Mad Men: 9 Things From Season 1 That Haven’t Aged Well

Mad Men is a classic TV series with a reputation that precedes it. Even still, not everything about its inaugural season has aged particularly well.

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Along with Breaking Bad, Mad Men was one of AMC’s first major ventures into dramatic television. Like that series, Don Draper and his cohorts at Sterling Cooper only got better over time. With that being said, Mad Men’s first season is still an early example of the Golden Age of Television.

However, that’s not to say it’s perfect. Some aspects of the show, particularly in the 2007 inaugural season, are even more uncomfortable now than they were then. Regardless, the series captured a very real 1960s mentality that is far worse aged than anything on fictional television.

Don’s Treatment Of Peggy

Even as one of the most re-watchable and well-regarded drama series of all time, Mad Men’s protagonist isn’t always that great a guy. For example, he can occasionally be quite stern with Peggy Olson, even considering she’s probably the woman he treats the best at Sterling Cooper.

He doesn’t push back against her ascension at the agency, so Draper isn’t consistently mean or even rude. However, when she enters his office (crying) to tell him about two wrongful terminations, his reaction is nothing short of cruel. Instead of comforting her or asking her what’s wrong, he barks at her for being in his office while he’s not there. Then, he yells at her to stop crying, which is far from the best way to accomplish that task.

Don & Midge Daniels

Draper’s tendency to break his marriage vows is a frequently-covered territory in Mad Men. Some of his relationships on the side play better than others. Beatnik artist Midge Daniels (Rosemarie DeWitt) falls somewhere towards the middle.

Daniels is so different from Draper that it’s obvious their fling is doomed from the beginning. Her role in the narrative feels like just an extra source of tension instead of a subplot that really serves to expand the protagonist.

The Unlikable Creative & Accounts Team

The account managers and copywriters of Sterling Cooper are not kind individuals. And in Mad Men’s first season, their treatment of female coworkers, wives, and anyone without a surplus of cash is poor at best.

This was also prior to the point when they had been expanded to be anything outside of snobbish stereotypes. At most, copywriter Paul Kinsey is shown to be extra self-absorbed. Future head of the television department Harry Crane is really defined as nothing more than an initially faithful husband. Ken Cosgrove is a little more interesting, considering he becomes a published author. Pete Campbell is given more meat than the rest combined, but he’s still just as distasteful. The only exception to the boys club’s lack of likability is Salvatore Romano, Sterling Cooper’s closeted art director. Even still, his sweetness is not always enough to balance out the surrounding toxicity.

The Constant Sexism

Sexism in the workplace is a massive part of the show, and it can prove fairly overwhelming. The first season of Mad Men does, however, have a low-key hero in the form of copywriter Freddy Rumsen.

Every other man, including occasionally Draper himself, treat Sterling Cooper’s women like objects. It’s an uncomfortable air that hovers over every moment of the series’ first episodes. The male-dominated business world is a part of the remaining 6 seasons, but it’s pushed into the audiences’ faces throughout the initial 13 episodes. While never acceptable, the portrayal of sexism here certainly affects more in this social environment.

The Heartlessness Of The Protagonist

Amongst Mad Men’s most heartbreaking episodes, “5G” (the series’ 5th episode) goes a long way towards showing who the show’s protagonist really is. A young man comes to the agency after spotting Draper’s image in the newspaper. He claims to know the ad man by another name because they are in fact brothers.

Draper’s dual past as Dick Whitman (his true identity) is one of the series’ most interesting arcs, but it can put him in a very negative light. In conjunction with how he treats his wife, Draper’s conversations with his brother are nothing short of selfish and cruel. He has succeeded in putting the past behind him and doesn’t seem to be filled with remorse. Considering just how much of season 1’s focus is on Draper, his personality can become unsettling.

Joan Holloway’s Better Days Were Ahead Of Her

Sterling Cooper’s office manager Joan Holloway goes on to become one of the most thoroughly-developed characters on Mad Men, but she’s not given but so much to do in the first season.

At first, Holloway seems to be nothing more than a passive-aggressive superior (particularly in regards to Peggy Olson). Her character is revealed to be in the midst of an affair with Roger Sterling, and she’s shown to have deep down affection for him. But her identity as an individual has yet to be formed because the first 13 episodes have a heavy focus on Draper and Olson.

Peggy & Pete

One of Mad Men’s best characters, Peggy Olson, is also one of its most driven. She has to deal with crude and lewd comments from her male coworkers on a daily basis. One of them, the similarly driven Pete Campbell, is more overt about his attraction than the others.

On the night of Campbell’s bachelor party, he and Olson get intimate on an agency couch. It’s a moment that makes the viewer want to ask Olson what she’s doing. And while Campbell is the one who initiates the liaison (as well as the one who is actually cheating), both parties are very motivated.

Don Immediately Forgiving Roger

When Draper’s boss, Roger Sterling, feels lonely after a long workday, he pesters his employee into a night on the town. His behavior escalates, his words slur, and they end up back at the Drapers.

After dinner, in the kitchen, Sterling gropes Betty while Don is out of sight. When Don returns to the room, he’s aware that something has happened, but his anger is directed solely at Betty. Even the next day, when Sterling comes clean, Don shrugs it off like it’s nothing. The words spoken and the actions taken are in line with the show as a whole, but that doesn’t make it easier to watch in the 2020s.

The Infidelity

It’s made clear very early in the series that Don is unfaithful to his wife. Pete Campbell cheats on his wife, Trudy, as well. Sterling cheats on his wife, Mona, with Joan.

In short, infidelity runs in the bloodstream of Mad Men, and it doesn’t go a long way towards making the characters likable. This is particularly true when the central protagonist is sleeping with a beatnik artist (Midge Daniels) in one scene, then immediately with his wife in the next. Before long, the first season of the series dares you to like its characters. It’s never been acceptable, even in the confines of the show, but it sure stings more today.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/mad-men-things-season-1-havent-aged-well/