The third season finale of Mad Men was very satisfying, and showed once again just how great the show is, and why. (Spoilers, if you haven't seen it yet...)
Most of the focus of the story was back on the business, the agency, the partners, something that many people, including me, felt the show hadn't spent enough time on this season, so it was nice to have some of that sense of balance back. I predicted this outcome back at the beginning of the season, though it was a statement that only the Mrs. heard, and her recall is not always the best, so I have no way to back it up and you'll just have to trust me.
It was good to see Don have to humble himself a bit and admit that he needs people like Pete, Peggy, and even Lane around because they are good at things he isn't. Don has certainly been taken down a few pegs this season, both at home and at work, but it was also good to see him be the one stepping up to convince Bert and Roger that they needed to act to preserve the business they have all worked hard at for a long time.
And Lane--who saw that one coming? Sure, he was acting in his own self-interest as much as anything else, and the others couldn't have pulled off their little stunt without him, but he seems to have come around to a greater appreciation of his American colleagues, and saw that ultimately he would be treated better by them than by his own people. Loved his kiss-off to his boss in London ("Happy Christmas!") and to his smarmy assistant.
Pete may be good at client relationships, but he's still a clueless, utterly self-absorbed child (he thought Roger and Don had come to his apartment--on a Friday night--to fire him because he'd gone on an interview at a competing agency), and I imagine he will continue to be all those things. On the flip side, I think Peggy still needs to become a little more self-aware; she needs to realize that being with Duck isn't going to get her anywhere.
It's wonderful to see Joan back in the fold and taking charge of things like she always did. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to be seeing Sal again, since the tobacco company was the key account they needed to make the move, but I'd like to be wrong about this. If not, I'll miss his wit and style. It appears that Paul and Ken were also left out in the cold, but we may still see them again next season--part of the fun of getting wrapped up in this show is speculating about what will happen in the future.
Some people seem surprised that the Drapers are really going to get divorced, but I believe it was inevitable. If you think about it, how families coped (or didn't) with familial strife and the changes it wrought is as important an element of the sociocultural environment of the 1960s as civil rights, Vietnam, the changing role of media in people's lives, or any of the show's other major themes. Showing the effects of the split on Don, Betty, and the kids is going to be a significant part of the show's storytelling next season and beyond.
I was wrong about my Miss Farrell prediction. Will Don take up with the free-spirited teacher again now that he's going to be a swingin' bachelor in the city? Or will she no longer interest him when there's no illicit allure to their liaisons? And I really don't get what Betty sees in Henry. You have to figure he's not quite the white knight he appears to be.
So much to mull over and discuss. Now comes the hard part: waiting the nine months or so for season four.
09 November 2009
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3 comments:
For the record, Pete was correct to expect he'd be fired. In advertising, all it takes is being seen having lunch with a colleague from another agency to get you fired the minute you return to the office.
I have no idea what Betty sees in Henry, either. I think she's headed for major disappointment.
For Don, we're hoping Rachel, who married that stick, will come back into the picture.
I too worked in an ad agency in the 80s, so I know this was legitimate. I spent most of 1988 working at a very small "shop" on Newbury St. While there the media buyer decided to go solo and stole away one of the clients in the process, and was of course fired.
The sucky part was that when the owner sued her THREE YEARS LATER, he named me as a defendant because he believed (erroneously) that I had assisted her by providing her with files. The files were later found in a storage facility, but the damage was already done.
And the really stupid part is, the client could have legally ended its contract with the agency by giving 60 days' notice, so why the hell they didn't just do it that way is beyond me.
Re: Pete, I was suggesting that if he had been slightly less wrapped up in feeling sorry for himself, he might have picked up on what was going on with the agency business.
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