Mad Men

[Color Me Badd Fan]

After looking through the entire archive of The Critic's Corner, I am dismayed and ashamed to find not one, but two previous Mad Men threads.

I blame the search function. It didn't return mad, men, or mad men when I searched.

Also, I'm halfway through season 2, and either my enjoyment is merely growing with each episode, or I think it's better than season 1.



You identify Don Draper as an antihero, which is an above-average observation, but all you can take from Peggy Olsen and Joan Holloway is their attractiveness? They're both central characters that reflect the feminine POV in a masculine environment.

Unfortunately the girl that plays Don Draper's wife is a horrible actress. I'm not really sure what the writers are trying to convey with her. I saw her interview on one of the late night talkshows and she's as dumb as they come. She's a former Abercrombie and Fitch model who went out with Ashton Kutcher and I'm not sure if she has progressed much beyond that point.

Joan Holloway's character might be going away, though that's far from sure. That would be a loss.

The show has a lot of fertile ground to cover in the upcoming seasons because of the time period. They provide subtle and overt hints periodically about the exact time that a particular episode is taking place. Right now, they're on July 4, 1963, which means one of the next 3 episodes or so will cover both Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech (August 1963) and the JFK assasination. Next season they'll have Beatlemania (or maybe late this season), and then they'll feature the changes in music, fashions, social values and then Vietnam. Can you imagine what this show will do with the late 60s? It will be interesting.

[wuapinmon]

I've always interpreted the opening credits as foreshadowing that Don Draper is going to defenestrate.

[falafel]

I've always interpreted the opening credits as foreshadowing that Don Draper is going to defenestrate.

There's a word that doesn't come up often in everyday conversation.

[Levin]

Unfortunately the girl that plays Don Draper's wife is a horrible actress. I'm not really sure what the writers are trying to convey with her. I saw her interview on one of the late night talkshows and she's as dumb as they come. She's a former Abercrombie and Fitch model who went out with Ashton Kutcher and I'm not sure if she has progressed much beyond that point.

I totally disagree; I think January Jones has done a superb job. (I haven't seen any of Season 3, so my judgments are based off the first two seasons.)

Do you get the sense that her surface life is different from her inner life? Check.

Do you get the sense that she knows more than she lets on? Check.

Do you get the sense that her suffering is real? Check.

Do you get the sense that she maintains the order in the physical world (her home, her appearance) so that the chaos of her inner world doesn't swallow her whole? Check.

Do you feel her coldness toward her children is both a source of pain and relief? Check.

And her eyes -- don't you see that everything is expressed through her eyes?

I'm actually very impressed by her understated performance. I get that you may think she comes of as wooden; but it's not.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I totally disagree; I think January Jones has done a superb job. (I haven't seen any of Season 3, so my judgments are based off the first two seasons.)

Do you get the sense that her surface life is different from her inner life? Check.

Do you get the sense that she knows more than she lets on? Check.

Do you get the sense that her suffering is real? Check.

Do you get the sense that she maintains the order in the physical world (her home, her appearance) so that the chaos of her inner world doesn't swallow her whole? Check.

Do you feel her coldness toward her children is both a source of pain and relief? Check.

And her eyes -- don't you see that everything is expressed through her eyes?

I'm actually very impressed by her understated performance. I get that you may think she comes of as wooden; but it's not.

I guess you haven't seen American Pie 3 and Love Actually where she gave the exact same performance that you see in Mad Men. You're reading too much into her understated performance.

[Levin]

I guess you haven't seen American Pie 3 and Love Actually where she gave the exact same performance that you see in Mad Men. You're reading too much into her understated performance.

Perhaps; but her performance works for me.

[falafel]

I guess you haven't seen American Pie 3 and Love Actually where she gave the exact same performance that you see in Mad Men. You're reading too much into her understated performance.

But she was great as the lesbian pornstar in Anger Management.

[BoylenOver]

I guess you haven't seen American Pie 3 and Love Actually where she gave the exact same performance that you see in Mad Men. You're reading too much into her understated performance.

You're probably right, but for MM, it works.

[Viking]

You're probably right, but for MM, it works.

I rolled Don Draper-style for the birth of #3. I sat in the lobby of the hospital. When the baby and mom were cleaned up, I went into the room.

[UteStar]

I think the show is well done. I think it is interesting in showing the times...with that said, I have never really gotten into the show.

[BoylenOver]

The end to the second season is dynamite. Incredible.

[wuapinmon]

I should not be counted among the fans of tonight's episode. I thought it was poorly written and acted. January Jones is hot, and well, that's about it.

[wuapinmon]

I could really not care less about Betty Draper. Jones's acting is just so bad that it makes it hard to watch--even the dream sequence.

[Mormon Red Death]

I could really not care less about Betty Draper. Jones's acting is just so bad that it makes it hard to watch--even the dream sequence.

Whether she is doing a good job this year or not is debatable but the season 1 episode where she got fired from the commercial shoot after Don didn't take the job was classic.

The a-hole neighbor with his pigeons threatens to the little kids to shoot their dog and there she is cigarrette in her mouth shooting away.

[YOUTUBE]ltl0EQ9O7Gg[/YOUTUBE]

[Tim]

Sunday's was the best episode the show has ever had. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is a TV SHOW and not a film -- the acting, the production design, the characters -- all are simply unrivaled.