Mad Men

Seeing Peggy get passed over for that douchebag hurt. fuckin Lou.

Yeah, I took it that her husband died from chronic drunkd as well. But, as is absolutely right, they were using old timey euphemisms to explain it. So if you thought when she said, "he had this terrible thirst so we went to the hospital" that she meant he was literally thirsty... then it'd be like. Huh?

The whole plane scene seemed almost like foreshadowing. She casually mentions that she thought her husband was getting better but that the illness already took him. Don's hard lifestyle might have already gotten him (physically or emotionally) and he's gone pass the point of no return. The pessimist in me doesn't see him living at the end.


Eh, first episode assumptions though. We'll see how it goes.

A rather safe assumption is that we will see that woman again because I doubt you hire Neve Campbell for a single scene!

Be interesting. You actually might, considering the show is such a success and it is the final production. She might have just told her agent, "I wanna fuck Don Draper. You get me a meeting. A fuckin' meeting!"

But then again.... she'll probably come back.

Iannis_sl said:

In order to get to California and have a real shot with his marriage working, Don's gonna have to confront his pride. Its so obvious that even Don himself knows it.

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He doesn't want California, and his conversation on the plane makes it apparent that he knows his marriage is on life support as well. I don't think he's really planning on trying to save it.

It almost sounded like Ted's life is a mirror of how Don's would be in California. Went there to escape a bad relationship but it isn't really working. Doesn't embrace the California culture and would prefer to just be back in New York.

cabbitcabbit_sl said:

The whole plane scene seemed almost like foreshadowing. She casually mentions that she thought her husband was getting better but that the illness already took him. Don's hard lifestyle might have already gotten him (physically or emotionally) and he's gone pass the point of no return. The pessimist in me doesn't see him living at the end.

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It sort of goes along with Megan telling Don not to throw his cigarettes off the balcony because they can always tell where the fire started. After the episode, I gathered that was a reference to Freddy working for Don (and Peggy noticing that something was off), but I could see it being something like this too.

Iannis_sl said:

And apparently Don didn't tell Megan he got fired. With pay or without. He's ashamed, and just putting on a show of it. But he also avoided the opportunity to philander, and I think Freddy might be a way that he starts to confront his near-alcoholism as well (the fact that the widows husband died from "being thirsty" is relevant). In order to get to California and have a real shot with his marriage working, Don's gonna have to confront his pride. Its so obvious that even Don himself knows it. His patio door is broken. His colorful penthouse looks like a ruin. He's got nothing to be proud of right now.

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Don has never dealt well with change unless it's change he orchestrates. He's spent so long building up who Don Draper is that he doesn't want anything to risk that. Yet, I think he's beginning to realize that the world is changing around him and things are quickly growing beyond his control. He's desperately trying to cling to things that are really no longer there, because the alternative means the facade he created that helped him get ahead for so long is becoming obsolete as the culture shifts. And if he no longer has Don Draper, what does he have?

A subtle moment I liked is when Megan drove up and Don instinctively opened her door so that he could drive.

Megan went out to LA and got to reinvent herself. Don doesn't really have a place in her life anymore.

The television he bought that she wigged out over because she didn't want her poor bohemian friends to look down on her says it all.

i really hope they don't involve the manson murder of sharon tate (and others?) into the megan storyline, that would be fucking cheesy as hell

did rogers daughter also join the scientologists or some other cult...

It's 1969. Everyone is on drugs or joining some kooky belief system.

I love how much of a cunt rogers daughter is, even when her soul has been saved and she's trying to reconnect with her daddy.

Of course I think Roger is right about that. She wants something from him enough to not ask for it directly. Maybe she's just afraid of being cut out of the will.

They sort of have to have a little bit devoted to the Mason murders. It would be cheesy as hell for megan to be there, or to be directly involved, but sheisgoing to freak the fuck out when it happens. Rightfully.

They can't really ignore it and it would be worse cheese to just shrug it off.

They have been working to position several people right there when it happens, so I can't imagine they ignore it. Pete's reaction should be lol.

chaos_sl said:

They have been working to position several people right there when it happens, so I can't imagine they ignore it. Pete's reaction should be lol.

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The Manson murders were also perceived as the "death of the 60s" in a sense. The idealism and revolution of new ideas run amok and turned sinister. The show has largely ignored Vietnam aside from Joan's ex-husband, but 69 is the year the Tet Offensive winds down and Nixon is now in office. It isn't just these characters who are in despair, the entire country is beginning to lose it's sense of self.

I'd say yeah, the murders have to come up. It was national news at the time.

spronk_sl said:

i really hope they don't involve the manson murder of sharon tate (and others?) into the megan storyline, that would be fucking cheesy as hell.

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Well, Megan is living in the same valley where Manson committed his first murder, I believe. But I doubt they'd go that route--I think, as others have said, she's just going to become disillusioned--like Heylel said; it's the death knell of the 60's and from there the country kind of spins out of control for almost a decade.

BrutulTM_sl said:

. All his life he's been able to act like an asshole and people put up with it because he's fuckin' Don Draper and no one can live without him. Now it seems like not only are people unwilling to put up with his bullshit, but they really don't even care if he comes back or not.

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Most likely they care a lot about Don; they probably certainly fear him giving his talent to anyone else--which is probably why he's still being paid (Literally being paid to not work). The problem is, as someone else mentioned, once you achieve enough capital to make an offering, the best bet for a business is to go into a holding pattern and make sure you don't spook any potential investors. In that situation, "visionaries" can become "bullshit" a company doesn't want to deal with; which actually happens a lot. Not saying Don didn't produce actual bullshit; he did (The Hersey's thing; but was that worse than Roger with Suzuki?). But he was certainly no more of an asshole than the rest of the office--the difference was, he wasn't willing to become complacent for money and the restwere, so they turned on him. As Pete said, he doesn't really care about money--and I agree, I don't think he does. But others do, and Joan was even willing to be a whore for it, so she got angry when Don wouldn't become a cog.

It's funny that Peggy is starting to act and talk just like Don. Her line "You're all a bunch of hacks who are perfectly happy with shit.."--she's rocking the boat just like Don because she's starting to realize how complacent and lazy the office is without a driving force. It seems like the whole "meat grinder/ good enough" mentality is really starting to make her angry but fighting against it makes other people pissy towards you for "not being a team player"--just like Don. Again, some things Don just fucked up--others, like Jaguar, weredogsand Donknewit but the money was more important than integrity for the company--in that case, Don was the only oneNOTbeing an asshole; and they turned on him for it.

In the end, the company, due to it's new size, has turned into exactly what Don didn't want. The whole reason he never left for one of the bigger public firms was because he didn't want some douche bags strangling creative in order to maintain stability in accounts. I'm not sure why he's stuck on going back; maybe it's what you said, just an ego thing (Like a spurned lover, or maybe he views that company as his baby). But really? He should take Freddy's advice and move on. In the end, as we can see with Freddy, Don's work is still hugely in demand and on point--there are probably tons of places that are not on offer who would gladly deal with his bullshit to have him on board.