Music Of Mad Men Part 3

Last Sunday was the season finale of Mad Men season 5. It was a hell of a season, no doubt. One of the best from arguably the best show on television right now. It was for the most part, a really good episode, right up until the final minutes. There's a shot of the 5 partners of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce(?) each standing in front of a different window of their newly expanded offices that's perhaps a little on the nose. Even more on the nose though is the final montage, ending the season.

It all kicks off with Don, waking away from his wife. He had just gotten her an acting job on a commercial his firm is producing and he walks away down a long, dark hallway. The montage ends at a bar with Don drinking alone when another woman comes on to him. Don, in his previous marriage to Betty, had quite the career as a philanderer, but he gave all that up when he found Megan. The theme of the season was these characters that we had all known as miserable in their individual ways getting what they want, but still not being satisfied.

In the latter parts of the season, the long suffering Peggy Olsen takes a new position at a different firm. Pete Campbell, throughout the season, tries his hand at sleeping around with disastrous results. Roger Sterling divorces his wife. All these characters are shown in the montage. Set to "You Only Live Twice." For a show known for subtlety and tact, this is awfully heavy handed.

I get that it was the most recent Bond Film at the time the show takes place. I get that the show goes through pains to make sure the music is historically accurate. I get that the show has tried before to get a song from a Bond film into the show, but the historical accuracy got in the way. Okay, Casino Royale maybe isn't really a Bond film, but "The Look Of Love" is absolutely a Bond film song. I know that it's fitting, but I can't help but expect more from the show.

It's been a great season of Mad Men both as a television show and a great showcase of the music of 1967. Smart money is on the next season being primarily racially focussed, being that it could pick up right with the shooting of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968. It's also the year that saw the end of The Yardbirds, the creation of Led Zepplin and The Beatles travel to India. The last part could be especially interesting. It was the proper start to the psychedelic movement. The show has never shied away from drug use, between Peggy smoking weed in the office and Roger's life changing LSD experiment. Even though the final minute of Mad Men's finale left a bad taste in my mouth, I'm still really excited to see more Mad Men.