The assassination of Don Draper-- thoughts on Mad Men: The Grown Ups
It's odd watching a reproduction of a 1963 black & white television broadcast on a big LCD High Def television in stereo surround sound. We've come to expect television to perfectly mimic the appearance life. Things like misadjusted vertical holds and bad tuners are a thing of the past. If our television screen started just randomly rolling up or down, it would almost be the end of the world now. The grainy, lousy images of Walter Cronkite announcing to the world that President John F. Kennedy may be one of the first tragic American experiences that America has shared via the television set. Since then, at least in my lifetime, we've had both the Challenger and the Columbia space shuttles, the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life and September 11th, 2001. Watching the characters in Mad Men huddle around the television for news, for information and for consolation, we see ourselves whether we were alive or not in 1963. Instantly, we know how Don Draper, Burt Cooper and Pete Campbell feel, how lost and small their world suddenly becomes as television tells them that today is a completely different day than yesterday. But today is always different than yesterday. In the last episode, The Gypsy and the Hobo, "today" was different because Betsy learned about Dick Whitman and who her husband really was. While Don's world was turned upside down, it was Betsy who maybe finally saw the world she lived in clearly for the first time ever. But one personal tragedy for Betsy is followed up by a national tragedy as a President is killed on live television. Not only a President, but days later, his assassin is also killed on live television. In a short span of time, Betsy Draper's life is utterly torn down; everything that she believed in and felt safe in has crumbled around her. Starting with the death of her father, she's seen everything and everyone she believed in literally or symbolically die. She married Don Draper but now she knows that she's married to Dick Whitman. For all intents and purposes, Don is dead to her. She killed him when she opened the desk drawer and found the shoe box containing Dick Whitman's life. I'm still surprised by those that think that the last episode ended on a hopeful note. I read it more as both Betsy and Don felt trapped. They went on with their lives, unable to speak to one another other than on the most basic levels of human communication. It was Halloween and when a neighbor jokingly asked who they were supposed to be, the answer was that they were masquerading as a happy suburban family. What could be farther from the truth? When have Don or Betsy ever really been happy? This season for Betsy has been tragedy compounded by more tragedy. She gasps "What's going on?" after seeing Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down and that's the real question. What's going on in her world? Don moves through this episode almost like a ghost. When the baby starts crying in the middle of the night, Betsy gets up and is shocked to find that Don is already up, cradling baby Gene in rocking chair trying to get him to sleep. After last episode, Don just looks different; he looks smaller and diminished. When he's on screen this episode, you've got to ask yourself are you watching Don Draper or are you watching Dick Whitman? He barely reacts to Kennedy's assassination because he's still in shock and doesn't know what to do. Today is still different for him than yesterday because yesterday he was Don Draper, dashing advertising man about town. Today it's impossible to look at him as anyone other than Dick Draper, desperately craving the love and affection of the people who despise him. Today isn't yesterday. Today, Lyndon B. Johnson is President. Today, Pete is not the VP of Sales Account. Roger made his decisions with Mona, leaving Joan in his yesterdays. Peggy isn't the new young innocent secretary at Sterling Cooper that she was just a handful of yesterdays ago, wanting the same kind of love and attention that Don desired. Today, Betsy tells Don that she doesn't love him. Today, Betsy was proposed to by another man, a fatherly figure who we have no reason to doubt the sincerity of. Today, Don is only just Dick Whitman. Tomorrow, as they say,will be another day but it will never be today. And the real heartbreak is that tomorrow will never be yesterday.