Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

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

omg

we need cult sideplots!

moonies please!

I thought something along those lines was going to happen when Don was crashing in Cali with those strange people in the house with the pool.

The problem with EST is that it doesn't exist until the 70s.

elvis's "in the 70's" clarified that :)

also his and trudy's marriage is pitiful!

wan sham of a marriage

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

yeah this. Trudy is so good for him, encouraging his better tendencies and gently guiding him away from - not scolding or chiding him for - the worse ones she sees. and he genuinely likes and appreciates this, and her, and their life together. He rankles about ways she wants to live that he would prefer not to, but he does come to accept compromise, and not just add it to his pile of injustices re The Rise Of Pete Campbell to seethe about.

I think the difference is that Pete and Trudy actually relate to each others as adults and peers - whatever their respective shortcomings (Pete's infidelities, Trudy's waspy conservatism) - and that's pretty much not the case with any of the other marriages depicted (which is really not that many - Joan and Dr. Rapey, Roger and Jane, Don and Betty/Megan, but that's pretty much it. Haven't seen much of Lane and his wife)

lane and his wife pretty clearly have no affection for each other whatever

oh I dunno. they've only been onscreen together for a grand total of like 5 minutes at the most

and in those couple of minutes it was established that they cannot stand one another

I'm not gonna dispute that - I'm just saying the body of evidence for all the other couples is a lot bigger and more definitive

i wonder what ken + his significant other are like together. i wonder a lot about ken. what kind of guy is he?

yeah, ken and his wife--from what we can tell--seem pretty tight.

adirondack chairs on the porch, reading the sunday papers...is how I picture the young Cosgroves

ken needs to be brought to the fore, i think. great character. good actor too.

I agree I would love to see Ken Cosgrove get more of a storyline this season.

On the surface of it easily the nicest guy at SDCP.

his wife was the younger sister in 10 Things I Hate About You.

my favorite character in this episode was Don and Megan's apartment, fyi.

prob best known to ppl my age as alex mack xp

that apartment was amazing! we wanted to know if the apartment had all those stairs so ppl could sit on them and look cool

alex mack OMG

sunken living room, fireplace, balcony, a white carpet to bone down on...

a dirty white carpet even

soooooooo dirty

The apt was very Playboy After Dark, especially with the band playing at the party. I wish I still had the DVD with all the old Playboy After Dark shows. Had good interviews and music numbers.

There's quite a few of them on YouTube. Always liked this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrUR54HKwA

alex mack OMG

― Mordy, Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:33 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

SO OTM

In so many of them Barbie seemed to space out and would stand there catching flies. I remember there being some awkward moments between guests as well, just like at a real party. Sometimes a guest just took all the air out of the room.

Lenny Bruce was one of my favorite guests. I seem to remember Bill Cosby looking sharp and being cool in a few of them. It's been awhile since I have watched these.

Kenny basically exists as Mr Squeaky Clean to irritate the other characters. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a perfect marriage.

i doubt it, his moonlighting as an LA cop is likely tearing them apart

Pete's scheming is entertaining. It reminds me of Robert Morse's character in "How to Succeed."

Won't be watching for a while but its sad (from wha I've read) that Betty won't be given much time on the show. The character is v underrated, I love the depth given to the housewifery manias!

The show writes for her really well and she's excellent at what she's asked to do...assuming they write her to be a shallow bitch who repulses me in new ways every other episode.

None of these ppl are that likeable -- Betty is on par for the course.

agree everybody's fairly loathsome - with the exception of Peggy

I honestly like Joan and Peggy, and perhaps Don's old secretary who died at her desk and Don's newest secretary that he shares with Roger. But yeah, I see what you mean.

Trudy is very likable to me, even tho she's a nazi.

I can't tell if my feelings about Trudy are shaded by my feelings about Annie on Community (and/or Alison Brie in general). Those are positive feelings, btw.

@trudy'sboobs

they're trying hard to dull her looks down this ep

Even in the psychedelic kaftan she was wearing?

Pete was looking chubby too

Harry gave him an office and a spare tire.