Hello Mad Men naysayers, who complain nothing ever happens on this show, the Color Blue is for you.
I open with a special Basket of Kisses award, never before given, for the Most Stunningly Accurate Prediction of the week. A crystal ball to gypsy howell for this comment
A fantasy for the final scene in the season finale (except it would kill me to wait until next year to see the fallout)Betty’s sitting in Don’s darkened office, a wine glass and empty wine bottle near her hand. She’s busted open that desk drawer, and figured (most) of it out. The pictures, the medal, the cash are scattered on the desk. She waits for Don to arrive home, which he does at 4 am after diddling Miss Farrell. He expects her to be asleep. She sees him creeping quietly in the hall. “Don! Come in here. Shut The Door. Have a Seat”
Fade to black.
Gypsy, you don’t even have to wait a year.
So. Much. Happens. Don and Suzanne are deeply engrossed in their relationship, and Suzanne shows more and more indications that she will soon phone Don’s house and say “Play Misty for me.” The train Suzy? Really?
And he held her hand! Don is so deep in whatever fantasy this fulfills for him that he actually responded affectionately towards this crazy behavior.
Don and Danny. Look, I get it, abandoned kid brother and all, I do, but when you give someone a business card in the first act, a lawnmower will surely go off in the third. Or something like that.
Betty is still thinking about Henry, and yay Henry for having none of it.
Betty.
Opened.
The drawer.
Jesus, we were all so stupid for thinking that rattling that drawer was just continuity from last season, or a symbol of dissatisfaction, and not actual foreshadowing. “Geez Louise,” as Sally said.
As she opened that drawer, my heart was pounding. It was SO Hitchcock; the tension, the fear, the “What will she find?” even though I already knew.
I could feel every moment of tension as Betty sat at the kitchen table with the shoebox, thrilled to be waiting to act out gypsy howell’s scene. And I could feel her deflation, her surrender, when she finally gave up and put it all back.
And Sterling Cooper is for sale! Holy cow, whoever saw THAT coming?
And Don Draper is oblivious. I guess I do see how this is all about perception, because Don has his head in the sand or up his ass or somewhere other than the land where he can see the color blue. He thinks Suzanne is wonderful and not psycho, he ALSO seems to believe his wife is happy, and can glow at her and say “isn’t Mommy pretty?” without seeing how she’s seething, and he can stand up and give a speech without knowing the professional rug is about to be yanked away.
The next three weeks are going to knock our socks off.
163 Responses to “The episode in which everything! Happens!”
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#147 This show has always indulged in lots of red herrings and dropped plot points, and yes, some of them will get picked up later, but what bothers me the most is that what they are chosing to show just isn't that interesting.
Hell's bell's donny brook, you didn't think this week's episode was kinda … interesting?
What strikes me about this season, is while I'm watching it, it does seem like it's been slow and not going anywhere. But after it's over, it keeps churning through my mind like neither of the first two seasons did.
I am 100% skeptical of the idea that Don is falling in love with Suzanne. Helping her brother is his way of trying to make-up for his fatal mistake with his own brother. Seeing her show up on the train was kind of creepy, now that you mention it. Of all of Don's mistresses, she's the one I like least. For her to go after the father of one of her former students shows no regard for the children she's entrusted with.
Some of the posts in another thread have taken aim at Betty, but I really think the theme of this season has been her development, much like Season Two was about the (apparently failed) redemption of Don Draper. her father died, a child was born, and like the wife in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," she discovered something in getting involved in life outside the home. And unlike Don, when she had her chance to have an affair, she decided against it.
Don Draper/Dick Whitman is not a likeable man and is very much in need of another visit to Anna Draper to get his head screwed on straight again. The Draper marriage is not happy, but there had to have been something there that brought them together. As I said before, I see so much of myself in Don reminiscent of my drinking days that it pains me to him make so many bad mistakes over and over and over again. The sad thing is, he never seems to realize that these actions don't make him happy.
“Look how pretty Mommy is.â€
Translation: “Look how well Mommy cleans up, even when overcome with a towering rage that I refuse to acknowledge.”
Here’s something I think is interesting about Don Draper. One fascinating detail, on which his whole story hangs:
He’s a man whose life is in pieces. He used to be one guy and then he didn’t want to be that guy so he took the name of a dead guy … including more or less co-opting that guy’s wife. Then he met Bets, divorced the dead guy’s wife, and married up. In time, became an ad exec. Left Dick behind. For all intents and purposes, killed not only Dick Whitman, but also his half-brother Adam.
This broken guy, Don Draper keeps it all — all the evidence of this accelerating series of disasters — in one box.
Dude. Convenient!
Also: Dumb!
The difference between a TV character and, say, me? I KNOW the One-Box Rule. Especially after last night.
Teacher is crazy. Bunny-boiler crazy. Stalking Don on the train. And I think she did call and hang up.
So I think Carla is gonna blow the whistle on Betty, and Teacher is gonna bust Don's world open.
@#154 David – I question whether Betty's really "developed" a lot in the past 6 months of this season. I just think that a lot of the times she's just being stuck on the screen for the sake of it, without something meaningful, insightful or even randomly entertaining happening. Even though the show is about Don Draper/Dick Whitman, I don't feel like it's taken away from other characters in past seasons like I do for this one. As I said though, the drawer opening was significant – I really wish Betty had confronted Don instead of just repressing it. Also, I don't feel this way just about Betty – Don's screen time (particularly with the annoying Ms. Farrell and her brother – seriously, do I care about these characters? nope) is sometimes just as wasted. Unlike Betty though, he has the advantage of interacting with people at the office who are interesting.
@#147 Stace – yeah, maybe you're right that stuff will be picked up in season 4. My concern though is that the "oomph" of certain storylines (i.e. Pete and Peggy) will be lost after after a season of practically no focus on it. For example, even now, I feel like it would be strange (for lack of a better word) to suddenly go back to the Pete and Peggy story in the last two or three episodes of this season – the last time they talked was like, 4 episodes ago. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see this, but it would feel disjointed with the rest of the season. Versus last season, it wasn't that Pete and Peggy had a scene together in every single episode, but once Matt Weiner established that Pete was starting to fall in love with her, he made sure to include little moments here and there (even non-speaking scenes) to get that across to the viewers – and importantly, they happened on a regular basis (maybe not every episode, but every 2 episodes). He did the same thing with Joan and her fiance.
*sigh* I just hope that this season ends really well and that next season returns to the form of the first two. I'm not against experimentation (I personally wasn't bothered by the dream sequence in "The Fog" for example), but I do think that when you have a balance that works, you should stick with it. Matt Weiner is overestimating the audience's interest in Betty and he's probably not gaining that many new viewers who've just turned on the show this season. Frankly, if I had heard through word of mouth that this was a great show and only started watching this season, I don't think I would get what all the hype is about.
I think Suzanne is a total nutjob. I got those vibes when she was first introduced. Don is setting up his own downfall and he is too clueless, careless, or both, to realize that.
The next 3 episodes will certainly be interesting.
Wow. WHAT an episode.
I don't think Don is falling in love with Miss F. I think this is just more of his romance/sex addiction that is playing itself out. Top that with the rejection he's gotten from Betty, and it's not surprising that's he's run to another dark-haired, exotic beauty to escape with. That little house of cards is going to fall, mark my words. He doesn't love her any more than he loves Betty. He isn't really with her (Miss F), it's just another fantasy relationship. All of his relationships with women are fantasy-based. One could say especially his relationship with Betty.
His dalliances are a way to let off steam. He gets to be Donald Draper in most of them, even if only for a short time. I think it's the only way he sustains the madness of leading a double life.
I must say… he truly disappointed me in this episode. I said out loud, 'this guy is really sick.' I think it was when he lied about dropping off Miss F's brother and even going so far as to say the facility was 'nice', etc. And then proceeded to try and rev up the sexy time… if that is not classic sex addiction behavior, I don't know what is.
I still agree with Deb (and many others) that Miss F is potentially a nutjob, and certainly a loose cannon if nothing else. Showing up on the train? Um, stalk much? And you know she called him. Of course she did. This is so going to blow up. (And I can't wait!)
Finally, the scene with Peggy showing her true colors as a gifted, talented, natural copywriter was just fabby. I loved the recognition in Don's eyes at that moment. He and Peggy understand each other on a deep level, and that is a very interesting thread in this story.
I literally gasped when they rolled credits at the end of this one. How can I possibly wait a whole week to find out what happens next???
# 157 – "The next 3 episodes will certainly be interesting."
This is especially true if you compare the "preview snip" at the end of the Mad Men aired episode, with the preview for the next episode, on the AMC website.
Is the woman seen in the AMC website preview the same one in the old photo that Bert and Roger are looking at, in Episode 10?
SmilerG, I know we're not supposed to talk spoilers here, but I already have a theory about Roger and that person. As in, they have a history. Ya know what I mean?
SallyS, I agree that it will be slightly disjointed if they do go back to all these other stories and resolve them in the last three episodes or leave them until next season(Ha…I guess the 'previously on Mad Men' is supposed to take care of that for us.) I am so annoyed at how they gave us so many new situations for Peggy(Duck, new roomie) and they have yet to be continued. I guess the only reason it wouldn't be weird for me as a die-hard is that I've re-watched those episodes since they've aired to remind myself that there are other characters in the show. But, you're right about new viewers. I am trying to get friends to watch the show and really nervous about them seeing this season before seeing the others.
Anyway, because the previous seasons are so amazingly crafted, I still have hope that, in the end, I will be satisfied with this season.
And thank God for more Joan this Sunday. But, what about Sal?
#156 Sally: Great points. It's almost like MW has become obsessed with his blonde leading lady a la Hitchcock and lost all sense of proportion. He is tormenting Betty for his own pleasure the way Hitchcock reportedly tormented, say, Tippi Hedren during the bird-attack scenes.
In fact the whole series seems to be a Hitchcockian exercise in audience manipulation — the twists and turns seem designed not so much to (eventually) produce a cohesive narrative but to rile us and provoke a range of emotions from week to week. Do you suppose the show creators read these blogs and chuckle at the speculation, frustration, identification with the characters?
Unfortunately exasperation is the primary emotion I'm feeling with 10 down, 3 to go this season.
[...] or she is determined to tell. However, I can’t disagree with the point of view of Donny Brook over at Basket of Kisses: There are so many intriguing ideas and characters they’ve just left lying around while we obsess [...]