MAD MEN on AMC - Season 6

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.

Actually, the whole season's just leading up to a montage set to "Hey Jude."

as they pan over the streets of baltimore

so here's where i'm a fool for trying to glean something from 'next week on mad men' but has don ever had his dick whitman face on at work before? also apparently stan and rog will have a scene together - maybe they go on the road!

also kinda wondering if/when sally's gonna get something to do this season or if she's just gonna be on the sidelines dishing out sass.

ty balls

seems like we're due another Betty/Sally plot soon

so far they've depicted ted as a pure mensch (sure, he's in love w/ peggy, but in the terms of the film I don't think we're supposed to judge him for that) -- I wonder when he'll do something awful

it could be that the child actress playing sally is focusing on school or something, it happens.

also yeah when a character is missing and it's not a major part of the plot i usually assume it's a budget issue. although they managed to bring back the same actress playing pete's secretary after many episodes.

although i'm never quite sure how they film these things. i guess for most shows they do one integral episode at a time. which is interesting, because when you are making nearly the entire season at once (as is the case w/ mad men), you could easily shoot all or most of, say, dawn's office scenes for the whole season in a day or two. but i guess shooting like that would wreak havoc on the lead actors.

i bet they are still writing as they shoot

that's true. i get the sense they are maybe writing back half of season while shooting 1st half.

yeah I saw Christina Hendricks on Daily Show a while ago and she said she used to call up Matthew Weiner and he would go over her character's arc for that season when she got her first script...but this season she made it sound like he didn't really know.

so yeah, the writing on the fly thing sounds plausible

We're seven episodes in already (my, how fast is it going after the long wait?) and I have to say I do miss Betty/Sally's role in the story by now. Don is a father, someone who recently divorced his wife, and has children growing up. This is virtually invisible. If you'd tune in now you would barely know this.

We had the episode with his son at the cinema, of course, but in a way I thought the situation of divorce and kids growing up would be incorporated in Don's ways and thinking a bit more. Now it's almost as if he only carries that weight when the writers confront him with a scene here and there about it.

i kind of get the feeling that don as a father is something that just gets put on the back burner not only b/c he's not the most devoted father but because the writers can only keep so many balls in the air at once

all in all i wish this was _more_ of a workplace drama/comedy than it already is.

I agree, the writers have some tough choices to make. I think in essence I would like it to be more of a workplace series too. But it's kind of too late now for the family part of it has always played a centre role

yes