Draper vs. Draper? Analyzing the 'Mad Men' season 6 key art
Why does Don have a doppelganger? Whose hand is he holding? Where is the plane headed?
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We still have about a month to go before the April 7th premiere of "Mad Men" season 6, and given Matt Weiner's penchant for secrecy, don't expect much, if any, information about what's happening — or even, as usual, when it's happening.
AMC did release one set of clues today, in the form of the season 6 key art, drawn by veteran illustrator Brian Sanders. It's an intriguing image that raises all sorts of questions and theories about the new season, like:
* Why are there two Don Drapers? Is this a metaphor to represent Don's dual identity as Dick Whitman, or will he have a literal doppelganger this season? If so, will it be a spy (both "Get Smart" and "Mission: Impossible" its respective masters of disguise were still on the air at this point)? After all of last season's science fiction talk, will Weiner make a radical shift and introduce clones or time travel? Has Don been split in two like Captain Kirk, with Grey Suit Don representing his good side and Black Suit Don his Bobbie Barrett-groping side?
* Whose hand is he holding? That looks like a blouse Megan might wear, but could Don be stepping out on her already? And the the way the picture is cropped, it almost looks like he's dating a well-manicured Stop sign.
* Why cops in the background? As we get closer to the end of the '60s, we're starting to near the Knapp Commission, Serpico, and a dark period for the NYPD. Will Don or Peggy or even Ginsberg get mixed up in some kind of racket, or run afoul of crooked cops? Will Pete decide the only way to prove his manhood is to pin on a badge? Will the agency be investigated for Lane's death?
* Where's the plane going? And who's on it? Peggy finally took her first plane flight in the season 5 finale (where she got a chance to watch dogs do what dogs do); will she continue her travels this season? Might Don return to Europe? Or to Baltimore to see those stewardesses he and Sal hooked up with? (Pause for sad reflection on Sal's absence...) Will "Catch Me If You Can" hero Frank Abagnale cross paths with fellow con man Don?
What theories and questions do you have based on this picture? And can April 7th get here already?
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMrs. Blankenship's desk
March 11, 2013 at 8:09PM EST Reply to CommentWhile these key art images for Mad Med usually don't have much to do with the show, one element of this image doesn't suggest a real-life event that would be significant to the Mad Men story line that happened mid-way through 1967.
S. Tarzan MBD: What event are you referring to? A few come to mind for me.
March 11, 2013 at 8:14PM ESTMRS. BLANKENSHIP'S DESK Look up Blossburg, PA.
April 5, 2013 at 8:54PM ESTDan
March 11, 2013 at 8:10PM EST Reply to CommentDoppeldraper (Draperganger?) travels back in time for some reason. And he has to decide if his best friend (who real Don is holding hands with) will live, or die. And his best friend is a talking pie.
Greg I would watch the living frack out of Dan's show.
March 12, 2013 at 2:48AM ESTJ Walter Weatherman Ron Howard, you've done it again!
March 12, 2013 at 11:04AM ESTmridge1
March 11, 2013 at 8:12PM EST Reply to CommentCan't wait.
jae
March 11, 2013 at 8:13PM EST Reply to Commentdo we know that peggy will continue to be a series regular? lizzie moss is in a new AMC show, no?
Another Guest Moss's series, "Top of the Lake," finished shooting quite a while ago (while MM was on hiatus, I'd imagine) and will air on the Sundance Channel this spring.
March 11, 2013 at 8:33PM ESTEd "Top of the Lake" has already aired in Australia and New Zealand
March 11, 2013 at 9:30PM EST
March 11, 2013 at 10:20PM ESTRhonda84 "Top of the Lake" starts Monday March 18 on the Sundance Channel. Two episodes that day.
March 12, 2013 at 11:18AM ESTKS
March 11, 2013 at 8:17PM EST Reply to CommentNew Don seeing Old Don over his shoulder but holding onto Meghan (and marriage) instead of going down the same one way street as Old Don did over and over. Season 6 could be Don resisting reverting to his old ways.
KS Apologies for the poor grammar above. We need edit options!
March 11, 2013 at 8:18PM ESTRory B. Bellows I disagree. I see it as however much he tries to resist being Old Don, he can't escape who he really is. He's a deeply flawed man who only likes the beginnings of things. Which means he's always on the hunt for the future ex-Mrs. Draper.
March 11, 2013 at 10:49PM ESTManton
March 11, 2013 at 8:19PM EST Reply to CommentIt's funny, that blue garment very closely resembles something Betty wore around season two. Otherwise, I think it could be a situation where Don has a choice: he continues going down Madison Ave and the firm either falls to financial shambles (seems like they were on the way there pre-expansion to another floor) or Dick Whitman is finally fingered. Either way, Pete is clearly going to become an airline pilot with Peggy as a stewardess, and that's groovy with me.
SD Thought the same thing about the sleeve.
March 11, 2013 at 8:58PM ESTchairthrower
March 11, 2013 at 8:21PM EST Reply to CommentReasonably confident they didn't jump time ahead more than a year or two.
Lee Garner III
March 11, 2013 at 8:28PM EST Reply to CommentThe poster looks like a play on the notion of Don's duality- and not just the Draper/Whitman identities. This is also about work Don versus domestic Don. The gray-suited Don carries a briefcase and is walking towards Madison Avenue, while the black-suited Don is holding a woman's hand (perhaps that of glammed-up actress Megan) and looks dressed for a night out. Remember that throughout season 5, Don was on "love leave" at work (per Bert Cooper), and he only got his SCDP mojo going in the last few episodes. Maybe in season 6, Don will finally have to choose between being great at his job or great at his marriage.
LauraK
March 11, 2013 at 8:30PM EST Reply to CommentIt probably just means he's more conflicted than ever, breng pulled in different directions, and the traditional path he's chosen is going one way with no exit.
ronozer
March 11, 2013 at 8:31PM EST Reply to CommentDon's evil twin takes a time machine back to the Titanic, but fortunately survives to be the new Heir to Downton Abbey.
Another Guest
March 11, 2013 at 8:35PM EST Reply to CommentI'm just glad that neither Don has sideburns or a 'stache!
Patrick
March 11, 2013 at 8:38PM EST Reply to Commenthttp://data12.gallery.ru/albums/gallery/74091-7c7dc-34821744-.jpg
Art from the original artist from 1964 "Women's Mirror" magazine. Obviously a heavy influence.
Derrick This new art is more than just a passing inspiration. Can something be an homage to itself?
March 11, 2013 at 11:29PM ESTSally's BFF Wow - nice find!
March 12, 2013 at 3:02PM ESTwjmtv Wow. It's deja vu all over again.
March 13, 2013 at 9:41PM ESThampshi
March 11, 2013 at 8:39PM EST Reply to CommentI still don't totally get the promo art for last season even after we were told it would make total sense after the finale.
Nilco Dunno what you are looking at. Mine shows Don, Roger, Bert, & Pete covered in meat & broken baby dolls.
March 11, 2013 at 8:56PM ESTManton I see it as Don looking at what an ideal marriage is, especially as he grew up: the man sits as the woman stands exposed for him. He didn't quite reckon how independently-minded his new wife would be, which bucks this trend. If anything, he was the one left emotionally naked (Howard Johnson's, when she came home late from an audition).
March 13, 2013 at 5:08PM ESTGirl Detective
March 11, 2013 at 8:49PM EST Reply to CommentDon in white is headed to work, while Dark Don is headed the wrong way down a one way street, and the arm he's holding does not look dressed for a night out, it looks like a negligee, which might also be what the woman in purple behind them is wearing?
srpad
March 11, 2013 at 8:55PM EST Reply to CommentI am looking forward to MM as much as anyone here but this post is entirely sarcasm right?
Samuel No. Alan truly believes that these things might happen.
March 11, 2013 at 10:06PM ESTDB Cooper Alan is constantly spoiling TV programs with his too-accurate speculation and inferences.
March 12, 2013 at 12:13AM ESTDB Cooper
March 12, 2013 at 12:08AM EST Reply to CommentLooks like Roger and Mona Sterling have gotten back together. And are following that poor man's Jackie O.
ed w
March 12, 2013 at 11:03AM EST Reply to CommentI think it's as simple as married Don seeing single Don and having a pang of missing that side of himself. With cops and a stop sign for dramatic effect and to reinforce the sense that they are in the city.
I wouldn't read a lot more into it than that based on how little last season's promotional art meant.
Joy
March 12, 2013 at 11:46AM EST Reply to CommentI definitely think that is Roger and Mona. Megan is in front of them, and Don is holding someone's hand who is wearing a nightgown. It could be Betty or a new affair.
Also, maybe the cops represent the fear of riots in NY after MLK's death. They never happened though. http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-night-new-york-avoided-a-riot
Tom
March 12, 2013 at 1:40PM EST Reply to CommentThe police car depicted over gray-suited Don's left shoulder is a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere, so it's at least '67 or '68.
Feydaway
March 12, 2013 at 1:54PM EST Reply to CommentCall me crazy, but I think Gray suit Don has a briefcase and is heading down the One Way street up Madison Avenue heading to work. And, the Don walking toward us is walking AWAY from work, holding Megan's hand. It's the choice he has to make: dedicate yourself to your work life and success, or is marriage to Megan enough?
JD
March 12, 2013 at 2:18PM EST Reply to CommentEveryone should read this NYTimes piece about the illustrator. Weiner chose someone who actually worked in the Mad men era:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/arts/television/brian-sanders-creates-mad-men-poster-for-new-season.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/arts/television/brian-sanders-creates-mad-men-poster-for-new-season.html?_r=0
Jim
March 12, 2013 at 3:19PM EST Reply to CommentI've been watching the repeats on Sunday mornings and there is a Mad Men commercial for the upcoming season that would lead you to belive that Don and joan hook up this year. I don't buy it because it is to easy or obvious of a tell.
LJA
March 12, 2013 at 6:17PM EST Reply to CommentAlan, have you seen any screeners yet?
sepinwall Nope. Wouldn't be surprised if I don't. I get the sense that even making the premiere available is something Weiner would prefer not to do.
March 12, 2013 at 6:32PM ESTpsmith
March 12, 2013 at 8:27PM EST Reply to CommentAlan's satirical mode is pretty dry. I like it.
M.A.Peel
March 13, 2013 at 12:40AM EST Reply to CommentIt's ten years later, and Roger Thornhill is still looking over his shoulder for George Kaplan. Don't forget the poster was the original falling mad man.
http://fantesinferno.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/north-by-northwest-movie-poster.jpg?w=580
NYT
March 13, 2013 at 12:41AM EST Reply to CommentRandy Kennedy, reporting for the NYT:
But as the show prepared for its new season, which begins April 7, its creator, Matthew Weiner, inspired by a childhood memory of lush, painterly illustrations on T.W.A. flight menus, decided to turn back the promotional clock. He pored over commercial illustration books from the 1960s and ’70s and sent images to the show’s marketing team, which couldn’t quite recreate the look he was after.
“Finally,” he said, “they just looked up the person who had done all these drawings that I really loved, and they said: ‘Hey, we’ve got the guy who did them. And he’s still working. His name is Brian Sanders.’”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/arts/television/brian-sanders-creates-mad-men-poster-for-new-season.html
Kitty
March 13, 2013 at 7:02AM EST Reply to CommentThat doesn't look like a blouse; it looks more like a peignoir.
Joy
March 13, 2013 at 12:17PM EST Reply to CommentIf you look at the latest promo pictures, Betty is wearing dresses very similar to the blouse in this picture.