Mad Men

A few weeks ago, I decided to write a few words about Mad Men when it finished. As it happens, I don't really know what to say - Mad Men is written about a lot, and very intelligently and insightfully. It is studied and pored over, TV critics and obsessive fans see things which I wouldn't have seen as a basic viewer. I have little to add here. And Mad Men was such a rich, brilliant, complex show that it seems a shame to write about it as prosaically as I undoubtedly will.

I also resolved to come up with a Mad Men Compilation, a list of songs in the spirit of the show, but, thankfully, realising just how pointless that would be, in light of perfectly curated the actual music for the show was, I've pulled out of that.

I had ... America - Simon and Garfunkel (of course) ,,, and Koka Kola - The Clash ...

Aah, Coca-Cola. Right, I should say, as people do these days, if you haven't got to the end and actually want to keep a few things a mystery, don't read on. I won't be able to do this without giving a bit away, of course.

So, Coca-Cola ... well, let me say, popping my collar, I picked it. Not that long ago, but during the penultimate episode (perhaps the thought had floated through my head before, though I do my best not to predict events in TV and films) I guessed, as Don fixed the Coke machine on the motel porch, that he was going to go back to work and come up with that Coke ad, arguably the most famous TV ad of all time. So bully for me.

It was a great trick, a fitting ending, better than any of the other theories fans and critics came up with. The show finished, in almost all cases, humanely, realistically, cynically but hopefully. It got it right. As it did nearly all the time.

Right, I'll stop trying to make big points. Here are just a few distinct thoughts I have about Mad Men.

1. I came to Mad Men after it had run for two seasons, I'd just watched The Wire, which I thought was the best thing ever. I was persuaded to watch Mad Men, I was told it was cool and stylish and what have you ... it seemed a lot of people, friends of mine and media people, were really into it. To start with, I liked it but didn't love it. It didn't seem to have the scope of The Wire, lacked the power, the sweep. I didn't want to focus on just one man, and someone so dull as an ad man either. I liked it,  I didn't love it.
As it progressed through the seasons, the viewing figures, the interest of my friends, the trophies and the critical hysteria, they all died away a little, people said it was losing its way, past its prime. I must say, to me, it kept on getting better and better, and I'm not just saying that because it ended so well. It got deeper and deeper, I understood it more and more, trusted it more and more. Maybe, that's because I read around the show, saw in all those critiques and discussions just how clever Matthew Weiner was trying to be - I had my eye out for the symbolism and the big ideas. The Wire wasn't so much about the symbolism and the big ideas.

2. Having said that, no one would deny that there were moments that tested you with Mad Men. There were less compelling, less believable episodes. There were characters, sometimes men but usually women, who were treated a little contemptuously by the show, serving as mere cyphers for Don's (or maybe Pete's) big story before being casually discarded. But I never felt the show lost its way, it always pulled me back in again quickly. Yes, there was repetition - Don did go through the same cycles over and over again, but that's the point, isn't it, and to set that against a backdrop of the world changing, the man aging, so that the mistakes and decisions he took had a different effect on him and others each time, that was what it was all about.

3. In the end, Don Draper was, of course, the main focus, but seven seasons gave time for so many great characters to emerge. Harry Crane and Ken Cosgrove - supporting characters throughout, never the main focus. But, I feel, very important to show. Watch back the first series or so, and it's interesting, it's Ken that seems like the standard obnoxious lad, Harry's a bit meek, the family man, the geek. I'm sure that's deliberate. As it turns out, Ken is pretty much the only unambigously good guy (maybe Stan too) on the show, Harry, of all of them, turns out to be the biggest scumbag, the real skincrawler. Harry never really gets comeuppance, indeed he's in a pretty good place at the end, but it was nice that he never got the big payout. Ken, well, it kind of comes up roses for Ken, he's happy and successful, he gets revenge on those that undervalued him, but he has turned his back on his creativity, which is a bit of a shame. Ken was the Slim Charles (Wire reference) of Mad Men for me - the background guy you rooted for because he was made of better stuff than the rest.

4. As it drew to its conclusion, I found myself surprised by how emotionally involved I was - how much of the last season (in its two parts) I was moved by. Mad Men didn't go over the top on death, but the passing of Bert and the in particular the fate of Betty in Season 7 cut deep. Betty was unfairly maligned as a person throughout, I felt. Was she really that bad, that vain, that selfish? Did she not deserve to be a bit selfish?
Of course, looking back, lung cancer seemed an obvious end for her, early death also an inevitability. How thoroughly rounded it all seems now.

5. In defence also of Don - yes, he could be a wretch, but was he really all that bad? He had his moments. Mainly, his treatment of the women he was in relationships with was awful. Obviously. But he wasn't a straightforward chauvinist, nor a racist nor homophobe nor snob. He's the one who wouldn't have let Joan prostitute herself, he's the one that saw Peggy's talents. He showed kindness to strangers and was often more fair-minded than others. Was he really a terrible dad? He had good relations with his children, he saw them often, he cared and empathized for the most part. There are a lot worse, I think. I'm not going to try to go into the character in depth, all that he may or may not represent, all that he was looking for and looking to escape from, but honestly, on a basic, unnuanced "arsehole scale" of the characters in Mad Men, for me, he's nowhere near the top!

6.  Roger, for all his charm, now there's a proper arsehole!

7. I've never known another TV show given such academic analysis, nor so deserving of it. I'm so glad it ended brilliantly, because a lot of TV shows don't. The Wire didn't actually. Mad Men was allowed to travel its full journey at its own speed. and I think its reputation will only grow as the years progress.

That's all I've got really ....