Diary of a Mad Men Virgin – The final entry … or is it?

Did I ever come around to liking Mad Men? I’m not really sure. Honestly, I do respect it a little bit more now, even if I don’t think it is the best thing ever to grace television screens across the US. The big question remaining for me, is will I continue to watch past season two?

“Jet Set” Season Two, Episode Eleven

I’m completely unsure what to think about this episode. This wasn’t Don’s first trip into Bohemia … though, the last time it was the poorer version; Joy and her family might have money, but they’re just as carefree, and odd, as Midge and her friends were. I’m sure there was some much deeper meaning to Don’s journey, including the cracked wine glass, but as per usual everything flies right by me (And to think, before I started watching Mad Men, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on popular television).

The man who abandoned his dog, or as he is more commonly known as, “Duck,” is now betraying Sterling Cooper. I never really had much of an opinion, negative or positive, about Duck until the whole thing with the dog … But you guys will have to clear up something for me: I thought that Duck was basically run out of his last job for being a drunk, and Sterling Cooper gave him a chance when they didn’t have to. So, now he’s meeting with his old people who are making him drink? I’ve got an error in my math somewhere, right??

“The Mountain King” Episode Twelve

Just when I complain about the subtleties of how Mad Men works, they end this particular episode with an allusion so obvious I feel like they beat me upside the head with a baseball bat to get the message. Despite that, Don’s arc in this episode was so much more enjoyable than in “Jet Set;” likely because of the revelation of the first Mrs. Draper, or because she has become the closest thing to family that Don/Dick really has. Anna is the big sister that Dick Whitman never had, and that Don Draper desperately needs.

My girl Peggy is moving on up, isn’t she? Who knew that to get Freddie’s office, all she really had to do was ask? For all of the complaining that the boys will do, Roger was right … they never had the guts to ask.

I hope that the rape of Joan Holloway is an event that is the beginning of a wonderfully dramatic plot arc, and not something that happens and is forgotten; that would be a crappy metaphor for the reality that rape victims faced then, and still today.

“Meditations in an Emergency” Season Two Finale, Episode Thirteen

It’s the end of the world as we know it, eh? I’m 31, so I obviously missed the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it is a time in our history I’ve always been interested in. Most movies on the time period, like Thirteen Days (arguments as to the amount of fiction in that particular film aside) focus on the country’s leaders, and not the every day folks of Sterling Cooper. It was interesting to see the stress of trying to live in that world.

I loved Duck’s meltdown. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. His reaction when Don laid down his face card, the fact that he didn’t have a contract, was absolutely perfect. I’m not sure if Duck will be out of the picture going forward, but I loved the way he got the smack down.

Peggy finally revealing her child to Pete was a long time coming. Is this the peace that Father John had been pressing her to achieve? I think so. Peggy has always been my favorite part about Mad Men, and I really look forward to seeing where here story goes from here.

You read that right … I am looking forward to seeing where Peggy’s story goes, and I’m going to find out. While this is the last chapter of this particular Virgin Diary, I am going to finish watching the series, as long as they’re showing it on Netflix.

Take a look at previous entries in my Mad Men Virgin Diary.

Clacked by Ivey West
on Sep 07, 2011 @ 09:00 EST5EDT