Mad Men

That... was unexpected. I really was waiting for Don to turn his crazy story into a great pitch to Hershey's. I'm still not sure why he felt the need to tell the story, to let them know how much comfort he got from Hershey's growing up? I must have missed part of his speech, cause it felt like he was confessing at the oddest possible moment.

The partners agreeing he needed to take time off seemed a bit out of the blue as well. Not that he hasn't been acting ridiculous, but no one but Ted has seemed to care any more then they ever have when he skips out on work. Suddenly, Rogers, Burt and Joan are all in agreement without much warning and he's effectively fired?

Other then those slight nitpicks (which may just be me remembering things incorrectly) it was an interested episode. A lot of stuff got moved forward very quickly. Megan walking out on him, losing his job, potential reconciliation/common ground with his daughter, etc..

He's starting to detox. You could see his hand shaking. They made a point of showing it. He felt like being honest for once and it cost him everything. Well not just that one moment, but it was the camel's back.

That was his replacement coming up the elevator, he was confessing at the most inappropriate moment (but not oddest, he thought it was his last pitch meeting in New York and he already sold them so why not -- he gave Ted the spot after they left the room), and I guess he's probably getting a 2nd divorce now that Megan isn't even pretending to need him anymore. That last one is probably a positive for Don though even if it hurts him. Megan is generally shitty. Like her mother said, Megan's best feature is her ass.

It took 6 seasons but they finally made Pete sympathetic as well, which I think is an even bigger accomplishment than tying that Don storyline up so neatly. I felt really bad for him with how hard Pete got shit on -- but Trudy might take him back now that he's grown up a little bit. And Don might be able to stop Sally sliding onto the stripper pole if he forces her to grow up a little bit herself.

Didn't pete say he was moving to Cali as well ? I may have misunderstood something, I need to rewatch.

I think Don told them that as the pitch meeting because he finally reached the point where he just cant lie to people about himself anymore, even though he picked a bad time.

Hell, I thought Don was going to invent Hersheys Kisses during that pitch meeting.

And I think Pete may be moving to California as well. I need to re-watch that scene with Trudy as well. At the very least Pete is incredibly unsettled both in his private and professional life atm. Like Trudy said -- he's free. Truly free.

I actually got the impression the Hershey guys liked what Don said. One of the guys said something about selling THAT as a commercial. I forget exactly how he phrased it though.

Yes, Pete's on his way to California. The Hershey's guy said that last bit incredulously, not believing what he had heard...Don definitely blew it. The guy that Duck was bringing in was Don's replacement, and considering that they wouldn't give Don a return date, he might be taking a permanent vacation.

Iannis_sl said:

That was his replacement coming up the elevator, he was confessing at the most inappropriate moment (but not oddest, he thought it was his last pitch meeting in New York and he already sold them so why not -- he gave Ted the spot after they left the room).

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Ehh. I got the impression he changed his mind on the California thing when he looked over and saw how out of it Ted was. He realized how shitty he'd been overall. I guess he just couldn't stand lying anymore at that moment, as a symptom of his detox possibly, it just doesn't make much sense logically to me that he'd pick that time.

Adam12_sl said:

Yes, Pete's on his way to California. The Hershey's guy said that last bit incredulously, not believing what he had heard...Don definitely blew it. The guy that Duck was bringing in was Don's replacement, and considering that they wouldn't give Don a return date, he might be taking a permanent vacation.

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I don't think he was necessarily "the" replacement. Peggy looked pretty comfortable at that desk. I think it was just to hammer home to the viewers, that's it for Don, he is done at SC&P.

enzie_sl said:

The partners agreeing he needed to take time off seemed a bit out of the blue as well. Not that he hasn't been acting ridiculous, but no one but Ted has seemed to care any more then they ever have when he skips out on work. Suddenly, Rogers, Burt and Joan are all in agreement without much warning and he's effectively fired?

Other then those slight nitpicks (which may just be me remembering things incorrectly) it was an interested episode. A lot of stuff got moved forward very quickly. Megan walking out on him, losing his job, potential reconciliation/common ground with his daughter, etc..

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The partners needed something extreme to unite them. Don cost them a 10 million dollar potential account. More than that they can't trust him to do his job anymore. They've all seen issues with him, but he's Don Draper, so these minor incidents can be excused to a point. Then they start to become a pattern. Then he totally fucks the dog in Hershey's and stops being Don Draper, and they all saw it.

This is all stuff that has been building. His daughter loves him, she just wanted some kind of real connection to him rather than a bunch of lies and shit. Megan... meh, I'll be happy if she isn't around next season.

enzie_sl said:

That... was unexpected. I really was waiting for Don to turn his crazy story into a great pitch to Hershey's. I'm still not sure why he felt the need to tell the story, to let them know how much comfort he got from Hershey's growing up? I must have missed part of his speech, cause it felt like he was confessing at the oddest possible moment.

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Don started his pitch by presenting his childhood as being this idyllic time that was full of happiness, which was obviously all made up for Hershey's. His father was actually quite abusive, and it's unlikely Don has memories anywhere near as fond of him. It was "Don Draper's" childhood, not Dick Whitman's, and I think, in that moment, he realized he can't just keep running away from his memories (which was ultimately the goal of going to California), but needs to face them. Him talking about being raised in the whorehouse was him being honest in a meeting, probably for the first time, and as absurd as it sounded in the room, actuallywasa fond memory. The prostitute was the first person to show Dick any kindness.

And I also think the confession was as much for Ted's benefit as it was for his own. It was him explaining why he wanted to go to California, but also him explaining why he was going to let Ted go instead. Peggy has accused Don of ruining Ted and wanting Ted to be like him, and he didn't want to be responsible for breaking up a family the way he had broken up his own. He doesn't want Ted's children looking their father the same way Sally looks at him.

enzie_sl said:

The partners agreeing he needed to take time off seemed a bit out of the blue as well. Not that he hasn't been acting ridiculous, but no one but Ted has seemed to care any more then they ever have when he skips out on work. Suddenly, Rogers, Burt and Joan are all in agreement without much warning and he's effectively fired?

Other then those slight nitpicks (which may just be me remembering things incorrectly) it was an interested episode. A lot of stuff got moved forward very quickly. Megan walking out on him, losing his job, potential reconciliation/common ground with his daughter, etc..

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Don has been really unreliable and erratic this season - missing meetings with clients, disappearing, changing plans, poor pitches (not just with Hershey's - there was also the resort one at the beginning of the season and him firing Jaguar), etc. Him causing them to (almost certainly) lose Hershey's was just the last straw and I don't think it was terribly odd considering his trajectory this season. But, it'll probably end up being a good thing for him because, like Pete, he's now free. Though, I really can't see them doing the entire 7th season without Don being in the office at all.

last night ep left me wanting a Hershey's bar. but you could see that everything was leading up to him being asked to take time off.
and him and his daughter looking eye for a moment maybe what was required for him as a dad to connect with her.

It's funny. As I was catching up on last week's episode I turned to my gf and said "it wouldn't surprise me to see Don get fired next week". They've made a point of showing him skip out so often, fail to attend meetings and just generally fail to live up to his salary that it seemed like the kind of left-field twist they love in season finales.

I kind of thought it was an underwhelming finalie

The highlight was at the end of the episode I said "Kind of hitting me in the head with a hammer with this over the top symbolism" in regards to Peggy in Don's chair. Somehow my girlfriend could not figure out that Peggy wasn't just there because "all the stuff" is there. I swear sometimes it feels like I'm watching this show with a 5 year old.

What's shitty is how Roger didn't defend Don--and Roger's been in the same position, with his whole Japanese hating bullshit (Where he blew their motorcycle account and this was when their company was far more vulnerable.) and so has Joan (Avon, which is bigger than Hershey and Joan jumped protocol)..Their company is where it is because of Don (He kept them afloat when Roger lost them American Tobacco and got them Dow), and while I can totally see them needing to change his direction, there should have been enough loyalty there to stop him, and tell him that they are considering making him take a forced leave of absence because of his behavior--you know, BEFORE they actually do it.

Anyway, next season will be about him finding Dick Whiteman it looks like. And that's fine..but I really hope it's done through him building something for himself and not by making peace with the company. I know they were desperately trying to paint Don as having "wronged" the other partners with his behavior--but to be honest, they are all a pretty shitty, self serving bunch and as mentioned above, they've all screwed up huge accounts for them. So, I'd really rather see Dick Whitman just do something on his own and find his own peace, rather than try and make peace with the people that are the epitome of the kind of "loyalty" that exists in "Don's" world.

Actually, for me, the perfect ending would be if the company implodes as accounts slowly learn Don isn't behind the work anymore. The whole thing comes down and becomes a kind of "Pharaohs Tomb" for Don's life, so everything that was built on the facade gets buried with it. Meanwhile Dick "goes to heaven" by doing something that lets him be with his family as Dick Whitman. Peggy can catch the California life raft with Pete, since they are really the only two people that attempted to break away from the whole lie and go their own way (Rather that constantly depend on the Draper image). Hell, maybe they will actually get together finally. (Since last week Pete told her she really knows him--it seems like that's the only relationship in the company that's honest and genuine.)

Hopefully the Megan thing ends up with divorce. Her final lines are really the core of the character. She's been progressing towards this since the marriage and since she's become more stable in achieving her own goals. First loss of interest in the children. Then his work. And finally the relationship (They really pronounced it a couple weeks ago when the mother had to tell her she should try to be sexually appealing.) Don's half the problem too, but it's obvious Megan was done with anything but the comfort aspect of the marriage by the end of last season--she was really phoning it in.

Edit: Speaking of honest and genuine--I find it really funny that as Joan pushes herself into their world, she's starting a relationship with Gay Don--lol, not the most subtle of symbolism about Joan's life.

Yeah it was shitty of Roger, but Roger has money problems with his daughter and Joan has him by the son. They give you the idea that Roger has to look out for Roger really heavily in his 3 scenes so at least it wasn't just an out of the blue "haha, sorry ol' pal, thems the breaks!" Next season will indeed be odd. I want to think it'll be something like they slowly realize "We need Don back!"... but these writers deserve way more credit. No idea wtf they're gonna do but I doubt they'll shit the bed that badly.

Shit, maybe Don, Pete, Harry, and Beardy McBeardles form a California firm and steal all of SCPD'd accounts. You know, to show the culture shift from east to west.

To be fair to Megan I do think the character tried. I think they portrayed that -- it's just she's so damn shallow it looks like she was phoning it in. And she's not stupid, but she's not exactly smart either. There's really not very much TO megan. It's eerie how well they were able to portray that personality.

I don't know if Don wants to be in advertising anymore. Advertising is really nothing more than a facade over the product and it is clear Don is trying to break down these facades. Instead of letting Hershey walk out with this beautiful, false, tale he weaved he instead told him the truth about his childhood connection to their chocolate. He has said things in the past that always made me wonder if he truly does like advertising and if his connection with advertising is somehow connected to his internal struggle of Don vs Dick. I dunno maybe I'm looking a bit too into it.

Remember the series is supposed to wrap up next season. I don't know if a logical stopping point would be Don making another firm over in California. I'd imagine a better finish would be Don finally being at peace with who he is and his past. But at this point, as many have said, they've built him into being so unlikable I think half the viewers want to watch him fail.

Yeah, I dunno either. They may not go that route. The only reason I'm thinking they may have to is because of the recurring cast. If the final season is an all Don affair that's a huge thematic change to the series. The only way they can really keep the core ensemble around AND have a Don centric final season is to do something like "Don builds it fresh -- his way". It would be abbreviated but without Don's many mistresses the entire show would be greatly abbreviated. So Don doesn't have a mistress in the final season. And remember what Beardy McBeardles said (and Don stole) about pioneering from one desk in a little office.

Either way the entire season is gonna be an epilogue for Don's character. But that still leaves Pete, Peggy, and Roger as main characters which do need closure to their storylines. You could leave Joan and Ted where they are somewhat satisfactorily. For minor characters you have Beardy and Gay-Don.

Edit: But who knows really -- because the final season obviously will be Don's epilogue it also frees them up to do something completely fucking bizzare with it if they want to. You could easily wrap all those characters I mentioned offscreen through exposition. Don moves to Nevada and opens The Mustang Ranch with his buyout severance. You gotta own what you are!

I think Don would jump at the chance to do his own thing. I never got the idea that he hated advertising.Just the opposite, I think he loves it. I think he hates the idea of hiding himself, which shares some aspects with advertising as a job, but not the job itself.

I really hope the last season holds some positive movement for Don but I'm not holding my breathe.

Lithose_sl said:

I know they were desperately trying to paint Don as having "wronged" the other partners with his behavior--but to be honest, they are all a pretty shitty, self serving bunch and as mentioned above, they've all screwed up huge accounts for them.

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I didn't quite buy the whole "Don is fucking over everyone" angle either, especially with Peggy and Ted. The whole "competition" between the two of them seemed to be entirely in Ted's head, except where it concerned his obvious and inappropriate relationship to Peggy. I honestly don't think Don had all that much of a territorial thing going, especially with his old protege. It's just that everyone wanted to see something there, and so they're projecting onto Don. With him being such an empty suit this year, it was easy to do, and he didn't really go out of his way to correct that interpretation.

Last week after the Rosemary's Baby meeting, I didn't buy Peggy's "you're a monster" line at all. It seemed pissy because she knew she was being called out for an affair with her boss. Don really WAS helping them both, albeit in a harsh manner, but they were too angry to see it.

I think SC&P is going to have some problems without Don there, but it'll survive. Ironically, by partnering with Ted he made himself expendable. Before that, he was the invaluable, singular creative director of SCDP. Afterwards he was just another exec. However, the Chevy car they're bending over backwards for is the Vega, and long term it's going to bite them in the ass. This might be a matter of Don getting out at the right time. Besides, he's still a partner right? He owns a percentage of the business. It's not like he's hurting for money now, and they can't just stop paying him dividends.

Don wasn't so much competing with Ted as he was just not working with him, which is the same thing really.

I was wondering how the partnership thing works. Don owns a significant portion of the business. He could sell and really fuck them over, but there is probably some contract or something to prevent that.