[tps_header] “We’re flawed, because we want so much more. We’re ruined, because we get these things and wish for what we had.”[/tps_header]
Season 4, episode 8: “The Summer Man.” Originally aired September 12th, 2010.
Don Draper’s low-toned soliloquy, performed in voice-over as the camera sweeps across scenes of Henry Francis (Don’s ex-wife Betty’s new beau) mowing the lawn of Don’s old home and Don shoving cardboard boxes labeled “DRAPER” into an alley dumpster, airs on the side of cynicism, tingeing the episode with a film-noir feel. While many of Jon Hamm’s monologues are impactful not only to the character of Don Draper but to the through-lines of the show, this one is particularly significant as it sums up Don’s tragic flaw, the hamartia that nips at his psyche. Don’s want for so much more is omnipresent and relentless, contributing in large parts to his many rises and falls.
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