Making Too Much of Mad Men (S6/E8)

We want control.

That’s obvious. But we still want it. And maybe we want it more intensely because of that.

We want her, the doctor’s wife. We want her to help us recover when we are sick, to ask us if we like it, to give oatmeal (or soup) when we are sick. We want a favorite toy, something that will drive too fast, that will take us hunting. We want something we can break, even if we break it only to demonstrate our own power.

Or we want the opposite of control.

We want to tap dance on a bum leg. We want to strut around the office, shouting inspirational madness and misspelling Chevy and we want to do it all without any sense of shame. We want to stand beneath a picture of an apple, bleeding from a puncture wound in our arm, and we want to laugh and joke about how we don’t even feel a thing.

Too much control leaves us passed out cold on the ground, exhausted from a manic exertion. Too little leaves the back door open for some imitation grandmother to swoop in and steal all of our watches.

We all seem so grown up, but we’re really just kids.

Last night Don Draper did what has become a habit for him over the last few seasons. He is no longer the invincible alpha male, this time turning away the chance to conquer a lonely female, instead of seeking one out. There was a time when all that strutting and shouting about patience and determination and winning would have been met with rousing cheers rather than blank stares and a sarcastic “Well, that was inspirational.” There was a time when Draper could have dominated the Chevy workload by himself, with nothing more than a nap, a trip to the movies and a few sips of a dry whiskey. But he’s slipped. Now, he can’t even manage to come up with a coherent idea, despite being jacked up on a “vitamin” shot.

I’m reminded of Beowulf, the Saxon hero who, in his prime, had the strength to tear horrible monsters limb from limb. Then, as an aged king, pride brought him to his death, face to face with a dragon, and his arrogance left his kingdom without a future. What dragon will bring Don Draper to his demise? What hero will prove to be his successor?

Congratulations to Betty, for proving to be the most skin-crawlingly annoying character on the screen, despite appearing for only about half of a minute in the episode.