Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

For a while now I've found it to be kind of implicit that Betty doesn't like Sally. (not sure about the other kids.)

I just feel bad for Sally.

Huh! That's interesting. (That Betty might not like Sally)

Don gained a body that would get sent back to Shitckick, Wherever and get buried in the ground for one thing

xp That was what I thought - go home early, whereas Dick had just got there, more or less?

Betty is probably jealous of Sally w/r/t her & Megan's relationship too. My Mom has been mad at me and said some damned cruel things, intending it to hurt -me.- But she also lobbed some slow pitches to explode once I got to my Dad's house. But she also loves me, or at least she's lead me to believe so and let's not debate that part. ;)

Sally isn't as easy to deal with as the other two

Betty is totally jealous/resentful of Sally this has been obvious for a long time

of her relationship with Don, of her relationship with grandpa Gene, etc

Betty even tried to horn in on Sally's therapist

hahaha

Betty is totally jealous/resentful of Sally this has been obvious for a long time

agree with this, but i don't know that it's so extreme as "totally jealous/resentful"

She also made Sally stop hanging out with Glenn, although that one might not be such a bad idear.

Sally robbed Betty of her potential cougar action

sorry

This Megan vs. Betty fight seems so ridiculous to me. Having watched Betty over the first four seasons I mostly remember

lots of self-served moping
manipulating people
more moping
pettiness

Maybe my memory is false or something. But I just remember thinking there's nothing at all to this woman other than her looks and a vague, childish, suffocating melancholia.

I remember Betty being much more dependent on everyone around her. The lack of attention she got from Don is the main reason for their breakup. Whereas Megan might be a bit too enthusiastic for some people, at least she seems to know what she wants and is capable of constructing her own identity. Betty seems to wallow in victimization.

I honestly don't know how fully formed the arc was when the show began, but at some point they realized that Betty and Megan had to be in stark contrast to one another.

Betty wasn't allowed to work, and Don didn't want to spend any time with her at night.. Most of what makes Megan so foreign to her is that she can work (then mother on weekends.)

Betty did those print ads though (1st season? maybe 2nd) and decided she didn't really want to work. Except there was something else to that (somebody wanted to sleep with her? they were only using her as a favor to Don?), and I can't remember what exactly - something where she got huffy.

The Betty/Megan thing is playing out so much like my own mother/step-mom, it's a bit too real at times.

The print ad (for Coke) was a ruse that Don cottoned to.

When Betty and Don went to Italy...The Betty we found in Italy was very similar (at least superficially) to the Megan we see today. She was stylish, hip, in the know with her Italian, if only for a moment and it seemed that Don was really into her at that moment. Once they returned home, back to the children and daily life, Betty threw a childish tantrum. The life she had was not the life she wanted, she wanted to live the way Megan is living with Don now.

I think Betty is a lot of women at the time. As times began to change there was a bit of jealousy and resentment towards the new generation of women who had more opportunity and choices and social freedoms. Plenty of women made that happen for themselves like Peggy.

"Betty did those print ads though (1st season? maybe 2nd) and decided she didn't really want to work."

Rewatch this episode. This isn't what happened.

is the whole bobby draper thing like a conscious brechtian device? i swear they pointedly get a new actor to play that kid every damn episode.

xxp I think Betty really wanted to live some way other than the way she lived with Don on a day to day basis (which is understandable really, their marriage was pretty bad). The Italian trip represented an exciting escape from that day to day (as did Henry for a moment) but the reality of any life was inevitably going to disappoint Betty (just as actually living Megan's life would.)

Rewatch this episode. This isn't what happened.

I will, it's nagging at me now. Do you know off-hand which one it is?

Episode 1.9 according to Google.

It's the pigeon shooting episode too which I forgot until just now.

Betty is excited about her modeling shoot, but when they tell her they don't need her anymore, she tells Don that she decided not to continue so she could be home for her family.

i don't think Italy was any kind of perfect trip either. i don't recall the specifics at all - but it *had* seemed like a perfect few days and then Betty (i think durring or after diner) makes some snooty/sulky comment (i think maybe because she had to go back to her horrible life or somesuch) and Don is just sitting there flabbergasted that Betty is still pulling that kind of behaviour then and there. i really wish i could remember this better!

Don gave her a charm, once they were back home, to remember Italy by and that is when she threw a fit.

right. thank you.

i was semi-correct then.

iirc she threw a fit cuz she knew he'd given a similar charm to one of his g/f or something...?

Now I want to go back and rewatch everything.

ha ha - i think i may have to!

is the whole bobby draper thing like a conscious brechtian device? i swear they pointedly get a new actor to play that kid every damn episode.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, May 16, 2012 8:20 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

last one left cause he got another job. probably hard to hold onto a kid for a part with no significant lines.

"iirc she threw a fit cuz she knew he'd given a similar charm to one of his g/f or something...?"

I don't think this is right.

I thought there was something about it signifying his cheating (like he had bought her gifts after being caught cheating on her before...?) I can't remember honestly

I couldn't remember either so I googled for a recap: where Don is clearly still under the romantic spell from the trip, and Betty just as clearly is not, so when he asks what's wrong, she gives it to him: "I hate this place. I hate our friends, I hate this town." Dangling London in front of her is looking like a mistake in retrospect. And how ironic is it that now that Don really can't run away, Betty's the one feeling like she wants to? Don says the wrong thing, saying they'll go away again, and then asks her to look on her pillow. She obliges him, and finds a gold charm, which he says he'll have put on her bracelet. She nods sadly: "Then you can have something to look at, when I tell the story about the time we went to Rome." She heads into the bathroom, leaving him confused, and "There's A Small Hotel" appropriately kicks up as we go to credits.

i dont know how anyone remembers what the non-sally kids look like

I think bobby keeps getting younger. Benjamin Buttons style.

bobby is the real don draper's dad, out for revenge.

i wonder if mad men is the most recapped show in the history of tv

Maybe you missed Lost?

Italy episode is one of my favorites-- its the last time we see Don and Betty happy together before the marriage eventually unravels iirc.

and yeah i think the whole trip/charm bracelet thing is Betty realizing vacation/escape isn't good enough, she needs an entirely different life in order to be happy, and that's impossible, which is still playing out with Henry etc

yeah they're like the dream versions of themselves in that episode. he's Cary Grant, she's Grace Kelly...it's a good one.

otm.

i love it when i go on vacation and feel like a dream version of myself!!

I watched the Actors Studio thing last night. The thing I hate most about that show when they have entire casts on is that nothing of any substance ever happens. The teen goth photos of Christina Hendricks were cute, though.

oh god I cant

sometimes when they play "day-o" in an arena I feel like the nba is winking at ilh