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?