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

[scotrace]

It's a shock that the viewership is "modest." One of the best shows ever to hit TV.
I think it should keep going long enough to see Peggy as full partner, pushing Sterling into an early retirement.

Oh, and Betty writes a book.

 

[jake_fink]

As the second season was about to debut it was getting a lot of press - and it still is. Recently Jimmy Kimmel (!?!) did a Madmen week featuring a different character each day... and yet still only 1.5 million people have taken the time to enjoy this treat.

Weird.

 

[MrBern]

No weekly murders. Some people find this sort of show boring & talkey with no action.
A shame.

 

[PADDY]

Sad that some folk need homicides to make a show...

The strength of this for me, is exemplified by the little details that make you watch and rewatch this show for what you've missed, all those subtleties. In fact, after Bern's amazing observation, I'm going to say it's got the "Bern Factor" to it I just love-love-love it!!:eusa_clap (because it is so rare these days to find 'theatre' like this that you can discuss and dissect afterwards, without all the 'big movie effects' thrown at it).

 

[MrBern]

BTW, did anyone else think it was odd that Sterling was so adamant about dumping Freddy in response to wetting himself & missing the meeting w/ his clients?
I could see that Campbell would be eagar to push Freddy out, but wasnt it Sterling who once projectile vomited in the SterlingCooper reception area in front of the clients?

And Duck turning his dog loose...

The show revels in insincerity & cool clothes.

 

[Barbigirl]

Post 666

BTW, did anyone else think it was odd that Sterling was so adamant about dumping Freddy in response to wetting himself & missing the meeting w/ his clients?
I could see that Campbell would be eagar to push Freddy out, but wasnt it Sterling who once projectile vomited in the SterlingCooper reception area in front of the clients?

And Duck turning his dog loose...

The show revels in insincerity & cool clothes.

But Roger Sterling's mess while due to alcohol and all those stairs when the lift was out---they covered for him, referenced it as illness and exercise he wasn't used to. And he's the boss, he can have the double standard.
Freddy was just so drunk he didn't even know he had done it, seems much farther along the alcoholic route.

Still trying to figure that Duck/Dog thing.
Super cool clothes

 

[Ace Fedora]

It's a shock that the viewership is "modest."

I don't think it's the fault of the show -- it's because its on AMC, which doesn't have the viewership of HBO or Showtime.

Isn't it the highest rated program on AMC?

 

[get_atomized]

Peggy's new haircut and style from last week's episode is lovely, very modern (for the year) and indicative of the changes ahead for her character. I was kind of bummed out with the writers having Kurt as the 'hairdressing gay best friend' as soon as he comes out.

I liked Pete in California too, totally dorky and even more out of is element than usual.

New episode tonight, and then the season finale next week. Wow! I was waiting so long for it to come back and now it's almost over.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

BTW, did anyone else think it was odd that Sterling was so adamant about dumping Freddy in response to wetting himself & missing the meeting w/ his clients?
I could see that Campbell would be eagar to push Freddy out, but wasnt it Sterling who once projectile vomited in the SterlingCooper reception area in front of the clients?

Ah, but there's the rub. The bosses can do anything they want and it's OK. They own the business, they sign the paychecks. But employees have higher standards to uphold.

I believe, too, this the second time drinking affected Freddy's work in a short period of time - wasn't he also too drunk to go the the meeting with the abrassive comedian whose name escapes me? Or something like that.

But rule number one in business - the boss is always right.

 

[Tomasso]

MM is doing exceptionally well in cable demographics. The days of Mash and Seinfeld are long gone.

 

[scotrace]

Gets curiouser and curiouser!!!

Whoda thunk Alice Cooper would turn up!?? lol

 

[Weston]

I missed why Betty was bleeding or where from - anyone catch it?

Man, I thought tonight was the season finale! I wonder why Pete is trying to cause his marriage to self-destruct? He has no family money to inherit, why bother with pleasing his mother?

 

[Barbigirl]

~

I missed why Betty was bleeding or where from - anyone catch it?

Man, I thought tonight was the season finale! I wonder why Pete is trying to cause his marriage to self-destruct? He has no family money to inherit, why bother with pleasing his mother?

Betty got her period and therefore she is not pregnant from the "nothing's changed" marital sex at Betty's father's home. At least I think that is why it happened, or maybe she is, that would be an interesting storyline.

I don't really think Pete wanted to get married that much, probably just a "seemed like a good idea" at the time first marriage.

Dick Whitman is so different than Don Draper! I was very intrigue with the way he has one confidant who really knows him and is concerned about him. And that D/D doesn't really know himself in some ways.

 

[carter]

Don Draper may be alone but Dick Whitman seems to be trying to find himself. Who knew he liked cars and was looking for a job? Racing next week after he cleanses himself in the ocean? He appears to be a man seeking absolution or salvation or both.

The ascendancy of Peggy in the agency is leading somewhere and the merger may be in her favor. She has a new attitude to go with her new look and her new office. How high will she rise? Meanwhile the old boys network seems increasingly threatened by Peggy's success.

Pete is on track to wreck his marriage and his career.

Betty is struggling as a mother and as a friend. Horseback riding is taking a larger and larger role in her life. Symbolism?

Next weeks season finale should be a humdinger with cliffhangers galore.

 

[flat-top]

Dick Whitman will fix a broken chair....Don Draper won't.

 

[PADDY]

The layers of fabric that makes MM so great!!

Even the names are interesting...Draper and Whitman. (You realise that some English Lit student will be doing a thesis on this show now).
Isn't a draper a person who deals in fabrics and sewing matetials? So in Don we have a character who has re-sewn/re-stitched his life and reclothed himself in the fabrics of someone else. In effect, Don Draper is a self fabricated persona, being someone in looks and outward character, that he isn't. He has 'draped' a cloak of deception over himself, but the cloak is slipping.

As soon as I heard the surname Whitman, I immediately thought of the great Amercian writer, Walt Whitman. Walt was a part of the transition between Transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. As many of you will know, Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of "free" verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality (Something that Dick expresses in MM through his Don persona in seducing so many women).

As Dick Whitman, he typifies the Transcendentalist who believes that the spiritual state 'transcends' the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of the establishment (which Don and his colleagues represent). Don faints beside the pool in the episode, JET SET. This might have been done a tad better if he had in fact fallen into the pool, as it almost symbolises a 're-birth' of Dick, as he washes away the shackles, the fabric and stitching that has held the false and plastic character of Don together for so long. Not just the greased hair that's plastic!! And 'how he loves' it when the young girl has poetry in bed - you can just feel his liberation in this 'free' environment.


It also mirrors the time in Korea when Dick and his OC are hit by incoming fire. Remember, Dick becomes unconscious, and on regaining consciousness discovers his OC (a Lieutenant Draper) has been killed. This is where Dick Whitman is re-born as Lt Don Draper, and the first part of his new fabric (the draper at work) are the dead Lieutenant's dog-tags (I/D tags) draped around his neck. He feels the tags represent liberation from the old life and a key to a new life. But as his life continues, the tags become more of a millstone, almost a ball and chain in their symbolism.

Is there a way out for Dick/Don to totally 'free' himself. Of course there is, but it means he frees himself 'totally' from the shackles of the world - and by that he can only 'self destruct.' It's a really sad story, because Dick was already 'detaching himself' emotionally from the world to survive his early home life of depravation and emotional/physical cruetly. When he 'needed' love, he didn't get it, and the lesson he learnt from the traveller who stayed overnight, was to look after yourself and to read the writing on the walls (remember the sign that was etched on the outside of the house by the Depression Era traveller to warn other travellers).
God Bless Him...The wheels were in motion from early childhood. Once you do that, it's very hard to reattach and this emotionally isolated figure was always going to self destruct at some point.

Look - I'm going to stop now as I have some 'real life' things to do at this end, but this SHOW is just soooooo exciting, and there are so many layers to it - it just gives my mind such a buzz!!

 

[scotrace]

Dick Whitman will fix a broken chair....Don Draper won't.

Dick began his relationship with Betty as over-the-top gee-whiz glassy eyed crush - but Betty never saw it. Betty is headed for an absolute abyss. Her children are illegitimate, her husband doesn't exist. Her legal entanglements from Don's role playing will never go away.
Did anyone else think Don/Dick was killing himself in the end? If the series creator planned two season and no more, then we would be seeing a wrapping up of character stories. Peggy gets her own office next to Don's now-empty one, effectively replacing him, Joan settles for a trophy husband rather than marrying for love, Betty pays the heavy price for her having unknowingly pierced Don's charade with her prideful reaction to his affair, Dick has no reason to maintain it once it all begins to crumble, Roger cashes out, Pete is on the path to being Freddy, or Duck, or any of the other men broken by the world they inhabit, etc.

In any case, Don may as well be dead. His agency has been sold out from under him so his days on the payroll are numbered (his presence there is "insignificant") He's got no home. belongs nowhere.

The rape scene with Joan was extremely unsettling.

Paddy - brilliant!

 

[Barbigirl]

MM buzz

I could not get to sleep last night because I could not stop thinking lat night's episode.

Both of the scenes with Joanie were so disturbing to me. She is losing herself, her strong individual personlity. Giving in and settling on the expected lifestyle of a 30 yr old woman in the '60s, her future is lost I fear.

The knowledge of her walking into an abusive relationship makes me cringe I wanted her to walk out of Don's office and throw the ring at Greg. She is already under his control.

The idea that the show is ending NEVER occurred to me, there is still way too much to tell.

 

[PADDY]

I MUST stop reading this for now...

...until I catch this latest episode you're all hinting at!! Try and watch it this evening

 

[get_atomized]

I could not get to sleep last night because I could not stop thinking lat night's episode.

Both of the scenes with Joanie were so disturbing to me. She is losing herself, her strong individual personlity. Giving in and settling on the expected lifestyle of a 30 yr old woman in the '60s, her future is lost I fear.

The knowledge of her walking into an abusive relationship makes me cringe I wanted her to walk out of Don't offce and throw the ring at him Greg. She is already under his control.

The idea that the show is ending NEVER occurred to me, there is still way too much to tell.

The scene of the rape was so heartbreaking to me. The look on her face fading and freezing on a totally vacant expression and the lingering shot of her view of the couch, table, etc. I was surprised (impressed) at how much it was in Joan's point of view, rather than depicted distantly.

Otherwise, man was Peggy ever on fire last night's episode. More and more assertive and ambitious, I hope they're not just building her storyline up to have come crashing down in the season finale. I'd really like to see a triumphant Peggy, but I don't know how likely that is. I bet Pete wouldn't have been so congratulatory if he was one of the boys who didn't already have an office!

I loved Anna. She seems like such a lady from what has been shown. It seems like truly sweet, good-hearted characters are rare on the show. (Not that I'm complaining, but what a contrast with Bobbie!)