Margaux and I talk last night’s depressing Mad Men.
Trevor: Don is just becoming a full-on hobo at this point. I’d be surprised if he’s not introducing himself as Dick Whitman next week.
Margaux: Really, that’s what stuck in your mind for the penultimate episode of Mad Men? How about the most depressing Mother’s Day ever? Thank a lot, Matt Weiner, for making me feel things for a fictional character.
Trevor: Well I didn’t want to start off with that, but let’s talk about Betty Francis. I thought her going back to school, “Knock em dead, Birdie,” all that stuff was gonna be her goodbye. Nope! I guess it would kind of strain credulity if no one on this program of chain smokers ever got cancer, but I still didn’t expect it to be Betty. I guess I didn’t expect it to be anyone. To Weiner’s credit, he didn’t make Betty’s diagnosis feel sensationalist. If anything he’s been laying the foundation for something like this since season one.
Margaux: True. Seems as if Don’s karma for selling Lucky Strikes to the masses so successfully over the years is to systematically take away (via cancer) every single former love of his life. Geez, I just depressed myself all over again.
Trevor: Yeah, this was a pretty depressing episode. At least things are working out for Pete Campbell, I guess? Even in Pete’s more human moments, no way does he deserve Trudy, who I sometimes think is the most mature character on this show.
Margaux: I think Pete and Trudy getting back together, to ditch New York and Cos Cob and move to Wichita, wouldn’t have worked as well if the scene that preceded it wasn’t of Pete and his slimy brother talking about what a positive example his Father set for them in relationships. The fact that Pete successfully talked his brother out of cheating on his wife, even if it’s just for one night, was kind of impressive – since that’s the way they used to bond.
Of all the characters, Pete’s suffered the most humiliation (getting punched in the office, asking a prostitute to call him “king” – ick) and actually might of learned a thing or two. His “baby, take me back” speech to Trudy was shockingly heartfelt and, in terms of happy endings, picking up everything to move to the midwest to work for a private airline company -and not succumbing to Don’s prediction that Pete would end up in “middle management” in ten years – was as happy as Mad Men got last night.
Trevor: Well said. Vincent Kartheiser’s commitment to Pete’s smarmier facets is commendable, and you can tell he really relishes the moments when he gets to act like a human being, and not the weasel who tried to expose Don’s lie back in season one. And I find his bald-faced disdain for Duck Phillips consistently hilarious. No one on Mad Men pretends to like anyone that they don’t. I don’t know why, but it cracks me up. “I’m Dartmouth ‘56!”
Margaux: Even though Don’s prediction that Pete would end up with “a little bit of hair” did come true, at least he’s big fish in a small pond and will hopefully take this new chance and not fuck it up.
But let’s back to Don being on the road, when his car gets towed to that little motel in the middle of nowhere, my first thought was: “oh shit, Don is going to get Gone Girl’ed” – and I can’t say I’m too happy that he basically does by the time he leaves the two-horse town.
Trevor: Yeah, that took a turn for the worse pretty quickly. And he was getting along so well with all those guys at the VFW! Or was it the Legion? Anyway, I think I smelled trouble when that old man Floyd was telling his story about the “Krauts”; the way Don looked at him, it was as though Don saw something of himself in Floyd. That violence that Don is capable of (remember his dream of strangling a woman to death).
Margaux: Or Don’s weird dream that kicked off “The Milk and Honey Route,” a police officer pulling him over and saying they’ve been looking for him. Regardless, that shitheel kid does right by Don and gives back the money he stole (and made to look like Don took it, which, if they invited him because Don’s rich…how does any of that make sense?!), and in turn Don gives up his beloved Caddy to the kid so he can start his new life. Don looked probably the happiest I can ever recall seeing his character in the entirety of Mad Men. But will it be short lived?
Trevor: Well, that’s the first step in asking a bigger question: does Don deserve to be happy? This is a guy who’s a serial cheater, stole another man’s identity, drove at least two people to suicide, yet we still root for him. He’s not villainous the way Heisenberg was. Maybe that’s a by-product of Mad Men’s surreal execution.
Speaking of execution: the episode faded out to “Everyday” by Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash, one of the Internet’s favorite methods to kill Don Draper. Pete talked about having access to a plane whenever he wanted. Lot of plane talk, but I’m convinced that Weiner is just fucking with the audience, like that Manson family reference a few episodes back (and the motel in “Milk and Honey” being called the Sharon Motel, which I saw as a reference to Sharon Tate).
Margaux: I didn’t read too much into the Buddy Holly song; “Everyday” has been used before for its extra sunny uptempo beat to juxtapose the what’s lurking right around the corner – I’m thinking specifically of the use of the song in We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Trevor: I don’t think it’s the context of the song so much as who sings it. Weiner could have picked a lot of artists who didn’t die in plane crashes. I don’t think it goes deeper than that, by the way, I just like watching him have fun.
Margaux: Well, the one important tid-bit I picked up from Don’s stay at the Sharon Motel was, he’s definitely not going back to advertising, “I was in advertising.” I thought that was interesting, we all know the OG partners of SC&P walked away from their consumption by McCann with literal millions, but what will Don do next? Keep reading cheap paperbacks, I guess.
Sidenote: the blatant talk of how much money everyone makes/made/is making has ramped up quite a bit in this last season, I’ve always suspected the characters were well-off, but having dollar amounts over their heads is something new.
Trevor: Yeah, not an episode has gone by without someone commenting on how loaded everyone is (especially Don; before this season I never consciously thought of him as a millionaire). I think it’s worth noting that even though everyone is doing fine, they’re still chasing happy endings. Joan takes 50 cents on the dollar just to get the fuck out of McCann-Erickson; Pete’s happy ending isn’t in his four-year contract, but in Wichita with Trudy and Tammy. For a show featuring so many rich characters, Mad Men has never been about money.
Margaux: I want to finish talking about Betty before we sign off, but I’m having a hard time getting past her haunting last lines, “would you show them the picture?” I never thought very much of Henry Francis, but his breakdown in Sally’s room, after he tells her of Betty’s diagnosis, gave me heartburn.
Trevor: That was tough to watch. Him breaking down right after he tells Sally it’s okay to cry. January Jones nailed the voice over too. Sally crumbling after reading Betty’s letter just slew me. Also, the letter was dated October 3, 1970. You know what happened the day before in Wichita? Fucking plane crash.
Margaux: Well, that’s equal parts creepy and depressing.
What I loved most about Betty’s letter to Sally is how utterly Betty, with a capital B, it was. Even though she ends it with finally saying, “I love you” to her daughter, it’s not before detailed instructions on how to pretty Betty’s corpse up. Even in death, Betty will always be the same. It was another perfectly timed, “of course” ending moment. I’m pretty sure that’s the last we’ll see of Betty and the shot of Sally taking Betty’s seat at the head of the dinner table and taking care of her brothers was beautiful moment that alludes to the future without hitting us on the head with it. We won’t have to watch Betty suffer, we already know how this story ends.
Trevor: That letter was the perfect distillation of Betty – cold and businesslike on top, but with that reservoir of warmth underneath. “Your life will be an adventure.” Goddamnit, Mad Men.
Margaux: Before I start to cry, again, let’s get to stars.
Trevor: This was a damn good episode. It did right by two of its most important characters. Four and a half?
Margaux: I wouldn’t beat you with a phonebook for it, four and half stars it is.
About Author
