Another Mad Men Blog

At the risk of this becoming an all Mad Men blog . . . . 

He may have messed up his surprise trip to see Megan with the ill-timed confession that he came at the bequest of her agent.  And because of that he may be on the verge of a second divorce (or maybe this is just another speed bump.)  But Don Draper is back!  And by that I mean he’s going to be back at SC&P, hopefully showing Lou how it's done.  But before I say anything more about the impending Draper return, a few thoughts on some of the other characters:

Betty – just the worst.  It was a sandwich Betty.  He didn't trade away Gene.  Now relax and smoke your lunch.

Megan – I’ll never understand why people (read:  internet commenters) hate Megan.  I've always liked her character and I feel bad for her in her attempts to deal with the human mess that is Don Draper.  I know people keep discussing the Sharon Tate parallels, but hopefully that is just misdirection by Matthew Weiner and company because there is no need to kill her off.

Peggy – are we supposed to assume that Peggy is still mad at Don for the whole Ted leaving for California thing?  Isn’t that really more on Ted?  And shouldn't she be excited at the possibility of going back to work for Don, someone who respects her and her work, and not Lou, who only respects his sweaters?  Still, Peggy’s “I can’t say that we missed you” diss to Don was pretty good (if cold).  Too bad Don didn’t send her some flowers.

Joan – I honestly can’t remember why Joan is mad at Don, but it’s fun to see Joan fired up.  Maybe she’s just defending her turf a bit now that she’s in accounts and doesn’t trust that Don won’t ruin what she has going.

Bert – so he doesn’t like how the agency is viewed on the outside.  Of course that doesn’t mean he’ll get off his "don’t wear your shoes in my office" ass and actually do anything to improve the firm, does it?  Keep cashing those checks Bert.

Cutler – I love when he verbally spars with Roger.  That is all.

Roger – so he left Don out to dry a bit by not telling anyone at the office about agreeing to let him come back.  But I do love that Roger stuck up for Don and got all feisty with the other partners.  Of course based on the strict stipulations that Don was given, I don’t take it that Roger was victorious in the meeting we didn’t see.  But still glad he had his old friend's back.  

I assume that the other partners were surprised that Don accepted the offer (oh, to have seen their faces), but to get back to Don . . . 

I loved how uncomfortable he was throughout the scenes back in the office.  First he was nervously glancing at his watch before finally going to the office, then when he arrives he's suddenly a visitor at best and a stranger at worst.  He has to sit around in the creative room all day making small talk and being verbally assaulted, looking like he thinks he made a mistake by coming in at all.  And then the walk down the hall to the meeting with the partners was full of suspense, and of course he'd have to scoff at and turn down the offer in typical Draper fashion, but wait . . . no . . . he accepts with no questions!  What?!  Does Don have a plan to unseat Lou and regain power?  Is he just this desperate not to have to go to California to live with his beautiful wife . . . while still maintaining partner status . . . and still being paid to do nothing?  Either way, I really like how this episode set up some drama for the last four episodes before the final season break. 

Mad Men highlights

Just a list of my favorite moments from last night's Mad Men (all quotes are paraphrased):

Don turning off his alarm, falling back to sleep for another five hours, sitting around doing almost nothing all day, but still making sure to shower and dress in his suit for the five minutes that Dawn comes over to give him the office news.  Followed of course by him promptly loosening the tie the minute she leaves.

Ginsberg's line about Peggy's Valentine's Day plans (this is a family blog so you'll just have to watch the episode)

Stan's line to Peggy when she thinks someone sent her flowers - "It's hard to believe your cat had the money."

Ted at the end of the conference call with the partners - "They never mentioned which of Peggy's clients we lost."  Hahaha . . . obviously Peggy's message wasn't clear to Ted (which makes sense since he didn't have anything to do with the flowers.)

Dawn and Shirley calling each other the opposite names, obviously because they are constantly being mistaken for each other by the other SC&P staff.

Sally saying that Don should "tell the truth" in his letter to her school about her being late.  Such a loaded comment - although Don does eventually open up a bit to his daughter.  Shouldn't he know by now not to lie to Sally?

Don pretending that he plans to dine and ditch at the diner with Sally.  Yes, he's kidding, but a nice little moment for the two of them.

And finally, Don's reaction at the end to Sally telling him she loved him.  The perfect end to Don's Valentine's Day.  And there aren't many actors as good as Jon Hamm at portraying emotion with just his facial expressions.

March-April Reads

Like Mr., I haven't really been into the book reviews since they feel like homework and a chore so I am stealing his idea to combine a bunch of book reviews into one.  I can't stop cold turkey.  I am going to try to keep this to one sentence summary, one sentence review but we will see what happens.

If anyone is dying for my previous kind of reviews, please let me know.

An Inconvenient Woman by Dominick Dunne

Fiction- Mystery

Involved in a love affair with the rich and powerful and married Jules, Flo has a little too much information that she shouldn't and some people are not too keen on her sharing it.

The text was a bit dated but otherwise it kept me interested and had a few good twists.
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Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

Fiction- Young Adult

Book challenge: Gold, silver, or bronze in the title.

A retelling of the Bluebeard fairy tale, orphaned Sophie goes to live with her rich godfather who at first seems all kindness but soon turns sinister.

This was a less than challenging read and a little contrived but I enjoyed it.

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A Separate Country by Robert Hicks

Fiction- Historical

Told from three different view points, this is story of Civil War general John Hood and his wife Anna in post-Civil War New Orleans.

I did not like this book as I couldn't really (and still cannot) figure out what the point of it was.
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Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Fiction - Sort of a Mystery

Kate Baron attempts to piece together the events in the life of her 15 year old daughter, Amelia, before her death in order to prove that she didn't commit suicide.

This had me hooked from page one (and also glad I am not in high school anymore) so I definitely recommend if you like more mystery type books.
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At the Heart's Command by Patricia McLinn

Romance

Challenge: Trilogy

Second in the A Place Called Home trilogy, widow Ellyn's life is turned upside-down when her childhood friend Grif appears without warning.

Like the first book in this trilogy, I thought the whole Susland family curse was forced and I found the emotionally wounded leading man annoying but this was a better told story than the first book.

The Mad Men final (sort of) season premiere

Mad Men returned yesterday for its final season (well Part I of the final season that will actually last more like two seasons.)  And now only six episodes to go until Part I of the final season ends!  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – what happened in the premiere?

The first thing to note is that it’s January 1969, so only a short time from when last season ended (that being around/on Thanksgiving 1968.)  Not enough time for Ken’s eye to heal (or is that patch permanent?), not enough time for Ted to have gotten a tan in California (although Pete managed just fine), and not enough time for Don to have told Megan he doesn’t have a job (oh wait, do you think 2 months would have been enough time for him to let her in on that?)

And surprise!  Megan and Don are still together (for now.)  After the finale made it seem like they might be separated by the time this season premiered, we first see Don this season landing in California and passionately embracing his wife, who is picking him up in her flashy car (not sure why that wouldn’t make her struggling acting friends as jealous as the big TV she gets mad at Don for buying.)  But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out it’s only a matter of time before the marriage crumbles.  Heck, Don said as much to his travel buddy on the way back to New York.

And speaking of Don’s new widow friend, I can’t imagine this is the last we’ve seen of her, not when they cast Neve Campbell to play her, right?  There’s no way Matthew Weiner and company just brought her in for one episode, right?  Is she finally the woman to settle Don down, or is she just the next Rachel, Faye or Sylvia; women who “get” Don, but can’t get him to change?

So Don is struggling to fit in in New York, where he doesn’t have a job (but is still getting paid – how do I pull that off?) and ends up pitching copy to SC&P through our good friend Freddie Rumsen.  And he doesn’t fit in in California where his relationship is clearly on the rocks and he seems out of place around Pete (and Pete’s young realtor.)  So we’re left with Don at the end sitting in the cold, unable to fix his broken sliding door and wondering what has become of his life.

Peggy isn’t in much better shape.  She’s struggling to work with her new boss Mr. Rogers (er . . . uh . . . Lou Avery), who clearly has no time for a woman’s opinion.  Her mentor (Don) is gone, the man she thought she loved (Ted) is gone to California and even when he returns it’s awkward, Abe is long gone, and she seemingly has no one to turn to.  So at the end she’s no better than Don, kneeling on her floor crying, and trying to figure out how she got to this place.

Some other stuff happened too I guess – Joan’s still trying to carve out a place at the firm while getting some business lessons from a local professor, Roger is involved in some weird hippie orgy (did he even go in to the office in the episode?), Stan still has an insane beard, and of course Pete is Pete (only tanner.)  Betty and the kids were absent, but I suspect they’ll return soon enough.

But the final (sort of) season fittingly starts with a focus on Don and Peggy.  And could their dissatisfaction in their respective current situations lead to a reunion?  Possibly in the form of them starting an agency together?  Or is that too obvious?  And have they already gone to that well too many times?  I’m excited to see where this goes.       

First Quarter 2014 book reviews

I started the year slacking on writing book reviews, partly because I’ve become slightly bored with writing them and partly because no one reads them anyway.  And now here we are already in mid-April.  So I decided that instead of writing separate reviews for each book I’ve read so far this year, I’d just do a post with my first quarter reviews of the five books I read from January through March.  The best part is that this will force me to be more succinct.

The Best

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

One way that I judge how much I liked a book is how quickly I start looking to read another of the author’s works.  And before I even got through White Teeth I was checking to see if Zadie Smith had any other novels (she does – 3 more to be exact.)  It was a completely original novel and Smith is a talented and creative writer (and she’s received quite a bit of acclaim for this, her first novel, as well as the others.) 

The story, set mostly in England, traces three families, connected through friendship and marriage, through the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s, moving back and forth in time to show where everyone came from and how they arrived in their present circumstances.  The main characters are Achie (a simple-minded man on his second marriage to a much younger Jamaican wife) and Samad (an unhappy Bengali immigrant worried that his two young sons won’t be properly raised Muslims in London.)  The two are middle-aged friends who served together in WWII, and now find themselves battling with their families and extended families, a colorful cast of characters to say the least.  The book takes on some weighty subjects like race, class and religion, but does it with humor and wit.  Smith has a thoroughly unique voice and I look forward to reading another work of hers.

The Rest

I Wear The Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman

The last Klosterman work I read was his novel The Visible Man, which I didn’t really care for.  But this was back to more standard Klosterman, a series of essays on the nature of villains, done with typical Klosterman humor and deep thinking.  I love his unique take on subjects, but I think I need to stick to his nonfiction.

Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard

Mrs. purchased this for me for Christmas and it looked really interesting.  I was a little torn since it was co-authored by O’Reilly, which was a bit of a conflict for a left-leaning liberal such as myself.  But he seemed pretty impartial here.  There was a lot of good juicy tidbits about the Kennedys and the rise of Camelot, including JFK’s affairs, his strained relationship with LBJ, and how he handled the various hot button issues of his time as president, such as the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement.  If there was anything that disappointed me it was that I thought it was going to be more about the assassination.  They didn’t get to it until the very end and didn’t really present anything new.  Just Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone shooter and some mystery around how it all went down.  Well, I already knew all that.  Oh well, a decent read anyway for some of the gossip. 

Right As Rain by George Pelecanos

I first heard of Pelecanos as a writer on The Wire (and he wrote some of the best episodes.)  I saw this and another of his books at the church book fair last summer and grabbed them both.  This was a pretty standard crime novel.  Not bad, but not anything to rush out to read (or stay in to read as the case may be.)  It revolves around a private investigator, hired to look into the killing of a black police officer by a white police officer, and it soon becomes a conspiracy with crooked cops and drug dealers and those caught in the middle.  So kind of like The Wire.  I'll read the other Pelecanos book I have at some point, but this didn't make me rush to move it up the list.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

I expected that this was going to be my favorite novel of the early part of this year because of all the acclaim I had read about it before I picked it up to read.  It’s told as separate stories of various staff members working at a struggling English language Italian newspaper.  Each chapter is separated by flashbacks to the founder of the paper and why he made the odd decision to leave his life as a successful American business to go start a newspaper in Europe.

For the most part I didn’t find any of the characters sympathetic or really all that interesting.  Because the reader only sees quick glimpses of each of the characters I didn’t think there was any development.  And the middle sections about the founder seemed like they didn’t even belong (and certainly could have been excluded.)  Maybe it was a bit original in style (although I didn’t think it was that original), but I truly don’t understand all the rave reviews for this.