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snick_backupYou guys, this show is so smart, so meticulous, and (I realize this is entirely missing the point) so pretty. The acting is excellent and the writing is sharp (but not too sharp). And it's got great music.
1.01 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
So clearly this is a show setting itself up to talk about gender issues and particularly gender (and to a lesser extent racial) inequality in the 60s. In this first ep alone, we implied this intention almost too many time to count. I think that would be my complaint, actually: the baldness with which we state, in every setting visited, our social expectations for women felt a bit much. I think we could have made half as many sexist comments and gotten our point across sufficiently; what we actually get feels like overkill.
In this morass of infuriating misogyny, it's a little difficult to address the actions of any particular character with much focus. There isn't a single male character on this show that invites a shred of sympathy (except possibly the one tall guy with the dark hair, and he chucks it all a couple of episodes down the road). As an illustration of the social conditions, I suppose that's fair enough (although I am skeptical that this is wholly representative of the times), but it means that Don Draper comes off better than he ought in this episode simply by comparison.
Speaking of, I fibbed; Don does seem set up to invite sympathy. He's a war hero (under another name, we learn a couple of eps down the road), and, per his conversation with Rachel Menken, he's apparently in a constant state of low-grade existential crisis. Aww.
I quite like how we're given this treatment of him the whole episode, in which he seems to be interested in only one woman at a time, sticks up for Peggy, and skips the bachelor party, only to discover at the end that he's married, with a beautiful house in the suburbs. All that angst, that lovely artist gal he keeps company with - all cast into a whole different light. Very smoothly done.
I've heard warm things about Joan, and she's definitely not lacking in charisma. I'd be curious to see her first introduction with Peggy, and what it was about Peggy that made Joan take her under her wing (as she clearly doesn't do this with everyone). Nothing more to say at the moment about Joan.
Peggy I have a lot more to say about in the next ep. I will say that I'm not certain exactly what motivated her to sleep with Pete Campbell. Roommate (who watched the first ep with me and tells me she's hooked) thinks it was because Don gave Peggy the brush-off, and she slept with Pete to make herself feel better. However, I have trouble imagining how sleeping with the guy who criticized one's clothes as soon as he met one and then shows up one's doorstep steaming drunk would improve anyone's day.
On first watch, I thought it was more deliberate - that she decided if she couldn't get the in with Don that she thought she should aim for, she should take what alliances she could get. Since it's clear (to me) that her move on Don was deliberate, I could see her making that decision.
Speaking of Pete, you guys, CONNOR. Man, this is the weirdest thing. Vincent Kartheiser does not look old enough to be wearing those suits - he has such a baby face. Also, I spotted Anna Milton! Good thing I knew to look for her, or else I'd have missed her.
In other notable people in this ep, I quite loved every word that came from Rachel Menken's mouth. She was flawless. "You thought I would be a man. My father did, too."
--
1.02 Ladies Room
Definitely my favorite episode so far (out of, uh, three), pretty much solely because of Peggy. I was intrigued by Peggy in the first ep, but despite the trip to the doctor's office for the contraceptives, despite the play for Don, she's so mousy in dress and manner (and oh heavens, those bangs) that I was willing to believe her as the slightly-awkward new girl on her way to getting chewed up and spit out by the system.
But here we see both her naivete of thinking that a man might eat lunch with her for her and not for sex, but we also see in the bathroom, watching some other woman crying, and deciding that would not be her. I can't get that scene out of my mind. That other woman (and I'm pretty sure it's a different one in each of the two scenes), Peggy says, isn't going to be me. There is so much more steel to this character than we see on the surface. The word I keep coming back to is deliberation. She doesn't have Joan's smirking confidence, but she is nonetheless determined to survive and quite willing to do quite un-mousy things - get contraceptive pills, say - to do that. And I love that: determination that isn't stereotypical Strong Female Character.
I expected Peggy to be, you know, cute. So far, this show seems determined to turn that on its head. I'm very curious to know what kind of home life she's coming from, to get this determination, and also to know what her long-term goals are.
Meanwhile, Betty Draper breaks my heart. She seems really sweet, and completely caught in the lifestyle she's told over and over again is the perfect one. She has no reason to be anything but thrilled with her life.
I'm unconvinced that this problem with her hands is "a nervous condition," at least as they mean it here. I'd expect it to be neurological. It is not at all obvious to me that that's something that's going to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist.
--
1.03 Marriage of Figaro
An episode examining marriage from all angles. Don Draper seems to find his marriage - his dutiful wife, his children - too much for him. Pete Campbell, in the first flush of honeymoon glow, may be turning over a new leaf. Peggy Olsen is left to deal with the fact that her one-stand is going to remain that way, which I suppose whether she slept with him out of emotion or calculation would be a disappointment either way. And Helen Bishop, divorcee, gets the treatment from every woman in the neighborhood, despite coming from the same background as them. I'm very interested to see where we go with her.
I find myself with less to say about this episode. I continue to enjoy; I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (
DW replies)
1.01 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
So clearly this is a show setting itself up to talk about gender issues and particularly gender (and to a lesser extent racial) inequality in the 60s. In this first ep alone, we implied this intention almost too many time to count. I think that would be my complaint, actually: the baldness with which we state, in every setting visited, our social expectations for women felt a bit much. I think we could have made half as many sexist comments and gotten our point across sufficiently; what we actually get feels like overkill.
In this morass of infuriating misogyny, it's a little difficult to address the actions of any particular character with much focus. There isn't a single male character on this show that invites a shred of sympathy (except possibly the one tall guy with the dark hair, and he chucks it all a couple of episodes down the road). As an illustration of the social conditions, I suppose that's fair enough (although I am skeptical that this is wholly representative of the times), but it means that Don Draper comes off better than he ought in this episode simply by comparison.
Speaking of, I fibbed; Don does seem set up to invite sympathy. He's a war hero (under another name, we learn a couple of eps down the road), and, per his conversation with Rachel Menken, he's apparently in a constant state of low-grade existential crisis. Aww.
I quite like how we're given this treatment of him the whole episode, in which he seems to be interested in only one woman at a time, sticks up for Peggy, and skips the bachelor party, only to discover at the end that he's married, with a beautiful house in the suburbs. All that angst, that lovely artist gal he keeps company with - all cast into a whole different light. Very smoothly done.
I've heard warm things about Joan, and she's definitely not lacking in charisma. I'd be curious to see her first introduction with Peggy, and what it was about Peggy that made Joan take her under her wing (as she clearly doesn't do this with everyone). Nothing more to say at the moment about Joan.
Peggy I have a lot more to say about in the next ep. I will say that I'm not certain exactly what motivated her to sleep with Pete Campbell. Roommate (who watched the first ep with me and tells me she's hooked) thinks it was because Don gave Peggy the brush-off, and she slept with Pete to make herself feel better. However, I have trouble imagining how sleeping with the guy who criticized one's clothes as soon as he met one and then shows up one's doorstep steaming drunk would improve anyone's day.
On first watch, I thought it was more deliberate - that she decided if she couldn't get the in with Don that she thought she should aim for, she should take what alliances she could get. Since it's clear (to me) that her move on Don was deliberate, I could see her making that decision.
Speaking of Pete, you guys, CONNOR. Man, this is the weirdest thing. Vincent Kartheiser does not look old enough to be wearing those suits - he has such a baby face. Also, I spotted Anna Milton! Good thing I knew to look for her, or else I'd have missed her.
In other notable people in this ep, I quite loved every word that came from Rachel Menken's mouth. She was flawless. "You thought I would be a man. My father did, too."
--
1.02 Ladies Room
Definitely my favorite episode so far (out of, uh, three), pretty much solely because of Peggy. I was intrigued by Peggy in the first ep, but despite the trip to the doctor's office for the contraceptives, despite the play for Don, she's so mousy in dress and manner (and oh heavens, those bangs) that I was willing to believe her as the slightly-awkward new girl on her way to getting chewed up and spit out by the system.
But here we see both her naivete of thinking that a man might eat lunch with her for her and not for sex, but we also see in the bathroom, watching some other woman crying, and deciding that would not be her. I can't get that scene out of my mind. That other woman (and I'm pretty sure it's a different one in each of the two scenes), Peggy says, isn't going to be me. There is so much more steel to this character than we see on the surface. The word I keep coming back to is deliberation. She doesn't have Joan's smirking confidence, but she is nonetheless determined to survive and quite willing to do quite un-mousy things - get contraceptive pills, say - to do that. And I love that: determination that isn't stereotypical Strong Female Character.
I expected Peggy to be, you know, cute. So far, this show seems determined to turn that on its head. I'm very curious to know what kind of home life she's coming from, to get this determination, and also to know what her long-term goals are.
Meanwhile, Betty Draper breaks my heart. She seems really sweet, and completely caught in the lifestyle she's told over and over again is the perfect one. She has no reason to be anything but thrilled with her life.
I'm unconvinced that this problem with her hands is "a nervous condition," at least as they mean it here. I'd expect it to be neurological. It is not at all obvious to me that that's something that's going to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist.
--
1.03 Marriage of Figaro
An episode examining marriage from all angles. Don Draper seems to find his marriage - his dutiful wife, his children - too much for him. Pete Campbell, in the first flush of honeymoon glow, may be turning over a new leaf. Peggy Olsen is left to deal with the fact that her one-stand is going to remain that way, which I suppose whether she slept with him out of emotion or calculation would be a disappointment either way. And Helen Bishop, divorcee, gets the treatment from every woman in the neighborhood, despite coming from the same background as them. I'm very interested to see where we go with her.
I find myself with less to say about this episode. I continue to enjoy; I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (
