Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Ohm.

It's over. Mad Men has run its last episode. Drunken loser Don Draper—nee someone else—has drifted into madness and is last seen ohming, cross-legged on a hippie-covered hillside showing he's as subject to bullshit promotions as any consumer he ever wooed. Peggy, who has had more than her share of unsatisfying relationships has given her passive aggressive heart to grumpy gorilla, Stan, who will spend their entire married life tossing back his greasy mane. Joan pissed away her only chance for happiness in favor of starting up a production company that grinds out industrial films. Roger just years away from his final heart attack married Megan's mom whom he is sure to betray at the first opportunity. She seems to adore him, but then she doesn't know he's willing most of his money to his and Joan's son. Betty, the only sympathetic character, is dying from lung cancer and has to put up with Don pretending he has a responsible bone in his whiskey-soaked body. Their daughter Sally happily has matured overnight just in time to help mother through the nightmare of her illness. Despite all the publicity, oddly favorable, this once-great series has been on a downward spiral for at least a year. The lowest point being an peculiar sexually tinged scene between Betty and the inept son of the show's creator. It is only fitting that such an overrated series about advertising ends with the overrated "I'd like to teach the world to sing." ad, which we're supposed to think was created by the new and improved Don Draper. At the time the commercial was hailed as a heartfelt promotional masterpiece of international brotherhood when it was, in fact, just an expensive manipulative sentimental, pretentious soft-drink commercial. Loved this series at the beginning, but in recent years the only thing that didn't disappoint me was the brilliant Saul Bass-inspired opening credits.

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