Mad Men returns. Thumbs up or down?

I kinda think his kid's acting works for Glen. Makes him seem awkward and vaguely creepy. Sort of like the guy in A Few Good Men who had no acting experience and his terrified awkwardness worked as the dumb private on trial.

I'm not buying into Pete Campbell, Good Guy. I've been burned too many times. I always try so hard to believe in him, then he does something terrible. This is still the man who very recently let his dementia-addled mother wander into the city with just some money and a piece of paper with her address on it.

 

I agree with you completely, but Weiner (Sr.) is on record saying that he doesn't see Glen as creepy at all. I think I've posted a link about that before, but am too lazy to go look.

 

Even if he did, would you want a man to admit he finds his own son creepy?

 

There are no good guys in MM, and there are no real bad guys in MM. There are characters central to the story, and then charcters in concentric rings around those with varying level of importance but no one, not even Peggy, is a classic 'good guy'.

What makes Don so interesting is that his transformation from Dick to Don was a huge risk and attempt to make a better life for himself. What you think is that he wants to be a better person, but that's not really the case. He tries at times at personal growth, but he's just running from his past and trying to be a different person, not a better person.

Unlike Bronte, Austin and the rest of the classic Victorian authors, Weiner's characters self worth is based on their station in life, not the sum of their life

 

There's a difference between thinking your son is creepy and the character your son is playing is creepy.

 

So what's the overall consensus on this season as we reach its finale? Or, as the weird-ass OP asks, thumps up or down?

I think it's been the strangest, which makes sense given that it's set in 1968. There were a few whiffs and a few truly great episodes. I loved "The Flood," "The Crash" and "The Quality of Mercy." I didn't love "A Tale of Two Cities" or "For Immediate Release," though I know others loved that one.

I thought Season 5 was better through the first 11 episodes, then had a weak final two. Still, I don't think this season has been as good as last. This season is more like Season 1 than any other, doing a lot of establishing because there are all these changes while also mirroring several Season 1 plot points.

 

It's had its ups and downs. It might be fanboish, but I've liked it for the most part.

 

Not as good as Season 5, but not bad as much as inconsistent. Those who assert that the chaos of this season is a metaphor for the chaos of 1968 seem to be on the right track, or at least on the right track as to what Matt Weiner's post-mortem explanation will be.

 

"Going down?"

Yep, Don is.

 

The elevator doors closing on a troubled hero is awfully cliched, isn't it?

 

Yeah, it is. Just like last year, when they finished with the board members all walking to the large picture windows.

 

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who switched from the Skywire thing to Mad Men and kind of laughed when the opening credits rolled.