Mad Men “The Flood” Review: Love and Death

 Don Draper will see you at the movies 

Photo Credit: Amc

A review of tonight’s Mad Men coming up as soon as I create a Molotov cocktail add…

“Everybody likes to go to the movies when they're sad”

-Bobby

When death hit’s chaos erupts. Especially when it is the death of a figure of great importance that dies. Mad Men delivered death and chaos in one of its most scattered episode to date. Yet the magic of Mad Men is that it managed to tie chaos into a theme and make the episode feel almost right. The Flood ends up being chaotic, emotional and a good hour of television.

The chaos comes from the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and the spoils of his legacy being poured onto the streets of New York. Matt Weiner and crew set up the tragedy properly, taking around 15 minutes to introduce the actual event and setting up the disposition of the characters. Don at the beginning of this episode is still distracted with the world around him, as evident with the scene early one when he asks his favorite couple Sylvia and Arnold where they are going after he knows where they are going (clearly missing Sylvia’s wondrous sex no doubt). Then the add awards sequence is set up quite naturally. The sweeping shots, the Megan and Peggy reunion, and the parallel to Ginsberg on an awkward date all seem to be normal in an episode of Mad Men. The scene starts with an interesting speech from Newman and then…

…Bang! Out of nowhere the episode and its tone take a massive turn for the worst. Out of nowhere the assassination of Martin Luther King is shouted out right in the middle of Newman’s speech and chaos. Mad Men sets the rest of the episode on how the characters react to the event and what kind of emotions and pent up frustration is brought up from the reactions. It’s truly devastating and powerful and brings out some good character moments.

The best part of “The Flood” are not the reactions in the moment per say (we saw how that went wrong in season 3 with the Kennedy assassination) but instead of how the characters deal with the melancholy on the day after the event. It’s powerful to see these characters who are all definitely affected by the tragedy have to live another day and deal with their lives as the life picks up the next day. Peggy for example has to deal with another day at work and an attempt to buy a new apartment. Peggy’s still reeling from the events that have happened and yet she gets a call from her retailer right away asking her to take a bid while everyone is still off guard. Life goes on as normal and the lives of these characters lives don’t stop with certain events. Thus emotional chaos happens.

Perhaps the idea of going on is best delivered through Ginsberg’s storyline (yes you heard that right) where it’s found out that Ginsberg seems to be afraid of women and dating. Yet his father keeps pushing even after the tragedy because it’s how we move on that counts and that someone always needs another especially in times of strategy. It’s an interesting concept presented in Ginsberg’s storyline and I would love to have some more regarding the strange “alien like” individual.

The storyline that didn’t work so well this week was Betty and Henry’s, because in all reality who really cares about Henry at this point. It was really out of place and uninteresting to listen to what Henry is going to be politician wise and even less interesting to see how he is reacting to the assassination. Henry and his relationship with Betty still seems just as uninteresting as ever and honestly I would be happy never seeing them again on this show. Not that the performances are bad or that they are poorly written or anything but because they always are the least interesting and good part of the show. It seemed oddly disconnected (even they were tied to the theme in some way) to go to Henry and Betty this week and it deterred from the characters that were actually fun to watch.

In the end though the best, most disturbing piece of next day fever was that of Don. The tragedy seemed to bring out the fact that Don really isn’t a great father at all. First off he forgets to pick up his kids again, and get’s scolded by Betty for it (in the part of Betty being there that actually helped the episode). Then he can’t connect with Sally, who is clearly mad at him, and thus they go out with Megan leaving Don and Bobby together to go to the movies. We see his inability to connect with his son in full display as he stumbles to find the right words to display his thoughts in the movie theater.

Then for Don comes realization, and maybe even as spark of transformation. In one of the best scenes Jon Hamm has delivered in a while, Don’s breakdown was the emotional high point of the episode. His speech about being a potentially fake and terrible father, until one is enlightened (like Don is when Bobby talks about people in the movies) and realizes the spark is still there. The sequence is a magical little piece of acting on Jon Hamm’s part and made the episode’s themes come singing through.

Ultimately the characters see transformation at the end of chaos. We see Don reevaluating his role as a parent, Peggy looking elsewhere for an apartment after she couldn’t get her first choice, and the world adjusting after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Structurally the episode wasn’t entirely great this week but it provided many powerfully emotional and well acted moments to keep me reeling hours after it’s finish. Not great but certainly a solid hour of the show.

Some other musings:

• Randal, Roger’s client whom he clearly found through an acid trip provided a fun deviation this week with his very strange Molotov cocktail that was good for some dark humor. Roger’s reaction to it was priceless!

• Hey Harry when you’re being told off by Pete about how bad of a man you are then you need to start evaluating your life.

• Some callbacks from last season including pivotal scenes involving round tables at an add event and a movie theater.

• Apparently according to the lessons that Don teaches his children only important men are in danger. Hey at least it was a good shot at Henry.

• We need Stan and/or Ginsberg to have an episode or two. That would be golden!

A reminder that this is going to be the last review of Mad Men that will be out the night of for a few weeks now due to exams (so I can get some sleep before they happen). I’m hoping to chime in at sometime during the week but don’t expect these to be up right away for the next two or three weeks or so.  Unless something jaw dropping happens…

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

In Defense of this Season of Mad Men

 Can Don Draper still be liked?

As with most of these “Column Writes” I preface this with the phrase “in my opinion” meaning that this is not me claiming that this is the way it should be or “your wrong” just my thoughts on a subject that has been spreading.

So this has been an interesting start to this season of Mad Men hasn’t it? Sure the show has been trucking along in a true Mad Men fashion as normal but the response to this season has been unlike anything that has come in the past. It seems with the darker territory that creator Mathew Weiner is taking many of the characters down the less that many vocal fans have been enjoying the show. It’s easy to dismiss Mad Men for turning characters that were once likable into monsters, and for good reasons, these characters, no matter their flaws used to be good enough to root for; now on the other hand that is debatable. Ultimately the point of Mad Men, (again prefaced with “In my opinion”) isn’t about the likability and the attachment to the characters despite their flaws, but instead of how all of the characters react and develop based on the events around them as well as their core set of beliefs. In that regard Mad Men is succeeding nearly flawlessly.

Former T.V. writer Ken Levine wrote an article about how Mad Men creator Mathew Weiner perhaps “stopped loving his characters” and in a way one can argue this. Most characters on Mad Men can be generally scene from a negative light in ways that they weren’t before. This is most certainly true, but I don’t believe it’s because Matt Weiner has “stopped loving his characters.” Instead it’s because that’s the way the characters probably would act in the situations, given the characteristics that Matt Weiner set for them way back in season one. Characters should develop and change as the world around them unfolds, favorably or not. Matt Weiner seems to have given each of his characters enough of a base so that I can believe where they’ve gone so far, and am not disturbed by it at all.

Take Don Draper for example and the way his character has developed over the course of this season so far. When we left him at the end of season 5 there was the bar sequence he was disturbed by how complicated his relationship with Megan had become compared to what he had envisioned his relationship being. He was beginning to feel lost in the relationship as he was previously in his relationship with Betty, and thus the cycle of cheating and deceit begins. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, no matter how happy he seemed earlier, that after that finale he would go back to his old ways. It’s just one of the character’s main flaws since the beginning of the show. It’s just at this point we as the audience know more about Don Draper the man than we had at that point in season one when we were witnessing him do things for the first time and thus the things he’s doing seem less acceptable. It’s all about situation and how Don reacts to it, Don hasn’t become anymore despicable as a human being he’s just a relic unwilling to change with the times. This time the times don’t seem to be with Don and thus our view of him changes. It’s not a question of whether Matt Weiner isn’t in love with Don anymore but a question of the character acting in situations. In that case Mad Men had done a wonderful job.

Think back to Jimmy McNulty on the Wire as well, he had a similar situation to Don Draper. We are presented to Jimmy as drunk, miserable, cocky yet kind charming “gaping asshole” (to use some wire terminology). As the seasons go by Jimmy gets a chance at redemption and to live a normal life but completely blows it, opting to go back to being old Jimmy when the situation comes up. It’s just at that point we as the viewer begin to see that Jimmy is ultimately Jimmy and that he can’t be someone who is not. Changing Don to be semi likeable would be way out of character and would defeat the purpose of what Matt Weiner is trying to say about the character and the era he lives in. Matt Weiner, like most TV writers, set the illusion that Don is likable and has slowly broken that down since. Don is still the same Don we knew just different based on the situation he’s given. Thus is the principal of character development.

It might be a point to say that I don’t necessarily need to like a character as a person to find them interesting. To reference Jimmy again, I never found many redeeming characteristics with Jimmy yet I still enjoyed watching his character for every second that he was on screen. Same with Don Draper, I’ve never really found Don Draper to be even an okay guy but I can watch his character compulsively because he is a fantastically written character. I don’t need to like character’s personalities, nor relate to them, nor admire them to watch them and be engaged. It’s the development that counts and again I found Don to be a wonderfully developed, complex character.

As for the other character’s I don’t think they have become too hateable at all. Peggy, despite being slightly hardened over time, is still just as likable as before but just in new ways than before. Peggy has been all about being a strong woman in the unflattering circumstances of the 1960’s and continues to be that way under her current situation. As for the Stan betrayal I saw that less as a betrayal and more as a Peggy is trapped between a rock and a hard place and choosing to keep her new position instead of throwing it all away. It was an accident and if Peggy actually had the choice she would have no doubt never relayed the information about SCDP’s failed Heinz campaign.

To the point of Peggy transforming into the next Don Draper I honestly can’t deny that but I also think that’s where the character has been naturally arching. Even with Peggy as the new Don Draper approach I don’t believe it’s made Peggy any less likeable in any way as she’s managed to balance her stern Don Draper impersonation with a certain attempt at being kind old Peggy. Peggy is a character that, to me at least, has remained as likeable and easy to root for now than she has ever been, despite her new hardened demeanor.

 On the subject of other characters, Joan, while sleeping with the very creepy Herb, has (along with the writer’s decision to make that decision), with the last two weeks, redeemed herself. It seems that the pressure of work and the account was why Joan slept with Herb, and not to get ahead; the partnership was just part of the spoils. Roger still remains the funniest and most enjoyable characters to watch, despite the problems with his personal life. And Pete is well, Pete. To me though, no matter if they are quantifiably “likeable” or not they remain interesting, enjoyable to watch three dimensional characters, and to me that’s what counts.

Perhaps out of all of this though the reason that I don’t believe that Matt Weiner and staff have “stopped loving their characters” is the sympathy that they seems to show towards the characters, flaws “hateability” and all.  It’s clear that as the show has gone on that Matt Weiner and company have kept understanding, flaws and all, the characters that they have created. We see the struggles that Don faces internally about his life and feel sympathy for the things that he can’t stop doing.  We may not like the decisions that he is making but can see that the writers don’t utterly condemn him for them; they try to make him change as much as possible without changing the character entirely. The writers and don’t have to make the characters likeable to “like them” but instead have a certain understanding of where the characters are and love where they are going; Good or bad.

Ultimately the reason that I’m still in love with mad Men this season is not because I necessarily find all of the characters “likeable” but in turn because I buy where Matt Weiner and crew have taken the characters. I believe that they are still well liked by the writers, as evident in their careful arching and the sympathy that is felt for them, faults and all, and I think it’s possible to find numerous characters on this show still likeable, flaws and all. Mad Men is still a great show with a great cast of characters that, while not necessarily all likeable, or as likeable as they were at the beginning of the show, still have the aura of great, well written characters.

That's just me though. What does everyone else think?

Mad Men “To Have and to Hold” Review: Girls, Girls, Girls!

 Don and Megan share dinner in "To Have and to Hold"

Photo Credit: AMC

A review of this week’s Mad Men after I combine Football and Broadway…

“I’ve been working there for 15 years and they still treat me like a secretary.”

-Joan Harris

Joan it’s good to see you! After last week’s few scenes of Joan being as brilliant as they were, people have been clamoring for the famed red head to have a bit more to do. “To Have and to Hold” was the first time we got to see Joan, and some of the other women for an extended period of time this season with great results. Mad Men keeps churning out great episodes this season and “To Have and to Hold” was no exception to the rule.

“To Have and to Hold” was very much about the women on the show and how they are dealing with the problems of the late 1960’s. The men are still as pig like as ever and the world seems just as tough to the women as it ever has been. Take the confrontation between Joan and Harry for example. Throughout the episode we see Harry trying to get into a partnership position (admittedly in this episode he seems to charm his way into big things although I don’t quite know how much work he does actually do) and thus taking shots at Joan to try and prove the point of why he should be at that position. It’s really sickening to the stomach to watch some of the things Harry tries to pull throughout the episode to poor Joan. Joan works her but off for the nature of the company and all it takes is the attempted firing of Harry’s secretary, starts an unjust train of insults. At least the rest of the partner’s kind of laugh it off. Roger and Bert seem to ridicule Harry in general anyways, so it was fun as usual to watch him get dismissed for the things that he tried to do.

Overall Joan doesn’t seem to be in a happy place, which is kind of echoed in her personal life as well. We see Joan and her friend Kate attempt to hit the town on an adventure after Joan’s hard day at work. Kate reveres Joan for being an executive and having money while in truth Joan is a broken woman on the inside. She is still living with her young child and being supported by her mother because of her loony husband that she divorced. Oh yeah and she slept with creepy old Herb form Jaguar. Yet Joan has a hard outer shell and she gives the perception off to Kate that she is just fine and ultimately someone to be envied, when in reality she is broken emotionally in both the workplace and in her recreational life.

“To Have and to Hold” also gave us a glimpse into the life of Don’s secretary, who is oddly named Dawn. She got some interesting conversations with her friend about the nature of her job and how she ultimately feels about the workplace itself. It’s great to have someone who is kind of on the outside looking in talking about how they feel about the kind of messed up events that happen in this kind of messed up office.  I mean we have Ken for a little bit of a saner vision on the office but no one quite as on the outside as we got with Dawn.

Megan also got a little more time on screen this week with her acting career being a central part of the episode. Megan got to do a love sequence on her soap opera to move ahead, and Don doesn’t like it! Gasp. Whether Don was actually mad with Megan for “enjoying” her love sequence on the show, or whether he was just looking for an escape to go and have sex with Sylvia the irony present within those scenes that they shared was absolutely fantastic and very evident for the boundaries that women live under at this time. Throughout the run of Mad Men the men have been able to get away with horrendous treatment of their wives, from drunken episodes to horrid adultery yet Megan can’t even get away with doing her job. It seems fine for the beginning portion where Don says that he doesn’t mind it but doesn’t condone it but then things get a tad ugly. The first thing that strikes Don a little is the dinner that they spend with the lead writer and his wife who want to set up a strange sex night. Then things get out of control when Don actually shows up to the filming of the show and freaks out at her.

Now of course Don could just be trying to have an excuse to sleep with Sylvia for the night and found the love scene as a way out. The episode was book ended with Sylvia and her relationship with Don and how he’s actually more invested with the relationship with her than he is with Megan at this point. Even when they’re still flirting together Don feels kind of distant from Megan and in the end it feels like he’s rushing to see get away from Megan to go and see Sylvia.

The final story that was prominent throughout “To Have and to Hold” was the debacle of plan k, or the hunt for Heinz ketchup. Don, Pete, and Stan all go after the big goal for Heinz Ketchup and, just like Peggy and Ted (that wasn’t well conveyed in the episode by the way), failed to get their goal. Don decided to go for the “it’s up to the imagination” ad campaign well Peggy seems to go for the direct response. It was interesting to watch not only the direct contrast of the campaigns but also the direct metaphor for the women in the episode that Peggy delivered in her speech (intentional or not). Either way, neither the direct nor the abstract way bring ultimate happiness just like what the women of Mad Men began to find out throughout another fine hour of the show.

Some other musings:

• I didn’t end up getting to it over the last few weeks but, man those commercial cuts are odd and jarring. Even with the ability to fast-forward through them (I like many critics begin the show 15-20 minutes late to be able to finish it on time while missing the ads) the story breaks that AMC tries to find to cut to commercial are pretty brutal. I guess it’s more Weiner and crew’s fault, as they don’t write the show with act breaks like an HBO show, but AMC ‘s job is still brutal (yet somewhat amusing at times).

• Stan is great I hope he will end up getting an episode in the future. Particularly great was the secret agent style music they played over his moving into the storage closet while working on plan K. So very funny indeed.

• Bert! I wish Bert could still be a more regular part of this show as he continues to be wonderful whenever his two lines come up. His conversation with Roger (who also only got about 2 lines this episode) about Harry was pretty gold in this one.

• I know it’s a given but I have to mention it every once in a while the acting on this show is wonderful. Christina Hendricks is fantastic here throughout her biggest episode this season. Also everyone no matter how small a role per week they get on this show works extremely well.

• Dang Scarlett always getting away with things. This time even fueling Harry’s fire to become partner; and it’s also implied that Harry is cheating on his wife with her…

• Ginsberg got a scene for once! I want more of him and his awesome mustache in the next few weeks!

Due warning! After next week it’s going to be hard to keep up with a regular Mad Men review schedule as I’m going to be drowning in exams!! I’m hopping still to watch them each and every week but the whole writing a ton is not going to be easy. Still one week left until that hits so expect a review next week then… We’ll see

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

Oblivion Review

Tom Cruise enjoys some scenery in Oblivion  

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Oblivion

B

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

In the film landscape thought based Sci-Fi films are becoming rarer and rarer. Ever since the original Star Wars way back in 1977 the amount of truly thought provoking science fiction films have been on a complete downturn. In their place came action Sci-Fi films, ones with all bang and little substance instead of the other way around. Cut to today to find Oblivion a film that attempts to find a balance between the action and thought provoking Sci-Fi film. The result is a film that, while solid overall, lacks the gull to really challenge the audience by taking risks. Oblivion instead plays it too safe.

Oblivion’s set up is admittedly an intriguing one. After a war with an alien race the earth has been left in ruins because of all the nuclear bombs being detonated and the moon being destroyed. Most of humanity is now stationed on the Saturn moon Titan. Jack (Tom Cruise) is a field “repairman” of sorts, and him and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) repair defense and observation drones across the barren Earth. The two are on the last two weeks of their mission on earth when Jack saves a mysterious woman from a space ship wreck Julia (Ogla Kurylenko). Life begins to take a turn when Julia arrives as she seems to be a part of a life that Jack didn’t knew existed.

Oblivion ultimately has too much to pack into 124 minutes of screen time. Presenting the idea of the world itself could be its own film entirely. Instead Oblivion tries to be a dual film, an action film that tries to have ideas. It just tries to pack way too much into the film resulting in pacing and flow issues. Some scenes seem to go on way too long while others feel underdone (more on that in a second) and thus gives the film a mish mash and unfocused feeling.

The other problem with the film is that it goes for some ideas but it doesn’t go far enough with its ideas. The film feels restricted by having to fulfill action Sci-Fi movie tropes to satisfy its blockbuster budget. The film’s opening especially introduces interesting Sci-Fi elements that could have developed into something unique and thought provoking. Unfortunately by the second half of the film it is evident that the film isn’t going the direction that it should have gone in opting for a more action film rout than one of ideas and unique characters. There also an excessive use of symbolism in the film that while tires to deliver ideas, ultimately says little to nothing in the overall context of the film. All the ideas feel underdone as every one of them present post second half are glossed over with a few lines of dialogue or abandoned entirely.

That being said Oblivion is still a pleasant film to watch. This is mostly due to Joseph Kosinsky flair for the visual. Oblivion is, for the most part an expansive and gorgeous film that loves to show off its visual flair. There are lots of wide, landscape shots of a post apocalypse, tech driven earth that are all beautiful in nature. The visual flair often helps drive home the well realized atmosphere of the film, one that strikes a great balance between ruin and hope for the future.

The action sequences are also pleasing portions of the film to watch. As with the rest of the visuals in the film Kosinsky has a particular visual flair that is present in nearly every frame. The action sequences are well put together and don’t rely on quick cuts or visual trickery. Instead the action is followed with longer shots including shots that actually last for longer than the usual 2 second mark in most everyday action films. It gives each action sequence its proper sense of scope and allowing each to feel unique and fun to watch instead of generic and confusing.

The performances in this film seem to serve their purpose and are solid. Tom Cruise is always solid in his action film persona mode. Cruise has an everyman quality to him that seems to work well within the context of the film. It’s nothing spectacular but overall it’s a good performance. The two ladies, while they don’t get too much to do are also solid in each of their supporting roles. Each provide enough nuances to not become carbon copy love interests and they work well. Morgan Freeman (as seen in the trailers) shows up briefly in the film as a rebel soldier of sorts and feels a bit wasted. He is solid as a cigar chomping, sunglasses sporting general but is underwritten in every sense of the word. It would have been nice to see such a fantastic talent play a more interesting and nuanced character than he ends up playing.

Oblivion is, overall a solid Sci-Fi action motion picture with some thought on top. While it’s much too short and doesn’t capitalize on its interesting ideas, the film is pleasant to sit through and is ultimately an enjoyable experience overall. Either way whenever there is a new Sci-Fi film that attempts to be thought provoking it’s worth a look in the oversaturated action Sci-Fi environment.