Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

one more instance of her saying the wrong thing at the wrong time

I really like Megan and think she adds tons to the dynamic of the show. You guys are nuts.

Agreed, this criticism seems completely wackadoo.

I dunno how much she knows about the dark details of don's past (I suspect lots?) but if she does know enough, that "mother" crack was really really horribly vicious.

eh, vicious sure, but 100% justified imo. again, don was being a complete prick, deserved whatever she could (verbally) dish out.

and i don't know why anyone would think megan has to justify herself in the first place. so, she's pretty. not her fault, and don skates on his looks as much as anyone. so, she married the boss. no more her fault than his, people fall in love at work all the time. i think she seems like a pretty decent person, overall. not perfect, perhaps a bit naive, but not distinctly stupid or frequently cruel. she seems to take a lot more abuse than she dishes out.

She's definitely naive, and thrown to some extent by the cynicism of her co-workers. Partly this comes from the end of that Honeymoon period, where its all fresh and new and now Don is falling back into his self-expected role as Man. Don is a total jerk, but he doesn't realise it half the time, because he doesn't consider her as much as he obviously should.

I liked that it was BERT of all people who called him out (for slipping at work, natch).

yeah Cooper was great in this episode

they probably just wanted to remind us that he was still in the game (he kind of MADE the game, no?) despite spending lots of time reading the newspaper in the waiting room.

i sort of suspect that at some point there'll be a season premiere where bert's portrait is hanging on the wall of that waiting room and we'll be like o_O.

was also glad that this episode didn't end with someone successfully selling beans

looking forward to Ginsberg's Nazi-themed Heinz campaign tho

i feel like the beans thing will never happen.

but if it does, they should get the human beinz to do the music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Beinz

or these guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujgM8elOeZE

http://gif.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/PEGGY-HJ.gif

oh dear

thank you, no

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2yd8m19ZU1qgj9zpo1_400.gif

Didn't realize Peggy was, er, a southpaw.

there we go!

Cooper on money -> Cooper cracking the whip for Don

I can understand the distaste for the Don/Megan relationship but that conflict model makes some sense to me, given the dynamic in some relationships. The stupid chase around the apartment strikes true, and really, the part where Megan said something to the effect of "every time we fight it diminishes us" or whatever? I can think of a few moments in my life where that would have given me a new appreciation for what I misunderstood.

Roger is the zen master, btw

It made me remember how much of the character of Roger Sterling is about age and confidence, and how much that's been worn down in recent episodes. Hopefully this marks either a return to form or maybe the revitalizing he didn't get by marrying young.

if roger doesn't have a new lease of life that involves him dressing like wavy gravy then i will be VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

man that is like my personal beef that half of people who self-categorize as 'stoners' think that they have to be all into tie-dye and jam bands and shit

it's a fine drug you don't have to fuck it up by becoming a stereotype

I don't get why Megan didn't s assert herself more before leaving the office instead of festering until the sherbert scene. Then the running around the apartment reminded me of a little girl, much how Betty would become with Don. It all makes for drama and a story but in real life, if she were my friend and told me what happened, I'd ask her why she even left town when she didn't want too.

I suspect it's more difficult when the guy asking you to leave is also your boss. And it's 45 years ago.

and when he's some charismatic yet self-centered bulldozer of a person who pays no attention to anyone's wishes but his own

yeah, I think she said something about not having a chance to discuss it since it was just dropped right in front of her in the office? She's not such a modern woman to feel that casually undermining her husband+boss would be acceptable.

Or she's into festering, some people do that

Why does Don love Howard Johnson's so much? He's so weirdly gleeful at the whole idea of it.

oh, Slate (aka Mad Men Blog) already did that: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/04/23/howard_johnson_s_on_mad_men_why_the_chain_was_cool_in_the_1960s.html

it's important to remember that Don's ideal partner was set up as the psychologist woman and they would have been perfect and it felt like a huge letdown on Don's part to suddenly decide that he wanted to marry Megan. Like he was regressing to this simple, and totally hot, secretary.

like, she's just a dimbulb who married her boss

These criticisms are really harsh on Megan's character by the way. Actually she isn't just the airhead secretary, she wants to be Peggy really (although it's a moot point whether she's that good at her job). But I think a lot of the other characters view her as just the dimbulb who married her boss.

I suppose most of the Don/Megan tension is down to the fact that Megan isn't the person Don thought he was marrying (hot secretary, perfect with children, young and fun and open to just running off irresonsibly). Probably because they only knew each other five minutes before getting engaged. Maybe in some way Don's still trying to do the things that would make Betty happy and gets confused when Megan doesn't respond and/or feels like she's being treated like a child.

That said, her bringing Don's mother into it was a dick move, but then so was driving off and leaving her.

I suppose part of the problem with Megan's character so far is that they haven't really given her an internal monologue or fleshed her character out like they did with Betty very early on. That's not to say they won't.

The last couple of episodes have been awesome by the way. So happy it was Roger they gave the acid trip to and not Peggy or Don, the visuals in that scene were terrific.

Totally want more Ginsberg stuff now, really intriguing character.

Do you think they're leading towards a Peggy/Ginsberg hookup, or is that too obvious?

imo yes

to them hooking up and it being obv

I kind of felt like Roger dropping his sarcastic, practiced exterior and just being really honest and kind seemed like it knocked years off his life, too. It may have just been the fact he wasn't in a suit, but it felt like the lines dropped off his face and the ridiculous laughter under the influence was more genuine happiness than we've seen from him forever.

Megan’s comment about Don’s mom was pretty low and not “100% justified” imo. Pretty few circumstances where I think a comment like that would be justified. I felt somewhat sympathetic for him (up until the ditching in the parking lot obv.) if only because I don’t think he was intentionally trying to be a dick, but (as mentioned above) he was treating her “well” in a way he was just accustomed to doing, particularly with Betty. Megan understandably resented being treated like a child and had every right to lash out, but Don’s intentions were at least good. I mean dude was just SUPER excited about treating her to the Howard Johnson experience and my opinion might be skewed because I found that endearing, but it seemed more of a cluelessly insensitive thing than straight asshole thing.

I felt like she blurted it out and only half knew what she was saying, until it was out and they were both like "oh shit, Don's mom?!?"

Yeah I sort of feel like bringing up the dead is a nuclear option and esp. since Don has no family and Megan's like one of the two or three people alive that truly know who he is.

don was being an arsehole, as usual really, but no matter what circumstances lead you to make a joke about your spouse's mother who died during childbirth it's never going to be justified.

I need to re-watch I don't remember Don being an arsehole so much as Megan acting like a 14-year-old.

See, that's the thing! They were both being horrible in pretty archetypical couple ways, and it's really easy to see either side as being not really that off base until you notice that they're hitting each others' triggers all over the place while not acknowledging it.

There may be an element of Megan still being pissed off at throwing Don a surprise party and have him throw it back in her face and be a dick about the whole thing.

Basically they are both terrible at doing nice things for one another.

I don’t think he was intentionally trying to be a dick, but (as mentioned above) he was treating her “well” in a way he was just accustomed to doing, particularly with Betty. Megan understandably resented being treated like a child and had every right to lash out, but Don’s intentions were at least good.

I think this nails it. Don only knows how to do things one way, it seems, and Megan lets her displeasure build instead of letting him know her feelings up front. So, while Don was doing things the wrong way this whole trip, he didn't become a dick until he left her behind at the Howard Johnson's. Megan wasn't being bratty at all. She was playing Betty's role until she could no longer take it, then she snapped and said the thing about Don's mother. Both parties are at fault, it was a bad day.

I'm most bothered by how they came into work together the next day, obviously moments after the chase around the apartment, smiling.

i loled at
Dawn: How was your trip?
Don: Great!

Megan wants a partnership, Don wants a young trophy wife. That seems reductive, but it really is how all this is playing out.

i don't think Don wants a young trophy wife at all. I beleive he had a lot of genuine emotion for her that led to him proposing, but he's so damaged he doesn't know how to express it or how to be in a partnership. he's showing signs of changing, imo, and while not fucking whores is a small step, it is a step. plus he looked to be genuinely remorseful at not being able to find her, but he couldn't show that to her, so he chased her around the apartment first.

I think Don THINKS he wants a partnership, but any time he's confronted with the actual partner aspect of it, he sulks or acts out.