Mad Men: Season 6 – Episode 7 “Man With a Plan”
Reach Out of the Darkness
Season 6: Episode 7
“Man With a Plan”
Written by Semi Charles & Matthew Weiner
Directed by John Slattery
Setting: June 1968
Two simultaneous truths are happening in America.
“We are living through unprecedented times.”
“History is repeating itself.”
These may appear to be at odds, but reality is an uncomfortable mix of past and present. While it may never have happened exactly this way, we certainly have examples to look to from throughout history.
Warnings to never repeat these mistakes.
One of the great strengths of Mad Men was that it resonated throughout the present. During the original 2007-2015 run of the show, viewers would see history in motion and apply it to the present.
Protests. War. Equality.
Mad Men connected us with our past and urged that we learn from it.
I have been dismayed to see a growing trend to repaint the past as something it never was. If you’re looking at protests and unrest, you do not look at the ‘60s and say, “Boy, if only times were like that again.” 1968 was chaos. History seemed to be on a different course each week.
Juan Romero, the busboy who took Robert Kennedy’s hand after he was shot by an assassin, said, “It made me realize that no matter how much hope you have it can be taken away in a second.”
There is something worse than failing to learn from history, and that is creating a false history. One that teaches the wrong lessons. I hold onto hope, although Juan Romero’s words of warning echo inside my mind.
The past cannot be made into a falsehood if people fight back and stand for something
That “if” hinges on men like Don Draper, indifferent to the shock of history because it is outside of his control. Kennedy’s fate would have been the same if he had supported him or if he hadn’t, same as it was for his brother.
So why get involved? Why not make the 1960s into what he wants the decade to be?
Entirely his own.
Avoiding his new responsibilities leading a mega agency after SCDP and CGC’s merger, Don invites his mistress to a romantic escape from her husband.
By... pretending to be a dog inside a hotel room?
Sylvia Rosen realizes just how deeply sad her relationship with Don has always been when he attempts to control her.
She knows what she has gotten herself into, but Don does not. This isn’t love, it is power. Desperate and meaningless. Don dislikes his life so much that he attempts to create an illusion, even if it can only be maintained within the walls of a hotel room.
He has absolute power.
She will do everything he says.
It is not 1968 anymore.
Keeping that illusion up only makes reality more painful. There is no room you can go to or words you can speak that stop time.
History continues with or without you.
In a world desperate for some goodness to hold onto, there is only darkness here.
Don attempts to corrupt Sylvia when she finally speaks aloud about how horrible their affair is.
Pete cares for his dementia-suffering mother not because he truly loves her but because she has no other options.
Even newcomer Bob Benson, who cares for Joan when she gets an ovarian cyst, is only looking for a way to protect his own career. This gamble works in his favor.
The harsh truth is that it is much easier to find darkness in the world than it is to find light. The hope we all hold onto is that light lasts longer than darkness.
When I think of Robert Kennedy, I do not hear gunshots. I hear these words he spoke in Indianapolis on the day Dr. King was assassinated:
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.
Don and Ted take a perilous flight together through a raging storm that appears to have no end. Then, all of a sudden, the clouds break and the Sun shines.
Just as you never know when hope will be taken away, it can appear again in your most desperate moments. We need to remember that now. That’s the duty we hold to yesterday and to tomorrow.