Mad Men's cast prepares for its final season.
Photo Credit: AMC TV
A review of the premiere of Mad Men’s final season (sniffle)
as soon as I take you to Paris in two weeks…
“Do you want to hear something spooky?”
-Ken
-Ken
Every key decision has multiple paths. Who we are and what
we do as people depend on the choices we make and the paths we choose. But what
about the choice we did not make, the place we did not go, or the person we did
not meet? What does the life on the other side look like? Are you still the
same person you are today?
What if Don had not scared Rachel away all those years ago? What
if Ken would get out of the game and just write that bloody book? What if the
firm had not chosen to be bought by McCann after all? Or what if
Peggy would just
go to freaking Paris with Stevie? “Severance,” Mad Men’s final season premiere
takes time to reflect on the choices of our characters and how life could have
actually turned out while pushing our characters into strange and potentially
frustrating places with their new found situation with McCann. It sets us into the breezy and almost laid
back time of early 1970 and lets the pieces slowly slide into place in truly
wonderful fashion.
What if Don had never scared Rachel away? Don, factually is
in a much better place at work then he has been in a very long time yet at the
same time seems to be in a very odd position personally. Don’s strife in “Severance”
is focused around his main mistress in season one Rachel, whom after disappearing
for a large portion of the series, suddenly pops back into Don’s life via a very
similar looking waitress and strange visions during casting, before we
discovered that she has passed away from leukemia. The result is a strange
series of occurrences for Don like random sex in the parking lot from the waitress
Rachel look alike to an almost comically awkward conversation with Rachel’s
sister.
What if Don had never scared Rachel away? Would his life
looked any different? Would Rachel have been a better suited second wife to
help clean Don up? Or would life have blown up in the exact way? Don’s left a
tad distraught by thoughts of what have could been, what if he was still closer
to Rachel? Would his life been any more fulfilling to this point?
Or maybe this is slowly a way for Mathew Weiner and crew
help divorce our new much more productive Don from the Don of the past. We
could be stepping into profound change for Don in certain aspects, and having
to leave ghosts (literally at times in this episode) behind him is a big necessary
step towards moving on. It seems by the end of the experience at the memorial
for Rachel that he’s moved on with the thought of what if, and ultimately
decides just to sit at the diner instead of keep asking the waitress if he has
ever seen her before. Only time will tell if Don is really moving on with his
life or is just the Don Draper we all know from the past, but for a start this
Don seems much more ready to not revisit sins from the past.
What if Ken would get out of the game and write his book? He
would seem that he would sure as hell look a lot less pale and worn down then
he does in “Severance.” He is still eyepatch clad and as stressed as ever
running around from client to client trying so hard just to please them. It
should be a relief in a way then when he is suddenly (or probably not so
suddenly given his history with McCann) fired from the company. Now he can
finally go and work on that book of his, and spend much more time with his wife
and be potentially super famous. Sadly it seems though Ken is still just as
eager to be a player in the game though as he hops on the chance to take his
father in law’s position as advertising executive at one of the firm’s biggest
clients and in a great scene essentially flips the bird to Roger saying that he
will be very hard to please.
What if the firm had not chosen to be bought by McCann after
all? Joan and newly mustache clad Teddy would have been much happier, and
maybe the firm would actually be able to run without complete obstruction from
outside forces. It seems that McCann is being very frustrating in regards to
the everyday process of the firm which we get in spurts throughout the
premiere. Poor Joan who has more money and influence than any of the male blokes
that sit across from her in these meetings but has to hear all of their mockery
of her just because she is a woman and its 1970. And poor Teddy who has to look
at so many casting photos just because the McCann guys want to peer at beautiful
women. It seems as though we’re going to get more obstructions as the season
moves along and maybe some fun conflict will ensue along the way.
Finally what if Peggy would just go to freaking Paris with
Stevie? Maybe this is finally Peggy’s opening to be happy in a relationship and
be the perky girl of old instead of the Don Draper 2.0 of new. Just how happy
Peggy seemed while drunk in her room contemplating going to Paris with a man
whom she hardly knew and yet seemed to have more of a connection with than
anyone else made me a little bit heartbroken when sober Peggy started to skirt
away from the idea. Let’s hope Peggy’s arc this season is one to total
happiness because if there is ever a character who ever needs and deserves it is
Peggy.
“Severance” was a great Mad Men premiere. It gave us our new
pieces to play with while at the same time reflecting on where these characters
could and maybe would have been given slight changes in course. It’s a perfect
mix of light and darker material that pushes the characters forward and allows
them to look in full circle fashion in only the way that Mad Men can. Boy am I going
to miss this show.
Some other musings:
- Roger and Teddy’s mustaches are the greatest things in human kind!
- If there is anyone’s name that I don’t want on the jacket of my next book it is Pete’s…
- Can Don Draper see ghosts or something? First Burt Cooper now Rachel.
- I love the look of this episode. It feels much more breezy and relaxed in turn of color palate. The 1970s are in full swing not only for some of the characters but for the show itself!
That’s it for this week folks. Only six more episodes of
this amazing show are left.
That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?
No comments:
Post a Comment