Mad Men: Episode 4:13

OK, as you know, I have always been a huge supporter of "Mad Men," and I think that Matt Weiner is one of the all-time great TV writers. I have followed him through four seasons of the show, and have watched "Mad Men" go from being a little-known cult favorite on AMC to one of the most critically-acclaimed shows ever made. Therefore, I do not disagree with Matt Weiner lightly, and I do not criticize him without thinking carefully.

Having said that, I cannot let last night's finale pass without expressing my grave disappointment. For four seasons, "Mad Men" has been a great drama -- a story about flawed but compelling characters that reached the heights of literature. Last night, in my opinion, it sank into the stale depths of melodrama and soap opera. Let me explain why.

In last night's episode, Don not only fell in love with his secretary -- he actually got engaged to her. On its face, of course, these events were simply absurd. In the first place, Don is a cynical person not easily moved to emotion and generally indifferent to the feelings of others. In the second place, he knows virtually nothing about his secretary -- she's only been in the office for a few months. In the third place, Don spent those few months having an affair with another woman. The notion that he would simply "fall in love" and find true happiness with a 25-year-old girl he barely knows -- and about whom the audience knows virtually nothing -- is ludicrous.

To be fair to Matt Weiner, however, I must admit that I don't think the audience was intended to believe in this relationship. Weiner made certain that we understood that he does not approve of Don's actions. We saw Joan and Peggy -- the closest thing to a conscience on the show -- criticize (and even mock) Don's decision. We saw Dr. Faye the psychiatrist -- whose analysis of Don has generally been spot-on -- tell him that he only enjoys the beginnings of things. And, as Mrs. GoHeath pointed out, the show ended with a clear reference to Groundhog Day (Don lying in bed as "I've Got You, Babe" plays) -- thereby signaling that Don keeps making the same mistakes over and over. In other words, the show is not asking us to really believe in the Don/Megan engagement, but to see that Don is making a mistake.

Fair enough. But telling the audience that it's a mistake for a middle-aged executive to marry a secretary he barely knows is hardly a worthy topic for serious drama. It's a sentiment too banal even for a pillowcase. Furthermore, even if we somehow had missed this message, the show has been beating us over the head with it ever since Roger left his wife to marry his secretary. Ending the season with such a simplistic motto is worthy of a bad soap opera, not an Emmy-award winning drama.

Let me be clear. The problem here is not that Don makes mistakes, or that Don hasn't learned his lesson, or any such thing. You can tell a great story about a character who keeps making mistakes -- see "King Lear." But the mistakes have to be interesting. Simply repeating over and over that men should treat women as equals and that a good relationship requires mutual understanding is not interesting -- it's the sort of thing I could find on a tee-shirt at Wal-Mart.

In the last few weeks, I have repeatedly mentioned Matt Weiner's puritanism in these reviews. Now I can see that the reason for this is that he has become extremely judgmental about his characters. When the show began, Don and Betty and Roger were all full of interesting possibilities. They had flaws, of course. But they also had great talents, and genuine capacity for good. Over time, however, they have deteriorated. Betty has become a pathetic shrew, and Roger has almost become a joke. And now Don -- the protagonist, the wise guy who has survived one drama after another -- has been made to look like a fool. Of course, Matt Weiner is free to punish his characters as much as he wants. But he now seems to dislike these characters so much that he simply won't give them a chance to do the right thing -- even when doing so would be most consistent with their previously-established character. It's no fun to spend hour after hour watching the show beat these characters over the head.

I cannot express the dread that I feel as we head toward the inevitable break-up of Don and Megan. We have seen him break up with so many women, and never learn anything from the experience, that I simply cannot bear the prospects of having to go through another one. Because Don is so flawed -- so selfish and ruthless in his dealings with women -- his personal life is simply no longer interesting to me. I still want to know what happens to him at the office, because his performance at work is much more sophisticated. But I get it already about his personal life, and I don't need to see it any more.

One final point. I have been generally very favorable toward "Mad Men" this season, because I thought they were doing a great job. But the ending plays a major role in every story, and this ending was so bad that, for me, it casts a pall over the rest of the season. I will get the DVD's, and I will watch a lot of these episodes again -- but I now believe that this season was largely a waste of time.