广告狂人第六季

MM 613 'In Care Of' Recap


The last episode of season 6 of Mad Men encapsulated runaway of all forms besides showing all the serious and casual commitments being made and broken.

‘If you wanna run, I’d do it now.’ - Pete

S6E13 wrapped up the whole season of the mad late 1960s showing the aftermath of being casual at decision-making whilst tagging the whole period as ‘not serious’.

‘Hershey’s isn’t serious’ about advertising. Teenages were not serious about drinking and law; men were not serious about their families and children; people were not serious about making promises. Don, the most notorious among all, breached work taboo and were considered not serious about clients and campaign presentations (Hershey’s, Sheraton, newspaper and tabacco, to name just a few). All they wanted was run.

Ted promised that he would leave his wife and escaped to Hawaii with Peg. Don told Megan they would move to L.A. and be happy again. Sally went to a boarding school to stay away from her always-occupied-and-couldn’t-pick-her-children mother and her ‘immoral’ dad. Even Pete’s mother ran away and got married with Manolo, both of whom ended up disappearing into thin air. Trudy said to Pete, who lost his mother, left his families and moved to the south, ‘You are free from everything.’

The men made decisions easily. To shoot two not one presidents, to start a war, to kill civil rights leader and innocent people on a foreign land. They were the decision-makers. And those who were being made the decisions were voiceless and vacant in the pictures.

‘You probably dictate the memo right to her and had no idea she’d be affected.’ - Stan

Stan’s remark was not just about Dawn, whose appearance and subplots in the whole season were disappointly scarce and had no punchline whatsoever, it also rang true for Peg and Ted.

Though I was for a moment believing that Ted would leave his wife and be with Peg and got really excited for the next season of this couple-to-be, I felt punched in the face when the guilty-look Ted showed up in Don’s office asking Don to put three hundred miles between him and Peg. But you must admit, what Ted did was right. Nevertheless, whatever he decided to do, the memo of divorce or breaking up would still hurt the other woman in his bed, badly.

The words were broken. The women were left to be disappointed. Yet as Roger pointed out, ‘you learn more from disappointment than you do from success’, will the women whose husband, lover, dad failed them, stood up and learned something? Looking at the silouette of Peg in Don’s office, I knew she would (and Peg&Elizabeth Moss was never an disappointment on the screen). Sally was looking at her father in the eye before the deserted two-story house that had once been a brothel and home to her father. I hoped she would pull her young self together and saw something big from the experience that her father went through, from a ragged boy to a man in clean suits and tie and hat. As Meg darted out of the flat, I was fingercrossing and wished she would not be written off the show(as what was done to her part in her show). The scenario of Don taking away Stan’s opportunity bore a resemblance to what Megan did to her European friend in the last episode of season five, yet we failed to see more dark and manipulative side of Megan this season. I hoped to see the independent-minded Megan of power return next year.

SC&P decided that they could survive with a casual vacancy. And indeed, it would not be too much to ask that this casual vacancy could remind Don of his responsibility since he would sure see the firm run normally, if not perfectly, without him.

Take a break.

‘Don’t you always go home, though? ’ - Peggy

Ted和Peggy的感情线是我的理想型。工作上的伙伴，互相激励，互相引发奇迹。旗鼓相当。生活中各种小细节的吸引。美妙刺激而让人沉醉。

Ted这个角色真是戳中了我一切萌点。行业翘楚，顾家有责任，认真，特么居然开会开飞机。
Peggy这个角色也符合我对当时事业女性的一切想象。不是完美的万人迷，上进努力，清醒的自我认知，敢爱敢恨，也敢做敢当。

Ted这个角色作为主角团竞争对手的时候并不讨喜，尤其是被主角团耍了个小计谋而损失利益时候更显得自大而滑稽。
然而，Ted和Don在Chevy案中惺惺相惜，联手拿下Chevy还顺手兼并公司即扩大了规模。令人刮目相看。这一段看得人热血沸腾。事实上，MM这几季中，最让人热血沸腾的就是每次公司面临绝境S&P的人翻盘的时刻。而Ted这个和Don旗鼓相当的行业对手，挖走了Don亲手带出来的Peggy后还各种不自觉的吸引了对方乱放闪光弹，闪瞎了一众公司的同事，真是看的我爽翻天了。尤其是Don那种“额……卧槽？……你们什么时候勾搭上了？”的眼神，真是看得我欲罢不能。Don不管是出于私心也好，公司利益也罢，毕竟还是在Ted与Peggy之间横插了一脚。Ted作为全剧唯一一个主动管着自己下半身一心想着工作的好男人，在清醒意识到自己真的喜欢上Peggy，特别是Don提醒了公私分离的时候，还是选择让孩子和妻子出现在公司。

这两人之间，从情愫丛生的一开始就互相明确了彼此应当井水不犯河水。然而终究是抵挡不住啊抵挡不住啊。我不得不承认，看到Ted因为Peggy出去约会而跑去她家堵门最后还是决定离婚滚床单真是得偿所愿。然而Ted毕竟还有家庭要顾及。和种马男主不一样，Ted最终还是选择离开Peggy，选择了家庭。

MM这个剧对于婚姻并没有做过多的探讨。角色们的婚恋状况更多的是服从与剧情需要和人物塑造。时代决定了这个剧中的人物男人风流成性而不用负责，女人持家为重却也逐渐自主。然而过程中难免出现Meggen这种立牌坊的婊子:一方面不能忍受Don的控制，一方面又用妻子的身份逼Don给自己的事业大开方便之门。

MM里的婚姻几乎没有一对是幸福的。甚至就没有什么让人艳羡的爱情关系。甚至连Ted和Peggy之间都背负着事实上“出轨"的原罪。

Ted最后对Peggy说：I love you that deeply. I can't be around you. Someday, you will glad that I make this decision.

听到这个说辞的Peggy是愤怒的，然而也是无奈的。

Ted是爱Peggy的，Ted却也担负这家庭，尽管他知道他并不爱他的妻子。甚至最后他与妻子离婚后，也没有再去找Peggy了。理由很简单，因为这个剧要完结了。主要角色Peggy和配角纠缠不清会挤占主线剧情，不值当。虽然我觉得Don在最后几集中的一些戏份完全是多余的。然而我不是编剧。

Ted和Peggy之间有一个好的开头，却没有一个好的结尾。

这就是所谓的有缘无分啊。


我真是超喜欢这种相互吸引。

他自己盗用别人身份，逃离战场，却不能容忍合伙人盗用他的签名。


他因盗用身份让公司损失几百万的生意，却不能容忍合伙人提前擅自领取7500元分红。逼死了合伙人。

他对自己所冒充身份的妻子充满温情，却对自己弟弟极其冷默，间接导致弟弟自杀。

他在很多人困难时帮助他们，却在平时给他们很多的冷漠和苛刻。

他在办公室像打了鸡血，回到家总是一滩泥。

他对婚姻从不忠诚，却质疑别人的诚信。

他搞了几个秘书，却强调公私分明。

他对有能力的下属总是要求秩序规则，他在上司合伙人面前总是不讲规则。

他自己乱搞的女人数不清，却让两任老婆严防死守。

他总是用一幅君子面貌看待风流的罗杰，却不知罗杰是真正的有情有义的人。

他把每次约会都搞得像交配，罗杰把每次约会都变成恋爱。

他总是放任自己的冷漠傲慢自大，却不能容忍下属和别人的骄傲。

他总是将一切归罪于自己的童年，却不肯给孩子温馨的童年。

他总是贬斥皮特，却不知皮特是个动力强劲，判断准确，很讲原则，极为上进的人，一个忠实的达尔文主义者，一个道德标准比唐高的人，一个追求公平的人，一个很像乔布斯的人。

他总是打压皮特，却又在其最需要帮助时候默默帮了他。

她可能以为joan轻浮，实际joan毫不轻浮，而他自己极其轻浮。

他身为广告创意人，却对文学艺术不感冒。

第六季终于结束了。季末的Don，可谓中年危机的一次爆发。情人在败露后彻底崩了，女儿还偏偏撞见，这等羞惭事也亏得是Don能撑住。女儿在boarding school停学，自己本来想远走加州，又让給了ted。回来家，Megan对他的出尔反尔也是忍无可忍，估计这婚姻的分崩离析也不远了。I don't know Don. We don't have kids. 人家Megan都说的很明晰了，美剧又不是过日子，一般台词都是草灰蛇线，何况Mad Men编剧一直水准颇高。

这部剧播到第六年，Don为首的这群mad men,也从上升期到了鼎盛期，现在已然是强弩之末。对生活的激情早已耗尽，哪怕是对广告本身，也未必再如以往那么创意无限。不过多年经验积攒下来的老辣，倒比创意本身发挥的作用更大。看这一季合并之后的Don和Ted,Don阴谋阳谋一起，把Ted收拾了个服服帖帖。最后俩人因为心理处境的相似，反而惺惺相惜，也是Don愿意把去加州的机会拱手送给Ted的原因。Don到了此时，对对手就不再咄咄相逼了，能举重若轻抹掉威胁，又能在关键时刻伸手相帮，是精明老辣，反过来看，也是一种心灵救赎。

同样强弩之末的也是Ted. 他虽比Don小几岁，人看来也直接单纯得多，没有Don那种心里能藏事的本事，这次和Peggy的确是玩得太过火了。他一边强调是真爱，一边回家看到妻儿还是觉得以全局为重。Peggy就更是了，穿着性感洋装和丝袜故意甩脸给Ted看，没让我觉得可爱，反而有一种desperate的感觉。而最终在办公室里加班的落寞，更是有种清冷，前尘已了，怅然若失。

最后孑然一身的Don选择了带着孩子去回顾自己的过去。正视历史，等于重新定义现在。同样地，讨人厌的小背头peter，还有和得罪了女儿的Roger，都定格在和孩子一起的时刻。和孩子在一起，是不是暗示着他们已然没有多少未来可盼，或是暗示着他们都得重头再来，从能从目前这份迷惘里跳脱出来呢。看着Don长大的妓院残破不堪，门口却又坐一个小黑孩，仿佛看到不断闪回的那个穿背带裤脸色苍白的童年的Don。愿他能通过“过去”，搭上那辆开往未来的车，能reconnect to this world.

Mad Men 609 'The Better Half' Recap


So. This was the episode that Mad Men went totally MAD.

‘You obviously had a traumatizing experience.’ Peg said.

‘Don’t patronize me.’ Abe answered.

S6E9 revisited the traumatizing experience, casting the shadow of confusion, chaos and violence on those who were not on the spot and claimed that a few lunatics would not ruin their gorgeous nights.

As if answering to Don’s epiphany in the last episode - It is nothing but history that holds people together, people of the past did appear or was mentioned in this episode. Here was Duck. And they mentioned the late Pryce and Gleason and Robert Kennedy.

Due to its role that drew people together, the past was obliged to be something precious and wonderous. Or, as the popular ‘Planet of the Apes’ indicated, the past was ‘the paradise’. Soon after Duck disclosed that the wellspring of his confidence was his family, we saw a family-reunion - in a camp site or a countryside b&b. Lost in the amazement of the oozing sweetness of Bobby and his handsome father and beautiful mother, we found ourselves cannot but agree with Duck- Family could be paradise-y.

Or could it?

Because it was an episode about the collapsing of family and of loving couples. Its theme wasn’t Duck’s motto, it’s Betty’s - ‘Loving you is the worst way to get closer to you’.

The couples, if not families, broke up. It sent a thrill down the spine of mine to see Abe accused Peg ‘you are always the enemy’. Maybe he was confused, or maybe it was true and it was because he said nothing and we couldn’t tell that he had long been frustrated about his girlfriend being a conservative high-brow bread-maker. But the accusement still was horrible, as horrible as the stabbing (why people keep stabbing??), considering of the high possibility that he might not survive and the accusement would hurt and haunt Peg, for, like, ever. To quote Arlene, you could not disagree, but you didn’t have to embarrass or in this context destroy, her. This scene resembled the previous quarrel between Pete and Trudy. Pete could not tell Trudy the unspeakable deeds of her father, yet he did. Anyhow, thanks God Abe made it.

Then it was the issue between Peg and Ted. It did not work out. It was like a blow in the face to see two men closing the door with unconscious indifference in front of Peg, in the acme of her vulnerablity. But in the end, there was nothing wrong with Ted being the guy who went to bed before 2 p.m., otherwise it would be too confusing.

To stop the confusion, Joan asked Roger to stop dropping by without notice. ‘I know you want to. But I can’t count on that’, Joan shrugged when Roger claimed that he only wanted to be around.

‘The forbidden zone is once a paradise.’ This depressed episode was a manifesto of the invalidity of love of all sorts, showing that love was a mere intermezzo, a midway thing. It was in the constant threat of violence - the robbery, the neighbourhood chaos, the stabbing spines, the words of wrath. Midway it was cut short. And you went astray, finding yourself alone in the darkness of the forbidden zone.

Maybe Matthew Weiner was confused or maybe it did happen. Alert when you are in love, but the other part just says ‘I missed you.’

Don’t count on that. Take a note.