Mad Men.
October 20th, 2008I got to Mad Men late—missed the first season completely. AMC is one of my not my usual Sunday-night-channel-surfing stops. But after the Emmy’s, you couldn’t spit without hitting a blog post about the great period advertising drama.
At first I was unimpressed. Maybe because there was so much hype; but also, all the characters just seemed so stereotyped. Sexist men who cheated on their wives with anything that breathed. Flighty secretaries who seem perfectly happy to file their nails and nail their bosses. Everyone drinking and chain smoking because life is just so hard.
But it seemed like everybody loved this damn show. (Although I searched diligently for a review by a female, and came up empty.) So I kept watching. And after 12 of 13 episodes this season, I’m not so frustrated by the sexism as I am plain bored.
Every show has action, but none of them have any resolution. Remember when Peggy showed up at the strip club and flirted with the guys from Playtex? Not another word about it. Remember when Sal invited Ken over for dinner and flirted with him all night? What about the sexual tension between Peggy and the priest? And now Don’s run off to California with some rich hippies. I just want one storyline to wrap up before we move on to twelve more.
As a main character, I can’t see any reason to get on board with Don Draper. Maybe they want you to sympathize with him because of his upbringing. But so far, his character seems to be suffering from the same malady he holds against his wife: utter immaturity. He isn’t honest, isn’t loyal, shows no self-control. He isn’t satisfied by a hot wife, kids, and a ritzy job that pays well and commands respect. And worst yet, he doesn’t know what it is he wants.
I am glad that Peggy’s character has developed more. But everyone else seems to stay flat, with just occasional blips on their depth charts. We saw Duck’s wife leave his dog with him and his struggle with drinking, but now he’s back to being one of the guys always jockeying for position. Harry debated asking for a raise before finding a way to finagle head of the television department. Again, he’s back to being one of the group of interchangeable guys.
I’ll wait for the season finale and see what happens, but unless a whole lot of plot lines come together neatly and Don turns out to be more interesting than I think he is, I think my final verdict is going to be “overrated.”
