Mad Men “In Care of” Review: All aboard the Life Raft!

 Roger and Cutler on Mad Men

Photo Credit: AMC TV

A Review of Tonight’s season finale of Mad Men coming up as soon as I eat my sandwich before one of you does….

“The only unpardonable sin is to believe that God can’t forgive you”

-Preacher

Over the course of the last six seasons of Mad Men we’ve seen Don being put into a lot of dark places. He’s been divorced, and lived out of a bottle to name a small few. But Don has never sunken this low before, now he’s lost everything he cares about. His job, his wife and the love of his eldest child have all been taken from forcefully from his grasp. Don’s broken in ways that, at this point, are nearly impossible to fix. It’s time for Don to take a big leap into change, and with tonight’s brilliant and fantastic finale Mathew Weiner and crew take us a step closer to the big change that’s closer than it may initially appear.

Before we begin analyzing where Don is as a character let’s just recognize how fantastic Jon Hamm is in this episode. Over the course of this show Hamm has been consistently the show’s anchor providing many spectacular moment of acting prowess after the other but tonight’s finale was one of those moments where Hamm rises above even that. This was one of the finest hours Hamm has ever had on this series period, and that is saying something. The moment when Don is shaking and telling the Hershey clients about his life at the whore house (which we’ll get back to in the context of the episode in a while) was perhaps one of Hamm’s best moments of the entire series. What’s so brilliant about the performance is that time and time again Hamm can go to completely different places with Don Draper, each more elegant and sublime then the last. Hamm continues not to win awards for this role and after watching this episode the question of why not comes through with loud intensity.

Now on to Don the character, let’s start with work. Yes Don was asked to go onto leave for what may be forever (as soon as Don’s potential replacement was coming in early the hints of they don’t want him back began to creep very close) and for good reason. It was a whole collection of mistakes and destructive waves throughout this season specifically that led the partners to this decision and what happened with Hershey was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Don hasn’t been doing what’s really right for the agency, nor has he been all that productive for about a year now and he’s bringing the company down with him. It started with the many failed pitches and then deformed into utter debacle first with Jaguar and then with Hershey. Even the one victory for Don all season, that being Chevy merger has caused ultimately more grief than actual good for Don and the agency. Ultimately Don has reached a low point in the workplace and the decision for the partners to go was one that has been a season in the making.

Then there is Don’s personal life, which is falling apart worse than even getting kicked out of his chair has done for his professional life. Don really shouldn’t have promised living in California as a viable option to Megan because, as can be predicted, it couldn’t happen. Something got in the way seemingly as usual and Megan had to quit her job and try to move her life around for absolutely nothing. Safe to say that was the final straw in a relationship that was already far on the rocks. Megan seems to be out of Don’s life, and unless we pick up a while later to find out differently it seems that the once energetic marriage that has been barren all season is most likely over.

Of course then poor drunk and emotionally detached Sally comes into the equation. While we have known this for a few weeks it’s now pretty much confirmed that Sally is emotionally separated from her deranged father. It’s really bad when Sally won’t even show up in court to prosecute the robber from earlier this season and tells Don that he can tell the judge what she saw. It’s tough at this point as Don is losing everything at once which makes the continued demise of Sally’s affection even more devastating.

With the demise of Don’s life as we know it change is eminent, and it begins as Don begins to blur the line between Dick Whitman and Don Draper. Never before has Don blurred the lines between his old life and new, and never before has Dick Whitman began to creep into the new life of Don in such a substantial way. Don’s Hershey debacle was particularly telling as it shows, for the first time in a long time, how affected Don has now become by his past life. Never before has Don become so vulnerable so that he lets his guard down as much as he has in that sequence. The last of these transformative sequences we find Don letting his guard down to his kids as he shows them the old hoar house where he grew up. It’s going to be interesting to see how far Don goes down the road of the past come next season as he begins to rework his life yet again.

Then we move to the people who are headed on to the new life boat that is California, Ted and Pete. Ted has to move off to California after being scared of the emotions he feels for Peggy. Ted has a sexual encounter with Peggy for the first time after swooning over her for so long and can’t contain his emotions towards her. This scares Ted a lot as he doesn’t want to throw away the life he has (even though he said at one point in the episode that he would rather stay with Peggy) with his family so he decides to jump on the lifeboat. This crushes Peggy, who continues to be devoid of choices in her own life and is now forced into a broken hearted situation with no say in how it will work out.  Peggy is emotionally devastated by the man who told her that she has the chance to love him and guide her own destiny and only a day after is told that it can never happen.

The other California escapee is Pete whose work life dramatically closes upon after his encounter with Bob Benson. After Pete’s mother goes missing off a ship Pete isn’t happy with Bob for hiring the Nurse who apparently has now tried to marry his mother. It turns so bad that Bob Benson has to finally humiliate Pete at Chevy by showing them that he can’t drive a standard. It’s a big move that finally puts Pete back on track with a new work career in toe.

Ultimately “In Care of” was an amazing finale and probably the season’s best episode. It took the series into a newer and darker place that sets up new and interesting dynamics going into the final season of the show. What a powerful way to end this strange yet great season of television.  Let’s take a breather before coming back next spring to do it again one more time.

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

Mad Men “The Quality of Mercy” Review: Crushing Hopes and Dreams

 Roger and Don sit and talk on Mad Men

Photo Credit: AMC TV

A Review of tonight’s Mad Men coming up as soon as I cry like a baby…

“You’re judgment is impaired. You’re not thinking with your head”

-Don

Don is destructive in every part of his life, period. We saw his absolute destruction of Sally’s heart last week and this week we see the effects of his guilt and destruction on everyone else in his life. This week shows the truth of Don’s aftermath guilt and throughout the absolutely fantastic penultimate episode (two brilliantly top notch Mad Men episodes in a row) the audience we get to see exactly where this string of destruction (along with the great mystery of Bob Benson, but more on that a little later) is going to play out at the end of the season.

Clearly we see that Don is divinely affected by the consequences of his selfish actions. We open and close the episode with Don in some of fetal position, after alienating two of the people in the world he holds dear. At the beginning we see Don in the fetal position on Sally’s bed after having destroyed her last week. Don begins as a drunk sick mess, not looking at Megan for more than getting something to eat. He seems gone in his personal life reveling in his guilt for a day after destroying his link with the kid he cares the most for. It’s truly fantastically devastating watching Jon Hamm playing a down, out, and balls out drunk Don Draper again and it makes the sad place we see Don in at the beginning of the episode even more effective than ever.

 
Unfortunately Don has to put his later found energy into the annals of work and begins to cause problems with people at the office, most notably Ted. First there is the unfortunate juice conflict that, after Harry found a TV offer for Sun kissed juice, Don couldn’t keep out of Ted’s face despite their agreement last week. Don can’t refuse doing something that’s “better for the agency” but the personal motivations coming from Don are clear as day. Most of the decisions Don made throughout the course of this episode revolved around him despite the disguised veil of it being about the agency. Of course this begins to cause many problems.

Chief amongst those problems being shattering the soul of Ted and killing any whiff of support from Peggy, one of the two people he cares for the absolute most. Yes Peggy and Ted are really going at it flirting wise here, so obviously that the whole office seems to notice. The worst part for the company is that Teds love of Peggy’s ideas comes at the price of a budget on a key account. This is a now clearly jealous Don to have an “it’s better for the agency” excuse to crush whatever is left of Ted and Peggy’s flirting. What a fantastically, unbearably tense sequence near the end of the episode where Don takes the reign of the budget meeting and looks like he’s going to tell all of Ted and Peggy’s constant flirting for the reason to extend the budget… And then switches it up to making it look like it was Frank Gleeson’s last idea instead. Even without Don actually telling the client, to everyone in the room but the client the embarrassment tactics were obvious and the emotional consequences clear. Ted is crushed emotionally and puts his tail between his legs and walks out after being told to focus more on his head then Peggy. Peggy meanwhile loathes Don for crushing the man that she finds good and sweet for his way of “saving the agency.”

Again Don continues to disguise everything under this veil. Sure there is some fake good intention on the surface of getting Ted to focus on a job he seems out of. It seems that Don wants to make it seem that he’s being harsh to allow Ted to avoid the many mistakes Don himself has made in the name of a flirty office woman. In truth though Don is just a jealous and broken old man searching for ways to end the happiness of his competitor and gain Peggy back over to his side of thinking about things. To Don it’s all about his needs and less about the greater good.

The other half of “The Quality of Mercy” revolved around the mystery of Bob Benson. Pete, for all of his faults, seems to be learning a little bit of something about how to handle people’s identity problems. Yes surprise, surprise Bob Benson isn’t who he says he is. He’s essentially Don Draper 2.0. It doesn’t help that Pete’s on the hunt for info (from our good friend and sometimes ally Duck Phillips) after the whole leg incident last week. It’s about time that the mystery of Bob Benson is being brought out to the world.

Fortunately Pete seems to have learned something from his trials with trying to find who the real Don Draper was nearly a decade ago now. There is certainly no foolish running into Burt Cooper and him telling Pete that he doesn’t care about where people come from this time. Nope this time Pete seems smart and calculated about what he wants to do to handle the potential threat that is Bob Benson. Pete confronts Bob in a much more merciful way (hey there is that title coming in for us) in a dynamite sequence that involves Pete telling Bob to lay off a tad and he can still go on doing what he does. Pete, unlike Don most of the time, seems to learn from his mistakes and try to have history not repeat itself get repeated.

Ultimately the whole of “The Quality of Mercy” revolves around the repeating of history, both within and without the story of the show itself. It has been a long while (since the tension and mystery of Don way back in the first seasons of the show) that Mathew Weiner and crew have told a mystery story as a main plot of Mad Men. It seemed like it would ware out its welcome if done a lot, but when it’s brought back after so many years it feels perfectly refreshing. All the tension and the mystery of both Don’s emotional life and the mystery of Bob Benson is coming to a big head, one that could go in so many interesting directions.

This episode was fantastic. I can’t believe next week is season six’s last. I hope it lives up to the last few fantastic episodes. Either way I’m going to have a lot to say about it next week.

Did I mention Ken got shot?!!! In the eye! And has an eye patch! Those rascals at Chevrolet!

Some other musings:

• It’s the return of Glen! We did get to see some Sally this week as she needs to escape from both her parents and cause lots of trouble at boarding school. Cue Glen and a lot of drinking and potential trouble making.

• Did I mention Ken got shot???!!!!

• This marriage between Don and Megan has to collapse really soon doesn’t it? Maybe not next week but sometime soon, (within the beginning of the last season next year) things just have to go down.

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

Man of Steel Review

Superman and tanks in Man of Steel

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers Pictures

Man of Steel

B-

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

After many years rejuvenating Superman has finally returned to screen. For the first time in Zach Snyder’s interpretation of the classic character the Donner playbook has gone straight out the window. There’s no more of John Williams’ soaring theme, Metropolis is a lot darker, and the film resembles more of an alien action adventure then a traditional superhero movie. The idea is strong through the first hour giving great pieces of mystery and expository detail that are fantastic to watch. By the end of that hour though the film takes a nosedive into generic action film territory making it a likeable but horribly disappointing attempt to revive the man of steel.

Man of Steel opens with its best reimagining of the beginnings of the first two Superman films and for the most part succeeds. The Krypton scenes are phenomenally imagined being beautifully recreated with a meticulous eye giving the planet, for the first time, a distinct visual flair. The scenes (who’s plot I’m not going to run over because at this point it’s pretty common knowledge) are also elevated by some of Russell Crowe’s best acting work in quite a while. There is none of the cold distance from when Marlin Brando ran away with a quick paycheck but instead there is an actual human performance to be had here. Crowe brings a human side to the character and provides the film with the set up it needs, one that grips the viewer in ways that prior Superman films weren’t able to in the past.

The other portion of the set up that works is the use of flashbacks to describe Superman’s adaptation of the world. Particularly well done are the sequences involving Clark’s (Played in this film by Henry Cavill) (let’s just use that name for Superman at the moment shall we) earth father Jonathan played spectacularly by Kevin Cosner and each sequence between the two of them is a treat to watch. The sequences that make up largely the first hour of the film, in general regarding Clark’s adaptation to the new world he finds himself in, are generally very good. It seems for the first hour that writer David Goyer and director Zach Snyder are trying to humanize the man of steel and it seems to be working to a good extent.

Unfortunately the film shows its true cards just as the film becomes interesting. Suddenly, with General Zod’s (Micheal Shannon) arrival the film stops all of its interesting character development and story and becomes a generic action peluza (quick POTENTIAL VERY MINOR SPOILER IN THE BRACKETS: that end’s again in a fist fight) that, while very solid visually, lacks any sort of notion of actually being anything fun or remotely interesting. Suddenly the film becomes a big pile of explosions with no characters that have been developed enough to care about at that point. The film becomes a very mediocre version of an action film that falls into all the traps that many a mediocre action film has fallen into in the past.

The chief of those issues is that there is not enough set up to allow me to care about any of these characters, including Lois Lane. For example what the heck is Lawrence Fishborne’s character (whose name I do believe is Perry White) even doing in this film? And why do I care? The film spends time during its action sequences focusing on characters such as Perry who have no prior development at all and are just there to fill space. It’s really frustrating as these scenes could have been taken out and put into actual character development and more set up that could have made the film better. Instead everything freezes and we get a generic string of action sequences featuring characters that are static and uninteresting.

The other problem is that the film stops the plot just as Superman begins to become human for the first time. The seeds are planted, the character exposition is actually interesting, and then the action hits and all of the interesting bits get shut down suddenly. Superman becomes a non character again and the entire payoff that the character exposition that was so interesting at the start of the film is completely wasted. What’s worse is that what it’s wasted for is a string of action scene’s whose plot is very glossed over and uninteresting. If the film had been able to carry an interesting plot and villain then maybe it can be forgiven, but it never clicks and it ultimately feels like the film just stops mid way through.

For as little as he gets to do Henry Cavill does do good work as Clark and Superman. He has a wonderful charm that makes him very appealing as the man in the suit. Amy Adams is horribly miscast as Lois Lane. It might be that she doesn’t get anything to do at all (like nothing at all) but for the most part it seems like she’s there just to be a generic foil, and unfortunately Adams plays her as that and that only. I love Michael Shannon but he also feels really poorly written into the role of Zod. This character is a fun villain and gives the chance for Michael Shannon to overact his face off (which is always fun to watch) but he doesn’t feel like he lives up to the character of Zod. He’s just an angry villain with no sole, which is good at times but he’s held back by having to be Zod instead of a less iconic Krypton enemy. It’s a fun scene chewing performance that unfortunately feels like a wasted opportunity instead of something truly interesting.

At least the film looks and sounds spectacular. The action sequences are very well filmed, are fun of watch, and are never confusing. When the scenes are present they are big, bombastic and fun to watch. They feel consistently well made and fun to watch. The darker visual aesthetic in general seems to work for the film and overall even as the film changes its direction on a dime the style is always consistent and beautiful to watch. The score is very Hans Zimmer as it’s big, bold and brassy but yet allows itself to be able to blend in the background. It works but can unfortunately never shake the feeling of being slightly generic.

Man of Steel had the initial building blocks to be something truly special, it really did. The film has a very good character set up that has the potential to make a more human Superman than ever. Unfortunately it takes a left turn and becomes a generic and very mediocre action film. The film stops everything that was potentially interesting and becomes something all to unfortunate; it becomes another generic Zach Snyder film.

Five Year Anniversary and Grad Reflections: 10 best TV Shows 2009-Present

 Where does Mad Men end up on the list?

Photo Credit: AMC TV

We continue to look back on the best that I saw during my high school and blogging career so far with TV. TV is going to be a more interestingly structure list as there has to be some rules that go along with it. First is that the show has to have aired at least part of its run from the year 2009 on anything that ends just before doesn’t count. The other rule is that I have to have seen all the way through the run of the show so far. So without further do here is the best TV of the last five years:

10. Community (specifically the Dan Harmon years 2009-2011 not the 2012 season)

When Community was created by Dan Harmon it was easily one of the smartest, funniest and bravest shows on television. It provided unusual laughs in unusual circumstances and had one of the finest ensemble casts in the business. Then the fourth season happened but we don’t talk about that because Dan Harmon will be returning to the show again next season and attempt to set thing back to the greatness they once were.

9. Girls (2012-Present)

Well it’s only aired just two seasons HBO’s fantastically brave and hilarious Girls is easily one of the best new shows to come out in a long time. The first season debuted walking a tight rope of hilarious unlikablity and commentary on the young and foolish. The second season, well less focused was equally as amazing allowing for more experimental and thus more interesting work from Lena Dunham and crew. Only the future will decide whether Dunham can keep walking the tight rope with such skill but so far so very good.

8. Game of Thrones (2011-Present)

I thought adapting George RR Martin’s epic saga could never be done right. Boy was I wrong as Game of Thrones the TV show has proven time and time again that Martin’s books can be transformed into a coherent and powerful TV show that worked on so many different levels. The cast is perfect highlighted by Peter Dinklage and creators Benniof and Weiss have shown time and time again that they can write fantastic books into a beautiful TV show.

7. Boardwalk Empire (2010-Present)

Since the first episode Boardwalk Empire has had a lot to live up to. Its first task was being an HBO gangster show post the amazing Sopranos. The next was having Martin Scorsese as the director of the first episode and an executive producer on the series. While it didn’t fully hit its stride until the end of the first season Boardwalk Empire has proven to be a very fine show ever since. With a great cast and a Wire like weaving plot structure along with some killer camera work Boardwalk Empire has truly been a fantastic addition to the HBO lineup.

6. Lost (2004-2010)

People say they don’t like how it ended and blah, blah, blah, but that never takes away from the fact that Lost is a super fantastic show. The show was strange and wacky but it always seemed to work (well except for early season 3) melding the world of sci-fi to a brilliant cast of fully fleshed out characters. The show always felt right even in the bad times and it was always one of the best shows on TV.

5. The Daily Show (1999-Present)

While it doesn’t feel right to put it on a top 10 every year but on this list it seems appropriate. The Daily Show is still one of the funniest and most important shows on television as it provides a funny spin on the news in a time where the news feels as morbid as ever. Perhaps the largest complement I can give to The Daily Show is that whenever I see a big news story break I always want to hear Jon Stewart and crew’s two cents on it more than any other source.

4. Parks and Recreation (2009-Present)

Parks and Rec has been consistently the funniest show on television for the last several years. While it got off to a bit of a miserable start by the time it was in its second season it took off and became the very finest network comedy on television. The ensemble is fantastic, the jokes always laugh out loud funny and the plot works nearly 100% of the time. It’s truly a fantastic comedy in every way.

3. Louie (2010-Present)

The true best comedy on television though has to be Louie. The show is so fantastically personal and so dramatically different week to week as it sketches the emotions and feelings of a middle age comedian in New York. From week to week the show continuously shines showing the life and times of Louis CK in weird wacky and always real and heartfelt ways. Louie is truly spectacular and will be missed during this year’s hiatus.

2. Mad Men (2007-Present)

The number two and number one shows on this list are basically interchangeable. But as for now here is the way I ranked them. Sitting at number two is Mathew Weiner’s fantastic interpretation of the sixties add scene with Mad Men. Mad Men brought one of the most fantastic casts in the business, perhaps the sharpest writing and characters that are irresistible in every way. The show has been continuously near perfect for seven years running now and how many shows can say that? Very few that’s for sure.

1. Breaking Bad (2008-Present)

Ultimately the most fantastic show of the last many years has to be Breaking Bad. No other show manages characters, twisty plot, and suspense quite like Breaking Bad. The cast is the best in the business at the moment, the show continues to build its suspense to a conclusion that is only months away. The show is fantastic in every way and the best on television.