Mad Men "New Business" Review: Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

Mad Men S07E09: "New Business"

The women were mostly running the show in "New Business," from Betty announcing her plans to go back to school (!) to Megan blowing back into New York and refusing to apologize for being fabulous and fabulously jaded at life (thanks, Don). But a new decade and a new outlook seem to mean very little for a universe that's as finely tuned as the innards of a good watch, ticking away with the same old B.S. for forever, mindlessly automatic and programmed to keep moving forward until something finally breaks.

In the car on the way to an obligatory golf outing that neither of them really felt like attending, Pete got philosophical with Don: "You think you're going to begin your life over and do it right, but what if you never get past the beginning again?" As Mad Men winds down—T-minus five episodes to go!—and we keep marching helplessly forward with Don, Roger, and the rest of the gang, a certain sense of impending finality permeates everything that Mad Men puts forth. The series isn't pretending the end isn't nigh; in fact, the end for some of its characters may've already come. Don showing Sally the whorehouse he grew up in to close out Season 6 felt like the sort of event you'd expect to find in a series finale, and with that in mind, part of me feels like Season 7, and especially Season 7B, is just the epilogue to a story that has already concluded. The '60s are over. Don's marriage is over. SC&P's struggles to survive are largely over (or at least not as much of a plot fixture as they've been in the past). Many of the characters we've followed for the past seven seasons have achieved some level of "victory," or at least something we would've assumed passed for a win when we first met them: Joan is a partner with immense wealth of her own, Peggy is a respected professional who's feared by her subordinates, Pete's career is thriving, Roger is still in charge, and Don's big secret may have ruined everything, but even that was only temporary.

However, the underlying current in both last week's premiere and this week's follow-up can be summed up pretty well with Pete's sentiment. Finally, someone managed to accurately describe the melancholy that infects everyone on Mad Men—even our supposed "winners." What happens to a character who keeps going even after their story ends? Do they reject their ending and continue to get caught in a cycle of endless beginnings? On this show, it seems like that's exactly what happens. There isn't much momentum in this back half of Season 7 because there doesn't need to be, and while that can admittedly make for some boring and convoluted TV—the biggest downside of "New Business"—we're currently experiencing the hangover on the morning after the decade-long bender that was the 1960s, and all the old drunks are standing around, popping Advil, and wondering where their lives went so wrong.

Megan and Don illustrated this point completely: Don has had so many do-overs, and every single one has ended in disaster. This thing with Diana is going to be a mess. Megan is a huge problem, and Don doesn't even care anymore because he's so desensitized to his life being a problem literally every single day. He throws money—his sloppy, selfish, old-person money—at every obstacle until it goes away and he can start over. Mad Men itself is the story of Don Draper never really finishing his story... and he knows it. There's very little that Don actually cares about these days, and very little that actually elicits a genuine emotional response from him. However, after a surprisingly civil interaction with Betty and Henry, Don turned to leave after a night with his boys, leaving them to go back to their regularly scheduled lives with their stepfather, and for just a second, we saw a look of regret flash across his face: This could have been his family.

It happened again in the elevator, when Don and Diana ran into Artie and Sylvia; Sylvia was an important part of Don's life at one time.

And finally, while Don was cutting the check that would finally cast Megan out of his life for good, he remembered: They were happy once. It didn't have to end this way.

Don hasn't suffered any shortage of chances to find happiness, but he's squandered every one. He always goes back to the beginning, and each time he repeats himself, the experience is a little less vibrant, a little less "worth it." He's going through the motions with Diana. He doesn't have anything left to give.

That opens up the table for some debate as we head into the final handful of episodes. An unhappy ending is pretty much a given for Don—but how unhappy is unhappy? Are we in the "Don throws himself out the window à la the opening credits" camp? Or does he just keep doing the same old crap until he keels over, miserable and alone, Michael Corleone-style? What about everyone else? Does anyone get to be happy in the end?

There's no cut-and-dried answer for that. What works for one individual doesn't mean squat for another. Diana tortures herself for walking out on her life, while Marie Calvet, we assume, is finally done torturing herself, having decided to leave her husband for good instead of just having affairs and feeling like a villain all the time. Contrast Marie with her daughter, Megan, and it's obvious how two similar experiences can result in vastly different outcomes. Megan is also free, but she has more in common with Don; the woman is constantly confronted by what she once had but has now lost forever.

"New Business" wasn't without its flaws: The pacing seemed uneven at times, and while a second week of maudlin midcentury misery feels totally apropo for a slice of life in the "sullen '70s," it still isn't exactly what a well-adjusted person would consider "enjoyable" television. Don't forget to pack your Prozac next week.

NOTES

– Wow, Harry Crane is a pig.

– Oh, I see we're entering the period where those awful pioneer-style dresses were all the rage. Ick, Betty.

– And then the internet collectively sighed with disappointment when Peggy wouldn't let Pima hit on her.

– "It's 3am, you know why you're here." Okay, Don is a pig, too.

– Meredith is my favorite SC&P secretary, hands down

What did you think of "New Business"?