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

Co-ca Co-la.

yea that was a monkey wrench to say the least

"It is not a normal day. Everyone's living in a fright."

It did take a left turn--I thought it was going to be one more "Let's put on a show" scheme to save the agency, but it wasn't that. Strange ending. (Dean Martin, very big in 1971...I know I'm the only person who cares about the music enough to complain.) Loved Roger's toast to Lou Avery. Still not sure what happened to Harry Hamlin.

Dying at the MacDonald and Campbell feud.

xp jim cutler (hamlin) took a buyout but did not want to be involved in the company, it seems like?

or he'll show up randomly like avery did a few eps in

Dying at the MacDonald and Campbell feud.

YES! That's not at all where I expected that scene to end up, but it was brilliantly absurd.

The end seemed slightly unrealistic to me. If I'd just been informed my company had been absorbed and we'd be moving to a new office, I'd have a million questions.

(xposts) That was the punchline to the buyout, though, Cutler voting yes and sheepishly saying "It's a lot of money." I don't remember a word after that--maybe I missed something.

Agree the ending has an unreal quality to it, but thematically, there may be something there. It felt like the world that's so important to these five people is losing its grip on everyone else...although Meredith certainly didn't behave that way.

Undoubted significance that someone will uncover tomorrow: the reappearance, during Peggy and Stan's big scene, of "Stranger on the Shore." (Maybe it was used on one of the episodes concerning Peggy's pregnancy?)

Checked it out, and yes--it goes back to "Meditations in an Emergency," which ended season 2 and where Peggy told Pete that she'd had his child and given it away.

Good catch.

http://i.imgur.com/qaRE8pt.png

Cryptic tweet from IRL McCann.

Diana is Ted Chaough's new girlfriend

I said that as well, though I don't believe it, just thought it would be funny.

I did decide that Ted is basically anti-Don, or bizarro world Don. He wants and gets exactly the opposite of Don. He slept with Peggy. He went to California. Then he doesn't want to go to California. He's satisfied with the pharmaceutical account. There was more to that I thought about last night but now I've forgotten.

Sayonara, my friend! Enjoy the rest of your miserable life.

Speaking of circles 'n' cycles (the California subsidiary office did seem like a good idea at the time; never did quite understand how they avoided that no-compete clause when outright splitting from the Brits), Betty and Glenn's farewell scene perfectly matched her best moment ever, sweetly dissuading the younger Glenn, way back when. He now reveals himself to feel as lost--trying to re-orient by her light--as in the first scene, despite all his wised-up confidence and advice to Sally in the years betwee. Not a fake confidence or wising-up, but his system has broken down, in confused and traumatic times, the burnt cusp of the 60s and 70s, as some things just get even worse (Sally reminds him that he was in tears after Kent State, for instance). Yes, they were standing still in profile, with no distractions; it worked.
Struck by how much of last night's ep was about women being gratuitously reminded of limited options.

Maybe Draper could teach a New School course on advertising: analysis, expose, how-to---students can take it as they please, though McCann wouldn't be pleased. Maybe, like I always figured, he'll go to California anyway. Teach or do something just beyond the no-compete bit (publicity, artists' agent? He's got contacts out there).

He'll kill Harry Crane and assume his identity.

I enjoyed the only Harry footage with him in the background being an irritant on the phone

Harry was also in the big meeting at the end, impotently telling people "This is good news!"

two hilarious scenes in this - the pete/macdonald feud, which reminded me a bit of anchorman. and duck phoning up don - ludicrous.

pretty great ep, i loved the scene with roger and don at the bar.

also i dunno if it was meant to be funny, but the mccann guy saying the names of the brands was kind of strange, esp the way he pronounced "coca-cola".

that wasn't duck

Don on the phone in his empty apartment
Don deciding California office is empty and trying to rally the troops
Don in defeat looking for somewhere to go and finding nothing and no one

yeah that was Lou Avery, the great cartoonist

sorry my bad - i can't remember what happened to duck

last seen providin the dirt on Bob Benson to Pete

cracking episode. so many call-back moments; Pete and Peggy on the couch just like at the end of Season 2, Don and Roger in the bar together in the Season 1-3 style etc.

particularly great direction i thought too this week (from Jared 'Lane' Harris).

am really gonna miss these characters when they're gone.

yeah man, big time.

it was v relieving after the first two episodes - which were by no means bad but meandered even more than usual mad men style at times - to have last week and last night be certified great installments. especially last night.

"peter, you can't punch everybody"

sorry my bad - i can't remember what happened to duck

― bureau belfast model (LocalGarda), Monday, April 27, 2015 7:47 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're quacking up.

Peggy getting her moments to introspect and interact in uncharacteristic ways

her interaction with children is so awkward

"THE KING ORDERED IT!"

You're quacking up.

waddle i do

not much 'rock' / 70s type music on the last few episodes i notice.

"THE KING ORDERED IT!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Glencoe

They're part of the establishment now and not really hip to the culture anymore. The core group of SC&P is bound for management and divorced several levels from creative. No one knows what the youth are into, and if they do, it's a role relegated to the entry level.

xp the private school guy being super-influenced by historical meaning of surnames and thinking it has relevance to life in NY in the 1970s is so completely foreign to my understanding of human relations

urgh Ken though.. what became of him.

http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5413/96/original/432.jpg

lots of stan the stallion in this episode -- is this leading to something or they just want to feature stan?

Peggy telling Stan about having to give up her kid drove me to tears. Also, it occurred to me then that Stan:Peggy :: Peggy:Don

That scene where all of the board were standing there with whiskey in hand after learning from Roger about the consolidation made me think of "I am the man who drinks at work"

I'm shaken by how bad the seventies have been to Ken so far.

Two people, Lou and Ken, got to give Don and/or SCP the middle finger last night. Neither of them is particularly likeable. (I guess Ken was early on.) Maybe that'll be the last two episodes, one aggrieved party after another exacting his/her revenge on Don/SCP.

I really liked the scene with Peggy and the headhunter. Felt like her finally getting the respect she's due, and his advice was nicely straightforward. (It's also a sign of how effective the show's oppressive sexism is that I'm glad for her or any of the women to get through a scene without a guy hitting on them.)

McCann Erickson in 1971:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q

Hadn't thought about it, but I could actually see that turning up in the last couple of episodes. I'd rather have CCR, but if it happens, I'd be okay with that.