Mad Men Blog – Season 3, Episode 3

Well my friends, this show is really testing my patience. As I said last week, I don’t like to criticize; I like to embrace a show and just follow where it goes. If I am to stick to that premise, there is only one conclusion I can make about my Mad Men friends; it’s been a boring few weeks around there.

Seriously, if last week was a filler episode, what was this week? If you saw this entire episode in the ‘deleted scenes’ portion of the DVD, how bored would you have to be to get through it all? For the first time since I have been watching, I just wanted it to be over. Just don’t ruin the show, don’t get crazy and do something stupid, just roll credits and we’ll try again next week. You know what, I defended you after the opener like my life depended on it (and I don’t take it back; I enjoyed it, but you had your critics). I defended you last week in the face overwhelming opposition (and you made me look stupid with an even worse performance). This week, I’ve got issues, and you are just going to deal with them:

1. I’m bored. What am I watching? What’s happening? What am I cheering for? Honest question: why should I tune in next week? Only reason is because I am a fan of the show. I don’t have anything to look forward to.

1.b. Plot? I’m no expert, but a plotline of some sort would be nice. If last night was your first time watching Mad Men, how much better was that episode compared to an hour of home videos from 1962?

2. What gives with all the one-off storylines? Why is everyone on the show doing something different, and consequently, no one is doing anything of consequence? This week we had the office, the big party, the dinner party, and the house all going at once with zero connection between any of them. Four completely unrelated stories squeezed into 40 minutes. How is that supposed to work? I’m just confused as to what they were trying to accomplish.

2.b. Worst off-shoot is Betty’s dad. He grabbed his daughter’s boob already, and I am supposed to be comfortable with an episode where he is alone with a 10 year old girl for 25% of the show? I don’t think I need to go on here. On top of the awkward factor, it was boring and pointless anyways.

3. Remember the good old days when the show was about Don!? Maybe we should try that again, saying as it was the formula that put the show on the map. Pretty simple: we follow Don. Don does something awesome/confusing/morally questionable, but most importantly interesting. Maybe we check back in at the office, or with Betty, or even Peggy (hey JustBeingJosh, remember when that was the boring part of the show for you?), but I tuned in for Don. I cared about the off-shoots for how they directly or indirectly effected Don.

4. You can’t have 13 episode seasons and give me filler. Give me 26 episodes, and I’ll give you a break as long as the story moves along and I get a good open and a good close. Sorry. Those are the rules.

Ok, I’m done. Hopefully they are setting up something awesome, and I just can’t see it. As far as I can tell, this episode could be removed from the archives and 5 years from now, no one would notice when they watched the entire series. I hope I am wrong. OK, let’s end on a good note. Here were my highlights. A few nice moments, but they were just so small in comparison to how much boredom I had to sit through. But here you go, the only four moments of the show I enjoyed, in reverse order:

4. Joan rocking out as the domestic wife. That accordion scene was sweet. I could not tell if she actually ‘enjoyed’ the role, but she has certainly proven that she had it in her.

3. I love Peggy, and I like seeing her break out of her prudish mold, and succeed at work. She did both this week. It took way too long and way too much screen time to happen, but I always enjoy episodes where she progresses.

2. Don telling Roger that everyone thinks he was foolish. Don never crosses Roger, but you could tell that he was pent up. He needed to get that out. As awkward as it was, I think it helped.

1. When it happened, this actually made the whole episode worth it for me. It wasn’t until I thought about how frustrating and boring the whole hour had been that I got bitter. But when Don made out with Betty at the end, it momentarily redeemed the whole episode for me. It won’t last, but in that moment, Don realized what he had. He wasn’t foolish, and Betty was the reason why. Maybe he can never be tamed, but he won’t find anyone better as long as he wants to play the domestic game. I love those moments when he truly appreciates her.

Well, that's all folks. I kinda have a 'well it can only get better from here' sense of anticipation for next week. I really am excited about it. I think things are about to turn around. Hope springs eternal in my little corner of cyberspace. See ya next week!