Mad Men - "A Day's Work"

For the past several seasons, Mad Men has seemingly been pointing to a rather dark ending for its protagonist. Ever since Don and Megan's marriage more or less collapsed (which definitely happened in Season 6 but probably could be traced back to Megan's rejecting of advertising back in "Lady Lazarus"), the show has suggested that Don has pushed away the last person who could possibly put up with his endless stream of issues and ridiculous amounts of baggage. Season 6 told the story of how Don alienated just about everyone who still cared about him, culminating in the tragic "In Care Of", in which Sterling Cooper & Partners decided they finally had enough and (at least temporarily) kicked him to the curb. And yet, that final shot of "In Care Of" - Don revealing his true Dick Whitman past to his children - may turn out to be his saving grace. "A Day's Work" surprised me in that an episode that began as Don Draper in a place of despair ended up being the most hopeful episode the character has had since the early days of his marriage to Megan. "A Day's Work" suggested that Sally Draper might just be the one to save Don after all.

Mad Men is so unique in that it can still completely floor me seven seasons in. In my Community review, I talked about how all shows fall into patterns eventually, and that even the very best shows are shows you can sort of predict by the end of their run. But is Mad Men the antithesis of this? Seven seasons in, I still have no idea where Mad Men is going to go next. Sure, the show has established formula in some ways, and part of Mad Men's statement revolves around people falling back into familiar situations before truly changing. But I genuinely thought I knew how this final season of Mad Men was going to go for Don Draper. I figured it would showcase the final nail in the coffin for Don Draper and his relationships with everyone he knows. And maybe it still could! But "A Day's Work" offers a glimmer of hope, and what a great one it is. Sally Draper has unexpectedly become almost the heart of Mad Men over the past few seasons (all because she managed to convincingly steal money from her grandpa back in Season 3), and her place as the effect of the moral ambiguity of the world of Mad Men has become an important part of its point of view. But the show positioning her as the only one who truly gets Don - sort of his new Anna Draper - makes her an even more essential part of this show and its world. "I'm so many people", Sally remarks glumly to her dad. And apparently one of them is the only thing her father has left.

Things are not looking up quite as much for most of Sterling Cooper & Partners, who are seemingly leaping into the shows' most interesting power struggle this side of "Shut the Door, Have a Seat". Nowhere is this more evident than with Peggy Olson. Peggy has been positioned as the one we're supposed to root for through most of the shows' run, the one who fought the establishment hard to get where she is today. But this episode suggested that Peggy is the establishment. After spending so much time as a lowly secretary and underappreciated copy writer trying to prove herself to a bunch of miserable old men, Peggy undermines her poor secretary Shirley when a bouquet of flowers is sent to her desk and Peggy mistakes them to be hers. Shirley is advised by Dawn to keep her mouth shut, but it becomes increasingly difficult as Peggy continuously acts like a total asshole about the flowers, assuming they're from Ted and responding in humiliatingly high school-esque fashions. Finally, Shirley admits that they're hers, and Peggy totally demeans her in front of the entire office. But the way Peggy goes back into her office afterwards with a look of shame on her face proves to me that she hasn't totally morphed into a complete and utter dick. She's just stuck. She's once again trapped by decisions that weren't made by her, but were instead made by a bunch of dudes who don't really care about her. And unlike in the past, she doesn't have an escape route. She's trapped. And I'm nervously awaiting to see what she does next.

Then there's Pete Campbell and his Betty Clone. (Speaking of which, where IS Betty? I miss not knowing whether to hate her or not!) It only took a week for Pete to recede back into anger and feeling the world is against him - but he's kind of right. Pete and  Roger are both being pushed out of deals they made and pushed out of the world they built. Don's exit seems to have caused a ripple effect in the rest of the agency. They don't know who they are anymore. They're not sure who they stand for. Do they stand for the bland, boring and generally awful Lou Avery style of advertising or are they pushing the edge like they've traditionally been known to? No one knows. But whatever's happening, it's at the expense of Roger and Pete. But not everyone's screwed - in fact, the tension has resulted in promotions for both Joan and Dawn. After Dawn rightly flips her shit at Lou Avery for completely disrespecting the work she puts into her job, she is "demoted" to the front desk (although who honestly could consider no longer working for Lou Avery a demotion?) until Bert Cooper and his casual racism kick in and demand she's taken off the front desk. Finally, Cutler comes, fairly recognizes that Joan is more or less juggling two jobs, and promotes her to the second floor, relieving her of her personal duties. Who picks them up? Dawn.

Dawn has been around for two years now, but this is the first episode where she feels like she's truly starting to come onto her own, and she's doing so pretty spectacularly. She increasingly is becoming the New Peggy Olson, in that she is rising in the ranks through quiet rebellion and total dedication. People have long been calling for Mad Men to better integrate the civil rights movement in its proceedings, which I've never quite agreed with, because Mad Men slow burns its way through all of the social issues of the '60s. It seems we're now starting to see the effects of that slow burn. And, just as I feel about pretty much everything on this show right now, I can't wait to see where it goes.