Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

Poor Pete is always trying to live up to somebody. Usually somebody rich and waspy.

The only reason Pete and Trudy have the best marriage in the show is because Pete hasn't been caught out about the two or three other women he's fucked.

And y'know that thing with the secret lovechild conceived a few days before his wedding.

and, not to keep harping in this, the au pair.

in a way i sort of don't think it's even about pete's big awful mistakes, it's the thousand little awkwardnesses between him and her in every scene and the almost cowardly sense of duty that stops him ever doing a don and walking away. the fact that their wan sham of a marriage is so very nearly kind of normal, and that pete could conceivably be seen as a "family man", makes it all the more tragic

I feel like the writers/directors have made a Betty character that plays to the actress's flaws -- as a character, she's fairly reserved, works hard at being proper, has this family drama (her family, not her family with Don) that leaves her emotionally drained. I'm not saying for sure that January Jones has a limited range, but she does best when she's playing this character who lives in a very limited range. The greatest moments of the Betty character haven't been ones where she's conveyed an emotion through words and body language, but ones where she's done an action that seems out of character. The shooting a gun thing, the interactions with Glen, hooking up with some dude in a bar, or manipulating the whole situation with her fellow equestrians.

I think Pete actually likes his wife and isn't bold enough or useful enough at this point in his life to have any other type of relationship! The only times he's been out on the prowl or acted like he's rising in station he's been mostly swatted down. I mean, the Peggy thing happened because they were both so low on the ladder and he was able to fake some level of confidence that he should be able to do such things and she wasn't wiser, yet.

He's been repeatedly trying to make power plays and for the most part, they haven't done much more than natural growth in his career would have done, anyway. People work and get better at their jobs and go up the company hierarchy if they have skill. Pete thinks that by throwing what he thinks are big breaks on the table that he's going to get to jump rungs.

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Peggy otm

In an interesting reversal of life meets art I am fighting being given my own office.

because....

Because:

I want to know what the team I manage is getting up to, they spend so much time on the floor If I'm not in with them I'd never see them

35 years of OB research says individual offices are bad for network forming and communications

I don't actually like working on my own

This isn't the 60s so I couldn't have a cocktail cabinet and our sexual harassment policy probably prohibits any goings on.

Even if I had an office I couldn't have a window as our new plant has been cleverly designed so there has to be crawl spaces for the fire rises against the walls. An openable window is my only dream as far as office space goes.

i had a nightmare last night that i came into my office and it had been subdivided for four people

No desire for an ant farm or bonsai tree? (xp)

At the current location I dug a pond and stream system and have planters full of tomatoes and melons. I plan to do similar at the new place.

I did think about executive toys though:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/315RDJsXI%2BL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
http://wd4eui.com/Pictures/steam_engine.jpg
http://s2.hubimg.com/u/542481_f260.jpg

More ILX time if your monitor away from the hallway.

Not to derail too much but in our old floorplan our boss had the office at the end of our cubicle row, his door was always open so it was almost like a default 'cul de sac' cubicle, we could go in anytime and talk, he could hear/see us from where he sat, and it was really a good setup. Not always great for him getting work done, but our group always worked collaboratively and he encouraged it so it didn't seem to bother him.

Then they changed the layout, and now he's in an office away from our cubicle row, behind a wall of cubicles so we can't see/hear him and we may not see him for days unless we have to go into his office with a question or if he comes by to ask us something.

it's just kinda sucky.

I hate cubicle farms, have a hard time believing they actually are good for "network forming and communications" or whatever

I imagine their benefits are outweighed by the morale-crushing ant-farm impersonality

speaking of offices... did anyone else notice the decor in Harry's office?
i loved it - complete opposite of 60's-trendy, like Rogers's office for example.

I am also anti-cubicle farms. I'm all for open plan. The highly functional manufacturing organisations I benchmark all have open plan, well lit engineering offices. Break-out rooms for meetings/quiet work sure but very open environment.

Harry's office was great but I can't help thinking his mother did his decorating.

i know everyone hates him here because he's unattractive - but dude knows how to classy-up an office!

xpost

ha ha

yeah, it was pretty fusty. Gold framed picture etc.

HE HAS A WEE CANON ON HIS DESK!

also lol at Harry's work clothes being too large for him now

I like harry as much as Pete, I think I oscillate on a spectrum between their two characters.

Does anyone have a gif of Pete's wistful sigh at Don's party?

i loved that

loved the argument between the two (Harry and Pete)
Harry: i'm giving you my office
Pete: screw you.

^^^secretary was carrying a box with Pete's gun in it

He's had to keep that gun at the office for 6 years now.

this seems broadly relevant to discussions of don: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/character-and-its-discontents/

sorta hope the series ends with Pete losing his shit and blasting Don out the window with his rifle

can't really see that happening - maybe more like barging into Don's office and nattering away at him until Don eventually loses it and hurls himself out the window.

yeah I can't really see it happening either it's just funny to envision

pete drops out grows a beard, becomes charlie manson

regardless of pete's indiscretions, it's still the only marriage where there's actual support happening.

Pete Campbell is our successful marriage role model.

:/

never said that. fuck you all i am raging with every one of you.

this show's aggressive cynicism about marriage is actually one of the least convincing things about it, i think. that doesn't mean they have to present several "model marriages"--but i'd buy it more if they presented at least a few that were largely functional.

i don't see it as cynicism abt marriage, really. i think it's a combination of basic soap opera relationship dynamics (the more conflict, betrayal and duplicity, the better) & cynicism abt the culture of madison avenue in the 60s. the guys around whom the show revolves are for the most part ambitious, selfish, petty and rather venal. makes sense that they'd have troubled marriages.

i dunno i think a lot of what's depicted is more in the realm of generalized "bad male behavior" than anything specific to madison avenue.

yeah, that too, but there is something distinctive abt the entitlement of manhattan power-business types. overlapping circles: men, businessmen, 60s businessmen, madison avenue ad guys.

pssh, Pete's still married and has a cute wife and a kid, his life is awesome

otoh, he's a horrible, egocentric geek with frustrated delusions of grandeur, his life is hell

He's one of those people who is never going to be happy with what he has.

Could see Pete getting involved with Est or some sort of encounter group in the 1970s

yes plz. would watch the fuck out of that plot development