Mad Men Post-Mortem: “A Day’s Work”

Don languishes. Peggy unravels. Jim machinates. Lou sucks. Your Mad Men Post-Mortem after the jump.

WARNING: SPOILERS

The final season of Mad Men continue to plod along with episode two. It was a strong episode but after having been promised non-stop fireworks from Weiner in pre-season interviews I’ve been expecting, well, fireworks. My brain drippings on the episode in no particular order.

  • Poor Don. Poor, sad Don. Waking up at noon. Eating his sad breakfast lunch mid-day meal in his sad apartment with only the cockroaches for company. He makes a sad attempt to stay in the game by retreating into the boys’ club he’s all too familiar with. In interviews Matthew Weiner has stressed how Don is reflecting the turmoil going on in the nation at the time which, for me, gave further insight into the character. He’s happy to give everyone an equal chance but coldly unwilling to allow for the fact that not everyone starts on equal footing. His image is built on false premises that ignore his harsh and morally problematic beginnings. I can see it. As such, I predict the series will end with Don going to work for McCann Erickson (“The Man”) where they will promptly shackle him in their basement dungeon and force him to do their evil bidding.
  • If Don is America, is Jim the Soviet Union? Is this the Cold War? Pete has always had a unique ability to see through all the bullshit to what’s really going on. He hit the nail on the head in calling out Jim for his Machiavellian maneuvering. Watch yo’ back, SC&P. Watch yo’ back.
  • “Sometimes I think I died and I’m in some kind of, I don’t know if it’s heaven or hell or limbo, but I don’t seem to exist. No one feels my existence.” Loved Pete’s nod to the more outlandish theory that Don’s been dead since he fell in the pool in Season 6.
  • Dawn and Shirley’s water cooler chit chat beautifully mirrored earlier conversations between Peggy and Joan as their footing in the company mirrors Peggy and Joan’s roles when the series opened up.
  • The racism. Oh, lordy the racism. It was so blatant and straightforward. I don’t even really know what to say about it (but kudos to Joan for her “screw you” response).
  • Peggy has finally gotten what she wanted, her own office and secretary, but now she’s not so sure it’s what she really wanted. I get it (no, seriously, Peggy – I get it) but there’s no excuse for taking it out on other people. I think the point that was meant to be driven home is that it’s difficult at the top no matter who you are.
  • Where did Sally develop this uncanny ability to catch Don with his pants down? Regardless, I thought the ending with Sally telling Don, now truly knowing him for all of his foibles and weaknesses, that she loves him was just cheesy enough to be pretty perfect.
  • Lou really, really sucks.
  • Seriously, though – where are the fireworks? The season opens in 1969 with the country in turmoil. We landed a man on the moon that year. Schisms over the Vietnam War reached a feverish pitch. There was Woodstock followed by Altamont. The Stonewall Riots. The Tate-LaBianca murders. If the characters’ lives are supposed to be reflecting what was going on in society at the time, where are my fireworks?

Did I miss anything? Am I off my rocker on anything? Let me know in the reply.

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