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

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
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About Bob Benson...apparently earlier in the show, he said that his father had died. Now in this episode, he said that this nurse he recommended to Pete had "nursed his father back to health." And do you notice he ALWAYS is drinking coffee? Methinks there's a lot more to Bob Benson than meets the eye. I am really curious as to where his character is going...
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
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I also liked the use of sirens in this episode. Did anyone else notice that? It sort of gave the whole episode that undertone that the world was on fire.
 
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I also liked the use of sirens in this episode. Did anyone else notice that? It sort of gave the whole episode that undertone that the world was on fire.

Funny about the sirens, I live in NYC and, as I do regularly, I hit the pause button when I heard them as I thought the sirens were outside my apartment and I paused the show to let them pass. It was odd when the sirens stopped when I hit pause - "oh, it's on the show." My thought was it was to give the show a very real NYC vibe and to hint at the increasing crime rate that started in the later sixties, but I like your interpretation that it was symbolic of the social changes that were happening.
 
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Bob is trouble. Whatever form that trouble will take has yet to be revealed, but he's a worm, for sure. At this moment I suspect that Roger will be the one to suss him out.

Bob -- like Don, like Pete, like some others -- has things to hide. Roger is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kinda guy. He maintains the fiction as to Joan's baby's paternity in deference to Joan's wishes, but not because he himself wishes to hide anything.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
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Bob is trouble. Whatever form that trouble will take has yet to be revealed, but he's a worm, for sure. At this moment I suspect that Roger will be the one to suss him out.

Bob -- like Don, like Pete, like some others -- has things to hide. Roger is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kinda guy. He maintains the fiction as to Joan's baby's paternity in deference to Joan's wishes, but not because he himself wishes to hide anything.

I agree with this. He's after something...maybe an industrial spy? Or something more malevolent? Guess we'll find out.

I do wonder about the symbolism with him always drinking coffee...
 

The Good

Call Me a Cab
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On the surface, Bob Benson seems like a nice, likable new guy, but he's also suspicious. How on Earth could you not find him suspicious?

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He seems to be peeking into the business of the others whatever opportunity he has, and seems to be establishing relationships through gifts, which itself is not a bad thing. Also, he could be a spy for either the government or another corporation. I do like what he did for Joan when she was ill, and I generally like the mystery surrounding the character, though.
 

R.G. White

One of the Regulars
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I honestly think Betty had no other reasoning for sleeping with Don than to mess with his head. She has a massive love/hate relationship with that guy, and wants to torment him as much as possible. She wants to tease him and make him fall in love with her, all the while making it clear that she wants nothing to do with him. He'll keep chasing and falling until he makes some move that's going to completely turn his life upside down. She knows what she's doing:

"The worst way to get you is by loving you..."
 
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I ain't disagreeing with your analysis of Betty, R.G., so much as expanding on it.

She wanted a roll in the hay with him. A golden opportunity presented itself, and she took it. Her once-absent thermonuclear hotness is back, now that's she's dropped the excess poundage (men are checking her out and hitting on her all the time) and she digs it.

Her quite open disclosure to Don that in her view the worst way to get to him is to love him pretty well removes any suspicions I might have of her duplicity, at least in this particular regard.

There can be something extra sweet in such an encounter with an old flame, especially an old flame a person never had any expectation of ever again knowing in such a way. For that reason, the scene surely resonated with what I suspect is at least a sizable minority of the viewership.
 

Young fogey

One of the Regulars
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About Bob Benson...apparently earlier in the show, he said that his father had died. Now in this episode, he said that this nurse he recommended to Pete had "nursed his father back to health." And do you notice he ALWAYS is drinking coffee? Methinks there's a lot more to Bob Benson than meets the eye. I am really curious as to where his character is going...

Good catch. So he's dishonest too.
 
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Can't say that I keep up on celebrity gossip, but I recall hearing that Ms. Jones found herself in the family way, and that the Mad Men scriptwriters found a way to work her larger self into the storyline. And then, post-pregnancy, the fat suit and other such tools of the trade were employed while the character was in her weight-loss mode.

I couldn't attest to the accuracy of any of that, but it certainly seems plausible.
 

Bruce Wayne

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Can't say that I keep up on celebrity gossip, but I recall hearing that Ms. Jones found herself in the family way, and that the Mad Men scriptwriters found a way to work her larger self into the storyline. And then, post-pregnancy, the fat suit and other such tools of the trade were employed while the character was in her weight-loss mode.

I couldn't attest to the accuracy of any of that, but it certainly seems plausible.

I'm fairly certain that what you say is accurate.
 
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So, if that is indeed the case, I gotta tip my hat to the writers. The petty, jealous Betty character taking comfort in ice cream, etc., (remember the scene in Don's new apartment, where Betty spies the half-dressed, shapely Megan?) is consistent with the Betty we've come to know and love.
 
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