Lost Horizon (S7x12)
Airdate: 3 May 2015
Written by: Semi Chellas & Matthew Weiner
Directed by: Phil Abraham
Running Time: 48 minutes
Mad Men, for years, has been the defining series on the American advertising industry, meticulously deconstructing how Madison Avenue was responsible for delivering an illusion of the American Dream to the world, while the reality behind it was often empty or lacking. For seven seasons, the show peeled back the layers of this glossy surface, revealing the dysfunction, the deceit, and the hollowness beneath. However, in an ironic twist that became increasingly apparent as the series reached its prolonged and somewhat weary end, Mad Men itself became part of the same process it spent years exposing. The show, after having told all the stories it was supposed to tell, began maintaining itself on an illusion—whether through a loss of creative energy or a lack of courage from its creators. In the final episodes, the narrative momentum sputtered, and the episodes are often better remembered for a number of Internet memes rather than the depth of their plot or the complexity of their characters.
The twelfth episode of the final season, Lost Horizon, is built entirely around this premise of irony: the grand masters of advertising, who have spent their lives selling fantasy, learning that what was promised and what was delivered are two different things. The episode focuses specifically on the newly absorbed S&CP cadre at McCann Ericson, where the illusion of a grand merger has given way to a harsh reality. The first and perhaps most devastating experience of this disappointment falls to Joan Holloway Harris. Once the queen bee of the secretarial pool at Sterling Cooper, she is now nothing more than a cog in a huge, insensitive corporate machine. Joan, who had fought hard for years to earn the respect of her male colleagues in the old firm, finds that her past victories count for nothing in the new hierarchy. She is given routine, humiliating tasks that strip away her dignity, and when she complains to Ferg Donnelly, he seizes the opportunity to make implicit but unmistakable sexual advances toward her. Joan is horrified by the casualness of the proposition and makes a plea to Ferg’s boss, Jim Hobart, to address the issue. Instead of offering support, Hobart puts her in her place with brutal efficiency; she will either have to "go with the program" or leave McCann, having her share of the company bought off on a reduced price. Joan attempts to counter this by threatening to organise feminist marches against the company, but Hobart puts cold water on that idea, reminding her that the New York Times, the media institution without whose support any such action would fail, is indirectly controlled by McCann through advertising revenue. Realising the futility of her position, Roger advises Joan to take the deal and leave, which she does, her reign as the queen of Madison Avenue effectively over.
The trajectory of Peggy Olson offers a completely different way of looking at the transition to the new world. As the old offices of S&CP are emptied out—including the computer that caused so much ruckus the previous year—Peggy refuses to be displaced without a fight. When she learns that the new office for her at McCann isn’t being set up yet, she refuses to leave her old workplace until that happens, becoming one of the last holdouts in the empty, echoing corridors. She finds Roger, who is saying goodbye to his old office by playing the organ. They share a drink, and an impromptu party ensues with Peggy rollerskating through the space to Roger’s music. It is a moment of pure, unadulterated joy amidst the corporate gloom. Taking a copy of Bert Cooper’s copy of The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife as a memento, Peggy finally arrives at her new workplace the next day, triumphantly carrying it with boxes, dark glasses, and a cigarette hanging from her mouth. It is an image that perfectly encapsulates her iconic status.
Don Draper, the supposed saviour who is supposed to bring his old magic to the new agency, is brought to the first grand meeting discussing the upcoming campaign for Miller "diet beer". He witnesses Bill Phillips (Eric Nenninger), a young executive of Conleavy Research, vividly describing the targeted consumer in the exact same way Don used to make pitches in his old company. Apparently unable to confront this younger, corporate version of himself, Don simply walks out of the meeting. Roger later explains to Jim Hobart that Don simply has such a habit. It is a sign of Don’s obsolescence in this new landscape; he is not just out of touch, he is beyond the way that they are thinking about the business.
Don instead takes on a very personal journey of self-discovery, simply by driving westwards. During the drive, he has a vision of the late Bert Cooper, his mentor and father figure. His destination is Racine, Wisconsin, where he would try to track down Diana Baur, the only person with whom he has had some kind of serious connection lately. He comes to her old home, claiming to have to deliver his contest prize, but Diana’s ex-husband Cliff (Mackenzie Astin) sees through his ruse and tells him that he is not the first person who came looking for her Diana. Further defeated, Don continues his journey westwards, eventually picking up a hippie hitchhiker on the way.
If there was a general theme that Semi Chellas and Matthew Weiner had to bring to their script, it should be best described as second-wave feminism, which was becoming—or was supposed to become—the foundation of the brave new world of the 1970s. These new trends reflect in different ways to different characters. Joan adopts the official line fully, only to confront the brutal reality that the promised equality was a sham. Don, while searching for the kindred spirit in Diana, finds only a perverted female version of himself—a serial seducer who leaves only multitudes of broken hearts. In contrast, Peggy is the only one who seems to be allowed to enjoy and possibly thrive under the new circumstances. Her iconic image, reflected in countless Internet memes, perfectly conforms to the ideal of the strong, independent career-focused woman that corresponds to the mainstream 1970s as much as our own world. She has asserted her place in the male-dominated field, refusing to be made small, and her triumph feels earned and authentic.
Yet, the Diana Baur storyline, with the character actually not being present for two episodes, doesn’t work as it should. Don and her had no chemistry, and her alleged destructive ability, which was difficult to reconcile with her relatively plain-looking image, makes the storyline look like filler. Don is in limbo, and while his journey to Racine is visually interesting, it lacks the narrative weight of the Peggy and Joan storylines. Bert Cooper, who had the best possible sendoff at the end of the earlier episode, Waterloo, briefly reappears as a ghost without much dramatic need apart from being a cameo for Robert Morse fans. It is a nice touch for the die-hards, but it doesn't add much to the plot itself.
Phil Abraham’s direction is the saving grace of the episode, particularly in the roller skating scene, that might be interpreted as a cinephilic tribute to a similar scene in Chaplin’s City Lights, and which elevates the material significantly. Even with these moments of brilliance, however, Lost Horizon is a solid, occasionally very good episode, but nevertheless still looks like filler in the series’ artificially prolonged final stretch. The show stretched itself out too far, relying on the nostalgia of its audience rather than sharp, compelling storytelling, and Lost Horizon is another symptom of that creative fatigue.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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