Sunday, May 6, 2012

Mad Men Season 5 epi 8 Lady Lazarus


Tonight's episode opens with Pete reading Thomas Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49. I wish I had a better memory of this book. The one thing I remember is that the girl I sat next to in the college class I read this in and I became pen pals and for years after exchanged letters that featured the muted horn and the words Report all obscene mail to the potsmaster(not a typo), a line in the book. The story has something to do with  conspiracy theories and the post office. Perfect for Pete who has no idea why anything happens the way it does.

Am I the only one it made nervous when Pete mentioned the suicide clause in his work insurance policy? He is so lost. Part of me hates him and the other part just wants to tell him, he is a worthy person, and if he could only believe that the world would be an easier place for him. Perhaps knowing that his fellow train travelers wife cares for him at some level will help??

I don't know what to think about Megan following her dream of acting. Maybe it's a good thing, she isn't trying to live some lie like 90% of the cast. But then I worry Don didn't like it when Betty tried to get back into modeling. On the third hand Don looked positively terrified when he came home and found Megan cooking dinner, in a housewifey way. I don't think he knows what is going to work.

That empty elevator shaft, when Don tried to follow Megan didn't seem like a very promising sign. I was pretty sure they would be married when this season opened and now I'm just as sure they won't be by the time the next season starts.

The name of tonight's episode, Lady Lazarus is a Sylvia Plath poem about a women who has died a few times but is always revived and isn't happy about it. I suppose many of the characters on the show keep getting dragged back to a life they want no part of. Obviously Pete has never been happy in the life he is leading. Don seems afraid of his new marriage becoming like his marriage with Betty. Peggy has made some comments about not being sure about the path she's taking. The list goes on...

This and That:

The show has really caught up to me. I recognized cover art from the records and books. It kind of freaks me out actually.

Cracked me up when Don said they knew what The Beatles sounded like. Unlike The Stones a few weeks ago.

Don's line I grew up in the 30's. My dream was indoor plumbing.

Pete asking if the skies Roger was giving him were going to blow up.

2 comments:

WEndy said...

The show is going in an interesting direction. I thought Don would not be as supportive about Megan trying her hand in acting. He seems more open than I expected. But, I have a strange feeling some problems will arise with her being so independent.

Madonna said...

The references to literature in this episode is very important, as you pointed out. The fact that Pete is a train friend of this unlikely husband seems metaphorically transient. The erstwhile lover Pete discovers at the train station seems to not have her feet firmly planted on the ground. She stated that, "I might run into your wife at the market, if I ever went to the market". She is tender-harted to a extreme degree, worried about seeing homeless men in doorways, and the photos of the earth from space...she seems disconnected to life or the daily struggle. I thought the suicide reflected on her troubled psyche.
I also think the open elevator shaft that Don discovers relates to the void in his life with Megan and SCDP. After all, beans are not so important,or valuable to one's spirit.
Madonna