I had really enjoyed the last few episodes of "Rescue Me" leading up to tonight. It seemed to be returning to a top-notch character drama, which quite frankly, it hasn’t consistently been for a number of seasons. But tonight’s finale…I’m not even sure where to begin with all the problems I had with it. Do I begin with what it didn’t do? Or with what it did do? Because both bothered the hell out of me. I think I’ll start with what it didn’t do.
Last week’s penultimate episode finished Damien’s tug-of-war arc about whether or not to remain a fireman. On the one side, Tommy was pushing him to continue following in Jimmy’s footsteps and remain a firefighter. On the other side, Sheila and Mickey were trying to pull him out and convince him to pursue a safer career. In the end, Tommy won the battle for Damien, and as a result, Damien literally met a crushing end. This tragedy befalling one of the show’s most likeable and innocent characters set up what should have been a powerful and emotionally draining finale.
Here are the powerful dramatic moments I was expecting to see:
1) Sheila learning what happened to her son, resulting in the emotional tour de force acting I’ve come to expect from Callie Thorne. Presumably, Tommy would have been the one to break the news to her, making the moment all the more powerful.
2) Sheila’s rage towards Tommy manifesting itself in putting all the blame on him.
3) Tommy being driven back to the brink of the bottle because of his own massive sense of culpability for what happened.
4) Janet’s initial reactions of rage and jealousy at seeing Tommy try to help Sheila after Damien’s tragedy drove him back to her as a protector.*
5) The very serious treatment of the reaction of everyone in this universe, and the toll Damien’s accident took on them.
#4 we did get, but because it was so much later, Janet is able to take a much firmer and more reasonable stand against Tommy's priorities. It would have been more compelling to see her dealing with the ambiguity of having these feelings while simultaneously knowing it was inappropriate to tell Tommy not to be there for his godson and his godson's grieving mother right after the accident.
These are the moments that would have made for a riveting, emotionally powerful piece of drama. These are the moments that would have completed the season long story this show has been telling. In short, these are the moments that would befit a finale.
Instead, what we got functioned far more like the opening chapter to season 7 than the closing chapter to season 6. It’s true that the episode’s opening scene was sufficiently powerful, with Sheila breaking down in agony, and then the shocking pan over to Damien, who I’d assumed was dead from Sheila’s phone conversation, but is instead crippled and brain damaged in a wheel chair, completely unable to speak. The image of this condition was far more horrific than an actual death would have been. As such, I expected the issue to be treated with the utmost seriousness. I was severely disappointed to learn that we were picking up two months after Damien’s accident, and as a result missed out on all the powerful dramatic moments that should have followed last week’s episode.
Moreover, after that opening scene, Damien’s condition was tastelessly treated as a joke. It was repulsive to see the boys using Damien to pick up chicks, and then arguing over who got to use him as a wing man on which nights. But the most disturbing piece of disrespect thrown Damien’s way by the writers was when Tommy attempted to mimic him over the cell phone to Sheila by emitting a panged squeal. These jokes, this general attitude of making light of Damien’s situation, are things I probably could have accepted in the season 7 premiere...you know, after we’d been given an entire finale dealing with this tragedy in a very serious way. And after I’d had several months distance from the show in between seasons and time to process. But the fact that two months elapsed for our characters before they made these jokes is fairly irrelevant to how I perceived their behavior. For me, Damien’s tragedy just happened last week. For me, this is still fresh. And to see the show come back a week later and spend the entire hour making fun of this poor, 18 year old kid, who heroically gave up everyhting in the line of duty, and who I’ve come to like and care about over the last several seasons, was disgraceful. I needed catharsis. I needed closure. And I felt the writers somewhat spat in the face of that.
Moreover, the episode in general functioned more as a setup for the upcoming season than like the conclusion of this one. We learned that Tommy has been neglecting his family in favor of other duties and Janet is pissed off. We learn that Sheila is more addicted to medications than ever and is obsessed with finding a miraculous cure for Damien’s paralysis. We learn that Mickey couldn’t take what happened and vanished for 2 months, that Colleen is having trouble staying on the wagon, and that Lou has been ignoring his doctor’s warnings to stay off the job. Again, every single one these feels like the kind of establishing drama we would get in a premiere, and not at all the emotionally powerful closure we deserve from a finale.
To make matters worse, Teddy shows up once again to become Colleen’s new sponsor. I wrote last week that it bothers me every time he shows up, because I find it completely absurd that everyone has just accepted what he did to Tommy as if it’s no big deal…and that’s not even to mention the fact that for some reason there was no police investigation into Tommy's shooting. So the notion that Colleen would agree to have Teddy, the man who literally shot and killed her father, become her new AA sponsor, is an absolute absurdity and completely detracts from the realism of the universe for me.
This makes three straight "Rescue Me" finales that have massively disappointed me. But as ludicrous as Teddy’s shooting of Tommy was in last season's final episode, the complete and utter disrespect shown to a beloved character last night makes this finale the worst of all. I hope they find a way to end next season in a more fitting way, because as it happens, it will also be the end of the series.
So very disappointed. And I’m out.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
RUBICON: “Look to the Ant”
How do you know a show has gotten really, really good? Answer: When you’re approaching the end of the hour and you feel bitter disappointment because you just don’t want it to end. That’s where Rubicon is at for me right now, after what was admittedly a pretty slow start to the series.
Sunday's “Look at the Ant” followed up on last week’s sporadic moments of intense fear and paranoia, with an entire episode full of it. I loved Will's response to finding out his place was bugged. He went full-on Harry Caul (Gene Hackman’s protagonist from The Conversation) on his apartment: ripping out fire alarms, unscrewing electric sockets, and dismantling his phone.
That sense of being watched, of someone coming for Will around every corner was palpable throughout the hour. And in some cases, people were literally coming for him around corners. I thought after last week’s episode that Spangler had dropped the surveillance on Will. I guess he must have subsequently learned that Will is still on the hunt. In any event, the scene where Will confronts his pursuer was just epic. The last time he confronted someone following him, he got a fierce right fist to the solar plexus. Even though he ignored that man's warning not to confront the next person following, this time he's at least smart enough to bring a loaded gun with him. I imagine the fantastic, threatening speech Will gave him, followed by the picture he took, terrified this guy almost as much as Will, himself, was terrified. And isn’t it so fitting in this world of espionage, deceit, and ambiguous information, that this guy had no clue why he was following Will and couldn’t have coughed up any meaningful information even if he wanted to?
The episode’s title, “Look to the Ant”, undoubtedly refers to the social nature of that particular insect. This if fitting, given the desolately solitary life that people in Will’s field are wont to lead. Indeed, Sunday’s episode found various isolated characters craving some form of companionship, and reaching out to get it, only to regress back to isolationism in the end.
Maggie was left alone in her apartment for the first time in a long time, when her ex-husband took her daughter for the evening. Her first instinct was to reach out to Will, whom we know she has a thing for from previous episodes. Will complimenting the way she looks at work that day undoubtedly spurred her on. When Will, too flummoxed by his own justifiably unnerving situation, blows her off, she reaches out to a man from her night school class that she doesn’t even like. She even goes so far as to jump his bones for a deeper sense of connection. However, it’s clear immediately upon finishing the act, that there is no connection. She turns on her side and faces away from him, as he pathetically tells her how “nice” it was.
To make matters worse for Maggie, a terrified Will shows up at her place wanting to spend the night, even if it was purportedly only on her couch. Will catches her with her night school nerd and promptly takes off. Maggie immediately and callously throws her one night stand out of the apartment like a piece of trash. The arrival of the man she actually wanted highlights for her just how much she doesn’t want the man currently wrapped in her sheets. Moreover, she was probably upset that Will catching her like that damaged a chance at a relationship between them in the future. And that’s not even to mention her realization that if she had just waited, Will would have spent the night after all. In the end, Maggie’s forged connection was ephemeral at best, and shw wound up feeling even more isolated than before her night began.
Miles, meanwhile, is so lonely at API that night he finds himself wheeling around the surveillance room in his chair. When George Beck turns out to be speaking Urdu instead of German, Miles needs someone to translate. The image of him frantically running through the halls of API in search of another living human being to help him was a wonderful visualization of the episode’s central theme, and of the toll that life takes on all its participants.
Unfortunately, Miles is entirely unable to accept the true state of his marriage, which appears to be almost certainly over. Because of this self-delusion, he blows his shot with fellow analyst Julia by flashing his ring when she inquires about his status. I’m not sure yet whether this plot line was simply meant to illustrate Miles’ present state of being, or whether we’re going to see this woman again as a potential love interest. My money is on the latter. But at the end of the day, Miles’ attempt at connection, like Maggie’s, ends in failure.
Katherine Rhumor has been alone ever since her husband supposedly blew his brains out. This isolation has been amplified by having to undertake her search for the truth behind her husband’s death all on her own. But this episode finds her connecting with a fellow widow whose husband died under the exact same circumstances as Tom. For a brief moment, the two widows share the sorrow and anguish they’ve both experienced. When Katherine discovers this other man not only served on the same board as Tom, but also died with a four leaf clover on his desk, she chooses not to share this information with her new friend, but instead rushes off to once again pursue her investigation on her own…an investigation that is leading her to Atlas McDowell and undoubtedly to Will. But like Miles and Maggie, Rhumor finds herself alone again at episode’s end.
Will, himself, has been more isolated than anyone since the death of his family. What’s the worst thing that can happen to a lone wolf like Will? Answer: to be put in a situation that makes you genuinely terrified of actuallybeing alone. When Will shows up at Maggie’s apartment he tells her he just “doesn’t want to be alone.” Unfortunately, Will’s attempt at companionship is more short-lived than anyone else’s, as Maggie’s man scares Will off before he can even get through the front door.
The last part of the episode I want to address is Kale. I know a lot of people viewed last night’s episode as proof that he wants to do the right thing, but needs to limit the extent of his involvement to avoid being put at risk. While this is a distinct possibility, I’m not entirely convinced yet. Last week’s episode revealed that Kale is now mistrustful of Spangler and Mr. Roy. We also know from this week’s episode that part of Kale’s motivation is to protect his ex-lover Donald Bloom, and by association, himself. The other part of his motivation might be to protect his country from enemies “both foreign and domestic,” as he so eloquently puts it. But I’m not positive yet that Kale’s motivation isn’t more selfish, that he might not be waging some personal war on people he feels have betrayed him. We’ll find out in coming weeks I’m sure.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Excuse me while I go unscrew some outlets.
Sunday's “Look at the Ant” followed up on last week’s sporadic moments of intense fear and paranoia, with an entire episode full of it. I loved Will's response to finding out his place was bugged. He went full-on Harry Caul (Gene Hackman’s protagonist from The Conversation) on his apartment: ripping out fire alarms, unscrewing electric sockets, and dismantling his phone.
That sense of being watched, of someone coming for Will around every corner was palpable throughout the hour. And in some cases, people were literally coming for him around corners. I thought after last week’s episode that Spangler had dropped the surveillance on Will. I guess he must have subsequently learned that Will is still on the hunt. In any event, the scene where Will confronts his pursuer was just epic. The last time he confronted someone following him, he got a fierce right fist to the solar plexus. Even though he ignored that man's warning not to confront the next person following, this time he's at least smart enough to bring a loaded gun with him. I imagine the fantastic, threatening speech Will gave him, followed by the picture he took, terrified this guy almost as much as Will, himself, was terrified. And isn’t it so fitting in this world of espionage, deceit, and ambiguous information, that this guy had no clue why he was following Will and couldn’t have coughed up any meaningful information even if he wanted to?
The episode’s title, “Look to the Ant”, undoubtedly refers to the social nature of that particular insect. This if fitting, given the desolately solitary life that people in Will’s field are wont to lead. Indeed, Sunday’s episode found various isolated characters craving some form of companionship, and reaching out to get it, only to regress back to isolationism in the end.
Maggie was left alone in her apartment for the first time in a long time, when her ex-husband took her daughter for the evening. Her first instinct was to reach out to Will, whom we know she has a thing for from previous episodes. Will complimenting the way she looks at work that day undoubtedly spurred her on. When Will, too flummoxed by his own justifiably unnerving situation, blows her off, she reaches out to a man from her night school class that she doesn’t even like. She even goes so far as to jump his bones for a deeper sense of connection. However, it’s clear immediately upon finishing the act, that there is no connection. She turns on her side and faces away from him, as he pathetically tells her how “nice” it was.
To make matters worse for Maggie, a terrified Will shows up at her place wanting to spend the night, even if it was purportedly only on her couch. Will catches her with her night school nerd and promptly takes off. Maggie immediately and callously throws her one night stand out of the apartment like a piece of trash. The arrival of the man she actually wanted highlights for her just how much she doesn’t want the man currently wrapped in her sheets. Moreover, she was probably upset that Will catching her like that damaged a chance at a relationship between them in the future. And that’s not even to mention her realization that if she had just waited, Will would have spent the night after all. In the end, Maggie’s forged connection was ephemeral at best, and shw wound up feeling even more isolated than before her night began.
Miles, meanwhile, is so lonely at API that night he finds himself wheeling around the surveillance room in his chair. When George Beck turns out to be speaking Urdu instead of German, Miles needs someone to translate. The image of him frantically running through the halls of API in search of another living human being to help him was a wonderful visualization of the episode’s central theme, and of the toll that life takes on all its participants.
Unfortunately, Miles is entirely unable to accept the true state of his marriage, which appears to be almost certainly over. Because of this self-delusion, he blows his shot with fellow analyst Julia by flashing his ring when she inquires about his status. I’m not sure yet whether this plot line was simply meant to illustrate Miles’ present state of being, or whether we’re going to see this woman again as a potential love interest. My money is on the latter. But at the end of the day, Miles’ attempt at connection, like Maggie’s, ends in failure.
Katherine Rhumor has been alone ever since her husband supposedly blew his brains out. This isolation has been amplified by having to undertake her search for the truth behind her husband’s death all on her own. But this episode finds her connecting with a fellow widow whose husband died under the exact same circumstances as Tom. For a brief moment, the two widows share the sorrow and anguish they’ve both experienced. When Katherine discovers this other man not only served on the same board as Tom, but also died with a four leaf clover on his desk, she chooses not to share this information with her new friend, but instead rushes off to once again pursue her investigation on her own…an investigation that is leading her to Atlas McDowell and undoubtedly to Will. But like Miles and Maggie, Rhumor finds herself alone again at episode’s end.
Will, himself, has been more isolated than anyone since the death of his family. What’s the worst thing that can happen to a lone wolf like Will? Answer: to be put in a situation that makes you genuinely terrified of actuallybeing alone. When Will shows up at Maggie’s apartment he tells her he just “doesn’t want to be alone.” Unfortunately, Will’s attempt at companionship is more short-lived than anyone else’s, as Maggie’s man scares Will off before he can even get through the front door.
The last part of the episode I want to address is Kale. I know a lot of people viewed last night’s episode as proof that he wants to do the right thing, but needs to limit the extent of his involvement to avoid being put at risk. While this is a distinct possibility, I’m not entirely convinced yet. Last week’s episode revealed that Kale is now mistrustful of Spangler and Mr. Roy. We also know from this week’s episode that part of Kale’s motivation is to protect his ex-lover Donald Bloom, and by association, himself. The other part of his motivation might be to protect his country from enemies “both foreign and domestic,” as he so eloquently puts it. But I’m not positive yet that Kale’s motivation isn’t more selfish, that he might not be waging some personal war on people he feels have betrayed him. We’ll find out in coming weeks I’m sure.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Excuse me while I go unscrew some outlets.
Monday, August 30, 2010
HUNG: “This is America or Fifty Bucks”
Last night’s Hung was just okay.
Like my favorite critic, Alan Sepinwall, I have a big problem with stories that require their protagonist to be unrealistically stupid. Last night’s episode did just that. Moreover, it impinged upon a specific pet peeve I have in TV shows and movies. I absolutely hate it when the following happens:
a) A character’s secret gets exposed to someone.
b) That secret either has mitigating circumstances or in some cases is outright false.
c) The character doesn’t take the time to reveal the mitigating circumstance or explain that the secret the other party thinks he or she knows is entirely untrue.
In last night’s episode, “This is America or Fifty Bucks,” Lenore confronts Ray about stealing her cut from his business with Frances. Ray, we know, has had nothing to do with this and is learning about it for the first time as Lenore tells him. He makes one feeble attempt to say he didn’t do it. But other than that, he lets her walk away having threatened to destroy his life. Anyone…ANYONE would have chased her down the hall and vigorously and convincingly explained that Tanya duped them both. Then again later, when Mike accuses Ray of having betrayed and plotted against him, Ray makes virtually no attempt to explain the situation. So that bugged the hell out of me.
Secondly, I’m really not sure what to think of Tanya becoming such a terrible human being. I’m not sure Lenore’s accusation of her being a sociopath was entirely inaccurate. I was disgusted with the way Tanya spoke to Ray after he caught her in her betrayal. Ray, as we know, is a genuinely good person who never wishes ill will on anyone. And he certainly doesn’t deserve to be lumped together in the same moral realm as Tanya. I hope he has the good sense to go with Lenore over Tanya in next week’s finale.
Ronnie’s meltdown at the dermatology award ceremony would have caused me to shield my eyes in horror if I remotely liked Ronnie. He has derailed his entire marriage and now the respect of his peers as well. And of course his tirade drives Jess straight out of the room and into Ray’s arms.
I’m also a little disappointed that the whole idea of Ray learning to become a successful male escort has been dropped entirely.
Truth be told, not much in that episode worked for me. Hopefully, next week’s finale will be better.
Like my favorite critic, Alan Sepinwall, I have a big problem with stories that require their protagonist to be unrealistically stupid. Last night’s episode did just that. Moreover, it impinged upon a specific pet peeve I have in TV shows and movies. I absolutely hate it when the following happens:
a) A character’s secret gets exposed to someone.
b) That secret either has mitigating circumstances or in some cases is outright false.
c) The character doesn’t take the time to reveal the mitigating circumstance or explain that the secret the other party thinks he or she knows is entirely untrue.
In last night’s episode, “This is America or Fifty Bucks,” Lenore confronts Ray about stealing her cut from his business with Frances. Ray, we know, has had nothing to do with this and is learning about it for the first time as Lenore tells him. He makes one feeble attempt to say he didn’t do it. But other than that, he lets her walk away having threatened to destroy his life. Anyone…ANYONE would have chased her down the hall and vigorously and convincingly explained that Tanya duped them both. Then again later, when Mike accuses Ray of having betrayed and plotted against him, Ray makes virtually no attempt to explain the situation. So that bugged the hell out of me.
Secondly, I’m really not sure what to think of Tanya becoming such a terrible human being. I’m not sure Lenore’s accusation of her being a sociopath was entirely inaccurate. I was disgusted with the way Tanya spoke to Ray after he caught her in her betrayal. Ray, as we know, is a genuinely good person who never wishes ill will on anyone. And he certainly doesn’t deserve to be lumped together in the same moral realm as Tanya. I hope he has the good sense to go with Lenore over Tanya in next week’s finale.
Ronnie’s meltdown at the dermatology award ceremony would have caused me to shield my eyes in horror if I remotely liked Ronnie. He has derailed his entire marriage and now the respect of his peers as well. And of course his tirade drives Jess straight out of the room and into Ray’s arms.
I’m also a little disappointed that the whole idea of Ray learning to become a successful male escort has been dropped entirely.
Truth be told, not much in that episode worked for me. Hopefully, next week’s finale will be better.
MAD MEN: “Waldorf Stories”
Tonight’s Mad Men wrapped up on AMC around the same time it was winning its 3rd straight Emmy over on NBC, and fittingly, “Waldorf Stories” was terrific. (Whether its excellent 3rd season deserved the Emmy is another story, as there are a few shows I found more spectacularly entertaining and dramatically powerful than Mad Men last season…one of which wasn’t even nominated, and thanks to its showrunner’s recent anti-emmy tirades, probably never will be.) “Waldorf Stories” was, above all else, frakking hilarious. I was laughing out loud almost the entire episode. But it was also filled with powerful character moments, fascinating backstory revelations, and had a thematically coherent narrative.
The theme of “Waldorf Stories” was the need to feel one’s self-worth. Throughout the episode we saw our characters seeking validation of their status: Don’s desire to win the CLIO; Pete’s desire to be acknowledged as a full partner by both Lane and Ken; Peggy’s desire to be acknowledged by Don for her talent and contribution and to be seen by Stan, the new condescending art director, as the free spirit she prides herself on having become; Roger’s desire to be acknowledged as an important part of the firm; and even Danny--that new dope Don stole from and then hired--wanting to be considered worthy of a job. In the end, everyone but the man who actually won an award came away with at least some semblance of the self-worth they were craving.
Let’s start with those who achieved some portion of their goals this episode:
It has become clearer and clearer as this season progresses, and this has actually been going on since season three, that Peggy feels severely underappreciated by Don. In the season three finale it seemed that Don had rectified the situation by telling Peggy he would spend the rest of his life trying to hire her, which in turn convinced her to join SCDP. But this season we’ve see that wasn’t enough to buck the trend, whether it’s Don yelling at her for the publicity stunt she pulled in this season’s premiere, or the betrayal we now know Peggy feels for Don not acknowledging her role in the Glo-Coat ad that won him an award. Don, being the drunken jerk he seems to have become (and yes, I know this is a vast oversimplification of an incredibly complex character), forces her to work all weekend on a campaign rather than getting to enjoy the CLIOs with everyone else. On this front, Peggy achieves no success and remains vastly underappreciated by episode’s end. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this situation come to a head in the next few weeks.
But Peggy also prides herself on who she’s become as a person. We saw earlier this season how happy she was to be able to hang out with the hippie crowds, whether it was arguing with pretentious starving artists, casually fending off lesbian advances, retreating to back rooms for near-quickies, or smoking pot in public. So when her new partner accuses her of being too uptight to be comfortable with her own body, and even compares her to the pope, she feels deeply offended. He really crosses a line when he tells her she should be ashamed of her body. She calls his ultra-liberal bluff and strips down naked right in front of him, daring him to follow suit. When he complies, revealing an erection, she knows she has at least gained validation as an attractive woman, making Stan eat his words about her body. But she doesn’t gain validation about the liberal, free-spirit she has become until she is able to make Mr. Phony so uncomfortable in his own naked body that he has flee to the bathroom to get dressed. It was great to see Peggy use all her feminine wiles, from her cunning to her sexuality, to turn the tables on that smug son-of-a-bitch. Who’s the uptight one now? It was also a great comic moment at the end of the episode, when she added insult to injury by not-so-subtly referring to Stan’s genitalia as a “teeny change.”
Pete is a full-fledged partner now that he brought in Vick’s, but he doesn’t yet feel he’s being treated like one. Lane decides to bring in Pete’s old rival, who Lane once chose over Pete, behind Pete’s back. Lane’s assurance that he has always liked Pete went some way towards Pete’s personal validation. But Mr. Campbell needed one more thing to truly feel like a partner, an acknowledgment of his superiority by the man who once defeated him, Ken Cosgrove. It was tough to watch the anguish wash over Ken’s face as he was forced to acknowledge Pete as his boss, or perhaps master is a better word for it, based on the way Pete described it. One of the episode’s funniest moments came right after Pete got Ken to bow down to him. Pete leans back in his chair the like big man in the room, and pretends to be a gracious, magnanimous winner by smugly asking Ken about his marriage. Vintage Campbell: always trying to get over on someone, no matter how petty it is.
We know from last week’s “The Chrysanthemum and The Sword” that Roger has been feeling threatened by his increasingly dwindling importance to the firm. Sure he’s responsible for “Lucky Strike,” the linchpin of the whole company; but it’s become widely and tacitly acknowledged by the other partners that beyond “Lucky Strike,” Roger doesn’t have much else to contribute. Lane concedes as much when he explains he needs to bring in Ken because “Roger Sterling is a child, and we can’t have you pulling the cart all by yourself.” After Don wins his CLIO, Roger sits miserable at the bar, depressed at all the credit being heaped on Don and how much he seems to be enjoying it. Making matters worse, Don didn’t even thank Roger for his role in the company and for giving Don his start in the business. When Don admits he was wrong and that Roger is valuable, Roger gets the validation he needs.
Now let’s get to the big fish. Donnie boy. Oh, Don. How far have ye fallen from grace? Last week featured a Don Draper at the peak of his powers, and left us to wonder if Don had truly begun to pull himself out of his freefall or if this was just a momentary resurgence of vintage Don. “Waldorf Stories” gives us our answer as Don sinks deeper into the bottle and into debauchery than ever before.
When Don first wins his CLIO he exudes pure elation, and perhaps for a short time, it was genuine. In particular, his drunken high-off-of-victory pitch to Life Cereal was riotously funny. When he started vamping on his pitch and slurring his words at a million miles per hour, I was half laughing and half covering my eyes in fear of what he might do. When he started rattling off new slogans one after another, I thought that was it, the moment he drove the clients right out the door in horror. I mean, it seemed like he might be throwing out slogans for the rest of the episode. Just when I thought the scene couldn’t get any funnier, he plagiarizes the slogan from Danny, the wannabe ad man whom Don mocked mercilessly earlier in the episode. And what could make the scene even funnier than that? THE “LIFE” PEOPLE LOVED IT!!!!!
It was after his miraculous pitch to “Life” that his apparent jubilance transformed, or perhaps revealed itself to have been all along, a cover for his overwhelming sense of not deserving the award. There are two huge pieces of evidence for this. 1) He literally leaves his award at the bar as he stumbles to a hotel room with an apparent advertising groupie who wanted to sleep with him just for being Don Draper. But as we know, he is not Don Draper, the man who was given the award, he is Dick Whitman, which brings us to our second piece of evidence. 2) When Don wakes up on Sunday beside a completely different gorgeous woman from the brunette we saw before, she refers to him as Dick, not Don. In his drunken state, his true feelings had unintentionally emerged…something I’m sure most of us can relate to. He doesn’t feel like Don Draper, a deserving winner of a prestigious advertising award. He feels like Dick Whitman, the undeserving fraud who stole another man’s life. Side note, I thought the transition from night-to-morning was seamless, and when we learn he is now lying next to a blonde instead of a brunette, my jaw dropped. Sex and Booze. Booze and Sex. This is what Don Draper’s life revolves around now as we learn that he blew off his weekend with his kids for one of hedonism and self-loathing. He is so drunk he doesn’t even remember he stole Danny’s slogan, and as a result he is forced to hire this untalented hack the next day (though he is still able to spin it to Roger as if it were a favor for him).
We get another glimpse of why Don feels like a fraud with the episode’s flashbacks of how he got into the advertising business in the first place. We’ve often wondered how Don made that transition. Was it by giving an incredible speech? Showing Bert or Roger a portfolio of incredible pitches? As it turns out, Roger scoffed at his portfolio and left it on the hotel room floor. But Don’s entry into Sterling Copper was no less stunning or brilliant. He sweet-talked Roger into having a drink with him at ten in the morning. He then got Roger so drunk that he couldn’t possibly remember anything the next day. And then, in the episode’s utterly mind- blowing final scene, he just shows up at Sterling Cooper the next day and claims he’s been given a job. Can you believe the balls on this guy? Wow. Just. Wow. And Roger is either too embarrassed, or perhaps just doesn’t care enough, to argue with it. I mean what was the worst case scenario? That Don sucks at his job and Roger fires him a few weeks later. No biggie. And I know some people have been writing online that maybe Roger did say “welcome aboard” off-camera and then just forgot about it. But give me a break, if that really happened there would be absolutely no dramatic reason in the world not to have shown it. And the look Don gives Roger in the elevator, nervous and making sure his story was bought, seals the deal. And so began the legend of Don Draper in the advertising world. A total con. It’s no wonder Don feels like a fraud accepting this award.
As brilliant as this episode was, it was much lighter fare than some of this season’s earlier episodes. In fact, this makes two episodes in a row where the A-plot was built around comedy rather than drama. I would expect Mad Men to return to a more serious mode next week, lest it veer too far off in the other direction.
Other Thoughts:
-Absolutely loved that after Don learned he had stolen Danny’s ad, he tried to buy him off for 50 dollars, and then had the gall to act outraged when the kid wouldn’t settle for a hundred. Unfortunately for Don, Danny is not as dumb as he acts. Who knows, maybe he’ll turn out to be the next Don Draper. After all, he got his start in the biz in a remarkably similar way, as a result of his new boss’s drunken blackout. And he’s already come up with one slogan that sold. Still, seems unlikely.
-Poor Duck is still a drunken mess. It was both hilarious and ironic to see Don taking such sadistic pleasure in it. After all, Duck is merely a mirror of Don’s own present state of being. Don’s pleasure in Duck’s failure was similar to the glee he took from Danny’s hilariously incompetent portfolio. Don’s life is a train wreck and misery loves company.
-Ted Chaough was at the CLIOs, still acting as smug as ever…guess Don didn’t destroy him completely. Loved the verbal spelling of his bizarre name.
-Did Don’s drunken pass at Faye Miller wreck his chances with her? I suspect not.
-Don’s poor kids…they really have TWO awful parents, don’t they?
-Is Don still rattling off slogans for LIFE? Here’s one for him: “LIFE, it sucks when you’re sober, kids.”
The theme of “Waldorf Stories” was the need to feel one’s self-worth. Throughout the episode we saw our characters seeking validation of their status: Don’s desire to win the CLIO; Pete’s desire to be acknowledged as a full partner by both Lane and Ken; Peggy’s desire to be acknowledged by Don for her talent and contribution and to be seen by Stan, the new condescending art director, as the free spirit she prides herself on having become; Roger’s desire to be acknowledged as an important part of the firm; and even Danny--that new dope Don stole from and then hired--wanting to be considered worthy of a job. In the end, everyone but the man who actually won an award came away with at least some semblance of the self-worth they were craving.
Let’s start with those who achieved some portion of their goals this episode:
It has become clearer and clearer as this season progresses, and this has actually been going on since season three, that Peggy feels severely underappreciated by Don. In the season three finale it seemed that Don had rectified the situation by telling Peggy he would spend the rest of his life trying to hire her, which in turn convinced her to join SCDP. But this season we’ve see that wasn’t enough to buck the trend, whether it’s Don yelling at her for the publicity stunt she pulled in this season’s premiere, or the betrayal we now know Peggy feels for Don not acknowledging her role in the Glo-Coat ad that won him an award. Don, being the drunken jerk he seems to have become (and yes, I know this is a vast oversimplification of an incredibly complex character), forces her to work all weekend on a campaign rather than getting to enjoy the CLIOs with everyone else. On this front, Peggy achieves no success and remains vastly underappreciated by episode’s end. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this situation come to a head in the next few weeks.
But Peggy also prides herself on who she’s become as a person. We saw earlier this season how happy she was to be able to hang out with the hippie crowds, whether it was arguing with pretentious starving artists, casually fending off lesbian advances, retreating to back rooms for near-quickies, or smoking pot in public. So when her new partner accuses her of being too uptight to be comfortable with her own body, and even compares her to the pope, she feels deeply offended. He really crosses a line when he tells her she should be ashamed of her body. She calls his ultra-liberal bluff and strips down naked right in front of him, daring him to follow suit. When he complies, revealing an erection, she knows she has at least gained validation as an attractive woman, making Stan eat his words about her body. But she doesn’t gain validation about the liberal, free-spirit she has become until she is able to make Mr. Phony so uncomfortable in his own naked body that he has flee to the bathroom to get dressed. It was great to see Peggy use all her feminine wiles, from her cunning to her sexuality, to turn the tables on that smug son-of-a-bitch. Who’s the uptight one now? It was also a great comic moment at the end of the episode, when she added insult to injury by not-so-subtly referring to Stan’s genitalia as a “teeny change.”
Pete is a full-fledged partner now that he brought in Vick’s, but he doesn’t yet feel he’s being treated like one. Lane decides to bring in Pete’s old rival, who Lane once chose over Pete, behind Pete’s back. Lane’s assurance that he has always liked Pete went some way towards Pete’s personal validation. But Mr. Campbell needed one more thing to truly feel like a partner, an acknowledgment of his superiority by the man who once defeated him, Ken Cosgrove. It was tough to watch the anguish wash over Ken’s face as he was forced to acknowledge Pete as his boss, or perhaps master is a better word for it, based on the way Pete described it. One of the episode’s funniest moments came right after Pete got Ken to bow down to him. Pete leans back in his chair the like big man in the room, and pretends to be a gracious, magnanimous winner by smugly asking Ken about his marriage. Vintage Campbell: always trying to get over on someone, no matter how petty it is.
We know from last week’s “The Chrysanthemum and The Sword” that Roger has been feeling threatened by his increasingly dwindling importance to the firm. Sure he’s responsible for “Lucky Strike,” the linchpin of the whole company; but it’s become widely and tacitly acknowledged by the other partners that beyond “Lucky Strike,” Roger doesn’t have much else to contribute. Lane concedes as much when he explains he needs to bring in Ken because “Roger Sterling is a child, and we can’t have you pulling the cart all by yourself.” After Don wins his CLIO, Roger sits miserable at the bar, depressed at all the credit being heaped on Don and how much he seems to be enjoying it. Making matters worse, Don didn’t even thank Roger for his role in the company and for giving Don his start in the business. When Don admits he was wrong and that Roger is valuable, Roger gets the validation he needs.
Now let’s get to the big fish. Donnie boy. Oh, Don. How far have ye fallen from grace? Last week featured a Don Draper at the peak of his powers, and left us to wonder if Don had truly begun to pull himself out of his freefall or if this was just a momentary resurgence of vintage Don. “Waldorf Stories” gives us our answer as Don sinks deeper into the bottle and into debauchery than ever before.
When Don first wins his CLIO he exudes pure elation, and perhaps for a short time, it was genuine. In particular, his drunken high-off-of-victory pitch to Life Cereal was riotously funny. When he started vamping on his pitch and slurring his words at a million miles per hour, I was half laughing and half covering my eyes in fear of what he might do. When he started rattling off new slogans one after another, I thought that was it, the moment he drove the clients right out the door in horror. I mean, it seemed like he might be throwing out slogans for the rest of the episode. Just when I thought the scene couldn’t get any funnier, he plagiarizes the slogan from Danny, the wannabe ad man whom Don mocked mercilessly earlier in the episode. And what could make the scene even funnier than that? THE “LIFE” PEOPLE LOVED IT!!!!!
It was after his miraculous pitch to “Life” that his apparent jubilance transformed, or perhaps revealed itself to have been all along, a cover for his overwhelming sense of not deserving the award. There are two huge pieces of evidence for this. 1) He literally leaves his award at the bar as he stumbles to a hotel room with an apparent advertising groupie who wanted to sleep with him just for being Don Draper. But as we know, he is not Don Draper, the man who was given the award, he is Dick Whitman, which brings us to our second piece of evidence. 2) When Don wakes up on Sunday beside a completely different gorgeous woman from the brunette we saw before, she refers to him as Dick, not Don. In his drunken state, his true feelings had unintentionally emerged…something I’m sure most of us can relate to. He doesn’t feel like Don Draper, a deserving winner of a prestigious advertising award. He feels like Dick Whitman, the undeserving fraud who stole another man’s life. Side note, I thought the transition from night-to-morning was seamless, and when we learn he is now lying next to a blonde instead of a brunette, my jaw dropped. Sex and Booze. Booze and Sex. This is what Don Draper’s life revolves around now as we learn that he blew off his weekend with his kids for one of hedonism and self-loathing. He is so drunk he doesn’t even remember he stole Danny’s slogan, and as a result he is forced to hire this untalented hack the next day (though he is still able to spin it to Roger as if it were a favor for him).
We get another glimpse of why Don feels like a fraud with the episode’s flashbacks of how he got into the advertising business in the first place. We’ve often wondered how Don made that transition. Was it by giving an incredible speech? Showing Bert or Roger a portfolio of incredible pitches? As it turns out, Roger scoffed at his portfolio and left it on the hotel room floor. But Don’s entry into Sterling Copper was no less stunning or brilliant. He sweet-talked Roger into having a drink with him at ten in the morning. He then got Roger so drunk that he couldn’t possibly remember anything the next day. And then, in the episode’s utterly mind- blowing final scene, he just shows up at Sterling Cooper the next day and claims he’s been given a job. Can you believe the balls on this guy? Wow. Just. Wow. And Roger is either too embarrassed, or perhaps just doesn’t care enough, to argue with it. I mean what was the worst case scenario? That Don sucks at his job and Roger fires him a few weeks later. No biggie. And I know some people have been writing online that maybe Roger did say “welcome aboard” off-camera and then just forgot about it. But give me a break, if that really happened there would be absolutely no dramatic reason in the world not to have shown it. And the look Don gives Roger in the elevator, nervous and making sure his story was bought, seals the deal. And so began the legend of Don Draper in the advertising world. A total con. It’s no wonder Don feels like a fraud accepting this award.
As brilliant as this episode was, it was much lighter fare than some of this season’s earlier episodes. In fact, this makes two episodes in a row where the A-plot was built around comedy rather than drama. I would expect Mad Men to return to a more serious mode next week, lest it veer too far off in the other direction.
Other Thoughts:
-Absolutely loved that after Don learned he had stolen Danny’s ad, he tried to buy him off for 50 dollars, and then had the gall to act outraged when the kid wouldn’t settle for a hundred. Unfortunately for Don, Danny is not as dumb as he acts. Who knows, maybe he’ll turn out to be the next Don Draper. After all, he got his start in the biz in a remarkably similar way, as a result of his new boss’s drunken blackout. And he’s already come up with one slogan that sold. Still, seems unlikely.
-Poor Duck is still a drunken mess. It was both hilarious and ironic to see Don taking such sadistic pleasure in it. After all, Duck is merely a mirror of Don’s own present state of being. Don’s pleasure in Duck’s failure was similar to the glee he took from Danny’s hilariously incompetent portfolio. Don’s life is a train wreck and misery loves company.
-Ted Chaough was at the CLIOs, still acting as smug as ever…guess Don didn’t destroy him completely. Loved the verbal spelling of his bizarre name.
-Did Don’s drunken pass at Faye Miller wreck his chances with her? I suspect not.
-Don’s poor kids…they really have TWO awful parents, don’t they?
-Is Don still rattling off slogans for LIFE? Here’s one for him: “LIFE, it sucks when you’re sober, kids.”
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