Why are there going to be rave reviews of the season finale of Mad Men festooning the internet today? Because MM creator Matthew Weiner gave Read the full post.
Nov 9
2009
09:23 AM ET
'Mad Men': Was this a great season?
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As a season I feel Season 3 has been the weakest but it did close strong. Great finale, but the first few episodes nearly lost me as a viewer. Once the action returned to Sterling Cooper things got more exciting.
“Unlike Don, (Roger) knows who he is”
I have to respectfully disagree. Even Roger acknowledged last night that he acted like he built the business that he had, in reality, inherited. In “Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency” he was left off the org chart entirely and threw a quiet existential fit over it because Roger’s “skills” had become unnecessary at the new SC but he was still acting like the office couldn’t survive without him. If he hasn’t started to regret the divorce and new wife already, he will shortly. In short, Roger really is pretty deluded about himself and his wants vs. his needs.
That’s a really good point, charlieromeobravo; thank you.
I agree. However, I will add the caveat that, unlike Don who broods over his identity issues, Roger is like a shark: as long as he keeps moving forward and devouring, he’s ok. It’s when he slows down that he is in trouble.
I think Roger embodies the sense that man tries to make life conform to him…he will not regret the young wife..but embrace her even more…more kids on the way…the abortion issue will arise..
I’ve gotta disagree. Roger at least goes out of pursues what he thinks will make him happy. He divorces his wife and moves on; Don on the other hand screws around making a fool out of Betty. ROGER ALSO HAS CHARM. You can’t run a business with a bunch of artists and accountants. You need people who can lure and retain clients – Don lets his ego get in the way oftentimes. You have no idea how important golf over a glass of scotch can be in a business relationship. Count how many bridges Don has burned and compare them to Roger.
I hope January Jones finally gets an emmy nod for her work this season.
I really like Pete and Roger too.
The day the Sterling ‘colony’ rebelled from England, Dec 13, 1963, was the day Jackie moved out of the White House. The bold weekend move was an American adventure. I’d say the theme of the episode – all that and Don telling off Connie, Peggy telling off Don, was Independence Day.
I completely disagree. I thought this season showed us slices of life during a time of sea change. A time of set up for the upheavals in the decade ahead. For me, just “tuning into” that time for a peek at my past is riveting. Life isn’t constant drama and it does sometimes move slowly.
I thought the song that should have played at the end would be Streisand’s version of Happy Days are Here Again. She exploded into the music scene in the fall of 1963, just before the Beatles blotted everything else out.
If you didn’t like this season then honestly you don’t understand this show. From the first episode tacking gay issues during this period to JFK assassination and the dour finally. The social commentary combined with the fine eye for detail relating to this period of American history this is some of the finest if not the best show on TV right now. Bravo!!
I, for one, thought that this was Mad Men’s best season yet. Yes, it was a slow burn, but it was also always burning! You can’t have payoff without buildup, and I love a story that allows itself to ratchet up the tension and turn the screws. It’s not as easy as NBC’s old “MustSee TV”, but if it were that easy-going, we wouldn’t want to watch it in the first place. Please, bring us more TV for grown-ups!
The series has gotten a tint of a soap opera quality, but the period setting and fully developed characters make that forgivable. It cannot continue on this level unless the individual episodes pack as much whollop as the horse did to Whitman, Sr.’s head–the type of serial punch that the first two seasons had. Overall, I’m on for another season. There’s a lot to speculate on over the next, what, ten months?
I really don’t get some of the ‘slow paced’ comments here. Mad Men is head-and-shoulders above anything else on television – even at its slowest. Which by the way, was necessary since the JFK assassination was going to be dealt with. Growing up in that era, all the Kennedys – but JFK & Jackie in particular – were America’s idyllic couple – on Mad Men so were Don & Betty. Nothing could have been further from the truth in both cases. Weiner is crazy like a fox – he’s kept us all coming back every Sunday to see what would come next. He’s painted so many characters into corners – Sal’s firing, Betty finding out Don’s secret, Joan’s dead end marriage, likewise for Roger, the Don & Connie dynamic, as well as Pete & Peggy who have been going through the same identity crises – but completely independently of one another – and we all came back each week and the ratings grew – Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!
For next season: Sooner or later Betty will realize she’s making a colossal mistake with Henry. She’s right, she has had a bad year, decling health of Dad and finally death, another baby, finding out Don’s other identity, and the JFK assassination IS the last straw. Didn’t ANYONE notice that now she leaves for everything EXCEPT his latest affair – which is the ultimate irony – she never found out about? Henry will dissappoint -that’s what men do to Betty Draper. She won’t be able to forgive him. I mean, the guy’s much sleazier than Don: What kind of man – a total stranger – goes up to a pregnant woman and asks to touch her VERY PREGNANT belly?! He’s NUTS!The question is will Don take her back?
Maybe – because he loves the kids -but its clear from last night’s bedroom scene that all the love has gone out of that marriage. At least for the moment. I also think Don will ultimately get custody – Henry’s not going to want them around.
As Season 3 did after Season 2, I expect the start of Season 4 to jump several months into 1964 and we’ll have to watch several shows to learn what happened in the interim. Since there will no longer be a home life for the Drapers, the new agency will have brought new vitality into all the main characters, Sal will join the new agency and maybe some other Sterling Cooper refugees disenchanted with McCann-Erickson.
The ratio of domestic and business for this season I thought was 55/45. Season 4 will likely be 70/30 with the 70% going to the new ad agency. And 1964 was an election year – the LBJ landslide. Look for S/C/D/P to be more progressive – and democrat and less republican conservative. Remember what Draper said to Pete when they wooed him?
Next year we may also see a more understanding – and loyal – Don. The crises – the breaking up of his marriage and Sterling Cooper -have given him a sense of what’s really important to him. And his enthusiasm has brought along all the key players “to build something of their own”.
I think its also very telling that – evidently – with this huge upheaval in his professional life -he said nothing of it to Betty – other than I’ll be working out of the Palm Hotel. And she didn’t even ask why. Yep, this marriage is over. Can’t wait til next season!
Betty left because she had no idea to whom she was married. Upon discovering Don’s stash and the ensuing confrontation she shuts him out once and for all because he is so defensive about his stance in hiding his past. He could have said that he was so ashamed of his roots and haunted by his past that every time he thought of laying his cards out on the table he panicked. The only way this situation could be any worse would be if he had murdered the original Don Draper. It’s very appropriate that he is as good as he is on Madison Ave and Betty compliments him on how well he lies. I think Henry has demonstrated true affection for Betty and all that comes with that package. As a member of Gov. Rockefeller’s entourage he has the luxury of being spared the money grubbing aspects of constant fund-raising and blessed, I assume, with being cast in the role of curator over the transformation of the capitol region. Will they be comfortable together……isn’t that the most one can hope for? I hope that that isn’t the last we see of Bets. Don must have thought that by marrying her he would be perceived as the kind of person to whom a Main-liner should be married. She was his beard….. the perfect Ice Princess, at ease in her own skin and he resented her for all of it. Betty’s beauty was so seductive that all eyes were on her wherever she was and it seemed that she need only make eye contact to accept an advance. Mad Men may be thought by some to be too “soap opera”, but everyone lives a double life… their professional persona and the role they play in the family dynamic. This device allows us to see the players as complete individuals, their insecurities and their motivations. It has taken three seasons to level the playing field, gender, birthright, are no longer issues to hold someone down…they are all recognized for what they have to contribute…..a true team.
I think this season is not worse than the previous two just different. The past two seasons were spent defining these characters, and this season was spent doing something with them. Was too much time spent out of the office? Maybe but at least something happened to each of them which will change the course of their lives. In that respect it was a great season.
I would like to add that they conspicously don’t develop Ken Cosgrove. The only bit of him you see out of the office is when he has dinner at Sal’s. I think it’s interesting because he’s more of an icon than anything – he’s likable and talented with an irreverent sense of humour; that’s all we know.
The last three episodes were, by far, the three best episodes we have seen so far on this show. This was a fantastic season. People may say “nothing happens”, but to me, I like my television to go down like an aged scotch, not a shot of popov vodka.
Don’t understand complaints on this season – by far the best – more action. I am riveted by every scene in every episode. Much better than Don staring at the ocean.
A very good, if not great, season. The John Deere episode was one of the best episodes in series TV history. And how about the tension of the episode where Betty discovers Don’s drawer and then he comes to the house with the teacher in the car? Fabulous. The finale was also a great tease for what’s to come in Season 4.
Great season, just as good as the others. For those who think it was slow in the beginning…blah, blah, blah. It’s called a story arc over 13 episodes.
Agree, I mean come on if you can’t handle slow burn then why watch. Every thing can’t just happen all at once, there has to be buildup.
Frankly, I think that next season will show a “dark” side to Henry Frnacis. This was just too easy for there not to be a catch. And as far as Don not fighting Betty on the divorce but letting her go etc.. don’t bet on it. My mother was close acquaintances with Betty Friedan, having worked with her parents and I am also a bit surprised that “the feminine mystique” hasn’t reared its head yet in the story plotlines.