Men Going Mad: Mad Men finished another season leaving me anxious for more. Season 1 was filled with folks grasping for their dreams, working diligently to make real the image they had of The Way Their Lives Should Be. In Season 2, many of the main characters got what they wanted only to collide with disappointment. This is clearest in Don’s case, when the 20 year-old, free-thinking, California chippie he diddles asks him directly: Why deny yourself what you obviously want? Surrounded by the temptation of a life that is the exact opposite of his “real” one -- the one that is falling apart -- he searches his past and finds an answer. Or so it seems.
Pete Campbell got the fast-track-ad-exec/well-monied-Upper-East-Side-WASP lifestyle he wanted and finds out he may have blown his chance for a child and a woman who understands him with Peggy, who he passed off as a bangable secretary, and is stuck with a dissatisfied wife and financially manipulative in-laws. Peggy, for her part, played the game and got her groundbreaking career, at the cost of a certain sense of shame at abandoning her child. Roger got out of his marriage and found what he thinks is rebirth and happiness with his 20-something trophy mistress, but he’ll get taken to the cleaners by his ex-wife and his relationship with his daughter may never be repaired.
At the end, it looks like Don was the only one who may have put “want he obviously wants” in the proper perspective, but I suppose we’ll see since Mad Men has been renewed. Now the agonizing wait starts and we live once again in a TV world devoid of drama for the ages.
On last interesting note: Mattew Weiner, the series creator, made an comment during a recent interview about one similarity between Mad Men and The Sopranos, which he produced. He said in both cases what makes them unique is that the characters often find themselves in need a sweeping change in their lives, thoughts, needs, etc., but unlike most dramas, the people in their lives form barriers and act as a hindrance to their personal development. I find that fascinating, and quite true to life. People often view others as props in their own life and are deeply resistant to letting them change. Like the saying goes, the expectations of friends and family can hold you back more effectively than anything else. Which gives me the expectation that next season may concern itself with the question, “Do people ever really change?”
