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

[Young fogey]

Whew.... Don, Don, DONALD!!!! Well he couldn't help gettin' busted. It was in the script, and usually Don's a "players player" if you know what ah mean. But I must admit his s**t's gettin' a bit raggedy round the edges.

Worf

If the opening credits are anything to go by, the show's about Don's decline.

 

[HudsonHawk]

If the opening credits are anything to go by, the show's about Don's decline.

That's when Don realizes the Chevrolet car they're working on is the "Vega". He jumps out the window in 1974.

 

[Kirk H.]

That's when Don realizes the Chevrolet car they're working on is the "Vega". He jumps out the window in 1974.

ROFL........ That's good.......

 

[tonyb]

That's when Don realizes the Chevrolet car they're working on is the "Vega". He jumps out the window in 1974.

The hell you say! Next to the Chevette ("It'll drive you happy!"), the Vega was the brightest star in the Chevy constellation.

Keep in mind that I was fond of the Corvair, too. And those Chevy Citations were darned fine automobiles as well.

 

[Young fogey]

Fun but not that shocking about Bob Benson. He's a gay J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse's character 45 years ago!), scamming his way in. (Hmm. Like the Talented Mr. Ripley. Who else saw that? Set in the golden era. About a Gatsby-like social climber who's gay and by the way a serial murderer.) Obviously smart: how many West Virginians are fluent in Spanish? Thought Manolo might be of that persuasion. Nice seeing Glen again, even though his fashion is Sixties fugly. Looks like Sally's rebellion will happen at Miss Porter's. Peggy + Ted is just a matter of time.

 

[AmateisGal]

I'm really curious as to what is going to happen in the finale. And I think Glen beating up the other kid was Sally's way of beating up her father. That poor kid needs therapy.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I really thought Glen did the right thing.

 

[AmateisGal]

I really thought Glen did the right thing.

I agree. But I just saw that look of satisfaction on Sally's face, and I think the kid who got beat up was the "substitute" - i.e. Sally was projecting her father on to him and thus, Don was the one she was having the crap beat out of.

 

[Doctor Strange]

That quick little smile struck me as all Betty - very sure of her own attractiveness and the ability to make men fight over her.

Sally clearly reflects both of her parents' strengths and weaknesses... she's gonna grow up be a tough cookie. Very much in command, but with serious cracks beneath the veneer.

And say what you will about Pete, but in contrast to many of the other characters, he sometimes LEARNS from his mistakes. Rather than run to Bert like he did when he discovered the secret of Don's identity back in 1960 (and get smacked down), he's going to keep Bob Benson around as his personal pawn/lackey/weapon-to-deploy-when-needed.

 

[AmateisGal]

And say what you will about Pete, but in contrast to many of the other characters, he sometimes LEARNS from his mistakes. Rather than run to Bert like he did when he discovered the secret of Don's identity back in 1960 (and get smacked down), he's going to keep Bob Benson around as his personal pawn/lackey/weapon-to-deploy-when-needed.

Yep. At first I thought he was going to kick Bob out the door, and thus we might have Pete be the one to be "in for it" in the season finale. Bob Benson is a charlatan and a liar - I'm eager to hear more of his story, but it is eerily similar to Don's (which makes me wonder - why use the same type of plot device twice? But that may just be the writer in me...)

And poor Ken Cosgrove! Sheesh! He's been put through the ringer for Chevy!

Don's move in the meeting was brilliant, yet harsh. He 1) saved the account and 2) showed the both of them that their mutual "admiration" for each other was obvious to everyone and jeopardizing the account. Don is about as subtle as a wrecking ball, that's for sure, and I'm sure he did it partly because he was jealous of the relationship between Peggy and Ted.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Yeah, I know what you're saying.

I never know how to feel about Glen, though, and he gained a couple points in my book, last week lol

I agree. But I just saw that look of satisfaction on Sally's face, and I think the kid who got beat up was the "substitute" - i.e. Sally was projecting her father on to him and thus, Don was the one she was having the crap beat out of.

 

[Young fogey]

I saw the parallel between Bob and Don too.

Interesting point about Sally being just as manipulative as her parents, but my reading isn't as sinister as Melissa's. Rollo was being a jerk, albeit in a way the Sixties liked; Sally's innocent - she's still so young - and Glen's chivalrous, like a brother.

My wacky theory: Bob and Manolo might be FBI after Don/Dick, but wouldn't an agent have a cover that would fool Duck and anybody else? Or maybe he is a corporate spy. Still a mystery guy: maybe he's gay; maybe that's part of his cover.

 

[AmateisGal]

Interesting point about Sally being just as manipulative as her parents, but my reading isn't as sinister as Melissa's. Rollo was being a jerk, albeit in a way the Sixties liked; Sally's innocent - she's still so young - and Glen's chivalrous, like a brother.

I don't see Sally as being very innocent any more - not after what she's witnessed with Roger and Megan's mother and her own father and Sylvia, plus her parents' divorce. And Glen still creeps me out.

I don't know that Sally consciously was seeing her father being beaten up - it was more of a symbolic thing to the audience (or maybe just me!).

 

[Young fogey]

I don't see Sally as being very innocent any more - not after what she's witnessed with Roger and Megan's mother and her own father and Sylvia, plus her parents' divorce. And Glen still creeps me out.

Yes and yes, but seeing it and doing it are different. She even still looks like a little girl to me. Maybe what she's seen has creeped her out about sex, which is why she wants to get away from boys (and her dad) by going to Miss Porter's. (Glen's different; he's like a brother to her.)

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/cultur...redictions?src=spr_FBPAGE&spr_id=1456_9848322

 

[Young fogey]

The finale: great soap-opera fake-outs and twists, Peggy being sexy, and a cliffhanger for Don. But he still has his hat: he's virtually unchanged from Season 1. Good. I saw his crises coming. The show's about Don's fall (the opening credits) as a metaphor for the disappearing golden era (an elegy, nostalgia), where he loses or almost loses everything (wife, kids, and job), and his possible redemption since we're emotionally invested in this anti-hero.

Will Megan leave for good? Has Don really been fired? Will Ted the coward come back and would Peggy take him back? Just what the hell is Bob up to? Pete, when he screws up his face in anger like Don Knotts trying to look tough, has become comic relief.

Midlife: as what defines him as Don is taken away, he seems to be reconciling himself to being Dick Whitman, hence the visit to the old house where he spent his horrible adolescence.

So where will next season pick up? My guess is it will start in the winter or spring of '69, just after where the show has left off, and end in '70, as convenient for marking the end as '60 was for the beginning.

The possibility of epilogue text on the screen telling us what happens to everybody, or the last scenes jumping to the end of a character's (Don's?) life in the '80s or '90s, or even to the present day with an older Peggy or Sally: closure or corny? I want to know but acknowledge that the text route's too hokey for the show's style, as would be fast-forwarding and/or age makeup (or use older actors) unless it were done extremely well.

 

[AmateisGal]

Wow. Good episode, but I was expecting a bit more of a punch. Of course, the partners telling Don to "take a break" was a nice move - and not terribly surprising given his speech at the Hershey's meeting!

Ted made the right move - and I don't see him as a coward. He meant what he said - he wanted to be with Peggy. But then he went home and saw how much he'd have to give up - and he realized it wasn't worth it. I hate that he cheated on his wife, but he really is a good guy for knowing he needs to take care of his family. Kudos to him. Don wouldn't have any compunction about having both - which he always has.

I think Megan and Don's marriage is over with. There's part of me that would like to see Don and Betty get back together again and make their family whole.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...-what-lies-ahead-in-the-final-season-20130625


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[Young fogey]

Wow. Good episode, but I was expecting a bit more of a punch. Of course, the partners telling Don to "take a break" was a nice move - and not terribly surprising given his speech at the Hershey's meeting!

Ted made the right move - and I don't see him as a coward. He meant what he said - he wanted to be with Peggy. But then he went home and saw how much he'd have to give up - and he realized it wasn't worth it. I hate that he cheated on his wife, but he really is a good guy for knowing he needs to take care of his family. Kudos to him. Don wouldn't have any compunction about having both - which he always has.

I think Megan and Don's marriage is over with. There's part of me that would like to see Don and Betty get back together again and make their family whole.

Don's losing it again. Great scene with the minister at the bar; of course we saw it from Don's point of view, but that said, as a conservative Christian I thought the minister was annoying too. Interesting way of showing the incident, with Don blacking out. We don't get the satisfaction of seeing Don hit him because he doesn't remember it either! Did he have the DTs at the Hershey's meeting? Of course it's no surprise if he's an alcoholic now. (But nobody wants to see the Don end up disgraced like poor old Freddy Rumsen.)

Part of the appeal of Ted and Peggy's romance to me is, ironically, Ted's a nice guy, even though he was cheating on his wife. This is a soap opera that's porn for women, glorifying adultery. We see this whole thing from Peggy's point of view because we know her, so we naturally sympathize with her. We DON'T know Ted's wife; seems nice enough. Of course you're right that Ted's doing the right thing. But we feel Peggy's pain.

You may be right about Megan. Don and Betty? She's crazy; he's better off without her, but I think every kid from a broken home (I'm not) wants his parents back together. But I like Henry. He really loves her. In this template (romance novel/soap/porn for women), he's a stock character like Arnie Rosen, the nice guy the heroine doesn't love and feels guilty about not loving. (I think that's Ted's type, not the seducer bad boy like Don.) She loves the bad boy, of course. Sociopaths like the Don.

Pete is comic villainy but still three-dimensional, saying goodbye to Tammy.

 

[Fading Fast]

Wow. Good episode, but I was expecting a bit more of a punch. Of course, the partners telling Don to "take a break" was a nice move - and not terribly surprising given his speech at the Hershey's meeting!

Ted made the right move - and I don't see him as a coward. He meant what he said - he wanted to be with Peggy. But then he went home and saw how much he'd have to give up - and he realized it wasn't worth it. I hate that he cheated on his wife, but he really is a good guy for knowing he needs to take care of his family. Kudos to him. Don wouldn't have any compunction about having both - which he always has.

I think Megan and Don's marriage is over with. There's part of me that would like to see Don and Betty get back together again and make their family whole.

While I appreciate the spirit of wanting to see a family reunited, Don and Betty should not get together again. While he was a serial cheater with her (and that is wrong, period, full stop), she is such a brutal, angry, emotionally blackmailing and unstable person, that one could partially understand if Don had sought out comfort elsewhere (but, again, not his ego-driven bed hopping). I even understand and thought it was handled well when they hooked up at camp - they have a chemistry and attraction - but still believe they are poison together. Perhaps it's because she is so mean to her kids; whereas, Don is (most of the time) patient and supportive of his kids, that I cringe at the thought of him going back with her (but in truth, rationally, that cringe should go both ways). Some people are strongly attracted to each other but should never, ever be together - we all know couples like this in our lives.

Peggy, unfortunately, is evolving (descending) into becoming the female Pete. She is perpetually angry, has a permanent chip on her shoulder, has a hair-trigger and apoplectic temper and sees the world always and everywhere through a lens of self pity and self absorption: The sun is hot today, why is that darn sun always trying to make me uncomfortable. Ted does seem like a good guy, but of course he decided to do the right thing after he slept with Peggy. Don, Pete and others have lowered the bar so much, that a guy like Ted, who only cheats once and with angst and guilt, seems really good.