Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

yeah, and i thought he put the needle down more towards the middle/end. maybe i need to rewatch, but megan did make a big point about how don had to play this one particular song.

She said, "Start with this one," which the Beatles themselves did, as that was the first song they recorded for Revolver.

lol @ Don telling Roger he doesn't want Megan to end up like her mother

I'm watching this episode pretending Roger is taking acid every time he's off-screen.

Tomorrow Never Knows was a great closer to this episode, which takes place around october of 1966, so we see the 'early 60's' coming to a close here; basically, along with Roger's acid trip a while back, Megan laying on her back in the acting class, the elevator thing....it feels like shit is about to get weird, as I like to imagine everything did the second 1967 rolled around.

100% love Megan now btw.

The Beatles thing was so cool. Maybe the fading into the other stuff was kinda eh but it's so great that they were looking for something to replace the Beatles, ended up with that 30-year-old song, and then when he finally hears them it's mind-bending sounds from The Future.

The rain was foreboding enough...then that elevator thing. Totally over the top ominous foreshadowing but awesome.

And moments like Harry coming to the phone booth because Pete opened the door after they made eye contact then arguing over who initiated...that's why I watch Mad Men.

Regarding the Beatles...Don takes the record off halfway and walks out of the room. He's not impressed with the present/future? The music continued for everyone else.

And moments like Harry coming to the phone booth because Pete opened the door after they made eye contact then arguing over who initiated...that's why I watch Mad Men.

this was awesome, biggest laugh of the episode for me

He's not impressed with the present/future? The music continued for everyone else.

last shot was of Don leaving the room. the music continued over the credits.

and yeah, clearly turning his back on the new generation. He was raised in the 30s! His biggest dream was indoor plumbing lol

Well he also didn't take the acid. But I'm impressed that they're keeping him more than a one-dimensional fuddy duddy. He's clearly ambivalent about Megan's acting dream but he also seems to realize the respect it deserves.

Makes me think of in the Zappa autobio how he characterized the music industry at the time: old out-of-touch dudes smoking cigars and saying "I don't know what this racket is, but it's what the kids love and it sells"

my reaction to the use of the Beatles went from incredulity --> lol of course, MONTAGE! pot smoking! okay this is a little obvious --> Don taking off the record = point made, perfect

And moments like Harry coming to the phone booth because Pete opened the door after they made eye contact then arguing over who initiated...that's why I watch Mad Men.

yeah, this was great. such a perfect snapshot of guilty paranoia, trying so hard to seem "normal" that everything goes weird.

joan's dismissal of megan was awesome too.

I think Joan is mostly otm about Megan and Don. I like the friendship that she has built up with Peggy this season.

they have an interesting dynamic going on - Joan seems to acknowledge their natural affinity for one another, but otherwise the friendship seems driven by Peggy's need for advice/to spout off. Joan never comes to her about anything. She mentioned her (ex)husband only in passing for ex.

Makes me think of in the Zappa autobio how he characterized the music industry at the time: old out-of-touch dudes smoking cigars and saying "I don't know what this racket is, but it's what the kids love and it sells"

Also the anecdote from "Easy Riders..." about studio execs in '67 wanting to "make movies about nothing, like that Blow-Up picture."

Which reminds me of Don being an Artfilm buff back in the early days (bonding with Bobbie Barrett over Hiroshima mon amour).

did people ever really eat cool whip straight? serious question.

Morbius to thred

uh every child of the 70s did that at some point, I'm sure

I mean it has a certain something, and i would lick the spoon after it was put on, like, pie or something, but not do the whipped cream can thing y'know?

One of my favorite parts of the episode was how many times the satellite photos of the Earth were mentioned. Can you imagine what it must have been like to see the planet as it really is for the first time? Maybe even more revelatory than the moon landing.

And moments like Harry coming to the phone booth because Pete opened the door after they made eye contact then arguing over who initiated...that's why I watch Mad Men.
yeah, this was great. such a perfect snapshot of guilty paranoia, trying so hard to seem "normal" that everything goes weird.
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Monday, May 7, 2012 12:12 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this.

Which reminds me of Don being an Artfilm buff back in the early days (bonding with Bobbie Barrett over Hiroshima mon amour).

they kind of abandoned that thread. don should be having a ball at arthouses in 1966. but he's not.

also this episode encouraged me to listen to revolver again after umpteen months/years (!). it's great, but i still usually have to skip over taxman.

I was a child of the 80s and would frequently raid the fridge for cool whip.

This show has been on quite a run this season. the elevator shaft was, as they say, "on the nose," but as pointed out above I sorta love that about this show. and it was terrifying.

Really wish people would stop saying "on the nose" all the time. :/

feeling like the phrase 'on the nose' is kinda

let's throw it under the bus

On the nose has jumped the shark.

make no mistake, it's fundamentally past it's sell-by date

not liking "on the nose" is the new black

jumped the nose

Going forward, "on the nose" should be sunsetted.

"When did music become so important?"

I lost track of who actually picked the faux-Beatles song suggested for the cologne ad, was it the client or someone at the agency?

Ginsburg's OTT reaction there was hilarious

I'm pretty sure it was the client? Ginsberg was otm.

yeah it was the client

http://maxgif.com/2e9

lol

there's a thread for that

Really wish people would stop saying "on the nose" all the time. :/

― polyphonic, Monday, May 7, 2012 6:22 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ok from now on we'll just say "super-duper obvious"

"When did music become so important?"

new ILM board description

the scene with pete's new love interest drawing the heart on the window was sort of ludicrous i thought, but i guess the sentimentality and generally fanciful nature of the show means it can carry this kind of thing. i'm still really loving the way it's playing to its strengths this season, the best thing about mad men has always been how emotional it is.

I guess the drawing the heart could be read as sentimental and corny but I thought it was kinda vicious actually. like she was just toying with him. I don't think she has any intention of getting together with him, like, ever so why torture him. maybe I'm misreading it and she really has feelings for Pete but I don't really think so.

they have an interesting dynamic going on - Joan seems to acknowledge their natural affinity for one another, but otherwise the friendship seems driven by Peggy's need for advice/to spout off. Joan never comes to her about anything. She mentioned her (ex)husband only in passing for ex.

Joan never seems like she's *needed* anything from *anybody*.

well, she's needed things from Roger

but yes it's not really in her character to express need

This interview with Bledel seems to make it clear she's toying with Pete:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2012/05/gilmore_girls_actress_alexis_bledel_on_mad_men_interviewed_.html

I knew it would be Tomorrow Never Knows, and when I clocked I was so excited to hear it in the context of Mad Men that Don taking the record out of the sleeve and cuing up the needle seemed excruciatingly long. When it finally came on, the song has rarely sounded as vital to me. Very well done.

How Weiner got "Tomorrow Never Knows":

Mr. Weiner said he had been trying “for a few years” to get different Beatles songs onto “Mad Men,” but had been rejected by Apple Corps in the past.

To win the company’s approval in this case, Mr. Weiner said, “I had to do a couple things that I don’t like doing, which is share my story line and share my pages.” He added that he received the approval from Apple Corps last fall, about a month before filming started on the episode.

Never watched The Gilmore Girls but was blown away by Alexi Bledel's screen presence in this episode (not just flim-flam for fancying the pants off her, I don't think).

Loved the Harry/Pete phonebooth thing

Tomorrow Never Knows fell a little flat for me.

After all these years, Beatles songs are cropping up here and there – mid-period ones at least (I'm Looking Through You in that Ricky Gervais film Ghost Town, Norwegian Wood in the same and now this)

It would have been funny if he'd put on Yellow Submarine by mistake and really dug it.