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Oh My God!! So did you all watch this week’s episode of Mad Men?
I was floored with how brilliant it was.
I really love Don Draper so much. His character is so deep, so tragic and yet so sympathetic. He acts like a jerk at work to push people away, but you always see how much pain he is in. His best friend’s passing sent him into a drinking spell that would challenge a frat boy on spring break in Florida, and he even got sick, and yet he kept going because that is how he ‘deals’ with things. I have a friend that hates this character, in fact I am not sure she really likes the show because she is constantly saying that there is no hero, and I completely disagree. Don is our hero. He is the one we are following the most.
The writers have done an amazing job of filling in his backstory through out the years. Not knowing his mother, witnessing his father’s death, living with a cold step mother who didn’t like him much, escaping his life to build another, covering it all up with bravato and alcohol. Yes he isn’t perfect, but who is? And when a television character becomes perfect we lose interest. That is just the truth.
I think that Don Draper is on of the most complex characters ever written. I love him, I cry with him, I get frustrated with him, I sympathize with him and I definitely feel his pain.
Peggy Olsen is another very dynamic character and is played beautifully by Elizabeth Moss. The character herself going against what women are expected to do, in that time period, and disappointing her family by standing up and choosing her own career and life plane. Some people hate her for giving up the baby, but I believe that she is more strong for doing so. I can’t imagine having to make that choice.
This week’s episode showed her in a most fragile state, and it paralleled with Don’s in perfect harmony. The addition of the episode being about Samsonite luggage was beyond brilliant. The luggage, Peggy and Don all being super strong even under harsh conditions. WOW! Congrats to the writers for pulling something like this off.
This is truly inspiring television and writing. It doesn’t matter what kind of writing you do, this is an episode not to be missed when it comes to studying the craft!
I myself am more inspired than ever to learn and grow as a writer.
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I can’t wait until next week’s!!!
Steph Olivieri Bourbon ~ Writing Coach 