Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

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.

right, cause he's really damaged and has had very few healthy relationships

Yeah that's a bit reductive - Betty was the young trophy wife. I think Don also thinks of her as old-world and stuffy (look at her husband and where she's living) whereas he imagines Megan as closer to the double life he's been living all this time hanging out with cool art students and teenagers and disappearing to California and everything. I think he's pretty reliant on her at this point and has a lot of emotion invested in it even though it's patently going to be a disaster.

Also, she's not terrible around the children, which probably helps.

The only time we've seen her with the kids this season everything seemed a bit awkward. Surely they felt more comfortable with her as a temporary nanny than as a stepmother.

that would be true for anyone, though. awkwardness pretty much unavoidable when it comes to stepchildren/ parents.

looking forward to Sally's "your not my REAL mom!" moment

Ginsberg + Peggy hooking up is too obvious. It won't happen.

Ginsberg Sr.'s comment about being the original was so cheesy and seeing Peggy do that little stoned giggle was great

what was he talking about with "building his case"?

foreshadowing I guess

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

that's some old-school don-and-betty shit -- no matter what kind of shit you've been up to, you show up to the business function smiling and looking flawless.

besides, it's in don and megan's best interest not to give the office any grist for the "trouble in paradise" gossip mill.

actual location used for the hojo exteriors:

http://www.highwayhost.org/California/LosAngeles/BaldwinPark/baldwinpark1.html

interiors here:

http://dinerwood.blogspot.com/2010/02/rods-grill-back-off-arcadia-were.html

Does anyone foresee, what with the ominous turning of hippie tides and ambient violence, Megan dying under mysterious circumstances and Don, as the primary suspect, breaking under scrutiny and being fully exposed? Just a feeling... I also think that Pete's gun is a total MacGuffin.

I think that's just you.

um yeah

it's a fool's game to try and predict this show afaic

Has anyone checked on Harry lately? I fear he may be locked in Pete's old office with no way out.

Somebody's got to die, though, right? And who more fitting than the guileless positivist drowning amid the rotten cynics? Again, no idea. I just feel the show ramping up to something on that scale. Last 2 eps have been among the series' best.

Ginsberg's dad's gonna out a main character as a Nazi war criminal.

Isn't it a foregone conclusion that Joan's husband is going to die in Vietnam? (obv not a major character, but still)

why does anyone have to die?

everyone dies eventually

the orange sherbet is a chekhov's gun!!

confounding expectations is a point of pride for Wiener, I think it's safe to say that if something is "obvious" then that's a sign of misdirection

After Mrs. Blankenship's death, any other death on the show would be a letdown.

No one has to die but it's tv, they do. And the show's pretty death obsessed at the moment.

age-wise, aren't Cooper and his sister probably oldest?

Does anyone foresee, what with the ominous turning of hippie tides and ambient violence, Megan dying under mysterious circumstances and Don, as the primary suspect, breaking under scrutiny and being fully exposed? Just a feeling... I also think that Pete's gun is a total MacGuffin.

I hope this show never goes in this direction. The trip out to the HoJo and then her disappearing gave me horrible reminders of that Six Feet Under storyline.

they should just kill off bobby draper so they won't have to keep re-casting him.

otm

i couldn't even remember bobby's name there for a minute, that's how inessential a character he is.

Love the idea of offing Bobby. Always wished they'd done so to Baby Grace on Friday Night Lights.

only if Landry did it

Mad Men: SOMEBODY'S GOT TO DIE

No-Botty Got Ta Know That I Killed Yo Ass in the Ho...Jo

i think don violently chasing megan down in the summary encapsulates how he feels and how he chooses to act on those feelings. he's deeply invested in megan and desperately wants to make their relationship work -- compare his turning around the car and spending all day worrying about her to how he treated betty, who he'd remorselessly blow off at the drop of an emotional hat -- but he's emotionally immature and has no tact.

oops. scratch "in the summary."

This show is the best it's ever been imho

Holy shit @ so much of that episode but Ginsburg in particular, goddamn that was good. "Are there others like you?"

Also can I just say it find it weird how much of this thread is dedicated to these super moralizing posts about how awful character [x] is

solitary posts etc

eh my loathing of Megan is more an aesthetic judgment than a moral one fwiw. those teeth! ugh

i totally fell for Megan when she made the comment about her teeth last season

looks-wise, mind. I've liked her character this season though.

I'm not even

anyone know if the two-part premiere counted as two of the 13 episodes, btw?

yes

Lolled at the line that was like "it's always smooth sailing with LSD!