You Only Live Twice: We Look Towards The Future As 'Mad Men' Wraps Up A Phenomenal Season 5

Television

by Cory Everett
June 12, 2012 9:59 AM
12 Comments

Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) began the show as an antagonist for Don, who during the first season would attempt unsuccessfully to blackmail him about his past in order to climb the corporate ladder. Over time we’ve seen that Pete can be as repulsive as he is tragic. This season had a healthy dose of both as Pete reluctantly settled into life in the suburbs -- keep in mind this is a character who had said he'd rather die in Manhattan than flee for safer territories -- and became restless even as he achieved great success in his career. He's finally in a position to get almost everything he wants at work, outpacing Roger and Ken for accounts, but still finds himself unfulfilled. Ironically, this season Pete and Don seem to have switched places, with Pete looking to fill the void with extramarital affairs.

While Pete spilling his feelings to Beth may have been a little too on-the-nose dialogue-wise, Kartheiser was still strong. In fact, Pete was responsible for many highlights this season including several fistfights, his night with a prostitute and the Pete-centric "Signal 30," which was an early season standout diving headfirst into his psyche (drip, drip). With all the death imagery hanging around this season, many had pegged Pete to finally put that office shotgun to use and off himself but he appears safe for now -- that fate fell, unfortunately, to poor Lane.

Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) was a character that always seemed to get the shit end of the stick. One of his only moments of triumph came in the Season 3 finale when he told off his former employers with a jolly "Happy Christmas" before claiming his partnership at the newly formed company that bears his name. But barring that incident, he's been beaten down (literally) by his father, disrespected at work (though he did claim a boxing victory over Pete) and hounded by the taxman. Had he not been quite so proud he might've approached his partners for a loan but as an upper crust British gentleman he made the mistake of "borrowing" some funds from the company early on in the season, which he never had a chance to repay. Many anticipated this development would pay off dramatically down the line but few probably expected it to resolve quite as darkly as it did. After Don approaches Lane for embezzling funds from the company and offers him the weekend to resign, covering off on all debts, Lane decides that rather than explain this to his family, he'll take his own life.

After a failed attempt to commit the act in his new Jaguar, he stages a second try at work, and this time he doesn't miss. The partners find Lane the following morning hanging in his office accompanied by a boiler-plate resignation letter. Though many viewers may have sided with Don for doing every decent thing to conceal Lane's misdeeds and save him the humiliation (not to mention jail time), Lane obviously felt he had still been wronged and left his own body as a giant “fuck you” to Don. Harris agreed, telling Vulture, “It was a vindictive thing to do, to kill himself in the office, so without question he went back in there and wanted to be passive aggressive — the act of killing himself in the office is the aggressive part and the passive side of it is to leave a suicide note that explains nothing.”

Betty Francis (January Jones) once again received fairly minimal screentime this year, and though some may place the blame on Jones' real life pregnancy, most viewers know that Betty hasn't figured heavily into the show since she left Don in Season 3. She probably received about as much screentime this season as she did in Season 4. Though her weight gain proved an interesting development for her character, its execution was lacking, and the only real misstep of the season was the Betty-centric second episode "The Tea Leaves" (though it did spawn the brilliant parody "Fat Betty" for which we are all grateful). As the season wore on she did get some great notes to play. Betty catching the sight of young, thin Megan changing in her room was a crushing moment for her character. Throughout the season, fans experienced emotional whiplash feeling sympathy for her one moment and being reminded why she can be so unlikable the next. (And repeat.)

Television

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12 Comments

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c | June 12, 2012 9:20 PMReply

Are you kidding? This season was completely uneven and heavy handed. Weiner's ego now takes precedence over good story telling and subtle writing.
Jonathan Igla | June 12, 2012 5:38 PMReply

I know I'm nitpicking but, Sally only says ''dirty'' not ''it's dirty''.
the chere mill and ews comparisions are apt thou.
cory everett | June 12, 2012 9:34 PM

Yep, you're right. I thought it was "dirty" but I remember reading all the recaps which said "It's dirty" and thinking I was wrong but I was not wrong! And neither are you. Thanks!
Gabe NotToro | June 12, 2012 2:54 PMReply

I have a different opinion from most of what is expressed here (Season 5 was, to me, easily the most erratic yet). But while I hate to nitpick, there's one point that I don't think is even up for debate - NO ONE with a last name other than Weiner considers Glen Bishop a "series favorite". Any intrigue the character has on paper is MURDERED by the fact that kid is the worst working actor on the planet.
Kevin | June 12, 2012 2:35 PMReply

Great writeup and great season. If anything, I thought the season finale was a let down, but other than that, solid through and through.
b | June 12, 2012 2:22 PMReply

my favorite season. easy.
david | June 12, 2012 1:22 PMReply

I don't know, I really don't see how one can list "Tea Leaves" as the weak spot of the season but not list "Christmas Waltz" and its horribly on the nose revisiting of Paul. Mad Men does a great job of subtly bringing in movements and what not into the time line of the show but the whole Hare Krishna thing was really ridiculous and odd and just felt like a way to bring us up to speed on Paul and how horrible his life still is (and how we still don't care). It all felt a little obvious. Much more than "Tea Leaves" where that episode at least had many great moments for Jones and really fits in with the whole arc of the season in my opinion (which really dealt with death and fear of being left behind).
MacMuffin | June 12, 2012 12:23 PMReply

^^ LOL

good work mod, good work
matthew weiner | June 12, 2012 12:20 PMReply

faye told don he only liked the beginnings of things not peggy.
cory everett | June 12, 2012 12:29 PM

Yep, you're right. Updated. Thanks!
jun | June 12, 2012 10:19 AMReply

This season completely blew. Leave it to The Playlist to heap praise on something that was incredibly crappy.
Q | June 12, 2012 11:20 AM

JUN you are a fool and the only reason that comment exists is because of the first amendment