Mad Men Season 3 Episode 2
This episode seemed disjointed, even the cuts to commercials were jarring, but perhaps (I hope) that was done deliberately, to show how the world is developing these "fault lines" that are going to turn into a societal earthquake soon.
Already we are seeing characters standing with one foot on each side of the divide - sometimes in unexpected ways. Paul Kinsey is defending the old, even as he is accused of being a beatnik and communist.
Peggy sees the old way of using your sexuality to get ahead, in Joan and Ann-Margret. She wants to blaze a new trail for women, and be seen for who she is, what she thinks, yet she still goes to the bar and picks up a man by dumbing herself down and pretending to be "a typist". Then she jumps to the other side of the divide again, into a modern, sexually active woman who is aware of alternatives to intercourse. She must have had some other sexual experiences since Pete, to learn that.
The schism continues with Don. Trying to convince the Brits that Madison Square Garden could become a huge account - in the future, even while he denies Peggy's notion about the Patio soda account, by telling her to just go with the sexy young girl who throws herself at the camera.
I think he was reconsidering that position when he was watching the Maypole dance though. He seemed to be connecting with the flower child/earth mother sensibility when he touched the grass as the barefoot nymph danced. Then in the confrontation in the den, his brother-in-law says, "Don't get old".
Don also told the guy from Madison Square Garden to "welcome change with a dance of joy" yet he is reminded of all of the "old" in his life, the globe, his father-in-law, even Penn Station. Again, these two jarringly different notions.
Roger is straddling the fault line more than anyone, married to his young wife, yet decorating his office with Grecian antiquities, then having his "old" family show up to discuss his daughter's "new" life.
Betty is also struggling with trying to live on both sides of the fence. Pregnant, yet trying to watch her weight (hence the Melba Toast comments). Expecting a new life, yet disillusioned with her own. She doesn't want to be seen as an uncaring daughter, but I think she will rapidly regret having her father living with them. Remember, there was no Medicare in 1963, and attitudes towards nursing homes were different then. So she may have been concerned about how it would look, and what it would cost. (I'm not altogether sure that Don has told her about the money he came into with the merger. It might be his nature to have secreted that away in a private account.)
I think this is all designed to have the audience feel (and understand on a visceral level) the shrill and discombobulating changes that are afoot.
Thank you for stopping by!
Please visit My Tel-LOVE-vision Squidoo - lots of TV stuff from various sources, all in one place!
television
Already we are seeing characters standing with one foot on each side of the divide - sometimes in unexpected ways. Paul Kinsey is defending the old, even as he is accused of being a beatnik and communist.
Peggy sees the old way of using your sexuality to get ahead, in Joan and Ann-Margret. She wants to blaze a new trail for women, and be seen for who she is, what she thinks, yet she still goes to the bar and picks up a man by dumbing herself down and pretending to be "a typist". Then she jumps to the other side of the divide again, into a modern, sexually active woman who is aware of alternatives to intercourse. She must have had some other sexual experiences since Pete, to learn that.
The schism continues with Don. Trying to convince the Brits that Madison Square Garden could become a huge account - in the future, even while he denies Peggy's notion about the Patio soda account, by telling her to just go with the sexy young girl who throws herself at the camera.
I think he was reconsidering that position when he was watching the Maypole dance though. He seemed to be connecting with the flower child/earth mother sensibility when he touched the grass as the barefoot nymph danced. Then in the confrontation in the den, his brother-in-law says, "Don't get old".
Don also told the guy from Madison Square Garden to "welcome change with a dance of joy" yet he is reminded of all of the "old" in his life, the globe, his father-in-law, even Penn Station. Again, these two jarringly different notions.
Roger is straddling the fault line more than anyone, married to his young wife, yet decorating his office with Grecian antiquities, then having his "old" family show up to discuss his daughter's "new" life.
Betty is also struggling with trying to live on both sides of the fence. Pregnant, yet trying to watch her weight (hence the Melba Toast comments). Expecting a new life, yet disillusioned with her own. She doesn't want to be seen as an uncaring daughter, but I think she will rapidly regret having her father living with them. Remember, there was no Medicare in 1963, and attitudes towards nursing homes were different then. So she may have been concerned about how it would look, and what it would cost. (I'm not altogether sure that Don has told her about the money he came into with the merger. It might be his nature to have secreted that away in a private account.)
I think this is all designed to have the audience feel (and understand on a visceral level) the shrill and discombobulating changes that are afoot.
Thank you for stopping by!
Please visit My Tel-LOVE-vision Squidoo - lots of TV stuff from various sources, all in one place!
television
posted by Marti at 8:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home