Mad Men Water Cooler – “Christmas Waltz”

Mad Men Water Cooler – “Christmas Waltz”

Welcome to this week’s “Mad Men” Water Cooler! Every week we take a look at the creative aspects of one of television’s most talked-about shows. The following discussion contains spoilers for this week’s episode, so if you want to remain unspoiled, hop in your Jaguar and speed away…

Greetings, Mad Men Water Cooler fans! Sorry for last week’s absence – I promise that at some point in the very near future, we’ll cover what we missed. For now, let’s dive in with “Christmas Waltz,” shall we?

Y’know, I was saddened when Paul Kinsey, played so brilliantly by Michael Gladdis, was unceremoniously bumped off of “Mad Men.” But when “Mad Men” brings a character back, boy howdy do they bring a character back.

There was Paul in full Hare Krishna mode, which was both an unexpected plot twist and yet somehow entirely in keeping with his character. It made sense that this man, whom we’ve seen in the past as a complete bohemian blowhard, would return as a devotee of the newest fad, the newest road to finding his own identity. “Mad Men” is chock-a-block full of lost souls, and this season really seems to hammer that home.

One of the things I admire so about the writing on “Mad Men” is how consistent it remains from season to season. If you compare the characters we met in the pilot to the characters we see in “The Christmas Waltz,” there isn’t a case of character assassination in the bunch. Don is still tormented by the demons of his past and his own self-destructive tendencies. Pete still wishes he could be Don, and is miserable when he gets exactly what he wants. Joan is still awesome.

As we approach the end of Season Five (only three episodes left!), it’s time to take stock of what remains to be answered. There are the major questions, obviously – will Lane be caught out on his forged check and financial chicanery? Are Megan and Don going to remain a united front, or will this be a one-season marriage? When is Betty Francis going to break her holding pattern and return with a vengeance?

There are the smaller questions too – will anything come of Pete’s dalliance with his neighbor’s wife? Or Lane’s phone flirtation with Dolores, the gangster’s girl? Is Peggy going to discover that the advertising life really isn’t what she wants? And if Paul can come back, does that mean that my pleas for the return of Salvatore Romano might not be in vain after all?

Whatever the answer, I have confidence that “Mad Men” will address all those questions in due time, and do it better than most. Whether or not they happen this season or next is anybody’s guess, but we can only hope that we don’t have to wait as long for the return of the SCDP crew.

How about it, readers? Any questions or plot lines that you hope are resolved before the season’s end?