This is Marianne's pal Dena, filling in tonight because Marianne needs to put her feet up and take a deep breath and I need to work through my Mad Men withdrawal. You see, Monday night is when each episode becomes available on iTunes for those of us who refuse to pay for cable TV, but the Season 6 finale aired last week and now it's just sinking in that I have a gaping hole in my heart where my weekly date with Pete Campbell used to be. BEWARE: MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.
Of course there is much more to love about Mad Men than just Pete Campbell and his amazing punchability, not the least of which are Ken Cosgrove's terpsichorean talents and Don Draper's ability to make a bottle of liquor disappear before lunch. I am addicted to the show because it features complex, insightful writing, meticulous attention to period detail and stunning visuals, not to mention some of the best acting anywhere. If you haven't seen it, by all means get thee to Netflix and settle in with Season 1 and a bag of Sriracha popcorn.
Having said that, there is something about the way Vincent Kartheiser inhabits the squinched-up little bitchface of Pete Campbell that makes my life better for his efforts. Pete spent a lot of time being stymied and ranting about various and sundry obstacles and vexations during this past season, particularly ones that involved his archenemy, Bob Benson and the suave Manolo. As much as the whole Manolo subplot may have been a bit improbably melodramatic for Mad Men, anything that gives Pete Campbell one more person with whom to take umbrage is cool beans in my book. It is when Pete's umbrage runneth over that the magic happens, and we can never have too much magic in our lives.
Since there will be no new Mad Men episodes until who knows when, I am grateful indeed that Vulture has thoughtfully created this supercut of Pete Campbell's very finest tantrums from the show's past season. Since it's not on YouTube I was unable to embed it here, so just click through to enjoy what Vulture described as Pete's "epic, head-shaking, face-reddening season-six rants." I was just discussing with a friend the other night that Pete is about due for some happiness, and so he is, but in the meantime, let us just watch Vincent Kartheiser give us a few little pieces of his shattered heart now, baby.
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman