MadMen Episode 6 Review

In this episode Don starts out with a flashback after falling down the steps in his home. Then at his office he meets with a new client, a Jewish travel agency of some sort, who is trying to make new adds so more people would come to Israel. This is a struggle for Don because he is unsure of how to draw people for this business and knows very little about Jewish society or its story other than what he considers the mass "propaganda." He meets with a past client whom he has some feelings for about "her people." He gets a little bit of information and still has some feelings for her, which she is refusing to reciprocate but does have. Don then goes to see his artistic mistress but has some competition and reflects some while watching a performance in the midst of that tension.

Peggie and the other ladies are put into a room for some "brain storming," something that the admen have arranged in order to get some insights for a lipstick company they are working for. The men in the office all act like pigs even though they say that the women are the less intelligent/capable sex. This is summed up well in the singular comment made by one of the research and development guys when he tells Don that watching Peggie was like watching a "dog play piano."

This episode was racist and sexist, two of the biggest themes in this time period. The problems that come up between Don and his men and the Jews show just how much a problem there is among people groups. As for the battle of the sex's, there isn't much of a fight coming from the women's side, something that seems quite difficult to be remedied in the picture that is being given us. The men really do own the scene, making for the daily ruffing up of women and scandalizing of their personal lives. All around this episode shows us a difficult time for "foreigners" and non-men.

MadMen Episode 5 Review

This episode of MadMen was focused on two characters primarily, Don and Pete. Don begins his story with the acceptance of an award for his work at the company. This runs into the following day where he is called out to see his mistress for some "quality time." On what seems to be the following day he receives a call from someone who claims to be his brother, which he later confirms when he leaves the office and talks with him in a cafe. This makes him late for a photo shoot with the family and has him really distracted the whole day. That night he goes to visit with his brother and pays him off, telling him go start another life because he cant be a part of his.

Pete is having his own issues, dealing with what seems to be his own failure to be further along in his life and have made a name for himself. This is seen especially in his jealousy over a coworkers success in writing and publishing a story in a major paper. He tries to have his wife get an old boyfriend to publish it in a major paper as well and that ends with him upset over being in an unimportant paper and his wife feeling wronged by Pete because he would have had her damage her "purity" to him in order to have his story published in a better paper.

Two themes stick out in this episode. For Don's part of the story it's a question of what is important to him. Don has to choose between the success he has in his own life, the one he has created and manufactured around himself, fake though it may be, and the brother that he left behind so long ago. Don doesn't even once seem like he is going to pick his brother, but is rather fearful of what his brother surfacing would do to his life. He pays him off with a lot of money and I don't know what to think about his actions really.

Pete is dealing with the cost of success. Just how far are you willing to go in order to be "successful?" He is willing to put his own wife in a position that she never wanted to tangle with. The fact that he is so willing to use her in a brutal way like that is beyond my understanding of living. It brings into question why he actually married her. Is marriage jsut a way of getting what you want or do you marry to be with someone you care about. Don has brought this up in the past saying "love is a fantasy."

MadMen Episode 4 Review

In this episode of MadMen we primarily follow Pete Campbell, one of the men working in the finance department at the ad company. Pete's wife surprises him at his work and takes apartment shopping, which he is put off about since she decides to go for a property outside of their means. He goes to get financial help from his family but that goes nowhere and later on his wife gets her family to support them in that way. Pete doesn't like that she is taking control of things and getting what she wants but he doesn't know what to do about it. Also, Pete tries to make an impression by pitching to one of the ad companies customers behind his bosses' backs. This ends with him being very nearly fired, but thanks to his families very reputable name he gets a second chance at the company.

MadMen has been plagued by the issue of alcohol since the first episode, something that is definitely evident in the historical period that this show is based in. Alcohol is used constantly in this show as a  means of coercion, coping, and relaxation. There is alcohol involved in every major scene in this show and Pete is constantly drinking throughout this episode. When he gets "fired" for a moment he immediately goes to his office and starts drinking right away. There is so much alcohol abuse that its just surprising that no one has gotten hurt, or killed by it yet, and we're only four episodes in.

This show also shows the disconnect between men and women in this society. The entire time that Pete is with his wife are together you see just how much one of them is trying to get something from the other. Pete's wife wants to have the life she's dreamt about forever, probably, and Pete just wants a better job and an obedient wife who dos what he asks of her. Neither is getting what they want exactly but they don't know how to communicate their needs.

MadMen Episode 3 Review

This episode of MadMen begins with Draper on the train going to the office. There he someone addresses him to another name and acts as if he were an old friend. At the office Pete has returned from his honeymoon and is greeted by the office with a gag that runs the length of the office scenes of this episode. Peggy has a run in with him again and says their encounter never happened because he's married now. Draper and his team meet with the Jewish lady who owns a store again and the agrees to see her at the store that evening. While meeting with her he has a run in with her where they kiss and he admits that he's married, after which she asks to be moved to another adman. Draper spends the following day at home with his family because it's his daughters birthday. The part involves a lot of liquor for the adults and fun for the kids, but Draper is already drunk. When he goes out to get the cake for his wife he doesn't come back until really late and she is very upset with him.\

This episode brings up the issue of racism with the office gag played on Pete. Pete is escorted by the whole office en route to his own office and finds a Chinese family in it. From that moment forward the office is filled with derogatory jokes about Chinese people. All of the characters that we have met in this cast bring up some sort of negative statement about them, even Draper, who usually stays neutral. The lack of control on his part shows just how deeply rooted this issue is in the culture they are a part of.

This episode also displays wonderfully shows the foolishness of man. This entire episode there are derogatory things said about other people and places just as it is in the past couple episodes. However, this episode definitely shows how both men and women are living some sort of fantasy in their heads with each other. Draper is recording the party with his camera, watching the kids as they play and horse around. The kids say silly things, make fun and even break things accidentally throughout the party. Draper also tapes some of the adults interactions and watches as they drink, gossip, mock, flirt, and make fools of each other. He is outside watching the kids, very drunk, when he remarks to the new resident on the street, a single woman, that they kids and the adults are acting the same.

MadMen Episode 2 Review

This episode, like the first, follows Don Drapper and Peggy. This episode is different from the first, however, in that Don's wife is the major issue of his day. There is a meeting dinner between Don and his wife with his boss and his wife. From there we begin to see how little Don and Betty connect and just how little Betty knows about her husbands past. It's almost like he married a total stranger over the internet and one date. Betty gets in an accident and Don comes home worried about what is going on with her and her anxiety issue that is becoming apparent. She goes to see a psychiatrist and in the end, after telling her husband the meet went good Don calls the doctor and receives another report. Peggy is in much the same situation as last time, being hounded on all day by the men at the office because she's new and she's a woman that there's an opportunity to sleep with. Betty is picked up on by one in particular, who she kind of leads on in my opinion, and then snaps a bit at one of the other secretaries in the office about men hounding her. I think the ironic thing is she slept with one of the worst ones in the office last episode.

The first and largest theme that stuck out to me is the disconnect between men and woman in this show. It's really quite ridiculous how little either side understands one another. All of the guys in this show are either trying to figure out what woman want, like Don, or they are doing their best to ignore that they have no clue. Don clearly has no idea what to do with his wife and her anxiety issue, trying to find out why a girl who has 'everything' would need to see someone if she's happy. Betty obviously has a major issue, being nervous about every little thing and getting into a car accident too. Peggy is also dealing with this disconnect, especially since men are just trying to get into her pants the whole time and she's leading them on incidentally. She snaps on her friend about how she doesn't understand why she can't just get food with one of the office guys.
The second issue that was quite disturbing was the roles assigned to men and women. Once again this show has displayed just how divide the roles are for men and women in this world. Either you work as a secretary or have a supporting job to the big men in charge or you're bare foot and pregnant/a trophy wife. Betty and Peggy deal with this the most in this episode, between being the stay at home mom that needs to be perfect and the office girl who needs to make her way in the ranks of men and women.

MadMen Episode 1 Review

MadMen follows the lives of employees at an ad company in the 50s. The main character, Mr. Draper, is the primary focus of this episode, though it does follow Peggy Olson, his secretary. This episode follows the circuit of a major crisis for Draper, a deal with a cigarette company that really needed to have a new sales strategy because of the harm being done by the medical issues associated with smoking. Draper has a meeting with a Jewish store owner that goes south because he is so concerned over the impending loss of the larger company because he had nothing to give them. The meeting with the large cigarette client almost goes completely south when Draper chokes and his fellow admen can't make a convincing pitch, then just as things are going the worst he has an idea that the customers really like. This puts him in the good graces of his boss and he then rallies the previous client back so they can have another meeting.

Two themes that are very apparent is the degradation of the female sex and loneliness. The degradation of the female sex throughout the entire episode, from the first scene in the office elevator on, The entire time you have guys making snide remarks and treating ladies like trash, according to my standards. There is no respect for women, they are treated in a disrespectful way and are given a role as either stay at home wives or harlots to do as they are told. There isn't much room for anything else. This is made pretty clear about even Draper, who didn't seem to adhere to that standard the rest of his team, when he disrespects the female Jewish store owner.

The other theme, loneliness, is somewhat of a surprising one though i should have expected it, I think, from how men and women treated each other. Various characters, the most blatant instance being with Draper surprisingly, struggled with being alone in some way. Draper starts of sleeping with an artist that he says he wants to marry but by the end of the show he has that meeting with the Jewish store owner where we see some of his characters inability to connect with the world around him, even the family he has at home, a wife with two kids.

Cool Night Breeze

Awake, sleeper who walks among the living dead
Take up your shiny voice and wondrous charms
make sweet the nights cool breeze for men to breath
taking softy the chill from the air of many dreary cares
Break this spell which lies upon you
daring to sing out the evenings praise
come dance and lay with me
and i will cherish you all my days