Mad Men: National Tragedy Does NOT Make the Heart Grow Fonder

It was the moment that we have been waiting for all season. We knew it was inevitable but we didn’t know how the staff of Sterling Cooper would react. We saw them cope with the fear of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was a whole different kind of tragedy. It was sudden. It was visceral. And instead of bringing the characters of Mad Men together, it seems to be pushing them apart. This Sunday’s episode, “The Grown-Ups” was simply fascinating and left me waiting with baited breath for next week’s season finale.

This third season of Mad Men has been chock full of what one could call game-changing moments and in many ways it’s becoming unclear what will be left of the show’s original base when it returns next year for a fourth season. Numerous players have left or been dismissed from Sterling Cooper, the Brits have gone on a rampage with the company’s business, and Betty (January Jones) has learned the truth of Don’s secret past and seems hell-bent on ending their marriage because of it.

This penultimate episode starts innocently enough with everyone selfishly concerned about their own well-being. The heat is broken so everyone is freezing; Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) gets a quasi-demotion when the Brits decide they prefer Ken (Aaron Staton); Roger’s (John Slattery) daughter is having cold feet about the pending wedding; and Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) sneaks out of the office for a “nooner” with Duck (Mark Moses). All in all, it’s a pretty typical day…until we realize that it’s November 22 and the world is about to change.

I absolutely loved the way that director Barbet Schroeder and writer/creator Matthew Weiner reveal the tragedy. Pete is complaining (as usual) to Harry (Rich Sommer) about his job while the TV plays a soap opera in the background. Then suddenly we can see the famous News Bulletin logo for CBS News flash onto the screen as the familiar voice of Walter Cronkite announces that shots have been fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas, Texas. But Pete and Harry don’t even hear. They are too caught up in their personal concerns. The same can be said of Duck who promptly unplugs the TV after hearing the first bulletin so as not to impede on his afternoon delight with Peggy. Strangely enough, the first person we see react to the news is British. Whether or not this is commentary on American consumption of news isn’t clear but the word eventually gets out and everyone immediately flocks to their television sets.

For the remainder of the episode adults and children alike are glued to the television in a state of grief as they try to make sense of the world and for a number of characters, their worldview and outlook on life is poised for a big change. The wedding of Roger’s daughter goes on but maybe only half of the guests show up and some of them even sneak into the hotel kitchen to watch news coverage in there. After the events from last week’s episode, it seems like Don (Jon Hamm) really wants to make things right for Betty and although he treats her sweetly at the wedding, she is distracted and drawn once again to the suave politician who at a later meeting confesses that he wants to marry her. It’s a stunning revelation and even more so when we see that Betty isn’t really opposed to the idea. Her statement to Don at the end of the episode is heartbreaking and tough and as with most great storylines on Mad Men, I genuinely don’t know how it will turn out.

Pete on the other hand is shocked and appalled that anyone would consider going to a wedding the day after the president was murdered and in protest stays home with Trudy (Alison Brie) and concocts his plan to leave Sterling Cooper and take his clients with him. Both he and Betty have had their eyes opened to see how hopeless and cruel this world can truly be and are determined to take matters into their own hands and live life to the happiest extent possible. This mindset should make for an amazing and potentially shocking season finale this week and since we already know that the quality of the show has it more or less guaranteed of greatness, why anyone wouldn’t tune in is completely beyond me.

For another take on this episode, check out Obviously We’re All in a Different Mood by Robin Reed.

Season 3, Episode 12: The Grown-Ups (originally aired November 1, 2009)

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Photographs courtesy of AMC and Carin Baer