SUITS: 4.03 - UNFINISHED BUSINESS

So this is how Suits is going to create a war that culminated with everyone at each others throats fighting over control of Pearson Derby - By pairing everyone up. We have Harvey and Mike, Stephen (aka. British Harvey) and Derby, Louis and Katrina and the lone wolf Jessica. Who will be left standing would be an interesting question if this was not a USA show and predictable as shit.

Somehow my gut tells me that Derby will become the major villain by the end of the season, and then Harvey et all will have to combine to oust him. We have already seen the types of people whom Derby deals with - people like Ava Hessington, evil bitch's who bribe and murder and have no moral compass or remorse about what they do. Once the season progresses and the show peals back the layers of Derby - Harvey will realize that Jessica may not be the worst person in the firm and may need to team up with her to take him down. The man has a fixer! (remember Michael Clyton? These fuckers pay for keeps!).

As for my thoughts in this episode.....it was ok. I think Harvey taking down Katrina can be seen as him really being angry at himself more than he is actually angry at Katrina. Harvey should have protected Mike against Jessica last season and I think he was just venting at Katrina. By saying to Katrina that he will fuck her up if she fucks with Mike - he just wants to fuck Jessica up badly. Critics have asked since the beginning; why does Harvey go to these lengths to protect Mike? What makes Mike so special that someone like Harvey would risk everything for him? Why does Harvey act like a douche with everyone but Mike?

I think we need to get more into Harvey as a character this season, questions need to be answered. Or Harvey (and by extension Mike) just come off as know it all wankers who pompously go around lecturing people on how to live and do business. If they do not? They can go and fuck themselves. If this show is not careful Harvey will become like Will Macvoy - who is on a mission to civilize......UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO THANK YOU!!!!!!!  Ones enough, trust me on that.

This show is forever on the cusp of dealing with some serious issues; like trust, loyalty, betrayal, humility, compassion, etc. But always blow the critical moment or scene when it counts. They skip critical conversations and the show just navigates itself from one disaster to another without any acknowledgment of growth and consequences. Why was Hardman the evil prick that he was? Why did he cheat on his dying wife? why did he steal from the firm when he is obviously rich? Why risk everything? The show just never fleshed this out and it is the poorer for it.

They always say that your good guy is only as good as the villain that opposes him. Hardman was a caricature, Derby is a caricature with a British accent, Louis and Jessica may be better fleshed out but still do not possess enough evil to make them compelling adversaries.

The show is circling the drain a little, it needs some more focus and simplicity...more meat on the bones please.

Grade: D+

Shawn Mahone

MAD MEN 6.13 - IN CARE OF

What a phenomenal episode of television. Where we ended could be seen as ground zero for Dick Whitman and Don Draper. He took his kids to the whore house where all his problems started; he mistreated women because of the lessons he learnt at the whore house, he ran away to Korea because of that house, he stole the real Don Drapers identity, etc.

Everything that is wrong with Don can be traced back to that house and I was so happy that he took his children there. If Dick Whitman's terrible life started there and caused all the pain and hurt he has inflicted then maybe it was only fitting that Don Draper would end there and accept how damaged he is and he can start fresh.

What gives me this hope?

That Hershey's meeting was just fantastic from top to bottom. The original pitch was fantastic and when Don started to reveal his true self....wow, just fucking wow! That is the first indication that maybe he was willing to stop this rot.

The second thing that gave me hope, he gave Ted his get out of jail card. He refused to run away and chose to meet his kids for Thanksgiving. Don runs, he just runs when shit hits the fan. but not doing that and accepting the damage he was doing to kids (via and excellent phone call with Betty reminding him that they are being damaged) shook him up and he finally chose to love these kids and try and heal some of the damage he has done.

Just wow, fucking about time and did I say WOW!

The comic relief fell to Pete in this episode and boy did he deliver. His "Not good Bob!" was wonderful. As was the moment when he and his brother realized that mother is better off in the water - cheap bastards! Pete got fucked even though he knew how dangerous Bob was, yikes. I have a feeling that Pete will bounce back, I hope he does, I really do.

Roger Sterling finally got to know his son and maybe he can find some more happiness then he has had with his money grubbing bitch of a daughter.

Joan showed some real compassion there but on the flip side...her look to Don when the partners were Freddy Rumsening him spoke volumes...she can give a cold stare...whoa.

Burt Cooper still commands fear and respect...Don did not even try to fuck with Burt in any way. When Burt said the verdict was reached...the verdict was reached! I now see why they have kept Burt around all this time, when the agency needed someone to rein Don in...he was the only one who could. Don cannot outmaneuver Burt like he can do with anyone else, even the people who know his secrets.

Bob Benson? Go fuck yourself!

Megan? Go fuck yourself!

I love you Peggy!

I love you Stan!

I hope Peggy and Stan can finally get together and do what they have to do...they just work, they get each other, they really do.

This season has had its ups and downs for sure. But I have enjoyed it more that season 5, this ending really does point to a break from this vicious cycle the show has been stuck in since season...since the beginning. The cat is out of the bag, Don finally showed a part of Dick Whitman to the agency and to his children.

I cannot begin to tell you just how emotional I got when Don finally opened up to the clients and his colleagues and revealed the truth...so wonderful. Don had to let the Hershey people know just how important their chocolate was to his sad and lonely existence living his childhood in a whore house. His beaming smile when he recollected how it was the only thing that made life worth living said it all....the fact that the article he read made him long for a life he would spend his entire adulthood searching for, beautiful. So much pain and hope...

If they can spend season 7 with Don fixing his life and fixing his children and just trying to be a better human being, then maybe we can receive some well earned catharsis, that would be excellent.

God speed Don Draper, God Speed brother.

Grade A+.

Season Grade A-.

Shawn Mahone

MAD MEN 6.08 THE CRASH

I know that a lot of critics have just not taken to this episode in any way or form, but, do not put me in that category. I absolutely loved this episode, but that may be due to Stan Rizzo's actions evoking fond memories I had of a high school friend.

My friend used to run around with his shirt off and a tie around his head saying crazy shit, imitating everyone (really well and fucking funnily), doing crazy shit all the time and just basically always having the attitude that said lets roll the dice and say fuck it and do it. A lot of the times he could just sit there with a blank expression when he talked with you, as if he did not give a shit and then he could be crazy. Man I miss him, it was always an adventure hanging around with him.

Every time Stan was on screen he evoked those memories and I had a smile the size of the Missouri whilst reminiscing.

As for Don, Urgh, even if he was making some sort of breakthrough's...he totally ignored his kids, just so he could create this grand pitch to make to a married women who is not willing to throw everything away like him. Silvia told him to leave her alone, told him that it was a short term thing, told him that he should know when to let go and told him that this is upsetting her. But Don Draper has to have that charge that comes from the beginning of things, it is so old and so repetitive that I just could not stop laughing my ass off when he was running to his apartment muttering his great speech to Silvia to win her over. Fuck the work he was supposed to do, fuck his colleagues, fuck Chevy, fuck the agency, fuck his kids, fuck Megan....fuck everything!   Whatever man, I am tired of this shit.

Yes, what made this episode for me was everyone else's actions and going on's. Elizabeth Moss was fantastic, you could tell that she was genuinely having a blast while J R Ferguson was doing his shit, she gave a very complex performance with her heart to heart with Stan, she was great with Ted and she was fantastic in calling out Don's shit. Ginzo was funny and annoying, Harry was great, Cutler was excellent, Ken and his joy riding and tap dancing was just epic and Roger is always awesome, we need more Sterling's Gold and more Sterling one liners in general and......all good.

Something that also made me appreciate this episode was that in the first time in a long time, there were periods were the surrealism made me feel like we were right there in the 60's. Whenever I visit relatives who lived in the 60's there love affair with that time period and era, along with the pictures...they always make me feel an odd sense. Gleason's first appearance did that...her doing those Eching and all the crazy other hippy shit made me feel like I was staring at those family albums and made me feel like I was living some of their stories. Excellent all round. I loved that that all the characters were in that zone...more please.

By the time we got to the end and Ted is holding Stan's 600 odd ideas of which half were crap and Stan's drawings where he misspelt Chevy...I was on the floor laughing my ass off. Stan just does not give a shit and banging Gleason's daughter was just awesome! So way to go Stan, you Awesome SOB!

Next time I will throw the knife! If you ever want to do some crazy shit brother, I am here, just give us a shout!

Grade: A+

Stray Observations:

- The time jumps were just fantastic, made me laugh every time Don seemed so lost when he did not know where he was or who some of the people in the room were.
- See when Ginzo takes the pen from Peggy, he has to click it so he can write, she was pretending to write Stan and Freddy Crane's crazy ideas, Peggy Olson for the win!
- I think the fact that I only started watching this show after season 4 helps. The fact that I first heard of this after the first 4 seasons were uploaded to Netflix - and I could binge watch them helped. It makes me less impatient over the repetitiveness and allows me to enjoy the rest of the episode that is not Don centric or Betty Centric or whatever. I feel for critics who have had to study and spend hours upon hours going over every episode since 2007. Sorry guys!

That is all folks, as usual, shit grammar from me, but you knew that was coming!

Please feel free to comment!

Shawn Mahone

Mad Men 6.06: For Immediate Release

When Pete Campbell slipped in this episode, fan response suggested that it was a comedic moment, that may be true on some level. But I think it represents the moment that Pete Campbell fell from his high perch (on the second floor with the same view as Don) and lost the last bits of power and control in his life. Dow and Jaguar, his babies are gone. Trudy has ended their marriage once and for all and any chance Pete had of going to the next level is gone too. I doubt Pete will have his name on the door, I doubt that Pete will ever be in a position of power again. From now on in Pete will have to fight day and night to keep what little he has left, the sad thing is he just does not understand that he is losing everything, he never respected or enjoyed what he had and now it is all gone.

Don may seem like he is on the up, but that smile he had when he got Chevy was telling. Yes, he always wanted Chevy, but this is yet a new beginning, we all know how Don loves beginnings. How long until he gets bored and starts causing more shit? Peggy knows that this is all going to go to shit, the look on her face said it all. Now not only are the people at SCDP fucked, but so are all the people at CGC.

This is not going to end well for anyone.

Joan had every right to be angry with Don, she has been around from the beginning and knows just what Don is capable of. I fully understand her explosion, he cost her close to a million dollars (a shit load in todays money), losing Jaguar cost her a meal ticket that would have meant she never had to rely on a man again. Don lost her independence, he lost her the chance to take care of baby Kevin, to buy a nice apartment in Manhattan, to finally not feel just like a secretary.

Just who the fuck does Don think he is? not everyone can keep starting over and over and over again. They do not have that luxury as Pete so pointedly remarked towards the end of the episode. I can understand on some level that by losing Jaguar and Vic's and CGC on the brink with the imminent retirement of Gleason and the loss of Alpha that this was the only solution offered to them. I mean they went through with the loss of Ketchup and had to up their game but as history shows time and time again this will be a complete and utter fuck up.

Watching this episode I got the caper vibe that made me so happy in Shut the Door and Have a Seat, but 3 seasons later and I am wiser to how this will end up. Also Matt Wiener last show was all about how no one changes and it all gets worse and worse until death (RIP Sopranos), so this is going to fail. Too bad. SCDP's clients are telling. Dow is in the shit because of Vietnam, Lucky Strike like all cigarette firms of the time were labeled as murdering people and the Chevy Vega is considered the worse car ever produced in the history of the automobile industry. None of this bodes well for the future.

I have not reviewed this show for a time because I have had this sinking feeling, that this will end up with everyone jumping off of the Time-Life building but I had hoped they could fix some of this shit. I seriously doubt they will, ugh. Cable shows like this and The Wire, The Shield, Sons Of Anarchy, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc all show that the end is going to be a downbeat and dire affair, that is ok, I understand that. But that is why Network shows will always have a place in my heart. Quantum Leap ended on a downer, but what came before was brilliant and heart warming and gave me incredible hope. Sam saved his brother and saw his family again and saved Al's family and although he was stuck leaping forever....the high's that came before made up for this ending. Chuck was not perfect and ended on a kind of downer but what the show demonstrated before was that things were going to be ok, Sarah would remember and I believe that kiss worked. The show over 91 episodes showed that everything would be ok. They showed deep down that Sarah could not help love Chuck, it showed the power in giving characters their wins it gave them hope.

I have no problems with sadness or drama but I do need some hope, this is not hope it is schadenfraud and it is getting too much. I think the ratings are indicative of this, I hope cable shows can evolve or they will start to realize what Roger Sterling realized....they will start to lose everything.

Episode Grade: C-

Shawn Mahone

MAD MEN 6.03: The Collaborators

Back in the pilot, Don told Pete that if he continued acting the way he was acting, he one day would end up in a corner office alone (losing all his hair) where no one would like him. 8 years later and huzzah! Pete Campbell is all alone, no one likes him, he is losing his hair and after Trudy kicked him to the curb; he is all alone (it was worth mentioning twice, and a ton of times below).

Roger said in the premiere that all he has to look forward to is losing everything, well, Pete is well on his way there. Pete may get his name on the door, and with Lane's death he probably has a higher stake in the company. But at what cost? The apartment he now has in Manhattan demonstrates amply his decline; it is filthy, dark and gross...like Pete Campbell (too be honest I would not want to sit anywhere there!). Don cannot even enter his apartment, because he knows that it contains a life that Pete does not realize he is on his way to getting...one that he does not want anymore.

I have always known (even form the pilot) that Don treats all women like whores, and my opinion has not really changed over the course of the series:

1) Midge was paid with an airline ticket to Paris and Don always picked up the cheque for her and her friends.
2) Bobby Barrett may not have had money thrown at her, but the way Don always physically accosted her it was the same.
3) Allison was given her 'Bonus' money and sent on her way.
4) Dr. Faye was being paid by Don to work for the agency, so she was on the old payroll.
5) Megan ultimately showed her true colors in the way she whored herself for a copy writers job and then actressing dream.
6) Sylvia had her cookie jar money thrown at her.
7) When Don called Betty a whore in the season 3 finale, I first assumed he was just angry at the time and was being irrational. Now reflecting on the moment, I think he was just calling her what he thought she was all along; an expensive whore who was only there to service Don's needs and the image he thought displayed the American dream everyone was living.

The flashbacks show that Don really does not know any better. He saw that his step mom paid her way by letting Uncle Mac bang her for cash. Since, that is what Don assumes is the way life goes; women are there as a function, they are not supposed to want anything and they are a service that Don can disregard as soon as they have worn out their welcome.

I really hoped Pete could learn from Don, but looking back throughout the series it has become apparent that he is lost and does not know how to act or be. Pete manufactures placated-riddled conversations, because he thinks that is what people want  all the time (Megan's dad was a great example). He follows Don's example because he does not know any better. He never questions the morality of this path or whether it is right or wrong type of behavior. He looks at Don as the right way because his upbringing never told him it was a downward spiral. His father was a user who wasted the family fortune, his brother was always out for himself and unless Pete finds a better role model or wakes up to Don's disastrous example, then he will never pull out of the tail spin that is his wreckage of a life.

The above makes me so happy that Peggy recognized Don's bullshit and left before she could get dragged down with him. Peggy is being awesome at her job, she may be part Don, but not quite all, yet! She does not have the man management skills that Don has at his disposal. She cannot tell her employees to swim the English channel and drown in champagne. She cannot tell her employees that if they are not careful they will end up like Paul Kinsey, because life in the Advertising game is tough and if you do not cut it soon you are out on your ass. I am sure she will learn, Ted will harden her up and force her to up her game and go toe to toe with Don. But I do wonder at what cost, she has already inadvertently screwed Stan over.

You go Trudy! I am glad she wised up to rapey Pete, if only he could have and realized what he had, ugh, idiot. It is no coincidence that Pete is deluding himself. The only women he can get are either very conservative like Trudy or are Suburban housewives who have not lived the 60's yet and probably have not lived in that world because they got married in the 50's and assume someone like Pete is a catch. I find it hard to believe that a woman of substance in 1968 would go for a slime ball like Pete Campbell, he is stuck because the only way I see him having company is if he pays for it, I mean Trudy has forbidden him from going anywhere near the suburbs to find similar women.

If this show is about all the characters losing everything by the end, then most of them are almost at the end of the journey. Lane is gone, Pete is on his way along with Don and Roger; and Burt finished once he sold out to the British.

The only hope I have for these characters are the dreams of Stan, Peggy, Joan and Ginzo! Megan is a gonna if I am being honest and even if Joan was part of the older generation; she is still living the dream that Helen Reddy's song in 1971 encapsulated for women. Joan is a partner in a industry that is the most backward and decaying. Ad agencies were torn to shreds for the racial backward arseness of their ways and the blatant misogyny in the 60's and 70's, so you go girl!

I hope these people can catch a few of Petula Clark's upbeat tunes and fucking change for the better or it is going to be a dark and tragic journey to the end.

Grade: A-

Shawn Mahone

MAD MEN 6.01 THE DOORWAY

If I were Will Graham (from Hannible) I do not think I would want to step into Don Draper's mind, in fact, I doubt I would want to step into any of the men's minds at SCDP. The self loathing, alcoholism, narcissism, womanizing, etc...has become too much. This show has spent six seasons with characters that have not improved (as human beings) in any way or form, they continue to guide from one disaster to the next and, if this season opener is anything to go by, do not seem to show any signs of improving. Anyone who enters their orbit gets sucked in, destroyed then spit out. Relationships have been destroyed, marriages ended, businesses lost and lives ended.

How do we root for these people? Anyone got an answer? Roger Sterling's wit does not count!

I think, quite rightly, that Don is at the center of this problem. Donald Draper loves to live his life like the ads he sells. They capture a moment, are perfect and there is minimal depth...they are temporary.

The problem with this approach? Like creating new ads when the old ones go stale, Don has to restart his whole life and thus try and capture that loss of temporary happiness. People have being calling out Don for 6 seasons now, and he has yet to even change slightly. Rachael Mekan called him a coward when he tried to dump his family and kids and start over, back in season 1. Roger told him in the season 3 finale that he does not value relationships, unless he can exploit them. Faye told him that he only likes relationships when they are new and fresh. In season 5, once it became apparent that Megan was human and was flawed, Don was.....done! One could say that Megan did herself in, Connie told Don that he does not like people who cry and moan about not having what it takes and it turns out that (due to both him and Connie starting from nothing) that Don does neither, and did not like Megan crying and using him to succeed. Now in season 6 it has become very apparent that Don is back at it, fucking anything that moves, if anyone even doubted that Don did not go home and fuck those two girls at the bar, man were they mistaken. Megan not being perfect, like Betty, awoke him to a new reality and has left him back at square one. I like to think that when he was looking at Megan's reel last season, he was looking at what he thought was perfection...then realized that she was just using him to get where she needed to go...I like to think that he finally saw through her.

To be honest is anyone really surprised? Don told Ken's father on law that happiness is temporary, and its affects are temporary, and the only way to fix that is to keep starting afresh and creating a new campaigne that convince people that this product will make them happy all over again. Sound familiar?

There! right there is how Don lives his life, not happy at work - start a new agency! Not happy at home - start a new family with a new wife and a new home and a new life! someone disappoints you like Lane or his brother - get rid of them!

There is no inbetween with Don, there is no depth really and that is both interesting and annoying. Roger confirms this with his whole doors speech, Pete confirmed this mindset last season with his temporary bandage on a permanent wound metaphor. These are unhappy men with no idea how to cope with becoming irrelevant in a country that is going through its most drastic change.

I do have some hope though. This premiere was rife with callbacks to Don's mom, his dad, the real Don Draper (lighter!), his brother, Lane and others. It became obvious that Don is really feeling the guilt of all the deaths that have enveloped him. He asks the doorman what it is like, but really he needs to know that it is a wonderful experience, like the one he experienced in Hawaii. He needs to know that it is a warm, nirvana like experience that will help him find a way to absolve himself from the tragedy's that he is directly or indirectly been responsible for. The soldiers lighter kept reminding him of these very issues and he tried to get rid of it, but the lighter kept coming back. As Don said in the final moments, he wants to stop doing this, but life will not allow that, it is not how it works.

If Don realized that he is rotten, and has to take responsibility for all the shit that has reined in on his head, then he has to change.

If this season is about Don finally trying to find a way to change himself in a deep and meaningful way, then there may be hope for him yet.  His ad to the hotel people may have been about a man wanting to shed his skin and leave footprints in the sand that get washed away, so there is no evidence left of the impact he made, but this is no longer good enough....Godspeed Don Draper.

As for the rest of the people in this universe...

Roger = Awesome! Oh Roger, the last person on this world that told you it is ok to be who you are, is now gone. I hope this realization that skating through life is not good enough, finally snapped him into a man who is going to fight a lot harder to leave a lasting legacy.

Peggy = You go girl! Awesome! Peggy is now Don Draper, long may that continue.

Stan = Awesome! I love that the sole source of all the Reefer stench that envelopes the agency is Rizzo chain smoking joints, never change brother. So, so, so funny...him telling Don (while he obviously had the munchies and was trying to stuff as much food down is mouth as possible) that he liked the suicide imagery, fantastic, all the Reefer has given him the kind of enlightenment that most of the youth in that era got, as time goes by those ads will become more and more relevant. Basically he does not give a shit, Vie con diaz brother!

Pete = when are you going to get punched again?

Joan = Awesome.

Ginzo = Shut the fuck up!

Harry = You skeezy fucking son of a bitch, never change, I love you!

Betty = Just fucking die.

Not a bad start, I hope they can really change these people, I really do.

Grade: A-

What do you guys think?

Shawn Mahone

Justified: "Outlaw"

Raylan Givens, you are one hell of an enigma brother. When will you get tired of this shit and just say fuck it and stop? You have lost a woman you loved more than you care to recognize (twice), you have lost the opportunity to have a full part of your childs life (that could change), you look like shit right now with the shaggy hair and the dirty clothes, you are broke, you are living on top of a bar, your career is in the shit (or it will be when people find out that you have been moonlighting as a bounty hunter), you lost the one person you considered a parent (RIP Helen) and now you have lost the bastard you called dad.

Ah yes, Daddy dearest, if there ever was a piece of shit that deserved to be put down, that would be Arlo Givens. A man who lost any love he may have had for you (if he ever did) when he first tried to bargain you off to Bo Crowder and then tried to kill you because he saw a hat and thought it was you. That he never got to tell you anything warm or fatherly in his dying moments is just something that must stick right in your back, huh?

So yes, yes, yes...I fully understood that moment you had at the elevator bother. A moment where you realised that you are tired of this, you are not happy and you just cannot give a shit anymore. But again I ask, why not just say fuck it and stop?

If I were you, I would just let Boyd and the rest of them kill each other; Let Duffy kill Boyd, let Boyd kill Jonny or the rich or detroil. Let detroit kill Duffy, let the mexican cartel kill everyone else, let all the mother fucking hillbilly people gun each other down in a western style draw.

This where we are heading right? Who gives a shit about Drew Thompson? I certainly do not.

Grade A