Mad Men: Season Three
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Movie Reviews of Mad Men: Season Three
Movie Review: Is reality a dream?
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched the first two episodes of Mad Men season 3 last night with great interest. Shown on the BBC it had no commercial breaks and lasted an hour and a half. I have tried to think of what's different about this current run and I think it's become more soap opera and less insight into the world of Madison Avenue in the 50s and 60s. Less flair. It was always the creative haven, the man's world of invention and contention that excited me.
I have always enjoyed the way the camera moves in the first two seasons. Now the editing seems far more regular soap. The struggles of Peggy and Joan are fascinating. Each in their own domain. But it is the introduction of the British take-over that is a fundamental shift in Mad Men perspectives.
Was America overmanned? Is America overmanned? So far this is the only analogy that can justify the Brit angle. The cultural British invasion of the 1960s, so far at least, is not readily apparent in the storyline.
Competing forces. Change in the air. Social conviviality (the bar room scene where Peggy picks up her date, an excellent example). These are the strengths of Mad Men. To show and not to tell of liberalism, expansion and responsibility.
Mad Men is up there with the best television ever produced anywhere. The first two seasons were some of the best cinema as well. I hope you don't kill the individuals in the following eleven episodes. That would be failure.
Looking forward to Wednesday nights in New York city.
'The Fog' passed so quickly. The complexities of child bearing and child rearing shown with dreamscapes and surreal touches which seem to embrace the whole experience in just forty five minutes. Brilliant. Don resists teacher's temptation, Peggy steals her ambition, Pete's ignorance spills over his frustration. The Prison officer glides past Don in the hospital ward where they seemed to have bonded so well. Reality is a hard place.
I take back my comment about soap opera inclinations, the flair and imagination in that one episode was worthy of a poem. A poem I had not read.
Movie Review: Oh, Don!
Summary: 5 Stars
*Spoilers ahead. Just warning you!*
For all the fans and true "Mad Men" addicts out there, Season 3 was much-anticipated. At the end of Season 2, we had reason to believe that Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the charismatic creative director of Sterling-Cooper, had come to his place of reckoning and was ready to turn a new leaf (sorry for all the cliches) in his marriage, if not his career. His gorgeous, emotionally stunted wife Betty (January Jones) just found out she was pregnant, and they apparently decide to mend their marriage and try to make a go of it. Presumably, women didn't have many choices back in the '60's. Also, Betty just might be that kind of woman - she needs a man to complete her.
But right from the beginning of Season 3, the viewer can see that not much has changed at all, and Don is off being the bad boy again. Betty seems in a world of her own with her pregnancy, and then her father's decline in health and the subsequent decisions that have to made give her all she can apparently cope with. I found myself growing angry at her numerous times because of her cold, unfeeling treatment of her adorable children. Even with all his immaturity, Don seems to be the far more caring parent, at least while face-to-face with his children. Sally Draper, their little girl, had some of the best acting of the season, and I think she will mature into a terrific actress.
So much happens on the career front, it would be a mistake to give it all away in a review. I heard complaints from various people that Season 3 was too slow -- but remember that this is a show about character development and nuance, above all. The last two episodes, about the Kennedy assassination and the Season finale, are as action-packed as any plot lover could want. They are magnificently written and acted, and left this viewer, at least, panting for Season 4. What more can a series offer?
Movie Review: set in 1962-1963, we finally get the Kennedy assassination and oh, boy.....
Summary: 5 Stars
It doesn't seem like MAD MEN could possibly get any better but creator Matthew Weiner surprises us again by dazzling us even more in his third season of this outstanding show. Count on this season yet again walking off with all of the major Emmy awards. Set in 1962-1963, the cracks in society are beginning to show. We finally get the Kennedy assassination in MAD MEN, which was THE key event in the 1960s which led off a series of societal upheavals. Just like happened in the real event, some of the characters in MAD MEN plummet emotionally off the cliff in the wake of the assassination.
We see a few new players but they tend to come and go while the ones we've gotten used to in prior seasons remain the ones we see in depth this season. Don and Betty Draper are our leads again. They come together for the birth of their third baby but fissures in their relationship start up almost immediately afterwards. The business front is as problematic with more and more changes going on in both the ad game and in Sterling Cooper, especially being now a British company. This "being a British company" becomes more and more of a problem as each episode unfolds.
The other characters develop as well with sexism and racism still being the order of the day with all of them. Only Peggy struggles to break out of its tyranny. Gays are deeply closeted and Sal, the art director, has even more problems with it this season than he had in prior seasons.
Weiner has done a fantastic job of setting us up for the rest of the '60s to unfold. We really feel and comprehend the straight jackets everyone had on in 1963 as this season closes. However, these people are going to be given the opportunity to be freer but at exorbitant costs. I can hardly wait to see what Weiner has in store for us next season.
Movie Review: just keeps getting better
Summary: 5 Stars
the writing was superb once again, and the show has the acting chops to carry it through. mad men is a happy marriage of quality in writing and acting, sadly lacking in most other shows. this season didn't necessarily have the "bang" of the 1st one, but i loved the subtle nuances of the characters and their relationships. the finale was exciting and it definitely left you impatient for the start of season 4. the show is unpredictable...as a viewer, you can't assume too much about a storyline, as they take interesting arcs and sideturns, but this is a good thing. don draper is the quintessential alpha male, and you root for him even when he does detestable things. betty, the automaton housewife, comes out of her shell more this season than in past seasons, but in her controlled way. i generally tend to feel more sympathy for don than betty, which is probably by design...don't you just want to give don a great big bear hug? betty is not exactly the source of the warmth he needs in his life. i get the feeling she has depth somewhere, but it's hard to find through the superficiality that she seems to personify. don didn't marry her for her person so much as what she represented to him, and she surely has realized that and much more with the revelations found in that nondescript shoe box. there were so many great moments. and you've got to love joan. is there anyone more capable than joan? i have a feeling her hubs is going to see some (bad) action in vietnam in the future, but who knows (that's the beauty)? the other supporting characters are ALL just as rich: peggy, pete, roger, and the rest. i hope sal makes an appearance at the new agency, too. all in all, worth every minute of your time.
Movie Review: DON'T PRE-ORDER THIS NEXT YEAR!
Summary: 5 Stars
I cannot believe that amazon.com lowered the price of the wonderful "Mad Men" less than ONE WEEK after its release date. It's $17.99 today, 3/29/10. I preordered it in October 2009 and ended up paying a price of $28.99 when I received it just a few days ago. An $11 reduction immediately? What a slap in the face to loyal amazon.com customers and "Mad Men" fans. I thought amazon.com had more class and respect for their customers -- was I wrong? I understand that amazon.com does not making any pricing promises (see their pricing policies if you want) but this seems to be an especially callous way to treat loyal customers. Couldn't they at least have waited a while before lowering the price so drastically? DON'T BOTHER TO PRE-ORDER SEASON 4 OF "MAD MEN" FROM AMAZON.COM: the lesson seems to be that those who pre-order are taken advantage of, and those who wait will get the best price. (amazon.com played fair for the Season 2 preorder; why not now?) About "Mad Men: Season 3" the DVD itself? Of course it's wonderful, it's one of the best pieces of dramatic work ever, it's a must-have for any "Mad Men" fan. It's simply excellent. The old-fashioned glass of whiskey on the DVD box cover is a gorgeous hologram. But I can't watch Season 3 right now. I don't want to take out my anger at amazon.com on Don Draper!