Sally comforting Henry is such a powerful moment of this entire series. Surely the thrust of Mad Men is that women are cornered into being strong while men, in the final act, are allowed to be weak. Exemplified by Betty handing the reigns to her teenage daughter in no uncertain terms, "Henry won't be able to handle things." January Jones herself is absolutely stellar throughout, rivaled only by Bryan Cranston's cancer schtick. Vincent Kartheiser and Alison Brie are incredible too, surely the icing on their acting cake for this production. Feels like Don protecting the kid con artist by taking the rap is a lukewarm attempt at redemption, and it's affectionate surely. He's doing his best to make right his wrongs, an ongoing theme. This show has been such a grower for me, I actually begrudgingly watched the first season three times in the 2010's; doing my best to get into it. (I vividly remember saying, "idk it's a period drama... I get it, it's the '60s) It wasn't until my own serious brushes with alcoholism that things started to hit home for me, hard. Don being unable to be in a new place without knowing where the alcohol is...... that's getting me in my Achilles. And then other things opened up for me while rewatching Mad Men S01-S07 over the years. Like what truly goes unsaid, how pain cascades through the Family, the real depiction of America at its Capitalist zenith, how men enjoy building their facade like a palisade wall (sharpened logs and all) while women are forced contain theirs inside a further layer more akin to Fort Knox.
The sign of great TV is that you keep thinking about it well after viewing it. Mad Men is supreme as a gendered show, and gender is everywhere around me. I see interactions in my waking life that draw me back to those scenes in board rooms, bedrooms and at dinner tables.
P.S. I would honestly watch another 7 seasons of Don just road tripping around the United States, with episodes just being the tight 22 as opposed to 50+.
Review by killip.seanBlockedParentSpoilers2024-02-09T08:22:41Z
Sally comforting Henry is such a powerful moment of this entire series. Surely the thrust of Mad Men is that women are cornered into being strong while men, in the final act, are allowed to be weak. Exemplified by Betty handing the reigns to her teenage daughter in no uncertain terms, "Henry won't be able to handle things." January Jones herself is absolutely stellar throughout, rivaled only by Bryan Cranston's cancer schtick. Vincent Kartheiser and Alison Brie are incredible too, surely the icing on their acting cake for this production. Feels like Don protecting the kid con artist by taking the rap is a lukewarm attempt at redemption, and it's affectionate surely. He's doing his best to make right his wrongs, an ongoing theme.
This show has been such a grower for me, I actually begrudgingly watched the first season three times in the 2010's; doing my best to get into it. (I vividly remember saying, "idk it's a period drama... I get it, it's the '60s) It wasn't until my own serious brushes with alcoholism that things started to hit home for me, hard. Don being unable to be in a new place without knowing where the alcohol is...... that's getting me in my Achilles. And then other things opened up for me while rewatching Mad Men S01-S07 over the years. Like what truly goes unsaid, how pain cascades through the Family, the real depiction of America at its Capitalist zenith, how men enjoy building their facade like a palisade wall (sharpened logs and all) while women are forced contain theirs inside a further layer more akin to Fort Knox.
The sign of great TV is that you keep thinking about it well after viewing it. Mad Men is supreme as a gendered show, and gender is everywhere around me. I see interactions in my waking life that draw me back to those scenes in board rooms, bedrooms and at dinner tables.
P.S. I would honestly watch another 7 seasons of Don just road tripping around the United States, with episodes just being the tight 22 as opposed to 50+.