Nov 11, 2009 1
There’s a risk of expecting too much from the fourth season — there are so many possibilities that whatever path Weiner ends up taking will be disappointing. I’ll leave the specific possibilities for later in the discussion. Right now, I just want to commend Matthew Weiner for taking the leap and recognizing that this show was in danger of becoming too static for its own good.
Sep 23, 2009 0
I’m not saying people shouldn’t be analyzing themes, but at some point you have to cut it out and talk about visceral effects. Mad Men is usually so restrained and subtle that a moment like this one grabs you by the throat to a degree it never would on a show like Nip/Tuck. Occasionally, you just have to go with it and praise the sheer audacity.
Sep 21, 2009 0
British jokes, this episode had plenty! Just as Season 2 of The Wire taught us that that there’s a whole world of Polack humor lurking in the urban enclaves of the eastern seaboard, and Season 3 of Deadwood taught us about lost race of Cornish people, so Season 3 of Mad Men has reminded us that, forty years ago, before the era of postracial humor and white-person self-deprecation, the most fertile ground for SFW naughty ethnic humor were our transatlantic neighbors. I’ve lost track of the number of references to the Revolutionary War, but Roger made a joke about the Union Jack. He also had the line of the night: somebody mentioned Guy might lose his foot, and Roger shook his head, “And right after he got it in the door.” Everybody had a good blood-drenched laugh about that.
Aug 16, 2009 1
There’s a sense of toxic beauty at work in Mad Men. MTV recently tried to bury an awful yet fascinating documentary about Paris Hilton that makes for fascinating viewing — not because it really shows any deeper side of Paris Hilton, but because it shows her struggling with what she dimly perceives as some missing depth in her own personality. It makes me think of Betty, who, having kicked her husband out of her house, spends two days wandering around her house in a cocktail dress, then gets back at Don by becoming Don for a night. And it makes me think of Joan crying in her ex-lover’s office about the death of Marilyn Monroe.
Aug 16, 2009 0
Almost every character in Mad Men asks themselves the same question: how can anyone know if they’re following the right path when it’s both fulfilling and not enough? In the first episode, Don says that happiness is “a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is okay.” But what if the billboard doesn’t completely work?
