Okay, so it's not A Flea in Her Ear. Maybe it's because the principals are now sufficiently comfortable (financially and dramatically) that I can't worry about them, or maybe it's the dank smell of the approaching end that's encouraging me to detach, but whatever it is I'm not inclined to take the suffering in this episode very seriously. And there is suffering, copious suffering. Even Pretty Megan, usually associated more with insufferability than suffering, has her nerves convincingly flayed; she has moved past gentle, make-believe separation into the hard reality of divorce and, worse yet, it's shoved her right back into the maw of her family, and I may be dense but I only realized when Megan's sister was blubbering about having to fly back to *Paris all by herself that she and the old lady aren't charming gallic goofs, they're horrible, self-centered monsters and it's understandable Megan would be freaked out that Don won't be around anymore to rescue her from them.
Or from scumbags like Harry Crane. It's perfect that the one thing ringing in her ears after that humiliating encounter is "I can't believe Don threw you away... you don't think he could have helped you?" -- as is made obvious by her bitterness at the lawyer's meeting (with no lawyer), and by the writers making the implicit callback to Campbell's and Sterling's bitter speeches about bitter divorced wives. It begins to seem that the writers share my feeling that no one on this show is going to learn anything.
But hey, comedy! We have Mimi Rogers as a boss dyke artiste who can also approach a problem from, as it were, the other direction, leading to some beautiful one-upgirlship between Peggy and Stan ("She tried the same thing with me -- but she didn't get as far"). That was good enough by itself, but then showing Stan at home with Elaine, showing only the tiniest glimmer of awareness that losing a power struggle wasn't the worst thing he did, was even better. Warm fandom may be a bad perspective from which to watch this show; the picture's clearer from farther away.
*UPDATE. Commenter shortstop points out that the Calvets are from Montreal. In fairness to myself, that is an easy thing to miss. sundaystyle makes a good point:
*UPDATE. Commenter shortstop points out that the Calvets are from Montreal. In fairness to myself, that is an easy thing to miss. sundaystyle makes a good point:
I don't care about Diana, Waitress of Death, or Pima swanning around out-butching the guys... if Weiner's going out on a note of existential despair, I hope the remaining episodes focus more on Peggy, Don, Pete, Joan, Sally, Betty and Roger. They're the characters we've been watching since the beginning.
Yeah, the more comfortable I get with this being Just a TV Show rather than a deathless work of art, the more I want to see character payoffs, too. If you share my tedious preoccupation with Mad Men, you might enjoy Matt Zoller Seitz's recap; good catch, Jeff Strabone! (But isn't it weird that Don's record library still has Martin Denny in it?)
The episode reinforced for me the feeling I've had about these characters all along - that they're all doomed. To what? has always been the question. I think you nailed it: they're doomed to not learning anything. Which is probably the human condition for something like half or more of the people on the planet.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm a fan, just not a rabid fan. Did anyone else think at first that Diana was the artist woman Don had a fling with... the one who lived in the Village with a heroin addict roommate/boyfriend... now working as a waitress? They cast so many similar-looking women in this show.
ReplyDeleteMimi Rogers! I didn't even recognize her. But isn't Megan's family from Montreal, not Paris?
ReplyDeleteI've been frustrated by these first 2 episodes. Way too much screen time given to new/ancillary characters. I don't care about Diana, Waitress of Death, or Pima swanning around out-butching the guys. I really didn't need to see Megan's awful family again. I'm not saying Weiner has to abandon his premise that the more people try to change, the more they remain the same. I don't think anyone expects, or even wants, some kind of universal happy ending to this series. But if Weiner's going out on a note of existential despair, I hope the remaining episodes focus more on Peggy, Don, Pete, Joan, Sally, Betty and Roger. They're the characters we've been watching since the beginning.
ReplyDeleteYeah, everyone thought that. Weird if it's just a casting coincidence. Maybe she'll reveal herself later.
ReplyDeleteMy old man (now very old indeed, and failing fast) was approximately Don's contemporary--maybe a few years older, having been in the South Pacific in the forties rather than Korea in the fifties--and he still had Denny's "Exotica" in his collection, and still played it now and again, in 1970. Actually, it's *still* in his collection: I got him the CD a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteI headed for the exit around season four or so, but I'm still hoping Sally dies in a fire.
ReplyDeleteI might just have to jump back into this.
Also (warning: pedantry ahead) The movers would have at least called their manager, explained the situation, and would not have done this without the homeowner's approval. It's a huge difference. Not to mention they would not have brought a truck that large to Manhattan if they thought they were just picking up a few boxes and a chair.
ReplyDeleteEven if they did agree to do this it would have taken them several hours to pack and move all of the furniture up and down an old service elevator. Megan went to the lunch appointment, which lasted 5 minutes, then returned. In that time, all the furniture is gone and Roger and Megan's mom had time to get it on and put their clothes back on. Sure it's the 70s, but pro movers would still have insisted on using moving blankets, tape and whatnot on a large collection of expensive furniture. Supernatural movers can work really fast, I guess.
Pedantry yes. But I guess I'm agreeing with what Sundaystyle points out below. They're not focussing on characters, but instead a big setup for a wacky ending where Don finds out "he really HAS lost everything". More of an I love Lucy setup.
/wetblanket
Aaaaaaand Marco Rubio has announced his candidacy. I had the "pleasure" of meeting him 12 years ago or so. He was a grasping, shallow, vapid twerp back then. From what I've seen of him since, he hasn't changed a bit.
ReplyDeleteHappily, he'll probably get savaged from the right because, for at least a little while, he tried not to be a total dick to immigrants. And that is an unforgivable sin in the modern GOP.
I would note that the fact that Diana was reading Dos Passos' 42nd Parallel in the last episode is--or bloody well OUGHT to be--a pretty darn big hint as to where this is going. The whole theme of the USA trilogy is that people are so mired in conventional forms and empty platitudes that they're totally unable to form meaningful relationships with one another, let alone change the world in any positive way. Seems like an accurate description of Mad Men to me.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm with you. It doesn't work this way in the real world, especially not with all that expensive stuff. Movers don't show up with out knowing in advance what they're moving ---
ReplyDeleteBut, now, back to fantasy: I'd have Don stop the check, just to piss off Megan, especially after her "You were a millionaire when I met you" crap. But nobody on Mad Men behaves like any people I know ---
a grasping, shallow, vapid twerp
ReplyDeletePretty much standard for anyone with that (R) after their name.
Rubes not for Rubio?
ReplyDeleteNot as long as he doesn't go full wingnut. At this point, he would have to actively campaign against Agenda 21, fluoridated water, and the 14th Amendment in order to have a chance in the primaries.
ReplyDelete"(But isn't it weird that Don's record library still has Martin Denny in it?)"
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched Mad Men. Is Don the kind of fellow who'd get rid of old vinyl? What excuse could he have? Collection's too big? Hell, he's only had it for ten or eleven years.
I own Martin Denny's Exotica, have listened to it once, I'm not getting rid of it, and in real life it's 2015.
There has always been a dreamlike undercurrent to the series, but it's come closer to the surface in the last couple of episodes. The strangely cooperative and efficient movers are part of the unreal atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteFair point. I still think they devoted 20 minutes just setting up how they can get him to walk into an empty apartment for the final shot/gag.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had something pithy to say about Rubio's run.
ReplyDeleteBut we all know it's going to be yet another repeat of four years ago, when all the GOPers tried simultaneously to run to the right of each other and just ended up making everybody but their tiny tiny base nauseated.
I mean, jesus, GOP, look me in the fucking eye and tell me Rubio or Cruz or Paul or fuck me sweet Agnes Santorum are really the best candidates you can offer to run the world's sole superpower, as opposed to handfuls of shit you've thrown against the wall to see which one sticks longest.
Yeah, I thought the whole "he lost everything" was pretty hamm-handed as well.
ReplyDeleteNow, if it was me and I was the writer I'd have Don down at the bank first thing next episode canceling Megan's milllion dollar Mad Money cheque.
But I go for the easy pun and bad simile, so what do I know?
I hope the remaining episodes offer payoffs for Peggy, Don, Pete, Joan, Sally, Betty, Roger AND CHEKHOV’S DON'S BALCONY. After Diana referenced it, I thought that might be her reason for being -- to show Don how to take a flying leap. Isn't that what the title sequence shows him doing after all his worldly possessions are removed?
ReplyDeleteWe had more than one Denny album in the family rack, including "Exotica." "Quiet Village" was another. The cover picture was quite memorable for a not-quite-pubescent lad of the day.
ReplyDeleteJohn Teti over at the AV Club (and seriously letting Teti write about Mad Men is one of the best moves they've made in years) talked a lot about this episode intentionally paralleling Di with Don's previous lovers, most specifically his dark haired lovers (which Weiner & co. were certainly asking us to do by bring Sylvia back for a minute) and there's no reason we can't slot Midge into that array.
ReplyDeleteAs GeoX points out above, when Don meets her she's reading Dos Passos, which is about as distant from Don's Nixonite milieu as Midge's early 60s Bohemian community. And it's not like the show passed over on it; Roger specifically called it out, so I don't think it's untoward to see that as another slot into the litany of Don's past conquests.
The Left punditariat is pretty well convinced it's down to Jeb(!) or Scotty, and I think they're probably right. Paul and Cruz sort of fill the space Warren would have filled on the D side--and Bernie still might--although from the opposite direction. When all is said and done, it's down to electability. What little electability the Rs have in stock this time around is embodied in those two, for whatever it's worth, which, this being a winner-take-all system, ain't much.
ReplyDeleteAs I've mentioned here and elsewhere, I'm not so sure electability enters into this primary round. The most extreme elements of the movement conservatives/Tea Party/glibertarians control the primaries, so nobody gets through that filter without being strongly in favor of the most extreme rightwing lunacy. Remember that the only thing that saved Romney in 2012 was his opponents self-destructing. Cruz is too polished a speaker to fall apart, and he's got plenty of cash coming in, AND he does nothing but toss red meat to the most likely primary voters. Walker works well as a puppet, but he tends to go to pieces in live debates. Jeb has assloads of money, but is not well liked at all by rank-and-file Republicans.
ReplyDeleteSo, does the RNC simply over-rule its own primaries and toss the "unelectable" candidate their base choses in favor of Jebbie or Scottie?
There was a shot where Julia Ormond was talking--angrily, and thus I assume to Megan--when I turned to the wife and said, "In five years this will seem like Dallas."
ReplyDeleteAnd PS, I thought that at the end of the previous (half-) season, Don was either fired or about to be. Didn't we last see him, standing with Sally, contemplating the house he grew up in? Now he's back on the job, if hardly working?
I am interested enough in Mad Men to search for interesting people who have interesting things to say about it. But nothing is helping me on this final slog. The show has become a bore and a chore. Roy, I know you hate Johanna Newsom, which is the only flaw you have revealed in your otherwise spot-on world view. However, in "Cosmia" Newsom sums up the haplessness of these waning Mad Men episodes:
ReplyDeletebeneath the porch-light
we’ve all been circling
That said -- and I am not one who is compelled to obsess over "clues" -- I can't help but think the spilled wine means the stewardess's boyfriend is going to beat the crap out of Don. Yes, that character has yet to appear but the show is larding itself up with brand new characters at a record rate.