Far Away Places (Mad Men)
"Far Away Places" | |
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I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" by the Beach Boys[1] | |
Original air date | April 22, 2012 |
Running time | 48 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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"Far Away Places" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Mad Men and the 58th episode of the series overall. It was written by series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner and writer Semi Chellas, and directed by Scott Hornbacher. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on April 22, 2012.
The episode takes place almost entirely over a single day, telling three stories in a
"Far Away Places" was watched by 2.6 million viewers and achieved 0.9 million viewers in the key 18–49 demographic. The episode received overwhelming critical acclaim, with many critics noting the episode's formal experiments with and focus on the passage of time. The sequence where Roger and Jane take LSD was particularly celebrated for the visual excellence and performances by
Plot
The episode is split into three vignettes that take place almost entirely during a single day in a
Peggy
The episode begins with Peggy's day and a heated argument with her boyfriend
Roger
In the morning, Roger invites Don to go on a trip with him to a Howard Johnson's in
Don
The episode's finale is Don's day and the trip to Howard Johnson's Restaurant and Motor Lodge in Plattsburgh. As he and Megan eat in the restaurant, Megan expresses her frustration at having her needs and desires take a back seat to Don's. The discussion escalates into a fight, during which Megan makes a hurtful remark about Don's mother, and Don storms out and drives off without her. Don returns sometime later and begins to worry when he can't find Megan. He spends hours looking for and waiting for her, calling Peggy (the other side of the conversation from the first part of the episode) as well as Megan's mother in Montreal.
After waiting for hours at Howard Johnson's and phoning home repeatedly, Don drives home in the early morning to find Megan in their apartment with the security chain on the door. Don kicks the door in, violently struggles with Megan, and chases her through the apartment. Megan and Don trip and collapse on the floor as Megan weeps. Don tearfully hugs her at the waist and tells her he thought he had lost her.
Epilogue
That morning, Megan and Don return to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Don is beckoned to the conference room, where Bert Cooper admonishes him for being "on love leave". Don replies that his love life is none of Bert's business. Bert retorts that it is, in fact, his business and admits astonishment that the firm is running as well as it is with how little Don is actually working. Bert leaves Don standing alone in the conference room as Don looks through the picture windows at the employees going about their business. Roger, full of enthusiasm, pops into the conference room and tells Don he has an announcement: "It's going to be a beautiful day!"
Production
Creator Matthew Weiner said "Far Away Places" was inspired by "anthologized French films" with "lots of short stories in them", with all three short stories linked by a thematic "desire to go away".[2] He further explained that "Peggy has this moment where she tries to be Don and fails, and then goes on Peggy's version of Don – sexually irresponsible, and drunk, and working".[2] Elisabeth Moss said the handjob Peggy gives a stranger in the theatre is a "moment of forgetting" after the frustrating Heinz pitch.[2]
Weiner spoke about the structure of the episode in June 2012:
Structurally, I love this French movie by Max Ophüls called Le Plaisir. It's three or four Guy de Maupassant stories that are told by a narrator, and then characters start to appear behind each other, their stories overlap and they are just walking through, and you realize it's a complete world. What I loved about that was just telling the story from that one person's point of view. In Peggy's story, she's in every scene, nothing happens without her there. And it's the same thing with Don and the same thing with Roger. So you're really getting this very private perspective, and then thematically holding it together by saying, "Here, this is about the status of the relationship." We weren't sure that it was going to work. The hardest part was breaking it up for commercials so that the Peggy and the Roger stories would be in the same segment and you wouldn't come back and think you were in the middle of another episode.[3]
He spoke about the writing of a scene of the episode in August 2012:
I had, in the writers room, given this speech about Ginsberg saying he was a Martian. I delivered it as Ginsberg. We knew that Peggy's story was going to climax with that, and it was going to be their great moment of intimacy; he would distract her from her failure and bond with her in that strange way that people who feel separate do. Then, when we were writing the draft, I got the notes from the room, and the speech was like one sentence. We searched everywhere, and it turned out I had never pitched more than that one sentence: "I'm a Martian." I had a great version of it, but it turned out it had all been in my head in one way or another. It all had to come from scratch. Once I reduced the panic and tried to re-create it, it did happen. So, to me, it still has a magical quality to it.[4]
Weiner characterized Roger's acid trip as an experience of "complete honesty" and an "experience of empathy, something he's probably never experienced in his life.[2] He doesn't see the world through other people's lives and that kind of epiphany to me is very beautiful, even though it's the end of the relationship. They are alone in the truth together".[2]
While discussing the fight between Don and Megan, Weiner commented on the violence and passion, noting that "what you get is that Don loves this woman" and that Megan is "everything that's good to him".[2] Jessica Pare commented on Don's lack of respect for her work, and Jon Hamm judged Don's actions as "immature".[2] However, Hamm regarded Don's fear as "genuine" when he is unsure of Megan's whereabouts.[2] The flashback scene between Don and Megan in the car was actually shot for the fourth season finale, "Tomorrowland", written and directed by Weiner, but was cut. Weiner decided to reinsert this scene into the episode as a flashback.[5]
The exterior scenes of the Howard Johnson's hotel were filmed in October 2011 at the Regency Inn and Suites in Baldwin Park, California. The hotel operated as a Howard Johnson's from 1967 until it was sold in 1995.[6]
Editor Christopher Gay spoke about the episode in August 2012:
Narratively speaking, we wanted the stories of these three relations of Peggy, Roger, and Don to be their own story. We wanted to give you a little bit more each time you saw each of the three story lines so that when you got to the third one, everything totally made sense. I've talked to people and they've had to watch it a few times to fully digest. Also, the score in the episode is pretty unique and more tonal and atmospheric than what we normally do. It's a guide, too, that helps you feel when one story is ending and another is coming in and knowing that the shift is happening. I think the score and the sound design definitely helped guide the narrative.[7]
Reception
Critical reception
The episode received overwhelmingly laudatory reviews from television critics, particularly for its unusual departure from the standard Mad Men episode structure and is considered to be one of the best in the series.
Verne Gay of
Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said the LSD trip "was handled brilliantly here, with insight, surprises, unpredictability, excellent humor and a really lovely, smart ending", and the image of Jane and Roger on the floor as an example of the "visual excellence" of the episode.[10]
Time magazine writer Nate Rawlings compared the episode to a David Lynch film and noted that all three "stories also shared the thematic connection of the struggle between professional and work life."[11]
Ratings
The episode was viewed by 2.6 million viewers on the night of its original airing. It drew 0.9 million viewers in the 18–49 demographic.[15]
Awards
"Far Away Places" was nominated for two
References
- ^ a b VanDerWerff, Emily (April 23, 2012). "'Far Away Places' – Mad Men". The A.V. Club. The Onion, Inc. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Inside Mad Men 506: 'Far Away Places'". AMCTV.com. April 23, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ^ Staskiewicz, Keith (June 28, 2012). "Emmy Watch: 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner breaks down his favorite scene". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
- ^ Appelo, Tim; O'Connell, Michael (August 24, 2012). "Emmys 2012: Lena Dunham, Matthew Weiner and More Writers on Their Most Difficult Scenes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
- ^ Scott Hornbacher (director), Dan Bishop (production designer) (October 16, 2012). Mad Men: Season Five — 'Far Away Places' audio commentary. Lionsgate.
- Tribune Media Services. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ Bell, Shavonne (August 27, 2012). "Q&A - Christopher Gay (Emmy-Nominated Editor)". AMCTV.com. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (April 23, 2012). "Review: Mad Men – 'Far Away Places' – The HoJo Code". HitFix. Archived from the original on April 29, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ Gay, Verne (April 23, 2012). "'Mad Men' recap: Tripping to far away places". Newsday. Fred Groser. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ Goodman, Tim (April 23, 2012). "'Mad Men' Spoiled Bastard: Ep. 6: 'Far Away Places'". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ Rawlings, Nate (April 23, 2012). "Mad Men Episode Six Recap: Far Away Places". Time. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- News Corporation. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ Friedman, Roger (April 23, 2012). "Mad Men: LSD, The Holocaust, and Finally, Some Real Action". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- Salon. Salon Media Group. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (April 24, 2012). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Game of Thrones,' + 'Real Housewives ATL' 'Mad Men,' 'Veep,' 'The Client List' & More". TV by the Numbers. Tribune Media Services. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ "Mad Men - Emmys". emmys.com. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
External links
- "Far Away Places" at AMC
- "Far Away Places" at IMDb