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Meandering along with ‘Mad Men’

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Ruin family? Check. Ruin career? Check. Ruin liver? Check.

Ruin family? Check. Ruin career? Check. Ruin liver? Check.

Well, mark me down as one of those who thought Mad Men kind of sucked this season. The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley catches a large ration of shit from commenters for suggesting as much, but she’s right: Stories you expect to be linear, like literature, have become circular, like soap opera. Plots are being recycled, and the only thing that keeps the show remarkable is its authentic backdrop of history and fashion. Especially fashion. My eyes are still red from that glimpse of Peggy’s pantsuit at the end of the episode.

Yes, people really did dress like this.

Yes, people really did dress like this.

Still, even at its most mundane, Mad Men is better than another damned reality show, or cop show or dumb ABC laugh-track sitcom. At this point I don’t much care about Don Draper’s personal demons, but I am curious whether he’ll grow a Peter Max mustache and start listening to Three Dog Night. Everybody else did. One thing about the world in 1968: everything was about to get worse. Maybe that’s rubbing off on the writers.

Oh well. They could transform Mad Men into a dance contest and I’d still watch it for the exquisite period detail. Those of us who lived through the Nixon years like to forget how cool we thought we were, and how stupid we actually looked in all that polyester. But Peggy’s pantsuit is right on the money. So much for nostalgia.

If I had to pick a low point in the season’s writing, it would be the business of Pete and his demented mom. And what the hell is the deal with Bob Benson?

High point? I don’t know. Maybe Sally walking in on another tawdry sexual encounter. Yeah, that’s happened before, but this time it starkly demonstrated the depths to which Don Draper has fallen. Maybe “high point” is the wrong phrase. One of the show’s few laugh-out-loud moments was when he later explained to Sally how he was “comforting” poor Mrs. Rosen. Right, Dad.

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Comments

  1. John H. says

    “…I am curious whether he’ll grow a Peter Max mustache and start listening to Three Dog Night.” Dave, you crack me up.

  3. John H. says

    Speaking of TV, I saw a few episodes of A&E’s “Longmire” series, and I think some of the Ennis stories could easily be adapted to work for that show. Since I have absolutely no idea how one would go about making that happen, I’ll stop here.

  4. Kim says

    If next season is the last – 7 years is usually the magic number for the projected run of shows, I think – my prediction is that it will end with at least a suggestion of the opening graphic – Don goes off a roof or out a window.

    Roger talked about doing that a couple of seasons ago, but that was before he discovered LSD. He’ll be the one to grow a Peter Max mustache and start listening to Three Dog Night – or maybe he’ll become a Dead Head.