Binging on it now
Now that its free with ads, on IMDB (amazon prime app). Even better the second time around for me. Great writing and acting and especially production.
shareIt's one of my favourites, and might just be my favourite show of all-time; I've seen it through several times now.
The thing that jumped out at me my second time was how focused the show is on the question, "How do we find happiness?" and variations on that theme. It's soooo good. Taking an ad man, obsessed with commodifying joy, loses sight of what really matters and will bring true purpose, meaning, satisfaction, and fulfillment in his life. He undercuts his own happiness by trying to commercialise it (literally). It's his journey towards those answers.
Of course, I noticed that stuff first viewing, but it really popped the second time (once I wasn't concentrating on plot arcs I could see the symbolism and thematic meanings).
I never noticed that about the theme. Good noticing!
shareDefinitely watch for it. Everybody in the show is looking for happiness and usually in the wrong places.
Don is running scared, immersing himself in the happiness he couldn't get as a child, he's pushing people away because he's screwed-up, thinking it (happiness) is just material.
Pete is jealous and envious of others' happiness; the grass is always greener and never enough.
Joan thinks happiness is epitomizing the '50s housewife ideal, which gets her her fiancee...
And so on.
What about Don's wife (what's her name again?)
shareShe's similar to Joan. She starts out living the white picket fence dream, but she's got this emotionally-distant husband and no direction in life. She might actually be a better example of that than Joan. She also values power and money, largely due to her family background. She's a model and "glamorous", but so what?
She winds up shooting birds because nothing really matters. She realizes later how short life is, of course, and starts figuring out that family might be more important.