Mad Men: Season 3 Finale Prep
Mad Men first sucked me in with the promise of a smart nostalgia trip, a celebration of the “way things were,” featuring period-specific characters (office man, housewife, career girl), retro cinematography, and an obsessive attention to the objects and mannerisms of the time.
But at the end of season three, I now see the show not as celebration, but instead a condemnation. And in future seasons, I trust it goes further, ultimately explaining why the late sixties were necessary.
At Mad Men’s core is a theme of lies and deception, as wealthy characters’ materialistic dreams are exposed as dangerous illusions that make them deeply unhappy. But it’s not their fault; with history on our side, we can see the causes of their unhappiness while they cannot. I’m talking about Roger’s sexism, Sal’s closeted homosexuality, Peggy’s conflict between a career woman and an object of desire, Betty’s imprisonment in a nuclear family, etc.
The way out comes with the social liberation of the late sixties, as an old social order is replaced with the new. But the times they are a-changing. The younger characters (Peggy, Pete, Paul, Smitty) have a better chance to “tune in, turn on, and drop out” while the older folks will find the changes deeply disturbing and an affront to their entire existence (Roger will hate it).
And then there’s Don, the enigma whose true identity — Dick Whitman — we barely know. He liked California and could easily reinvent himself through another made-up persona, but he enjoys his manly comforts and finds beatnik anti establishment rants reprehensible.
But since Don’s entire life is based on deception, he’s going to be hurt very badly, very soon. The show’s credits feature Don Draper falling from a building, surrounded by advertising — lies of his own creation — that do nothing to break his fall. We haven’t seen this fall yet, but it’s surely coming. It’s the stereotypical fifties male fading away.
Don has yet confront his neglected childhood, as seen through flashbacks to an uncaring mother and father. These are deeply unsettling memories that he understandably, but unwisely, keeps to himself. He pursues happiness through delusion, as if by surrounding yourself with the trappings of success, fooling everyone into thinking you’re happy, this in turn would make you happy, too. But this doesn’t work.
At present, we’re not supposed to admire Don. But we’re at the start of a long character arc. In season one and two, Don enjoyed the benefits of his lies and considered abandoning Betty, while his origin as Dick Whitman were revealed to us. But he made a conscious choice to be a better husband, yet without admitting his fabrications to Betty - a bad choice. In season three, his lies finally caught up with him.
So keeping these themes in mind, here are some season finale predictions:
- Return of Miss Farrell. The way she disappeared was too clean. She’ll either tell Betty about her affair with Don (conveniently handing Betty evidence of adultery as grounds for divorce), or something bad will happen to Miss Farrell’s brother Danny, for which Don will be harshly — and rightly — blamed.
- Betty leaves Don. I see divorce papers. We’ve already had Don vanish, but with Betty slowly gaining more confidence, plus being handed an easy out via Henry, pieces are falling into place for Betty to finally show some initiative.
- The fainting couch — symbolic of Henry covertly inserting himself into the Draper household, throwing off the whole living room — will get some use.
- Pete quits Sterling Cooper and goes to work for Duck. Perhaps he’ll bring with him other cast-offs like Sal, or even Joan. Peggy’s almost a no-brainer. Or Duck’s firm buys Sterling Cooper and several people get surprising promotions. Don’t forget that Pete knows Don’s real identity; handy information for a competing firm.
- Must have some closure with the Connie Hilton plot line. Maybe he gives up on Sterling Cooper and hires Duck’s firm instead. Expect a reference to Hilton’s earlier comment that Don was like a son. Expect Hilton to reject Don. Maybe Pete tells him something.
- Don — dealing with all this pressure at home and blamed big time for chaos at Sterling Cooper — falls into the hands of some woman who isn’t Betty. Or finding nowhere to turn, just falls apart.
As always, I welcome being wrong regarding these specific predictions come next Sunday. After all, a show too predictable is no fun, either.
In future seasons, we’re headed for 1964 and beyond, and the crap doesn’t really start hitting the fan until 1967. I hope Mad Men lasts long enough to fulfill its promise, to make the transition from Sinatra to Syd Barrett, or Doris Day to Twiggy. Could we even get to Nixon? The show is doing a great job so far.
Cool.