The Mad Men Homestretch: Taking a Stab at Full Circle

So we are in the home stretch of the second to last season of Mad Men.  It's a season that's been a little rocky, but has never gotten worse than an average day for Amanda Bynes. 

The season started out on a decent and promising note with Don and Megan in Hawaii. It was filled with some cool motifs and what seemingly was going to be a cool McGuffin-type object with the engraved Vietnam War lighter.

But nothing ever came of it and we were pulled into another dark direction of Don's cheating lifestyle. But we've seen this time and time again. Don falls for an emotionally troubled yet intelligent brunette whom he can't have a relationship with. 

For me, I simply didn't care about this one for Don...because even if he gets caught, what's the worst thing that happens...Megan leaves him? It'd be nothing near the level of when Betty left him for Henry Francis. 

He's lived the divorced life, nothing would really be different. 

But since the lull that was the first few episodes, the show has had some fantastic episodes such as the MLK/Planet of the Apes episode and the Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Etc-Etc on a bunch of speed.

Then there was the classic, return to old form episode where we have a chase for a client, and in this case it was the Chevrolet for their new Vega. This resulted in an exciting merger, but hasn't come close to being as savvy and as interesting as the last merger. 

The episode sold the idea that the rest of the season would be built around selling the Chevy Vega...for better or for worse. Much like it did for Jaguar last season. 

But it hasn't and that's what's made this sort of a weird season. Like the late 1960s, it's had shining moments of great promise, but has been a letdown overall. 

Last night was another glimpse into greatness as we had one that made us feel like we were watching the Mad Men of old, the Mad Men that had its momentum. 

For one, it may have been Don's best episode of the season. The original power couple of Don and Betty briefly got back together. Don also showed his rare genuine side by enjoying the family time with Betty and Bobby. He once again seemed happy and not just the false sense of happiness he shows time and time again. 

But here in this episode, we see the Don that regrets ruining his marriage with Betty. When he sees her at the gas station, she looks like the Betty he fell in love with. Even though Betty can be pretty horrible at times, there's perhaps no better soul-mate for Don. While they both can be awfully cold, they make much better parents together than they do apart. 

Fat Betty is no more, and like a butterfly coming out of her cocoon...Betty returned to the Betty of old last episode. You almost thought it was flashback episode as the gas station attendant couldn't keep his eyes off her.  

As Betty and Don lay in bed, you know Don is filled with regret. But as Betty accurately points out...does this have more to do with Don not getting what he wants versus Don actually missing something great?

You can argue both. 

Sure, we've seen Don fight over something time and again just because he can't have it...and even when he does get it, he quickly becomes disinterested. I don't think this is the case with wanting to reunite his family. This is something he's tried to do over the course of the series and something that's genuinely broke his heart time and again. 

The whole Megan thing has provided him with nothing. So why not go back to Betty?

They still have a very dynamic and frustrating chemistry that made us fall in love with the show in the first place. 

For a long time the show was very good at making you hate yourself for liking Don. 

The same genius has also been seen in shows like The Wire and The Sopranos where we kick ourselves for loving monsters like Omar and Tony. As vile as they are, the viewer prays nothing bad ever happens to them and the same goes for Don Draper.

But Don has lost his touch this season. The gimmicks and charm he's skated by with over the course of the series simply aren't working anymore. Peggy has pointed this out numerous times this season. 

His progression is a metaphor for post-60s America and the great divide it created. Those who embraced the new ways versus those who were determined to keep the old. 

Just think Grand Torino. Minus all the racial slurs. 

Peggy's story is another great example of the post-60s metaphor. After her bohemian boyfriend Gabe declines to give away the race of the people who beat and stabbed him, she tells him there's a line between race profiling and bringing criminals to justice. This escalates in tension not only between them, but also within the neighborhood as the thieves suspect Peggy and Gabe will rat them to the cops. 

Stick 'em with the pointy end

This makes Peggy so edgy, she mistakenly stabs Gabe and almost kills him. In the ambulance ride, he tells her they are destined to fail as she will always be the enemy. The capitalist world vs whatever world he chooses to be a part of. Like all progressive and good change in the 1960s, there is always a price to play. We get civil rights, but we lose MLK and Malcolm X. 

Gabe tries to break down the barriers of white in black in one of the highest tension points in the 1960s, but ends up almost dying ironically through self created fear. 

That's the late 1960s in a nutshell and something that lasted until 1990 with the end of the Cold War.

So it's not necessarily adapt or die. It's take pieces of progress, then conform or die. Buy this. Buy that. The whole essence of the show. While we may change a bit, our whole existence is to consume and even through this time of great change, things are still pretty much staying the same. 

Thus is why I think Don will survive. Not just in terms with the show, but in terms of having a long career in advertising. His role just might change. I mean how much does Roger do? 

He will last, even if he's Don the Dinosaur. 

But in keeping the old ways alive, I think Don and Betty will reunite by the series' end. Don will still be successful, but won't be the advertising messiah he once was. Betty and Don will go back to their lives in the suburbs and just be washed away in normal. 

Weiner is just trying to bring it full circle for us.