Mad Men

[OscarGuy]

Ok. I'm not participating in the discussion and I'm not reading the discussion, but I just had to pop in and say how PISSED I am.

I avoid spoilers on Mad Men because I usually can't catch up with it until it hits DVD, so color me surprised when I start reading headlines at Hollywood Reporter and find a huge spoiler in the title of one of them regarding someone's death. I had suspected it from an earlier article they post that they didn't come outright and say what happened, but my suspicion was later confirmed by this new article. I posted a comment there for only the second time error complaining about the lack of journalistic integrity a headline like that causes.

I'm so livid I can't even think straight. I almost don't want to watch the new season now until I can forget the spoiler I heard...so frustrating.

[ksrymy]

http://tvline.com/2012/06/05/mad-men-el ... s-leaving/

Thisisnothappeningthisisnothappeningthisisnothappening.

[ksrymy]

Waiting for ksrymy to riot.

WHY THE HELL IS PETE STILL ALIVE GODDAMNIT?!

Have you ever seen this show? The death that's been almost heavy-handedly foreshadowed this whole season just happened. It was Layne. Pete is too utterly narcissistic to ever commit suicide.

I know. I just really hate Pete.

[flipp525]

Waiting for ksrymy to riot.

WHY THE HELL IS PETE STILL ALIVE GODDAMNIT?!

Have you ever seen this show? The death that's been almost heavy-handedly foreshadowed this whole season just happened. It was Layne. Pete is too utterly narcissistic to ever commit suicide.

I would also say that it made sense to have Peggy absent this episode. No mention of her at all, okay, yes, that was a little jarring, but I'm sure we'll check back in with her in next week's finale. This is a slow-burn show. There's no way they'd have some scene of Peggy being dissatisfied at her new firm the week after she just left SCDP. Just, no. That's not how this show works. I think they are pretty neatly setting up her storyline for next season. (Frankly,I love that they don't try and shove every character into each and every episode. It makes for much better pacing and development. This isn't an episode of "Brothers and Sisters".)

One of my favorite moments was Ken's adder to the deal that Pete be in no way involved with Dow should they land the account. That was just delicious. I'm looking forward to seeing the look on Pete's face when that news is imparted to him.

Jared Harris did some Emmy-level work in this episode. Heartbreaking and utterly realistic. With the shot of the Mets pennant hanging on his office wall, I knew there was no way he was going back to England alive.

[ksrymy]

Waiting for ksrymy to riot.

I'm trying to figure out how to put this nicely without using caps lock, but I am going to fucking choke the Mad Men writers. While I am alright with Lane's being written off (which I originally thought I would hate), I am really pissed off that we have no Peggy development in this episode. If she doesn't hate her new job and come groveling back to Don, I will smash something. Peggy is the main character of the show in my opinion. The show is about her journey to the top and if I don't get that catharsis from seeing her as a name partner by series end, I will punch the writers in their balls (or ovaries in Maria Jacquemetton's case).

The fact that Pete is still alive and Chekhov's gun is becoming a red herring really irks me as well.

On a positive note, I'm glad to disprove my friends about Sally's metamorphosis into a major character and Kiernan Shipka's being a good actress. Her first period was handled spectacularly.

WHY THE HELL IS PETE STILL ALIVE GODDAMNIT?!

I also wish they would get rid of Glenn already. We all know the only reason he's around is because his father is Matthew Weiner.

So when is Pete going to die?

If this wasn't riotous enough, throw more fuel onto the fire here and I'll be glad to scream.

[Mister Tee]

I've seen people at other sites make the case that Don was completely blameless in this -- that, if anything, his action was going easy on Lane. This may be true, but I think it misses the point. What happened here is, Don's pitch failed. I don't mean his pitch to Dow Chemical; he was his old self there. But his pitch to Lane was the same as the one to Sal on his exit -- "You'll be fine"; it was even an echo of his legendary "This didn't happen; you won't belive how much it didn't happen" to Peggy. And it fell on deaf ears. Don truly missed the anguish in Lane's plea (which, by the way, Jared Harris played beautifully in a great send-off scene). And Lane sure got him back, both intentionally -- his terse letter might as well have said "Here's your resignation, Don" -- and accidentally, as his manner of death utterly echoed the other one for which Don feels guilt, his sibling Adam. You could almost feel Don trying to hug Lane back to life when they cut him down.

Yet Don picks himself up, concentrates on something future, something positive: allowing Glenn to drive his car. Don is not in tune with the youth of the era (his championing of napalm as something that ptotects soldiers couldn' be more out of step with what everyone I knew expressed back in the day)...but it's vital for him to feel he has some sort of forward-looking stance, and this final note is his refusal to surrender to the forces that would drag him down.

[Greg]

Waiting for ksrymy to riot.

[Mister Tee]

Wow. Just wow.

More when I can catch my breath.

[The Original BJ]

Just watched this last episode of Mad Men, which was, indeed, a real emotional powerhouse.

When Don kissed Peggy's hand, did anyone flash back to the pilot episode, when Peggy put her hand on Don's, and he brushed her away?

[Greg]

I noticed that I have seen car ads air during Mad Men for Audi and Lincoln; but, I have not seen any for Jaguar.

[ksrymy]

I'm just glad to hear Moss isn't leaving permanently although, with The Good Wife having a weak year, I think Moss will win the Emmy for this episode and Hendricks will win for the episode where Greg leaves.

[Mister Tee]

This episode had so much emotional and thematic power I fear I don't have the energy to do it justice right now. But, a few things:

For all his catting around, Don has managed non-sexual, adult relationships with two women, Peggy and Joan. Last night saw ruptures in both relationships -- ruptures that might have been avoidable had Don not been so singularly focused on the Jaguar campaign to the point he either (in Joan's case) showed neglect until it was too late to change anything, or, (with Peggy) inappropriately took out his frustration over Jaguar on her (throwing the dollars at her was inexcusable). The result: though the Jaguar acquisition is an absolutely crowning achivement for the partnership, for Don it was doubly one of the worst days of his life. The pure disappointed sorrow on his face when Joan stepped into the partners' meeting was heartbreaking...but it was only a warm-up for the agony in his finger-kiss farewell to Peggy.

There's plenty to speculate about where the show will take Peggy. I presume the second-billed actor on the show will continue to feature prominently, but will it be 100% off on her own...or will Don make good on his two-years-ago vow that he'd spend the rest of his life trying to hire her back?

The Peggy jolt was the more sudden (and lasting). But the Joan sadness was more the core of the show. Pete Campbell was at his Machiavellian worst in engineering the deed -- never exactly lying to anyone, but shading the truth in every stop along the way like an Iago'd Henry Kissinger (if that's not redundant). But all the partners played a role: Don by absenting himself; Roger by being too reluctant in speaking up for his girl; Bert with willful blindness; and, most complex of all, Lane -- who did point Joan in the direction of getting the most for herself in the circumstance, but in the process probably saved the immediate uncovering of his embezzlement.

The Indecent Proposal-ish deal summed up alot about the episode (and the show, and America, maybe): that we want what we have as the center of our lives, but there are also commodities out there -- rich, appealing, beautiful commodities -- that we further desire because they give us the illusion our lives aren't so small. I remember, when I was younger, Hugh Hefner talking about how Playboy dealt with not just beautiful naked women, but with a whole swinging lifestyle. Ginsberg's insight -- expanded upon by Don in the pitch -- is that they're one and the same: the ads for sleek cars in Playboy work on the same level of primal appeal as the centerfold. Certainly the car dealer's crude opening to Joan -- "Okay, let's see 'em" -- tells us he views her as a commodity to be sampled and savored; no half-falling-in-love, as some guys have been known to do with hookers. The 60s (this part of them, before the crush of social issues and recession overwhelmed everything else) might have been the peak time for people indulging these previously secret appetities. Sexual desire was more out in the open than ever before, and feminism hadn't yet emerged as counterpoint to offset what at this moment was mostly male id gone amok. Rampant consumerism was in its heyday, enabled by the booming economy. For the young guys (only the guys) at SCDP, it must have seemed like paradise. But the older ones, like Don, see a society moving past them. (In his day, the money would have been enough to persuade Peggy to stay. He doesn't get this "need for respect")

The major cultural touchstone was Megan's audition for Little Murders, which was primarily there to further the contrast between how Don and a woman are allowed to view pursuing a career (he can immerse himself; she has to stay in her place as well). It also gave Megan a moment, like Joan and Peggy, to feel she's undervalued by the men in her sphere. But, a reality checK: The only prime role in Little Murders for which Megan would be suited by type is Patsy -- a role Barbara Cook played, and for which, I'd guess, she was locked in well before Megan got in the door. Megan was probably up for the glorified extra part of Wedding Guest (a group to which I belonged in the NU production), and, sorry to disillusion young women, but in such a case your looks are alot more important than your line readings.

Incidentally, it wouldn't have been any kind of triumph had Megan got the role, since Little Murders ran an embarrassing four performances on Broadway that winter. It was only the 1969 off-Broadway production that rescued the play's reputation (and led to the film version, which replicated much of its cast).

[ksrymy]

There has been a lot of foreshadowing of Pete's death this season, but I trust that Matthew Weiner is too smart to follow through on such an obvious plot line. He tends to work a little more subtly, which makes me think that while death is around the corner, it won't be Pete. Should we start taking bets as to who dies by episode 13?

My vote is Megan over the ledge of their condo.

I still have Pete turning the gun on the office or himself in the season finale. I mean, that rifle he bought SCREAMS of Chekhov.

[flipp525]

There has been a lot of foreshadowing of Pete's death this season, but I trust that Matthew Weiner is too smart to follow through on such an obvious plot line. He tends to work a little more subtly, which makes me think that while death is around the corner, it won't be Pete. Should we start taking bets as to who dies by episode 13?

My vote is Megan over the ledge of their condo.

[FilmFan720]

Well, this may be one of the great television seasons of all time. Every episode just seems so pitch-perfect, even more than normal for this show.

There has been a lot of foreshadowing of Pete's death this season, but I trust that Matthew Weiner is too smart to follow through on such an obvious plot line. He tends to work a little more subtly, which makes me think that while death is around the corner, it won't be Pete. Should we start taking bets as to who dies by episode 13?

Utility-wise, I think it could be Lane. He doesn't really have a useful part in the machine of the show anymore, and his stories are always completely detached from the rest of the show...it seems like every few episodes he floats in, has a sad story that doesn't relate to anyone else in the office, and then disappears for a few seasons (presumably to be filming his long arc on Fringe this season?). I like him as a character, but have found him unbearable this season and the weak link in a near-perfect show. I love Jared Harris, but I think it is time to put this character out to pasture.