Mad Men

Your memory of Megan is entirely wrong. Don fell in love with her because she was *nice*, specifically to his kids. She was more motherly than Betty ever was, and she also happened to be damn attractive. As season 5 opened, he was blissfully able to go to work with his wife, and felt a connection to her because they did similar work. It also turned out she was good at it. She left *advertising* to go back to acting, which she never excelled at. Largely, this was because her father the commie told her she should have stuck to her dreams more and NOT forsaken them for love of her husband (ie., what Betty did).

It's a complete inversion. Betty was never anything but an object. She even describes herself and other women in those terms. Megan is smart, multilingual, and talented. Peggy calls her "just one of those girls who is good at everything". Turns out, acting is a lot harder than she's willing to endure because it doesn't come as naturally as some other things, like advertising did. That's what causes the big fracture between Don and Megan throughout season 5. Don loves advertising, and takes it personally when Megan throws it aside in spite of showing natural talent at it. When she comes to him looking for a handout with the audition, it diminishes her in Don's eyes. He gives her what she wants, but it's clear that she's no longer the strong, independent woman in his mind.

The costuming at the end of Megan in a princess outfit is significant. She's *becoming* Betty in many ways, by choosing to be perceived as a sex object rather than a career woman. It's precisely the opposite of Betty's origin, though, because Betty has no meaningful skills. It's also horrifying to Peggy, who has struggled so hard not to be treated that way.

Yeah bro, Betty was an accessory for Don. He didn't give a shit about her personality. Heylel's analysis of that last scene in the last episode is pretty spot on. As Megan loses what originally drew Don to her and becomes more like the things he resented Betty for, Don begins to lose interest. By "begins" i mean starts banging hot ass 60s bitches all day erry day.

A woman like Peggy would be more of a fit for him, I think. But she isn't as strikingly wtf beautiful as women like Betty and Megan, there is some some of metaphor there between advertising and Don's personal life that I am not quite intelligent enough to put into words.

A woman like Peggy would be more of a fit for him, I think. But she isn't as strikingly wtf beautiful as women like Betty and Megan, there is some some of metaphor there between advertising and Don's personal life that I am not quite intelligent enough to put into words.

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This might sounds ridiculous but this is why i kind of want to see Don and Joan get together. She seems like the kind of strong no bullshit woman that he respects and he needs to really straighten him out without him turning into a pussy. Plus she is hot enough for him unlike Peggy.

You think he still respects her after what she did to get Jaguar? Nah, not even a little.

I think he does. She was taking care of her family, although in a desperate way. He was obviously very disappointed though.

I just rewatched the last two episodes and that is not the impression that I got. I think he lost all respect he had for Joan when she did that.

I think the episode where they bond and go out for drinks after she breaks it off with her husband and they test drive the Jaguar proves that their respect for each other runs much deeper than that. Just my opinion though.

I think Don was severely disappointed, in both the situation and her decision, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he lost his respect for her. He's more likely to have lost all respect for Roger, Pete, and the Old Man for asking her to in the first place. I just don't think Don's personality is that juvenile to blame her -- and I think don would do (and has done) pretty close to the exact same thing in season 1 with the Macy's jew woman. I think that's just one of those "Aw, Christ" moments.

But I also don't think that the writers spelled anything out one way or the other. I just think better of Don than that. He knows joan, he understands joan, he respects joan. He probably would have tried to marry joan if she hadn't have been rogers mistress.

Or if he had a thing for redheads. Which he apparently does not.

Smart man. Those things have no souls.

You forget, they didn't get the jew lady's account specifically because Don wanted to fuck her more than he wanted her business. They do have one scene together going over Lane's death beneficiary that seems ok, but for the most part he seems beyond disappointed with her. We'll see. Even if they are still BFFs, Don isn't fucking her. For whatever reason, he doesn't want her.

Don can't have a woman who is his equal. He needs a woman who is weaker than him. That's why he and Joan will never be together.

Like any woman could be Don's equal. That's crazytalk.

This starts tomorrow fyi

30 more minutes to go.. Here's to hoping this season is better than the last. Cheers!

Budos_sl said:

30 more minutes to go.. Here's to hoping this season is better than the last. Cheers!

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Hm I thought last season was generally well regarded. It started a tad slow but it really hit it's stride towards the middle part.

Tenks_sl said:

Hm I thought last season was generally well regarded. It started a tad slow but it really hit it's stride towards the middle part.

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I think he just missed putting an "even" in there--so as to say "even better than season 5". I personally thought Season 5 was their best yet.

Yeah, season 5 was pretty damn good. Generally with this show I couldn't sit down and watch multiple in a row, but with season 5 I could. This is a character driven show, and last season the characters seemed at their best (and worst).