Mad Men Season 5 running thread

93Devil · Jun 9, 2012

DD, that was a great post, but I think people placing an ad over their real self is one thread of about 2-3 total threads that make up the running theme of the show.

The shift from Greatest Generation to Baby Boomer is hinted at in almost every episode.

Ben_Hecht · Jun 10, 2012

Double Down said:

This is a great, great comment on the AV Club about VanDerWerf's theory that S5 is secretly about "writing for a television show." It slaps down that theory pretty good, and gets right to the heart of what MM is really about, and I would argue, why all this stuff about a "BIG REVEAL!" kind of misses the point. MM is really about the fact that we're all hiding something, that we all put on a facade, and that by telling our own story, we're essentially "selling" our own product.

If "Mad Men" was a show about writing television, it would be a shitty show. There's a place on television for inside-baseball commentary about that process, and it's called "Episodes." It's not bad, but it's not "Mad Men." I kind of understand why somebody who writes about TV would start to see most TV shows as being about TV, but I wouldn't bother watching this if I really thought Weiner was shooting that low.

I'll grant, to some extent, the process of generating slogans and jingles on this show may more closely resemble the process of writing saucy quips for Roger Sterling than the actual hack-work that produces Mohawk Airlines ad copy, but beyond that minor conceit, I don't really think this is a show about writing television.

"Mad Men" is one of the finest works of long-form fiction created so far in the 21st century, and over five seasons it's explored a single core theme in a number of different ways. This is a show about the keeping of secrets and the distortion of appearances. Every character on this show has some outward facade that masks some secret shame or insecurity. They're all lying to each other and to the world and to themselves.

Salvatore was secretly gay. Peggy has her secret baby. Roger concealed the loss of Lucky Strike from his partners. Lane concealed his embezzlement. Don's whole persona is manufactured. The iconic moments of this show are "You won't believe how much this never happened" and Don stepping out of his office perfectly coiffed after his near breakdown in Season 4.

Even the smaller arcs reinforce the theme. Ken Cosgrove creates Ben Hargrove to conceal his side-gig as a sci-fi writer; he's manufactured a second identity the way Dick Whitman manufactured Don Draper. Harry Crane can't tell Paul Kinsey the truth about his script or his girlfriend, so he tells him he's got talent and he buys him a bus ticket to California.

And, like Don, everyone is reinventing and rebranding themselves. Peggy writes "copy chief" on the napkin in her interview with Cheogh. Roger pretends he's had a spiritual awakening on acid as an easy way out of his marriage, but he's clearly the same old Roger. Harry is trying to transform from a slovenly fuck-up into a suave Hollywood insider. Sally Draper is trying on miniskirts and go-go boots. Megan thinks she's an actress. Paul Kinsey turned from an ad-man into a Hari-Krishna, and then decided to turn from a Hari-Krishna into a Star Trek writer. When he sat there in his robe and topknot and told Harry he was faking it, that was a quintessential "Mad Men" moment.

Through its various plot arcs, the show explores the characters' secrets in various ways. We discover who these people are by observing the versions of themselves they manufacture, by learning the squalid truths the lies cover up, and by seeing how these people respond when they face exposure.

Lane Pryce was not consumed by the monstrous SCDP. He died of his own pride. He couldn't admit his financial problems to his partners, so he embezzled. He found it easier to kill himself than to resign from the partnership and admit his failure to his wife. Lane's manufactured identity was cool pragmatism and control, and underneath it, he was neurotic and insolvent. And unlike Don, who is ready to walk away from everything, Lane couldn't live without his lies. That's why he killed himself.

Click to expand...

The argument holds without draagging Sal into it . . . the way Sal carried himself, his orientation was no mystery. Certainly multiple gay men sniffed it out, swiftly enough . . .

NDub · Jun 10, 2012

Ben_Hecht said:

Double Down said:

This is a great, great comment on the AV Club about VanDerWerf's theory that S5 is secretly about "writing for a television show." It slaps down that theory pretty good, and gets right to the heart of what MM is really about, and I would argue, why all this stuff about a "BIG REVEAL!" kind of misses the point. MM is really about the fact that we're all hiding something, that we all put on a facade, and that by telling our own story, we're essentially "selling" our own product.

If "Mad Men" was a show about writing television, it would be a shitty show. There's a place on television for inside-baseball commentary about that process, and it's called "Episodes." It's not bad, but it's not "Mad Men." I kind of understand why somebody who writes about TV would start to see most TV shows as being about TV, but I wouldn't bother watching this if I really thought Weiner was shooting that low.

I'll grant, to some extent, the process of generating slogans and jingles on this show may more closely resemble the process of writing saucy quips for Roger Sterling than the actual hack-work that produces Mohawk Airlines ad copy, but beyond that minor conceit, I don't really think this is a show about writing television.

"Mad Men" is one of the finest works of long-form fiction created so far in the 21st century, and over five seasons it's explored a single core theme in a number of different ways. This is a show about the keeping of secrets and the distortion of appearances. Every character on this show has some outward facade that masks some secret shame or insecurity. They're all lying to each other and to the world and to themselves.

Salvatore was secretly gay. Peggy has her secret baby. Roger concealed the loss of Lucky Strike from his partners. Lane concealed his embezzlement. Don's whole persona is manufactured. The iconic moments of this show are "You won't believe how much this never happened" and Don stepping out of his office perfectly coiffed after his near breakdown in Season 4.

Even the smaller arcs reinforce the theme. Ken Cosgrove creates Ben Hargrove to conceal his side-gig as a sci-fi writer; he's manufactured a second identity the way Dick Whitman manufactured Don Draper. Harry Crane can't tell Paul Kinsey the truth about his script or his girlfriend, so he tells him he's got talent and he buys him a bus ticket to California.

And, like Don, everyone is reinventing and rebranding themselves. Peggy writes "copy chief" on the napkin in her interview with Cheogh. Roger pretends he's had a spiritual awakening on acid as an easy way out of his marriage, but he's clearly the same old Roger. Harry is trying to transform from a slovenly fuck-up into a suave Hollywood insider. Sally Draper is trying on miniskirts and go-go boots. Megan thinks she's an actress. Paul Kinsey turned from an ad-man into a Hari-Krishna, and then decided to turn from a Hari-Krishna into a Star Trek writer. When he sat there in his robe and topknot and told Harry he was faking it, that was a quintessential "Mad Men" moment.

Through its various plot arcs, the show explores the characters' secrets in various ways. We discover who these people are by observing the versions of themselves they manufacture, by learning the squalid truths the lies cover up, and by seeing how these people respond when they face exposure.

Lane Pryce was not consumed by the monstrous SCDP. He died of his own pride. He couldn't admit his financial problems to his partners, so he embezzled. He found it easier to kill himself than to resign from the partnership and admit his failure to his wife. Lane's manufactured identity was cool pragmatism and control, and underneath it, he was neurotic and insolvent. And unlike Don, who is ready to walk away from everything, Lane couldn't live without his lies. That's why he killed himself.

Click to expand...

The argument holds without draagging Sal into it . . . the way Sal carried himself, his orientation was no mystery. Certainly multiple gay men sniffed it out, swiftly enough . . .
Click to expand...

Sal certainly put out a gay vibe at times with his mannerisms, such as the way he held cigarettes or sort of eyed other men. But he was never openly gay (he was married!), never went after men in the workplace or clientele, and was conflicted about his sexuality. I wish they would've explored it deeper before he got the ax. So, I agree he was still fronting as a straight man.

jr/shotglass · Jun 10, 2012

NDub said:

Sal certainly put out a gay vibe at times with his mannerisms, such as the way he held cigarettes or sort of eyed other men. But he was never openly gay (he was married!), never went after men in the workplace or clientele, and was conflicted about his sexuality. I wish they would've explored it deeper before he got the ax. So, I agree he was still fronting as a straight man.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure it would have been true to the period piece to examine the gay issue at all.

I mean, it was a hush-hush secret back then. To address it at all would have required more depth and time than the character would have deserved in the normal flow of the series.

Ben_Hecht · Jun 10, 2012

So, what happens tonight? . . . Even with the surface resistence, Draper obviously scored some points with his verbiage directed towards the Dow marketing braintrust . . . the way's certainly open for a return of Connie Hilton . . . what else? Tonight's episode title is "Opportunity" . . . certainly curious to see which door(s) open . . .

jr/shotglass · Jun 10, 2012

Ben, my program description has the episode titled as "The Phantom."

Webster · Jun 10, 2012

I think tonite is a classic Sopranos/Mad Men final episode. Small things will happen, but they aren't getting Dow Chemical or AA this week. Maybe Megan gets a part.

spaceman · Jun 10, 2012

loved the ending

Rawbot · Jun 11, 2012

Who else briefly thought Peggy was sitting on deck with another handy?

RickStain · Jun 11, 2012

Meh. There was entirely too much Sopranos leaking into my Mad Men for my taste. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't for me.

ifilus · Jun 11, 2012

"You only live twice or so it seems,
One life for yourself and one for your dreams."

Ben_Hecht · Jun 11, 2012

Will be shocked if Peggy winds up running with the ball that appears to represent Virginia Slims, for the same reasons SCDP was NEVER going to haul in American Airlines. Leo Burnett was handling the business at the time of VS's birth, and handled it for more than twenty years, thereafter . . .

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Mad Men Season 5 running thread

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