Mad Men

I loved the scene where Peggy made a last ditch attempt at winning over Heinz with a patented Don Draper tough love approach. There was that moment when everyone held their breath because they couldn't tell if the guy was blown away by her genius or beyond offended...and then it was beyond offended. Poor Peggy!

I was really down on Mad Men over the hiatus in the way that the more I thought about it, the less I was enamored of it, but this season has been killing it.

I'm with Megan on orange sherbert - I think it tastes disgusting. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when she started stuffing it in her mouth with exaggerated eye-rolling and "It's SOOOO GOOD! YUM!" noises.

Damn, that "call your mother" comment was cold. Don may be an ass a lot of the time, but he didn't deserve that. Kudos to Jon Hamm - his expression of hurt and dismay was spot-on.

I am really really curious about Ginsberg's whole story. Obviously we called it regarding being a survivor of the holocaust but this is just the edge of something really interesting.

Agreed. I was so incredibly moved by that scene, the way it was shot, him talking to his reflection. As always, TWOP posters manage to confound me, because a bunch of folks are thinking he's schizophrenic because of the Martian talk, which seems too literal to me. I thought he was approaching the story with a sad, dark humor, and a writerly metaphor. It became a beautiful monologue. I really like how his character is developing.

choubetcha wrote: There was that moment when everyone held their breath because they couldn't tell if the guy was blown away by her genius or beyond offended...and then it was beyond offended.

I loved Ken with his bet-hedging, "I don't know... what are you thinking?" response.

Shalamar wrote:I'm with Megan on orange sherbert - I think it tastes disgusting. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when she started stuffing it in her mouth with exaggerated eye-rolling and "It's SOOOO GOOD! YUM!" noises.

This is a bit TMI, but when I was little, I got sick and vomited up orange sherbert. So I've never been able to eat it since then, and when she started shoveling it down, I died a little inside and wanted to yell at her to stop before she got sick, heh.

I wish this episode had been further removed from the fever dream one. It just seems like they're trying to be artsy for artsy-sake, and it wasn't working for me again. I dunno, I just want them to tell the story and not use every gimmick in the director's book to do so. And I really wished Peggy had been saved from jumping on the Creeper train. *shudder*

That said, I loved the Heinz pitch. Ken's, "well, what do YOU think about it?" when he was trying to decipher the guy's reaction was priceless. Cooper knocking Don out of his Love Leave was also awesome. Roger's LSD trip was great, and I'm glad they finally moved forward with him and Jane ending it. The utter disdain she had for him was just dripping off her before the party. And I'm really interested in Ginsberg. That Martian story was amazing - he's clearly got Draper-levels of greatness in him.

I enjoyed the screwy timelines, for once. It was a really interesting way of playing out the episode.

Ginsburg is wonderful, as is his father.

I'm so glad Roger and Jane seem to be breaking up, without drama. I wonder if both of them are grown enough to continue to handle the divorce that way.

Fiammetta wrote:I'm so glad Roger and Jane seem to be breaking up, without drama. I wonder if both of them are grown enough to continue to handle the divorce that way.

Depends if she meant it when she said it was going to be expensive. Heh.

Fiammetta wrote:I'm so glad Roger and Jane seem to be breaking up, without drama. I wonder if both of them are grown enough to continue to handle the divorce that way.

That really was the most mature we've ever seen them, isn't it? And in that scene on the floor, in their matching fuschia Turbie Twists, I think that was also the most loving we've ever seen them act toward each other. On a shallow note, Jane's entire getup for the LSD session was something else. Heh, I love how Roger missed the minor detail that they'd be dropping acid because he never listens to his wife. I do like how the whole trip was handled--no stereotypical psychedelic lighting or anything, just little details like Bert Cooper's face on a five dollar bill, and Don apparently being Roger's spirit guide.

emrie wrote:As always, TWOP posters manage to confound me, because a bunch of folks are thinking he's schizophrenic because of the Martian talk, which seems too literal to me. I thought he was approaching the story with a sad, dark humor, and a writerly metaphor. It became a beautiful monologue. I really like how his character is developing.

Yeah, I haven't been over to TWOP in a while, and reading the comments on this episode--and that one idea in particular--confounded me as well. I thought the same thing as you, and I thought the way he relayed that information was consistent with his characterization as a quirky, somewhat mysterious person. It was reminiscent of his Cinderella pitch from "Mystery Date," for me, and I thought it was a haunting way to convey his story. TWOP is still fond of diagnosing characters with mental illnesses, I take it. I wonder if anyone's played the "He has Asperger's!" card yet? The speculation over why Megan told Don last week that having a baby would be "impossible" was equally interesting, with at least one poster positing that she is a transexual. I'm curious: Is the "Jessica Pare can't act" idea just a TWOP thing, or is there a general critical consensus on that? I personally think she's a fine actress and don't see it, and TWOP is the only place I've seen a lot of that sentiment.

I think she does a very good job personally.

People on TWoP seem to loathe poor Jessica Pare. I think she's terrific as well as very easy on the eyes. Personally, I love the fact that for once we've got someone on a mainstream TV show whose teeth aren't completely straight and even and perfect.

The teeth thing is so idiotic. Who cares about her teeth when she looks like that. She seems to be okay with it since they wrote in a reference.

I love watching her and I think she brings a lot of depth to each scene. It is always interesting to watch her go from, "pleasant/cheerful" to any kind of extreme emotion.

I agree, I think Jessica Paré is immensely talented and holds her own in a cast of powerful actors. I also think Megan is already a rich and complicated character and I love watching the shitshow that is her marriage to Don. I don't think she's guarding some terrible secret, I don't think she's a master manipulator...that's what's so great about this show. Things aren't black and white. I think she is young and naive and sweet, and also feisty and petulant and a little cruel. And I think she's gorgeous.

I dunno, I've loved Megan since we first met her when she described her mother putting on cold creme each night and her character stuck out to me in a room full of women.

This season isn't really doing it for me -- it feels kind of all over the place. Last night, I just kept thinking, "I can't believe you're making me watch twenty minutes of Roger tripping balls and I don't get a single shot of Joan or Pete." I enjoy Roger, and parts of the LSD plot were interesting and artistic, but I don't know if they bought us anything dramatically, or in service of the plot, other than "hey, ISN'T THIS ARTY?" Which is also the issue I had with Don's fever-dream. That foreshadowed some violence/reminded us of his dark undercurrents, and that's valuable, and this was valuable in that it allowed Roger and Jane to break up, but I feel like both story points could have been achieved in a way that didn't feel sort of labored.

I loved the Bert Cooper bit, though. I think when it comes right down to it, I personally care WAY more about what's going on in the office than I do about Roger's marriage.

I too don 't understand why people are so anti-Megan. I think she's multifaceted, like all the characters on this show, and Pare is gorgeous and plays her wonderfully. I've loved her since I saw her in that tragic Canadian boarding-school-lesbians movie with Piper Perabo and Mischa Barton.

I thought the scene where Ginsberg tells Peggy about his childhood was kind of self-consciously overwritten. The acting was great but I could have done without the whole Mars conceit.

Roger's scotch bottle screaming doomsday choral music at him was the highlight of the evening.

Cynara wrote:I too don 't understand why people are so anti-Megan. I think she's multifaceted, like all the characters on this show, and Pare is gorgeous and plays her wonderfully. I've loved her since I saw her in that tragic Canadian boarding-school-lesbians movie with Piper Perabo and Mischa Barton.

I thought the scene where Ginsberg tells Peggy about his childhood was kind of self-consciously overwritten. The acting was great but I could have done without the whole Mars conceit.

Roger's scotch bottle screaming doomsday choral music at him was the highlight of the evening.

Yes! I liked that movie and thought she was great in it. I really like Megan.

I found it a little overwritten myself, but do agree, I like how it was acted. I saw Tom and Lorenzo had also brought up the mental illness thing too, and I agree with you guys -- I don't think so at all. I think he was just being fanciful to avoid a harsh reality.

Speaking of, that chase scene around the apartment and kicking in the door? Scary.

The acid trip might have gone on too long, but it was still fun to watch. On another note, my GOD, did Jane look gorgeous or what.

Sorry, but I guess I'm with the TWoPpers. I find Megan's acting to be very flat and lifeless and the way she speaks is distracting. I can not bring myself to care about her. My mother feels the same and keeps complaining about it, so I don't think it's just cattiness.

I haven't gotten to watch this week's episode in entirety because it turns out my satellite went out during the storms Sunday night, but the fistfight between Lane and Pete the week before may have been the funniest thing this show has done since the lawnmower incident. Oh, Pete. You are so pathetic.

I found it a little overwritten myself, but do agree, I like how it was acted. I saw Tom and Lorenzo had also brought up the mental illness thing too, and I agree with you guys -- I don't think so at all. I think he was just being fanciful to avoid a harsh reality.

I love Tom and Lorenzo's Mad Style posts, but I find their recaps to be a bit over-literal. I don't think Ginsberg is mentally ill either.

Shalamar wrote:Damn, that "call your mother" comment was cold. Don may be an ass a lot of the time, but he didn't deserve that. Kudos to Jon Hamm - his expression of hurt and dismay was spot-on.

It really was. I wonder if it was Megan's jibe at Don's Dick Whitman past that set off Don's subsequent power move of driving off, or if it's more that it's just inevitable and this is how Don would respond to any challenge to what he wants, so Megan could have just called him an asshole with the same result. I think Megan will ending up leaving Don before the season ends, and Don will be in Jane's position -admitting they have problems but not wanting to be alone.

I feel like we're being set up for the end of SCDP -Ken and Peggy's pact, Lane's wife continuing to hate America, Roger becoming obsolete and he and Joan both getting divorced, Pete's unhappiness, Bert Cooper possibly dying?

And, yeah, I don't see Ginsburg as mentally ill.

19uses wrote:

Shalamar wrote:Damn, that "call your mother" comment was cold. Don may be an ass a lot of the time, but he didn't deserve that. Kudos to Jon Hamm - his expression of hurt and dismay was spot-on.

It really was. I wonder if it was Megan's jibe at Don's Dick Whitman past that set off Don's subsequent power move of driving off, or if it's more that it's just inevitable and this is how Don would respond to any challenge to what he wants, so Megan could have just called him an asshole with the same result.

I think Don would have responded the same way regardless, though I don't think he was prepared for Megan to be SUCH the polar opposite of Betty in that moment. Betty would have gotten in the car and silently fumed the whole way home. So it's no wonder he was completely shocked that Megan not only didn't give in to his BS, she went ahead and found her own way home to boot. I still don't like Megan, but I did love that she did that. Suck it, Don!

I think it's fascinating watching how Don handles being with a woman who challenges him. She may not bring out the best in him, and she may not challenge him super maturely (like locking him out and screaming felt VERY eighth-grade tantrum, even if he DID drive off), but it's creating interesting character dynamics.

I love Jared Harris, though. When he screamed about the dude having bubble gum in his pubic hair, and then punched out Pete, it was classic. I wished he hadn't kissed Joan, but I did like that she essentially saw it for what it was -- that he's desperately unhappy and lonely, but harmless -- and reacted completely calmly. For a character that has a lot of creepy moments, I think Lane is so fun to watch.

And, I laughed my ass off at Roger's acid trip. Peyton List was good during those scenes, too.

I think it's fascinating watching how Don handles being with a woman who challenges him. She may not bring out the best in him, and she may not challenge him super maturely (like locking him out and screaming felt VERY eighth-grade tantrum, even if he DID drive off), but it's creating interesting character dynamics.

Yeah, I'm finding myself thinking Don is kinda pathetic which is new for me because I'm used to being mostly angry with him. I don't necessarily like Megan because I don't really find her character interesting on her own (though the actress is fine) but I do find her character interesting as it relates to Don. I'm not buying into Don and Megan's honeymoon phase because I honestly don't feel like Don's found this great true love with her. What I see is a man working really really hard to not fail at his second marriage so that he won't end up alone.

I too could have done without the acid scene going on FOREVER but I did love the Jane/Roger breakup scene. Peyton List really IS beautiful. But I'll go on the record and state that I have NEVER wanted Joan and Roger together and pray that they stay far far away from that storyline.

My people. I have grown annoyed with hearing what a terrible actress Jessica Pare is, and how Megan must be hiding some deep, dark secret (she's a transsexual! She's playing Don!, etc.) I like JP and Megan, so it gets old.

Another funny thing about TWoP is the fact that they are taking pages and pages to discuss WHY Don would want to go to Howard Johnson's. Really? Out of all the things that happened in that episode, THIS is what you focus on?

I'm not buying into Don and Megan's honeymoon phase because I honestly don't feel like Don's found this great true love with her. What I see is a man working really really hard to not fail at his second marriage so that he won't end up alone

This I've been searching for a way to sum up how I feel about the Megan storyline and this is it. I agree though with the idea Megan will leave him she's just way to modern and otherwise emotionally healthy(I can't blame her for picking Don Draper, he's like the great pair of shoes you buy only to realize they are instruments of torture) to put up with too much shit from him.

I think that is what we are supposed to be seeing though. I think he probably does love Megan but I think hes more desperate for it to work, and I think the cracks are already visible. I think whatever honeymoon period they had it was already the tail end of it in the premiere.