Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

Mad Men: The Main Characters, Ranked By Character Arc

Contents

All the characters from Mad Men went through quite a journey since the show’s beginning. But which character arc was the absolute best?

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

Mad Men is considered by many to be one of the greatest TV shows ever made, and one need only watch this show once to understand just how incredible this series really is. Jon Hamm certainly shone in his role as Don Draper, but only mentioning his work on this show would be doing a huge disservice to the enormous cast of characters, each of whom had their own challenges along the way but still managed to emerge triumphant in the end… well, with a few exceptions.

The stellar character writing of Mad Men meant that every member of the main cast went through intriguing character arcs of their own that most people still look back on fondly to this day. That being said, one can’t deny that there were some character arcs that were certainly more compelling than others for a whole host of reasons.

6 Betty Francis, Formerly Known As Betty Draper

Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

While it might be unfair to put Betty at the very bottom of this list due to the sheer number of ways in which Don pretty much oppressed her and made her life a misery during the ending moments of their marriage, her character should still be lambasted regardless for the manner in which she abused her kids, initiated unnecessary quarrels with her spouse, and — in general — didn’t really evolve into a great person.

While it was admirable from her end to go down on her own terms after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer so that she could show her kids how to live a strong and independent life, one can argue that even such a massive development was too little and too late — ultimately, her character was simply way too damaged and unlikable for anyone to empathize with her by the end of the series.

5 Roger Sterling

Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

During the initial stages of Mad Men, one could wholeheartedly say that Roger Sterling was one of the best characters of the show along with Don Draper — a huge compliment, given the sheer number of excellently-written characters on the show. However, it was only inevitable that a character who started off on such a high would peak sooner than later, before crashing to the ground and ruining his image long before the series would end. This is exactly what ended up happening to Roger Sterling, with perhaps the most resounding nail in his character arc’s casket being when he decided to turn on Don without so much as a heads-up after Don’s emotional speech in front of the people representing Hershey’s.

See also  Doctor Who Russel T Daviess Best Episodes Ranked

Along with this, there was his rather disturbing obsession with Joan, his string of failed marriages that were pretty much his fault, a rather weird development in his character when he decided to start doing acid out of nowhere, and his failures as a father. Sure, his emotional reactions are some of the most memorable moments of the show — with his delayed reaction to his mother’s demise being especially heartbreaking — but, on a whole, Roger Sterling wasn’t exactly a great character by any means as the series ended.

4 Pete Campbell

Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

It’s a testament to the brilliant writing of Pete Campbell that such a vile and unlikable character who didn’t give a single good impression during the initial stages of the series ended up developing so extensively as a character that most people actually enjoyed the scenes where he was featured.

By no means is Pete a model citizen — at the end of the day, his scumbag personality and two-faced attitude were too ingrained within his character to be removed entirely. That being said, it’s the manner in which he still developed around these character traits that turned him into a highlight in the series that most fans actually began to appreciate as the final seasons rolled around.

3 Joan Harris

Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

The fact that a person who initially only started off as an office manager eventually managed to secure a position as a high-ranking partner in one of the biggest advertising firms in America during the 60s should be enough to illustrate why Joan Harris’ character arc has been so incredibly fascinating in Mad Men… but only stating this one solitary professional achievement would be doing her character a great injustice.

Women in the 60s weren’t treated as equals by any means, which makes strong female characters in this era like Joan really shine for all the right reasons. The composure and maturity with which she handled situations in and out of the workplace is truly excellent, making her a treat to watch every single time she came on the screen.

See also  Christian Bale’s 10 Greatest Roles Ranked

2 Don Draper

Mad Men The Main Characters Ranked By Character Arc

Of course, it would be impossible to rank the character arcs of the main cast in Mad Men and not mention what might just be one of the greatest protagonists in a TV show. Don Draper is everything that the common man would want to be and more… which is exactly what makes the trials and tribulations he faced before and during the show’s run such compelling television.

It’s a common — and rather flippant — thing to say that people from broken households end up being broken themselves, but it’s the manner in which Don both personifies and refutes this statement that truly makes him one of the most enigmatic, charismatic, and all-around likable characters on the show who is always a treat to watch whenever he takes center stage. In fact, there’s really only one character that people can mention when it comes to selecting someone with a better character arc than him…

1 Peggy Olson

Mad Men is based around a time when the common women generally adopted a subservient role due to the horrible gender dynamics of that time, and during the initial stages of the show, most people assumed that Peggy would be nothing more than a character who would do nothing more than simply displaying the atrocities of that time. Those people couldn’t have been more wrong.

Peggy Olson is easily one of the most fascinating and enjoyable characters in Mad Men, with her character arc perhaps being the most palpable one in the entire list that truly displayed the strengths of the writers on the show. In a male-dominated industry, Peggy managed to separate herself from the rest of the pack by developing a no-nonsense attitude coupled with an excellent creative brain that enabled her to become one of the greatest creative minds in advertising. Any person who didn’t fall in love with the amazing dynamic she shared with Don Draper throughout the show is either lying about watching the show or simply didn’t appreciate the simple beauty of their relationship.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/mad-men-character-arcs-ranked/

Movies -