MAD MEN on AMC - Seasons 7(a) & & 7(b)

My thought about 40 minutes in was "Better, still not good enough," but the ending redeemed it for me.

creepy glen's turn into the silent majority & moves on betty were even beyond previous peak creep heights

also hey matt weiner yr son is kinda garbage at acting

Did Peggy read Don's demeanor wrongly? I had the sense he was trying to push her towards giving deeper answers, but I guess it's entirely possibly he was just being a smug dickhead.

I don't think he was trying to but it's totally understandable how that would come off as patronizing or hypocritical to peggy given what she knows about him

Who is Joan's first ex-husband, btw? I suppose that's just some unexplained character background, but why wait until the last group of episodes to throw that in? Maybe she just considers Roger an ex?

Some reading has informed me that her first marriage was discussed briefly in an older episode when her college friend came to town and it was just a tossed-off detail. Round of applause for the continuity team there!

also hey matt weiner yr son is kinda garbage at acting

it wouldn't be the real glen bishop experience if he wasn't garbage at acting! love that kid. his relationship with betty was always so profoundly weird, i think this was a great way to show that betty has finally grown past the state of arrested development she was in during the early seasons.

what do we make of joan still living in her old place and relying on flaky hippie babysitters, given her newfound wealth?

Sexual feelings for your neighbor's kid strike me as the epitome of immaturity.

Still thinking about Roberta Flack. In an episode where there were two or three direct comments on Don's good looks--a theme that's always there, though not always verbalized; for Roger, it was his waning good looks ("You've looked better")--"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was perfect. It also had a summing-up feel as we near the end, and that worked in conjunction with the "Now we have to find a place for you" line. Which is what the last three episodes may or may not do: find a place for Don. (Obvious, I know, but still a great line.)

Sexual feelings for your neighbor's kid strike me as the epitome of immaturity.

well it's betty, her fucked-up-ness is less a 2-D line and more a 3-D grid. compared to the days when she was whispering her problems to glen through the window of his mom's car (and straight-up firing carla for letting him in the house, later on), this was at least an example of her setting a boundary with him and doing it without malice. it IS fucked up how much she struggled with herself to set that boundary, tho.

i'm gearing up for a disappointment with the end of this; these are all fine episodes but I don't feel like it's coming to an end yet and there are only 3 left.

glen will steal the identity of a fellow dead soldier in vietnam to complete his tour early and we will come full circle do u see

xp 4 left.

this was at least an example of her setting a boundary with him and doing it without malice.

Aw, I thought this was a bit of a quietly redemptive moment for Betty, she showed him genuine kindness throughout the scene. It's reached a point now where I think Don is by far the worse parent.

"It's a little late for this talk... and so am I" was comedy gold

One throwaway line that made me laugh was Betty's somewhat formal "Don't let this mar your afternoon." Ninety-nine out of a hundred people would say "ruin" or "spoil." There were a few good lines scattered about.

glen will steal the identity of a fellow dead soldier in vietnam to complete his tour early and we will come full circle do u see

― creaks, whines and trife (s.clover),

would love Sally to be his Roger.

this was a great episode imo. lol'd @ the return of lou and his cartoon

"how long has this been going on?"

Wanted to high-five Sally for this: "Anyone pays attention to either of you, and they always do, you just ooze everywhere. I want to get on a bus and get away from you and mom and hopefully be a different person than you two."

Also, I didn't think Don meant to be patronizing to Peggy -- he was trying to plumb her for big-picture vision stuff he could use in his speech. (Though of course he didn't just outright ask her for help...)

It was a pretty classic move, turning her request for a formal review into a brainstorming session. If he'd told her that was what he was doing she probably would have complained about that not being a review, but by keeping her there and leaving it as a blue sky idea contribution he confused her.

Mad Men getting real.

no opinions on Joan's happy ending eh

Space station? No, a gas station.

yeah idk it seems like they're giving her character a golden parachute out of the series

Space station? No, a gas station

this was amazing

sally owned this episode - that joke to betty and her perfect zinger to don about her two parents. the stuff about appearance and looks and power is p rare to see dealt with effectively on tv, despite being such a fundamental part of life.

i also really liked the question of why that was emerging here - like the whole show is fairly existential but this big black hole at the centre of why the company, why peggy was trying to do what she wants to do, what the point of any of what they'd done was, except to move onto the next thing.

the actress playing sally's friend was v funny too - perfect as a kid imitating an adult.

also loved the costume for joan's old flame - the pointy collars and the bandana and stuff, he reminded me a bit of that alcoholic cowboy bart meets in the simpsons.

the last shot was p sweet too.

If this guy is indeed the last stop for Joan, he seems a little wanting to me. Joan is so interesting; he seems so ordinary by comparison (not to mention how selfish he initially was). (I know I know the well-known actor--meant to check that.)

As for Don, I agree with tipsy and others--he wasn't trying to insult Peggy, he was just picking her brain, trying to nudge her towards what he was after.

Bruce Greenwood, Canadian; I know him from Capote and The Sweet Hereafter.

I recognized him from I'm Not There

he really rocked that leisure suit

Also as JFK (persuasive) in Thirteen Days.

Thought he looked a little Sinatra in this role -- going for that carefree Rat Pack vibe.

oh you mean the dude from the new Star Trek films

Nowhere Man also (if anyone watched that). he wasn't her 'old flame' though. they'd just met.

by the way Joan lost several cool points by being willing to drop her son for the aptly named Greenwood.

Figured she was being sarcastic

I charitably thought maybe her saying she didn't have any mouths to feed was in reference to her not having to work for a living

there was a great moment when she turns to the babysitter (holding the kid) and yells "you're ruining my life," which immediately seems to be directed at the child instead.

i took her willingness to leave her son as sarcasm, but it was played really straight--perhaps similarly to the moment before, it could be take either way, which makes it poignant.

I really think she is at the point where she has decided the traditional domestic thing is something she either isn't cut out for or is doomed to never have and was willing to send her kid away just so she could grasp at something that seemed good.

basically everyone in this show is horrible except Bob.

my jaw dropped at the delivery of "You guys sure have some balls coming back here!"

like I know Don Draper is handsome, dude, but you are a charisma-free zone

the expression on Pete's face in that scene was so incredible

at first I thought he was just really dumb and Don told him to say _he_ had some balls for returning and he'd reversed it

Surprised anyone was reading Joan's confrontation of the polyester cowboy as serious. She was clearly being sarcastic.

Well, that would be me. She sure projected sincerity, and the scenes we'd seen between her and the babysitter or her and her son (note the switch to the hollow game show optimism when she has to talk to him on the phone in her first scene).

She was clearly pissed at her situation (babysitter, mother on vacation, charming man's rejection rooted in her having a son), but at the time he arrived at the office she had no reason to believe she'd ever see him again and wanted to drive the point home that if he wants to move forward he's agreeing to take her as-is. If I hadn't been watching the show for 7 years, I might have not picked that up, but Joan Holloway has quite a sarcastic streak.

She sure does. But I didn't see it in that scene, although that's a plausible reading.

I completely read it as sarcasm meant to make him realize how ridiculous he was being. From there, I was surprised how readily she was willing to overlook this.