So...Mad Men Kinda Sucks Now, Right?

There was a time when I could not WAIT for a new episode of Mad Men.  I used to have a ritual, back when I smoked tobacco, where I would fix myself a nice cocktail and maybe get some fancy Trader Joe's snacks and I'd and drink and smoke along with the characters, happily indulging while a guy got his foot run over by a lawnmower and Sally masturbated and Betty was the worst and Don wrote a letter about quitting tobacco that changed everything.  But I quit smoking tobacco over two years ago, while Don Draper's still going at it.  Don's resolutely continued habit seems to be a clear symbol of his inability to change, even when everyone is his life is telling him he should; even when he wants to.

After having watched the first four episodes of this season, after having been bludgeoned over the head by the "HISTORY IS FUCKING DOOMED TO REPEAT ITSELF AND PEOPLE DON'T REALLY CHANGE" theme that has so obviously become the through-line of the show...I am bored.  Like, legitimately bored.  Why do I need to watch Don unable to control himself AGAIN and cheating on his wife AGAIN and smoking too much AGAIN and treating all women like whores AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN?  I don't.  People who don't take proper agency over their own lives are either very lazy or very stupid or both, and any way about it they don't make interesting characters.  There's a Tumblr dedicated to Dan Harmon called "Having Changed" - so-called because Harmon's characters tend to take a Joseph Campell-esque hero's journey and return from whence they came, having changed.  It's compelling and gives more weight to the characters and their motivations, providing the show has an adequate sense of continuity.  On Mad Men it feels like, sure, we're following the characters down this path, but most of them are actively trying not to grow, stubbornly clutching at the old ways of doing things even as the old ways are crumbling to dust in their hands.

Yes, I know that this isn't true of everyone.  There is some interesting work being done with Dawn and Stan and bratty teenage Sally.  There are a lot of characters on the show, and not all of them are static.  But the Mad Men sun rises and falls with Don, and the plain truth is he's just no fun to watch any more.  He's even sadder and more pathetic then when he was living in an alcoholic stupor in his depressing man cave, because he's had an opportunity to learn from his mistakes and move forward, but totally didn't.  That is a choice that the writers made, and ultimately I think it was a terrible one.  What are we going to see happen over the next season and a half?  Worse and worse things until the show finally ends in a way that is both tragic and enigmatic.  But just because a show is a drama doesn't mean that it has to be depressing, and just because a character is flawed doesn't mean that he has to slowly destroy his entire life until the audience is left feeling empty and wasted.

Believe me, I read enough blogs to know that the show has changed in very deliberate ways - as we've moved into the late sixties, we've seen the old guard from Sterling Cooper struggle with the changing world.  We've seen the presentation of the show become brighter, brasher, and more on the surface.  But purposeful or no, these changes have caused Mad Men to lose the subtlety that was its trademark.  Everything is big, crazy and dramatic these days; the writing is more predictable and, like I said, the themes and symbolism are bashed over the viewer's head instead of being allowed to gradually and delicately reveal themselves.  It's still a beautiful show to watch, of course - the aesthetics have always been top-notch, but they've gone from A reason to watch the show to THE reason.  And I will keep watching, if only to finish what I've started, but Mad Men has definitely lost its top-ranked spot on my personal list of favorites - honestly, it lost it last year when Joan became a prostitute because didn't you know ALL WOMEN ARE WHORES?  Ugh.  I don't know why Matt Weiner decided to take his show on this repetitive, circular path of hopelessness, but I can't fathom it ending in any truly satisfying way.  I suppose you could say that after Lost, I've got some trust issues (even though I don't mind the ending of Lost, but the writers did not do what they said they were going to do and wasted a lot of time on stupid things) but I think that's only fair.  Don't build your show up to be so grand and then expect that people will stick by you when it becomes lazy and pedestrian!  I know that a lot of you will disagree; I know there are aspects of the show that I haven't even touched upon.  It's impossible to write a post on Mad Men and talk about EVERYTHING without it being a goddamn research paper.  But it's important to evaluate things we once loved because sometimes, when we stop to really think about it, we'll find that we don't love them quite as much any more.

Image via nydailynews

GAME OF THRONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I'm back!  I've spent the last month traveling a fair amount to have a ton of sex with my friend (who, coincidentally, looks like Jon Snow) because I am a genius and have mastered what neither Ashton Kutcher or Justin Timberlake could.  Also, I got into grad school!  So I've been celebrating and not watching too much of the television.  I'll be moving to LA in August to get a Masters in Cinema and Media Studies from UCLA, and until then I'll try to keep up with the ol' Hedgepig blog a little better because once school starts my writing will be heading in a whole other direction.  I'll probably end up posting more since I'll be writing so much anyway, but who knows what'll happen.  So stay tuned!  Exciting changes ahead.

Speaking of things that are ahead...winter is coming!  Winter is almost here!  As everyone on the internet already knows, the third season of Game Of Thrones premiered on Sunday, and it was FUCKING AWESOME.  Weirdly, for me (because I love A Song Of Ice And Fire with all of my heart and I love Peter Dinklage just as much. Holy shit he's so goddamn hot.  I had a dream last night where I got to make out with him and YES JOEY YOU CAN HEAT UP YOUR COFFEE ON MY LOINS because they are ABLAZE.), I hadn't watched most of the second season until Sunday, when I luxuriated in a full-on GoT marathon after returning home from my spring break sexcation.  And...dude.  That show.  It's just The Best! Like, I'm not sure how it could be better.  Well, Lena Headly's eyebrows are horrible and SO distracting, but that's it.  That's the only thing I'd change.

I'm a big stickler for adaptations remaining true to their books, but I also recognize that film is a different medium and so some changes are necessary.  The Harry Potter movies (at least 1, 2, 5, and particularly 6) are a perfect example of movies that made tons of unnecessary changes with huge adverse impacts on plot and characterization (don't even get me started on Harry not being under Petrificus Totalis when Dumbledore dies because I will get angry and you'll be like, "Lauren, I agree with you, stop ranting" but I WON'T because it's The Stupidest Thing Ever and it completely destroys the meticulously constructed storyline UGH ok sorry I'm done now).  However, Game Of Thrones pulls its adaptation off with greater skill and dexterity than even Lord Of The Rings.  With George R. R. Martin involved with the show, he seems to be using it as an opportunity to expand on stories and characters that weren't completely fulfilled in the first two books (which he wrote almost 20 years ago).  The episodes, for the most part, remain very true to the books, but when they diverge it never feels forced or constrained.  Rather, the show allows new perspectives and reimaginings without razing what was already written.

Calling Bullshit On Mad Men

Since I've mostly stopped doing recaps, I find that for most shows there will be an episode that encapsulates the way I feel about the season as a whole - like the Leap Day episode for Modern Family.  "The Other Woman" was definitely that episode for Mad Men.  So, we can all agree this season has been pretty wack, right?  Definitely not the darkly beautiful subtle miracle of seasons past.  And yes, I understand that the tone of the show has changed to adjust to the tone of the world they live in, but it just doesn't seem like the storytelling holds as much weight as it used to.  That's not to say that this season has been bad; on the contrary, there have been many incredible moments (Roger on acid; Pete getting the shit kicked out of him; Joan kicking out her POS husband) and I still very much love the show.  But it's not the same.  Everything is a little more obvious, the emotions aren't as stark, and, worst of all, some of the characters actions and reactions don't seem at all in line with what we know of them.

At Last! The Triumphant Return Of Mad Men

Mad Men! So incredibly great to have Mad Men back.  And such a fun episode!  I can't wait to see where the season goes from here.  We'll leave the heavy-handed textual analysis for others; here are my notes and quotes.

UGH, The Worst! 2011

These are the things that sucked. We hate them. They are all The Worst.

Project Runway

This year, my favorite reality show was effectively killed by the Real World producers. I know, I SAID I wasn't gonna watch any more after last year's Gretchen debacle, but I thought it might get better. It did not. It got worse. SO MUCH WORSE. Anya and Josh were waved through, winning challenges they never should have won, including the entire competition. There's no point in watching a talent show if they disregard all the people with talent. I'll be watching the All-Stars show because it's full of designers that I LOVE (and some that I hate - we'll all know the apocalypse has arrived if Kenley wins PR A-S), but after that I'm out for good.

In 2011, The Emmys Happened.

For the 63rd time. Here is what came from that happening (and my Twitter feed and YouTube):

- I liked the opening. Jane Lynch is the best. Ron Swanson is The Best. Mad Men is awesome (omg I just remembered I have some great Jon Hamm gossip but that I should not put it on the Internets because that could get the person who blessed my life with this totally adorable and enviable gossip FIRED and then I would feel like the worst because I would totally actually be The Worst. So: if you know me, then ask me about it. But only if you promise not to post it in your blog.). The Big Bang Theory poked fun at their laugh track, but it wasn't enough to make me forget how terrible laugh tracks are and how much better their show would be without one. The Sue Sylvester split-screen was awkward all around. But it ended on a good note, and made me wish I could have watched more of her on-stage banter.

Emmys, Premieres, And One Blogger's Eternal Struggle

The Emmys are tonight, and Monday marks the real return of real television (The CW's fall season minus Gossip Girl started this week, but we don't count that). This means that, in addition to working, studying, and having a life that involves life-size, tangible people, I've got a shit-ton of shows to watch, recap, and opinionate on. Don't get me wrong; I'm super-excited. But just to give you a sense of what I'm up against here, these are the new shows that are showing up on my Sidereel schedule this week:

How I Met Your Mother

Castle

Glee

Raising Hope

Parenthood

SVU

Up All Night

Modern Family

CSI (on Wednesdays???)

Person Of Interest

The Big Bang Theory

Community

The Office

Parks & Recreation

Archer

Fringe

A Gifted Man

And that doesn't even count the summer shows I'm still watching like The Big C and Project Runway, or the shows that decided to do TWO premiere episodes like the effing Big Bang Theory (it's never the ones you hope for), or the shows that already premiered that I haven't watched yet, like Up All Night and Parenthood. So, you can see that it's gonna take me a little while to get through it all, and that posts will, by necessity, hopefully be somewhat abbreviated. It's actually kind of a good thing that the brand new shows mostly look like crap, because otherwise I'd be completely bogged down. I will do my best to watch everything and post in a timely fashion, but some shows' fall evaluations may have to wait until next week.

Now on to The Emmys. I won't say too much about it because most of my frustrations with the whole Emmy system are expressed in this post, but I will say this: The Emmys are broken. I do not, as of yet, have a solution to the problem of how to get Emmy voters to watch more than one or two episodes of a series, but I'm working on it. The system wherein shows submit their favorite episodes for consideration completely ignores the painstaking and incredible continuity work that goes into a show like Community, and instead rewards those shows who display a complete LACK and DISREGARD for continuity, aka Glee. I'm not surprised Glee got an Emmy nom; there were a couple good episodes this past season (if you ignore the rampant biphobia and absolutely awful and nonsensical character arcs for EVERYONE and focus instead on that one time Gwyneth Paltrow sang a Cee-Lo song), but there is no way it was a better over-all season than Community. Or Episodes. Or Archer. Or any number of fantastic shows that did not receive a nomination. This system of selecting single shows for judgment also totally dis-favors shows like Fringe and Lost that have season- or even series-long plotlines. Now, I know it's silly to rail against something as ultimately meaningless as The Emmys, but it really does make me sad when I see programs and actors that I know are great and deserving because I have watched ALL of their episodes lose to programs and actors that I know are equally undeserving because I have suffered through all or most of their episodes (ugh The Big Bang Theory UGHHH). So here's hoping that tonight will be all about Mad Men (The Best), Parks & Recreation (The Best next to the infuriatingly ROBBED Community), and Louie (also just The Best). Down with Boardwalk Empire (unless the Emmy is for set direction), Glee, and The Big Bang Theory! Give the rightly deserving all that they rightly deserve.

Seriously, though, you do not want to be in my house if Mad Men doesn't win best drama for their spectacular fourth season, because it is an indisputable FACT that everything about that show is meticulously awesome and even Friday Night Lights (which I have heard is great and is the only other nominated drama I will even slightly concede to) doesn't have the total package of top-notch writing and acting and directing and costumes and set direction and lighting and cinematography and EVERYTHING that Mad Men has.

My Glee issues do not extend to Jane Lynch, whom I LOVE, and who I am very excited to see host tonight. I love how the major awards shows just get gayer and gayer every year. Here's hoping for some excellent pantsuits.

Ok, I'm off to get some sun and live some semblance of a life before the season of opinions officially begins. Expect outraged commentary in the morning!

Let's Hear It For The Gays!

Happy Pride, everyone! And happy gay-marriage-is-legal-in-NY! I'm so gonna be dancing my face off tonight. To celebrate, I thought I'd talk about some of my favorite gay television characters. We've still got a long fucking way to go in terms of media portrayal, and I am purposefully ignoring Glee completely on this list - you can go back and read some of my Glee posts if that's what you're interested in, but their characters are so poorly maintained that while I love first season Kurt I kind of hate a lot of second season Kurt and we won't even get into their TERRIBLE track record of biphobia. So. Let's start with a good one.

Alastair/Athena, "Huge"

I have been trying to get everyone I know to watch Huge with me and everyone says, "Yeah, that sounds great," and then we never do. But it is THE BEST, you've just got to start watching and you'll be hooked. Now, not to give too much away, but Alastair is an incredible character. He's super awkward and weird and no one really gets him and he's totally open about finding power in the name Athena and wanting that to be his nickname or whatever and when the jock kid calls him that out of kindness and acceptance you will CRY and if you don't you are made of permafrost. Anyway, what's great about Alastair is that he is pretty much the embodiment of "Questioning". He's totally queer but is still figuring out what that means and even though he may have curiosity about guys he's got it about girls, too and is really just trying to be himself and find the best way to do that. He's not afraid to be genderqueer and embody the feminine along with the masculine and most of all he doesn't want people making assumptions about him based on what they see or hear. Alastair is one of the main reasons why Huge is so great, and probably one of the main reasons it was cancelled, lest teenagers realize it's ok to be whoever they want to be or some other TERRIBLE lesson like that.

I should just end this list now, because it just can't get any better than that.

The Cast Of Will & Grace (minus Grace)

Will & Grace is one of those shows that doesn't really get talked about anymore. I don't think I've mentioned it once in almost a year of this blog. But it really was, for at least the first few seasons, revolutionary, brilliant, and hilarious queer comedy. Sure, there were some issues with stereotypes, but Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes are such great actors that they dealt with those unavoidable roadblocks with grace and dignity. Megan Mullally's pansexual Karen is one of the greatest television characters of all time; they should have ended the show before Harry Connick, Jr came on to ruin everything and created a spin-off called Jack & Karen, because who wouldn't watch that? I remember seeing two men kiss on primetime TV, and how powerful that was for me as a little baby queer with an uncle about to get gay married. I love, love, love Sean Hayes (if you haven't seen Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, do it NOW) and think he deserves tons of credit for making flamboyance into something more than a limp-wristed caricature and for showing the world that it's ok to be stereotypically & effeminately gay, but that that doesn't mean that's ALL you are. I think it's safe to say that the television world would not be what it is today without Will & Grace.

Chandler & Phoebe, "Friends"

Both totally bi. Like, so bi I've considered writing a dissertation about how bi they are. Really the argument could be made for all of the so-called heteros on Friends, but Chandler and Phoebe are the most obvious about it. I love when Phoebe slips in a sly reference for her love for the ladies and it is totally NBD and that Chandler's queerness just subtly becomes part of who he is.

The Season Of Anger, Boredom, And Hideous Gowns

Well, I was going to write about Downton Abbey, which I watched last weekend and it is fabulous; you should all check it out. Anyone who loved Gosford Park will enjoy this show, it's created by the guy who wrote that movie, Julian Fellowes, and takes place around approximately the same time. Superb acting by everyone involved including, yes, Dame Maggie Smith. But since everyone and their mom is talking about it now (and honestly, Pop Culture Happy Hour is starting to get supremely on my nerves because I care not for comic books, musicals, The Bachelor, or the pretentious way they dismiss Seth Rogen), I want to talk a little about awards season.

Tonight is the Golden Globes, and while I would watch if I could (the Golden Globes being one of the more fun awards show; they should just call it Drunk Celebrities Say They Damndest Things), I do not currently have a TV. So I'll have to check out highlights online tomorrow, which is totally fine with me.

I started watching awards shows when I was 12 and Titanic won everything (except an Oscar for my love, Leo) and I haven't really stopped since. However, my interest has dropped off steeply in the past couple years as movies have taken a turn for the worse. How on earth anybody could believe that No Country For Old Men, possibly the most boring and ultimately pointless movie I've ever seen, deserves a Best Picture award is far, far beyond me. You may think, Hey, but I liked that movie! No, you didn't. You were just told that you should. But even beyond that, I just find myself having little to no interest in seeing most of the movies. And I love movies! I love movies that are beautiful and that make me laugh and that are poignant and artfully written - and they don't even have to do all three at once. But those movies are never the ones that win, unless they're Return Of The King. Seriously, Scott Pilgrim was probably the best movie of last year, but good luck competing against Toy Story 3 ("Let's turn a fun romp into something incredibly dark and irredeemably threatening!") or True Grit (surprise, surprise, the Coen brothers make a western with a single strong female character - and it's a remake) or Black Swan, which I still haven't seen because I don't care about (a) scary ballerinas or (b) Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis making out because (c) Natalie Portman gets on my nerves like nobody's business, and she wears boring dresses. See, the lack of nominated movies that I want to see makes me care only about the clothes (I fully admit that I am a red carpet addict - but finding the right host is key; I dig Ryan Seacrest, but Giulana Rancic makes me want to jump into my TV and bludgeon her about her fat-hating self with a crystal clutch). I mean, a horribly sexist and mostly inaccurate movie about FUCKING FACEBOOK of all things will probably win best picture. This is a time to not care about movies and instead loudly judge the work of crappy stylists.

But that's one of the things that is so great about the Golden Globes! I mean, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are a bunch of crack smokers that will get things totally right one minute and then completely wrong the next, but at least there's some recognition for awesome television, which has almost entirely surpassed film in terms of quality, that isn't from the fucking Emmys. And its fun to see all the television actors and movie actors in one place, which doesn't really happen otherwise. Plus, for the second year, the Golden Globes will be hosted by Ricky Gervais, who, as we all know, doesn't hold back on being either straightforwardly biting or funny. And since the Oscars will be hosted for some unimaginable reason by Anne fucking Hathaway, the GGs really should be awesome. Mad Men FTW all the way!

To prepare yourself for this most nonsensical of seasons, you might want to go watch For Your Consideration, the movie Christopher Guest made a few years ago about what can happen to actors with a little Oscar buzz. It was, for no good reason, almost completely ignored by critics, probably for a similar reason as the neglect of I'm Still Here - it completely took to task the Hollywood machine and the culture that celebrates talent but abhors flaws of any sort. Yes, Catherine O'Hara actually did that to her face, and although it was all temporary, shows some serious commitment to her art - not only to acting, but also satire. That link will take you to Netflix; they put it on instant streaming just in time for awards season.

So, there might be some bitching around these parts about who won what and who was completely overlooked, but when it comes to movies I don't particularly care anymore. Hollywood needs to change things up and recognize the unexpectedly deserving instead of continuing the sad, dull circle-jerk they've got going on.

Image via Allie Is Wired

dun dun dun dun dun DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN

So, you know, it was a slow week this week. After the grandiosity of the Mad Men finale, everything else just sort of seemed to pale in comparison. How I Met Your Mother was good, but not groundbreaking. Running Wilde is getting better and better. Community's "Messianic Myths" episode was so awesome I watched it twice, but I don't really have much to say other than I have never seen a show handle religion as well as Community does.

But straight up the best show this week was South Park, with their brilliant episode "Insheeption". If you've seen Inception, you've got to watch it, so go NOW! I won't ruin anything for you. And if you have seen it then the title of this post might make sense.

"I'm gonna miss you, you know."

So, Tomorrowland. Wow. This episode blew me away. This is what we've been waiting four long years for...to see Don Draper absolutely, authentically happy. At the beginning of this season, I wrote that "I doubt Don Draper has ever asked himself what he really wants." Thankfully, since this ended up being the season of "what I want versus what's expected of me", we got Don Draper asking himself that question and, miracle of miracles, finding the right answer.

It is a testament to Jon Hamm's superb acting abilities that I was able to actually watch Don fall in love with Megan and realize that love for himself. He acts differently around her than with any of his other women; he is a bit timid, respectful yet desirous, and, at first, obviously "scared". Maybe it's accentuated by the fact that I'm going through a bit of romantic confusion myself at the moment, but I felt all of the characters' emotions so strongly and effortlessly last night. When that scene with the milkshake where it really clicks for Don fades into the scene in his apartment where The Sad Man Cave is drenched in the so much sunlight it becomes almost unrecognizable...it was clear that things are looking up. By trying to be a better man, Don has become one.

The Inevitable Disappointment

I've realized that what's even worse than Bryan Cranston beating Jon Hamm for the third year in a row is that Emmy voters simply have no taste. In fact, the only major awards I think they got right were the Emmys given to Jane Lynch and Mad Men.

It always sucks when there's a category (Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, por ejemplo) where 5 of the nominees are so good I can't decide which one deserves it and the remaining one is lame...and wins it. Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn, John Slattery, Martin Short...you were robbed. Not to mention that Christina Hendricks and Elizabeth Moss lost to a woman who quite clearly stated, "This is great for my career" in her speech. No shit, dude. Now go do something worthwhile.

Fuck The Good Wife. I hate the title, I hate the subject, and I hate that it captivates all of the elderly and unimaginative Emmy voters. And while we're at it, fuck The Closer even harder. How cunty was it when Kyra Sedgwick made Tina Fey hold her Emmy while she gave her speech? I have always hated Kyra Sedgwick, but that just cemented it. God, what an awful thing to do. Tina, I love you. I'll give you an Emmy.

I'm glad that NPH won for the Tonys because clearly no one is ever going to give him or Steve Carell any of the love they so truly deserve.

And we're just going to forget everything that Jimmy Fallon said - let's just remember what he sang. Dude has seriously surprised me at actually being really good on Late Night, but the writing on the show last night was so bad there was no way he was gonna pull it off. Thank god for John Hodgeman.

The opening, however, was brilliant. They should all get Emmys just for that, including Tim Gunn and Randy Jackson (I'm not an Idol fan by any means, but it was awesome to see him actually up there totally shredding on the guitar), but we can leave out Kate Gosselin and that unrecognizable brunette who jumped in at the last minute. And can someone please make me a gif of John Hamm shimmying and then backing it up? And one of Jorge singing? I need that hotness multiple times a day, man.

In other news, once Jorge Garcia and John Hamm and Joel McHale form a band, my life will be complete. Seriously, guys...I would pay a lot of money to see that. Maybe all my money. Ever. So...get on it.

And now please welcome once again to the stage...The Primetime Emmys!

It's time, kids. It's time to talk about the Emmys.

Now, I don't have a problem with the Emmys themselves, per se. Of course it makes sense for the medium of television to have its own awards show. The problem is that I don't think anyone really thought it through enough to realize that awards for television might need to be structured a little differently than those for movies or music.

Because what ends up happening is this: An actor lands a role on a show. The actor is nominated by Emmy (or Golden Globe, they have the same problem) voters. The actor wins an Emmy. And then next year, when that actor is nominated for playing the exact same role and wins again, no one says boo. I'm sorry, but even stellar actors like Alec Baldwin get stuck in this trope. No doubt that he's brilliant on 30 Rock, but there is so much good work being done on TV these days and this awards show-rut continuously rewards the same people. Like effing Tony Shaloub. Did anyone know that Monk was even still on the air? Tony Shaloub and Monk are like, the U2 of television: you don't know anyone who really likes them, yet they continue to be rewarded by their own industry (seriously, Rolling Stone: no one cares about U2. stop sucking Bono's dick and give me some more Matt Taibi and Rob Sheffield, because that's all I read anymore). Anyway, my point is that I really feel like there needs to be a rule where an actor can only win once for a particular role. I don't think it applies to the shows themselves; a show can be very different from season to season. But especially in comedies...god, I was so angry when that awful old man from Everybody Loves Raymond won over and over again, even after he died. Well, I was pretty angry when anything from ELR won at all, but that's just because I have good taste.

Seriously, though. Alec, Tina, Jon Hamm...I love you guys. You're amazing actors and you deserve the Emmys you already have. But I also love NPH and Jorge Garcia and Rainn Wilson and Jane Lynch and Zach Galifianakis and Nathan Fillion and Justin Kirk...just to name a few. And I think they deserve some recognition for the incredible work they do.

Shades Of Grey And Mad Men's Moral Ambiguities

After spending the last week or so re-watching the first three seasons of Mad Men, something about the characterizations really struck me. Unlike 95% of all other television, the characters on Mad Men live in a world where doing a bad thing doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad person...meaning they live in the same world as the rest of us.

Let's talk for a little about Pete Campbell, Greg Harris, and then we'll get on to Don and Betty Draper.

Pete was introduced as a man you love to hate. He's short-sighted, narcissistic, greedy, full of hubris, and most of all, entitled. He does some things that we (the audience) think of as cruel, but shows strength of character through his relations with Trudy, his progressive and positive views on race and integration, and his eventual ability to have a respectful, appreciative, and collaborative relationship with Peggy Olsen. In the 3rd season episode, Souvenir, we see Pete missing his wife, and coming upon an opportunity to do a nice favor for a poor German au pair. He's quite the gentlemen, right up until he shows up drunk and pretty much saying that she owes him some use of her body in return for his magnanimous favor. She does kiss him back, but later we learn that she's been crying all day because he forced himself on her.

In this day and age, as a twentysomething feminist, I'm conditioned to believe that rape is never ok. But we live in a world that purports to educate its young men on these things (although whether or not it actually does is unclear) - and Mad Men takes place in a world where men were expected and encouraged to go after what they wanted. Of course, what Pete does to the au pair is not ok. We, the 21st century audience, know that. But I have to admit that I didn't hate him after this episode. Pete finds redemption when his wife returns and you can see how pained he is that he got drunk and weak and fucked somebody else. He doesn't even need to say anything and she knows - that's how in sync they are. The next day, his apology is both typically-60s-male yet also very sweet: he tells her, "I don't want you to go away without me. Ever." while he is somewhat placing the blame for his indiscretion on her absence, he's also acknowledging his own weakness and promising to never put himself in a position where he can hurt her again. I know I said earlier that I keep hoping for Pete and Peggy to have a torrid affair, but it is more clear to me than ever how perfect Pete and Trudy are together. More than perhaps any other couple on the show, they are honest with each other and accept each other for themselves - because a good marriage has got give some room for people to make mistakes.

Moving on to Greg Harris, the more famous Mad Men rapist. Because he raped Joan, people, and that isn't as easily forgivable.

That scene in Don's office is so painful, because it demonstrates something that I'm sure happened a lot back then - men taking what they wanted, because they wanted it. Men slut-shaming their wives/girlfriends and using their sexuality as justification to be sexually aggressive. I think Dr. Harris is incidental to this scene - he represents a larger problem, not only in society but also in the relationship with Joan. He wants to to be able to give her what she wants on his own terms, but is ultimately unable to. In later scenes, we see that he truly does love and value her, but that their relationship is always doomed because neither is able to live up to the others' high expectations.

He probably is going to go die in Vietnam, but I no longer think he's a terrible person (and I hope he gives Joanie a baby first!).  He tried to be a good husband, and failed, but if Joan can forgive him, then so can I. Now, if that had happened in 2010, I'm sure she would have kicked him to the curb after kneeing him in the balls and fleeing and perhaps calling the cops and then putting "Greg Harris is a skeezy turd" on Facebook - but we can't apply modern social mores to these situations, it simply doesn't make sense. We have to be more forgiving, and look at the characters as nuanced and complex and fallible human beings, not representations of good or evil.

As I went from episode to episode, I wondered: what makes me able to understand and forgive Don's lying, philandering and occasional cruelty? And the answer is that he is a good man (no matter what Allison says). I can see that in his passions and his instincts and in the way he opened himself to everyone in the Season 3 finale. He is a good father (well, as good as he can be, given the circumstances). He lies about his past because he's afraid of losing the life he's built...and how do you explain something like that to a spoiled Mainline brat? He cheated on Betty because, well, he's fucked up and she's terrible...and he probably shouldn't have married Betty in the first place. In trying to create this life for himself, it seems he bought in to what society (and advertising) was telling him he needed: a perfect blonde housewife, two kids, house in the suburbs, etc. I doubt that Don Draper has ever asked himself what he really, truly wants because half of his problems come from trying to fit himself into a life that doesn't fit him.

He really is a good father. I cried last night watching the scene where they tell Bobby and Sally about the divorce - Sally asks her mother, "Did you make him leave?" and I want to scream YES OF COURSE THIS IS ALL HER FAULT. Because it is so heartbreaking to see Don, in the days after The Shoebox Conversation, look at Betty like she really knows him and loves him - and all the while she's plotting her escape route. You can see that he's relieved that he doesn't have to hide himself any more - and he's shocked when she rejects him. Don's ultimate motivation is to be loved for who he really is, whatever his name or his past. Betty holds that hope up to the sun and then crushes it underfoot.

This is because Betty is a horrible succubus. Every time I think i'm starting to feel sorry for her - as she goes through the birthing scene in The Fog, for example - she turns around and does something awful - naming her child after her father who died like, three weeks ago and whom her husband hated, for example. Betty, as has been noted many times before, is a child. Everything about her is childish and ultimately selfish. She is, like her "friend" Sara Beth says, "a horrible woman". And she is just a terrible fucking mother. Like, the worst mother ever. That, ultimately, is why Don ends up on higher moral ground then she does - her reaction to Sally regarding Gene Sr.'s death makes me want to slap her face. And yes, I know that things were tough for women and housewives in the 60's - but even my grandma, who could be a bitter and often difficult mother, did better than Betty. Though she occasionally does something right, it's never enough to push her character into gray ambiguity. Sorry, Betty Draper Francis, but if we're looking at black and white and gray...you are definitely in the black.

See? There are reasons to tune in besides all the pretty clothes and places and people. Mad Men (through the writing, acting, and directing) gives the audience complex and intimate moments with its characters and trusts us to makes the connections ourselves. I feel like television often assumes its viewer is stupid and needs gentle hand-holding through the story - Mad Men knows that the opposite is true.

I'm really looking forward to things continuing to develop over this season, but I hope they give Don a little hope. He's definitely stuck in The Swamps of Sadness (and bourbon) right now, but he's got to leave the past and Artax behind and save himself. And while he's at it, he should get a house and save those kids from the succubus. And BTW, what the hell is going on with Baby Gene? He's Don's baby, we all know that - is he going to be raised as Henry's?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Betty is the worst.

Images via NYMag, nj.com, Daily Mail

worth the wait

so: Mad Men happened. it happened so hard that i had to cut short a perfectly nice date in order to come home, make myself a drink, and do a little chainsmoking as i enveloped myself in the premiere.

i'm not going to be doing straight recaps here, if that's what you're looking for you should go to TLo (which, incidentally, is where this screengrab is from), because they do some of the best recaps ever (and amazing posts on the fashions in the show). i'm just going to be doing a little rundown of things that stood out to me. i will try not to be too spoiler-y.

- Peggy's new hair! omg, what an improvement. certainly a step up from her Swedish gay kitchen 'do, and with volume comes a whole new level of confidence. i am loving fun, citified, on-top-of-her-game Peggy!

- and while we're on that line, let's hear it for Pete Campbell, who seems to have mostly hung up his douche hat. he works easily with Peggy, and it is (and has always been) my hope that they'll start some torrid affair. Peggy's bland boyfriend Mark (oh, Karl, i thought you were buried under those palm trees with Rousseau? that's what Miles said.) is...bland. i know, i know, Pete raped that girl and he's been pretty much insufferable for three seasons - but it's because he's like the rest of them, broken and fucked up. i've always believed that with the right circumstances and a fair amount of introspection he could turn himself around. so...go Pete!

- where is Paul Kinsey? i miss my Paul.

- Joan has an office and an incredible blue dress that i want NOW - or at least when i become a librarian.

- can we all just agree that Betty is THE WORST? and like, i know what my grandma was like in the sixties, and she wasn't the best. but Betty - flat out refuses to acknowledge that she might be less than perfect and so when something goes wrong, she blames Don or the kids. i love those kids, though - and i think it's great that Bobby's getting more of a personality now. it'd be nice to see Don taking them out in the city, though...he's clearly better with them than Betty, but still needs work. which brings us to......

- Sad Don is sad. the last scene of the show was so uplifting because we finally saw Don taking control over his own life, but it was really difficult to watch him shuffling around his sad, dark apartment, sadly sitting in the dark waiting for Betty & Henry, and having his sad Thanksgiving prostitute over. and i know it was super symbolic that he wants her to slap him while they're having sex, and i'm supposed to think about his pain, and his loneliness, and how he doesn't believe he deserves any of this - but really i was just turned on.

and...that's all i got for this week. man, i can't wait for more...in the meantime, i'm gonna go re-watch last season.

Image via TLo

it's a mad mad mad mad Mad Men world

with the season 4 premiere almost upon us (Sunday @ 10pm on AMC), i felt it appropriate that the first real post be devoted to what may be the best all-around show in the history of television. it's hard for me to put into words what really connects with me besides the obvious, but i'm going to try. bullet points, don't fail me now.

What Makes Mad Men Awesome:

- so rarely on the small screen does so much hotness coincide with such good, consistent acting. seriously, think about some of the more lauded dramas. House? Hugh Laurie is good, but the show is hopelessly formulaic and i kind of hate everyone else, especially after they killed off Kal Penn so he could go work for Obama. The Sopranos? good acting, not so much hotness. Lost? TONS of hotness, but inconsistent acting with demerits taken for Emilie deRavin and Matthew Fox pre-season 6. but Mad Men - has some of the most beautiful people in the world, and they can all act their asses off. Rich Sommer (Harry Crane): yummy with or without glasses. Michael Gladis (Paul Kinsey) has a great baritone and can wear facial hair like nobody's business. January Jones (Betty Draper) is cute if you're into that skinny blonde Grace Kelly thing. Christina Hendricks (Joan Harris nee Holloway): SWOON. Jon Hamm (Don Draper): double swoon into a melted puddle of impure thoughts. it is really unbelievable how fucking hot Jon Hamm is - in fact, we might want to be careful, he could be an alien sent to earth to subtly enslave us with his otherworldly good looks. just sayin'. and, oh yeah, and he's an awesome actor, be it drama or comedy. put them together, and you have magic:

if that clip doesn't make you want to (a) watch Mad Men or (b) get yourself out of that skirt, then stop reading now. there's no hope for you.

- the show is so visually stunning i can't take my eyes off it. even if we move beyond the carnal eye candy to the costuming and set design - the attention to detail, in relation to both the time period and the characters themselves, is astounding. this show is literally a feast for the eyes, and i hate that phrase so you know it's true. and it's not just the set design, but the lighting, and the directing, and really just the way everything is put together perfectly to create just the right tone. but so much of this has been said before, what i really want to get to is the emotion of the show.

- that leads us first to the writing, which is, to put it succinctly, powerful. it is smart without being pretentious, symbolic without being heavy-handed, and doesn't contradict itself (one of my major pet peeves). the writing allows for natural pauses and silences and allows for the actors to carry a scene on a single glance (see Joan at the end of that scene where her drunk husband tells her to turn off the light). no one part of the show is trying to outshine any other; they all work together so harmoniously that it's nearly a miracle.

- the beautiful people and the top-notch acting and the perfectly accurate production values all come together to present this authentic experience that bores to the heart of who we are and what makes us that way. the story of Don Draper is at once familiar and unknown; we are used to successful men not always being what they seem, yet despite his deceitful behavior we love Don Draper. we root for him, because he is lost. he is so utterly lost to himself and he is unable to reach out for help. yet he knows other people so well - he understands the human spirit - and thus is insanely excellent at his job. where these two sides of him, the confident ad man and the lonely, poor, lost, and broken little boy intersect is where the emotional sparks fly.

take this clip. this is, for me, the essence of what compels me to watch Mad Men. there are many more stories, many great characters, and the way the story flows within historical events is remarkable. i love Peggy, and Joan, and Sal, and Betty and Sally and even Pete Campbell - and might be talking a bit about their characters and inner turmoils as this new season unfolds and more and more is brought to light (i'm especially excited for Joan's husband to go off and die already). but the powerful reality of pain and repressed yet universal emotions that exist in Don Draper is what brings me back, and it's what i'm left thinking about once the episode's ended.

well, that...and doing Jon Hamm. and then smoking a cigarette. or ten. followed by a gin martini. best night ever, y/y?

Jon says yes.

Images via photobucket, alley cat store, the washington post, the austin chronicle, bgay.com