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| Left to right: January Jones and Jon Hamm |
Welcome to Mad Cap: a daily rundown of every episode of the acclaimed AMC series Mad Men. During this time, I will be compiling my thoughts and highlights as we travel through every moment and season of the Emmy-award winning drama that has come to define modern TV. The goal is to be a refresher on every moment for Don Draper and his band of advertisement executives leading up to the final season. Stay for all of the shocking moments and the brilliant acting performances, and make sure to chime in with your thoughts and criticisms on why the show means something to you.
Season 1, Episode 13
"The Wheel"
"Nostalgia - it's delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, "nostalgia" literally means "the pain from an old wound." It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel, it's called the carousel. It let's us travel the way a child travels - around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved."
- Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
Plot:
With Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) dealing with his in laws at home, he grows increasingly jealous of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), who continues to overlook him for deals. The company insists on checking yearbooks to find new clients. Don is in charge of figuring out how to sell a new Kodak product called "The Wheel." Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) is in charge of helping to put together a promo. It doesn't go well, but leaves many people impressed by her judgment skills. Betty Draper (January Jones) goes to therapy to discuss how dissatisfied she is with Don during sex. Don finds out that his Whitman brother hung himself. He manages to sell the pitch on Kodak and promotes Peggy just to spite Pete's cockiness on not being able to handle clients. Peggy finds out that she is pregnant and gives birth almost immediately. Betty is going on a trip with the kids, leaving Don all alone so that he can take care of business.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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MVP:
Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
In a season that introduced and helped to define the characters, it seemed poignant that it would end with Don giving a speech about nostalgia and ending up alone in his own house. It has been quite a season of watching him build to something greater and creating a myth only to realize that his peers haven't been as honest with him. The whole story comes full circle and his confidence continues to wane. However, it succeeds where it matters as he gives a phenomenal speech for Kodak and even begins to choke up. In a stellar episode packed with great moments, he manages to hold onto his confidence while also seeming vulnerable. Now that the series has established itself and has room to grow, where is Don and his mythology going to take him? The empty house, as symbolic as it is, seems to reflect his psyche and brings power to the final moments of the season that started so full of life and mystery.
Best Scene
In quite possibly the definitive proof that Don is a natural salesman, he delivers a speech about how technology and Kodak are influential in helping the customers relive their pasts. There is an earnest sense that he is self reflecting in the process of going through his clearly prepared speech. It is so rich with context that transcends into the series itself. He makes it count and with pictures of him and family, there is a sense of looking back on the first season and piecing in the gaps of a family life that we didn't really get to see much of. Who was this man so sincere in his pictures? If nothing else, the speech is a testament to the writers' ability to create sentiment and themes in ingenious ways that provoke as well as inform. Bring on season two!
Season 1 Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
A great introduction to one of TV's most beloved dramas. Building suspense and redefining the mythos of the businessman, it gave life to a character who seems rather uninteresting. Like his sales, there's more to him than face value. There's an intrigue there that leaves some oblivious while others desiring to learn more. Meanwhile, the Sterling Cooper clan is a fascinating group of people that have witty dialogue and a lot more office drama than one could assume. Also, kudos on transforming Peggy from an innocent girl into something of confidence by the end of the season.
UP NEXT: "For Those Who Think Young"
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