Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

Pete was lashing out & sniping at whoever was a convenient target because he was feeling emasculated for a number of reasons.

granted Pete was unloading on Lane because of his own problems with his masculinity

xp

ya for reals

Pete's character kind of a commentary on the present-day "regaining masculinity" people in his inability to find a way to really shine. He wants to somehow lead or be a success and he tries every stupid trick during the episode but ends up just looking like a dick for outing his coworker's extracurricular activities and even trying to mention his now near-useless family name to a high school kid.

I think if he existed in 2012 he wouldn't be in the "men have been denied their place by feminists/liberals/etc" but I don't think it'd be unfamiliar to his line of thought.

"You're my king."

yup.

these ppl wouldnt exist in 2012 at all

Food for another thread, but I think that Pete's constant lack of self-realization or self-actualization is really the foundation of a certain type of backlash. Pete's sympathetic, at least to a point, with some of the civil rights struggles but the evident forces that are being confronted -- racism and sexism -- aren't really the ones that are causing him discontent. It might just be a frustration that his character will never shake, but I think a lot of people see others successfully struggling against oppressive forces and decide that their own failures -- or in Pete's case, just the lack of an overwhelming success -- are the result of oppression or someone taking what's his.

So far, Pete's only gone as far as complaining about how he thinks he's more competent than others, thankfully.

xp dream on.

There are Pete's at every company I've ever worked at.

I thought carousing and going to the Playboy Club and shit was Lane's favorite thing about America! How come all of a sudden in this episode it's like none of that ever happened? Based on the version of Lane that we've seen in previous seasons, if the dinner with the Jaguar guy is boring and seemed to have hit a wall, I'd have expected Lane to be like "Fuck it, let's go get drunk and ogle cocktail waitresses, eh chap?"

even in this episode they had a bloody good time getting pissed and watching the footy

He thought he was supposed to be proper British dude since he met the guy in the guise of being proper British people with his wife and the dude's wife! I think he's not good at navigating the different spheres.

I thought it was pretty obvious it was because Jaguar Guy's wife took it to Lane's wife. Be seen to do something, rather than necessarily do something.

"chewing gum on his pubis"

lane knows how to party
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzd5njWk3h1qkpccwo1_500.gif

best lane line - “I’ve heard men talk with dark permanence of those years.”

his astute britishisms kill me

Difference I think is that Lane partied with Don and at the playboy club on his own time, but I think he sees taking a client to a brothel as beyond the pale.

slocki, do you mean to imply that lane kissed joan in part b/c his manliness had been challenged?

I don't think anyone needs a reason to want to kiss Joan.

like i said upthread, they'd hinted at it (Lane wanny smoochy Joan) before - but what i think put him over the top was the adrenaline rush of getting into a fight (and winning).

so who was Lane with at the pub watching the World Cup? his wife who he's semi-separated from? (or not separated from?) I feel like I forgot a plot turn somewhere, I thought she moved back to London.

Dad beats Lane/tells him to get his affairs in order --> Lane brought his family over from England

at the pub Lane was with his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Jaguar

Yeah, Lane wanted to go to the park and thought hanging with other expats was dweeby, but then really got into the footy and tried to parlay it into a business deal.

dunno how much of Lane's behavior at the pub was genuine tbh

yeah, i thought it was pretty clear that he was putting on the expected show

laughed a lot at this episode. made me remember why i like this show.

Lane's Playboy exploits were while the wife was back in blighty.

the show is flirting with total farce this season, though getting away with it so far. i know there have been silly moments before but lane fighting pete was into utter ridicule.

damn i forgot about lane's dad pwning him

I think it's safe to say Lane is probably the partner most intimately acquainted with physical violence

well a couple of them actually fought in various wars

and then there's Don/Dick's childhood.

dunno how much of Lane's behavior at the pub was genuine tbh

He was drunk and England had just won the World Cup, that was enough to shake him out of usual grouchy reservedness around his wife's friends.

Pretty much everything Laine did felt pitch-perfect for the character for me. Whatever he did with Don last season it was on their own time and didn't lose the agency a massive car account in the process.

(xpost - come on it's clearly Roger who's been in the most actual physical fights)

Roger talks a lot but I suspect it's all talk. (see: mugging)

dude is a playboy through and through

and then there's Don/Dick's childhood.

it's clear he got treated like shit, I don't recall any physical abuse tho.

Duck vs. Don Draper was a fun fight

and Don is quite clearly not a fighter - drunk Duck whooped his ass.

xp

do u remember when don got blown up in korea

p sure that's an intimate acquaintance with violence!

yeah but w getting blown up tho

not punching a dude

;)

N. Korea punched him in the face iirc

but yeah I propose that avoiding getting hit by artillery and knocking a man on the ground with your fists are entirely different skills

I dunno if anybody else agrees but I was getting the impression they were doing some heavy foreshadowing with Pete heading toward some kind of breakdown: the Whitman references, being asked to bring his gun to the house (reminding us that he has it for the second or maybe third time this season), being belittled and humilated repeatedly ... I have a habit of reading too much into TV shows, but this seemed like the writers are setting up 'this guy will snap violently'. He seems incapable of enjoying what he does have, and is desperate for some kind of approval and acceptance which he sees others having but not him.

Is there anybody specific Cosgrove is meant to be? Or just as 'author who started out in advertising' a la Pynchon/DeLillo/Heller?

it's clear he got treated like shit, I don't recall any physical abuse tho

he's mentioning that his father used to beat the crap out of him.

pretty confident the writers aren't trying to draw any specific parallels with any of the characters (otoh I had no idea Pynchon, DeLillo, and Heller all started in advertising). I did wonder if his nom de plume was ever actually used but it doesn't look like it.

The Whitman/gun/frustrated Pete stuff def felt like foreshadowing to me but who knows.

he's mentioning that his father used to beat the crap out of him.

ah right - that came up in reference to Sally, or something, I think? forgot about that.