"Mad Men" on AMC (US) - (Spoilers Within)

[The Good]

I wish Michael Ginsberg was just left alone as being a quirky creative guy, instead of becoming a heavily paranoid schizophrenic. He was one of my favorite minor characters on the show, and a fun character to have around, even if he was strange. There are quite a few people like him. We will find out soon enough in the next episode whether or not he is still in the show, but the last episode heavily implied that the actor Ben Feldman likely got out of the show. I'd be interested in seeing what it's like at the institution he's in, now, if Mad Men's creator permits the viewers to see it.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I wish Michael Ginsberg was just left alone as being a quirky creative guy, instead of becoming a heavily paranoid schizophrenic.

I don't think they were mutually exclusive. The writing was so solid that it was perceived by many that his schizophrenia was out of the blue, but it wasn't. He was losing his mind from the first moment we met him.

 

[Worf]

I don't think they were mutually exclusive. The writing was so solid that it was perceived by many that his schizophrenia was out of the blue, but it wasn't. He was losing his mind from the first moment we met him.

Agreed... the cat was always a few donuts short of a dozen...

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

Does anyone else feel that Don is a wound spring ready to go? His little act with Peggy - "I'm just here to help you," - or his good husband act with Megan feels like the calm before the storm. My take is that the inner Don is going to come out soon in a big, aggressive, smart way. That said, since I have been wrong about so many things, I acknowledge I might be wrong about this - do others think he really had a "come to Jesus" moment and is just trying to rebuild his life in a better way?

 

[Locrian]

I couldn't help noticing this week that Peggy didn't keep Lew in the loop when she began rethinking her campaign. I can almost see the trap that Don is falling into — where he is made to look as though he is not 'sticking to the script', though in fact he is simply trying to present Peggy in the best light. I think it is this — his good intentions, his stop-and-start nobility — that is going to kill Don. Lew is building a high scaffold for him, and the others (particularly the ungrateful Joan and Peggy, the self-involved and lazy Roger) are looking forward to the fall.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Turns out Don still sees dead people...

 

[tonyb]

I figured they'd wait to bump Bert Cooper until the very end. Adios, old-timer.

That closing segment in the most recent episode (Season 7, No. 7) was the sort of thing a person would either love or hate, or love to hate. Me, I thought it was bold, and clever, and just campy enough. I don't think of it so much as a hallucination as a fanciful flight of Don's imagination. I mean, he KNOWS it's not real, just like he knows that the moods he creates in his advertising work are entirely contrived.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

It was a respectful, and entirely appropriate, send-off to a great character and actor. I believe Robert Morse's specialty was musicals, and he won a Tony for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", which I also believe is from where that scene was taken (correct me if I'm wrong about that). Remember when he referred to Ida Blankenship as an astronaut when working her obituary? And then to also die as he's watching astronauts and the moon. The final scene with Don sitting on Ida's desk. A fine way to play into MW's love of musicals, the character's whimsy, the actor's forte, and then to tie it so well into the fabric of everything else. I don't care for musicals, and I don't like when a number is thrown into a show. Nevertheless, this was most welcome and [possibly] perfectly done. It wasn't quite as fun as American Horror Story's season 2 musical, but it was far beyond in depth.

*I forgot an important element to the context. Ida Blankenship was also one of Bert's loves, as well as his secretary. (as revealed when Don ran into Roger's memoir recordings and listened to them with Peggy)
**and why this show will have its own class in film schools and writing programs.

 

[The Good]

I thought that Bert Cooper's dancing scene was bizarre, although it was not completely out of place. Don has had visions like that before, of Anna, and his deceased brother. Bert's dancing was also appropriate, as it was a large part of the actor's career.

 

[PADDY]

Gents...is that the first half over now?

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yup. That's it until next year. I thought the mid-season finale was an outstanding, instant-classic MM episode.

 

[Worf]

Gents...is that the first half over now?

Yepper, hope you can wait'll next year... and I pray it's worth it.

Worf

 

[EmergencyIan]

I really enjoyed the first half. I hate to have to wait for the second.

- Ian

 

[Fading Fast]

They definitely upped their game for this season, so far. And I am glad to see Don regaining his footing, but this half season stuff is silly.

I think I post something similar to this every six months or so, but Pete is one angry man - all the time (even when he appears happy, he is a hair-trigger away from angry) - so angry, that I truly can't stand him (Betty and Peggy fall into this category as well).

 

[tonyb]

I think you touched on something essential to the show, FF.

The major characters all wear facades. Like their profession, their individual presentations are all about creating an image, leaving an impression, etc. And I suppose we all do that, to one degree or another.

I've read negative criticisms of this show that call it the most prominent example of the "Now We Know Better" genre. You know, we can smugly look back upon the racism and sexism and other isms of a half century ago from our lofty modern perch. There's something to that criticism, I think, although I find myself saying "so what?" I know what year this is, and I know that this show is fiction, and I have no problem with looking back upon a time I clearly remember through these more experienced eyes.

 

[PADDY]

Well FARGO is keeping me away from MM withdrawals! I'm going to have to watch that last MM episode again, as you always miss something!

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've read negative criticisms of this show that call it the most prominent example of the "Now We Know Better" genre. You know, we can smugly look back upon the racism and sexism and other isms of a half century ago from our lofty modern perch. There's something to that criticism, I think, although I find myself saying "so what?" I know what year this is, and I know that this show is fiction, and I have no problem with looking back upon a time I clearly remember through these more experienced eyes.

What's funny to me, is that you don't have to go back a half century to remember those things. Much of what people view as laughable behavior on MM was common when I started working in the corporate world, and well into the 90's! I had to wear a suit to work, there was copious amounts of smoking and drinking in the office, and when we got the first office computer (1991), it was a BIG deal. It wasn't quite as sexist as the 60's, but it was much closer to MM than to today's office environment.

 

[tonyb]

People by nature categorize. I'm not proud of the "isms" I still harbor, but by being aware of them, and thereby being aware of how they influence my perceptions, leaves me less likely to treat people in ways I would rather not be treated myself.

 

[The Good]

Spoilers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...assic-car-filming-final-Mad-Men-episodes.html

There are some pictures of Jon Hamm on the set of Mad Men, filming the next half of Season 7.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

spoiler! spoiler! I don't want to see that stuff. (not ragging on you...but really, I don't)