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

[Young fogey]

Saw the latest episode last night.

Awful sport coat. Even Don makes mistakes like that sometimes. I hope it's not a metaphor for Megan being out of place in his life (since it was her idea) because again I like her (fortworthgal: hear, hear) and Don's being in love with her. Interesting that some women viewers want Don to be a bad boy again. Confirms some of what I've read.

Fight! Fight! Fight! We were being set up for Roger and Pete coming to blows; good fake-out. Roger would win as did Lane: both are bigger than him. Pete got what he deserved. Yes, not much different than he was at the start of the show. Lane was completely in character, proper, boxing bare-knuckled but with Marquis of Queensberry rules, never out of control. The fight was on his terms. Well done. I think Lane or Roger would beat Pete in a no-rules bar fight too, again because of the size difference.

Interesting with Joan. I wondered if Lane, like most men, was attracted to her. Probably a testosterone high from the fight. Joan was in both senses cool about it. I thought she was going to walk out the door; another good fake-out. Interesting how she was always in control. She knows how to let guys down easy; smart too as this is to keep the peace at her job. (Effective because Lane, being Lane, wasn't threatening her.) She's a class act.

 

[CircuitRider]

Started watching on netflix...on Season 2 towards end. Seem fairly accurate on most things. saw Pete Campbell wearing on of my 50 y/o ties...Seems like Don Draper would have a nicer fedora, but afterall, he carries it more than he wears it!:eusa_doh:

 

[Young fogey]

1966 (or is it '67 yet?)

It took me a few episodes to figure out what year it is too, since it's a smart show and doesn't flash the year on the screen nor give you dumb expository dialogue. My guess from Season 5, Episode 1 was right. They drop us off in 1966. The news stories in later episodes tell you the month. Last week had the Richard Speck murders so it was July; the latest show was a month later. I existed but was still in the womb, making my debut a month later. Interesting. The world I like largely still existed when I was born. (Only bad depictions of the '60s have everybody hippiefied as most of you know. People who remember tell me as late as the summer of '65 in New Jersey it was still the American Graffiti cultural '50s.) Guess I've come home.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

That's how my dad describes life in Milwaukee, up until the '68 riots, then things started to change more to the 'sixties'

People who remember tell me as late as the summer of '65 in New Jersey it was still the American Graffiti cultural '50s.) Guess I've come home.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I am Sally Draper's age - 11 in 1966 - and in the northern suburbs of NYC, plenty of major social change was evident by that point, though the full-blown "sixties" was still a good couple of years off.

 

[MrBern]

La 1960

Some of you might enjoy these 1960 pix
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/help-us-identify-whos-in-these-photographs/

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/22/magazine/winogrand-look.html

 

[Young fogey]

'Far Away Places' review

Thoughts on 'Far Away Places':

Roger dropping acid: the world is starting to go to hell. Nicely done scene depicting hallucinations.

We saw it coming with Roger and Jane (age difference: same problem as Don and Megan?), but divorce after only two or three years, in the '60s? Excuse me; Roger had to sell his family's company to the Brits (and ended up losing that company and starting over) to pay for his first divorce. Doesn't seem realistic. Sure, midlife crisis and all that but this man was a WWII naval officer and ran a successful business. He's not stupid; he wouldn't blow the rest of his inheritance and income over a girl. My guess: by the show's end, around 1970, Roger and true love Joan will be together.

Great period atmosphere with the Howard Johnson's.

The Don/Megan fight: a tease/fake-out for the ladies hoping for more floor making-up sex. Critics love characters brooding and being annoying, so all's not bliss there. Still, I'm cheering for them as a couple.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I thought the very unusual structure of the episode - telling the same day/night sequentially from three different POVs - was gutsy and paid off well.

In each story, couples had to face up to their problems and the primary character realized they were stuck: Peggy can try to channel Don's approach and technique all she wants, but she can't pull it off successfully as a woman in a man's world in 1966; Roger never really loved Jane - she was just an avenue to escape his ossified marriage to Mona; and Don realizes that the idealized eager-to-please Megan of their trip to California isn't real, and that he can't bully and dominate her as he did Betty. Plus, we got great stuff explaining the bizarre Michael Ginsberg, the return of he's-not-just-a-senile-coot Bert, and - far out! - dropped acid with Angela Chase's mom! (*)

( * Speaking as a veteran of the seventies, this was one of the more accurately portrayed LSD trips I've seen... and not just in a special effects sense, but as a worthy tool to self-awareness. [And non-fans of My So-Called Life, I meant Bess Armstrong as Jane's shrink.])

Anyway, I thought it was a tremendous episode. Innovative, beautifully done, and loaded with important developments clarifying the trajectory of all its featured characters. Pretty awesome.

 

[Young fogey]

Right, I forgot to mention the non-linear storytelling gimmick, something critics like. It was OK.

Roger never really loved Jane - she was just an avenue to escape his ossified marriage to Mona; and Don realizes that the idealized eager-to-please Megan of their trip to California isn't real, and that he can't bully and dominate her as he did Betty.

You may be onto something. That explains the memory or dream scene with the kids coming back from Disneyland.

Bess Armstrong? So she was at the party. I liked her years ago and still do. Cute.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah, I initially thought it was weird that Don was recalling that drive home from the airport after the CA trip while driving down from Plattsburgh... but then I realized it was part of his trying to reconcile the far-more complex Megan he's married to with the-too-good-to-be-true girl that he had perceived the year before.

And re Bess Armstrong, I had just (re)watched My So-Called Life with my high-school-age daughter last year (highly recommended - it's still pretty much the best show about the cauldron that is high school and family dynamics ever!) where she's the ultimate caring mother, so it was really weird seeing her handing out doses of LSD!

 

[fortworthgal]

Interesting episode last night... I loved the HoJo atmosphere.

Don & Megan - Who fights like that? :lol: Seriously, chasing & tackling through the apartment?

Glad to see Roger and Jane finally admit they never loved each other, and end things.

 

[Gene]

Well, the hints of the coming 60's culture and "revolution" had always been there but it was inevitable that it was going to become more and more 60s.

Personally, I wish the series had started earlier (mid-50s) that way it would only be in the early 60s now. I just trust in the writers to not get too over the top with it.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I always thought it would have been interesting to see everything play out from when Don was in Korea, though it would take a lot of the storyline away.

Personally, I wish the series had started earlier (mid-50s) that way it would only be in the early 60s now. I just trust in the writers to not get too over the top with it.

 

[AmateisGal]

What an unusual yet compelling episode. I love that Megan is not going to take Don's crap and is calling him on it. I also love how devoted he is to her - the romantic in me loved how he held her to him and was almost in tears when he said he thought he lost her. Of course, him leaving her at the hotel was terrible, but she didn't wait around for him!

Peggy in the movie theater! What was that about???

 

[Doctor Strange]

What I've been reading elsewhere in reviews and blogs is that it was Peggy taking control of the situation, being the aggressor rather than the hit-upon.

After all, she ended up seeing Born Free, not the film Abe wanted her to see, The Naked Prey! I love how everything in this episode was symbolic!

 

[rue]

Peggy in the movie theater! What was that about???

Even more strange was her conversation with Michael..... Mars?? What was that about?

Did anyone else think she was having a dream after she laid down for a nap?

 

[Gene]

I love how everything in this episode was symbolic!

Agreed, it was a very "arty" episode for lack of a better word.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://flavorwire.com/281617/10-fic...obably-didnt-know-were-based-on-real-people#8

 

[Lily Powers]

Agreed, it was a very "arty" episode for lack of a better word.

I liked the balance/counter balance of Roger and Jane and Don and Megan. One couple has a new experience with a mind altering drug - they are blisssful, communicative, romantic and end up on the floor, heads touching, and determine quite politely they are not going to remain together. The other couple has a drama-filled argument, they take off in different directions, they both brood and it culminates in a frantic physical showdown where they end up on the floor, heads touching, and determine they are in love and will stay together.

Sunday nights are just too much fun.

 

[AmateisGal]

I liked the balance/counter balance of Roger and Jane and Don and Megan. One couple has a new experience with a mind altering drug - they are blisssful, communicative, romantic and end up on the floor, heads touching, and determine quite politely they are not going to remain together. The other couple has a drama-filled argument, they take off in different directions, they both brood and it culminates in a frantic physical showdown where they end up on the floor, heads touching, and determine they are in love and will stay together.

Sunday nights are just too much fun.

Excellent analysis. I hadn't thought of that. The layers in this show, the symbolism, etc., is just incredible. Love it.