Meh. Since I'm such a stalwart Peggy fan, watching two episodes in which she was barely a blip on the radar of the show didn't do much for me. In fact, the last couple of episodes--"Dark Shadows" and "Christmas Waltz"--seemed heavy on filler, and very light on "holy crap" moments. Still, each episode had some memorable highlights, so I'll just say a little about those:
Ah Betty. Mad Men continues to paint her as a villain, but I couldn't help but feel some pity for Don's ex in "Dark Shadows." I could almost feel her seething jealousy as she took in Don and Meghan's cool city digs, and then gazed surreptitiously at the ever-lovely Meghan as she dressed. Yet, even when Betty is at her most villainous (using Sally as a way to poison Don and Meghan's marriage) or her most pitiable (heading straight for the fridge to mainline whipped cream directly into her mouth), something about January Jones's portrayal always feels flat. Betty is the ultimate cold fish, but is that because January Jones is a bad actor?
A recent article by Willa Paskin for Salon.com claims that bad acting can keep careers like Jones's afloat for quite some time. This prompted my partner and I to immediately talk about another "bad actor" on a television show we enjoy--David Guintoli, or Nick, on Grimm. This guy is the STAR of the series, in almost every scene, and whenever he's on, we're just bored, bored, bored. Really, the reason to watch the show at all is Silas Weir Mitchell who steals every scene, except for the ones that Sasha Roiz steals. Even Reggie Lee, who's woefully under-utilized as Sergeant Wu is a hundred times more interesting to watch. The fine cast of supporting actors seems to allow Grimm a modicum of success, despite its lead's flatness. Ensembles can save bad actors.
Mad Men's Betty is an extremely well-written character, and the situations in which she's thrust are visceral and discomfiting; yet, Mad Men is very light on close-ups of Jones, as if the situation is more important than the play of emotions that crosses her face. As I've posted earlier, the show vacillates between sympathizing with women who struggle against the oppressive beauty culture of the Sixties, while simultaneously reveling in that culture with supernaturally beautiful characters such as Meghan and Joan (and Betty before this season). The connection Mad Men draws between aging and the period's obsession with youth is crucial. Betty's new dieting obsession fits into this context, yet I find it really hard to care about what happens to her. Contrast these scenes with the one a couple weeks ago with Roger's ex, Mona (Talia Balsam), and one can see how a really talented actress can effortlessly steal a scene. I haven't completely given up on Betty. One really great temper-fueled explosion might solve this ambivalence I feel, but until it happens, I'm just not sure that Jones can carry that emotional scene off.
Mad Men's well-established characters--Betty, Roger, and Don--are desperately trying to remain relevant. Betty is the cast aside beauty, replaced by a younger, more exciting version. She tries to ruin things, with Sally as her emissary, but fails miserably, faced with a frugal Thanksgiving plate of food and a tummy full of bitterness. Roger is still coasting off his LSD trip, and asks Jane for one last favor, then succeeds in ruining her new beginning (away from him) by tainting her new apartment. Yet the single best gambit for relevancy is Don's, where he admires the blabbermouth MG's copy-writing creativity, but still wants to remind the twit of his place at SCDP. Don purposefully leaves Ginsburg's campaign ideas in the cab, only bringing his own mock-ups to the pitch. They win the campaign, but MG's pretty miffed.
Don and MG's conversation in the elevator takes MG down a much needed peg. This guy is just too cocky and full of himself for his own good. I know that excessively proclaiming one's accomplishments can be a sign of deep-seated insecurity, but MG just pushes his cockiness too far. When MG, in all his puffed chest youthful glory lands his "I feel bad for you" pity zinger, Don merely deadpans, "I don't even think about you." Even though we know that Don thinks about MG quite a bit, his nonchalant dismissal felt pretty satisfying as Don leaves MG alone in the elevator, slack-jawed and properly dissed. Many of the best scenes of this season seem to being playing out in the elevator. Coincidence? I think not. That chasm between the older and younger generations yawns ever wider.
Oh, special shout-out to the scene where Meghan is teaching Sally how to fake cry, highlighting a her newly learned acting techniques. You just know that teaching Sally that trick will come back to bite them all!
"Christmas Waltz" spends way too much time with Lane Pryce and his financial problems, without really properly explaining what he's done and the repercussions (he hasn't paid his taxes in the UK, tsk tsk). Also, after the revelation that Paul Kinsey has fallen in with the Hare Krishnas, that whole plot-line fell kind of flat. Really, is Weiner trying to kill his viewers with boredom by focusing on Lane and Harry this week? WTF? Even Roger's belligerent drunkenness produced yawns, even though I'm a fan of his There's Something about Mary hairdo.
He's definitely on a crash course toward wearing socks with sandals. One more LSD trip will definitely send him over the edge.
That twerp Greg serves Joan with divorce papers, and Joan throws a delightful and uncharacteristic fit in reception, taking it out on the receptionist by hurling the Mohawk Airlines plane model. Joan is usually so carefully controlled, so her emotional scenes this season have really elevated her character and added a necessary degree of depth to her fiery beauty. Don witnesses the meltdown and whisks Joan away to test drive a new Jaguar automobile. Here the two most ridiculously beautiful characters get to have a proper sit-sown and chat at a bar--truly one of the standout scenes of the season.
Yes, their easy camaraderie is a little booze-soaked, but their history allows them to be open with each other. Don admits that he misses Meghan at work, even though he couches the feeling as "the firm" missing her. He suggests that Joan "start over," not really thinking through how challenging it is for women of a certain age, and divorced women especially, to find someone meaningful--especially with a small baby at home. Loved Joan's "no one brings me flowers anymore" lament, which Don alleviates with a bouquet of roses from "Ali Khan" later in the episode. Sweet and thoughtful. Still, Don's fierce and somewhat demented expression as he drunkenly drives the Jaguar suggests that he's still troubled by the split developing between his personal and professional lives. All is not quite well at home, as both Don and Meghan negotiate her choice to leave advertising and SCDP.
I also hope that we'll see some more inner workings of the advertising "game" on Mad Men, instead of fast forwarding through the creative process and just showing SCDP's success or failure with Jaguar. The scenes that focused on advertising this season were pretty damn fascinating. How are they going to pitch these stylish automotive "lemons?" Will the agency be "established" once they land their first car campaign?
Alas, I've been trying to jettison as much television as possible in order to focus on more film analysis, but I'm a little hooked on The Pitch right now. I loathe the reality show format, and fast forward through all the "personal" scenes--as I do with every reality series I've watched--but I love watching the ideas happen. Almost every week I tend to pick the losing team and their campaign, but I still find the process fun.
