Guys, I want to talk about this season of Mad Men so far. I haven't seen the last two episodes, so this is basically a rant about the first four episodes. I guess the problem I have with this season is that my sympathy for Don has more or less dwindled away. In the first seasons it was obvious that he wasn't, exactly, a good person but I had some remaining good feelings towards his character. He seemed like someone who was trying to 'figure things out'. Granted, he should have maybe figured that shit out sooner, but, hey. I'm 25 and still waitressing, years after I wanted to have my career underway (soon, guys, soon!) Anyway, I digress. Recently I was listening to "The Ones Who Knock" podcast, about Breaking Bad. In one of the episodes, the comment is made by David Chen that there was one specific moment where he lost all sympathies towards Walter White, where Walter White ceased completely to be a protagonist and was now a character that needed to be destroyed. For me that moment came in regards to Don Draper this season, when him and Sylvia are out to dinner and she asks him what they are doing, and he replies coldly. Sylvia is right, he does seem to be taking some perverse pleasure in humiliating both of their spouses, specifically Megan. But, while, I think audiences feel sorry for Megan, she's also a hard character to root for. She's terribly naive and there's something disconcerting about that. Don was dating someone else when he proposed to her and yet she doesn't seem suspicious at all. She seems to believe that Don truly loves her and she really believes that he will be jealous of her kissing another man (on her soap opera) because he loves her, not because he's an abusive control freak. But, even though it's hard to feel sorry for Megan, I have to wonder if this show is making excuses for Don's behaviour. What I mean is that although Betty and Megan (and all of Don's other women) are flawed to be sure, does that mean that Don is allowed to treat them badly? Don is an anti hero, sure, but isn't he one we are supposed to root for? I know there is a lot of unbridled vitriol towards Betty but I've always liked her. Certainly, as I said, there are a lot of bad things to say about her but in the end she's always been, to me at least, just a flawed woman. Just as Don is flawed, but Don is a protagonist and these women are....hated. To be honest, I don't know if Mad Men is sexist, I know that we aren't intended to share or support Don's treatment of women, but there' still something unsettling about the way he treats women like whores. So far he has paid Sylvia for sex, more or less and directly called Megan a prostitute. Maybe the problem is me. Watching Breaking Bad is easy because the bad things the characters do are so far removed from daily life. Mad Men on the other hand depicts people treating each other badly in a day to day way and somehow that's uncomfortable. Maybe that's a good thing though?
Now for things I liked:
Trudy kicking Pete out was hilarious!
Kieran Shipka is as fabulous as ever.
Joan can really do no wrong in my eyes, even though she kind of is a grade A bitch.
And last but not least, if you haven't seen the Mad Men on Facebook recaps, seriously, check them out HERE.
Picture sources: Mad Men Megan
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