A salute to some legendary drunks
So now that those philistines have shuffled off let's talk Mad Men. Season Four is so good, right? After episode two I really thought Don was pathetic and loathsome. Episode three reminded me that there is still a human soul inside that handsome shell. The show is pretty good at getting us to love/hate Don Draper and just love Dick Whitman. Don as Dick (instead of just being a dick) is so damn likable...all the Draper charm without all the brooding baggage. All of this vulnerability is revealed in the sweet relationship with his "ex-wife" Anna.
Of course the fun part of Episode Three was the booze-fueled antics of Don and the usually reserved Lane Pryce (played by Jared Harris) . There was a great little moment when Don and Lane are at dinner (right after watching Godzilla bombed out of their minds!) when Lane compares Don to a guy he knew in school, a guy they all instinctively followed around who later died in motorcycle accident. It immediately reminded me of the opening scene of Lawrence of Arabia in which the title character is killed when he crashes his motorcycle. Of course in the movie T.E. Lawrence was played by Peter O'Toole, the bosom drinking companion of Jared Harris's own father Richard Harris (the first Dumbledore for those of you who have a hard time watching the classics). I don't know if this was intentional or not but I really like imagining Jon Hamm as O'Toole and Jared Harris as Richard Harris. There has never been two finer drinking buddies, and I see this episode as an homage to their legendary friendship.
