Matthew Weiner sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and discussed some interesting plot developments for the upcoming season of Mad Men — well, discussed them in that “top secret military clearance” way he has when discussing all things Mad Men.
First, Weiner doesn’t want you to get caught up in dates. He says emphatically that the year the new season is set in doesn’t matter.
“The year doesn’t really mean anything,” Weiner said. “It doesn’t. I’m not doing a history lesson. The thing that I’m excited about is I wanted to give people a big helping. I wanted a two-hour premiere. It’s a Mad Men movie — I don’t think anyone’s going to think it’s two episodes spliced together. There is a story that starts in the middle of it [but otherwise] it’s one story. The beginning and the ending are related to each other.”
Basically what we can gather from this is 1) there will be a two-hour premiere which is kind of awesome, and that it’s interesting that Weiner is 2) throwing around metaphors like Mad Men movie. Yes, we know Weiner has a bit of an inflated sense of self, and he likens this whole Mad Men experience to that of birthing a child and putting it through college, since he’s sooo very serious about this experiment in cable television — even to the discontent of some other AMC directors and creators (See: The Walking Dead‘s Frank Darabont who such rumors have spread that Weiner’s greed pushed him out of the zombie series). Yes, so, is this season’s Mad Men going to be so good that movie can be used for now and potentially in the future? Not so fast. Perhaps that’s just conjecture.
Without a doubt, Weiner has a lot riding on this upcoming season. The show lost the Emmy to Boardwalk Empire last year, and hasn’t been in contention during this award season due to a nearly eighteen-month hiatus while Weiner hammered out a deal with the network regarding the show’s budget. The ensuing negotiations and fallout pushed back filming. Now everything pretty much has to work. So what will the theme of the new season potentially be?
“We talked about ‘life isn’t fair’ before on the show, but the realization of, like, you really have to deal with your own problems by yourself and other people are not interested — that self-interest can be a surprise, especially if you’re trying to be good.”
Could he be talking about Don? Don, we realized in last season, wanted to become a better man, a smarter, less self-absorbed and abhorrent man. We saw him reflecting on his life, his decisions, and the people he’d hurt in the process, whether it was Betty, or Sally, or Peggy — Don was not just beginning to realize that he was an asshole — he was starting to care.
“And you take someone like Don, who we know is trying to be a better person. That’s part of what [the audience] likes about him. They see that there is virtue in this man from the pilot. The fact that he’s talking to that busboy — he’s an African-American man in his 50s — and immediately he cuts through everything to see that, well, this is a human being’s opinion. You see someone there who’s got a virtue in their trust of other people and is a bit of a chameleon and curious and open and all of these things we’ve talked about. But Don’s maneuver at the end of last season was really, really selfish and he may have saved the business, but that’s what I’m talking about. It’s like, how long does it take to learn that lesson? And that’s a big part of the season.”
So more changes are afoot! Well, we knew that. This show is built on changes and challenges, and that won’t stop just because Weiner in his grandiose way has to keep viewers interested while also worrying about money and ratings. Yet, his statements on the possibility of who will experience the most change makes us want to barf in our shoes a little bit, both from the swirling exposition of his statements — orchestras and milkshakes, indeed — and the bit of apprehension he showcases.
THR asks: Now that the season is wrapped, who suffers the most from the coming changes?
“I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that if you keep it on your mind then it is constantly there. I am a composer who is writing for an incredible orchestra and it’s not premeditated, but there are seasons where there has been a lot of Betty, there are seasons where … there is always going to be a lot of Don. But I have gotten to really feel like even with this huge cast of characters that I fought to keep in the world, it’s like I don’t want that world to get any smaller. You know, Christina had an amazing season. Vinnie had an amazing season. They always do. Lizzie. It’s all over the place.”
I literally try and shake it up and dump out the milkshake and rinse out the glass and start over. And whatever happens in between and whatever happens in my life, and certainly success is something that is now everyone on the show feels this responsibility to the audience, so you get extra pressure to please. And I am a showman and I am an entertainer so I want to please that way. But all that said, I look at it like: OK, so everyone is “Oh, my God you have to raise the bar! How are you going to top next year?” They really loved it. And I love hearing that. But part of that makes me vomit because I can’t think that way. You like chocolate ice cream? I can’t make RICHER chocolate ice cream. I’m going to make orange sherbet this year. And if you don’t like it, you don’t like chocolate ice cream. It’s still ice cream.”
Er, okay, Matt. Let’s calm down a little. No one said we didn’t like chocolate ice cream or orange sherbet! Both are just fine. No one’s asking you to top last year per se. And let’s be honest here, some critics thought last year was one of the more lackluster! The pregnancy, Don’s proposal — some of us felt it was all too packaged for shock value. You even say here in a joke about The Walking Dead, “No one was more of a zombie than Don last year.” Uh-huh, so don’t put it on us.
We’d just like the show to continue enthralling us, showing us little details, painting images we haven’t seen before on television, asking us questions, and illuminating an era where the complications abound and the nuance impresses. You can keep doing that for us, right, Matty? No need for a panic attack. We’re sure whatever you produced will be better than fine. Don better not marry Megan. What?! You didn’t hear anything. Seriously, you’re hearing things. We said The best thing is that Don will be on air again. That’s fantastic! Really. Shhhh. Go back to sleep. We’ll wake you in March, especially if Don marries that girl. No, no, you’re dreaming again, Matt.
Mad Men’s fifth season begins March 25th on AMC.
