Mad Men

The mid-season finale of Mad Men aired last week and while I've been attempting to gather my thoughts, a bunch of recaps have analysed the episode so much better than I could have. Vulture has compiled a round up of the best Mad Men Mid Season Recaps - I'd also include The Film Experience's Mad Men @ the Movies post in that list for a bit of a cinematic touch. But the best of the bunch and my favourite has always been Tom & Lorenzo's costume designed-centred Mad Style series, and the one for 'Waterloo' is no exception.

My contribution to the conversation is a more literary one. I, like many others, have always thought Don Draper had certain Gatsby-esque qualities to him - most notably the self-made identity from poor country beginnings, although it's worth noting that Don is more the creator of the images of the American Dream that Gatsby so foolishly follows.

'Waterloo' brought my thoughts right back to the Great Gatsby. The episode was structured around man's first landing on the moon and when it finally happened, it was one of the best moments of a season. Families (new and old, traditional and non-traditional) sat around watching the moon landing, in awe of mankind's technological achievements and excited for this new frontier full of endless possibilities:

This sense of wonder and possibility parallel one of the most beautiful passages in the Great Gatsby:

And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes — a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

How great would it have been, if he really had thought that the discovery of America was the last time in history mankind was 'something commensurate to his capacity for wonder', for F Scott Fitzerald had witnessed the moon landing. Amidst all the doom and gloom in life, it's so affirming to be reminded of potential for the great transcendental moments. The capacity of mankind to pursue its dreams is such a romantic ideal that we keep at it when we know these dreams can and do get corrupted. Perhaps one day in the future, there will be a widespread renewable energy solution, a cure for HIV and cancer, a more sustainable and peaceful world.

Can this hope apply to Mad Men and its characters?

"Do you have time to improve your life?" asked Freddie at the beginning of this season. For all these damaged characters, it seems they're half way there in June 1969. Perhaps energized by this new frontier of endless possibilities, the characters were embarking into better versions of themselves - Peggy landing the Burger Chef account with a touching reference to her surrogate son, Sally choosing the astronaut instead of the smoking hot athlete, Don and Megan amicably breaking up, Roger stepping up to become a leader. And Don, most miraculously of all, acknowledging all the people who matter most to him and selflessly helping them in some way. Perhaps Don, after his first amicable breakup, his long awaited reconciliation with Sally and Peggy, and a posthumous reminder that the best things in life are free, escape the fate of Jay Gatsby, who was deluded by a dream that had already passed him by and faced rejection once his true identity was uncovered.

However, with the ambiguous final shot of him resting on a desk, and this being Mad Men, we really have no idea. The possibilities of how this fine series will end are endless and like the rest of the world, I'll be sitting by my screen awaiting the next 7 episodes with breathless anticipation.