'Mad Men': Unhurried approach lends to easy summation
Is it just me or is "Mad Men" slowly turning into "The Sopranos"?, asks Dave Itzkoff
It's not that the men and women of Sterling Cooper are prone to violent outbursts or frequenting seedy New Jersey strip joints.
Rather, Matthew Weiner, a former "Sopranos" producer, and his "Mad Men" writing team seem to be enamored enough with their characters to trust them to take the show to interesting places, utilizing an "assemble, sit back, record" approach.
The occasionally transcendent image aside, Don and Betty Draper kissing in the moonlight at the end of the episode for example-this may not advance the internal narrative of the series to any great degree.
This does, however, he says, lead to the easy summation of episodes.
"Cheech & Chong" story line : Peggy Olson, Paul Kinsey and copywriter Smitty are stranded in the Sterling Cooper offices attempting to create a Bacardi campaign over the weekend. Brain power and alcohol prove insufficient inspiration and they turn to marijuana joints delivered by Kinsey's former Princeton classmate Jeffrey.
"I'm Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana,"is a line that will live long in the minds of the show's fans!
"Davey and Goliath" story line: little Sally Draper steals a $5 bill from Grandpa Gene, then learns that stealing is wrong. A teaser for next week's episode shows the Ossining police pulling up to the Draper home are they there to scare Sally straight?
"Untitled Woody Allen Fall Project" story line: Don and Betty attend a country-club party thrown by Roger Sterling and his secretary-turned-wife, Jane, where the Drapers reveal their true colors while in other's company. Don is most definitely human enough, despite his faults, to be repulsed by Roger's blackface routine. (Then he hangs out with a guest from a wedding also taking place at the club, to show he's still a Man of the People.) Betty, meanwhile, shows that even the simple act of touching a pregnant woman's belly can be made unwholesome and icky. The Campbells dance, the Drapers kiss and all is right in the world.