Don Draper and the Deplorable State of the Human Condition

Season six of Mad Men is off to a rough start.  I’d love to see the daytime soap that Meghan Draper (soon to be Calvet, trust me) is acting in, but I'd only watch one episode, because in terms of cinematography, costumes, make-up, and script quality, no soap-opera has ever been as good as Mad Men.  But thus far, the 6^th season of the series has been difficult for me to watch. 

Because the only charter that I like on Mad Men is Trudy Campbell.  After apparently getting his act together, a drunk Don is sleeping with his neighbors wife, (when this series started I thought that he was gay, now it's obvious that this whole affair is about feeling superior to Dr. Rosen.  Or he's in love with Sylvia.  I really hope Don isn't in love with Sylvia.) a boorish, racist Harry Crane is blackmailing his way into a partnership, Joan Holloway is a Misogynist, Michael Ginsberg is a Virgin, Abe Drexler is a kept man, Peggy is a snake, Dawn is an Uncle Tom, Meghan is weak, and Bobby Draper is Benjamin Button. 

After four episodes, I think that there is one question on everyone’s mind.  What the fuck is wrong with Don Draper?  To me, the best part of the series to date was the exchange between Don and Sylvia and the end of To Have and To Hold, the third episode of the 6^th season.

In the interaction, Don demanded that Sylvia remove her crucifix.  Sylvia demurred, pointing out that the crucifix didn’t mean anything to Don.  Don countered by telling his mistress that it meant something to her, and then he asked what Sylvia prayed for when she called to god.  Sylvia told Don that she prayed for him.  Sylvia prays that Don Draper will find peace. 

This exchange is meaningful.  It showed us that Sylvia Rosen was a woman of faith, and that Don Draper is deeply, profoundly flawed.  But we already knew that Don is not okay.  We know that he is a bastard, (literally and figuratively) we know that he was born to a whore, and that he spent his formative years in a brothel.  We know that he is a deserter, a fraud, a cheater, a womanizer, a homophobe, a workaholic, a hypocrite, and a terrible father.  But like Sylvia, I think that we’re all rooting for Don Draper to find peace. 

The real question is why are we rooting for such a despicable man?  Will our patience with Mr. Draper ever run thin?  This is a man who just admitted that his fake it till you make it plan for loving his children was a partial success, (I can assume that it worked for Bobby, clearly he has no feelings towards Sally or Gene).  Were it not for the tiniest glimpse of humanity after the assassination of Dr. King, (he offered Peggy a ride home from the awards show) I would say that Don was an inhuman sociopath, or perhaps the antichrist. 

As things are, it seems like Don Draper is just a guy doing the best that he can.  If this is the case, Don’s best isn’t good enough.  It’s not even close to good enough.  I’m not ready to give up on the booze swilling creative director, but I’m close.  For now, I’m with Sylvia- praying that Mr. Draper finds peace.  I pray that Mad Men never gets cancelled.  I pray that Bobby Draper stops aging in reverse.