Don Draper: what’s next?
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Are we supposed to feel sorry for the Mad Man? Maybe that’s a question that Matthew Weiner wants his viewers to ask. It’s a typical struggle with the main character of television show - the swinging back and forth from protagonist to antagonist. Think of Walter White or Frank Underwood: one moment we despise them and think, how can they stoop any lower? The next moment we watch in awe as they display their dark ability an utterly cool, cowboy way.
Even though Draper (or Whitman) is similar in this regard to White and Underwood, he is still unique in that he never displays the deep darkness that the latter two are capable of. Perhaps this is due to the nature of Mad Men; it simply is not as dramatic as Breaking Bad or House of Cards (Captain Obvious alert). Even though Heisenberg, Jesse Pinkman, Skylar White, Walter Jr., and the rest of the BB gang occupy a normal, middle-class space in seemingly unimportant Albuquerque, Mad Men is perhaps a more genuine reflection of life. Albeit, it’s set in the 1960s, its characters have stupid money, they all live in NYC (some LA), and they tend to make every conversation profound; nevertheless, the show reflects the all-to-often understated status of life. People bottle their emotions. They are passive-aggressive. They are selfish. Okay, those factors can be traced in BB and HOC as well, but I hope you get what I’m saying.
Life just goes on in Mad Men. There’s no epic event. There’s no impeachment to get into the White House (spoiler alert) or slitting throats or killing an entire biker/neo-Nazi gang that produces and sells crystal meth. Mad Men is about advertising: a glamorous industry that is filled by people who have anything but glamorous personal lives.
As Christian commentators have expressed: the show is Ecclesiastes. Where is meaning? Where is happiness? Where is satisfaction? Everyone (especially Don) is continually searching for all of these and more.
I really had the struggle mentioned earlier with Don Draper at the beginning of the show. I got angry with him. The man had a gorgeous wife, two children, a home, and a great job - things people would kill for and others spend their whole lives dreaming of. It wasn’t enough, in part, I believe, because it was somewhat built on a lie - a huge lie. Maybe that fueled his insatiable lust which brought him to cheat on his wife again and again. Nonetheless, he still had moments of irresistible charm, e.g., his carousel nostalgia pitch to Kodak.
It was a cycle with Don Draper. There would be moments when he actually understood that what he was doing was wrong: like when Sally walked in on him with another woman or when he realized what he could of had as he lingered in the kitchen of the Francis house after making his boys milkshakes or when he talked to Rachel Menken's sister at her funeral. Nonetheless, he doesn’t learn because his life does not have ultimate meaning. Every time he has a chance at something good, he simply restarts the cycle with someone like Diana the waitress because it’s a temporary high that puts a band-aid on his problems.
This season we’ve seen Don get pummeled with right and left hooks by several different characters - whether it is Lou, Megan, or most recently, Mathis, who tells him that all he has is his handsome looks. Don has ability and Don has charisma and charm that not only attract beautiful women, but also corporate heads. But, what’s the point?
In the most recent episode, "Forecast," Don is given an assignment by mustached-Roger to give a sort of “Gettysburg Address” on where SC&P will be in a year (1970). As he ponders, he encounters others such as mustached-Ted and Peggy. He finds that both of them are content with career goals. He remarks to Ted something along the lines of, “do you ever feel like there is less work, yet more to think about?” And he pushes Peggy past her goals of being the first creative director, landing a huge account, creating some lasting idea, and being famous. Beyond all that, Peggy doesn’t know what she wants, but she doesn’t seem to care.
Is Don finally getting at something? In reality, what would be the point of him achieving anything more in his career? Why desire more?
So, where does it lead? Even if he does fully come to grips with the futility of money and prestige, how can he find contentment? The only people who I think even slightly care about him are Peggy and Roger, but they only show it when they have to. And Don has become the Babe Ruth of spoiling every romantic relationship he has. Does the unavoidable, futile pursuit of life lead him down the road of Lane Price? Perhaps the finale will give us closure on this or perhaps it will just end and leave us in mystery.
We have to work. We have to care for others. But if life just ends when you’re done, that’s just sad. Maybe you say that you just make the most of your time here and that your legacy is the true meaning. What legacy will Don leave his kids? Even Sally recognizes that her parents are completely self-absorbed. In fact, it’s amazing that the show has kept up with Don’s kids and ex-wife for so long, despite the fact that he has no significant involvement in their lives.
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The luster of Don’s career will end. One day, perhaps sooner than he thinks, no one in the advertising world will remember Don Draper. His divorce with Megan shows that the only thing he has left to give is money, and as cliche as it is, money does not buy everything. As the ghost of Bert Cooper sang, the best things in life are free. Of all these free things, there is only One who gives true meaning.
