tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-160651932024-02-07T01:30:09.785-05:00Pop Culture NotesThis space is an extension of a weekly newspaper column I wrote from March through October 2004. It's a clearinghouse for discussion of pop culture through a mixture of commentary and straightforward reviews.J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.comBlogger401125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-76689426991621411362015-03-19T09:56:00.002-04:002015-03-19T09:56:14.185-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep13, “Shut the Door. Have a Seat”
This is how you reinvent a television show in one episode.
The conclusion of Season 3 brings us to the conclusion of “Mad Men” as we’ve
known it, and sets the stage for the show’s latter half. By the time the credits
roll on this spectacular outing, Sterling Cooper is no more; same can be said
for the Draper marriage. And yet, with all those changes, the band is still
playing on. Don, Peggy, J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-63946806705697292462015-03-19T09:50:00.003-04:002015-03-19T09:50:50.204-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep12, “The Grown-Ups”
This is my favorite type of “Mad Men” episode, and it’s also
the type I feel Weiner & Co. do best. “The Grown-Ups” is built around the
Kennedy assassination. It doesn’t start there, though; like any national
tragedy, this one seems to come out of nowhere, while people are going about
their lives, minding their own business. Here the Sterlings are planning a
wedding, Pete finds out he’s beingJ_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-64460749415725526692015-03-19T09:46:00.004-04:002015-03-19T09:46:48.818-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep11, “The Gypsy and the Hobo”
Nearly three seasons of storytelling come to a head in this
episode when Betty confronts Don about his past. Finally, everything is laid
out in the open between the two of them (OK, well, most everything), and by the
end of the episode we’re left wondering what will happen to their relationship:
Can Betty forgive and move on (as her lawyer advises), or not? Meanwhile, the
first half of the J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-79243806622423645892015-03-19T09:41:00.000-04:002015-03-19T09:41:02.081-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep10, “The Color Blue”
There’s one major event that happens in this episode: Betty
finds the keys to Don’s locked desk door in his home office. She opens it and
rifles through the contents of his shoebox, finding the only documents in the
world that connect the dots between Dick Whitman and Don Draper. The rest of
this installment is basically window dressing. There’s some stuff about Kinsey
and Peggy vying for Don’s J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-39062961010190402292015-03-19T09:38:00.001-04:002015-03-19T09:38:34.406-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep9, “Wee Small Hours”
This episode focuses on the unmentionables, and what people
try and hide from one another. It breaks down into three story arcs: Lee Garner
Jr. makes a pass at Sal, which Sal rejects and eventually leads to him abruptly
leaving Sterling Cooper; Betty ramps up her flirtations with Henry Francis,
only to ultimately reject him; and Don and Conrad Hilton draw closer together
in a father/son J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-38596483774164851742015-03-19T09:30:00.003-04:002015-03-19T09:30:44.627-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep8, “Souvenir”
Call this the last hurrah of Don and Betty Draper—one last
fleeting taste of happiness with a romp to Rome before it all falls apart. It’s
also an episode about denial and keeping up appearances. Whether it’s Joan
upset that Pete discovers her working in a department store, or Trudy trying to
act like she’s come to terms with Pete’s indiscretion with the neighbor’s au
pair. Or, in the most J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-55436681181705459782015-03-19T09:26:00.003-04:002015-03-19T09:26:58.503-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep7, “Seven Twenty Three”
A move-the-ball-forward episode that juggles three budding
relationships: Don and Conrad Hilton, Betty and Henry Francis, and Duck
Phillips wooing Peggy and Pete. In a time-twisting structure, we see the
results first, then learn how they all got into those places. Don’s, as usual,
is the most interesting, as he ends up picking up two hitchhikers who give him
drugs then rob him. Though I guess J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-39305985577935239782015-03-19T09:24:00.002-04:002015-03-19T09:24:41.299-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep6, “Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency”
There are certain episodes of “Mad Men” where great scenes
seem to stack one on top of the other. “Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency”
is one of those. The episode is best remembered for a guy getting his foot cut off
in the office by a lawnmower (leading to two of the series’ funniest lines
ever, one from Roger and the other from Joan—see below). But the advent of the agency’s
new British J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-41040480907199312502015-03-19T09:15:00.004-04:002015-03-19T09:15:43.413-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep5, “The Fog”
So the previous episode didn’t really do much of anything,
and then this one … boom. Betty has the baby, Duck recruits Pete and Peggy, and
Don takes the first, uh, baby steps toward his despicable affair with Sally’s
schoolteacher. While not an all-time great entry, there are still so many excellent
scenes packed into this one: Don’s waiting-room discussions with a fellow
father-to-be; Pete J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-74746843584512099092015-03-19T09:12:00.003-04:002015-03-19T09:12:39.702-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep4, “The Arrangements”
This episode is all about the relationships between parents
and children, which shouldn’t be surprising since that’s one of the main themes
of the series. The major occurrence is the death of Betty’s father, Gene, but
we also get a look at Peggy and her mom, and a client whose son is trying to
blow through his inheritance on a pipe dream. There isn’t anything wrong with
this installment, but J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-2395898586262550772015-03-19T09:09:00.004-04:002015-03-19T09:09:39.087-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep3, “My Old Kentucky Home”
This one takes a few minutes to really get going but, wow,
once it does it offers one home-run scene after another. The action mostly
takes place on one Saturday, in a classic “Mad Men” structure where the scenes
bounce between several different groups. The main thread has Roger and Jane
hosting a Derby party at their country club, and it offers us introductions to
two important characters: J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-21406756901682193972015-03-19T09:05:00.005-04:002015-03-19T09:05:58.946-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep2, “Love Among the Ruins”
This is a middle-of-the-road episode. A few memorable
moments, but as a whole it doesn’t really take us anywhere. There are three
main plot threads: First, Peggy experimenting with being the type of woman men
find desirable, all the while balancing that against the type of businesswoman
she really wants to be; second, Sterling Cooper’s work to recruit Madison
Square Garden, which ultimately J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-69574012600310002192015-03-19T09:02:00.005-04:002015-03-19T09:02:51.485-04:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S3/Ep1, “Out of Town”
As Season 3 opens, everyone is getting used to the new
Sterling Cooper (including we the viewers) under its new ownership structure.
The “big” event of this episode occurs when Don and Sal, on a road trip to
Baltimore, both get caught in compromising positions when a fire alarm goes off
at their hotel. But the episode belongs to Vincent Kartheiser, as Pete Campbell
goes through the roller J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-45103267954956848672015-01-29T08:58:00.000-05:002015-01-29T08:58:15.284-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep13, “Meditations in an Emergency”
Tensions are high in the world during the heat of the Cuban
Missile Crisis, and meanwhile people on this show are dropping nuclear bombs
left and right. Don blows up Duck’s precious plan to take over Sterling Cooper;
Betty “evens the score” by sleeping with some random guy in a bar before
letting Don come home and telling him they’re going to have another baby; and
Peggy finally tells Pete he J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-87630076731876593662015-01-29T08:53:00.000-05:002015-01-29T08:53:58.128-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep12, “The Mountain King”
The meat of this episode focuses on Don spending time with
Anna Draper (technically his ex-wife) in California. Their relationship is
fleshed out with flashbacks, showing how deep their bond is. As she tells him
at one point: “I always felt that we met so that both of our lives could be
better.” Don is clearly at the crossroads here, and as Season 2 heads into its
final episode, we’re left J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-19399246953548274182015-01-29T08:49:00.000-05:002015-01-29T08:49:46.516-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep11, “The Jet Set”
Don and Pete travel to California for one of the stranger
“Mad Men” installments, as Don abandons his colleague mid-trip to latch onto
an odd group of wealthy nomads. Knowing what we do now about how prominently
California will factor into the show in the future, it’s fascinating to see how
foreign the land feels at this introduction (Mexican food! Oh my!). Meanwhile,
wheels begin to turn back J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-28715530092601281092015-01-28T08:53:00.000-05:002015-01-28T08:53:31.388-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep10, “The Inheritance”
Betty’s father has a stroke, which prompts a detente between
her and Don as they leave the city to visit him. The second half of the episode
then delves more into what life is like for Betty without Don living at home.
It’s a terrible thing, her having to decide between loneliness and misery or
accepting a man who betrayed her so deeply. In the end, the only person she can
confide in is Helen J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-87488934097361581042015-01-28T08:50:00.002-05:002015-01-28T08:50:33.195-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep9, “Six Month Leave”
There is so much to unpack here in an episode that deals
with marriage, workplace politics, self-esteem, death, and the meaning of life.
Framed by the news of Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, the action focuses on Freddy
Rumsen’s alcoholism and what his lack of self-control means for him and
Sterling Cooper as a whole. By the end of the episode Freddy is fired, Peggy is
promoted to take over his work, J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-7546623217149085152015-01-28T08:47:00.001-05:002015-01-28T08:47:14.995-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep8, “A Night to Remember”
A workmanlike and generally forgettable episode that
basically just moves the ball down the field a ways toward Betty and Don’s
eventual separation. Otherwise, I didn’t particularly care for the Peggy/priest
storyline originally and it still doesn’t do anything for me. Joan’s work with
Harry reading TV scripts is a nice bit of long-range foreshadowing, though, on
how she will eventually take a J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-54317951030580366242015-01-27T10:47:00.001-05:002015-01-27T10:47:08.884-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep7, “The Gold Violin”
It’s easy to look at Betty Draper after these 6.5 seasons
and judge her, ridicule her, think of her as a horrible, bitter person and a
terrible mother. All that may be true. But when you start to think that way of
her, I want you to remember this episode, in particular. And I want you to
realize how much of her character’s trajectory is Don’s fault. The scene
between Betty and Jimmy Barrett nearJ_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-84709914428776136932015-01-26T08:57:00.002-05:002015-01-26T08:57:52.923-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep6, “Maidenform”
There are a few episodes of “Mad Men”—maybe one a
season—where the characters on this show act so abhorrently, it’s enough to
make me contemplate not watching anymore. Here’s one.
Worst Scene: After
a meeting goes south, Duck turns to drink. Just as he’s about to take the first
swallow, though, he looks down and sees his dog staring at him. He is so
ashamed of what he’s about to do, he takes J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-23566572456199508262015-01-26T08:54:00.001-05:002015-01-26T08:54:10.071-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep5, “The New Girl”
The relationship between Don and Peggy is one of the central
threads of the entire series, and there are certain episodes where that bond
jumps a level. This is one of them. When Don and Bobbie Barrett get drunk and
Don crashes his car on the way to the shore, it’s Peggy he calls to bail them
out. As a result, we see once again how Peggy is maturing, taking charge of the
situation and handling J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-49455879196252973872015-01-07T08:29:00.001-05:002015-01-07T08:29:26.560-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep4, “Three Sundays”
An episode that starts off a little soft (I’m not a big fan
of the Peggy/priest storyline, in general) ramps up in a big way halfway
through when Sterling Cooper learns its pitch to American Airlines is happening
a week earlier than expected. Everyone comes in on Palm Sunday, and for the
first time we truly get to see Don work a problem from the beginning. Knowing
the effort that goes into the J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-37813701813092980272015-01-05T08:45:00.003-05:002015-01-05T08:45:39.883-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep3, “The Benefactor”
This episode starts off whimsically, with more one-liners
than you can possibly remember (no matter how many times you’ve heard them).
But it takes a decidedly darker turn midway through when Don meets Bobbie
Barrett, wife and manager of comedian Jimmy Barrett. Everyone is going to react
differently to a show, I understand that, but I respond negatively to the entire
Bobbie Barrett storyline J_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16065193.post-31871662245926302022014-12-08T10:56:00.000-05:002014-12-08T10:56:58.302-05:00Re-watching ‘Mad Men’: S2/Ep2, “Flight 1”
Another “Mad Men” episode based around a national crisis,
this time a crashed American Airlines flight. The tragedy has both personal and
professional ramifications at Sterling Cooper: Duck gets a call from American
that makes him think they have a shot at the business—if they dump current
airline client Mohawk; Pete, meanwhile, discovers his father was one of the
hundred passengers who perishedJ_Schoolyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430546991632742908noreply@blogger.com0