First of all, I just want to state that I am not a fan of the recent fad with film and television scheduling where the final season/film of a series is divided into two parts. For me, it's just a clever money-making tactic disguised as a way to create more suspense or further the longevity of a brand. If something is ending, just let it end! Or have two seasons. I have a really hard time thinking of the first 7 episodes of Season 7 as being directly related to the second 7 and it's purely because there was so much time between when they aired. They feel very different to me even though the second 7 episode are dependent on the events of the first 7. Oh well. That being said, I found Season 7A a little boring at times with a couple big, high points. Of course, the final scene of the half season in which Bert Cooper returns from the dead in the form of a singing and dancing vision Don has is the biggest. Don just sold out to McCann Ericson in order to keep his job. Bert appears as Don is returning to his office to tell him "The Best Things in Life Are Free". A fun and poignant send-off for the father of the agency and a treat for the viewer to see the great Robert Morse sing and dance! Some other high points: Don & Megan's divorce (and the weird threesome that precedes it), the onset of Ginsberg's mental illness and the self-removal of his nipple, and Bob Benson's proposal to Joan in which she would be his beard. For me, the champion episode of the season puts SC&P (the new agency name upon which all the partners finally agree after the merger) in the position it most feared: forced acceptance of change, technology, and the future.
Episode 4: "The Monolith"
A new computer is installed in the office making everyone except Harry Crane and Jim Cutler nervous about the effect it will have on their jobs. The creative team feels particularly bitter as the computer takes the place of the lounge they used for brainstorming and weed smoking. One of the copywriters, Ginsberg, is extremely hurt by the elimination of the lounge and goes to great lengths to try to save the couch. The office support staff, mainly secretaries, worry that the computer will render their jobs useless and result in firings. The computer is a symbol of fear of change. Most people claim they don't understand the need for it and fear it will ruin the office dynamic. The installation of the computer makes the office into a literal and figurative construction zone. People flinch every time they hear or see a tool. Are they hearing the sound of their job being cut from the list of office necessities? Some of the older guys in the office, mainly Roger and Don, fear the computer because they fear things that are new and young (unless they wear a mini-skirt, ba-dum-bum), but Roger seems to have some semblance of understanding the need to accept technology. Don, like everyone else, just sees this as a way to kick him out.
The yin to the yang of technological advancement comes in the form of Roger's daughter, Margaret. Or should I say Marigold? Roger's ex-wife, Mona, comes to tell him that Margaret has run away to a hippie commune in upstate New York. It's his job to go up there and get her back. Roger plays this as if he's trying to romance a client. He shows up and plays along, smoking blunts and sleeping in the run-down house with everyone. In the morning, he expects these gestures to have changed Margaret/Marigold's mind, but she's staying. Roger is rightfully frustrated that she is abandoning her son and husband. When she fires back at him that she's bitter from a childhood of being ignored by both her parents and city dwelling only makes her feel susceptible to repeating it for her son, Roger understands that he has no power to change her decision. She doesn't see that her abandonment of Ellery is equal if not worse than lack of presence her parents had. Roger walks away from the commune, mud splattered all over his suit, presumably never to see Margaret again. Perhaps Roger is seeing a part of himself in his daughter he never considered: like Roger, she's doing what she wants to do without much concern for the way it might affect those who love her. If only he would walk away from that with a lesson about his own character.
Back at the office, Peggy is put in charge of the new Burger Chef campaign and instructed to include Don as one of her team members. She immediately realizes that this is a set up by new Creative Director, Lou Avery, to watch both her and Don fail. It's a tough haul. Don's back at work, but his status is even lower than that of a junior copywriter. He's been thrown out of his corner office and is shacking up in Lane Pryce's old office (also the site of his suicide). When Peggy asks him to join in on the Burger Chef campaign he assumes it is because of his expertise as an ad maker. He is knocked down about 100 pegs when she gives him the assignment to write 25 tag lines. Don thinks this is some real bullshit; a job for an entry-level 20 year old. Feeling angry and degraded, he breaks into Roger's office and steals a bottle of liquor. And the audience at home screamed "NOOOO!". Don's not supposed to drink in the office because it makes him irrational. Take whatever you biggest fail due to alcohol is and multiply it by 20. But this is so true to character. If there is a chance that Don Draper can dig himself further into the rabbit hole, he's going to take it. This was hard to watch because all any Mad Men fan wants is for Don to get better. Luckily, Freddy Rumsen (a former Sterling-Cooper employee who got fired for a drunken mishap in front of a client and has now gone through AA) is a generous man. Don calls him looking to go to the Mets game and Freddy immediately realizes what's going on. He manages to get Don out of the office without anyone noticing his shiny, bloated face and saves Don his job. Freddy deserves all of the money in Don's bank account, man.
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T-minute one hour until the final episode of Mad Men ever. What were your expectations going in and were they satisfied? Are you happy with the ending? Join me next week for my final Escarole-back about Season 7B
Arugalater!
-Laura
