I'm in the minority here, but I have not been let down by this season. If anything, I'm hanging on every scene, because the show refuses to play by the traditional rules of soap plotting. Threads are dropped, not picked up for 2 episodes (the Sopranos, of course, excelled at this fresh spin on serialized storytelling).
I'm not terribly interested in the scenes on horseback -- that arena feels a bit one-note -- but otherwise, I've found it riveting. The plane crash and the multi-focus payoff, the agency and revelation of motivation in a major character's backstory -- was masterful.
And this week, the use of the acid-tongued Don Rickles comedian and his wife as a one-two punch in Don's world was equally original. We keep seeing Don put out a fresh fire, giving us new explorations of his moral compass (or lack thereof). When he came home and washed his mouth out with Lux soap -- only MADMEN would find such a moment!
Structurally, it's challenging; this show is not going to move in ways that accommodate our comfort zones, as an audience. The traditional make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, make 'em wait soap methods have been put in the bottom drawer. I've learned not to expect episode cliffhangers and week-later direct pick ups of story points, and instead to just hang on. The show approaches its characters as a mosaic, moving in close on one set one moment, then abandoning them altogether at others to find counterpoint (which is why I'm trying to be patient with the riding sequences...)
I agree with Iflit, that there is a considerable amount of set-up at work. But we already see the cracks forming in the world of the office, and just watching a character figure out a raise request has real emotional weight. You always feel the stakes, the sense of consequences from the smallest incident. That's still part of the appeal, the story blossoming in mundane details.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 8/12/08 at 04:09 PM
