Some thoughts on "The Golden Violin" -- from an exchange with the perspicacious Ian Wheeler-Nicholson.
Today at 10:02am
Great episode.
"You know what I like about you? Nothing. But you've got me everything I wanted."
LOVE the comedian. There were some really great lines in there -- whatever Cooper said to Don about becoming one of the people who basically control the world. I may watch again.
Yeah, and the final shot (Betty's projectile vomit and Don's reaction shot of total confusion) was a masterstroke. I love the comedian too. His confrontation with Don was devastating. "You're garbage—and you know it." Ouch! Hit a little too close to the bone for my taste.
You didn't even need to read the "Gold Violin" story to get what it was all about -- and how it related to the different characters. Don's gold -- but he's garbage, and he DOES know it. Flashback now to the scene when the happy Draper family is picnicking beside their new car, and what was most striking about it? For me, it was the way the family just shook the garbage off their blanket and drove away when they were done. At first, I thought, oh there's another one of those funny little visual gags about much times have changed -- people now would never do that with such a blissful lack of shame. But thinking about it now in the context of Jimmy Barrett's "garbage" remark to Don that you bring up, it seems to carry more weight than that. Even if attitudes about littering WERE different back then, the writers are also surely hinting that Don is still "trashy," both in his white trash background, and the sloppy way he's been handling himself, leaving a trail of trash in the wake of his increasingly desperate pursuit of pleasure, or power, or whatever it is he gets out of the relationship with Bobbi Barrett.
Interesting, I didn't even connect the littering scene (which also horrified me) with the "garbage" remark or the gold violin story. It's such a smart, smart show.
Do you think Don's losing his edge because of the accident? The blood-pressure meds? Or is he just heading for a crisis? I really wonder what's going to come of that brief flashback where he was a used-car salesman and that woman shows up to say "You're not the real Don Draper."
I also love the way Betty has evolved over the course of the show so far from childlike submissive to a wised-up grown woman.
Do you think Don's losing his edge because of the accident? The blood-pressure meds? Or is he just heading for a crisis? I really wonder what's going to come of that brief flashback where he was a used-car salesman and that woman shows up to say "You're not the real Don Draper."
I also love the way Betty has evolved over the course of the show so far from childlike submissive to a wised-up grown woman.
