The Shadow-gloom and Weight of the Sacred

As I wrote a little while back, I'm a big fan of the television show Mad Men. Mad Men has several unique aspects to it, but something about which I've thought a lot is the excruciating slowness of each episode. This was especially true in the first two seasons of its production and, though it seems that much more is now accomplished in a given episode than what once was, this still remains a show content to let the plot unravel in gentle simmer rather than in CSI pulp-sticks of dynamite. There are times when I actually find myself bored but unable to remove myself from the narrative in any fashion because it's so tremendously compelling.

Mad Men is not without explosive moments and last Sunday's episode contained several
such explosions. Don Draper, the show's focal character, has been living a lie for well over a decade. It ruined his marriage in the previous season. This lie was a prominent plot device in the first season of Mad Men, but it had really been phased out in the most recent episodes. We always knew the truth, but we as viewers had been lulled to sleep--we'd moved past the possibility that Don Draper wasn't smart enough to keep the lie alive. We'd moved past the possibility that he might be caught. But, now, in a magnificently constructed move, we are sideswiped by what we knew all along. It seems that the lie which ruined Don Draper's marriage may now ruin his career and, perhaps, it may cost him his life. (This lie is no big secret. It wouldn't be inappropriate of me to describe the situation in detail, but if by chance you don't know, I promise you want to experience the show for all its worth when you have the chance.)

Jon Hamm, the actor who portrays Donald Draper, really gave a fine performance of a man corrupted by the lies. The corruption was never apparent, it was never obvious. The facade was so well constructed that we just assumed his inside was just like his outside, but as soon as he is confronted with the truth, it mows him over and the facade cannot be upheld. Then, looking back, all the clues were there. They were not subtle; they were screaming. The affairs. The failed marriage. The distant and distracted parenting. The alcoholism. The superficial relationships. Even though these things screamed of the corruption underneath, even though they were obvious, viewers chose the facade. It was easy: the facade was a winner. Things worked out. He was smarter than everyone else, a true Ayn Rand romantic.

Don Draper said to a confidant who knows the truth, "I just want it to be over." The effects of the corruption on full display. All masks were removed. I wonder how many people are really like that? I wonder how many people are moving through life motivated only by what the truth would reveal about them? I wonder how many people are portraying one story while living out an entirely different story--a story from which they are running away?

I don't know.

This is good television, in any event.