Mad Men is probably not a show I ever would have chosen by myself. It’s highly rated and got a cost full of people I recognize… but on the other hand, there’s a complete lack of aliens/magic/what have you. Still, I’ve liked other non-speculative fiction TV shows before… so what about this one?
Well, first, what does Mad Men have?
You have smoking (so much smoking):
Don: Except they aren’t.
Mr. Garner: That’s your slogan? “You’re going to die anyway. Die with us”?
Pete: Actually, it’s a fairly well-established psychological principle that society has a death wish, and if we could just tap into that, the market potential is–
Mr. Garner: What the hell are you talking about? Are you insane? I’m not selling rifles here, I’m in the tobacco business! We’re selling America! The Indians gave it to us, for shit’s sake!
You’ve got advertising:
Midge’s Friend: Dig. Ad man’s got a heart.
Midge Daniels: The grown-ups are talking.
Midge’s Friend: Don’t defend him. [to Don] Toothpaste doesn’t solve anything. Dacron sure as hell won’t bring back those ten dead kids in Biloxi.
Don: Neither will buying some Tokaj wine and leaning up against a wall in Grand Central pretending you’re a vagrant.
Midge’s Friend: You know what it’s like to watch all you ants go into your hive? I wipe my ass with the Wall Street Journal.
Woman: How come every time we have a party the ladies have to sit and listen to the men talk?
Midge’s Friend: Look at you. Satisfied, dreaming up jingles for soap flakes and spot remover, telling yourself you’re free.
Don: Oh my God, stop talking and make something of yourself.
Roy: Like you? You make the lie. You invent want. You’re for them… not us.
Don: Well, I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.
Midge’s Friend: Aww man, why did you have to say that?
You have the ‘how does anyone put up with this’ mess women had to deal with in the 1960s:
Joan: He may act like he wants a secretary, but most of the time they’re looking for something between a mother and a waitress. And the rest of the time, well… Go home, take a paper bag and cut some eye holes out of it. Put it over your head, look in the mirror and try and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. And try and be honest.
But all together, there’s (almost) no real feel of an overarching plot. There’s not really much tying the various episodes together, other than the fact that it’s the same people all doing roughly the same things. It’s more character driven than anything, which I sometimes enjoy in books, but haven’t had much luck with in TV. I just want something more to latch onto.
On top of that, just about everyone in the show is kind of terrible in different ways. It’s a picture of the 60s, so mens’ (especially the ‘powerful’ men of the ad agencies) views on women are terrible, every smokes, lies, and cheats. And then even when it all comes to the light, nothing (so far) seems to stick.
One thing I did like (and the reason for the ‘almost’ above) is the little bit of mystery regarding Don Draper’s past. I really wish we’d gotten more of that sooner–I expect there will be more in seasons to come–but that, to me, is what really could/should drive the show. And it’s a slow burn at best.
It does mean that the penultimate episode really does hit hard. Enough to at least give another season a try. We’ll just have to see where it goes from here. Onward!