Monday, November 02, 2009

Mad Men - Season 3 - The Grownups



Synopsis
Its November 22, 1963 and we all know what that means. At work, Pete gets the bad news, he's lost the promotion to Ken and he doesn't take it well. Peggy and Duck continue their affair and Roger continues the wedding despite the assassination. At home, Betty tells Don she doesn't love him, Mr. Rockefeller asks Betty to marry him.


The
Good

  • Both Hamm and January do a good job of showing their changed relationship
  • Roger knows how to make a speech
  • Pete going home sick after getting the bad news
  • Duck unplugging the TV so Peggy won't be "distracted"
  • The terrible artwork on Peggy's Desk - yes, Sal is missed - good touch
  • The kids sensing somethings wrong when Mom doesn't say goodbye to Don
  • Roger and Joan's telephone call - those two have chemistry baby
The Bad
  • Too much time spent showing Walter Cronkite and our characters watching the TV.
  • Betty telling Don she didn't love him came out of nowhere.
  • Everyone's a little too broken up about Kennedy.

Other Matters

Having everyone on Mad Men watching Walter Cronkite and being devastated by the assassination was bad TV and a little over-dramatic. The fact is, in 1963 a lot of people didn't like Kennedy or just didn't care about politics. Others were saddened by the news - but didn't obsess over it and got on with their lives. My mother, for example, was scandalized that many of her friends complained about the endless "boring" assassination TV coverage - they wanted to watch their soaps!

Its looks like Don and Betty are headed for divorce court. Probably a good thing, since the Don-Betty relationship had nowhere else to go. Given how Don has behaved a divorce is really quite reasonable. Don has constantly cheated on Betty, he lied to her about who he is and he's shut her out of his life at work. Other than money and the kids why would Betty want to stay with Don? On the plus side, a divorced (or separated) Don will be able to play the field more openly - which should be interesting.

Overall Rating
Mixed. But after watching a 2nd time better than I first thought Some good moments - January did some good acting - however, seeing our characters watch TV and talk about the Kennedy assassination was kinda boring. On the plus side, the episode set us up for some excitement ahead *** stars.

7 comments:

Trooper York said...

I was discussing the assination with my wife. She was two years old but I was six. I remember it very well. My family were not big Kennedy fans even though he was Catholic. They remember his father who was a big bootlegger and in cahoots with Albert Anastasia who ran our neighborhood. Him and Kennedy and Frank Costello ran all the premium whiskey into New York. So while we were sad he got whacked we weren't all that surprised.

Trooper York said...

You lay down with dogs you get up with fleas.

Trooper York said...

Don will do a lot better without that ice cold bitch. His daughter will run to live with him after the divorce. She hates her mother with a passion, you can see it a mile away. Especially if Betts initates the divorce to marry someone else.

rcocean said...

"They remember his father who was a big bootlegger and in cahoots with Albert Anastasia who ran our neighborhood."

Wow, sounds like something out of "On the Waterfront". Did they have to pay protection money? Or did the Mob just control things?

rcocean said...

And when you lay down with the Duck you get a hickey.

Trooper York said...

Of course you paid protection money. My uncles who were on the docks as longshoreman had to kick in to the gang boss who picked the guys unloading the ships just like on the movie. That wasn't so bad cause it was just money it was when you had to look the other way when they did really bad stuff that it was real bad.

One of my uncles just wouldn't stand for it. So he became a "floater" who didn't belong to a regular gang. He would show up at the shape and when a gang needed an extra guy they always picked him because he was such a hard worker. The other lazy bastards could just sit back and sip from a flask while he ran around unloading the ship.

Trooper York said...

Ambassador Joe Kennedy made his money in Prohibition by smuggling booze into Long Island in cahoots with Frank Costello. Albert Anastasia was the muscle and the head of Murder Incorporated. He lasted until Carlo Gambino put a hit out on him and he was shot in his barber shop chair by Carmine Persico and Joey Gallo. That through everything into a loop and Gallo tried to squeeze his boss Profaci for a bigger piece of the pie. I mean if he could whack one boss, why not another?