Though I don't necessarily hear from my legions of devoted readers, they must all be wondering about the recent absence of my inimitable reviews of the Netflix rentals screened at our house after the kids are in bed. The explanation is that we have ceased watching movies so that we can watch episode after episode of Mad Men. I gave my initial imprimatur here. We are now well into season 3--in a recent episode Pete Campbell, after taking a sabbatical from bad behavior, performed a favor for the nanny in a neighboring apartment and then demanded repayment in sexual currency. In the same episode, Betty Draper, having accompanied her husband on a business trip to Rome, rebuffed a young Italian at an outdoor bar with the line, "You are not a gentleman." But he was only making inquiries, and the viewer is supposed to notice that, compared to Pete, he's a knight. I think this is maybe what more fawning critics call "layered storytelling."
I love Mad Men but not unreservedly. For example, the Draper's colored maid: I hate it when the camera lingers on her silently thinking decent, knowing thoughts while surrounded by the joyless philandering of the affluent white characters. Faulkner pulled it off with Dilsey but the successors are all false and call to mind this word: patronizing. One way to make a hit series is to be abundantly clear about who the good people are, so that, after some close calls, they can satisfyingly prevail at the end of every episode. One thing I love about Mad Men is that it does not do this, there are no pure-good characters--except this damn maid. I wish she'd break into the liquor cabinet. Something!
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