"Pragmatism Refreshed" ends: so does Lane Pryce

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Final entry for this blog. From this day forward, I'll be blogging at Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed, and the URL will be http://jamesian58.blogspot.com/ So for now, let's say something about Mad Men, which has also of late been about endings!


Episode 12 will be dominatedin the mind of most viewers by the death of a character who has been a mainstayof the show since the beginning of the third season, Lane Pryce, as played with uniform greatness, byJared Harris.


This death, a suicide, happens as most of the officecontinues to float on a sense of elation about landing a big automotiveaccount: Jaguar. The writers bring these twofacts: Lane’s despair and his co-workers’ elation, into several layers ofcollision. We see for example that the Jaguar of the time was mechanically arather shoddy piece of work, and this in fact dooms Lane’s first effort to killhimself, by asphyxiation. He can’t get the ignition to work when he needs itto!      


When Lane does manage to killhimself, it is with a noose, in his office, and after typing out what shouldhave been a suicide note but was in fact just a “boilerplate” letter ofresignation.


Why not pills, Lane? Thething about pills is: they leave some room for doubt. The coroner may call itan accidental overdose rather than a suicide, which may make a difference togrieving relations and their insurers.  Anoose, though, doesn’t leave any doubt. So does that mean that a real suicidenote would have been, in methodical Lane’s eyes, redundant? Also, the events leading upto the suicide are designed to leave Don feeling as guilty as possible. Dondemanded that resignation, after discovering Lane’s embezzlement. He thought that Lane would and couldrecover from this and make a new life for himself back in England. Indeed, hesaid as much. “I’d had to start over a couple of times in my life. This is theworst part,” he assured Lane.Well, no. Don is not Lane andneither of his start-overs seems analogous. Don learns how badly he hadmisjudged the matter with that chipper assurance only when he sees the body. Likewise episode 13, the season finale, will likely be dominated in many minds byone scene – that in which Don encounters Lane’s widow, Rebecca. Indeed, thetitle of this episode is “The Phantom,” indicting I think that the writersmeant for Lane to hang over the whole of it. Except of course there is another “phantom”involved. The titles always have multiple meanings. Don thinks he sees his deadbrother.   But let’s get back to Don andRebecca. He gives her a check meant in effect to buy out Lane’s share of thepartnership. She accepts it, but wants Don to know that however this mayalleviate his own sense of guilt, it does nothing to make matters squarebetween them. She blames the agency for giving her husband “ambition.” Sheappears to see him as always having been a frail reed, always best shieldedfrom ambition and other potentially sharp things.Also, it is in the course ofthis confrontation that Rebecca discloses she found the photo of a mysterywoman in Lane’s wallet.  The photo brings us back to the start of the season. I’ve wondered through thisseason why the writers would introduce that photo (and the trouble to whichLane went to keep it, and the single phone call he made to the woman itrepresents) without doing more with it than they have. I still wonder.  Will Rebecca start looking for her? Is thatone respect in which Lane’s phantom will continue to hover next season? Strong season over-all. The series' best since but not inclusive of its first.