Lynn Lee, back again with Mad Men at the Movies.
With just two episodes left, “Mad Men” still has too much business to wrap up to spend much time on or at the movies. But it’s surely no accident that the title of this week’s episode was “Lost Horizon” – a reference that’s popped up before on this show, but never with such direct resonance.
Lost Horizon, a bestselling novel written by James Hilton (who also penned Goodbye, Mr. Chips) between the two world wars, was made into a successful 1937 movie starring Ronald Colman and is most famous for introducing Shangri-La, fabled utopia of blissful ease and tranquility. But while Shangri-La may be a haven, it’s also a prison—and, even within the narrative of Lost Horizon, possibly an illusion. The entire plot is driven by a plan to deceive and kidnap a small group of random strangers and bring them by force to Shangri-La, where they each react very differently to what it offers them.
The parallels are obvious as our Sterling Cooper survivors gingerly transition to their new roles at McCann Erickson. More...
As I predicted, Ted and Pete (and Harry, but who cares about Harry?) seem to be adapting reasonably smoothly, at least so far. Roger, by contrast, has been put out to pasture and knows it. Joan and Don experience fleeting glimmers of hope that they might find their groove after all, only to suffer a rude awakening: Don’s gone from being Jim Hobart’s “white whale” to one of many small fish in a large pond, while Joan receives fresh evidence that her perceived best assets are not her accounts but the “fun” and “good time” she’s expected to provide.
Significantly, Peggy remains the wild card, despite an unpromising start. Marginalized from the get-go and righteously pissed off about it, she gets her mojo back from the unlikeliest of sources – Roger Sterling. If last week was SC&P’s wake, Peggy and Roger’s surreal final hours in the old office felt like its funeral, or a graveside visit, complete with ghostly organ music and physical remains and mementoes. Their interaction also felt like a passing of the torch from Sterling Cooper’s first generation to its last. Perhaps Roger knows Peggy’s his best hope for keeping that light alive, in the face of all McCann's efforts to extinguish it.
Sadly, Roger’s unable to do much for his other colleagues, even the ones to whom he’s closest. Although I cheered Joan for standing up to Jim Hobart, realistically she had no choice but to capitulate. And as between leaving with half of the money she’s entitled to and having to continue fending off Ferg Donnelly and his ilk, it’s clear which is the lesser of two evils.
Christina Hendricks is a powerhouse. Is this her Emmy episode?
Don, for his part, is confronted with the reality that he’s fundamentally not needed anymore. However much McCann may have been willing to pay for him, his skills are hardly indispensable—a point underscored by his diminished position at the Miller meeting, engulfed in a sea of shirt-sleeves, listening to a pitch from the client’s side. The research is done, the message predetermined, and the ad men just there to roll it out, not offer their own vision or personal stamp, the very thing that gave Don’s work any meaning.
Outside the office, Don’s become equally superfluous on the personal front. Megan’s long gone; Betty has her studies, and even Sally’s found a ride elsewhere. On a Don-like whim, he goes awol in search of the one person he hopes does still need him: Diana, his own white whale. But the idea of helping her turns out to be a fantasy that her bitter ex-husband is quick to savage.
In response, Don keeps driving west, à la Kerouac. Perhaps he’ll end up in California after all. But more than likely, the horizon will keep on moving, without him finding his Shangri-La.
Random observations:
-The ghost of Bert Cooper returns! No dancing this time, but still calling Don on his BS.
-It was both touching and a little sad how happy the SC&P folks were to run into each other at McCann. Not only did Joan and Don look genuinely pleased to see each other in the elevator, but even Pete lit up at the sight of Joan. Alas, their promises – whether to get drinks or have lunch, or to get Joan on an account – seem more than likely to go unfulfilled.
-Ted’s silent sideways glance at Don leaving the Miller meeting spoke volumes. He knows his onetime rival is close to leaving the game altogether.
-I admit to enjoying the prospect of Jim Hobart getting no value out of the prize he stalked for so long. His white whale is turning into a white elephant, and there's nothing he can do about it.
-Relatedly, the line of the week belongs to Hobart: “Are any of you planning to work here, or is this the con of the century?”
-Runner-up from Roger, in elegiac rather than quippy mode: “This was a hell of a boat, you know?”
-Shot of the week: No contest – Peggy striding coolly down the halls of McCann in shades, cigarette dangling from her lips, Japanese tentacle-porn print tucked under her arm, and no fucks to give.
