of course, not everyone smoked back then, but it could seem that way. Back then it became known that smoking could likely lead to cancer, but the general public was in denial no matter how authoratative the medical source and the tobacco companies did everything to cast cigarette smoking as an acceptable and even fashionable habit. Smoking, along with alcohol, was legalized substance abuse--substances that have been proven to do far more harm than folks smoking a little weed. Today smoking is in decline in Western countries and the tobacco companies don't care because they are doing BIG business in developing countries where they are even able to influence governments to facilitate peddling their product. The game remains the same only the arena has changed.

Episode 2 shows us more of the thinking that goes into advertising, into constructing how to convey an idea and the message it telegraphs. We can quickly realize so many choices we make can be influenced by someone who found a way to convey an idea to us. This is still very true today where so many are convinced they need their newest purchase to make themselves or the lives better in some way. While there is a sense of something unseemly in this business we can also see something of the creativity of the times. The 1950s and '60s was an amazing time of experimentation and innovation that might now look quaint by today's standards, but was quite exciting at the time. Many changes were happening then that would have lasting influence for decades to come.

This is one of the fascinating aspects of this show. Today a standup comedian, late night talk show host or a primetime sitcom can make us laugh at much of the ridiculousness of human behaviour by playing to the absurd and going a bit over the top. But Mad Men presents it straight softened only by the depiction of a bygone era to give us a sense of distance. We can be smug and think, "Well, we're not like that anymore." But anyone honest (particularly if you're old enough to have some firsthand knowledge of the times) knows that people today are very little removed from people of the past. Sexism and bigotry are still with us only much more subtle than in the past. And people are still full of bullshit only some of it is more open today.

 

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Episode 3: "The Marriage Of Figaro"

Three episodes in and so far Don Draper is actually the most sympathetic male character introduced. Or perhaps it's simply because he's been the one most revealed to this point. Pretty much all the other men introduced so far are varying degrees of shallow and ignorant if not outright stupid with little if any measure of sensitivity. And when any is expressed it comes across as so obviously fake, best exampled by one of Don's neighbours putting a move on the new divorcee recently moved into the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood men come across as slightly older versions of those who work with Draper.

The latter part of this episode is set at Don's house where it is his daughter's birthday. Don appears to genuinely love his kids and like in Episode 2 he seems to actually care for his wife, but it's also clear that he feels trapped to some degree. Part of him is going through the motions of being the proper father and husband. The upside is that Don has the decency to be better behaved than his neighbours in mixed company.

But earlier in the episode, in the midst of visiting a new client's place of business (Rachel Menken introduced in Episode 1) we see an obvious attraction between the two and Don gives in to temptation. It's only a kiss, but it speaks to his willingness to wander to other women when he sees something he likes. On the one hand we're tempted to accept that Don's philandering basically negates whatever virtues he might have as a husband and father, but the show seems to be making a point to present people as complicated and multifaceted. Again the not wholly bad or not wholly good perspective.

Besides Don Draper the women are more of a mixed bag. Joan Holloway is smart, sassy and capable, but there is more than a hint of her liking to party. Rachel Menken is smart and sophisticated, but she can be tempted even by a married man. Betty Draper and the neighbourhood women might all be decent mothers, but they're also shown to be petty and quickly judgmental. In their own way they can be just as crude, insensitive and falsely sincere as their husbands. Peggy Olsen comes off the best as she appears honest,dedicated and sincerely forthright.

Episode 3 also builds on something referenced previously that Don Draper is a man with a mysterious past because he doesn't like to talk about his background and cleverly steers the conversation away from any inquires. But now we see a total stranger approach him on the commuter train and call him out as someone named Dick Whitman. The capper is Don doesn't deny it given the stranger is so certain of his recognizing one of his old army buddies.

So the suggestion here seems to be that Don Draper has a past when he was someone else. Was he Don Draper once passing himself off as Dick Whitman or is he actually Dick Whitman now passing himself off as Don Draper?

So he is a facade that may run significantly deeper than mere grooming and mannerisms.

 

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Episode 4: "New Amsterdam"

Junior exec Pete Campbell is newly married and he's eager to keep Peggy Olsen quiet about their tryst on the ev of his marriage day. Now Campbell has a very pretty and adorable wife, Trudy, who seems to adore him.

But Campbell doesn't come off well throughout this episode. Fistly he has an inflated sense of self and wants to take on more than he can realistically handle. He acts liked a spoiled brat. When Trudy finds them an apartment Pete goes to his father for financial aid, but his dad turns him down. He doesn't specifiy why, but it's very clear he doesn't want to help his son and equally clear he disapproves of Pete's choice of occupation. Pete and his dad are not on good terms when Pete leaves.

Trudy now manages to get the financial help they need from her parents and Pete grudgingly accepts the offer. But it doesn't sit well with him because of his sense of self that he should be the one managing their matters of money. He resents his new bride solving the problem he was unable to solve.

Meanwhile Pete apparently doesn't do his job well enough to prepare a new client for a meeting to look over Don Draper's advertising pitch. The Client isn't happy yet is still persuaded to remain in town one more day for Draper to make a new presentation. And on the eve of that presentation Pete makes yet another mistake in trying to pitch his own ideas to the client. The next day the client rejects Draper's modified proposal and is interested in Pete's idea instead. All very well for the client, but Pete is now in very hot water for breaking company protocol and leaving the ideas to the idea men. As a result Pete gets himself fired.

Pete is toast until Bert Cooper, the co-owner of the firm, explains that they need to keep Pete Campbell on because he is descended from an established New York family and he is their introduction to many connected people in New York City. He's an asset they can't afford to do without.

Now Roger Sterling, the other partner of the firm, makes Campbell think that it was he who wanted to keep Campbell fired but that Don Draper argued for him being kept on--a complete fabrication over what actually happened. But Sterling playing the bad guy accomplishes the goal of making Campbell grateful to Don Draper as well as fostering a sense of loyalty to his superior.

The two main characters, Bert Cooper and Roger Sterling, we get to see more of appear more well rounded than other men previously introduced. These guys are older and wiser than the much younger employees. And while at the core they mighn't be all that different from their subordinates like Don Draper they are more cultured and well-mannered.

Bert Cooper is an eccentric who likes to walk about the offices in his stocking feet and doesn't seem to really do much but hand out advice. Roger Sterling is quick witted, knows his way about the business and likes to drink and smoke a lot. While Sterling is Draper's boss he also seems to have some kind of unspoken friendship with Don.

So far I get the impression that Pete Campbell's primary job at the firm is to shmooze with potential clients and butter them up to make them more receptive to whatever ideas the firm's creative team will pitch to them. Campbell's job is to help facilitate a predetermined outcome. This job entails entertaining clients and this even includes lining them up with call girls. Sufficiently softened up the clients are then much more recptive to Don Draper's words.

It doesn't always work, but I can somewhat see why Pete's father doesn't think much of his son's prfession. Broadly speaking Pete Campbell is a pimp for the firm.

 

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Episode 5: "5G"

Two basic storylines here. One deals with Junior Account Executive Ken Cosgrove's success in getting a short story published in a major magazine. And his success strips away the apparent camaderie we have seen among the junior executives up to this point. Now we see lurking beneath the jocularity is competetiveness and even jealousy when one of them manages to achieve even just a small amount of noteriety. Out of this jealousy Pete Campbell pushes his new wife to ask one of her former beaus to help get a story of Pete's published. Trudy agrees reluctantly yet still only up to a point. It becomes apparent that her former beau will get the story published anywhere she wishes but only if she is willing "to be with him" again in secret. Trudy declines, but still manages to get her husband's story published in a minor publication.

Even though he's now actually published Pete Campbell is far from happy. He again acts like a petulant spoiled brat who believes his wife could have done more for him. What an asshole.

Meanwhile we continue to see more of Don Draper's secrets swirling around him. On a minor note Peggy Olsen has to cover for him with Don's wife while he's forgotten an appointment for a family portrait because he was having an afternoon romp with his extramarital lover.

But the big secret is revealed when we now learn Don Draper is actually Dick Whitman. He is recognized in a photograph by a younger brother, Adam Whitman, whom Don left behind when he left home and fabricated a new identity and life for himself. Draper apparently has little to no sentiment for his former life which he wants only to leave behind him.

At one point I actually thought Draper would pull out a gun to make his younger brother go away, but instead he gives him $5000 in cash and tells him to go away, forget what he's seen and make a new life for himself.

Don Draper simply wants to forget Dick Whitman ever existed.

 

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Episode 6: "Babylon"

There is a lot of symbolism in Mad Men, but it's not always easy to recognize what is marginally symbolic and what could be significantly symbolic. The whole series is essentially about deconstructing "the American dream" and showing us what lies behind the facade or facades that are repeatedly held up to us. From this it's easy to understand why many people in real life can feel somewhat like a failure when they and their lives don't fit the image most everyone strives for. It's like no one can accept that the image is an illusion, one we all insist on trying to make real.

This episode we get to see a slice of Don Draper's real history as Dick Whitman. On Mother's Day, as Don is taking a breakfast tray upstairs to Betty, he trips on the stairs and falls to the bottom of the staircase. Laying on the floor he has a flashback to when he younger brother, Adam, was born. We learn that he and his little brother have the same father but not hte same mother. We also see that young Dick Whitman doesn't look particularly happy as a child.

Later Don gets an account where he must devise a campaign to boost tourism to Isreal. After reading a book presented to him, Exodus, he approaches Rachel Menken in hopes of gaining a better insight into Isreal and what it represents. Of course, it's also an excuse for him to see her again. She keeps the meeting business like, but later she confesses to her sister that she has feelings for Don despite his "limitations" (being married).

Meanwhile we learn firm partner Roger Sterling has a wife and daughter, but soon after we also learn that Roger is having a long-running affair with Joan Holloway. This gives us insight into both Roger and Joan. We learn that despite Roger preferring he didn't have to "sneak around" the very practice of doing so lends his affair that extra spice that enhances the passion. For Joan we see she gets the attention she likes yet without any burdens of commitment. We also see how Joan appears to understand how to handle the men she encounters partly because she has a front row seat into their psychology (through Roger). She knows what makes most men tick and how to use it to her advantage.

We see that at the core Roger Sterling isn't much different from his younger employees, but being older and of a different generation he (like Don Draper) is more subtle and mannered than the more brash and uncouth younger ones.

We next see another firm executive, Fred Rumssen, struggling with how to deal with a cosmetics account. He decides to try using the company secretaries in a sort of product test to find some insight into how to approach the campaign. During the test he notices that Peggy Olsen doesn't react like any of the other women. She appears more interested in observing what the others are doing. She then seems to intuitively grasp what the product test is about and unwittingly offers valuable insight into it. Rumssen is impressed and relays this to Peggy's boss, Don, and the next thing Peggy knows she's being asked to come up with more detailed ideas for the cosmetics product.

Could this be a beginning for Peggy? It's interesting to note that initially Joan seems a bit miffed with Peggy getting noticed given that Joan has been the smartest and most dominant woman in the office to the point. We get a hint of Joan feeling a bit upstaged.

Later Don's planned tryst with Midge is interrupted by one of her friends and together they go to a cafe to hear another of Midge's friends sing. We get to see something of a generational clash between Don and Midge's friends. Her friends see Don as representing everything they think is wrong with their society while Don sees them as self-absorbed and lazy. There is no outright argument, but a few barbs are exchanged.

After another afternoon romp Roger presents Joan with a gift: a small bird in a gilded cage, a perfect symbol for how Roger might wish he had Joan all to himself and perhaps how Joan thinks Roger would like to possess her. They then leave the hotel separately as if to pretend they are actually strangers.



This is about halfway throught the season and I find this show has a somewhat illusive appeal to it. It works on different levels. On the face of it, as I said in my original post, it strikes one as a kind of primetime soap opera. But no soap opera was every this polished or I daresay honest. There is a sense of purpose to this show and it's all executed in a meticulous and mostly subtle manner. We get to see complicated and multi-faceted people really are along with seeing hypocrisy and self-delusion laid bare. We get to see how life, society and people really work. We're given a bit of distance because it's played as a period peice, but there is no excaping that what we're seeing could apply to today's contemporary world just as easily.

 

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Episode 7: "Red In The Face"

Everyone at some time does somthing ill-thought and potentially embarrassing, sometimes with consequences.

Roger invites Don to join him for "one" drink which, of course, leads to definitely more than one. Don then invites Roger to his home for a late dinner which he phones Betty to tell her of the last minute guest. Over dinner, drinks and smoking Roger regales his hosts with his tales from his time in the war in the Pacific. Don is familiarly evasive about his own past. Betty seems to hang on Roger's every word out of politeness to their guest, but in Roger's slightly drunken state he interprets her attention as one of personal interest in him. As a result Roger makes a pass at Betty while Don is out of the room. When Don returns he picks up on the awkwardness of the moment. Roger makes his excuses and leaves. Don--also a bit drunk--now accuses Betty of encouraging Roger.

The next day Roger offers his apologies for his behaviour the previous evening. Don plays a bit forgetful to make Roger squirm a bit and then seems to accept the apology. But later Don plans an elaborate scheme to get even. He makes a point of getting Roger liquored up and stuffed full of oysters over lunch. Then they dash back to the office to find the elevators are out of order (something Don arranged with the elevator operator) and they are faced with haing to climb 23 flights of stairs to make their appointment.

Don is a bit out of breath when they reach the 23rd floor, but Roger is completely wiped out. And when he makes to speak he promptly expels his lunch onto the office carpet righ in front of their clients. After checking to see if Roger is allright Don retreats with a slight smile of satisfaction. Don gets his revenge, but something might have shifted in their friendship.

Pete Campbell tries to return a wedding gift (because they got two of the same idem), but without a receit he can only get a store credit. He uses the credit to purchase a .22 calibre rifle, which gets him an earful from his new bride when he gets home.

Earlier Betty finds herself in a confrontation at the supermarket with her divorcee neighbour, Helen. Awhile ago Helen's small son had asked for a lock of Betty's hair which she gave him. Helen found the hair amongst her son's things and confronts Betty about it. Unable to really explain what she did Betty panics and slaps Helen accross the face. Mortified over what she just did Betty runs from the store without her shopping items.

Everyone acts on impulse at one time or another and then has to live with the possible consequences.

 

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Episode 8: "The Hobo Code"

A lot of human communication is nonverbal and we are surrounded by clues and symbols of what people are really thinking and feeling. Sometimes we get those clues wrong.

Don Draper has flashbacks to when he was a child and he encountered a hobo passing by and staying the night. The hobo appears to be quite an observant and insightful individual who shares some of his wisdom with young Dick Whitman (Don). And it ties in quite well with young dick not having a pleasant home life. The hobo may be looked down upon, but he appears quite content to be living by his own rules rather than that of others. We get to see some seeds planted in young Dick's mind.

Back in the present firm owner Bert Cooper presents Don with a bonus cheque as a show of appreciation since he believe Don and he are of a kind as individuals. Afterward Don does to invite his mistress Midge to jet off to Paris with him. But Midge demures because she has guests and Don stays to "party" with them (get stoned and listen to music). We get a little more culture/generation clash and Don has his flashbacks to meeting the hobo when he was a child.

Peggy Olsen's ideas for Belle Jolie lipstick are a smashing success and Don invites her to share a celebratory drink with them. Peggy is elated and invites others to celbrate after work. But in the midst of being happy Peggy is crushed when Pete Campbell doesn't enjoy her success and excitement. Once again Campbell comes across as a little shit. Of course, he's batting a thousand because he's also a jerk to his bride who simply wanted him to join her to take ownership of their new apartment.

Salvatore Romano, of the firm's art department, is pursued by two different people. One is a wide-eyd new telephone operator who seems to be infatuated with him. Another is the associate of a new client who Sal meets for an afterwork drink. They then have dinner together. It's clear the man is trying to interest Sal--who is also obviously interested--but Sal ultimately declines because he's terrified of the potential consequences.

I flat out love this episode even though none of them so far have been disappointments. It epitomizes how Mad Men works so well on so many levels. It's well written, well cast and superpbly executed. I love the period setting and in extent the music that helps really set the tone(s). I simply find this an addictive series particulayl as very little seems to happen in an expected way. It's all done with such a masterful touch.