MAD MEN on AMC - Season 6

Thought Don was going to make Sylvia slap him, thought they were going to get a lot darker with that. The end gave me chills.

xpost meghan is gorgeous as was freddy mercury you people are insane

why do people keep insisting on adding an 'h' to the character's name

To make it more like "mh"

<3

The end gave me chills.

Yeah, I keep thinking about it. It captured the poignance of the end of a relationship, when someone decides to stop believing in the shared illusion. And it also obviously underscores how fragile Don's sense of himself really is. His fear that people will stop believing in him goes a lot deeper than his fake name. He himself thinks he's a phony.

Second pretty good episode in a row, though unless they pull something astounding out of the bag this is shaping up to be the least good season.

Big exception is Campbell, that's one character who gets better with every episode.

Acting is an amazing profession. I don't know if I could live myself even pretending to be Pete Campbell for a half an hour let alone however long Vincent Kartheiser has to in order to create 72 hours of television.

can't really see Joan finding sycophancy all that attractive in the long run tbh, no way is she going to fall for someone less powerful than her

Hmmm let me think, what recent events in Joan's life might render power unattractive?

Really couldn't give less of a shit about Don's boring affair by this point. Everything else was great, especially Roger firing Burt, and the whole bunfight in the boardroom.

finally caught up on this ep

- the more Pete unravels, the happier I get. He's so awesome when he's panicked and flailing. MY MOTHER CAN GO TO HELL...AND TED CAN FLY HER THERE.

- Don's scenes with Lindsay Weir made me genuinely uncomfortable. And I started thinking about how conflicted his 'I grew up in a brothel' backstory has made him as an adult. At least, that's where my mind went. All of his swagger at sweeping women off their feet, the 'art of seduction' he has down pat, and all of his white-knighting women whose wrongs needs righting ie Joan makes him seem from a distance like he's the perfect man, and he thinks that's what makes him a perfect man...and yet there's this gaping chasm of disconnect because of what that 'growing up in a brothel' experience did to his perception of sexual love, when you crack that shell open he's barely a formed adult.

Either that or Don's just a prize-winning douchebag. Mostly that.

oh one other great thing about this episode no one's mentioned yet - Pete's brother. their relationship cracks me up

Pete's mom not realizing her husband is dead, and then her getting the situation with Pete/Trudy completely right followed by an accusation his dad was also using the apartment as a love nest really got me.

To me the whole power-play thing seemed like Don grasping at straws and reaching a new low

there were also supposed to be some obvious parallels between Don's actions w/ Lindsay Weir and his power games at the office vs. Ted

shouldn't Peggy have been going to have a talk with Ted and not Don? that was a bad look.

for those tracking Don's literacy he was reading The Last Picture Show

there were also supposed to be some obvious parallels between Don's actions w/ Lindsay Weir and his power games at the office vs. Ted

yeah I guess if you look at it that way there are lots of power dynamics in that episode. joan possibly being poised to become the more powerful one in a relationship, peggy back under don's control, roger getting a kick out of firing somebody, and pete taking control over his controlling mother.

joan possibly being poised to become the more powerful one in a relationship

also the most powerful woman in the office (she's even Peggy's boss) and yet still trying to not get treated like a secretary

speaking of secretary what was up with Dawn going missing ... ?

the scene with Bert and Roger was great, I also liked the dialogue between Ted and the guy with cancer

it does seem like Ted is real close to being able to call bullshit on the creative genius of Don Draper. Don's butter ad was so hacky. Ted only thought it was good because he was drunk.

speaking of secretary what was up with Dawn going missing ... ?

yeah, assumed this was some kind of weird foreshadowing

yeah I really liked that exchnage with Ted in the hospital room. hopefully Ted will steel himself to play the long game with Don and come out on top. don's macho shit annoys me.

That hospital conversation was really interesting. Before that you just see Ted eager and serious about working with Don, but that conversation shows that the competition is still there. But I think it's not as simple as "winning", which the sick art director alluded to, I think Ted generally wants success and just wants to figure Don out. Maybe there will be some power play with Don submitting to Ted, or maybe Don will learn some lessons about not being alpha as the agency changes around him.

What surprised me was the beginning of Peggy's talk to Don, "you never tried to get me back" or something, like that was still an issue. Don's response was funny, "right, we merged these two companies so I could have you in my office complaining again."

I got the impression it was more that she was pissed that Don never acted like she existed when she was outside of his office as a human being, let alone as another person in the same business, and now she's supposed to be all hunky-dory and have the same in-office dynamic that she left

She's really grown as a person! She was in charge of shit! She bought a home, damn it!

I can sympathize, it's really irritating when you are away from someone for the express intent of growing as a person and they act like nothing's changed when you see them after a stretch.

maybe Don will learn some lessons about not being alpha as the agency changes around him.

"I hoped he would rub off on you, not the other way around"

for those tracking Don's literacy he was reading The Last Picture Show

― dmr, Tuesday, May 14, 2013 1:20 PM (56 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Perhaps foreshadowing his next affair, wherein he relives his farm days by fucking a cow.

[insert Betty joke]

I'm already going to hell, so...

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m414n2fiPv1qzg559o1_400.gif

they referenced dawn several times, peggy heavily complimented her secretarial abilities and ted made a dawn/don joke. pretty sure her not actually appearing was pure budget move.

but they also made a big deal about the fact that she wasn't there.

that is, not such a big deal that they were concerned, but enough that it was pointed out.

have to say i'm kind of rooting for bob benson - he's gone from weird bit part to wide-eyed prospective joan lover. it's an inspiration to us all.

refreshing take on Bob

his little trick at the hospital was surely meant to make us like him.

it's as if the tv is trying to manipulate our feelings

Didn't work. I still don't like him.

it's as if the tv is trying to manipulate our feelings

: 0

*folds arms* I remain unmoved by creepy nice bob

"the machine... this TELEVISION... speaks. you invite it into your house. it talks to you. and what do you want from it? what anyone wants... no, what EVERYONE wants: to be understood. and if you believe the machine understands you, you believe whatever that machine tells you. and that... that is not manipulation. it's power."
/creepy don draper pitch

'80s Don Draper ‏@80sDonDraper 13 May

Imagine this: not just one Corey, but two.

lol

hahahaha

but that whole thing with Ted, I mean I still see sales people do that now. Get the weak guy suuuuuuuuuuuper drunk, and then blind him with your amazingness the next day when he's hungover and he'll forever be your bitch etc etc

am rooting for ted

'80s Don Draper ‏@80sDonDraper 12 May

Simon isn't about remembering a bunch of colors and sounds. It's about remembering who we are.

okay I'll stop now

yeah don is really reaching new lows. no doubt some weird protective daddy freakout is coming when peggy and ted's romance kicks off too.

i for one welcome our broken down Don Draper

Ted has probably flown a plane through a storm with a hangover before.

Don's becoming the Vega!

Dude's gonna fall apart on the test track.