Nov 17, 2009 0
Conventional wisdom on Mad Men is that there are two sides of the main character: 1) Don, the smooth-talker who sleeps around and plays it cool, and 2) Dick, the defenseless country boy who shies away during confrontations and altogether seems weak. I reject the distinction.
Sep 16, 2009 0
Jesus, Pregnancy! I watched last night’s episode with my girlfriend, so I can vouch for at least one female that last night’s presentation of the miracle of childbirth was easily the most disturbing in TV history. Or, perhaps more accurately, it’s the most disturbing portrayal of childbirth that didn’t involve any apparent medical difficulty whatsoever; you realized that the whole hellish routine (signing papers during contractions, last-minute substitute doctors, liberally administered drug cocktails) was all normal. Business as usual here on pregnancy row! The baby is breach! More demerol!
Aug 27, 2009 2
I’m not sure I want Mad Men to do more episodes like “Love Among the Ruins,” but I think it’s almost necessary for a show to become a little less focused in its third season. The third season is an odd period between initial success and the homestretch, a time when writers realize they don’t have to use all their best ideas in order to get renewed. I don’t mean to suggest that people only write well to ensure their show keeps getting picked up, but there’s a natural tendency to start stretching plots out a bit more once everyone realizes the show isn’t at risk of dying any minute.
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?
Aug 12, 2009 3
Mad Men stands out from similarly well-regarded series in that very little seems to happen in each episode and season. Compared to a show like The Sopranos, it appears to lumber along with all the narrative excitement of Antiques Roadshow. Even the show’s most ardent supporters would have to admit that it moves slowly. At the same time, a quick rundown of each season’s plot makes it sound like a soap opera. How do we reconcile the experience of watching Mad Men with its incongruous plot summaries?
