Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

not so sure don is walking away from megan, either in the so-called sirk shot or otherwise. i think there's a pretty explicit parallel b/w her illusions of success as an actor and betty's illusion of success as a model. i kinda think don is all paternalisticky to megan b/c he doesn't want her to become the bitter, don-hating, husk that betty became as her career collapsed.

Trudy mentioning, yeah let's move to the city,

Trudy's not moving

are people taking it for granted that Don tells those girls he's single after the final cut

no

I really don't understand why anyone would think that.

Well, the question wasn't "Are you single?" -- it was "Are you alone?"

EXISTENTIAL.

accept the mystery

it was just this aside posted upthread that bothered me:

The cut to black here is actually fairly exquisite. We know what he’s going to say, and we don’t need to see it.

cuz uh imho, we DON'T know, that's what's so great/compelling about it!

what other color are they going to cut to

cut to fucking damask and play some kinks

cut to paisley

cut to hexagons

cut to paisley

retroactively upset this didn't happen

What do you think was going on in Don's mind when he watched Megan's reel?

I don't know, I thought the reel was actually good, and that Don realized so.

That was what I thought too, Don is watching her and smiling but my wife felt there was a point where you could see a sad look cross her face and Don notices it and stops smiling. And at that point decides he has to do this for her.

I didn't catch that myself (and haven't re-watched) but it seems plausible.

yeah that's similar to how I read it - Don being sentimental, for the most part

well, he's giving her a fair shot – he's investing time (albeit minutely) in her aspirations. irrespective of an emotional component, he' s taking her seriously.

i don't know what to make of that scene. she's quite a beauty tho. her reel was great!

my impression was more melancholy, it looked like don knew something was basically wrong

At one point, he testified, Sandusky chased him in a car while he was on foot, demanding that the boy spend more time with him.

lol wrong thread

don would know that's basically wrong

I missed that scene

Favorite scene in the whole series.

there was a point where you could see a sad look cross her face and Don notices it and stops smiling

I picked up on that, but didn't realize at the time exactly why Don had stopped smiling.

megan had success at advertising, was then celebrated by coworkers, but didn't care for it. then megan's dad tells her that her idea of success, or what she is/should be striving for, is all wrong. and then finally megan hangs out with a bunch of struggling actresses, and then herself becomes so desperate to succeed that she settles on a path that seems to defeat the original point of striking back out into acting in the first place.

basically, megan's never known what she wants. but at least earlier in the season her intentions seemed noble.

Jaguar VPs on the season: http://gawker.com/5915534/how-it-feels-to-watch-mad-men-total-your-car-company

Wallowing in filth and all varieties of social brutality and tragic failure and you polish it off with a musical reference to the Woody Allen Casino Royale and end the entire fucked up season with You Only Live Twice. I could not ask for a better show. Doctor Who better roll up looking fucking sharp.

becomes so desperate to succeed that she settles on a path that seems to defeat the original point of striking back out into acting in the first place

maybe that's one reason don's feelings are hurt ... if her problem isn't with advertising per se then she wasn't "quitting advertising" it was "quitting working with Don"

but then she asks him for help so her career is just as wrapped up in his influent so I dunno

influence

was a little surprised how she f'd over her friend without so much as a second thought.

After watching the ep again I see the ending differently. Don tells Peggy at the movies that when you help someone they succeed and move on. I thought Don was disappointed with Megan and falling out of love with her, but now I see him afraid of losing her to her career.

was a little surprised how she f'd over her friend without so much as a second thought.

― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, June 13, 2012 12:35 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah no kidding. tho i guess you did see all the second thoughts.

Her friend's accent was weird, was it also French Canadian?

a bit of googling tells me that actress is Swedish. Just looking around various comments sections, seems like loads of people thought her and the girl who came on to Don in the bar were the same person o_0

I initially thought that.

I did too.

it'd be a pretty massive coincidence guys

that didn't even occur to me

it did seem sort of weird to me that Megan jumped over her friend for the part, it made me think I'd misunderstood their initial conversation or something. We've never seen Megan deliberately take advantage of anyone before.

it's a meg eat meg world

meg or be megged

the girl kinda looked like the other girl. not a big deal.

all the commenters are like "yeah, she was out for REVENGE". I just think it's funny

kinda wonder if this last episode is supposed to be evidence of a kind of Don-destroys/corrupts-Megan arc - he's been complicit in making her as petty, deluded, and unhappy as all the other people around him

whereas before she was an innocent flower of optimism etc

Her parents bear as much responsibility for that as Don does, imo.

she was really mean to her mother, so i sort of thought her mother's response was fair enough, and also very funny.

Kinda disappointed nobody jumped on shakey's C&P error up there utility-data style!

Why are you guys making Megan out to be a victim at Don's and her Mother's hands?

well her mother treats her like shit. Don doesn't victimize her, he just gives her everything she wants (which is not necessarily good for her)

Her parents know her, and I feel like her mother treats her squarely though maybe a little harsh, but who's parents aren't this way? Her Mom speaks in truth bombs!

my mom doesn't say horrible things like "at least my life is more than my children" TO HER CHILDREN, while they're crying on a bed