Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

Megan really likes Don for the moment but iirc the only ref to Dick Whitman in the series so far is when she said "Nobody loves Dick Whitman. I love you – that's why I threw you a party."

There was a brief namecheck a couple episodes back during Pete and Trudy's dinner party when everyone is talking about the Univ. of Texas tower sniper. Someone gets Charles Whitman's name incorrect and Don jumps in with "it's Whitman" in a rather obvious way.

enjoy your trophy wife Don!

― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, May 10, 2012 12:24 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why are you always so pissy about the characters on this show!

its not like he cheated on YOU shakey

lol he is especially pissy abt megan

Seriously, how is Megan a trophy wife.

enjoy your TROPHY wife don *storms out of thread in tears*

xp - she is charming, attractive, and significantly younger than he is. She is obviously viewed by many of Don's peers and colleagues as a trophy wife.

and yet she's bright and has interests and talents of her own... it's almost as if there's an interesting story about that

it's true!

jeez don't take it personally s1ocki

s1ocki is kinda the Megan of this thread

it's true I don't like Megan. otoh she is probably the only (?) character on the show to not have done something overtly shitty to any of the other characters. (was gonna add Peggy but I suspect I'm forgetting something...?)

This isn't really the show to dislike characters for doing shitty things. That's kind of its steez. Will say that Ken Cosgrove is probably the most well-adjusted, decent person around.

ya all im saying is its weird to act like the characters in this show are ppl u know in real life and scold them for their indiscretions, esp weird that you are a big sopranos stan like i am shakey!

don't feel like I'm scolding anyone and yes this show is full of characters doing shitty things (Ken rode a female employee like a horse iirc)

your tone is very scoldy!

and you once rode contenderizer like a horse iirc

he was asking for it

well it's true

and yet she's bright and has interests and talents of her own... it's almost as if there's an interesting story about that

― goole, Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:39 PM (35 minutes ago)

not sure how this and yets the idea that megan is a trophy wife for don. i assume that lots of young women married for their charm and looks by rich middle-aged men (i.e. "trophy wives") are bright and talented, with interests of their own. calling her that is a slam on don much more than it is on megan.

I guess there is a perverse side of me that finds flawless characters like Megan (ie "one of those girls who's just good at everything") unsympathetic. When characters on the Sopranos would do something stupid like try to manage a rock band or open a massage parlor I could acknowledge that their actions were stupid while still sort of pulling for them because their desires and goals were born of a palpable and very human desperation. When someone like Megan does something stupid like decide to try and "make it" as an actress at 25 I just roll my eyes - it is a childish thing for her to do, and she's only able to do it because she has Don as a sugar daddy. It's not really a decision I respect or empathize with.

xp

it does make for good drama tho, and resolves the elephant-in-the-room issue of how she was going to function in the workplace next to Don.

feel like these last few episodes (w/the fight at Howard Johnsons, the visit from her parents, her quitting) have really been about Don realizing that he married an actual person, not a trophy

it is a childish thing for her to do

Huh?

making a career choice based on a professed childhood dream ("ever since I was a little kid...")

xp

it's pretty clear she's less and less what he bargained for - he liked how she was good with kids, but she doesn't want any of her own. she won't tolerate being bossed around and dominated like Betty did. and she's not into working in advertising. this spells doom for their marriage imho.

making a career choice based on a professed childhood dream ("ever since I was a little kid...")

OK, I don't see how it's a stupid idea, though, esp. if she's still only in her mid-20s.

what a disaster for their marriage

don't really know what i think of all the spur-of-the-moment sex happening in this season, now that i think of it

she won't tolerate being bossed around and dominated like Betty did. and she's not into working in advertising. this spells doom for their marriage imho.

i didn't work out so great with Betty tho.

i = it

am i the only one who sees a lot of vulnerability beneath meghan's surface? only everyone else thinks she's good at everything she does, i don't think she really believes that.

yeah I get that. daddy's-little-girl anxiety.

THESE ARE NOT REAL PEOPLE.

you're not a real people

xp - no, but nor are they completely one-dimensional. everything's open to interpretation.

anytime don goes more than two or three episodes without callously and cruelly throwing a wrench in a personal relationship, i say he's doing good. so far this season, he's doing real good with megan! i hold out hope for a don who accepts megan as a "real person."

also i found megan's reaction to don being chill re: her decision to become an actor... odd. she was grateful to a degree that was probably practical/realistic, but perhaps unhealthy?

well, he's kind of a loaded gun. she was probably just glad he didn't freak out chase her around the apartment with a bat.

Megan does something stupid like decide to try and "make it" as an actress at 25 I just roll my eyes - it is a childish thing for her to do, and she's only able to do it because she has Don as a sugar daddy. It's not really a decision I respect or empathize with.

Could you elaborate more on why you don't respect this decision?

She's not exactly a lazy anti-work slob, so the Don as sugar daddy thing doesn't hold a lot of water for me. If she hadn't worked at the firm then yeah I'd get what you are saying. But this is a pretty well-informed decision, she and Don are married and they talked this through like adults, she has this awesome opportunity and she tried doing things the other way, etc.

The show seems to be structuring this as a legitimate thing she's doing, not just a stupid childish dream. Plus there are a number of things going for her: her husband is the head of an ad agency, she's already networked & showcased her talent with lots of people in that world via birthday song & that last TV ad pitch. Doesn't it seem somewhat likely that she would start showing up in SCDP TV ads or something similar?

Doesn't it seem somewhat likely that she would start showing up in SCDP TV ads or something similar?

after explicitly turning down exactly that for Cool Whip in this episode? No, I don't think so. She doesn't want to be in ads, she wants to be on Broadway and in films.

She'd been previously rejected (for her teeth iirc) and she's lost out on a role in an off-off-Broadway production. I can't recall any indication that she was good at this or had received any encouragement. She herself said she hadn't "tried very hard" so maybe that's part of it but in general there's always an abundance of aspiring actresses, and most of them start on their way well before the age of 25 - the odds of her developing a successful acting career are statistically-speaking pretty low.

But who knows, we've already gone over the realism/lack thereof re: other aspects of this show.

and maybe she's JUST THAT GOOD

that too

I do kind of wonder if she's being set up as a kind of sacrificial lamb character - ie, look at how all these horrible people in advertising corrupt/destroy the one non-awful person who wanders into their world

the odds of her developing a successful acting career are statistically-speaking pretty low.

Sure, but the point is that she'd regret it if she didn't at least try. Given her situation (i.e., married to Don), it seems like a good opportunity for her to chase a dream. If she gives it her all and can't make a go of it, then she can go back to advertising or whatever.

would be kinda humiliating for her to go back to advertising, no?

Would it? I dunno. She can do whatever she wants; the marriage doesn't need her income.

Megan's just being self-actualized

Holy shit I just now connected the elevator shaft with "The Void" (orig. title of TMN)

TMN?

oh, right

The Mad Nen?