广告狂人第六季

MM 607 ‘Men With A Plan’ Recap


Sometimes, you don’t need 20 years to find everything to be changed, or, to be back where they were.

Hello again, Peg. Ciao ciao, Slyvia.

The love affair was finally put an end to. (But surely we will see Slyvia and her husbands again, after all neighbours don’t easily disappear) This time there’s something more to the all-too-similar-Don’s-affair. It is noteworthy that it was Slyvia who called it a day, despite the fact that she was in a passive and inferior state for a fairly long time. After Don’s king pose (Kudos to Vulture’s prev. insightful recap), Slyvia claimed she felt ashamed and quit. We know that Don is never a guy that get attached to someone and he is not depending on her psychologically. But I would say it’s a mutual dependency. Slyvia didn’t need to depend on Don to stop. She had the power to do it herself.

Mutual dependency found further expression in the incident of Joan. Suffering a pungent ache, Joan was helped by Bob the nice guy. Joan, a partner, still depended on Bob to fake to be bothering her all the way across the office so as to escort her to the hospital. Due to the fact that Bob ran into Burt and knew somehow his future in the firm wasn’t looking good first and then noticed Joan was under the weather, it was fair to doubt Bob did it partially for his own good. But his quick response, little trick, care and gentlemanship would still be very charming to any women, let alone the single mother Joan. Later, the powerful did do the young a great favour and helped him to stay in the firm.

Talking about young and powerful. The beautiful combination of the two was back in office with Don Draper - welcome back, Peggy!

This episode showed the two bosses of Peg came together, displaying the two contradictary ways they worked with her. With Ted being all-time very nice, Don just couldn’t help being cold and mean. I almost forget the real dynamics between the two because their last goodbye was so tenderly heartbreaking and the brief meetings were warm. But, as Peg disclosed, Don never invited her out for a dinner, not to say to ask her back. Come on Peg. Don only ‘asked’, or beg to be precise, his lovers. Beg them to stay. To be with him. But you were not one of them. That made you truly special.

Special. Special was the motif of this episode. Ads men take pains to think the way to present their clients products as the most special one, even though they are as lame as margarine. Even in the hospital scene, Bob showed his wit to woo a client to the nurse on duty - to attract her attention, to make her believe herself to be special because they counted on her speciality.

Don wanted to feel special. To feel being serviced, and the service had to be discreetly thought about after hours in an empty hotel ensuit deprived of anything entertaining. But he realised he wasn’t the special one, not above the clouds. Regardless how frustratingly eloquent Don could be, Ted was the philosopher above the cloud - after all, Ted was the guy ‘who flew us up in his(client’s) own plane’.

For some, the plane ascends to escatsy, to the masterpiece of God, but for others, the plane descends to hell. The episode, again ladened with death allusions and talks, finally gives me a reason to forgive it. It was indeed a period of rioting, of shooting, of innocent men and women dying. No wonder of the gloom and doom.

In the end, the flight was safe and sound. All you need was some belief - believe that ‘above the clouds, it’s sunny as summer’. To find belief? No easy for Don.




Odds and Ends

The way Ted asked the blonde girl at meeting to continue the report is just…charming. Oh my. How did he do that? To pretend to be a shortsighted?

Ted和Peggy的感情线是我的理想型。工作上的伙伴，互相激励，互相引发奇迹。旗鼓相当。生活中各种小细节的吸引。美妙刺激而让人沉醉。

Ted这个角色真是戳中了我一切萌点。行业翘楚，顾家有责任，认真，特么居然开会开飞机。
Peggy这个角色也符合我对当时事业女性的一切想象。不是完美的万人迷，上进努力，清醒的自我认知，敢爱敢恨，也敢做敢当。

Ted这个角色作为主角团竞争对手的时候并不讨喜，尤其是被主角团耍了个小计谋而损失利益时候更显得自大而滑稽。
然而，Ted和Don在Chevy案中惺惺相惜，联手拿下Chevy还顺手兼并公司即扩大了规模。令人刮目相看。这一段看得人热血沸腾。事实上，MM这几季中，最让人热血沸腾的就是每次公司面临绝境S&P的人翻盘的时刻。而Ted这个和Don旗鼓相当的行业对手，挖走了Don亲手带出来的Peggy后还各种不自觉的吸引了对方乱放闪光弹，闪瞎了一众公司的同事，真是看的我爽翻天了。尤其是Don那种“额……卧槽？……你们什么时候勾搭上了？”的眼神，真是看得我欲罢不能。Don不管是出于私心也好，公司利益也罢，毕竟还是在Ted与Peggy之间横插了一脚。Ted作为全剧唯一一个主动管着自己下半身一心想着工作的好男人，在清醒意识到自己真的喜欢上Peggy，特别是Don提醒了公私分离的时候，还是选择让孩子和妻子出现在公司。

这两人之间，从情愫丛生的一开始就互相明确了彼此应当井水不犯河水。然而终究是抵挡不住啊抵挡不住啊。我不得不承认，看到Ted因为Peggy出去约会而跑去她家堵门最后还是决定离婚滚床单真是得偿所愿。然而Ted毕竟还有家庭要顾及。和种马男主不一样，Ted最终还是选择离开Peggy，选择了家庭。

MM这个剧对于婚姻并没有做过多的探讨。角色们的婚恋状况更多的是服从与剧情需要和人物塑造。时代决定了这个剧中的人物男人风流成性而不用负责，女人持家为重却也逐渐自主。然而过程中难免出现Meggen这种立牌坊的婊子:一方面不能忍受Don的控制，一方面又用妻子的身份逼Don给自己的事业大开方便之门。

MM里的婚姻几乎没有一对是幸福的。甚至就没有什么让人艳羡的爱情关系。甚至连Ted和Peggy之间都背负着事实上“出轨"的原罪。

Ted最后对Peggy说：I love you that deeply. I can't be around you. Someday, you will glad that I make this decision.

听到这个说辞的Peggy是愤怒的，然而也是无奈的。

Ted是爱Peggy的，Ted却也担负这家庭，尽管他知道他并不爱他的妻子。甚至最后他与妻子离婚后，也没有再去找Peggy了。理由很简单，因为这个剧要完结了。主要角色Peggy和配角纠缠不清会挤占主线剧情，不值当。虽然我觉得Don在最后几集中的一些戏份完全是多余的。然而我不是编剧。

Ted和Peggy之间有一个好的开头，却没有一个好的结尾。

这就是所谓的有缘无分啊。


我真是超喜欢这种相互吸引。

D: What are you thinking right now?

B: I'm thinking about how different you are, before and after, I love the way you look at me when you're like this. But then I watch it decay. I can only hold your attention so long.

D: Why is sex the defination of being close to someone?

B: I don't know, but it is for me. It is for most people.

D: Just because you climb a mountain dosen't mean you love it.

B: Climbing a mountain? Is that what making love is to you?

D: If we'd lied here together with you in my arms, I would have felt just as close. Not the rest of it. I don't know. It doesn't mean that much to me.

B: Is it the same with Magen?

D: Why do you want to talk about that?

B: That poor girl. She doesn't know that loving you is the worst way to get to you.

没写过评，因为不会写。从第一季开始就是mad men的饭，所以当陌生人评论我有感而发的微博说don不爱孩子只觉得他们是负担时，我的表达欲被激起了。

"I dont think i ever wanted to be a man who loves children. But from the moment they're born, the baby comes out and u act like u r proud and excited and u hand out cigars...but u dont feel anything. Especially if u had a difficult childhood. I want to love them but I dont...and the fact that u r faking that feeling makes u wonder if ur own father had the same problem. Then one day they get older, u see them do something and u feel that feeling u were pretending to have...and it feels like ur heart is going to explode."

我非常喜欢这段台词，它交代了很多东西。

第一，它解释了我个人的疑问：为什么编剧很少描写Don和孩子的互动？因为在这一集之前，在Mr.king的死发生前，Don不爱他的孩子，恐怕一点都不爱 （ "I dont think i ever wanted to be a man who loves children. But from the moment they're born, the baby comes out and u act like u r proud and excited and u hand out cigars...but u dont feel anything.）。

第二，一个人不爱自己的孩子难道不奇怪吗？这段台词接着就像我们解释了Don为什么不爱自己的孩子："Especially if u had a difficult childhood. I want to love them but I dont...and the fact that u r faking that feeling makes u wonder if ur own father had the same problem." 他缺少父爱的童年让他缺少这种能力。就像病了一样。无法给予孩子父爱又让他想到自己的父亲，是不是也有这样的问题/病所以才不爱自己。

“Then one day they get older, u see them do something and u feel that feeling u were pretending to have." 这里的时态变了(were pretending)，说明Don以前假装爱他们，但是那是过去式了。这一集里Don带儿子（忘记名字了）去看电影，间歇时一个黑人工作人员在打扫，小孩子对他说”everybody likes to go to the movies when they're sad". 黑人工作人员和Don交换了一个有些惊讶又有些悲伤的眼神。我想，Don在这段话里("u see them do something")的something指的是不是儿子在电影院里的行为呢？

“...and it feels like ur heart is going to explode.”最后这半句更加证明了Don不爱孩子已经是过去式了。之前的"feeling"由假装出来的演变成了真实的、从心底往外溢出的，所以才会觉得心像要explode了一样。这样无法抑制的感觉不就是爱吗。

听完Don的独白，Megan含着泪靠在他肩头，想给他一些安慰。我当时的心情和剧中的Megan大概差不多，终于明白了他的心情，说不出话，只有同情。

我相信大多数喜欢madmen的观众都不会认为Don是人渣，因为这并不是作者真正想要表达的。虽然说一百个人对同一部作品会有一百个理解，但是这当中必然有一些更加贴近作者在创作时的用意。如果细心地去感受剧中的细节，便不难找到许许多多证据。之所以写这篇东西，是因为偶然看到一些观众坚定地认为Don是人渣。我想说，剧中的人和我们是一样的，今天的自己的模样和昨天总有点渊源，而昨天的许多事，比如出生的家庭，比如父亲爱不爱自己，都不是在我们掌控之内的。今天的人们不断不断地和昨天较着劲，这不就是剧中想要表现的自我挣扎么。

这集里Peggy的男友说的那段也很喜欢，因为表达欲在Don身上就不多说了。最后，又一次被Don的扮演者Jon Hamm的演技吓到。当然其他的演员也都非常棒。希望艾美能给他们一点甜头。

乏善可陈，请大家原谅。

广告狂人第六季结束了。爱的人更爱了，恨的人更恨了。
冲着剧名来学做广告的，失望着没看到大放异彩的创意；冲着男主来看艳遇的，被一个老女人的床戏深深伤了荷尔蒙。如果你只看到了这些，或许并不能说你没看懂Mad Men，但至少可以确定，你还没读懂Don Draper。

Don有过很多女人。你可能惊艳于风情不变风尘不染的Betty，你可能因那段挥之不去的Zou bisou而默认Megan的性感，你还可能沉迷于海洛因一般迷恋Midge，你还可能感激Faye为爱不顾一切的痴狂，还有田园诗歌般的小学老师，还有娇柔放浪的异国空姐，还有渴望婚姻的犹太女人，还有不谙世事的普通秘书，还有莫名其妙的加州艳遇，还有太多太多...
虽然不是每个女人都足以惊艳时光，但的确每一个都可谓一芳尤物。但所有的女人之于Don，都只是一个过程的存在，就像酒吧摇曳的红唇里突出的那股袅袅的烟圈 “Are you alone？”

但如果只能选一个最特别的女人。我想一定是Anna。只有你读懂了Ann对于Don的意义，才会读懂第六季老女人那句“Find your peace”，才能真正读懂了那个从高处坠落，又被轻柔唤醒的Don Draper.

其实，Mad Men无关广告人。
从头到尾，它只讲了两种人，男人和女人。

就像剧情进展的态势一样， 整部剧的宗旨并不只是don身上的善恶毁灭希望并存因而造就了一个性格丰富的主角，他做这些事的目的，归根结底的利我性推动了他自己的生活，也反映了整个广告圈的运作模式，好时想植入一个关于父爱童年的广告观看联想，don可以毫无破绽地编造出，因为这是他的职业素养，也是作为don draper这个编造的身份应有的童年——中产阶级的，家庭和睦、童年完整的，但是肮脏龌龊的童年，那种只有通过躲在妓院帮妓女偷钱才能吃到一点点好时巧克力的孩子其实更加记得那个味道，记得巧克力的甜蜜与美好，这可惜麦迪逊大街乃至整个世界都不会关照弱者，他们会为马丁路德金被杀而悲恸，却不愿意和街上的黑人说话，商业社会只有利益支撑，don沆瀣一气地“我受够你们了我要发泄我要做真实的自我”换来的也许是在场每个人的同情心一分钟，但转而就会变成一分钟的利益流失。他们不需要同情心，不需要真实，厂商和广告人，他们只需要美好。为了更多地利益他们投入更多的钱去买一个更虚华的故事，而作为广告人只能被卷入这个利益圈套里丧失自我。

Netflix上对Mad Men的介绍是，this show is: dark, emotional, understated. 这部剧淋漓尽致地展现了人的复杂：人究竟有多少欲望，又如何在生活中与这些欲望共存以及自处，是一个永恒的难题。

Mad Men中的父母与子女：

最同情Sally，一个出生在富裕家庭却不得不过早接受成人世界的女孩，在父母离异之后带着两个弟弟过着毫无安全感的生活。他们从不缺乏物质：父亲在纽约叱咤风云地做着广告生意，大名鼎鼎；母亲美丽优雅再嫁给议员，继父和继母都很和善。然而Sally却没得到过爱。Betty在和Don的婚姻里从郁郁寡欢无所事事，到痛苦怨恨，没有一刻真正快乐，她将一个女人所有的神经质和痛苦都倾倒在孩子身上。这样一个毫无耐心只会严加管束的母亲只得压迫得孩子沉默，甚至险些人格发展走上歧途（Sally曾在父母关系频临破裂时在公共场所自慰），幸而被有经验的儿童心理学家引导才重新回到正路。然而父母关系越发紧张，Sally和两个人事不懂的年幼弟弟只能被动接受大人所赋予的一切。Betty与Don离婚后带着孩子们再嫁，生活依旧富足，但其实并没有人真正在乎孩子们的感受，作为父母，betty和don甚至连一点点靠近孩子内心的行动都没有。Sally和弟弟们像球一样被踢来踢去，而Betty和Don为着周末谁该看管孩子吵得依旧不可开交。每个人都有自己的事要处理，有人要参加宴会，有人有工作要做，孩子似乎只要被接过去就算履行了义务。

Don是一个不负责任的父亲，他不曾得到过父爱所以也不懂得给予。"I'll pay everything for that(Sally's boarding school)"，他已自顾不暇，自然没有能力关心子女。在第五六季，Sally逐渐长大，她越发对父母失望，特别是当她亲眼目睹父亲的好友和继母的母亲在宴会上私相媾合，以及意外目睹父亲和邻居的妻子偷情时，Sally只得落荒而逃。"How is New York?" "Dirty." "I'm so sick of you!" Sally以极快的速度成长，在去寄宿学校的路上，她对Betty说:'He(Don) has never given me anything."

Sally只是一个例子。Mad Men里到处是父母子女关系冷漠到极致的例子：Peter和哥哥对父亲空难身亡毫无悲伤，反而打算着财产将来如何分配；第六季里Peter的母亲已近精神失常，出身名门曾经优雅的女人如今年老疯癫，两个儿子却无一人真心在乎，在她同样意外身亡后两人所关心的只有财产分配，最后各自把母亲公寓的名贵家具搬个了空。

或许子女对父母的这种冷漠令人寒心和诧异，为何出身名门的上流社会子弟都如此不孝？看看Sally的成长恐怕答案就渐渐清晰。Roger是一个更好的例子。第六季的结尾，我为roger难过，甚至有些可怜他。这个衔着金钥匙出生的豪门少爷，如今已经是年近60岁的老人，他依旧风度翩翩，英俊潇洒，言谈举止俏皮幽默，但满头银发和眼中的落寞无不透露着他那空虚孤独的生活。他有过两次婚姻，一个女儿，剧中很少描写他的家庭生活，但他的前妻曾提醒他:"You should spend more time with her(his daughter)", 而Roger从始至终的花天酒地风流无数使人们很容易想象他究竟花过多少心思在女儿身上。他可谓晚景凄凉，女儿婚后和女婿一起计算着他的财产，以各种投资名头要他出资。他自己也心知肚明，因为他对自己母亲的去世也同样麻木不仁。

本季的结束，所有人都和孩子在一起：Peter即将和Trudy离婚，他临走前回到家中，看着熟睡中的女儿；Roger被女儿拒之门外，最后来到Joan家，终于得以和他们的私生子度过感恩节；Don带着三个孩子回到他曾经长大的房子，那曾经的妓院如今破败不堪，门口一个黑人小孩坐在门口，手中拿着棒冰。也许所有人都想重拾和孩子的关系，都想回归那唯一的温情，只是这温情里夹杂着无数苦涩和遗憾，或许还有悔恨。