A Mad, Mad World.

Mad Men is a show that's been getting a lot of buzz the last 2 seasons and last night was its season 2 finale. I have to admit that the season 2 finale snuck up on me. With the oddly short, non-traditional seasons on cable networks it's enough to confuse even an avid TV watcher like myself. I won't use this space to go on with a review of Mad Men's season 2 finale. Enough people in the blogosphere have already done that and are doing that right now. For a great review of the show I recommend checking out what Couch Baron has to say over at www.televisionwithoutpity.com on the Mad Men page. What I want to do instead of a review is a brief character study of Joan, the curvy office maven of Sterling and Cooper.

I love how consistent the Mad Men characters are written. Joan has been quietly swishing in the background of almost every episode and when she flounces up to the forefront of the storyline I'm always surprised with what she has to say, and pleased at the same time. I loved it when she played a little Russian Roulette with Peggy in season 1. Peggy rose past Joan and Joan quietly swished in the background, slowly working on finding the life she's been looking to start. It was revealed last season that Joan is "older"... gasp... in her 30s... and single... gasp! However, no one in the office sees Joan like a spinster, because how could you with curves like that? What I find compelling this season is that Joan finally got her guy. She had her fling with Roger Sterling, but knew when to back off, because everyone except for 20 year-old nitwit secretaries knows that Roger Sterling is unstable and ready to blow at any moment (double entendre intended).

Now this season she's getting ready to settle down with her successful doctor fiance. It's as if she took the "What Man Every Woman Should Want to Marry" (circa Now and Forever) and ticked off the stereotypical characteristics: young, handsome, tall, conservative, doctor, ambitious. The only problem is he was checking off his list of "The Lousy Things Men Do To Well-Meaning Women": he's jealous, doesn't think she should work, and likes to think that she doesn't have a past with other men, especially a sexual past. He also likes to be the dominant one in the relationship and from everything we've seen with Joan, she is always the dominate one. So for her to choose a "life mate" who is desperately seeking to be the heavy in the relationship, it's a little shocking. The second to last episode of the season he showed his true colors. Joan was acting too confident in bed, she wanted to do the driving and that made him feel inexperienced and stupid. A lousy man feeling stupid usually leads to lousy behavior, but I never saw what he did coming. I should have, but I didn't, much like Joan. He tried to take her power away in the most disgusting, vile and inhumane way.

Joan in season 1 was written as the woman in charge, confident, knew her way around the workplace and men. She simply knew her way around life, even though she didn't always behave as a good girl, you couldn't help but love everything she did. Now, Joan in season 2 was older and was realizing that with each passing month her powers of persuasion with the opposite sex may start to dwindle. So she did what every other woman before her has done: settled for the next stable guy who showed an interest. Oh Joan, why did you have to go and settle? Where did the feisty redhead from season 1 go. The one who could put someone in their place with a quick lashing of the tongue? Was time really that cruel to you? Please come back feisty Joan and don't let that creepy slime ball take you any further down that desolate and sad path of a marriage of convenience. The thing is, I don't think they set up how powerfully confident Joan is only to strip that power away from her with one swift plot maneuver. The writers wrote her as a strong woman so that they go strip her down and have her build herself back up again.