Don Draper waits in a restaurant on Mad Men
Photo Credit: AMC TV
A review of “New Business” just as soon as I rent some pants…
“I told you about my heart, I don’t want to feel anything
else. When I was with you I forgot about her… I don’t want to do that.”
-Diana
It almost seems like Don has always wanted a clean slate,
well at least with his love life. “New Business”takes Don Draper from a state of repetition and moves him to a place where he can reflect on himself and potentially begin the road for a fresh start. The hour has to sadly tread over some familiar and often dull material but it leaves us in a place built with a lot of potential for a new Don Draper. Change may be on the way even if at times in "New Business" it's frustrating that it has not already happened.
“New Business” seemed to be a farewell of sorts for Megan. The
episode focused a ton of her packing up her things, taking them away from the
apartment, and ultimately seemingly taking herself out of Don’s life for good. It
also showed the effects that Don has seemingly had on her drama filled family,
her sister is trying to play super catholic by completely condemning Megan’s
divorce, and her mother is so angry that she decides to run off with Roger
Sterling. When Megan ultimately takes Don’s final one million dollar check it
seems like closure for her character, it’s her means of moving on from her life
with the man who took her life, career, and family.
Sadly though none of this really worked at all. “New
Business” was not Mad Men’s finest hour and seemed only to exist to get us to
the point of Don standing with an empty apartment and an empty love life.
Nothing within the hour really felt all that essential or interesting in regards
to the Don and Megan arc and at times felt like old material that we really didn’t
need to revisit. Maybe it’s my dislike for Megan’s family drama or that her and
Don’s relationship was never really the most gripping one on the show. Either
way it just felt dull and plodding in a way that an episode of Mad Men has not
felt like in the last few years, never really grasping my interest closing off
a relationship that should feel extremely vital but really did not.
It didn’t help that the rest of the plots throughout this
episode were so disjointed and all over the place. I still don’t understand
what the point of all the scenes involving Peggy, Stan, and the new photographer
Pima. There was some interesting power relations going on between her and the
rest of the crew as she seemingly tried to seduce them all, but none of it
seemed to get anywhere. Sure it’s nice to see a little bit of focus on the
always awesomely bearded Stan but it really accomplished nothing in terms of
his character. It just kind of seemed like a plot used to fill an hour,
something strange to be saying at this point in the series.
The most interesting plotline in “New Business” comes from
Don’s relationship, or really at this point lack thereof with the waitress
Diana. Yeah that one, the Rachel look alike from last week. It seems like Don
continued to display similar types of behavior from his relationships past to
try to seduce her and she absolutely sees right through it, right down to the
point where she realizes that he had slept with Silvia after a simple awkward
trip through the elevator. Her ultimate rejection of him in her apartment is an
acknowledgement that Don hasn’t changed much and to Diana and the audience
(many of whom have been complaining for a few seasons of Don’s static nature).
As mentioned at the opening of this review, this seems to give Don a clean
slate, maybe a chance to reflect upon what he has done throughout his many
relationships and move forward. His blank apartment may reek of rejection, but
maybe that’s what Don needs to finally move forward with some change in his
life.
“New Business” was a frustrating and ultimately dull episode
of Mad Men that despite this managed to leave us in an interesting place. Maybe
gone is Megan and along with her the old womanizing Don whom has now been seen
right through. This maybe a chance for Mathew Weiner and crew to set up a fascinating
final few episodes and set us towards the path of sticking the landing. I hope
we can look back in a few weeks and view “New Business” as a somewhat necessary
bump in an otherwise smooth road to the finish.
A final note before we go into the bullet points... It’s exam
season for me throughout these coming weeks which means that for the next two weeks or so
I won’t be able to review Mad Men in full the night of. I may do some quick
bullet points or try to write something in the middle of the week, depending on
the importance of the episodes to come, but life is going to be hectic with all
the preparation and study so don’t hold your breath.
Some other musings:
- Angry Pete is the best Pete!
- I love the fact that Roger just gets to play the bystander to almost everything throughout this episode. From having five thousand secretaries to Megan’s mother all over him again, there were a lot of amusing confused looks from Roger throughout this one.
- Harry is still the worst person on earth. Him trying to slime his way into Megan’s pants by trying to get her a better agent was a disgusting display to behold.
- Pete’s driving is the best driving!
That’s all for this week folks! Again I’m probably off the
grid Mad Men wise for the next few weeks so we’ll see where we are whenever I
am able to hop on and write about it.
That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?
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