Sometimes I think Mad Men just tries too hard to be artsy.
For example, those fucking dream sequences. (So I haven't seen The Sopranos, which apparently makes stellar use of dream sequences). But for the most part, those in MM are melodramatic and add nothing to the story. We already knew Betty was afraid of dying, I don't need to see that cheesy dream sequence with the table and the Sally and the mother-in-law to tell me that. (Why are they even trying to make me feel sorry for Betty at this point? More on that later).
Well, I liked Don's fever dream in which the rejects, fucks, and kills Andrea (fuck chuck or marry, anyone?), but they follow this horror immediately with the ever glowing heaven-sent Megan. All is well with the world! For Seitan's sake, where's the anxiety of seasons 1 and 2? Where's the falling existential man? This guy is slaying his demons and being rewarded with a beautiful French Canadian. Fuck that. Is it just me, or did anyone else fall in love with Don because he was was soo flawed and sauve? He's everything our protestant culture tells us is wrong but he is so successful. Even being connected with him is wrong and titillating. I loved that moment he strangles Andrea. I think I watched the episode twice and said both times said "I'd pay to be her." But, MM writers, I want to wonder if the whole encounter were real or not. Let me not know whether or not Don is over his hedonism. Jeezus, did you not understand why Inception was successful? Answers are boring.* When all is revealed, I am at peace. Good art never leaves the viewer at peace.
That being said, I did really enjoy MM's chronological fuckery in "Far and Away." Playing with hierarchy of information totally gets me off, and mad props to you MM team. I might bitch and moan a lot, but that's only because it's more fun to complain than praise.
More on "Far and Away"....
I still like Peggy's trajectory and how it is mirrored in Jane and Megan. Maybe art is one of the last industries where it is still possible to sleep your way to the top (for men and women). My personal experience: When I try to be masculine and narcissistic, I fail. My voice still goes higher and cracks when I get angry. FML, I can never be a Don (neither can Peggy). And then I think "maybe I should play up my feminity. Just sleep with the Boss to get ahead." There's Jane, who uses sex to get the lifestyle she wants - the glamour, the intellectual friends, time to pursue shit that's not secretarial work (I hear you girl!). But she's bored. And then there's Megan, who uses sex to get a job and a career, but her benefactor doesn't respect her aspirations. So many times I have tried to use sex appeal to get a sale or residency and only been approached with proposals of dates (not sales). It's fucking demoralizing. Poor Megan. She is quickly becoming my favorite - relying on Don for her career but he also gets in the way.
(I won't rant about the annoyance of being female in a male dominated world now. I do want to hint at the fact that most male artists are either cads or too scared of girls....)
Anyways, good work, writers of Mad Men, for "Far and Away." Your dream sequences are still kitsch though. But I guess your decisions are still SOL for this season.
*Yo, writers of Lost. Your answers are not boring. and you didn't give me enough.
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