‘Mad Men’ season 7: Vincent Kartheiser and that dreaded ‘Pete’s mother’ question

What in the world was going on with Pete Campbell’s mom on “Mad Men” this season? For a show that often attaches led to its heels in order to stay grounded, this whole story regarding his mother’s death was so esoteric, it’s probably still hovering around in the cloud of viewer reactions and confusion.

In the end, we just didn’t care for how Pete’s mom just suddenly died while out on a boat … it was too random, too strange, and it seemed to just be there to force tension between Pete and Bob Benson that didn’t need to be there. It’s almost like Pete was as nebulous of a cloud for Matthew Weiner the moment Trudy left him, and he had to give the stellar Vincent Kartheiser something to do… but this story line?

So are we ever going to get questions as to whether or not this woman is really alive? Of course, Kartheiser doesn’t know given that Weiner has this secret buried somewhere in the story crypt, but he did say the following on the subject to Vanity Fair:

“We do not know. There is no body. Nothing has washed onshore. But I think that Pete believes that she is dead. You would think they would have done a really good search on the cruise ship, so unless there was some devious plot that she was working on, for some reason, I would assume that they are waiting to find the body. But I really don’t know. We’ll have to see what’s to come.”

In case you did not know, there’s no reason to worry about Pete’s move to Los Angeles being one of those moves designed to pull him from the show: Weiner has already made it rather clear that both Kartheiser and Kevin Rahm (Ted) will each probably return in some form.

Photo: AMC