Is boredom of interest? The affliction troubling the two main characters of AMC's wildly popular Mad Men seems to be some type of low-grade non-fever, the after effects of a suburban existentialist bomb that exploded far off camera leaving viewers wandering the frozen landscape of Draperville without the pleasure of fire. Don and Betty Draper are the ice-cold post-apocalyptic center of what is actually a nifty office drama whirling around them, but they move in the slow motion zombie dance of dead-eyed survivors - oh, so weary with life on Madison Avenue and Ossining and the country club. Maybe they'll figure in Cormac McCarthy's next descent to the depths - or George Romero's, anyway.
Don Draper sucks the life out of the tasty little agency storyline slowly unfolding at Sterling Cooper; in truth, the man simply doesn't have a real job. He shows up, sucks down nicotine, beds a client, tosses back a few drinks, and turns his thumb up or down on creative ideas like some early 60s Madison Avenue caesar. He never works. Not like Darren Stevens. Not like Jim Blandings. Hell, not even like partner Roger Sterling or sales director Duck Phillips, two far more authentic characters who you can genuinely sense have an eye on the agency's bottom line.
And not like the band of ambitious junior people: Peggy, Sal, Paul and Pete. These people have plans. They have schemes. They have principles they're willing to compromise in order to satisfy ambition. They're interesting.
Betty Draper is a pouty mannequin; Don a brooding extra. They're bored with their lives, having imagined more, but nothing seems to drive any real crisis. Moreover, they're not likable, in the way that draws an audience to follow them. Sure they're bad people. So were Tony and Carmela Soprano. But in The Sopranos, Tony and Carm dominated the center - the vast and fascinating ensemble moved around them. Don and Betty...no. Maybe they're too pretty. Or maybe the writing isn't up to scratch. And nor are they the literary successors to Frank and April Wheeler of Revolutionary Road, either. Yates told a suburban horror story in the guise of everyday life - he meant to horrify, and he did. (I'll be curious to compare Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as the Wheelers in the upcoming Sam Mendes flick to the cardboard Drapers).
So I'm watching Mad Men in the edges, and enjoying it more. Peggy's ambition is growing and she's willing to play by the boys' rules to succeed. Pete's feeling needed beyond his family's wealth. And Duck's dealing with the make-or-break midlife in the killing fields of midtown. These people feel real and their dialogue works; further, they wear their period outfits and settings well. Last week, Peggy's move on the men's club turned on her break room conversation with Joan - she got tough advice and she took it. Pete renewed his partnership with Peggy. Roger brokered a deal between the feuding Duck and Don. Paul took a chance on a big creative idea.
Take out the Drapers' boring boredom, and you had movement - you had drama, in the collision of ambition and opportunity.
