Category: Mad Men (Page 11 of 13)

Sons of Anarchy 2.3 – Fix

Two days after “Mad Men” wins its second straight Emmy for Best Drama and “Sons of Anarchy” opens the episode with Luanne shooting a porn parody. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I can’t help but think that Kurt Sutter planned for the expected win. Of course, the opening minutes also featured Bobby performing as Elvis at a Bar mitzvah, and it’s apparently beginning to take a toll on him. His time in prison has resulted in a pile of bills, and in an attempt to reward him for his services to the club, Clay assigns him to go take care of the bookkeeping at Luanne’s studio. She’s not at all happy with the idea of SAMCRO taking an even bigger bite out of her business, but as it turns out, Luanne also has something to hide. It doesn’t take long for Bobby to discover that Luanne has been skimming off the top over the last six years, and when he threatens to report it to the club, Luanne makes him an offer he can’t refuse. If Otto ever finds out about it, however, Bobby is as good as dead.

The same can be said of Ethan Zobelle and his gang of Neo-Nazis once Clay finally realizes what’s really going on with Gemma. Personally, I can’t believe three weeks have already passed, because Gemma is acting way too fragile for Clay not to be a little more suspicious. Their fight in the parking lot outside the porn studio seemed to be more about Clay not getting laid than Gemma not acting like herself. Wayne suggests that Gemma attend an out-of-town support group for sexual abuse survivors, but she quickly shoots down that idea – and just in time, too, since Tig was apparently just around the corner. I don’t think he heard anything, though, because he would have told Clay right away.

sons_of_anarchy_2-3

The meat of the episode this week revolved around Ethan Zobelle’s latest plan to force the Sons of Anarchy out of Charming, and it all hinders on convincing Deputy Chief Hale to join the witch hunt. Hale doesn’t like Zobelle’s idea of purposely bringing drugs into the town – thereby discrediting SAMCRO’s worth and Chief Wayne’s ability to control crime – but that doesn’t stop him from doing it anyway. When Opie and Half Sack catch a dealer selling meth at the mill (with Nords in tow), they go back to the club to get re-enforcements before beating the information out of him.

When they learn where Darby has set up his meth lab, Jax gives Hale the location to see if he can be trusted. Clay, meanwhile, tells Wayne all about their little test to keep him in the loop. It looks as if Hale is going to pass after he visits Darby’s base of operations (albeit without a warrant), but after speaking with Ethan about his reasoning for wanting the Sons out of Charming, his outlook suddenly changes and he lies to Jax about there ever being a meth lab. Not that it really matters, since SAMCRO just blows it up themselves, but I can’t believe that Hale would do business with Zobelle. Isn’t he supposed to be all about doing things by the books? Now that he’s resorted to his own crooked methods, however, there’s no going back. Oh yeah, and he just sided with the wrong bad guys.

Waiting for January…

Jones

I have absolutely no clue about fashion. The day after Hollywood awards ceremonies, “Extra,” “Access Hollywood,” and countless entertainment websites are always abuzz with who looked sexy, who looked trashy, who had the most expensive dress, etc. More often than not, I just stare and listen with a blank expression as the lipstick, eye liner, cleavage, flashy dresses, and impossible hairdos meld into a single sexy lady. The brands, designers, and stylists never register with my feeble male brain — it’s just too much to take in. Last night, however, one woman clearly stood out at the 2009 Emmys and grabbed my complete attention.

January Jones is familiar to a large part of the American public as Betty Draper from “Mad Men.” As a constant stream of bedazzled beauty flowed down the red carpet, this slim blonde with the presence of a classic Hollywood starlet caught my eye. Now this is a babe, I thought. I’m sure she was dressed in something revolutionary, but my natural male instincts could only produce this simple thought. Nevertheless, because a few of you may be interested, Jones apparently wore an Atelier Versace gown and accessorized with Neil Lane jewelry and Jimmy Choo “Keenan” sandals. Yep.

As for “Mad Men,” the series performed well again at this year’s Emmys. Despite stiff competition, the show earned statues for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Though Ms. Jones didn’t receive a nomination for her popular role, she looked better than anyone inside the Nokia Theatre, which should be worthy consolation. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself.

Mad Men 3.6 – Mow ‘Em Down

Well, I’ll say this for tonight’s episode of “Mad Men”: it might have had to suffer the indignity of airing opposite the Emmy Awards (where the series ultimately took home its second win for Outstanding Drama Series, thank you very much), but that didn’t mean that it had to offer up a throwaway episode. Not that anyone would’ve expected Matthew Weiner to turn in anything less than another outstanding chapter in this season’s stellar saga of the folks at Sterling-Cooper, but, wow, I don’t think anyone could’ve anticipated the turn of events that we ended up getting. There was so much going on in this episode that I know I’ll end up missing some of it, but here goes…

Things started and ended this evening with Sally Draper. The addition of a new child to a household is always difficult for the existing siblings, but it was definitely a bit different for Sally. First, she was afraid of what was to happen when Don turned off her light, but as the episode progressed, she basically began to believe that perhaps she was being haunted by the spirit of her late grandpa. You can kind of understand her concern, given that -as she observed – the new baby is named Gene, sleeps in Grandpa’s old room, and even looks a little bit like him. Fortunately, Don got her all straightened out by episode’s end…with virtually no help from Betty! Seriously, if she’s not one of the worst mothers in TV history, she’s got to be right up there. How anyone can have three kids and still end up as cold and detached from them as she always seems to be is beyond me.

Let’s be honest, though: Sally’s story, while serving as a very nice way of book-ending the episode, paled in significance to the shake-up within the offices of Sterling-Cooper this week.

First, there was the big meeting of all Sterling-Cooper employees, so that the announcement could be made that the board of directors from Putnam Powell Lowe would be arriving for a friendly chat and to evaluate the office’s performance, with the added bonus that their visit would be totally screwing up everyone’s 4th of July holiday, not to mention putting a wrench in the plans for Joan’s last day at the office. John Hooker got in a good joke at Paul’s expense, telling him that he’d be expected to shave his beard, thereby resulting in an indignant Mr. Kinsey demanding to know, “Who the hell are you people?” Settle down, Paul, settle down. Despite Sterling’s suspicions that the Brits might be flying across the ocean for the sole purpose of getting their knobs polished, Cooper’s theory is that they’re coming to see Don in an attempt to study him and determine his specific American genius, and Cooper floats the idea that they’re going to offer Don a dual position in both New York and London. It’s a tempting enough concept for Don to ask Betty what she thinks of the idea of living in London, so you can imagine his disappointment when it later turns out that Cooper’s just had an overactive imagination.

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Loose ends

Carlito's Way -- Al Pacino and Sean Penn

I haven’t been paying quite as much attention to the cinephile end of the movie blogosphere as I should lately, so we’ll start there.

*  It’s never too late to check out the Brian DePalma blogathon that wrapped up yesterday at Tony Dayoub’s Cinema Viewfinder.  I’m actually not a member of the DePalma cult that includes everyone from the late uber-critic Pauline Kael to Quentin Tarantino and probably 70% of the male cinephile population. I dig a few of his movies a great deal and the oddball horror/suspense musical satire, “Phantom of the Paradise” has a special place in my heart. On the other hand, I have serious problems with even some of his most well-regarded films including, or perhaps especially, especially “Blow-Out.” There’s a cheapness to his films and tendency to wallow in despair that I can’t support.

Of course, that’s just me and Dayoub wrapped up yesterday in grand style with a fairly personal piece about “Scarface” (vastly overrated by many; I’ll take the Howard Hawks “Scarface” over it any day) and “Carlito’s Way” (which I think is underrated and overall just a solidly good movie). Anyhow, stroll around the site and you’ll see pieces by some of the true superstars of cinephilia.

* Speaking of great film lovers, you won’t find detailed appreciations of DePalma coming from The Self-Styled Siren — nor of Michael Mann or Sam Peckinpah.  Her bailiwick is classic era films (ending roughly around 1965) with an eye towards melodrama and comedy. Though her identity remains a secret, her fans are legion and definitely includes your humble host.

Her latest post is an attention grabber: “Ten Melos the Siren Would Watch Instead of Mad Men” which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a fascinating list that males who want to expand their minds beyond the usual guy movie obsessions should definitely contemplate. And, yes, there’s a vigorous debate over “Mad Men” in comments, as well as an unsolicited cocktail recipe from me. If you’ve been looking for the inevitable backlash over the acclaimed series, which I personally love as much as anyone, there’ll be no more enjoyable place to find it.

Some news after the flip….

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Mad Men 3.5 – You can’t kill an idea (updated)

First, I have to comment on the irony that real-life father Will Harris is busy documenting tonight’s season finale of “True Blood,” while non-family guy me gets to write-up the episode where Don and Betty Draper finally have their third child.

Of course, that’s only one of the key events on tonight’s show. We also witness a financial squeeze from the new British overlords of Sterling Cooper while a mercenary variation of civil rights awareness descends on Pete Campbell. Also, Herman “Duck” Phillips returns to attack from the outside and prompts some proactive behavior from cash-deficient Peggy Olson.

peggy-ep5

****

“The Fog” opens as Don and the extremely pregnant Betty have a conference with Sally’s teacher prompted by a nasty fight with a schoolmate. Betty’s revelation of the sudden passing of Grandpa Gene last episode, however, causes the teacher to become upset and cut the meeting short. She mentions, however, that the death might explain Sally’s unusual interest in the murder of African-American civil rights leader Medger Evers.

Things aren’t too smooth at work, either. Don walks in late to a meeting in which Sal Romano is being grilled about the details of his expense account on his and Don’s nearly fateful trip a couple of episodes back. When he realizes that British honcho Lane Pryce is going to be discussing excess spending on pencils, he leaves abruptly. Later, Pryce appears in his office and, after some brief snippiness, complains about people drinking at work — reasonable enough by today’s standards. Don responds that creative people tend to be nonproductive, until they are productive, which is equally reasonable to anyone who knows anything about creative people.

Don pours a couple of Scotches and suggests a more proactive stance towards making money by working with Bert Cooper and Roger Sterling, rather than harming morale by cutting back on expense accounts. The meeting ends on a surprisingly cordial note.

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