And time just keeps chugging along. We have the first three fantastic and forward moving episodes of this final season of Mad Men, then we get an episode like “The Monolith” that reminds us that this is a show that doesn’t need forward momentum to be great.
The episode found Don’s return to work a little less positive than we, or should I say, he would have hoped. First off, the entire episode is drowned out by the sounds of construction to put in a new computer that will thrust the firm into the future [insert echo noises here].
The creative department is having trouble accepting what is essentially a shove into the corner. It was even suggested in the last episode that creative is becoming a handicap for the company. However, they continue to push them further and further to the wayside. It’s probably because that assh**e Lou has no idea what he’s doing.
He buries himself further into the deepest darkest part of our minds when he gives Peggy a raise to essentially babysit Don. Earlier in the episode Pete discovers that Burger Chef (now in present day known as Hardee’s) is shopping for a new firm and is able to get SC&P thrown into the mix. However, later on Peggy reveals to Joan that she knows that the account was given to her so that either she or Don would fail.
Peggy hasn’t been getting it easy this season, but Elizabeth Moss has been killing it as Peggy. Thinking back to the Pilot when Joan was showing her all the “intimidating” equipment, to her rise, and now fall has been fascinating and Moss has been with her every step of the way.
After Bert tells Don that the company was doing fine without him, he starts to break one of the guidelines set on his new job and drinks in the office.
This episode was really heavy on the death foreshadowing for Don. Whether that’s a figurative or literal death is obviously left to be seen, but the first sign is probably one of my favorite symbols Mad Men has ever used. Don’s new office is Lane’s office. Put it together? Well, if you didn’t, Don is literally working in the office of a dead man. What’s more telling is that Don decides to hang up Lane’s old Mets banner and invites Freddie to a game, although he was under the influence. It’s almost as if he has accepted defeat.
Another bit of foreshadowing came from Freddie Rumsen who tells down that he is killing himself drinking. I think I like where this is going. However, Freddie comes to the rescue tells Don to sober up and pull himself together he wanted chance of getting his old job back. Maybe Don is actually on the up and up. But who am I kidding, this is Mad Men. For now it looks like good ol’ Don is in the clear.
It shocked me a little bit that the show would put such a character heavy episode late in the season. I mean, we only have three more episodes left until halftime. However if makes me wonder, how long is this carousel ride going to last.
SIDE NOTE: I loved the incredible references to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the title (The Monolith is kind of big deal), the opening shot where the elevator resembled the monolith, and the new computer acting as the monolith to the agency.
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.