Mad Men: “You’re not good at relationships because you don’t value them.”

CC takes a look at the season finale of Mad Men. Until we meet again…

MAD MEN: 3.13 “Shut the Door. Have a Seat.”

Wow, Mad Men.  Way to make me dying for next season.  We opened the season finale with Don meeting with Conrad Hilton.  Connie tells him that Sterling Cooper (and PPL) is being sold to McCann Erickson.  Since Connie likes those who are hungry to carve their place in the world, he withdraws his business.  Don gets angry because he feels that Connie’s continually kicked him around.

If there’s one relationship Don does value, it’s the one with his office.  He goes in to tell Bert Cooper (and Roger) that Sterling Cooper’s for sale.  Bert says that they should go forward with it, but Don wants to fight.  If he can’t fight to save his marriage, then he sure as hell won’t be enveloped into the corporate fold.  He convinces both Roger and Bert to make a pitch for the company, one that sends Price into hysterics. Later, when it’s revealed that Lane’s going to be fired once the sale’s complete.  He takes that news as his opportunity to fire Don, Bert and Roger so they can all start their own agency..  After Lane fires them, he says “It’s official…Four guys shot their legs off,” a great nod to an earlier episode wherein a freak lawn mower accident amputates an employee’s foot.

Don may value his relationship with Sterling Cooper, but he certainly doesn’t value his with Betty…until it’s almost gone.  Betty informs Don that she wants a divorce.  Don responds that “she’s not been herself and perhaps she should see a therapist.”  Betty asks if him if she has to be sick to want out of this.   Again, January Jones and Jon Hamm tear up their scenes together, and I have to say, I’m a little sad that we’ll be seeing less of Betty next season (I assume).

The next day, Don tells Roger about the divorce, and he mentions Henry Francis.  Don comes home, shoves Betty against a wall and asks her who the hell he is.  Betty makes the point that her infidelity shouldn’t really matter since Don’s perpetually been unfaithful, and Don deftly accuses her of preparing a life raft.  I’m not sure that Don was especially angry that Betty left him for someone else. However, his major fear was always that Betty would leave if she realized who he was.  He tells her that his true identity isn’t good enough for her because she’s a snob….and calls her a whore, ironically, since his mother was a prostitute.

With these past few fights with Betty, Don’s at least forced to reveal his true feelings. This is good because employees are craving them.  When Don offers Peggy a job with his new agency, she initially balks.  She’s had other offers; she doesn’t want to spend her career with everyone thinking Don does her work.  Later in the episode, Don makes another plea to Peggy admitting that he takes her for granted, that she understands advertising and buying habits in a way that others don’t.  She feels that she can’t decline without Don never speaking to her again, and Don tells her that he’ll spend the rest of his career trying to hire her.

Of course, without Pete, there’s really no Peggy.  Pete’s been “out sick” for the past couple of days.  It’s interesting that Roger and Don go to Pete as their new accounts man, given neither has ever liked him.  Pete’s initially reluctant, but he appeals to Don to convey how necessary Pete’s talent is to a fledgling firm.  Only after Don reveals his appreciation will Pete come on board.

Near the end of the episode, the whole gang is packing up—Bert, Don, Lane, Roger, Peggy, Pete, Harry Crane, and Joan.  Yes, Joan!  I think that she and Roger may start up again, especially when Greg goes to Vietnam. When they lock up, Roger asks “I wonder how long it’ll take to be in a place like this again.”  Don replies that he never saw himself working in a place like this.  And it’s true, I’m sure as Dick Whitman, he thought he’d be on a farm somewhere and not with the kind of life he has.  Of course, that life is going to involve hotels—whether it be with Hilton, his room at the Roosevelt, or the offices in the Pierre.

At the end of the episode, Don calls Betty, reports that he’s at the Pierre and that he won’t fight Betty.  She thanks him and says that he’ll always be their father.  Don looks around the room, and I can’t help but wonder if this company he’s created, filled with people of his own choosing, comprises his new family.  Meanwhile, Betty’s on a plane to Reno looking sullen.  Perhaps her life raft won’t actually save her.  Sally and Bobby are watching TV with Carla, parentless.  Sure lots has changed this season, but at least that hasn’t.

HIMYM: Getting back together–as friends

KT thinks Barney probably ate the steak-out van as well as the relationship chicken.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER:  5.07 “The Rough Patch”

Oh good lord, that fat suit!  Isn’t it amazing how thickening Barney’s neck can make him look like an entirely different person?  Wild.  But I loved Barney’s re-entrance at the end and its echoes to his transformation in the “Game Night” flashbacks.

Barney’s 2005 cry for help on the porn video was pretty funny, too, but for most of the episode, he was pretty lame.  I think over-eating, pretending-to-be-happy Barney is like a compilation of everybody’s worst fears about what Barney would be like in a long-term relationship, all rolled into one person.  Robin too, but Barney more so.  Eek.

Not to dwell too long on Barney’s Box of Adult Videos, ’cause we try to keep things family friendly here, but it did set up some good humor.  Ted arguing with Lily and Marshall over who would take responsibility for trashing the stash (when clearly they all wanted to just watch it).  Lily and Marshall sneaking tapes out under their coats.  Narrator Ted insisting to his kids that the tape just flew out of his hands and into the VCR!  And of course the running gag references to silly porn titles.

Speaking of running gags, this is number four for “Murder Train,” right?

Anyway, as we learned in “The Front Porch” last season, Lily is the queen of assisted break-ups.  She insists in good former crime boss fashion that she has retired and reformed, but when amateurs Ted and Marshall actually push Robin and Barney into talking about marriage –

– Which, by the way, would be  number four on my list of things I never expect to see on this show.  One, Robin turns out to be the mother after all.  Two, Marshall and Lily get a divorce and both want to date Robin.  Three, Ted’s kids turn out to be adopted.  Four, Barney and Robin get married.  Five, everyone eaten by sharks.

But back to the episode.  Lily puts together a masterpiece of a plan that sort of mostly works, but kind of gets preempted by Barney and Robin looking at their own reflections.

I was perfectly ready to buy the idea that the attempted break-up actually helped Barney and Robin get over their rough patch, but this show is rarely contented with a single reversal.  It’s like Ted’s re-return in the first episode — they like to twist it around one more time.  (A re-reversal?)  And while it was a break-up, I thought the idea of getting their friendship back together was a really sweet one.

Although, if that really was Barney and Robin’s final break-up, I hope to see some growth or fall-out or generally something happening because of it.  They spent all last year setting this up, guys — for that alone, seven episodes seems pretty short.  Then again, better for the writers to end it while it’s still fun rather than after it’s been painful for half a season.

I’m very excited by the prospect of more Robin Sparkles!  A variety show, eh?

So… do you think Barney’s going to want his porn collection back?

What to say about this week’s ‘Ghost Whisperer’

GHOST WHISPERER: 5.07 “Devil’s Bargain”

I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to say about this week’s Ghost Whisperer. If you were paying attention to my twitter this weekend, you would have seen that I was postponing watching the show because of the Jennifer Love Hewitt pole-dancing scene. Yes, that was enough to make me not watch because it seemed as needless as her video game outfit last season.

And really, it was. Melinda could have just as easily watched the other girl pole dance as much as she really needed to. That was rather ridiculous. I wonder who’s brilliant idea that was.

Honestly, this entire episode just seemed very convoluted. It makes me question whether the writers have taken on too much with their introduction of the “shadows” storyline. I mean, we had a ghost, that was supposedly angry at the beginning but by the end was supposedly trying to protect the good doctor; a doctor that was ex-best friends with the president of the university; the president of the university that somehow got his job because of the shadows and has a sick mother; and more people. It just seemed like we were hopping from one story to another, and I started to lose track.

The main thing we were supposed to realize was that the president of the university has some sort of deal with the shadows–or at least are being blackmailed by them–and knows about the book.

I’m curious to know what the shadows really are. I’m excited to know that they’re really making a tangible presence on the show, but they’re still too far beyond arm’s reach to really make sense of the information being revealed to us. The book is protecting itself by hiding information about them. They can take over someone’s body and cause events to happen–elevators crashing, people to die. They overtook Melinda so she could barely move. Clearly, they’re bad and they need to be stopped.

And I do want to know what parts of people they really are. The evil side of people? Say, if you have a bad heart, it’s left behind? Who knows?

But the way it’s being presented. Uggh. It’s horrible. I can’t understand left from right with this. I think the show needs to focus. And here’s how:

1. Choose your episodes carefully. If you’re going to reveal a lot about a story arc, make it a story arc-centric episode. The writing’s not strong enough to juggle.
2. Make filler episodes better. Make them so much better that we don’t realize they’re filler episodes. Keep the story arc out, keep the storylines clean, and then get the episode done.
3. Focus the story arc episodes. Don’t throw too many people in the episodes that surround the arc. Make us keep guessing, too. Don’t tell us the answer (like you did last week). Give us material that when we rewatch, we go, “How did I not notice that last time?”
4. See the minor characters. Just because the Emmys and Oscars define people as supporting actors and actresses doesn’t mean the show itself doesn’t. Focus on someone other than Melinda and Eli for an episode. You’ve got some strong talent. Show it.
5. Cut back Aiden. He might see more things than Melinda, but he’s a terrible actor. Cut back his air time, and start using heresay. It’ll work just as effectively with fewer headaches.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents. Hopefully I understood enough from this week’s episode to understand next week’s (which has Greg Germann in it–yay!), but here goes nothin’!