Margaux and I talk this week’s stellar Mad Men.
Trevor: There’s a reason I hate “fallout” episodes. You know, when one episode ends with something huge happening, and the next episode is the fallout from that? That’s not to say I hated “Lost Horizon” – I didn’t, and parts of it I actually loved – but it’s hard to know what to write. Most of my notes consist of detailing what the characters are doing without any trenchant insight.
Margaux: In a non-final season of Mad Men, “Lost Horizon” could’ve been a finale. No episode in this B-side season made me wonder aloud repeatedly, “ARE WE SAYING GOOD-BYE RIGHT NOW?!?!” It felt like the end for so many reasons, maybe it was Roger and Peggy not being able to quite say close the door on SC&P for the last time or Don bailing on a shitty, boring meeting; the “of course” conclusion for every character we’ve formed a deep, irrational bond with is actually coming true.
Trevor: Loose ends are definitely being wrapped up. I feel like Betty’s return to school is the last we’ll hear of her (well, that and Don’s sweet goodbye, “Knock em dead, Birdie”). For a show that has eschewed standard narrative conventions for so long, it’s strange to watch Mad Men behave like a, you know, television show.
Let’s talk about the actual episode. Actually, screw that, let’s skip to the ending, which saw Joan peace the fuck out of McCann-Erickson, cause they’re a bunch of sexist dicks. And she still gets 250k in 1970 money, which by my calculations is infinity billion dollars in today’s money.
Margaux: I’m still not sure Joan should’ve taken Roger’s advice in the end, for Joan it’s never really been about the money. For once (at least to me) Richard had her best intentions at heart and actually should’ve prodded Richard for further advice. But, I understand why she wouldn’t be as forthcoming about how she became a partner. It’s interesting that even though Peggy isn’t in the McCann office yet, the copywriters slash welcome wagon that bring Joan a plant, are either afraid or in awe of her, and Joan’s reputation does not, unfortunately, precede her.
Trevor: I keep forgetting these people are already millionaires, so I guess it’s not about the money when you already have the money (I looked it up; 250 grand in 1970 is about 1.5 million today). Personally, I wanted her to have Richard “call a guy,” but I guess you can’t always get what you want. Her scene with Jim Hobart, where she threatened a lawsuit and expose, was great. Christina Hendricks delivered all of her lines with steely reserve, and showed that Joan is not to be fucked with.
Margaux: Joan continued to go down swinging, she proved she’s more than just boobs to those McCann pricks and got her worst suspicions confirmed, too. Joan has gone from secretary mean girl to Betty Friedan feminist and it was a joy to watch her stand up for herself to Hobart, especially after that frat-douche, junior accountant dick told her, “who told you you’re allowed to get pissed?” UM, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY OFFICE, THAT’S WHO.
Trevor: Dennis was the worst! At least until Ferg Donnelly showed up and basically told Joan, “I’m on the accounts and you’re gonna be on THIS DICK.” Fuck McCann-Erickson. The title of this episode, “Lost Horizon,” is from a book by James Hilton that I’m sure we both had to read in high school. I think M-E is Mad Men’s version of Shangri-La, a false paradise.
Margaux: Don Draper is the Moby Dick to Jim Hobart’s Captain Ahab, if you wanna go high school literary references. Just when I thought Hobart couldn’t be creepier than when he whispered, “Coca-Cola,” he had make Don “give him a twirl”; “I’m Don Draper from McCann-Eriksonn.” Douche-chills.
To quickly backtrack though, I don’t think the scene between Don and Betty was so much a goodbye to Betty’s character as much as it was Don’s goodbye to her. His kids don’t need him, he has nowhere to live, his ex-wife actually seems happy, his gig at M-E is a snooze; he knew he was going to wonder west and wanted to give Birdie one last, “you’re alright, kid” before whatever happens next, happens to Don.
Trevor: As Roger said, “He does that.” In this case, “that” was driving across the country on a whim (with ghost-Bert Cooper for company) to track down Diana. I gotta be honest, I’m getting tired of Don’s – and Mad Men’s – obsession with Diana. Also, her ex was a prick. That’s all I got for him.
The problem is, at least in my opinion, that when a show introduces new characters in its final season and insists on their importance, it rarely works well. We’re already toeing the line with Richard. To be fair, Richard showed up after Diana, but I thought we’d put this storyline to bed.
Margaux: I hate the Diana storyline so much, give us some Marie Calvet French-Canadian melodrama any day, over Don playing “the stranger” to this dead (in more ways than one) character. I can only hope this is truly the end of the Diana Bauer-mysterious waitress subplot.
The only thing worth rehashing about Don showing up at the former Bauer residence is that he assumed another name (the baby researcher who bored Don out of the Miller meeting), obviously Don Draper is no longer doing him any favors anymore, I think his road trip is more a permanent relocation.
Trevor: Can we talk about Peggy’s weird one-woman play? It was like something Harold Pinter would write. Also, that copywriter Ed speaks (what sounded like) Russian?
Margaux: WILL ED EVER LET HIS HAIR GROW OUT? WE’LL NEVER KNOW!
I think Ed and Peggy’s vastly different attitude about hanging around a lonely, most likely haunted, office were hilarious. Of course Peggy dispatched Ed to be her secretary while trying to hold together some semblance order and schedule. Peggy refusing to come into McCann until her office was ready was such an awesome, balls out move. I think Don would’ve been proud of her power move.
The most satisfying scenes were the ones between Peggy and Roger, getting drunk and playing the organ/rolling skating around the office. It felt like the perfect goodbye to SC&P, kind of a literal swan song. And when Peggy does finally get her office at McCann, she shows up hung over, sunglasses on, clutching Bert’s tentacle porn art, with a cigarette in her mouth. EVERYONE wants to be Peggy on their first day of being the new kid.
And lastly, I just love how Peggy showed up to empty SC&P offices everyday, dressed to effing impress. She’s ready to put in her three years at M-E, get paid, and keep moving on up in her career. Juxtapose THAT with Joan’s reverse arc when we first met the two of them. Things always change, but somehow, always stay the same.
Trevor: Peggy strode in like a boss. AMC aired a clip from season one where Joan told Peggy to stop “dressing like a little girl.” What a great before and after. So glad she kept Cooper’s weird hentai painting, which she initially refused because she “has to make men feel at ease.” Loved Roger’s response, too: “Why?” In many ways Roger might be the most liberal character on this show.
Margaux: For an episode dealing with the fallout of M-E stubbing out SC&P, I think Mad Men avoided all the pitfalls of having grinding,“definitive” moments. In an interview before the final season started, Matt Weiner said he wasn’t so much striving for conclusion as much as he is trying to give the audience “of course” moments with these character, and I’ve gotta say, he succeeded in doing that with “Lost Horizon.”
Trevor: That’s a good point. Weiner has also said that the Mad Men finale “won’t be what [we] think,” which is intriguing. “Lost Horizon” gets better the more I think about it. You wanna talk stars?
Margaux: Sure! Not to repeat myself too much but, whether “Lost Horizon” will end up being the more gratifying episode that feels most like the end than the official end remains to be seen; all I know is, tissues should be at the ready. Four and half stars.
About Author
