I have watched Mad Men very reluctantly at times. It depresses me, and I am confounded by the lack of values, family, love, ethics — As my husband says, in the world of Mad Men, nothing matters. It’s true, except money, sex, and some strange need for gratification and self worth all the time. As I slowly went through the seasons, I started hating Don — first for controlling Betty, then abandoning Faye Miller, and to finally cheating on Megan as well. I hated him for taking peggy for granted, and for being a selfish jerk at work, who only thinks about himself. Whenever he walks out from a meeting, I am stunned. Then this season, I hated him for ridiculing Ted Chaough every chance he got. Why Don, why? Especially when he makes Ted feel bad about his feelings for Peggy. At least he loves Peggy, you freak of a man!
Anyway, I was all set to write him off forever, and then I saw the last episode. He is going deeper into depression thanks to the fact that Sally saw him doing the deed with the weird neighbour lady. And then after he finally is honest about who he is and where he comes from, the firm decides to let him go on indefinite leave. He was fine till he was parading around like a somebody, but it ain’t cool as soon as he shows sign of being human? At least, Joan could have decided to not be a part of that ambush but, no, Joan sat alongside and gave a judgment. What really made me look at Don in a new way was that he looked stoic as ever and even though you know he is dying inside, he was still standing tall. When he takes Sally and the brothers to the brothel where he grew up, and as father and daughter exchange a look that seems to say “dad, how did you do this?”, I felt tears well up. Oh Don, maybe you can be a normal person after all, who feels things that are natural to other human beings — maybe there is hope for you. It would be so great to see him turn a new leaf, but would it then be less interesting to watch him? It’s a tough question — are the best characters always the most flawed? Is normal boring, and abnormal super freaking interesting? Hmm…it seems like it. No one wants to watch a show about me, after all?
I also did feel so bad for my favourite Pete and his mom. Bob Benson, something really bad is gonne happen to you very soon. But who i truly loved this season was Betty — who made love to Don like a man, and then went back to her husband like a lady. You go girl.
But special mention for Peggy and Ted, whose love story was one I really wanted to see come true. But maybe it’s better if it didn’t. It remains so painfully sweet.
We need these mad men to return soon. Even though they are completely dysfunctional. It’s a vicious circle. PS. did I mention my second fav characters are Trudy and Ken Cosgrove. So normal and yet my heart lies with them.
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