Monday, February 2, 2015

Mad Men: Don Draper's Secret Goes Missing



By Lars Trodson

The final seven episodes of "Mad Men" are scheduled to begin on AMC on April 5, 2015.

What does it mean when two of the most creative people in the “Mad Men” cast of characters are insane? While most of the employees of Sterling Cooper Draper & Price (or, lately SC&P) are excellent and efficient at their jobs, it is Don Draper and copywriter Michael Ginsberg that have the spark of real imagination, creativity and wit, and both of them are clearly off their rockers. Draper is self-destructive in epic ways, and when Ginsberg needed a valve to vent the rhythms emanating from the new IBM computer in the office and were vibrating through his body, he cut off a nipple and presented it to Peggy Olson as a token of his love.

Why do writers who write about writers see them in such a bad light?

I suppose I should be thinking of more immediate topics when watching the show, but there wasn't a single episode in the first half of "Mad Men"'s final season during which I didn't seek distraction. While the writer's neatly added some drama to the Burger Chef pitch by linking a successful moon landing to the fates of Don, Peggy and the rest of the creative team, the idea that there was any inherent drama in the search for a new client had clearly passed. There wasn't much in season seven that seemed terribly fresh.