Roger, Don, and Pete Return in Mad Men
Mad Men returned tonight and a review coming up right after lots
and lots of new haircuts!
“Midway through my life’s journey I went astray to find
myself in a dark world.”
-The Inferno
Have you ever felt lost? Maybe you’re a dining with two soul
mates or lost in a club you were never support to be at. Or on a trip to Hawaii
with a wife whom you don’t quite know how and why you’re with, perhaps. When
Mad Men left last season Don Draper was being asked by a fairly attractive
young club girl “Are You Alone?” Cut back to “The Doorway” and Don Draper’s
answer would most certainly be yes, not only in his seemingly one sided marriage
but also in his disconnection from the life that is progressing around him.
Matt Wiener and crew begin Don’s very wandering journey
through his new life in the bright sprawling beeches of Hawaii. Through his speechless
journey (other than the internally read Inferno quote seen above) in his marriage
we see what Don’s once mutually happy relationship has turned into. Don doesn’t
feel it anymore despite Megan clearly having full investment in their
relationship. He doesn’t speak a word as Megan consistently attempts to give
great affection to the man. It’s evident later on in the episode as the
slideshow of Don’s relationship comes and goes that he really is nowhere to be
found mentally as he plays bystander in his own marriage.
That leads of course to the reveal at the end of the episode
that Don is sleeping around again this time with Rosen’s wife Sylvia. Even in
affair Don Draper isn’t the same as he used to be he’s more aware of who he is
and what he’s doing even as he continues to go down the same rabbit hole. His
final resolution to Sylvia that “I want to stop doing this” is cold and
unexpected. Don Draper is trapped by his own self it’s evident he wants and
needs to change.
It’s not only Don’s marriage that he is lost in, but he’s
just lost in his life in general. Sleepless in Hawaii Don wanders down to the
bar alone (yet again) to find the wonderful spitting image of his past. PFC
Dinkins is on his wedding day just off duty on his service in Vietnam. He says
he’s got a better chance of surviving with something to fight for and asks Don about
his life and job. He wants to steal Don’s life and escape just as Don stole the
life of the man that came before him.
The experience of talking and ultimately giving the bride
too the young man who is probably going to die shakes Don to the absolute core.
We see Don return to his life in utter confusion as he feels lost in almost
every facet of it. He returns to an office that has been rearranged for photos,
and copywriters who look so very different than we all remember from earlier
seasons. The world is changing but the man hasn’t changed; he’s a non changing man
in a changing world and is suffering for it. Even his conversation habits are
entirely predictable, as Pete points out mid way through the episode predicting
every step of the conversation that him and Don were having. Don is a lost man
in a new world and that wonderful symbol of the lighter, that reminds him of
the young man on his way to hell, serves as a reminder to drive it home.
That being said Don’s not entirely on his old game either.
His pitch to the Royal resort folks is reflective yet completely confusing
resulting in the company executives thinking of death. As we’ve viewed through
the last few seasons Don’s no longer in his prime often not being able to be
social (as evidenced by his throwing up at Roger’s Mother’s funeral) nor
display his ideas as an advertiser something he could do before as a younger
man all these years ago.
The person who seems to be taking the mantle of Don Draper
2.0 is Peggy who seems to be fitting in quite nicely to her job at the rival
agency. Peggy is now great under pressure saving the at risk add campaign at
the very end with a cool idea that seems to work very well. At the same time
Peggy seems to have picked up many of the habits of her old boss, she’s able to
forcefully comfort the client allowing her to move on with the piece, and she’s
very hard on her seemingly competent enough copywriters making them stay and
come up with ideas for the campaign that she already has a better one for on
New Year’s eve.
Of the character transformation progresses made in “The
Doorway” Peggy’s is by far the easiest. She doesn’t have to give up her
previous values and “die” to transform and change in the way many other
characters on the show have to (more on that below). She seems to be happy and confident;
she has a boyfriend who believes in her, and a life that, while dominated by
work, is smoother and ultimately better than many of the other lives on the
show.
The next closest to being happy surprisingly is Betty, and
she’s nowhere close. While the Francis family life now seems to be comfortable,
with wonderful Sandy playing violin in the background, Betty still doesn’t seem
happy with where she is and what she is doing in her life. From her exceedingly
dark humor towards her husband to the awkward search for Sandy, Betty just doesn’t
seem to be as happy as she seems in the opening scenes (which nicely completely
contrast that of the Drapers)
The bulk of the Betty story comes from wrestling with the
social change monster that in Sandy. After not being accepted into Julliard Sandy
is entranced with the hippy dreamer lifestyle and decides to move away from her
now guardian, prompting Betty to get her own look at the changing world around
her. What she finds is startling too her, and, as many characters on this show
are now feeling, she feels lost in the new worldly ideals around her. Once she
comes back with a new hair color and an attempted new style it is still the old
Betty (now less fat but not quite her old self again) trapped inside the changing
world.
If there was anything in the episode that did feel a tad awkward
it was the Betty storyline. It didn’t feel as if it led to as much as some of
the other character arcs and ultimately felt like a mumble jumble middle to the
episode. Ultimately this doesn’t come as a surprise as Betty and what she
stands for has always seemed to be the slightly weaker spot of the show. The
story arc still worked well but compared to the rest of the storylines Betty
still feels like the lesser one.
That leaves us with Roger, dear, poor can’t feel anything Roger.
If Don Draper is lost Roger is even more lost in his life. He’s now been
through two wives and is continuously trying to reinvent himself. In the
episode we see Roger unable to feel anything about his mother dying and not
being able to connect to his family whom he still holds dear. Roger can’t get
anything out of his daughter other than a plea for money and she still sees him
as a bag of cash just waiting to be exploited. Roger doesn’t have much of a
workplace presence either as he is still left in the background as a figure of
the past. He’s not yet at the Burt Cooper level of not being there but he’s no
longer the talkative workman he used to be.
Roger seems to realize this change, and his inability to
deal with it more than Don does though thanks to his newly instated therapist. He
realizes that he essentially has to recreate himself completely or “die” to
realize change within himself. He’s already done it a few times leaving a trail
of destruction for the poor people behind him. He states his feelings in the
thesis establishing monologue of the episode, “What are the events in life? It's like you see a
door. The first time you come to it, you say, 'What's on the other side of the
door?' Then you open a few doors, and you say, 'I think I want to go over the
bridge this time. I'm tired of doors.' Finally you go through one of these
things, you realize that's all there are: doors, and windows, and bridges and
gates. And they all open the same way. And they all close behind you. Look,
life is supposed to be a path, and you go along, and these things happen to
you, and they're supposed to change, you, change your direction. But it turns
out that's not true. Turns out the experiences are nothing. They're just some
pennies you pick up off the floor, stick in your pocket. You're just going in a
straight line to You Know Where.” He knows where he’s off too and where he is
going and it all leads to yet another door that leads to nowhere.
Ultimately (as you can see by the amount of writing that has gone into
this review) I’m just happy that this show is back. This was a great, dark
premiere that had great moments all the way through the episode. I’m so very
happy that this show is in my life again and I’m very excited to go through the
next 11 episodes as the season progresses.
Other Musings:
- Not much Pete this episode but he had my favorite conversation with Don this episode and an awful haircut!
- Lots and lots of death imagery here. It definitely goes with the theme of the episode and created a very dark effect throughout the episode
- Sandy plays Chopin on the violin when she should be playing it on the piano
- Sally seems to be taking the Don advice on how to avoid conversations with Betty and is overall growing into quite an angsty teenager
- Great cinematography in Hawaii those scenes were absolutely gorgeous
- Ken Cosgrove was back into full dedicated to his job mode as he shut down a poor guy looking for some catering business. I guess writing didn’t go so well for the poor guy
- Oh Harry, sigh have you ever gotten disgusting
Let’s end it there though or I won’t be able to stop! Great Premiere!
But that’s just me what did everyone else think?
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