NOTE: Hipster stories are due THIS SUNDAY!!

All right, I gushed about the O.C. Now back to Mad Men.

I watched Season 3 while I was home for winter break. I thought it was fantastic.

The most interesting character of the season was Sal Romano. The sequence that cut between Sal and Don in their hotel rooms was incredible. Don was in the middle of just another pathetic affair with a drunk flight attendant; Sal was about to have his first ever (extremely charged, extremely hot) homosexual experience with a bell boy. Sal’s scene was hot because it was full of real emotion; Don’s was boring because it felt cheesy and artificial. But all parties were interrupted by a hotel fire, and Don saw just enough through Sal’s window to begin judging. Later in the season, he assumes that Sal encouraged a male client to come on to him, and, with disgust, refers to all homosexuals as “you people.” Sadly, the show has decided not to bring Sal back next season, as “an expression of the times.”

That’s pretty much the same line they’ve been using as explanation for not devoting more air time to Civil Rights. I say bullshit. As Latoya Peterson put it on Racilicious, “I think it’s erasure, masquerading as progressiveness.

But it’s a smart show, and so I can’t help but hope… If Season 1 was about the white guys, and Season 2 was about the ladies, and Season 3 was at least a little bit about the gays…is Season 4 finally gonna get into race?

It came through in small moments throughout Season 3. When Don is driving Sally’s school teacher home one night, King’s “I Have a Dream” speech comes on the radio. Don turns it off.  He and the teacher have a brief conversation about it.  At another point, Betty speaks to Carla, the Draper’s maid, about the Birmingham shootings: “Maybe it’s just not time yet.” She then apologizes to Carla and asks her if she wants the day off. Betty seems so out of touch, you almost wonder if she’s going to ask Carla if she knew the little girls in the shooting.  It’s a cringe-y moment.  (Though nothing is as cringe-y as watching Roger Sterling sing to his young wife while wearing black face.)

Season 3 ended on December 16, 1963. If they’re going to continue at a pace of roughly one year per season, I feel like they can’t help but bring race into the picture next season. The summer of 1964 was a huge moment for Civil Rights. That season, many white college students drove South to protest the discrimination taking place with voter registration. Several were killed. The news took notice once white people started getting hurt. Thus, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed. This piece of legislation extended voting rights and outlawed segregation in schools, workplaces, and public establishments. In December of 1964, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

When speaking of his career at one point, wealthy hotel owner Connie says something about how he (Connie) “built this all himself,” and we infer that Don Draper sees himself the same way. But I mean…big whoop. Wow, a handsome white guy made it. Like I said, it’s a very smart show, so I don’t think they’re being clumsy here. I just think that this isn’t going to turn out to be so much about Don as a hero, but as a tragic hero. “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” was published in 1956. “On the Road” was published in 1958. “Rabbit, Run” was published in 1960. In her  Mad Men piece, Peterson goes on to argue that, while the Pete Campbells of the world are still alive and well (maybe that’s why we hate him so much), men like Don Draper and and Sterling Cooper are of a bygone era. Watch out, Draper: your tower is toppling.

PS And I’m not even going to get into Don calling Betty a whore in the finale. After how many times he cheated on her, and given that she didn’t even sleep with Henry Francis. And she just goes and picks up their crying baby.

PPS Sally! Second best character development of the season, after Sal. THIS MOMENT:
Sally: Then why are you going?
Don: I’m not going. I’m just…living elsewhere.
Sally: That’s going! You say things and you don’t mean them. And you can’t just do that!
(From the mouths of babes, amiright?)

PPPS And that finale scene with Don and Peggy! It was eerily similar to the Don and Betty scene from the Season 2 finale. We know how well that turned out for Betty… Let’s see how it goes for Peggy.
Peggy: Do you want anything?
Don: Yes I do.
(Stare.)
Don: You were right. I’ve taken you for granted. And I’ve been hard on you. But only because I think I see you as an extension of myself. And you’re not.

OKAY I THINK I HAVE WRITTEN A LONG ENOUGH INTERNET REVIEW OF MAD MEN GOODBYE.