Wednesday, May 15, 2013

50 Shades of Don Draper

I'd love to know when that last episode was written and whether or not the whole 50 Shades explosion into popular culture influenced the writing.

But in this week's episode, Don Draper totally became a way hotter and cooler version of Christian Grey. And I have to admit that I kind of loved it. I wasn't sure how far the Linda Cardellini character was going to let him push it, and I kept thinking how Betty would have had NONE of that, and Megan, while she's way more sexually adventurous than Betty, wouldn't have either. Megan would rather be on the other side of that dynamic, I think....

So, it was interesting to see Don bring the kind of control he loves to exert over people at work into the bedroom. Especially at a time when he needs to feel extra-powerful at work.

Oh, I do love me some Mad Men.

Others who've seen it... Was it 50 Shades for you? Love? Hate?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about it. The thing with Mad Men is that everything is done for a reason, and so I'm trying to figure out why he needed to exert control in a way we've never seen from him before.
Maybe because he was losing control at work... not sure.. it was interesting though and did make me think.

Stephanie Doyle said...

Okay - I don't watch - but how kinky was it? Are we talking about tying her to the bed or going further than that?

Because I totally can see a 50 Shades spill over. The question would be what is the impact of doing that? To get more viewers or to continue to grow Don's character?

Maureen McGowan said...

Steph, it didn't really get kinky. At least not what they showed on TV. It was more about domination and humiliation. Him wanting her to prove that she'd do anything he asked. He basically left her in a hotel room, without the key, and told her she had to stay there in bed until he came back and she would have no idea when he might come back. Then he told her she couldn't answer the phone and purposefully called her to test her... Stuff like that.

For me, I think when this episode started, Don thought he was on top of the world and could dominate everyone and everything. He landed Chevy. He orchestrated a merger. He thinks he's way stronger than his counterpart in the merger. He's king of the world! I thought that was why he played the domination sex games, because he was on a huge power trip.

I think the brilliance of the episode is that it starts him there and then terrifies him and makes him see how wrong he was. The lover dumps him. The work rival embarrasses him and makes him feel like a child. Peggy puts him in his place.

He starts out thinking he's so dominant, then has several demonstrations of how he's not.

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