The Chris Moeller Archives

My favorite character has long been Roger Sterling, whose boozy insouciance calls to mind a combination of Dean Martin and your favorite politically-incorrect uncle, who was probably deeply influenced by Dean Martin. Writing for the Roger character, who is increasingly irrelevant to the firm but still as lewd, shrewd, and poorly-behaved as ever, must be like living Christmas every day of the year. In the case of life imitating art, "Roger Sterling's" musings have been published in reality under the title "Sterling's Gold."

You'll recall that I also deeply adore Sally Draper, she of the endearing-- but not enduring-- lisp, the intuitive child of divorce, now 11 years old as season five begins. Sally is one of television's great non-conformists, its most frequent and targeting questioner of rule and authority, and generally-speaking, its biggest badass.

To this short list of favorites now comes Megan (Calvet) Draper, Don's new bride. The radiant French-Canadian secretary turned copy writer turned partner's wife (played by future star Jessica Pare) seems to have a squarer head on her shoulders than anybody else at the firm. She's certainly less adrift emotionally than any of her co-workers, more liberated and likely less personally prejudiced, though Don's impetuous marriage proposal to her at the end of season four, and her acceptance, was deeply controversial among both "Mad Men" fans and Sterling Cooper Draper Price female employees. As a potential mate for Don, the aspiring model and actress, Megan, was cast as a sort-of less mentally challenging alternative to Dr. Faye Miller, the market research consultant and professional woman to whom Don disclosed his deepest secret, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't have made the same choice Don did, if for no other reason than that Megan was a happier, more confident person. She has him wrapped around her finger precisely the way all men wish to be wrapped.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to read that creator Matt Weiner had the Frank Sinatra/Mia Farrow marriage (also of 1966) on his mind when he drew Megan to Don in the narrative. Like the true-life pairing, the groom is of an older generation and an older tradition in man-woman relationships, but he's also not as worldly or as sexually sophisticated, if you pardon that bizarre phrase. I could see Megan becoming lifelong pals with Don's daughter Sally in much the same way Farrow did with Nancy and Tina Sinatra in real-life. She's the best influence on young Sally's life, to be sure, if you don't count John, Paul, George, and Ringo. But like the Sinatra-Farrow union, I fear the Draper one is ultimately doomed. My fingers are crossed however. Count me among the Don and Megan "shippers", if only to get more scenes like the apartment-cleaning scene we got last night.

Megan is just what "Mad Men" needs to refresh what was already a series with a far-off "sell-by" date-- a woman who confounds both her male and female co-workers with her combination of poise, intelligence, assertiveness, and sexuality. Either she will be another symbol of the emerging Cultural Revolution, or will be beaten down by the "cynical" and "smirking" forces she's feeling against her in the office. Regardless, it should be a rich area for writers to mine, and one hell of a season to come.