If anything could personify Mad Men into one scene, a case could be made that the opening to “Severance” is an excellent example. The show is equal parts surreal and sexual, with a bit of self-exploration thrown around. Obviously theirs more to it than that but for a long time during that opening scene I felt like it was just Don Draper standing in a room with another beautiful woman trying to seduce her. But then it’s revealed that she and him aren’t alone, in fact, they are surrounded by a bunch of other coworkers sitting in an office building. This show does so many things well and letting your mind wander with character motivation is one of them. It’s a perfect way to kick off these final eight episodes.
The only thing better than the previous scene is Roger’s mustache. The time jump goes pretty much unnoticed other than the fact that everyone looks remarkably different in their bright orange and large sideburns. It’s an enormous difference from the drab toned down early sixties of the first season. But one thing that hasn’t changed is Don Draper, while that may come off as uninteresting to a first time viewer, it’s carried by the fact that in many ways he has tried to become a better man so many times, and he fails every single time. Either because of himself getting in his own way or some outside force. The scene in the dinner showcases how much Don has changed since his childhood but also how little has changed since he became an ad man.
“I mean just look at that glorious thing!”
As the drama moves on to the office, Kenneth got boned. Mathis try’s to set his boss Peggy up on a blind date and Joan gets harassed by some nimrods during a meeting. Peggy calling out Mathis over his lack of thinking when it came to setting her up was pretty funny. obviously she’s stuck in some sort of rut where she always worries about work and has no time for herself and her personal life. She’s become the female Don Draper, minus all the sexual exploits. Joan has always been a likable character, so it’s cool to see her jump from a secretary to an ad woman herself in the many season’s we’ve watched her. As for Kenneth, the unsung hero of the office, He got fired. Mainly because of the social politics of his father in law is retiring.
Don’s dream of Rachel was almost as surreal as the opening scene; it ended abruptly and once it was over you could tell it was a dream. So when Don is eventually told that Rachel had died I wasn’t entirely surprised but his reaction was heartbreaking, having been such a large part of the first season it’s understandable why he would be so shaken. But the highlight of the episode for Jon Hamm was the sitting Shiva scene, subtext is what Mad Men is best at, and when Rachel’s sister told him about how here life was perfect and she had everything she wanted in the end. You could tell Don was about to break, some part of him still couldn’t believe she was gone and part of me thinks that he doesn’t believe what her sister said. The thread throughout all of this is Don’s obsession with a Waitress, and how much she reminded her him of somebody. Her words at the end put a nice button on the episode, “When people die everything gets mixed up. All you want to do is make sense of it.”
Peggy has always been a character you want to see finish well, sure she’s done some dumb things. Like saying to Joan in so many words, you can’t dress the way you do and expect to be treated the way you want. But more or less I’ve wanted her story to end well, because my guess is that Don’s will not. So seeing her on a date and enjoying herself was a nice change of pace for her, so much of her time spent with Ted last year was conflicted and secret. So it’s nice to see her openly like a guy (Devon Gummersall) enough to ask him to fly to Paris with her, even though she was incredibly drunk at the time. Which is why she woke up and regretted how close she became, she’s built to deflect feelings.
“This Eye patch itches”
A nice acknowledgment was the fact that we heard Peter and Joan talk about the money they received when they sold to McCann, it was even funny to hear Pete complain about all the money he needs to put away. But Joan Splurged on some clothes with all that money after she was embarrassed by the three pigs that work for Topaz, she held it together well and I don’t disagree with her about burning the office down. My one complaint about this episode was how scummy those guys actually were, I’m all for sexist assholes running around New York in the early 70’s, that’s just how it was. But for a show that does Subtlety so well it was a bit awkward to see three men hammer the nail down that they were disgusting, when there are better ways to get that across.
Ken has always been in the background of this show, much like Harry (Mr. Potato head), so it was nice to see him rebound from his firing so well, he lost his mind in the phone booth and talked to Don about life not lived. But immediately got back on his feet and turned the tide on his former job, it was a bit sad to see his wife plead to him about quitting his job and write his novel, because she was right, he wasn’t listening. She wants him to be happy and live the rest of his life enjoying it. But all he talked about was how he respects the company, when they don’t give a crap about him.
The kick off to season 7.5 was a great one, we caught up with a bunch of great characters and have yet to meet a few. From Don’s obsession with the waitress to Peggy dealing with a hangover, it was a great way to reintroduce us to this world without it actually being a premier. It will be sad to see this show go, but it will certainly be an enjoyable ride to the end.
