Ok, this is probably my last Mad Men post, having done two already (here and here), I think I’m ready to be finished thinking about what doesn’t quite work for me about the show–even though I watch it pretty regularly.

Mad Men is all about details, whether in historical accuracy, beautiful sets, or subtle interplays between the characters. There are a lot of small moments, domestic or otherwise, in which one character’s inner emotional state is highlighted by how they respond to other characters, usually observing unseen. These inner emotional states are almost wholly negative.

I can’t think of a single scene in season 3 yet in which characters have a happy moment, unadulturated by sorrow, reproach, or other comparably gloomy emotion. The two cases in point I have are from “My Old Kentucky Home,” yes the episode in which Roger sings in blackface.

1. Pete and Trudy show off their dancing chops, while so-bland-I-had-to-look-up-his-name Harry Crane’s wife runs off sobbing, either because she’s outshined on the dancefloor, or because she’s upset that her husband doesn’t dance as well as Pete. She’s been in about two episodes that I can remember, I can’t really wring out any sympathy on her behalf because I just don’t care.

2. Roger and Jane share a tender moment, observed by Don. Don, feeling implicitly reproached for his less-than-perfect marriage, goes off to share a “tender” moment with Betty. Is it genuine? I don’t know, again I’ve stopped caring.

It’s just too exhausting to keep feeling so sad for these characters who can’t seem to create a normal moment of happiness for themselves. Don’t the writers get tired of spreading around so much depression?