http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/10/21/MAD-MEN----The-Wheel.aspx Last night was the season finale of MAD MEN. This is significant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there is no better show on T.V. right now. I was a hater at first, but I was soon won over by the amazing writing. Secondly, it put AMC on the map as a channel capable of deciding to make a very adult drama at a moment when most of the network shows are about grown babies. Not that I don’t enjoy grown babies, it’s just that watching adults behave like adults is refreshing and interesting. Even when some of those adults act like children. Tonight the show took an interesting turn, especially for a finale. Don has to pitch an idea to Kodak about a slide projector that has a wheel on top. If you are older then 25 you know what it looks like; some teacher in school at some point was probably always grappling with one. Anyway, Don’s big idea is to use nostalgia to sell it, not technology, which is what the client had initially mentioned. At the presentation he uses happy pictures of himself and Betty to illustrate his point. He talks about nostalgia, defining it and telling the clients that it is more then memory. Nostalgia is deeper; it’s a twinge in the heart, that pulls you back. This speech is excellent. The room is riveted, and so was this viewer. One of the account managers had to leave the room; he is having marital problems and living at the office. The nostalgia was too much for him. But what is also interesting about this speech is that MAD MEN is a show rooted in nostalgia, and that sets about tearing that nostalgia apart. We, even those of us born after the fact, mythologize the early sixties as a heavenly time, full of hope, security, and wealth. After 9/11 doesn’t communism seem like a quaint threat? Vietnam and the Cultural Revolution burned the whole thing down, but in certain ways, we are nostalgic for that too. Rebellion is still somewhat signified by long hair. (If the show lasts long enough to get to that, I can’t wait to see what they do with it!) en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/10/21/MAD-MEN----The-Wheel.aspx 77 60