I also thought the episode was pretty great. The highlights for me was Pete seeking a headhunter to "get his balls tickled" but instead the headhunter just tells him he sucks and he can't get him a better job. Then the scene at the end where Peggy was trying to walk the line between bosses and instead just got the door closed on her from both sides. Amazing scene coming from a TV show.
Mad Men
- Thread starter Alex
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
iannis
Musty Nester
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chaos
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He's a douchebag. Gets attacked by a black guy, refuses to identify a suspect because that would be racist. Gives Peggy a stupid hippy speech about fear, there are actual riots and assaults happeningas he fucking says it outside their front door.Writes an article using his girlfriend as the antagonist.
The hippy dude was an asshole because he was so concerned about racial equality but gave no damns about gender equality. He couldn't be happy for Peggy succeeding in a man's world because he was too busy chasing his retarded ideals.
Lithose
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This. Guy was a huge douche. So happy he got stabbed. On a lot of levels he is as bad as the "fascist" cops he hates, he is just the other side of the idiot coin.
Also, on another note. Really liked the subtext with Don/Betty. Someone said it earlier, but it's pretty spot on that Don likes the "idea" of things. I'd go further and say that Don doesn't like it when something doesn't work "as advertised". So he likes the look of how Betty is with the kids, he likes her being attentive and happy--he likes the "idea" of all that. But when met with reality, like the fact that people have bad days, sometimes they get angry at the kids, ect--he can't deal with it. He's got a shallow view of the world, he wants it to work like the advertisements he makes for products--IE always the ideal.
I also really like how last week we saw more of how shitty his own mother was. It's pretty obvious Don is attracted to women who are good caretakers. When Megan seemed to really enjoy his children, Don was instantly attracted to her--this time, Betty is having fun with his son, and Don was all over her.
Also, anyone think Francis and Betty might be swingers now? He seemed to really like the idea of her flirting openly...then he delays going down with her for a day even though he knows Don will be there? Maybe he was setting Betty up to flirt with Don (Might explain her 100% attitude shift, as she was doing it because Francis likes it.) After the whole rape talk from Betty earlier in the season, it seems like their sex life might be in heavy-kink territory. Which given Betty's libido, doesn't surprise me.
Lithose
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I think you'd be surprised...When I worked around some former lobbyists, the water cooler stories about their parties were pretty unreal (and this was after they had to start documenting everything). But I have no first hand experience, so who knows.
Also, maybe that's why they picked Don. It's discreet, and he won't ever talk about it.
Cantatus
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I don't think it's too hard to see where she's coming from though. It's been established over the past few seasons that Roger was a horrible and neglectful father to the point where his own ex-wife has had to intervene so he'd spend time with Margaret. From her perception, Roger wasn't just trying to spend time with his son and take him to a movie he thought he'd enjoy, but not thinking and being as neglectful with him as he was with her.
Which is what makes it all the more tragic when he tries to be in his son's life only to be shut out by Joan for "a hero", but someone who, in reality, has been nothing but an absentee father.
That was easily one of my favorite scenes in the show so far, and Elizabeth Moss played it so perfectly.
Step-mother. His own mother died in childbirth, which further backs up your point. He never really had that role in his own life, so it makes sense that he idealize it and see someone caring for this children as an attractive quality.
Of course, there's also the fact that the first women to ever be nice to him was temporarily his caretaker and the same women he lost his virginity to, which gets a little Freudian if you think about it.
Alex
Still a Music Elitist
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That's certainly who that was. Pete even made a jab at him about how gin got in the way of success of something.
This episode was awesome. Show is so fucking good. The end with Peggy and the doors closing on both sides. Sheeeit.
One interesting thing I heard mentioned on other sites is Bob Benson and his father. I haven't been able to check but apparently Bob says in the premiere that his father had died. His flip-flopping of being dead/being alive certainly lends credence to that socio/psychopath theory.
iannis
Musty Nester
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Bob Benson is interesting. The details are different of course, but the way that Don got his foot in the door isn't thematically any different. That Bob is one smooth motherfucker. He's like what Pete coulda been if Pete wasn't so Pete.
You guys are way harsh on Mr. Croche. He's a soulja man fighting for the cause. He's not against the empowerment of women. If he was he wouldn't be with peggy in the first place. He didn't lie to peggy about pioneering. I think he just didn't realize how bad the daily practicalities of the situation would be either. But he didn't trick her, he was willing if not thrilled to live in the uptown penthouse she wanted. When he saw she was genuinely frightened he was willing to back away. He consistiently chose her over his ideals when he was unable to find an acceptable compromise between the two or persuade her to his argument. And we don't know, maybe the piece he was writing was trying to humanize "the establishment". Up until the point that she stabbed him. Ilovedhow as he's laying there on the stretcher bleeding and full of morphine she says, "Oh come on. I've already apologized for that. It's not like you're going to die." lolololol. Peggy isn't perfect either. Love both of those characters.
But I love peggy more.
Yeah he's a little bit of a twat, but at least he's not a hypocrite. He is at least trying to live what he believes and preaches -- and that's a pretty good representation of the hippy doctrine. They were mostly just niave, ignorant twats. Watch some of the older interviews with Lennon or any other high profile hippy. Mr. Croche was a god damn delight of civility. But they were at least trying to make a positive change.
You guys are way harsh on Mr. Croche. He's a soulja man fighting for the cause. He's not against the empowerment of women. If he was he wouldn't be with peggy in the first place. He didn't lie to peggy about pioneering. I think he just didn't realize how bad the daily practicalities of the situation would be either. But he didn't trick her, he was willing if not thrilled to live in the uptown penthouse she wanted. When he saw she was genuinely frightened he was willing to back away. He consistiently chose her over his ideals when he was unable to find an acceptable compromise between the two or persuade her to his argument. And we don't know, maybe the piece he was writing was trying to humanize "the establishment". Up until the point that she stabbed him. Ilovedhow as he's laying there on the stretcher bleeding and full of morphine she says, "Oh come on. I've already apologized for that. It's not like you're going to die." lolololol. Peggy isn't perfect either. Love both of those characters.
Yeah he's a little bit of a twat, but at least he's not a hypocrite. He is at least trying to live what he believes and preaches -- and that's a pretty good representation of the hippy doctrine. They were mostly just niave, ignorant twats. Watch some of the older interviews with Lennon or any other high profile hippy. Mr. Croche was a god damn delight of civility. But they were at least trying to make a positive change.
Dandai
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I thought this was probably the best episode of the season so far too. Hard to place it in terms of the whole show. The episode where Lane hanged himself resonated with me quite a bit, hit me in all the feels. Not that I've ever wanted to hang myself, but who hasn't felt completely powerless and miserable at some point in their life?
chaos
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Cantatus
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Bob Benson strikes me as sort of the inverse of how Pete was in the beginning. Both are obviously extremely opportunistic suck-ups, but where Pete's attempts generally failed since they were usually overtly selfish, Bob is able to succeed because his attempts are couched in being altruistic. His sucking up has been in ways that affect a person's personal life rather than just their work life. He appears to even have been able to ingratiate himself with Pete, which is sort of surprising since a suck-up can usually spot a suck-up. If this season is about duality, Bob appears to be filling that role for Pete.
I really can't see them going that route. Mad Men has always been good about letting history exist on the perimeter of the show's world. They'll reference is and show the impact, but I can't think of any instance where a significant moment in history directly affected someone. That would just be too sensationalistic for the show.
The hot idea on the internet is Megan dies at the end of the season. Perhaps with crazy Bob as the killer.
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NM should just keep reading instead of immediately replying
Bob still comes off as super creepy. Mad Men never spends so much time on a character like this unless he's going to be important. With the ultra creepiness of him, he's gotta do something drastic.