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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.

In this post I will be discussing elements of Mad Men's Season 4 opener. So if you are not yet caught up with our collective cultural zeitgeist you should probably move on.

Now that we have lost those troglodytes let's talk about this latest episode, shall we?

The episode opens with a journalist from Advertising Age asking Don the question that defines the series, "Who is Don Draper?". Of course he doesn't actually give an answer, because if there ever really was an answer to that question Don would probably be the last to know.

I will gloss over all the other great stuff that happens during the episode (the new office, a staged ham fight, Thanksgiving Dinner from hell, and Don's downward spiral into Slap Sex!) so we can talk about the ending. Don confronts Betty and Henry Francis about the house and his future with the kids. Things get tense but you get the feeling that Don is holding back a bit. Once back at the office (did you see those couches in Reception!), Don pitches his "daring" bikini ad campaign to the stuff-shirt prudes from Jantzens. When they don't buy into his idea Don attacks them with both barrels. He throws them out of the office with all the rage that he meant to direct at Betty and Henry. The episode ends with another interview, this time it is a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that wants to know who exactly is the real Don Draper. Don goes into full Public Relations mode and feeds the reporter exactly what he wants.

Then, as always happens on Mad Men, the song during the closing credits not only encapsulates the episode but gives us a possible glimpse into the future. It also gives us a possible to answer to that big question, 'Who is Don Draper?". It is the The Nashville Teens' version of Tobacco Road:

I was born in a trunk.

Mama died and my daddy got drunk.

Left me here to die alone

in the middle of Tobacco Road.

Growin' up rusty shack,

all I had was hangin' on my back.

Only you know how I loathe

this place called Tobacco Road.

But it's home, the only life I ever known.

Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road.

Gonna leave, get a job

with the help and the grace from above.

Save some money, get rich and old,

bring it back to Tobacco Road.

But it's home, the only life I ever known.

Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road.

Bring that dynamite and a crane,

blow it up, start all over again.

Build a town, be proud to show.

Gives the name Tobacco Road

Considering we also learn this episode that with the loss of the Jai Alai account Lucky Strike now represents 70% of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's business, Tobacco Road perhaps portends that Don will "bring that dynamite and a crane" to the company he just started. The act of smoking a cigarette is a perfect metaphor for Don Draper...nothing looks cooler than self-destruction.

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Simon does two things better than anybody else I have seen. First, he writes characters with real voices and depth. And second, he ties these characters into a larger critique on systemic problems. Neither of these things are easy...not to write, not to portray, and certainly not to sell to an industry, and a viewing audience, that focuses on the exact opposites. To add to this amazing accomplishment his shows are entertaining, funny, gritty, and unpretentious. It is like eating something delicious and then looking at the label and saying "Holy shit...this is actually good for me!"

During the five season run of The Wire we are pulled through the intestinal tract of the City of Baltimore. To take a burned out genre like cops and robbers and use it to connect the audience to the core issues that create the problems of America's inner cities takes balls. And David Simon and his writing partner Ed Burns (a former Baltimore cop and teacher) have huge balls...and so does HBO for letting it air for five seasons even if it didn't draw a crowd like The Sopranos. HBO even stuck it with it when, despite critical acclaim, The Wire was routinely shutout on Emmy night.

One last thing I want to say about Simon's writing is that he expects a lot out of his audience. He will plop you down smack dab in the middle of a story. There is no "It is the first day on the job for the rookie so we will vicariously learn the ropes along with him" bullshit. No...minute one and you are drowning in it, and maybe three or four episodes down the road you might tease out a little more understanding. Characters are never formally introduced...hell half the time you don't know their names. The dialogue is always rife with slang and jargon and you are left standing there without your dictionary. You are forced to pay close attention and by the end of the season you are a veteran...you speak that language. Trusting an audience to take that journey goes against everything the last 50 years of TV has stood for. But David Simon shows that there can be a market for smart TV.

So are you going to be smart and watch The Wire? I hope so. If not, I am sure there is an episode of Two and Half Men on right now.

UPDATE:

I forgot to add these videos of David Simon talking to Bill Moyers about The Wire, so here they are: