The Mad Men has lost its glitz

Season 1 Optimism

Mad Men finished it's sixth and penultimate season earlier this summer and all I could think of was:

"What happened to this show?"

I remember being sucked in to watching the first season of Mad Men because it depicted one of my favorite fashion era's: the early 1960's. Cue the sheath dresses and pill box hats, I loved it all! The show was absolutely scandalous to modern audiences because it tried to depict the sixties(an era of profound social/ideological changes) realistically, meaning that it contained moments of blatantly politically incorrect moments to the modern viewer. Day drinking, affairs in the most luxe New York Hotels-it's like how Gossip Girl would be if it were set in the 1960s and the characters occasionally acted like adults. I respected the boozing and smoking that the show depicted because it made a strive to make something real. I wasn't alive in that era so I have no idea what it was actually like but I can speculate that the things we now find scandalous were actually more commonplace in that time. And above all, it was stylish. The clothes were sophisticated and the characters played the gender binary to perfection. Men wore suits, drank whisky with abandon and boozed to their hearts content. Women were young, beautiful and impeccably dressed and coifed. Everything was young and hopeful and completely idyllic. 

Six years later, everything has changed. 

He's also getting kind of pudgy.

Don Draper-what happened to you? Don used to strut around the agency and moreover, he used to be good at his job. Roger in the pilot told company execs that Don Draper was "the best ad man in New York". He was suave and charming which distracted us from the fact that he stole a man's identity and cheated on his wife time and time again. He used to be in completely control or at least pretended to be, which was just as good in his eyes. In the 6th season, I don't think Don had one good sales pitch, he was drunk a lot and wallowing in self-pity from his failed affair with his friend's wife. He even got fired from the agency-they took away the ultimate marker of who Don Draper was. Don used to be "the ultimate man" but now he's been reduced to a shadow of his former self-an older man trying to play a young man's game. The finale gave hints that there might be some redemption to our favorite anti-hero but he will never be the guy he used to be. 

Joan contemplating life as a single mom

Don isn't the only character who has seen better days. Remember Joan's first appearance in the pilot? She was the smoothest operator and definitely had the most power out of all the secretaries. Everyone paid attention when she walked into the room. True, she is now a partner at the firm but because of the way that she got to the top, I'm not sure if she will ever be truly accepted. It's actually tragic since she's definitely capable-she proved that time and time again as she helped manage the company from the beginning and even did some creative research of her own in season 3 but was overshadowed by a male colleague. She also has a child to support on her own which is likely to be physically/mentally/emotionally draining(though that's not to say I'd prefer Greg stuck around-he's a pig). I would say that she's definitely managing but it's a struggle and the conversation she had with Don last Christmas indicates that she's also a little wistful of the times she used to have. 

And then there's Betty. The sixth season ended with her in a better place than we've seen her in a while but it started out with her in rock bottom. She's on her second marriage in a McMansion out in the middle of nowhere. She and Sally have been at odds since season 2 and the scene where Sally closes the door in her face hit home Betty's greatest fear: that she is irrelevant. Betty is a character who has previously been defined by two qualities: her attractiveness as a woman and her ability(or lack thereof) to be a mother. She was the first female character on the show to be shown as a wife and mother and the writers have made obvious references to the fact that it was her being a model that caught Don. Over the course of seasons 5-6, Betty gained weight and even changed the color of her hair, making her virtually unrecognizable from the svelte blonde beauty we've come to expect her to be. I remember feeling like it was karmic justice before that her beauty got taken away from her when she had her first weight-y reveal but I ended up feeling sorry for her because she just seemed incredibly lost. The question of "What do I do now?" seemed to loom over her and consume her. She's in a better place now but I was worried for a little bit. 

Season 1

Season 6

Also worth mentioning is Pete Campbell who was introduced to us as the young and ridiculously ambitious Ivy Leaguer who was about to be married. He was trying to be Don. He gained a wife, child and house in the country over the course of the first four seasons, spent the fifth season trying to get out of his suburban prison and the sixth realizing that getting out was a terrible idea. He ended season 6 separated from Trudy, one mother shorter and with his advertising career hanging at a delicate balance. Not to mention his hairline is now higher than Mount Everest and his sideburns are ridiculous. Get it together, Pete. 

Appearance snarks aside, it seems like a majority of the characters have lost a lot of confidence. They've lost some of their confidence in themselves as well as in the world around them. 1968 is a much more uncertain, violent and gritty year than 1960 was and I think these changes in characters is Matt Weiner's way of showing the effect of the changing tides of the country on everyday people. While the fifth season showed the beginnings of mod culture as modern and chic, the sixth season has proven to be much darker and grittier than we've ever seen from the show. This season was a lot more honest and real but lacked the style and charisma of the first few seasons. It seemed like the breakdown of everythin the first few seasons built up. I'm curious to see what will happen in the final season, what direction will the writers turn to resolve the many different conflicts that are currently standing. One thing is for certain: the characters had better brace themselves, because the times are a changing. 

You've come a long way, baby.