Last week’s Mad Men was an exercise in subtlety and restraint. While it is titled “The Gypsy and the Hobo” (for the Halloween costumes worn by the Draper children), I’d like to focus on the exchange between the main characters, as Don can no longer duck the past he’s hidden from his wife for a […]
Mad Men Episodes 9 and 10: Prejudice, Power, and Pretense
What were the 60s about? As the viewers of AMC TV’s Mad Men are aware – the appearance of one thing, and trouble, trouble, trouble, seething beneath the surface of everything. With each episode, the glitz and glamor are increasingly overshadowed by secrets and seedy behaviors. 60s Prejudice In Episode 9, Sal falls victim to […]
Mad Men Quickie: Season 3 Episode 8
Quickie indeed. Just a hit-the-high-points Mad Men meditation on Episode 8, as January Jones turns up the heat… Don and Betty take a quick trip to Rome and enjoy plenty of flirtation and connubial bliss. It was good to bite into a nice slice of this pulchritudinous pair at play, and play they did! Bellissima […]
Is a Pact With the Devil the Price of Success?
Does success always involve a pact with the devil? Go on. Think back. All those little deals and compromises justified in order to move up the corporate ladder, to get the bigger house, the faster car, the hot guy, the beautiful woman… What wouldn’t we do to get what we want? What if it’s to […]
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 […]
Mad Men Marathon… Can I Call In Sick?
You are cordially invited … to an all day Mad Men Marathon! AMC TV – shame on you! How many Americans will be calling in sick today to watch 13 hours of Mad Men Mania, in anticipation of next weekend’s Season 3 premiere? OH, you say… that’s what TiVO is for? And those of us […]
Mad for Mad Men… 9 More Days Until Season 3
Nine more days! Nine days to go, and it’s back! When it comes to good television, this definitely qualifies. It’s the Season 3 opener of AMC TV’s Mad Men. Ooooo I love the provocative push-pull of 60s propriety and its shady underbelly – the illicit affairs, the deceptive dialogue, questionable ethics, and steamy scenes. Once […]