TV in Review: Mad Men, “Christmas Waltz”
May 22, 2012 8 Comments
Hey, so who is it who voices the dramatic and gravely “previously, on Mad Men” that jump-starts our weeks on Sunday nights? Anyone know? This week, it became evident from those clips that we were to revisit some characters who haven’t been seen a lot of late. Lane! with his English accent. Joan! with her red hair. Lane! now using his English accent to berate Pete.
It’s a Christmas episode, so Roger started drinking early.
If there’s a story spine to “Christmas Waltz,” it may be that Lane needs money. He sets out to get it in various ways. He arranges for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to receive an extra $50,000 bank loan. I never figured I’d be nostalgic for the days when banks used to loan money based on friendship and a glass of whiskey. At least they were lending money to businesses, rather making bets on unregulated dog races called derivatives.
When Lane embezzles, I enjoy it because it’s not done with typical sensationalism, but with intriguing precision, as we even see him forging the check.
Harry Crane gets a lot of play this week. He still works with TV…looking very hands-on.
HARRY: I can’t predict the future, Lane. I don’t know what the Russians are going to do. We may be living underground by Lincoln’s birthday.
Paul Kinsey is also back. He’s gone Hare Krishna and it’s weirding out Harry. (Wait until he sees 1967.) But Harry may stay for the girls.
The Mother Lakshmi stuff didn’t resonate with me. I’m okay with the whole sex-as-a-weapon kind of thing, but Anna Wood didn’t convince me in the role. I didn’t believe her when she was being all come-hither (which is fine as it turns out that Lakshmi had an agenda), but particularly didn’t believe her when she revealed said agenda. She was too self-aware, or maybe I just didn’t understand her game?
Megan’s anger at Don seemed realer to me, although she was also a little calculated, aiming her dinner at the wall but being careful to avoid hitting the pretty painting. Earlier, she had taken Don to see Jean-Claude van Itallie’s play “America Hurrah”…
Now I’ve sat there hundreds of times, thousands maybe, with a can of beer in my hand. I like to have a can of beer in my hand when I watch the beer ads. But now, for no reason I can think of, the ad was making me sick. So I used the remote control to get to another channel, but each channel made me just as sick. The television was one thing, and I was a person, and I was going to be sick.
…but it was the transition from Megan’s silence to Paul and Harry talking about a Star Trek spec script in the diner which exemplifies why I love Mad Men for refusing the predictable paths.
Or how about how Joan’s tirade against the empty-headed receptionist leads to her and Don shopping for Jaguars?
Yeah, Joan got served, so she deserves a drink.
I found that “Christmas Waltz” lived up to its name. Set at Christmas, of course, and twirling around, somehow managing to be quiet and yet have a lot happen, all at the same time. I don’t know how they do it, but I’d like another dance, please.
MEGAN: Do you want any cheese?
AMC first broadcast Season 5, Episode 10 of Mad Men on May 20, 2012.
SEE ALSO
Polentical: TV in Review, “Dark Shadows” (Season 5, Episode 9)
Thinker For Hire: Hare Hare Car Car Car
Suspended, in Suspenders: Mad Men Season 5, Episode 10
Deer in the Xenon-Arc Lights: Mad Men – Christmas Waltz
About Matthew
Hey Matthew. Lakshmi didn’t work for me either, but the tender meeting between Harry & Kinsey as well as the Don & Joan sequence for the ages more than made up for it.
I agree. She was an off-note, but the rest of the music worked!
What you said about Megan throwing the plate really clarified her behavior for me. I was a little taken aback at first by how, well, dramatic her response to Don’s tardiness was, when we were given no indication in the past that she saw such behavior as that big a deal. It makes sense though that after seeing that play and taking her acting classes Megan would be itching for an intense scene to play, and so she scripted one into her day. Throwing the plate and throwing the tantrum ; it all makes for good drama.
More importantly though, Roger’s shirt and hair in that photo are phenomenal.
Okay, once again you clarify something that I missed! Yes, I saw how calculated her plate-throwing was, but I didn’t take the next logical step to realizing that it was there because of her calculated character. In my defense, the past couple weeks have been so hectic that I’ve wound up looking like a low-rent (much less dapper) version of drunk Roger Sterling.
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Hey Matthew, thanks for linking to my blog! I always enjoy your recaps, which says alot bc there are a lot of recaps out there.
I am so very fascinated by Megan. I agree that she’s an “actress” in life as well as work, but I also think that she is right. Don was a dick. He should have called. If I were 25, married to a serial philanderer, well. I wouldn’t have married one. But if I were dumb enough to do so, I’d be pretty worried all the time about it happening again. And calculating every damn moment about how to prevent it.
You’re welcome, and thanks. I love your writing — both your insights and your style. Lots of fun to read!
As for Megan and Don, she’s not the only one waiting to see if he’s going to fall into his old ways again, as he did before with Betty. Something’s got to happen, and in a way it creates a more interesting to tension to have us wait and wonder, rather than give something dramatic early on (such as another affair) and repeat and repeat it.
Thanks! It’s fun to do.
I agree, that tension is really carrying the show. Especially since Don seems really worried about it too. I bet they were working that Don/Joan scene for that as well. I’m always glad when Don makes it through an episode without cheating.