Barnabas Collins? He doesn’t make an appearance, but “Dark Shadows” is an apt title for Episode 9 of Mad Men as our favorite characters do battle with their own demons – and lose. I’ll give the Ray of Light Award to Megan, for her maturing mastery of managing between a rock and a hard place, […]
Dear Mathew Weiner… Please Give Us More Betty
Dear Matt Weiner, Yes, we know it’s Mad Men, but you’ve given us much to savor in the women, except for one. Exactly. Betty Draper Francis. Sure, we fell for her charm and beauty in the beginning. Perfect for the Kennedy era Camelot. Typical of the Alfred Hitchcock heroine. We tolerated her cool, and at […]
Mad Men: Gorgeous, Gore, and Gals About Guys
It may be late in the week, but how could I resist a few observations on last Sunday’s viewing of Mad Men? What struck me? A gorgeous guy named Guy appears from the UK office, Joan celebrates her last day at the agency with a difficult secret, Don believes he might have a London assignment […]
Mad Men’s Women: Drugged Debs, Bottles over Breasts
Disturbing, on oh-so-many levels. This week’s episode of Mad Men was an unsettling and somber look at the world of baby-birthing in the 60s, and long before. Setting aside all your opinions of the main character’s ambivalence about her place in society, her marriage, her family and her unborn child, it’s hard not to be […]
Mad Men Season 3 Episode 4: Less Beauty, More Brooding
What struck me most about last night’s episode of AMC TV’s Mad Men was pure, unmistakable unhappiness. The veneer is wearing thin; in particular for the main characters, Don and Betty Draper, who can no longer hide their sadness behind the gloss of physical beauty and affluence. That, in a nutshell, epitomizes the early sixties […]