Mad Men - Midseason Finale 2014 - Recap: Fly Me To the Moon
Recap video and review of Mad Men - Midseason Finale 2014 - Waterloo:
The first half of its final season has come and gone, and one thing is clear: "Waterloo" is sure to enter the pantheon of all-time great Mad Men episodes.
In a lot of ways, this could have served as a fitting, poignant series finale: Sterling Cooper and Partners is absorbed into McCann-Erickson as an independent subsidiary, Roger (John Slattery) decides to take a more active leadership role in the direction of his company, things finally come to an end between Don (Jon Hamm) and Megan (Jessica Pare), Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) delivers the "student becomes the master" moment that's been seven years in the making, and we say farewell to the old guard with the death of one of the show's best characters. And throughout all of this, "Waterloo" is in direct conversation with history, as Neil Armstrong takes his fateful walk on the moon, and it becomes clear to everyone with a pulse that the world has been irrevocably changed, and these people along with it. It's stunning to see how far these characters have come, whether it's Roger accepting Bert's (Robert Morse) final, indirect challenge to become more of a leader, Peggy having her own 
moment and showing the confidence that goes along with capability, or Don passing the torch by standing aside so his protege can claim her own future, free from the giant shadow his presence casts. These are people who've fundamentally changed even from last year, and the relationships between each of them have evolved, for better and worse. With the passage of time comes irrevocable change, and the moon landing is a harbinger of that change, a comment on the nature of risks, and how no great rewards, nor any significant progress, can be won without them.
Credit: AMC
Of course, this isn't necessarily meant to suggest that the show will ultimately go on to tacitly endorse risk, as the show has plenty of instances in which characters make giant leaps of faith (or desperation) that don't really pan out. Hell, just last week, Bob Benson (James Wolk) tried to coax Joan (Christina Hendricks) into entering into a marriage that would seemingly be mutually beneficial -- except that it really wasn't. In his desperation, it would be easy for us to understand why Bob saw the Joan risk as a risk worth taking, since the alternative is to continue to live a life in which, by his very nature as a young, attractive, single man, he'd face a certain scrutiny from his colleagues and superiors. However, Joan is averse to taking the risk of marrying Bob because, in reality, it doesn't actually net all that much for her beyond the status of a husband, and a father for her young son. As a romantic of sorts, Joan wants love, hoping to feel the fulfillment at home that she doesn't always feel at the office. "Waterloo," then, reads as a sort of tale about the search for that sense of fulfillment -- a sensation that can only be achieved through risk. Much like the Napoleonic battle from which the episode takes its title, there is always the possibility that a risk will end in disaster, but nothing worthwhile can be achieved otherwise.
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So here's where risk pays off in a big way, in handing over the Burger Chef pitch to Peggy, Don opens the door for SCP to win the account by offering the client something no other advertising agency would have: a female perspective. The night before the big pitch, Don knocks on Peggy's hotel room door, and explains that Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin) is trying to get him out, so he wants Peggy to make the pitch since she'll be able to keep the account if he gets fired, whereas Cutler might just give it to someone else if Don wins the account for SCP but ends up getting fired anyway. It's a vote of confidence in Peggy and her abilities, as Don explains that he wouldn't ask Peggy to do this if he didn't know she could. Yet, even though Peggy's skill is never in doubt, I'm not sure even Don was anticipating the extraordinary pitch Peggy wound up delivering. The entire scene is shot with a tone very similar to the Carousel pitch from Season One, as things start out fairly simplistic, with Peggy talking about the moon landing and its relationship to the changing cultural climate. But as the pitch rolls on, the scene takes on an almost reverent quality. Much like with the Carousel pitch, we know something magical is happening here, and we see that everyone else knows it as well. As Peggy passionately talks about how the encroachment of the future and the advent of technology has resulted in a starvation for emotional connection, Elisabeth Moss makes an outstanding case for why this needs to be the year Mad Men ends its Emmy drought in the acting categories. She's mesmerizing here, embodying Peggy's steely determination, which is not exactly fully formed before this pitch begins. The nodes of doubt are still there. But by the end of it, Peggy has come full circle as a character. The student has become her teacher, in a world of escalating social chaos: "There may be chaos, but there’s family supper at Burger Chef."
Credit: AMC
Yet while the episode looks at these characters through the prism of risk and reward, it also examines these characters through their defeats and comebacks. For example, Roger realizes just how much of his company he's losing to Jim Cutler, whose power and influence seems to grow with each episode. Cutler is trying to get rid of Don by claiming he breached the terms of his contract by storming the Commander Cigarettes presentation. Of course, the entire presentation had been geared towards elbowing Don out of the company, so it's ironic that he would be fired for trying to prevent his own firing. That said, it's not as though Cutler doesn't have allies: although Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) and Roger are abhorred that Cutler would try to oust Don in this fashion, Joan says she's tired of Don's behavior costing her money. Cutler also has the vote of Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm), but only because Cutler controls it. It's a precarious position for Don, since he's recognizing that, even by keeping his head down and "doing the work," the bigwigs still want him gone.
Credit: AMC
To make matters worse, Don's marriage to Megan is at an end, as she doesn't really want him to move to California anymore. Naturally, the breakup happens over the telephone, as Don offers to continue taking care of her even though they wouldn't be together anymore, arguing that he owes her at least that much. Megan tearfully insists he doesn't owe her anything, but in denying him the chance to take care of her, Don loses agency over yet another aspect of his life. This is a Don who feels he has no control. It's a Don defeated, and he's joined by a Roger who feels similarly downtrodden. However, Bert (Robert Morse) doesn't particularly have sympathy, explaining that Jim is someone with a vision, and that Roger has never had the backbone for leadership. Granted, it's not that Bert doesn't have deep, abiding affection for Roger, but simply that he knows Roger's strengths and weaknesses. He tells Roger about Napoleon and the nature of leadership, and just how important it is to have the right people on your team. It's a poignant speech that's a bit of a harbinger for what's to come...
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Not long after Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon on live television, Roger gets a phone call that Bert has quietly passed away in his home. More than anyone else in SCP, Roger is absolutely devastated by Bert's death, as Bert founded the company with Roger's father and had been a mentor and dear friend ever since. We learn that, in a lot of ways, Roger sought Bert's approval, leaving Joan to reassure him that Bert was always proud. But Roger isn't convinced, and so he takes the late Bert Cooper up on his indirect challenge to become a real leader. After all, without Cooper’s vote, Jim now has the majority among the partners, meaning Don is toast and so will everything else that made SCP what it is. Cutler is so obsessed with being seen as modern that, as Roger explains, he won't stop until SCP is nothing but "Harry and the computer". And so he makes the McCann-Erikson deal, in which the company buys a 51% stake in the agency in exchange for having the entire Chevy team work for them. It's a plan that is contingent upon Roger getting the entire team from the Chevy pitch to agree, which leaves it up to Don to sell the disenchanted Ted on the notion of sticking around for five more years. It's one of Don's best pitches in some time, as he lets Ted know just how rough it can get without the job, and how he'll come to realize just how badly he needs it once it's gone. And with that, Don and Roger turn their defeats into victories, with even Cutler voting "yea" on the McCann-Erickson deal, since it would bring a huge influx in money to the agency. As Roger makes the speech to the other staff, Peggy lets Don know that they've won Burger Chef, and for a moment, it truly does seem as though everything will be okay. However, upon heading downstairs to go to his office, Don encounters a vision of Bert Cooper. In one of the most gloriously surreal moments in the history of the show, Bert engages in a song-and-dance number with several lovely, imaginary secretaries, singing the 1920s ditty, "The Best Things In Life Are Free":The moon belongs to everyone, The best things in life are free; The stars all shine for everyone, They're shining for you and me.The flowers in Spring,
The birdies that sing,
The sunbeams that shine,
They're yours--they're mine.And Love can come to everyone,
The best things in life are free
Credit: AMC
It's one of Robert Morse's finest moments, and it's a fitting sendoff for the character of Bert Cooper, since it's not only poignant in isolation, but potentially prophetic in the context of the series as a whole. Has SCP sold its future for a few extra bucks? There's something foreboding about a dead, wealthy figurehead warning that "the best things in life are free." That said, even without the possible foreshadowing, it has plenty of import to this episode, as the moon really did belong to everyone here. Each character was affected by the moon landing in ways both big and small, from Don and Peggy, who sat in stunned silence as Neil Armstrong took his fateful first steps on surface, to Sally (Kiernan Shipka), who seems to recognize that the world is much bigger now than her limited scope. Initially, she's miffed at the prospect of the moon landing, adopting the opinion of a hunk she's crushing on, only to later be let in on the wonders of the larger universe by that hunk's dork of a younger brother. As if in recognition of having erred in adopting such a limited worldview, and accepting the infectious wonder that the younger brother communicates, she kisses the boy. It's a sweet moment in an episode -- and season -- that has been relatively light on such moments. But their infrequency makes moments like these all the more resonant. And it's the feeling of connection between these characters and their respective stories that made "Waterloo" feel more purposeful than a Mad Men finale has felt in at least two seasons, for my money.
Credit: AMC
I've never hated AMC's split-season model of final season programming more than I do now, because it means another full year before we see how it all ends. Mad Men isn't made to be split up, but meant to build gradually over the course of thirteen episodes...which is why it's all the more impressive that the series was able to accomplish a similar effect over the course of seven. My expectations are through the roof for next year's final seven, and while that's probably not fair, I had high expectations for these first seven -- and those expectations have been exceeded.