Raw Data: The Better Half

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-09 "The Better Half" written by Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy (who wrote another episode whose title alludes to Megan, "Dark Shadows") and directed by Phil Abraham (director and DP for multiple Mad Men episodes).

After a whacked out week on speed, Mad Men returns a themed episode, similar to the season premiere fixated on death for two hours by, perhaps, suggesting something about the duality of man.

The episode includes a few opposite but related items, including:

• Don and Ted's approaches to margarine (price versus taste)
• And both acquiescing to the other in the form of martyrdom
• "Ted wants the idea, Don wants his idea"
• Don versus Ted, at large.  Especially with reference to Peggy.  They may as well stand at opposite ends of the street with a puppy between them and see who the puppy goes to
• Megan's twin characters on her soap
• The episode starting with Peggy having to choose between her mentors' approaches, and declining ("I like them both")
• The episode ending with both doors literally and figuratively shutting before Peggy
• Bob and Roger's opposite approaches to spending time with Joan
• Marks the second time a gift is dropped off for Kevin.  The first time, Bob simply wanted to give the gift and leave.  The second time, Roger was clearly expecting to spend some time with Kevin now that he's on supervised visits with his grandson

Other observations

• It's summer and the windows are open which means you can hear the sirens throughout the entire episode.
• This is the second time Pete is speaking with Duck about job prospects
• Henry is so perceptive about "Stu" at the fundraiser, but oblivious to Don at camp
• Duck's offer for Pete to move to Wichita doesn't sound appealing on the surface.  But after Googling "Wichita" and "companies based in", I wonder if it could be related to Learjet or Koch Industries
• Pete had success with an aerospace client in California in season two
• If this is the end of Abe, I'm not sad

Abe always struck as an insincere character who does things for the story of telling how he did them*.  For example, the best seller list always includes some titles, like Wild ** which seem to tell the story of an experience someone underwent so they could tell the story of undergoing such an experience.  So righteous, he won't give a description of his muggers to play the martyr in his view of the current conflicts in the city. 

Several times in the episode Abe mentions his story in which he may imagine himself as a  pioneer

He's almost gleeful at his mugging and bayoneting, or at least opportunistic, because it will add to the article and the subsequent attention it will garner.  Compare this to Bob's actions the past few weeks which make him seem more and more sincere.

* Similar to the Justin character on Parks & Rec.  His good deeds and fun times are not for the sake of doing them and the benefits people receive as a result of good will but to build his own mystique and credibility.

** Haven't read Wild but I took on blind trust that there would be one on the list that fits this description, and that's what it is this week.  An experience the writer actively chooses, and no doubt takes copious notes during to refer back to for their book, rather than something that happens to the writer, or a memoir.

And now our big finale...

HBO took a break from Veep and Game of Thrones to show Behind the Candelabra Memorial Day weekend.   This Sunday, we're back to Westeros in time to see the last two hours of season three.

There's a formula developed from the first two seasons and it appears the third is taking the same route.

1. Establish/check in with characters
2. Give an early, minor payoff
3. Build action in the mid-season episode, move pieces into place
4. Episode 9 includes huge payoff, climax
5. Episode 10 includes rapidly falling action, immediate  repercussions and starts threads into the next season

So let's see where our favorite four (really, like thirty though) lines, all waiting * show stands going into

Coincidentally, May is sweeps time and sweeps time traditionally means babies are born and weddings occur.* **  There are three weddings on the docket and the first happened in episode eight here, Sansa and Tyrion.  Two episodes remain for a match made in heaven of the terrible longbowman Edmund Tully and yet to be seen but likely hideous and terrible Frey girl, taking place at the Twins, and the royal wedding between Joffrey and his better Margarey at King's Landing.

* Be careful here.  I recommend reading the definitiion at the top and not delving into the many examples listed below it for fear of spoilers on dozens of works of fiction.

* Far from a ratings grab in this case though. 

** If all television existed in the same alternate universe it'd be near impossible to book a venue for May.

Checking in with each of our lines we have:

• Jaime, adjusting to being a southpaw, coming off his recent heel-face-turn is at Harrenhal, but not as a prisoner.  Likely to return to Kings Landing
• Tyrion, married to Sansa Stark.  Growing tension between him and the oft-slapee, Joffrey
• Cersei, brooding about the Tyrells and her upcoming betrothal to them
• Tywin, de facto king who sure is pissing off his kids a lot lately though

• Bran, Rickon and the Reeds, making their way to The Wall to see Jon
• Jon, making his way over The Wall and through the North, undercover, with the wildlings
• Sam, making his way back to The Wall with Craster's daughter and her son, killing Others

• Arya and the Hound, on their way to the Twins
• Brotherhood without Banners, in the Riverlands doing their thing

•  Stannis, cursing the other kings.  Seeing visions in the fire
• Davos, let out of jail finally

• Theon, weiner-less, getting tortured by, apparently, Roose Bolton's men

• Robb, making babies, on his way to the Twins for his uncle's wedding and to secure the Freys, then to attack Casterly Rock
• Catelyn, concerned that the delay in reaching the Twins will further insult the Freys and risk their tenuous relationship

When the show concludes next season what are roughly the first three books, it will be interesting to see how they meld the simultaneous events of the next two books.

Matthew Weiner's End Game Part 3

Part 1 - End Game

Part 2 - Don and Tony's similar women

Ultimately, Tony Soprano went back to his old ways.  He returns to his dangerous life and no longer has therapy to help him.

Don's return to a mistress may signal something similar for him.  Having learned some lessons along the way, like the value of a group and loved ones, he still returns to his loner, self interested ways.  Learning the value of the help a group can provide was a central tenet of "Shut the Door, Have a Seat" when Don's own father spurned the co-op compared to Don who worked with his colleagues to start their own business.

Joan emphasized Don's use of "I" versus "we" recently.  It doesn't seem like the idea of doing what's best for the group has totally set in on Don.  As Pete said he's out for himself "swinging vine to vine" without a plan or consideration how it may affect others.  Always impulsive, think his plan to go overseas with Rachel Menken, or, you know, when he became Don Draper, Don is not one to think out the consequences of his actions.

While the merger may prove to be a success, it could easily go the other way.  A merger that was conceived and executed almost entirely by Don alone...not unlike his letter quitting tobacco*.  While Don tries using "we" by the end of the episode, the means by which he does so are almost a one man show.

Don has that ability to mentor and lead, given Peggy and his speech about landing Jaguar last season.  But he also lacks the ability to understand others' perspectives.  This is somewhat surprising for a man so successful at advertising.  In the first episode, he dismisses a scientific study out of hand.  He also pushes his singular focus for work onto Peggy which both partially drives her away and rubs off on her, which we see in her treatment of her own staff. 

Don is also consumed with denial/self loathing/double standard/something else when it comes to judging his wife for not conforming to the idea he has of how she/the ideal wife should behave.

With the country changing as much as it is, particularly in 1968, Don may be left as a man without a country.  Even at work there are changes and the influence of CGC is more collaborative than Don's hiearchical style. Don, in a theme explored when Peggy feels he's taking credit for work not his**, feels the world exists for him as the head of the household/head of the agency/the one in charge with his relationship with Sylvie ("You exist for my pleasure.")  When Sylvie's had enough, she leaves the hotel and leaves Don behind.  When the agency, when the country has had enough...when they can get along without Don, he is going to be left behind, standing there, shocked.

Like Tony, he can't get away from the deep flaws that define him.  If he can't empathize with the new culture and see how the next generation (i.e. his second wife) is viewing the country he is going to be left behind professionally and personally.  If he can't adapt he is going to alienate everyone around him, though he will view it as everyone else having the problem.  Assuming Don maintains his 1960-behaviour, which we originally found acceptable given the context, we'll have a different reaction to such behavior given a 1970s context.



* Cooper's strongest object to that letter was that he didn't include the other partner's names.

** It's unclear how much he did this to Peggy but he also clearly does it with "the cure for the common breakfast"

Raw Data: Second Sons

These are initial observations for Game of Thrones episode 3-08 "Second Sons" written by showrunners Benioff & Weiss and directed by Michelle MacLaren, who directed last week's episode.

Probably the slowest episode of the season, including longer scenes, but still not without major events/payoffs including:

• Stannis cursing his enemies: Balon Greyjoy, Robb Stark and Joffrey
• Significant because we know this god is real and has special powers.  We've seen them in action twice already
•  Davos gets out of jail
• Sansa and Tyrion got freaking married, and his goal is to not treat her terribly.  Also, Tyrion sets a new life goal to become an alcoholic
• Holy effing ess!   Sam KILLED AN OTHER
• Obviously Sam doing so is big, but even bigger is discovering the true use of Dragonglass.   
• They found the cache of Dragonglass a full season ago, wrapped in the Night's Watch cloak.  Lost used to pay stuff off like this, where something was introduced so long ago that you don't even realize when the payoff happens

The rest of the pieces appear to be more about putting things into motion, figuratively and literally, toward the annual episode nine climax

• The Hound taking Arya to the Twins
• Cersei threatening Margery.  Not even in a subtle manner.
• Margery should have known better than to try to curry favor with Cersei the saem way she did with Sansa.  She's way too savvy to make a mistake like that
• Featured some exposition that wasn't sexpostition
• Daenerys secures a mercenary company, growing her army
• Almost as important she has another member of her entourage and maybe more, in Daario

Each scene ran a little longer than your typical Game of Thrones scene so fewer storylines going on.

Ever since season one, Joffrey's been a little pyscho who everyone roots for to bite it in the worst possible manner.  He's completely despicable with no redeeming qualities.  For GRRM to let Joffrey survive all this,he's have to be as sadistic as, well, Joffrey.

It stands to reason they would either double down on his terribleness or soften him a bit.  Both would still leave the door open for him to die soon.  We all hope sooner rather than later of course.  While after his encounter with Tywin showing warranted concern for dragons, I thought the show may take the sympathetic route.  After the Sansa-Tyrion wedding though, it's clear they doubled down.

Hodor!

Raw Data: The Crash

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-08 "The Crash" written by Matthew Weiner and Jason Grote who has two writing credits on IMDB, both for Smash.  The episode is directed by Michael Uppendahl who has done seven previous episodes of Mad Men.

Once or twice a season, Mad Men will play with an episode structure.  They'll incorporate flashbacks* or tell the story in a non-linear manner or even lose time/become unstuck like Billy Pilgrim***

 * Dick's farm and army life, Don's early career.  Once in Season Two I lost track of what was/wasn't a flashback

** "Far Away Places" which involved Don's and Megan's trip to the HoJo

*** As Don did to a drunk weekend, forgetting to pick up his kids, bottoming out before he started swimming and voiceover-ing his journal

This incorporated a few devices, such as flashbacks and a casual relationship with time.

I'm pretty lost on this episode, I'll admit, and am unsure where to start.  I need a second viewing but I'm not even sure that will help.  Kind of like when I saw The Master****. 

But I'm not alone, judging by the first sentence in this review here. 

Part of me thinks Matthew Weiner is just messing with us, putting out nonsense to see what kind of analysis and reviews it gets.

• The doctor asked Don if he had a heart condition, but when Roger reported he had one (unsolicited) he brushed it off.  Did we see Roger***** the rest of the episode?
• Ken's Cosgrove has his submission to the GIF Hall of Fame   
• The only date reference was an aside by Stan that his cousin died in March, which was "three months ago" which would mean June.  Last week's episode was early June, so this is only a few weeks later, at most.  
• It could not have been too long after last week's considering SCDP-CGC remains nameless, like those tribes who don't name their babies until they're three

**** Anyone: "How was The Master?"
Me: It was good?

 ***** "This is nothing compared to when I did LSD."

Matthew Weiner's End Game - Part 2

Read Part 1 of Matthew Weiner's End Game

Part 2 - Don's and Tony's Similar Trajectory and Similar Women

When Don Draper is introduced we see him living the city life with his artist girlfriend, struggling for ideas to pitch to a tobacco client.  It's not until the end of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" * that we discover Don has a wife, two kids and a house in the suburbs.  Don spends the next few seasons cycling through a load of (dark haired, independent, professional) women.  While surprising to see at the end of the first episode, we sort of accept this as the status quo and a sign of the times.

While his blonde wife somewhat complicity allows this behavior, Don's goes through a roster of dark haired mistresses including:

• Midge - owns her own artistry business
• Rachel Menken - department store owner
• Bobbie Barret - her husband's agent/manager
• Suzanne - teacher at Sally's school

Sound familiar?  Ton Soprano, another villain protagonist, philanders around in what viewers accept as "old ways" (but don't find acceptable).   Blonde, blind-eye turning Carmela Soprano also sat at home while her husband spent time with darker haired professional women**:

• Gloria Trillo - luxury car saleswoman
• Valentina - art curator
• Julianna Skiff - realtor **
• Sonya - high end Vegas stripper ***
• Dr. Melfi ** 
• And so on...****

While Tony and Carm separate at the end of season four (partially due to the unconsumated attraction between Carm and Furio) Don and Betty divorce at the end of season five (partially due to the unconsumated attraction between Betty and Henry).

After a season on their own where they live in their own versions of squalor and behave poorly, they both find themselves back in a home with a wife at the start of the season that follows (Don and Megan marry and Tony and Carm reconcile).  They then both spend a season keeping their vows, though tempted (Don's fever dreams, xxxx; Tony and Julianna Skiff).

Don seems to lose interest in Megan when she 1) leaves advertising which is is obviously good at and 2) helps her get a job.  Megan doing away with what Don views as a professional and independent life puts him back to his old ways.

Tony loses patience with behaving when he sees Christopher with Julianna in "Kaisha" immeiately regretting his decision.  He also catches hell from Carm following Christopher's movie premiere when she takes scenes in the movie for Christopher's mistaken impression that Tony and Adrianna slept together***.  Both serve to increase the riff between Tony and Christopher as well as create resentment within Tony.  As he sees it, even when he behaves, he is punished.  Shortly thereafter, Tony returns to his ways with a girl while he and Paulie are on the lamb in "Remember When."

The point is Don has followed a similar path as Tony and is about at the point where Tony was at the middle of Season Six: Part Two of The Sopranos. How he gets from the current point to the end point remains to be seen.  The biggest difference will be the role the 1960s plays in this shows.  The setting almost acts as character, like the Island on Lost.  A central tenet of the show has been to convey different characters reactions to both life events and current events.  The events provide the setting and conflict and the characters behavior so far will inform their reaction.  Which means we need to take all of Don's behavior thus far into account and predict how he will react to the upcoming era in the show's timeline, which is likely to be the setting at the conclusion of the series, the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

* Fun Fact - the episode title is also the episode title of an early Homicide: Life on the Street episode.  In the episode, from the early 90s, cops are still allowed to smoke in a government building, though they are considering a no-smoking section.  When I first watched this around 2005 it was jarring to see even then.  The episode also features cops fooling a suspect into thinking a copy machine is a lie detector, used again in the fifth season of The Wire, "More with Less."
 
** Tony makes this observation aloud in "Kaisha"

** He literally just "spent time" with her in this case, following Tony's new lease on life, and Melfi's rebuffs.

*** Possibly a real 'pro' in old profession

**** Two others meet the requirement halfway, Irina's dark haired but dependent on Tony and Svetlana is blonde but owns her own home care business...Tony's attraction to her starts when he sees her building a website herself

Raw Data: Man With a Plan

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-07 "A Man with a Plan" written by Matthew Weiner and Semi Chellas.  Semi Chellas is credited on possibly the two most memorable episodes from last year "Far Away Places" which featured some unconventional scripting for Don and Megan's trip, as well as Roger's LSD trip.  The episode is directed by John Slattery in his fourth effort for the show.

This episode airs on Mother's Day so as a treat, Pete the Prince treats his mother horribly.  Brings to mind the night SCDP won the Clio ("Waldorf Stories") while the cast of Mad Men celebrated winning the Emmy for best dramatic series.  Even more "coincidental" the episode features an obtuse Life cereal client who thinks Don's pitch may be "too smart for regular folk."

• The episode ends on  June 5, 1968.  We know it's still between Mother's Day and then earlier in the episode when Ted drunkenly polls the staff.
• Pete's inferiority complex, often noted in his interactions with Don, comes full on when he kicks a girl out of a chair due to the perceived slight.  No one else, except for possibly Harry, would be so thin skinned about a crowded conference room.
• The look Joan gave when "ascending" was explained during the partners' meeting is worth a thousand conference room chairs.
• Is there anything on television more terrifying than the thought of Joanie being sick?
• It's the late 60s so Ted says "groovy" in a way, I want to say Ken, used lingo in the earlier seasons to mark the times.
• When you write a scene, there has to be conflict.  The partners' meeting does this in the dramatic and literal sense, as they root through conflicts of interest between the companies.  Conflict is immediate and strong.
• Burt Peterson, who I love simply because he averts this, hilariously gets fired again.
• Don's mid-day call from Sylvia, bringing to mind a similar call from Midget in season 1 which Peggy overhears
• I cannot figure out what the heck switch flipped in Don there.  The only scene of him alone prior to that in the episode is when he overhears the fight from the elevator.  Could that be it?
• Bob Bentsen does what Bob Bentsen does, which is introduce himself
• After last week, I wanted to believe he's sincere.  I want to, but I can't yet
• Possibly the titular "man with a plan" as posited by Joan's mom?
• Whatever his motivations, he is empathetic/sympathetic.  Much like Margarey Tyrell.  Even if she is playing everyone in King's Landing she is making it the better for it
• No surprise that Ted takes a different creative approach than Don.  Where Don looks for his team to come to him with an idea which he then tears apart, Ted does a groovy free association, which goes nowhere in this case. 
• Sylvia is reading Last Picture Show
• After being drunk under the table by Don (who also took an opportunity to essentially demote Peggy as well by asking her to set up a meeting), Ted gets to turn the tables and unsettle Don in the plane
• In "Waldorf Stories" which features the Clios, Chaugh remarks on Don and Roger's drinking, asking at the bar if they left any drinks for the rest of them.  It's clear on the second drink that Chaugh can't hang, but he still sets out to keep up with Don, which may indicate some insecurity with the new arrangement, despite engineering it 
• After losing Sylvie
• Don's numb to everything including the assasination and his wife's feelings
• He stands there in the hotel shocked and saddened
• This, I believe, I believe is a microcosm of what's coming with Matthew Weiner's end game  
• Part 2 on that tomorrow
• So groovy now
• According to Wikipedia, this song debuted the day before the RFK assassination and rose to #1 that summer

Hey everyone, just a reminder that Joan's kid is Roger's and that Peggy and Pete have a kid together too.