SAN ANTONIO - A few words before we get started here. My name is Jerrod Kingery and I love watching TV. I decided to try and share some thoughts about my favorite shows after I watch them, and figured the 4th season premiere of “Mad Men” was a good place to start. Ideally, I’ll be done with these not long after they air. But if I’m not, eh, nothing bad will happen. Keep in mind I’m often at the mercy of the unpredictable Time Warner Cable and its iffy DVR software. Now, to “Mad Men.”
Don Draper has one of the more fascinating origin stories on TV. Born Dick Whitman, he assumed the identity of his commanding officer who was killed in the Korean War in order to escape a childhood that was only slightly less depressing than The Grapes of Wrath. Oh, and he helps to support the widow of the real Don Draper, and is able to leave New York for weeks at a time to do housework for her in California. To top it all off, he’s a creative wizard in advertising, has pretty much any woman at his disposal (and a hot wife that left him for a similar man because of it), and a deep hatred of hippies. But beyond that, what else is there?
It appears Don doesn’t even know that. The episode begins with Don being interviewed by a one-legged Korean War vet for Ad Age. When asked “who is Don Draper?” he sidesteps the question, attempting to portray modesty. Instead, as the reporter sees it, Don is nothing more than a “handsome cipher.” Burn.
Season 3 of ended with the dissolution of the Sterling Cooper agency (oh, and Don’s marriage) and the thrilling formation of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and we get a neato ‘60s-style intro to the new agency. The one-legged reporter mentions the success of their cinematic commercial for (apparently once-real) floor-mopping product Glo-Coat and just how awesome it is (there’s a cowboy kid in a makeshift jail, put there by his mother for the“hanging offense” of leaving footprints on a wet floor…the '60s didn't mess around) Only things aren’t going that great, what with all the hope for the success of SCDP being hung on Don’s Ad Age profile. The company needs a face, and Don is it. Oops. Roger Sterling sums it up: “You turned all the sizzle from Glo-Coat into a wet fart. Plus you sound like a pr***.” Roger Sterling rules, even more so than Don...and that's a pretty tough thing to do. It helps that the writers give him all the killer lines. Anyway, it seems the Don Draper everyone was counting on is essentially missing, and SCDP is screwed.
We get our first look at the new Betty Draper/Henry Francis marriage(?) at Thanksgiving dinner, where things seem to have fallen into a sort-of status quo, and we see the further plight of one of the saddest characters on TV, Don’s daughter Sally, here being petulant about hating cranberry sauce and yams with marshmallows, embarrassing Betty in front of Henry’s family. I can hardly blame her, that stuff is gross AND her mom is married to a creepy old '60s guy. Plus her baby brother, Eugene, is named after the grandfather she was super terrified of, among other things. Yeah, her story should end well. That’s not all that’s going on there: Betty and Henry are living in the house Don still pays a mortgage on and Betty won’t move out of (I thought men in the '60s didn't take crap like that from dames), Henry blows off sex with Betty because he’s too full from dinner, Henry's mom totally nails him by asking how he can stand “living in [Don's] dirt” regarding the ice-queen Betty, and Sally trying tocall her father in the middle of the night because, well, she’s messed up by everything I talked about before. Happy Thanksgiving!
Can I stop here and talk about how crappy it must have been for guys aged 18-34 in the ‘60s, what with all the women in your age group being attracted to older guys? Don was on a date with a 25-year-old actress (who’s many roles like “wench” and “courtesan” were dripping with meaning re: Don’s relationship with women) and Betty, who must be what, late-20s/early-30s, was with the older Don and the MUCH older Henry, who has a son that looks to be about Betty’s age. That sucks...all the girls your age want a guy your dad's age. Plus there was the whole Vietnam thing. Bummer.
I’ll breeze past the hooker smacking Don around (at his request) and get straight to the fight Pete and Peggy stage between two housewives to promote a canned ham. I loved the housewives they hired, mostly because they seem to have come straight out of a ‘60s sitcom, and I love it when the show does that. If only Roger Sterling were in the scene to give those dames a misogynistic (but more than appropriate for the time) dressing down...
The episode ends with Don, after words with Betty and Henry regarding just when they are going to get thehell out of his house, throwing clients out of the office, telling these prudes what’s what when it comes to selling bikinis, or “two-piece bathing suits.” Hell yes! Don then schedules a meeting with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal in order to repair the damage done by the interview that opened the show.
As the music swells, Don tells the reporter the legend of the formation of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce,and at the same time retakes the reins of Don Draper.
You hippies and prudes watch out: Don Draper (and, by extension, the thoroughly-awesome "Mad Men") is back. Enjoy it.
And while you're at it, grab them both a whiskey neat, will you?
Your thoughts? Cocktail recipes? Post them here in the comments section or email
JerrodKingery@woaitv.com
