Mad Men (hint at a spoiler)

[Bucky]

"Bobby, it's a dead man's hat. Take it off."

Damn. What an ironic thing for "Don Draper" to say.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. don't you think that is why he said it

:shrug:

[Bucky]

2. I dunno. I don't know how self aware Don is when he's saying ironic things

I think the point of his filandering is his tendency to emotionally compartmentalize. I've said before, whenever Don gives someone advise, it's always really what he himself needs to hear.

I'm loving more and more about how this show isn't about things happening, but about how people live their ordinary lives, with only occasionally something dramatic happening. I also love what they're doing with Sally Draper. Besides the total awesomeness of the young actor playing her, you can really see how a child negotiates growing up in an age that's not yet child-friendly.

Why do they only do 12 shows a year? It's soooo unfair!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. I know, right.

Poor Peggy :blush: :rofl:

[Bucky]

5. Lordy, did Joan give her the worst advise ever, or what?

Joan wants Peggy to be a young Joan, looking for "unboring" men instead of enjoying her career.

I thought the best moment was Don jai alaiing the ant farm. :rofl: he was soooo smooth about it too!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. bill it to the kid

:thumbsup: :D

[kwassa]

8. I've been to a jai alai fronton in Rhode Island .....

that no longer exists. That was back in the early '70s, probably the peak of the sport in the US.

A very bizarre sport. Betting on human beings with baskets on their hands.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. aren't all sports slightly bizarre?

:shrug:

but, yeah...jai alai :D :wtf:

[SoCalDem]

20. We used to go to an open-air Jai alai place in South Beach

back when South Beach was a boarded up wasteland (1964)..we'd hang around and watch for a while and then mosey down to the empty beaches..(late at night)

Never could figure out that game:)

[question everything]

11. I think that on some level. Peggy wants to be like Joan

remember last week, when she just picked someone at the bar and spent the night?

[Bucky]

12. She needs to embrace her inner nerd. What I liked about her this week was

those quiet knowing looks she was giving Don when they left the Patio diet cola meeting. She wasn't smug enough to be implying "I told you so," but she was clearly reminding Don that she'd told him so.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. read her face...

it was shouting: I told you so.

[question everything]

19. This is one thing that we can judge, from almost 50 years later

The way men were so sure that they knew what women wanted, that they could generate successful ads that would move products for women. And, apparently, they were.

Remember from the 70s how women were made to fell guilty for "ring around the collar?"

And for Geritol (I think) - "my wife, I think I'll keep her." By then the women movement was strong enough to protest this ad.

[Orangepeel]

21. I think she wants to be like Don

In 1963, Peggy is going to have to be her own role model.

[Bucky]

23. Absolutely. Don definitely sees her potential and mentors her quietly.

Don does everything quietly, of course. He never once said, "my father in law died" just "something's come up at home; I need to take the rest of the day off." But the way he looked out for her & advised her after she had Pete's bastard :rofl: is typically Don. He just tells her "move on" and doesn't pry. He just wants other successful ad men around him, regardless if they're ad women.

It would totally be in Don's character to hire their first black ad man, as soon as he thinks he can get one accepted. That'll be an interesting story line, although historically speaking it's probably another three seasons in the future.

[question everything]

26. Just as Don saw Sal at the hotel room and said absolutely nothing

I missed the first season, I really wish I saw it but it appears that Don just goes though life very detached, never to invest any emotion in any situation. Which is why it was surprising to see him, last week, kissing Betty after he told off Roger.

[kwassa]

4. yes, but ....

I took Draper's statement as a comment on the awfulness of war. Grandpa Gene was pretty out-of-line.

Have they ever said why Draper took the dead man's identity?

[Bucky]

7. When Ann Draper confronted him, he just said "I had to get out of there."

Don/Dick was still running from his life at that point--that's his hang up: he runs away from problems. Pete was right, honorable as Draper is, I think there's still a core of cowardice to him.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. there are layers yet to be revealed on all these characters. it is

really brave how they are handling Sol. That bedroom scene was brilliant.

[Bucky]

13. I still don't know what he did that gave Kitty a clue about him

That look on her face seemed to be more than just sexual frustration; I think they're implying that she suspects there's more to it. But honestly, all he was doing was being excited about his work. Are they implying that a woman just knows these things somehow?

[question everything]

14. The way he was creating the clip

in those days you would say that "real men" do not dance and move that way.

She clearly had some strange expression as she was watching him moving.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. We have to remember the era.

She has questions but she does not know how to vocalize them and I don't think he would know how to answer anyway.

[Bucky]

17. Right. That's the interesting thing about Sal. He doesn't quite know he's gay.

Or he knows, but it's not just that he doesn't accept it. He doesn't understand it.

I have a friend who's in his late 60s. But he only realized he was gay in his mid 50s. He's actually a pretty smart and with it guy, but even in New York City, where he's from, it wasn't socially acknowledged as a way to live. In some ways the gay character they showed in the first season who offered a hotel room visit with Sal was a real anachronism. A lot of the gay scene in those years was what you saw in the first few scenes of Milk--anonymous and dirty and guilt laden.

It's gonna be interesting watching Sal's character learn about himself over the next few seasons. But I really feel bad for Kitty.

[question everything]

18. And it was interesting how that hotel guy

sensed that Sal would be open to his advances.

[BuelahWitch]

22. Well Betty won't be getting any noms for "Mother of the Year"

What a spoiled brat! She still thinks of herself as "daddy's little girl" but she's got two kids and one in the oven! Don is cold and aloof, but I think that's because of his upbringing (or lack of one). He's been more compassionate with his kids than Betty.

[Bucky]

24. Speaking of the bun in Betty's oven, do you think they're setting us up for a birth defect?

Something tragic is on the way for chimney girl's baby, I think. This week it was her dad telling her not to smoke. Last week Mr Creepy groped her tummy, only Betty told him, "it's not moving."

[BuelahWitch]

25. Yes, I think it will coincide with the Kennedy's stillborn baby somehow

Dear God, Betty can't deal with two healthy kids, how will she react to a special needs child? Wonder if Trudy and Pete will adopt it?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. The Kennedy baby wasn't stillborn

but he lived only a few days, due to lung problems.