I think the only thing I had some (mild)issues with was the voice over. As someone commented, we're so used to Don being inscrutable that suddenly being inside his head was kind of... too abrupt. Even if we weren't revealed anything shocking.
The handhold didn't bother me at all; aside from the symmetry with episode 1 (and I'll admit I'm a sucker for this kind of circular narrative stuff), that moment came after a night where Don slept with his head in Peggy's lap, for crying out loud. With a vomit stained shirt and after having shared things about themselves they never told anyone else. I think they earned the right to show a certain degree of emotional intimacy at this point.
As far as Anna's ghost goes... At first I was like "oh no Mad Men, you just didn't do the ghost thing", but after a moment I realized that yeah, I had dreams like that about my loved ones and it was cleverly shot in a way that doesn't really show whether Don is still asleep or is having an actual vision (which we already had in the show, btw).
Soooo in a nutshell - I don't think there are narrative devices that are inherently bad, in the end it's all a matter of execution (and now you can call me Captain Obvious). Mad Men happens to be one of those shows that are so carefully written that even the awkwardness can become part of the narrative engine.
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Date: 2010-09-19 04:14 pm (UTC)The handhold didn't bother me at all; aside from the symmetry with episode 1 (and I'll admit I'm a sucker for this kind of circular narrative stuff), that moment came after a night where Don slept with his head in Peggy's lap, for crying out loud. With a vomit stained shirt and after having shared things about themselves they never told anyone else. I think they earned the right to show a certain degree of emotional intimacy at this point.
As far as Anna's ghost goes... At first I was like "oh no Mad Men, you just didn't do the ghost thing", but after a moment I realized that yeah, I had dreams like that about my loved ones and it was cleverly shot in a way that doesn't really show whether Don is still asleep or is having an actual vision (which we already had in the show, btw).
Soooo in a nutshell - I don't think there are narrative devices that are inherently bad, in the end it's all a matter of execution (and now you can call me Captain Obvious). Mad Men happens to be one of those shows that are so carefully written that even the awkwardness can become part of the narrative engine.