Shana Mlawski (!) and Matthew Wrather discuss the beginning of Mad Men Season 6, cycles of birth, death and rebirth, whether people can change or not, and whether Peggy has sold her soul in this OTI Video Recap & Discussion.
Buy Shana’s new book Hammer of Witches
I don’t watch Madmen, but OH MY GOD IT’S SHANA!
::does happy dance::
I’m very glad that you decided to do this recap. Here’s what I took away from the season premiere.
1. Don Draper doesn’t even speak for a while. Most of the time he’s in Hawaii, he doesn’t even say a word until the PFC in the bar asks what branch of the military he served in, to which he responds “Army.” It’s the first time he has to say anything in the episode and it’s 8 minutes in.
What are your thoughts on having the main character as a silent participant?
2. There is a lot of duality going on here. We begin with Don reading about Hell while he is in paradise, with Dante’s Inferno in hand.
Some moments show one event happening, with characters responding to them differently.
-Don’s ad pitch strikes everyone else (and me, as a viewer) as a suicide attempt. He presents it as a shedding of the skin, and becoming someone else. Much like what he did in Korea, assuming another identity.
It’s a brilliant glimpse into how his mind works, that he has to ask someone else on the team if the ad makes them think of suicide. He really doesn’t see it.
-Peggy’s ad campaign goes into question because of a joke a comedian makes, regarding soldiers taking ears as trophies. Yet, she responds by saying that only certain people will see it this way.
– PFC Dinkins sees Hawaii as a reminder of “the enemy” in Vietnam.
It’s a reminder of Don’s past and and how he once “shed” his identity. As he said in the ad pitch later, “what happened to that guy?” How appropriate that the others responded “looks like he died.”
Dick Whitman, for all purposes, died in Korea, for Don Draper to live on. The constant deaths in this episode also with Roger Sterling’s mother and the doorman, are an interesting way to start the season off.
3. I thought there was a major editing mistake at first when Don and his wife return from their trip and the bellman drops to his death. It starts with Don and Meagan in overcoats and cuts to them in slightly different attire. Only as the scene plays out, we see it’s a flashback of a previous time he had a heart attack. At least, that’s what I think is intended. The bellman does die later, which makes me wonder if we’re given foreshadowing into anyone else’s death this season.
As Shana pointed out, Roger said “This is MY funeral.”
Usually this kind of joke doesn’t do much for me, but I liked this one: http://www.happyplace.com/23042/mad-men-facebook-recap-season6-episode-1