A Few Questions: Mad Men: Season 3

And even as I write this, I’m already at Mad Men: Season 4, Episode 4.

But, still.


1. Was Conrad Hilton really such a nut job? Don’t get me wrong, I loved him (as a character; having worked for a “marketing communications” agency — we did so much more than ADS, people! — he seemed like a nightmare client) and I liked that he gave Don a hard time and kept him off balance. But I just wonder if the character was based on the actual Connie Hilton, or if he was fabricated.

2. Why is Betty Draper so very despicable in Season 3? She’s such a big baby! Is it the culture that infantilized suburban housewives, or is Betty Draper unique in her upbringing (i.e. “Daddy’s” girl) that makes her that way? Is it the way she treats her children? Is it the way that I know she would never leave Don without Henry waiting in the wings? Is it her whole me-centric bearing throughout the season?

Also: 2b. Why would you pick Christopher Stanley over Jon Hamm? I’m sorry, but Jon Hamm is my new marriage clause. Christopher Stanley is very, very meh. Unless, of course, you are Betty Draper and have daddy issues. And you discover your husband has been lying to you from day one.

3. Why don’t I hate Don Draper? I actually have been fascinated by this question since I started watching Mad Men. He is a lying, cheating bastard (okay, he couldn’t have helped that last part) who is totally eff’ed in the head — and I am utterly compelled by him. The bad boy motif? I don’t think so, only because he’s so… manly. The steel gaze, the square jaw. But he is such a complex mystery, oddly moral in his ways. The scene where he breaks down and tells Betty about his past — it was… moving. I just wanted to see her give him a hug, for God’s sake.

4. Watching Mad Men, with all the drinking and smoking, is torture when you’re pregnant. Torture, I tell you. (Okay, not a question.)

5. What happens(ed) to Sal? I love big, gay closeted Sal. What is up with showing him in a phone booth lying to his wife? The background seemed to intimate at hot gay action in a park somewhere. Am I missing something? Where is Sal?? (If you are ahead of me in Season 4, and know this, don’t tell me. If there is anything to tell. If there’s not, don’t tell me that either!)