As a
content-creator person who likes to make things, I am very much enjoying the current trend of creative work that explores the nature of creative work. This past season of
Girls was a thrilling (for me, anyway) exploration of what drives artistic impulse and ambition, and whether or not any of it is even worth pursuing. Kendrick Lamar just released an album about whether or not success in a broken, racist culture counts as success. And hell, even
The Newsroom engaged with Internet Criticism a lot more than Internet Critics ever gave it credit for. I don't have any grand theories about why this is happening now, and I won't try to develop one. My style of TV recapping is superficial and joke-y on purpose. Rampant speculation and analysis is usually a real killjoy, especially when the shows in question are already looking inward on their own. Let's just see where they take us, eh?
This episode of Mad Men is about creativity, and frustration, and the knowledge that, as Don says, "There's always a better idea." In a lot of ways it feels like it is about the show itself, as it rounds the home stretch and the writers look around and wonder if they did it right, and whether or not they can live with what they could have done differently. (If I have the timeline right, the much dreamed of "Salvatore at Stonewall" storyline is officially never going to happen, because Stonewall was right before the MOON LANDING.)
It's also the closest Mad Men will ever get to fan service. Bob Benson is back! Trudy is back! Pete Campbell is back in New York! And at the end, we get a lovely, tender, "Leslie And Ron" style scene between Don and Peggy, followed by an awkward, goofy scene between Don, Peggy, and Pete around a table at Burger Chef. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, I could have, but I know not to.
Speaking of asking for too much: Bob Benson, ladies and gentlemen! He returns to New York with his Chevy men in tow and proceeds to charm the pants on Joan (he certainly doesn't need them to come off--they can do whatever they want. But he would like them to be charmed, nonetheless). But after a too-honest proposal--"I'm gay and you're old--want to have a political marriage?"--he comes up empty. It's interesting to see Bob allow himself to approach candor with Joan, especially after we've already seen him bailing out one of the Chevy Execs, who has been beaten by an undercover cop for trying to hook up with him. Chevy Guy tries to have an honest conversation with Bob about being a gay man in these strange times, but Bob will only barely acknowledge what they're talking about.
Peggy has a solid pitch for Burger Chef, but she's barely even finished before Pete is suggesting that Don should be the one who performs it for real. Pete seems to just be looking for ways to improve Don's standing in the company, but Peggy is hurt by it. Then Don, perhaps deliberately and perhaps just stupidly (from season 4 onward that has been one of the pressing questions and guiding themes on the show: is Don doing any of this on purpose, or is he a lucky idiot?) questions the bedrock principles of her ad. Her confidence shot, Peggy starts spiraling.
Pete Campbell has a banner episode, by the way--first her joins the mile high-club with Barbie, then he drinks some rum, and then he gets to go creep out his family! Whatever real or perceived head games Pete and Trudy are playing with each other, it's just fun to see them together again. And Pete jamming his beer bottle into that birthday cake was the best. Classic Pete! I've always been Pete's number one fan, and for the record I mean that almost totally unironically!
Megan comes back to New York, apparently in part to bring some summer clothes back to LA, but when she also starts grabbing appliances, Don is reasonably alarmed. (And when we see Barbie and Megan both flying back to LA solo, it seems to indicate bad news for both of our boys.) In this, as with many other times of trouble, Don finds himself having an evening of honesty with Peggy (you could almost tell the entire story of Mad Men just by stringing together Don and Peggy scenes--and I'm sure some asshole already has). After the aforementioned discussion about the fickle, shitty nature of creativity, Peggy confesses that she's worried about her age. Don admits that he's afraid that "I never did anything, and I don't have anyone." (Every creative person watching is like, "Yes, yes, and yes" while pouring another drink.)
And then they share a moment, dancing to the song "My Way." Now, there's been a lot of talk about how Mad Men is going to end. Will Don jump out a window? (No.) Will Megan become a ghost? (No.) Will Glen come back and kill Betty with the gun she used on those pigeons? (Maybe.) Will the Russian from "Pine Barrens" show up, having fallen through a time tunnel? (No.) The truth is (I hope) that Mad Men won't end in a big, splashy way. It will just end, quietly, and maybe hopefully, with a scene just like this one. -ZL
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