Mad Men

[polkablues]

Finally got a chance to watch it. Classic episode. Hopefully this will quell the creeping consensus out there that this season is boring or somehow a step down from previous seasons. It's always been a show that moves at a deliberate pace, that will set something up and only weeks later pay it off in the subtlest of ways, but people still seem to flip out if events unfold at any rate slower than an episode of 24. I blame DVD. When people actually have to wait a week between episodes, they're much less willing to give it a chance to take its time, to develop at its own speed. And every once in the while, the show runs over those peoples' feet with a riding lawn mower and shuts them up for a while.

Anytime they feel like sending the little girl off to boarding school, though, I'm totally behind it. She's turning out almost as annoying as the neighbor kid from season one.

[Pubrick]

Finally got a chance to watch it. Classic episode. Hopefully Obviously this will quell confirm the creeping consensus out there that this season is boring or somehow a step down from consistent with previous seasons. It's always been a show that moves at a deliberate RUG ON VALIUM pace, that will set something nothing up and only weeks later pay it off in the subtlest of ways, but people still seem to flip out if events unfold at any rate slower than an episode of 24. I blame DVD. When people actually have to wait a week between episodes, they're much less willing to give it a chance to take its time, to develop at its own speed. And every once in the while, the show runs over those peoples' feet with a riding lawn mower and shuts them up for a while. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

fixed.

if anything DVD is the only thing saving this show. i watched Deadwood and it suffered from a similar (though nowhere near as PAINFUL) "deliberate pace". if it weren't for the ease of watching the next episode instantly i too would have cancelled it in fewer than the three seasons it was allowed to slump through.

[polkablues]

Or, just floating out another possibility here, the show is great and your Ritalin dosage is off.

[cine]

for those who wanna revisit the lawnmower, over and over:

[cinemanarchist]

[Stefen]

I'm about 5 episodes into the first season and I find myself just wanting to get through the season. I'm not a fan of that era so maybe that's why it's not catching me but I'm gonna get through season one and two before I give up.

[pete]

this show is really not that great.

[©brad]

Whaaat? Are attention spans just inherently lower for TV or is Polka right about some of you needing to recalibrate your ADD medication? This is the fastest hour on television right now. I have no idea what I was babbling about a page ago in this thread. It's not without its faults, and it's probably getting too many awards, but it's a smart show made for adults, which, need I remind everyone, is a rare thing for American TV.

Classic episode.

Totally. My favorite moment (of many) was when Don shows up at the hospital for the guy who just lost his foot and sees Joan and her bloody dress...

"Oh my god."
"I know. It's ruined."

[pete]

that's clever, but aside from the hilariously un-PC comments and chic glamour, the drama is not interesting enough to carry on for 3 seasons (I liked first season when everything was subtle and it seemed to be setting up for something big).  I liked it when they do the innovative advertising stuff - always a sucker for a well-researched setpiece, but mostly the show just used those accounts as pretexts for scandalous sex.  jon hamm is the hottest dude ever though, I agree with you there.

[Pubrick]

i guess this is the arrested development of television drama.

it's not that great. and being a smart show made for adults is no more credentials for greatness than a description for what they were trying to achieve. it's the kinda show, like AD, that gets mad following for what it's trying to do than what it's actually achieving. the problem is not so much attention span, but that i disagree with the premise that anything is better than nothing.

there are heaps of OK and decent shows, and a shitload of CRAP of course, but the best things that can be said about mad men need to be qualified.. for example that it's kinda original (in that there don't happen to be TOO many other shows like it at the moment), and that it's got a great deliberately paced plot (in that nothing much is happening and what does happen is quite repetitive but at least it looks pretty and there's nothing else on at the moment that would warrant my attention), and that john hamm is hot (in that he's a bit rough but suave and has lots of sex.. but i would hav to take chicks word for it cos i don't see it, he's about as appealing as his wife, bland city).

the kinda shows i would praise are ones that push the boundaries of what can be done with television. most recently the sopranos, which brought a calibre of story and character that is actually seldom seen, to which mad men is only a dim comparison (as far as complex characterisation). so there's that. it's just like i prefer my comedy to be poopingly hilarious, endlessly quotable, but also revealing of the human psyche.. which differs AD from prime Curb.

[picolas]

i'll agree that this season has produced some of the show's worst eps (last one not included), but i still love it a lot. there's a reason why i buy each season and rewatch nearly every episode multiple times/listen to both commentary tracks. i don't understand why you put up with it if it doesn't work for you on so many levels.

[Pubrick]

i don't understand why you put up with it if it doesn't work for you on so many levels.

i don't, i stopped after the first season. like with AD.

and my life was better for it..

[Fernando]

I just finished season 1.

It is slow paced yeah but I like that, although it took me a few eps to get into it. Jon Hamm does a great job.

--minor spoils s01e13--

There's an amazing scene in the last episode that makes the whole season worth while, the one where Draper sells the wheel, it's written so beautifully and everything about it is perfect, from the flow of Draper's voice to the music and the  superb editing.

Love the way he tells his life and makes it look so perfect and beautiful, but it's a lie to sell the product, he isn't the perfect husband and father, but wishes he were that man and he could have been, only to find out his family already left for the holyday when he got home.


I know I relate to EWS a lot of things but this scene reminded me a lot of Alice telling Bill about the naval officer's fantasy, the music while different in mood it feels alike as well as the editing, in the case of Mad Men going from Draper to the pictures of his family, with EWS going from Alice to Bill.


So, I've seen this scene many times now and I'm convinced it is plain a simple a work of art.

[Kal]

Last episode was also excellent. This season really got extra-amazing after the lawnmower incident.

[©brad]

Last night's was by far the best of the season, if not the entire series. Holy crap. It paid off so much, hell maybe too much. It's hard to imagine what they'll set up/leave hanging for the finale in a couple weeks.


S
P
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- Seeing Don finally crumble was amazing. Jon Hamm's Emmy episode for sure.
- That long sequence between Don and Betty, with teacher out in the car, goddamn was that masterfully done.
- Joan clobbering her douche husband with that vase was one of the most cathartic moments on the show. You could hear the collective cheer from the entire Mad Men audience at that moment
- Glad to see Roger finally getting screen-time. All his scenes were gold. I loved his exchange with Joan.
- The show is far from subtle with their metaphors (Halloween/masks being drawn) and although totally contrived, it's kind of fun how each pitch or product they work on directly comments on the overall theme of the episode. In this case, with the dog food company in serious need of rebranding ("the name is poision") being emblematic of Don's own identity issues.