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Tag Archives: Mad Men
Mad Men: Week 6 in Review
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: Don Draper seems to be on the brink of losing it entirely. The scummy way he basically peer-pressured Ted into drinking at the level and speed of his immensely high-functioning alcoholism was sickening and slimy. The absolutely bizarre verbal manifestation of Don’s subconscious view of the purpose of “his” women would make Sacher-Masoch blush. His absolute self-absorption and disorientation during his sex games with Sylvia and after she tells him its over put Don in an immensely compromising position. His return home to Megan and her announcing that they should take another trip brings us back to the suicidal undertones of Don’s tagline for Sheraton in episode one of this season, after he returns from Hawaii. What does this all mean?
NAVA BRAHE: I am so glad Sonia chose to reference Venus in Furs when comparing Don’s halfhearted attempt at dominating Sylvia, instead of the vastly more pedestrian Fifty Shades of Grey. That being said, I, too, was completely horrified by how he treated Sylvia during their tryst gone awry at the Sherry Netherland hotel. That entire storyline illustrated just how twisted Don Draper is.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Generally, I like to cover different aspects of the show than the two of you. But this week, I’d like to expand on a pair of observations you made. Continue reading
Mad Men: Week 5 in Review
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: In what certainly reads as the strongest episode of the season so far, “For Immediate Release” leaves us in this strange limbo of excitement, catharsis, and confusion. Did Don seriously just merge SCDP and CGC without telling anyone, except for a bewildered Peggy? What is this going to do for Peggy, who felt very triumphant and happy moving on from being under Don’s supervision? And can we talk about that kiss between Peggy and Ted (that we could totally see coming)? And Pete falling down the stairs, then seeing his father-in-law at the whore house? Where to begin?
NAVA BRAHE: I have to agree with Sonia about this being the strongest episode of the season. The rapid-fire upheaval that included Don jettisoning Jaguar and it’s slimy representative, and the spur-of-the-moment merger, made it the most compelling to date. Continue reading
Mad Men: Week 3 in Review
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: As a long-time viewer of “Mad Men,” witnessing this show’s hypocrisy and cheating, (professionally or sexually) should not phase me as much as this episode did. “To Have and to Hold” is a very fitting title for this examination of possession, success, and pursuit. Aside from having the strongest urge to yank off Harry Crane’s pretentious little sideburns, this episode really made me feel extremely angry and tired. To use one of my favorite Joan quotes: Mad Men, “you have gone from lubricated to morose.”
NAVA BRAHE: Thank you, Sonia, for reminding me about Rachel Menken. It is maddening to witness Don’s sexual attraction to women who challenge him, juxtaposed with his hypocritical treatment of the women he has chosen to marry. I’ve always hated the concept of the “trophy” wife for that very reason: the women on the arms of successful men are merely decoration, while they have to find solace in the arms of women who are already spoken for.
Continue reading
Mad Men: Week 2 in Review
NAVA BRAHE: Oh dear, Don Draper is having an affair with the heart surgeon’s wife. Does the fact that he spent his teenage years in a “house of ill repute” finally excuse his philandering? Are we supposed to feel sorry for him now that this nugget of his past has been revealed?
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: I am going to have to agree with Nava on this one and say that I see Megan taking the initiative to leave Don as their relationship spirals out of control. Though the miscarriage, I concur, was contrived, I think it might be an essential plot point that brings Megan dangerously close to Sylvia, and Sylvia and Don’s affair dangerously close to being revealed. The sadistic side of me very much wants there to be a very grand, very dramatic confrontation involving some sort of discovery on Megan’s part. Or Don’s part. Continue reading
Mad Men: Week 1 in Review
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: What an odd taste that first episode left in our mouths. In typical Matthew Weiner fashion, the premiere episode of this penultimate season of “Mad Men” teased us with fragmented tidbits of the lives of our heroes. The confusion that left us in a wide-eyed scowl derived from many sources, some of which were the constant references to mortality, death, suicide (Don still feeling guilty after the death of Lane Pryce?), loss, hunger, and change. A bit forced, yes, but these themes gave us goosebumps as we crept into a new season that has already given us so much to process.
NAVA BRAHE: I must disclaim this, my first “Mad Men” review, by saying that I did a marathon catch-up on the series by watching all five seasons in the span of about three weeks. That’s a lot of Don Draper to contend with in a relatively short period of time, but it was worth it. Sonia once told me that she thought the series was the best on television, and I have to agree. I also have to acknowledge that Matthew Weiner borrowed heavily from David Chase’s Sopranos playbook, and I will explain how.
HOWARD MEGDAL: I am largely in sync with both of you; my primary irritation in the first episode stems from missing a trio of great characters, perhaps my favorites on the show: Joan, along with Mr. and Mrs. Pete Campbell. Continue reading
Mad Men Finale
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: The impeccably shot, brilliantly acted, beautifully written Season Five finale of “Mad Men” gave me a sense of extreme melancholy, not only because there will now be a period of mourning and nail-biting until the penultimate season debuts… but this episode felt…well… kind of anti-climactic. The previous two episodes have exploded “Mad Men” fans from Tumblr to Twitter into a frenzy of emotions, commentary, and speculation. This episode did not give me this visceral jolt (no pun intended) of exclamation about the characters, their circumstances, and their trials. It was lovely to look at, interesting to behold, but after a season that has been a gold mine of luminous material and story lines, this finale seemed more like a filler episode than something to whet our appetite. Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Culture
Tagged Adam Draper, Don Draper, finale, Joan Holloway, Lane Pryce, Mad Men, Peggy Olson, Pete Campbell, Roger Sterling, shock therapy
18 Comments
Mad Men: Commissions and Fees
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: It seems futile, to me, to attempt to eulogize Lane Pryce. For a man so utterly complex and so consistently facing feelings of inadequacy, lack of fulfillment, and conflicting performances of identity, it would not be far fetched to wonder whether he would take his own life. This episode, it can be argued, was incredibly predictable. But that is not a detriment to the episode as a whole, for the acting on the part of Jared Harris, in particular, but also of Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, and Christina Hendricks stuns the audience into yet another Mad Men-induced trance. Continue reading
Mad Men: The Other Woman
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: When my mother read Gwenyth Swain’s “The Road to Seneca Falls” (a children’s chapter book about the women’s suffrage movement) to me as a little girl, the book began with with a detailed account of the unjust, yet normalized opinions of women and their roles in society. A visceral reaction came from my 7-year-old self in response to the tame description of the marginalization of women. I began to scream and cry, my mind whirled, and my mother put the book on the shelf never to be touched again. A similar reaction came over me when watching this episode of “Mad Men.” Though there was no temper tantrum, and I sat through the entire episode, by the end I was shaking. The structure, the men, the women, the pimps, the whores, the actors, the agencies, and The Other Woman all make up the best hour of television that I have ever seen. Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Culture
Tagged Don Draper, Gevalia, Jaguar, Joan Holloway, Mad Men, Peggy Olson, pimps, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, whores, women's suffrage
86 Comments
Mad Men: Christmas Waltz
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: Like every waltz, like every Joan and Don flirtation, like every brilliant episode of “Mad Men,” everything must eventually come to an end. This is an episode that I wanted to keep going and going until the tension from an anxious, embezzling Lane Pryce, a pissed off Megan, a visually jolting Hare Krishna Paul Kinsey, and a magical date with Joan and Don wrapped itself together and consumed me whole. This episode, “Christmas Waltz,” played with ideas of absurdity and comfort while testing the limits of every character at its forefront.
HOWARD MEGDAL: For all of Roger Sterling’s fantastic lines this season- and there have been what, 900 of them?-nothing will resonate with me this season quite as much as Joan’s perfectly executed “Surprise! There’s an airplane here to see you!” thrown at the receptionist who, let’s face it, was eventually getting something thrown at her by someone. Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Culture
Tagged christmas waltz, Don Draper, Jaguar, Joan Holloway, Mad Men, Star Trek
42 Comments
Mad Men: Dark Shadows
SONIA BRAND-FISHER: I have come to terms with the fact that I might be the only person in the world who has any sympathy for Betty Hoeffstadt Draper Francis. However, this episode really made an attempt (a successful one, at that) to show the insecurities of a woman “who has everything [she] wants.” Her pettiness from seasons past perpetuates and progresses into this episode driven by her her reluctance to accept things that are out of her control. Yet seeing Betty know which cards to play against the new Drapers, and how Don and Megan react to Betty’s strategy, is very interesting to watch. Continue reading
Posted in Arts & Culture
Tagged anger, anna draper, Betty Draper, Betty Francis, Don Draper, Mad Men, modernity, sadness, Sally Draper
21 Comments