Oh, The Hour

[lizbee]

A young woman put into a position of responsibility where it is assumed she'll either be malleable or a failure has an affair with a married male subordinate.  And people are SURPRISED that this might reflect badly on her career and provide leverage for blackmail.

It's 1956.  ARE THEY NEW?  ARE THEY NEW TO LIFE?

Also, it seems like the writers sat down to work on this episode and said, "The Bechdel test?  No, we don't want to pass that."<



suburbannoir: "I really miss the days when Betty Draper would just throw up in a car."

"I am not a child."

WHAT EVEN IS THIS DIALOGUE?!

Comments

[infiniteviking]

/headdesk

[trouble]

*sigh* It's like Issue Fic or something.

[lizbee]

People who are otherwise right and sensible about things seem to be enjoying it, so maybe I'm just bitter that I expected a good show and got ... this.

OTOH, suburbannoir points out that she watches a lot of really stupid television, and this takes the cake.

[voske]

Totally off-topic, I saw this and thought of you: http://www.etsy.com/listing/72695894/pixel-people-avatar-the-last-airbender

[lizbee]

ADORABLE. Do I want it? I CAN'T DECIDE.

[violetisblue]

"I really miss the days when Betty Draper would just throw up in a car."

If AMC were smart they'd offer this as a tie-in bumper sticker.

[lizbee]

No, no, no, see, we're supposed to be glad that, instead of those silly housewives and secretaries of Mad Men, now we have a Strong Female Character who Stands Up To Sexism! See?

[violetisblue]

Interrupting my supremely bored eye-rolling to ask wearily: Let me guess, she's also Liek Totallee Kick-Ass(tm) too?

[lizbee]

Sure, why not?

At the other end of fandom, there are complaints that she is a horrible bitch who doesn't deserve the Sainted Freddie, but that's just to remind me not to go reading unfamiliar Tumblr tags.

[violetisblue]

So does anything actually happen on this show other than people having affairs? I thought they were going to have plots about the Suez crisis or something.

[lizbee]

Well, there's the actual interesting plot, about the Suez crisis and the limitations on reporting. (For example, there was a law that television news and newsreels couldn't comment on Parliamentary debates until two weeks had passed.)

Then there's the slightly silly plot, about an MI6 agent turned traitor, a Soviet mole in the BBC and a KGB list of potential traitors to Britain.

And then there's the annoying plot, about the Bel-Freddie-Hector love triangle. With Hector's wife and Anna Chancellor sort of floating on the edge, both being more interesting than everyone else. And, parallel, the endearing plot about the shy Jewish assistant with ambitions to write comedy sketches, the secretary with whom he's infatuated, and the Jamaican medical student she's dating.

[violetisblue]

(pulls out flow chart, starts sketching)

[lizbee]

All these plots, and it's still incredibly boring. And devoid of gay characters who aren't manipulative or unreliable.

[violetisblue]

"And devoid of gay characters who aren't manipulative or unreliable."

Though they were both just guest characters I was very pleased Mad Men balanced out its Tragic Lesbian (Joan's ex-roommate) with a happy one (Peggy's photographer friend).