'I Say Goodbye to People All the Time': Mad Men Recapped
Don recruits Megan to join him and the family in California, where he's got some affairs with Anna's house to look after. Stephanie greets him and Sally and Bobby there; virtually all that remains is a piano, the hand-painted "Dick + Anna '64" from Don's previous visit, and the engagement ring (ahem) that Anna left behind. Stephanie doesn't want it ("I don't believe in it"), so it's Don's ring now. Which is convenient since he's already doubled Megan's salary to play nanny; God forbid he should have to shell out any more for jewelry.
Anyway, he and Megan obviously wind up sleeping together again. It's the night before a big trip to Disneyland, and Megan had a pretty lame night out with her former college roommate. She's so much better when she's singing French-language folk songs with Don's kids; "You're like Maria von Trapp," he says, stunned that this expert phone-answerer and office seductress also has just the right touch with a young psychotic like Sally. It's evinced all the more the next day as the bloodthirsty girl tips over a milkshake in a rage at her brother. "Don't get upset," Megan purrs, wiping up the spill with all the Canadian equanimity in her being. "It's only a milkshake." Astounded at this poise, this class, Don observes the scene with brow-folded, incredulous awe. This calls for action of his own.
It will have to wait until they return to New York. Contemplative Don is back, cleaned and dressed for work, perched on the edge of the bed where Megan lies asleep in the sweeping morning light. Who needs a junkie's painting for inspiration when you have your nubile secretary naked under your covers? Of course, marriage is a much, much more intense sell job than a full-page ad about quitting tobacco; Megan is a lot of things, but she's neither desperate nor the slightest bit dumb. Don has her tendency toward impulse indulgence -- and the faith she puts in it, not so unlike his own -- going for him, but still. As quickly as this moment occurred for both of them, it's arrived even quicker for us. Forget whether or not you believe this is actually what Don wants; the fundamental Mad Men question of "What would Don Draper do?" must come first. They're not always the same thing, though they may often seem like it. For example, he wanted Suzanne Farrell last year, but he committed to his identity.
That commitment has been weakening all season, but forgoing Faye to be with Megan seems to nudge the Dick Whitman skeleton further into Don's closet, so I really have no idea why any of this went down the way it did. I don't know Don's motivations anymore, I don't know who Megan even is except for someone good with kids, sex and message-taking, and I wonder what's in any of this for Weiner but the chance to crush Faye and Betty a little more. "I hope she knows you only like the beginnings of things," Faye tearfully shouts at Don over the phone -- spurned, rash and clearly not seeing eye-to-eye with the bigger Draperian picture.
But at least she doesn't get the cosmic beatdown coming Betty's way: "No one's on your side," Henry tells her, disgusted with her treatment of Carla. Off she goes to lay on Sally stripped bed, all pouty, pensive Princess Dis-Grace. Later, when Don drops by the house for a meeting with the listing agent, Betty just happens to be there awaiting him. She's got one box left, and in that box one cup for the whiskey Don finds stashed in the cabinet. Of course. She breaks the news that things "aren't perfect"; he breaks the news that he's engaged. The reality of Betty's consequences fall like a curtain over face -- horror, disbelief, shock, resignation. She expresses her happiness for him, but really, the most dramatic gesture she can offer is her house key. If you thought things were over between them last season, they are viciously, irreparably over now. Off she goes with her box, off he goes with his key. This house is empty now, save for a bottle all but obsolete for the both of them.
Weiner tacks on a coda back in Don's apartment -- a glimpse of him and Megan in bed beneath the soothing strains of "I Got You, Babe," the camera swooping into the optimistic night over Manhattan. It's not that optimistic, keep in mind: Peggy is beside herself, not sure whether jealousy, anger or repulsion is the more appropriate response. Joan tries to calm her down ("They're all just between marriages"), later passing her ambivalence on to Greg via phone: "He was smiling like a fool, like he was the first man who married his secretary." But then Greg asks if and when she might break her own news: That she's pregnant. Say whaaaa? Maybe she is, maybe she isn't? Did she actually go through with the abortion in Morristown? Greg wants to know why she isn't showing in her recent pictures (though yes, she says, her breasts are bigger!) -- and, uh, yeah. So do I. I'm so confused.
But is that what we get for a finale -- after all this? Bert's AWOL and Joan may or may not still be carrying Roger's baby? Does it even matter? If the series ended last night, would you miss it? Or are we Faye to Matthew Weiner's Don -- loyal to the last, excusing, sympathetic, lovestruck and bruisingly swatted aside after a few fateful days in California? Maybe he, too, only likes the beginnings of things. Or maybe all of us do. Thank God for Walking Dead, I guess.
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I think I liked this season more than you did, but last night I sat in front of the TV in total disbelief. I think this is the first episode I have actively disliked while watching it, and I admit the thought did cross my mind: "Am I really invested enough to watch this another season?" I am starting to think that the show started falling apart when it began to marginalize/demonize Betty. It has gotten so I really like everything about the show except for the elements directly related to Don Draper.
There are a few theories floating about:
1) This was all happening in Don's mind.
As they kept cutting back to a scene of him sitting in the edge of his bed. However, I don't think the writers would allow so much confusion to flow into the next/final season.
2) Don and Betty will get together next season
I can see that happening. Henry looks as if he's had enough of Betty and Meghan will get sick and tired of playing baby sitter. This actually fits my theory that the whole premise of Mad Men is "The more things change the more they stay the same" All of the characters (and time) have changed in someway but none of them (outside of Peggy) has grown as people they are still the same as they were season 1. Although Don being with Meghan solidifies this anyway.
"It all started at the Sterling household, where last week’s sudden motivation to move has in fact resulted in the family moving."
I hate to nitpick, but don't you mean the Francis household?
Was anyone else reminded of Groundhog Day while watching the final shot of Don in bed as "I Got You Babe" played?
God, I suck. Yes. Thank you.
In regards to Joan's pregnancy - she didn't get the abortion. When they showed her on the bus in that episode, she had hightailed it out of the clinic and straight down to whatever Army base Rapey Hubby was at, and slept with him so that when she ended up pregnant, she could say it was his. Also, earlier in this episode, she was clearly showing a bit in the tummy area.
When it comes to Megan - I think it's important to remember that every time he goes to CA, Don becomes someone different (quite literally with the Dick Whitman stuff). In any case - this is insane. I think that Don sees a lot of himself in Megan (especially after that ridiculous "everything else is just sentiment" chat back before they banged for the first time). Also, he sees Peggy. This is still lunacy, however.
May I also ask what everyone thought of Dr. Faye? Certainly, I felt terribly for her and thought her slamming of Don on the phone was amazing, but I knew they would never work out. Why? Dr. Faye never took Don seriously. I think she thought he was being hyperbolic when he told her his problems and past. She thought she could grab his face and give him little pep talks and all would be fine. This is why it didn't work. This is also why Don will never tell Megan the full truth about himself.
Most definitely. That song makes me think of that movie every time I hear it, and then you add in a shot of a protagonist in bed, and next thing you know I'm hanging out with Ned Ryerson....Needlenose Ned...Ned the Head.
I missed the first three seasons of Mad Men, got into the first two episodes of the new season, then realized that it was a nighttime soap opera, with great costumes and settings. Not for me anymore. (I tried to watch the season finale couldn't finish watching ... who cares about this slimeball just because she cares about his kids?)
Wow. My thoughts exactly. Except for the part about liking the season. I think it was probably my least favorite season yet. And it began so promising, but to me, it just sort of fizzled out.
I thought Faye was too good for Don, honestly. I think most of his mistresses and girlfriends are, aside form maybe Bobbie. I was disappointed when she decided to start something up with him because she just seemed smarter than that.
I disliked the finale, and felt like someone must have slipped Don some happy pills early on, yet I still liked several moments, and even found myself liking Megan, although I hated seeing Betty devolve further into cartoonishness. But the Joan/Peggy bonding was awesome, and made the episode for me.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed this piece, but the slapdash writing threw me off. It's occasionally fun, with some great moments, but it's also really sloppy, with lots of missing and misused words, improper syntax, missing letters, etc. I realize it's just a day after the finale, but still.
And now, the nitpicks: People "evince" reactions, not inanimate objects. Sally pouting hardly equals a "bloodthirsty girl." On "why she showing" -- you mean, if she's showing? Also: people "lie" on beds, they don't "lay" on them, and no, "bruisingly" is not a real word. And a "phone-answerer" is, um, a receptionist.
I realize this makes me the grammar police. But seriously, this piece is just full of half a dozen other errors similar to those I pointed out. It's a bummer to see this kind of stuff in a major magazine, even if it's an online-only feature. Thanks for the chance to vent (and yes I feel better)!
Thanks for the note and the nice words about the above parts you like. I can't excuse typos, of which there were indeed a couple that I've hopefully fixed. But speaking of police, let me stress that a lot of this stuff is what a private letter to the editor is for: "Evince" means to "make clear or plain," which is accurate here; you're right about "lie" (high-five); "bruisingly" is indeed a word, even if I just made it up -- same with "phone-answerer," which is a purposely reductive, pejorative description of Megan; "bloodthirsty girl" is a purposely hyperbolic description of Sally based on two seasons of recapping her increasing angst.
The point is that some of a piece's syntactic qualities reflect the writer's voice (particularly on the Web), and some are just the product of an 10:30 a.m. deadline. There's no excuse for the latter, but there's no reason for you to vent in a public forum about the rest, which, for better or worse, amounts to my consistency.
The problem I have with Mad Men is it is a caricature of the '60s Madison Avenue scene directed with '10 sensibilities. There are elements that are correct but much of it seems like an anthropologist telling us how cavemen 'should have' lived instead of seeing how they really did. As TV, the show is okay, but it's not the way it really was.
The roommate was right: Megan's teeth are very odd.
What a crap season finale. The Don/Megan engagement is dumb and the demonization of Betty is pathetic.
Don was just waiting for Blankenship to die. I agree with most that the season finale was kind of a letdown. I was expecting something more on the order of last year's "let's bolt this British dump", like maybe Roger keeling over dead or promoting Peggy to partner or Deputy Creative Director. I did love the Joan/Peggy business. Matt Weiner does have some serious Mommy issues. I agree: "I'm marrying my secretary" seems a little blah. This will be Don's second marriage in a string of marriages. She'll probably be the one to end it when she leaves in a VW bus with some "hippie" in '68. I wonder if I'll tune in next season...
Yes, I've always thought that. It's like a Douglas Sirk movie as imagined by Matt Weiner in 2010.
Straight to the point and written well, thanks much for the post
["All of the characters (and time) have changed in someway but none of them (outside of Peggy) has grown as people they are still the same as they were season 1."]
Peggy hasn't grown enough. She's still working for Don Draper and demanding his respect. And I no longer understand why.
I believe i will include it during my preferred.