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

[Lily Powers]

Was the woman who approached Don in the bar on the Season 5 finale the girl who was in Megan's acting class?

How do you think he'll respond to her invite?
How do you hope he'll respond to her invite?

I think the writers might have him continue his milder ways. I hope he does, just because it would be easy to have him revert to his philandering, I'd like to see them develop the character in a different direction

 

[AmateisGal]

Marrying him and thinking that he's sexy are 2 different things. Just because a woman thinks that a man is sexy or that she wants to have sex with him doesn't mean that she wants to marry him and have his babies.

BINGO. Living with a man like that and putting up with all of his shenanigans wouldn't last long with me.

 

[AmateisGal]

Was the woman who approached Don in the bar on the Season 5 finale the girl who was in Megan's acting class?

How do you think he'll respond to her invite?
How do you hope he'll respond to her invite?

I think the writers might have him continue his milder ways. I hope he does, just because it would be easy to have him revert to his philandering, I'd like to see them develop the character in a different direction

I thought the same thing, that it was the girl from Megan's acting class who wanted to be in that commercial.

I think as far as character development goes, it would definitely be a lot better for him to keep on the path he's on instead of reverting back to the "old" Don.

 

[fortworthgal]

^ Was it the same woman? I didn't pay close enough attention! I wondered how that would work out, with her asking Megan for help with the audition and then Megan stealing it out from under her.

Regarding Don: I think most female viewers think Don is physically appealing, and that's as far as it goes. Physically, I'll admit, Don is sexy. But I would never, ever date him. But then I've never gone for bad boys at all.

[HELLO Folks! She's 20 years his junior!!!! A kid of the 60's, never been to war, broke or down and out. Of course she going to seem petulant and immature next to the mountain that is Don. Crap she's more mature than Roger Sterling if you ask me. Rich and powerfull men get younger, trophy wives. It's what they do. It's called arm candy. Me personally, I hink Don did alright for himself, she's young AND tallented to boot as a singer. I don't think that the majority of female viewers would be happy with ANY woman DD married because... well it wasn't them....

Worf

I see what you're saying, but I still dislike her character. And it isn't because I want Don for myself, or because she's so much younger than he is. :lol: Her attitude is petulant and I think it would be that way whether she's 25 or 45. You're right, Roger Sterling is immature, but Megan's behavior is different. I mean, the knockdown fight in their apartment? Locking Don out? Roger is a cad, but Megan's behavior is more like that of a child who doesn't get her way.

I dislike Megan's character for the same reasons I always disliked Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell's character) on Law & Order. I feel that the writers wanted to force people to view her as sexy & desirable by constantly reminding you of her appearance, through comments of other characters.

 

[flat-top]

I've often wondered throughout the season if Megan was supposed to be unlikable, or at least designed for us to not understand our feeling about her. Some say that it's the actress herself that makes the character unlikable.
Whatever the case, the show's creator Matthew Weiner is too brilliant to not have done whatever it is he's doing on purpose.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

I never liked Megan from the start. I personally found her immaturity unbearable. She's definitely a step up from Betty but I feel she's slowly turning into her. The biggest issue with the character I had was the argument she and Don had at the diner when Don suggested a desert, to which Megan had a tantrum over being "forced" to try it. That drew the line for me there.

 

[C-dot]

The biggest issue with the character I had was the argument she and Don had at the diner when Don suggested a desert, to which Megan had a tantrum over being "forced" to try it. That drew the line for me there.

That whole scenario was trying - It escalated way further than it should have! It really underscored the parent-child aspect of their marriage (which, IMHO, is much stronger than their husband-wife aspect).

 

[Barbigirl]

I didn't see her as being desired by everyone, more that she was amusing to the men in a awkwardly seductive sort of way - fun to watch, but not to have. If things don't work out between Don and Megan, it will be just another aspect of the show. I don't think they're a great love match, but I do like her character, but I think I'm a party of 1 on that. From what I read here and other places, the majority of viewers dislike Megan intensely.

I like Megan too. She is a bit younger than Peggy and seemed (she is a total mess now) to have a bit of a feminist, assertive yet fun young woman attitude just barely emerging in the late 60s. She seemed so much more confident than Peggy when Peggy first started. I think Peggy will be a huge success however and Megan's mother is correct about her not really being a theatrical artist. I think Megan and Don are badly matched in they seem to have nothing in common.

 

[Barbigirl]

I cannot image any woman that would want to be married to that guy. [huh]

I would much prefer to be a Joanie to Don, would never want to be married to him.

 

[Barbigirl]

Marrying him and thinking that he's sexy are 2 different things. Just because a woman thinks that a man is sexy or that she wants to have sex with him doesn't mean that she wants to marry him and have his babies.

Exactly!

 

[Zemke Fan]

I watched the last episode again. The girl at the bar was NOT Megan's friend. AND, the blonde said to Don (pointing to a brunette), "My friend wants to know if you're alone."

 

[C-dot]

I watched the last episode again. The girl at the bar was NOT Megan's friend. AND, the blonde said to Don (pointing to a brunette), "My friend wants to know if you're alone."

I'll be surprised if he resists the brunette. She was exceptionally pretty.

Yes, its shades of the old Don:

 

[Babydoll]

I believe you lol I couldn't remember exactly what he said so I figured I'd shoot for the gist. I think your right about the meaning, and Ginsberg also drives me batty. He's delicious looking, though.

The actor that plays Ginsberg also played Fred, the guardian angel in the tv series Drop Dead Diva. Strange to see him on DDD without the NY accent.

 

[C-dot]

The actor that plays Ginsberg also played Fred, the guardian angel in the tv series Drop Dead Diva. Strange to see him on DDD without the NY accent.

You know, his NY accent was so good I didn't even think it might be fake!

Accent or not, I think he's adorable:

 

[tonyb]

I thought Betty Francis's status as Mom of the Year was safe, and then along came Marie Calvet.

 

[AmateisGal]

I thought Betty Francis's status as Mom of the Year was safe, and then along came Marie Calvet.

Yeah, she's tough - but I would still give Betty higher marks for nastiness. Part of it could simply be that she's European and not as lenient with children as we Americans are.

 

[tonyb]

As long as we're in the stellar motherhood vein ...

Do any of y'all detect a whiff of sexism in the depiction of the mother characters? The writers give the major mom characters plenty of opportunity to show how bad they are at the job, and even the not so bad ones (relatively minor characters all, so far) ain't so good. The big exception is the new mom, Joan (who certainly came amply equipped for the task). Whereas the father characters are given a free ride, or nearly so, and not a one of them has shown us much to admire in that regard.

I dunno, maybe that's all deliberate. Maybe we viewers are giving the dads a free ride, as perhaps people in general did back during the period depicted, and perhaps do still. The writers do indeed show us lousy fathering as well, yet it doesn't seem such a prominent topic of conversation.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Keep in mind that seven of the nine regular writers on the show are women, so if you detect any "sexism", it's homegrown.

Anyway, I think it's more a case of the mothers of the regular characters reflecting the even more narrow-minded attitudes and ingrained limitations of women who came of age earlier, in the teens through thirties. Nearly everyone on the show is saddled with some level of dysfunction, personality issues, or outright horrid behavior, and I think that's one of its dramatic points: everybody is messed up, and the miseries of the parents are visited on the children. (I mean: Sally Draper is probably still in psychoanalysis today trying to undo the ravages of Don and Betty's awful parenting!)

 

[Angus Forbes]

Not to beat a dead horse (well, maybe a little): however enjoyable the series is, and it is, and however well done the sets are, and they are, the cultural aspect is fiction brought to you by the twenty-first-century-Hollywood smut factory. In their view, everyone is indeed dysfunctional, except for themselves of course.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Well, most of humanity is pretty dysfunctional in one way or another. Even the highest-functioning folks are a bit weird, somehow off, self-destructive, repressed or inhibited, etc., in some way. "Normal" and "well adjusted" are myths. In fact, dangerous myths, because they allow folks who consider themselves such to feel superior to people with more obvious problems and disadvantages. That sense of superiority is a pretty nasty dysfunction itself, and has caused loads of suffering throughout the world.

The longer I live, the more I believe we're all nuts (or damaged, dysfunctional, what have you) in one way or another. It's actually a key part of the human condition.

A friend at work recently started watch MM, but said he wasn't enjoying it because there was nobody in it he could identify with - they were all cheats, monsters, badly socialized narcissists... just not heroic. I guess he doesn't share my view that we're all flawed - and we're all the more interesting for it.