Posts Tagged: TV Recap
Given that the third season of Mad Men came, with much fanfare, to an apparently 'game-changing' conclusion, all eyes were on last week's season four finale, "Tomorrowland" (written by Jonathan Igla and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Matthew Weiner), to one-up its predecessor. The episode turned out to be a much lower-profile affair; it confounded expectations by being shockingly not shocking. Fan predictions had ranged from the outright demise of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to Don (Jon Hamm) saving the firm at the eleventh hour by landing Disney as a client. Instead, Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Ken (Aaron Staton) work to keep the company chugging along by signing a significant but relatively small-time pantyhose company as a client, and Don proposes to his secretary Megan (Jessica Paré).
Season three's finale was exciting because it was the dissolution of the two institutions Mad Men had long centered on (Sterling Cooper and the Draper marriage), and the beginning of something new. We came into season four with endless expectations, not quite knowing what turns the show would take, but demanding that they be groundbreaking. When we were introduced in the season premiere to the new, modish, brightly saturated set, it was clear that things had changed, and excitement was bubbling. Continue Reading »
Tags: Aaron Staton, Cara Buono, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Jared Harris, Jessica Paré, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Jonathan Igla, Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, Rich Sommer, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
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In the very first scene of Mad Men's pilot, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," Don Draper (Jon Hamm) introduced us to Lucky Strike Cigarettes. Since before we knew about Dick Whitman, or even about Betty (January Jones) and the kids, we've known about Lucky Strike, and how important the account is to Sterling Cooper. Now, over the course of just two episodes, "Chinese Wall" (written by Erin Levy and directed by Phil Abraham) and "Blowing Smoke" (written by Andre Jacquemetton and Maria Jacquemetton, and directed by John Slattery), Don, along with the rest of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, has had to deal with the reality of losing the account.
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Tags: Blowing Smoke, Cara Buono, Chinese Wall, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Harris, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Robert Morse, Rosemarie DeWitt, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
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A couple of times over the course of this season of Mad Men I claimed that Don Draper (Jon Hamm) didn't have much at stake anymore in continuing to conceal his true identity. Turns out I was wrong. Well, at least half wrong. In my defense, in a key scene of this week's episode, "Hands and Knees" (written by Jonathan Abrahams and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Lynn Shelton), Don confesses his identity switch to Faye (Cara Buono) with very little in the way of repercussions. Don confesses as if speaking into a void, like he's not even cognizant of another person being in the room with him; he's simply saying the words because he can, because he needs to say them, and perhaps the most shocking part of his confession is how easily the words pass from Don to Faye. Faye even seems pleased that Don trusts her with the information, and tries to play the role of caretaker, reassuring Don that everything will be alright. At one point even Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) expresses sentiments similar to Faye's, telling Don that his past isn't really all that scandalous, and that they could ride things out should the truth be revealed. Continue Reading »
Tags: Alison Brie, Cara Buono, Christina Hendricks, Christopher Stanley, January Jones, Jared Harris, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Rich Sommer, Robert Morse, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
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Some Mad Men episode titles are more difficult to decipher than others. "The Beautiful Girls" (written by Dahvi Waller and Mattew Weiner, and directed by Michael Uppendahl) is, as it turns out, all about the girls. At one point, in a scene near the end, the episode could almost be a Fellini film, with Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in the Mastroianni role, as seemingly every woman in his life parades around him.
The primary challenge for "The Beautiful Girls" is to be as much about the women themselves as it is about how they relate to the men. Mad Men sets this challenge out for itself; after the parade-of-women scene, Don is removed from the equation and the episode closes solely on the women. Joyce (Zosia Mamet) returns and gives a rather inane speech (sort of sounding like a Salinger character, or something) to Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), where she compares men to vegetable soup and women to the soup pot, saying, "They heat 'em up, they hold 'em...they constrain them," before adding, "but who wants to be a pot?" I'm not sure why vegetable soup is Joyce's preferred metaphor, but with the final shot of Joan (Christina Hendricks), Faye (Cara Buono), and Peggy together in an elevator, it's clear that we're supposed to see the women of Mad Men as the soup, rather than the pot. Continue Reading »
Tags: Cara Buono, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, John Hamm, John Slattery, Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men, The Beautiful Girls, TV Recap
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Mad Men has always been a tightly packed show, and though meticulously paced and often spartan in plot, its greatest challenge is usually avoiding becoming muddled and weighed down by its many interwoven thematic threads. For example, this week's episode, "The Summer Man" (written by Lisa Albert, Janet Leahy, and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Phil Abraham), digs up so many ideas it's hard to imagine an hour-long television show finding room for them. From sexual politics in the office to issues of fatherhood, identity, and reinvention, to alcoholism and competition, to perspective and the role of the audience, there is a lot going on. With the added oddity of Don Draper's (Jon Hamm) narration, the episode feels jarring at times, especially coming on the heels of last week's brilliantly focused "The Suitcase." Continue Reading »
Tags: Christina Hendricks, January Jones, John Hamm, Mad Men, The Summer Man, TV Recap
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Spy stories are great vehicles for exploring ideas of identity, and I've always loved the moment that often comes when the spy goes so deep undercover that there's only one person who knows that the spy is actually working for the good guys. Invariably, this lone handler is killed, leaving no one to vouch for the spy's true identity. The drama then becomes less about the spy convincing people of his lies and more about him trying to convince people of the truth.
This is largely the situation Don Draper (Jon Hamm) finds himself in in this week's Mad Men, "The Suitcase" (written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzinger). When Anna Draper (Melinda Page Hamilton) succumbs to cancer, Don loses the one person he feels ever truly knew him; she knew his past and his secrets, and she loved him anyway. Now Don has been robbed of his one connection to the truth he spent the first three seasons of Mad Men trying to conceal. Like a spy without a handler, he's left stranded in a web of fabrication without any means to return to home base, and the foundation upon which he built his life has seemingly crumbled. Continue Reading »
Tags: Alison Brie, Blake Bashoff, Elisabeth Moss, Jennifer Getzinger, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, Melinda Page Hamilton, Rich Sommer, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
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Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is the proverbial self-made man. He transformed himself from penniless farm kid Dick Whitman into successful Manhattan adman Don Draper. He ostensibly rose to the top by means of his pure creative genius. Well, that, and a whole lot of lying. And also Roger Sterling's (John Slattery) drinking problem.
In this week's Mad Men episode, "Waldorf Stories" (written by Brett Johnson and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Scott Hornbacher), the story of Don's arrival in the advertising world is revealed through flashback, and, as it turns out, it's not at all the sort of grand event worthy of Don Draper's name. Rather, after shamelessly trying to get Roger to look at his portfolio, Don gets Roger embarrassingly drunk (before noon), and somehow manages to weasel a job offer out of the situation (which Roger doesn't remember the next day; who knows, maybe Don made it up). Continue Reading »
Tags: Aaron Staton, Brett Johnson, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Harris, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, Randee Heller, Scott Hornbacher, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
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I recently went car shopping with my brother-in-law. He's beginning his second year at college away from home, and his dad felt it would be best if he had a reliable car. He was given a budget and a few specifications, but, above all else, one golden rule: buy Japanese. It was a commandment given and accepted so reflexively that I doubt it was based on anything specific, rather than the general assumption much of America has come to live by, that Japan makes the best cars.
If the first half of the twentieth century was largely defined by war and the rise of the automobile, the great irony of the second half is that Germany and Japan would return to the world stage, only now selling cars. At a time when these cars are the default choice for many American families, it's strange to think about the transitional period depicted in this week's Mad Men episode, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" (written by Erin Levy, and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter), during which Americans were still growing accustomed to purchasing Japanese products. Continue Reading »
Tags: Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, Erin Levy, January Jones, Jared Harris, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Kiernan Shipka, Lesli Linka Glatter, Mad Men, Mad Men: Season 4, Robert Morse, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
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For three seasons we've watched Don Draper (Jon Hamm) keep up appearances. Every lie he's told and every affair he's pursued were presented against the backdrop of his sham of a marriage and the veneer of his picturesque suburban family life, until finally it all came crashing down around him. But Mad Men is not American Beauty, and it has never been about a simple deconstruction of the American family. As I wrote in my review of last week's episode, the many lies of Mad Men are both constructive and destructive, and "keeping up appearances" is always a double movement that sets the characters up as much as it knocks them down. Or, as is explicitly stated in this week's episode "Christmas Comes But Once a Year" (written by Tracy McMillan and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Michael Uppendahl), it's a continual struggle between what people want (and who they want to be) and what's expected of them. Continue Reading »
Tags: Alexa Alemanni, Blake Bashoff, Darren Pettie, Elisabeth Moss, Jared S. Gilmore, Joel Murray, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men, Marten Holden Weiner, Matthew Weiner, Michael Uppendahl, Peyton List, Rich Sommer, Tracy McMillan, TV Recap
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For all of the changes we've been promised in the wake of last year's finale, season four of Mad Men begins by reminding us that the heart of the show will always remain the same, singular question of just who this man, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), really is. And at this point the writers seem to be having fun with it. Last season's "The Gypsy and the Hobo" concluded with a trick-or-treating scene and a character asking Don, "and who are you supposed to be?" Now, the season four premiere, "Public Relations" (directed by Phil Abraham and written by Matthew Weiner), opens on a close-up of Hamm's face and a journalist's voice asking, "Who is Don Draper?" as if this were an AMC promo slot, with Hamm about to launch into his analysis of the character. Continue Reading »
Tags: Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Jared Harris, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men, Phil Abraham, Rich Sommer, Robert Morse, TV Recap, Vincent Kartheiser
3 Comments »
The last few years of Doctor Who have seen the season finales keep getting bigger and bigger, as former showrunner Russell T Davies seemed to thrive on creating ever more apocalyptic threats for the Doctor to face—to the Earth, to the universe, to Time itself. Eventually, you would think, a limit must be reached, beyond which no further escalation is possible. New showrunner (and writer of this episode) Steven Moffat may just have reached that limit with this two-part finale that begins with "The Pandorica Opens." Not only does the ultimate threat outstrip anything seen before, the episode is as densely plotted as any that Moffat has written for the series, picking up threads from across the whole season, putting them through some dazzling twists, and leading up to a cliffhanger that looks absolutely impossible to get out of. Continue Reading »
Tags: Alex Kingston, Arthur Darvill, Bill Paterson, Doctor Who, Ian McNeice, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, Sophie Okonedo, Steven Moffat, The Pandorica Opens, TV Recap
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Over the last five seasons of Doctor Who, the week or two just before the big finale has tended to be where the oddball, envelope-pushing episodes turn up. Format-stretching exercises (like "Love & Monsters" and "Turn Left"), cheap budget-savers ("Fear Her," "Boom Town"), and episodes that do without one or both of the regular cast (see "Blink" or "Midnight") have all appeared here. "The Lodger" fits right in with this off-kilter tradition, presenting Doctor Who as domestic sitcom. Its setting is something of a throwback to the previous era of Russell T Davies—the sort of mundane, present-day world which formed the bedrock of those years, and which this season seems to have deliberately avoided until now. Continue Reading »
Tags: Catherine Morshead, Daisy Haggard, Doctor Who, James Corden, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, The Lodger, TV Recap
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"Vincent and the Doctor" is one of the episodes this season that I was particularly looking forward to. It's not often that a writer as prominent as Richard Curtis gets involved with the show, and having the man behind Blackadder (as well as several highly successful feature films) contributing an episode was a prospect to savor. And I wasn't disappointed—the result is a complete success. While a bare plot summary—the Doctor meets Vincent Van Gogh and helps him defeat a giant chicken from outer space—might suggest a less than serious episode, "Vincent and the Doctor" is in fact a deeply felt piece of work, with a wonderfully complex portrayal of its central character and plenty to say about topics that Doctor Who doesn't normally touch. Continue Reading »
Tags: Bill Nighy, Doctor Who, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, Richard Curtis, Tony Curran, TV Recap, Vincent and the Doctor
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"Cold Blood" completes the two-part story of the clash between the Silurians—a species of intelligent reptiles that long ago dominated the Earth—and present-day humanity, showing the two sides being unable to overcome their seemingly irreconcilable differences. For the most part, the story quite closely follows the path taken by the original Silurian story (called, surprisingly enough, "Doctor Who and the Silurians") forty years ago. However, there's a real sting in the tail, courtesy of the overarching plot arc of this season, the "crack in the universe" that seems to be following the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan), and Rory (Arthur Darvill) wherever they go. Previously, the crack had been most prominent in "Flesh and Stone", where indeed it provided the actual resolution of that story's threat; here it simply arrives as an appendix to the main story. But more of that later. Continue Reading »
Tags: Arthur Darvill, Chris Chibnall, Cold Blood, Doctor Who, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, Meera Syal, Neve McIntosh, Nia Roberts, Richard Hope, Robert Pugh, Stephen Moore, TV Recap
4 Comments »
In all four previous seasons of the revived Doctor Who, the second two-parter of the year turned out to be one of the highlights of the season—see, for example, Steven Moffat's "The Empty Child" in 2005, or Paul Cornell's "Human Nature" in 2007. Unfortunately, this year that run of success is broken. Appropriately for an episode that centers around an underground drilling operation, "The Hungry Earth" is a slow-moving bore. While not actively dreadful, it functions mostly as a prologue for next week's conclusion, and struggles to fill its running time with meaningful plot and incident. Most of the good bits are repeats of moments and concepts that have been seen before in Doctor Who—some from decades ago. Continue Reading »
Tags: Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, The Hungry Earth, TV Recap
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