I've always been lukewarm on this show, but the first two episodes of this season have been fantastic.
Quite honestly Don getting back with Betty would be a mistake. Betty continued to act as a petulant child. She's immature, self absorbed a bad mother and completely in denial. Megan may be young, but she is a much better match for Don than Betty.
Yeah, but Don is a child too, his fuddiness at the Stones concert and Harry's White Castle binge notwithstanding, and Megan calls him out on this (though he's obviously not as much of a child as Roger). One thing I missed: reference to George Romney. How topical. One thing I did not miss: the closing credits song. I watched 'Sound of Music' over the holidays, and holy shit, I never realized the opening verse of the song was so creepy and paternalistic. And it works for both Betty and Megan.
Don is a broken person. His issues steming from his upbringing and refusal to acknowledge who he is and move beyond it is what makes this show great. He garnered a lot of sympathy for the lot he was served in life; however, rather than being forthcoming and acknowledging he triumphed inspite of his upbringing or lack thereof, he constantly denies it. Moreover, his creation of an alternate personna by assuming the identity of Don Draper instead of Dick Whitman further reinforces why he is unfufilled and strengthens his belief that he would still be a nobody if not for the big lie. Dick's denial was so great that he even turned away his younger brother who only wanted a relationship with him. Dick immediately assumed he wanted money. It was so tragic when he took his own life and mailed Dick back all of the money. (that episode made me cry) That is truly one screwed up individual that is so compromised and in such denial of who he is. Dr. Faye Miller, the psychologist that had the affair with Don, had it right. Don is all about beginnings. I doubt Don will ever be happy until he comes to terms with his past. He will in time tire of Megan, just like he did with Betty and all the other women he had affairs with. Such is the degree of his lack of fufillment.
Same here. For me, the story is played out. I'll still watch it. It produces a chuckle now and then. Better than the rest of the crap on tv.
Yes, thank God it was a dream. At least I hope it was a dream. Don's inner demons sure manifested themselves again.
The first thing my wife said after it was over was that the entire episode was about attacks on women. Of course with that song at the end, they were hardly being subtle about it.
The parallel between Don's old hookup pushed under the bed and the final shot with Sally under the couch is disturbing, but I can't figure out what they're trying to say there. Also, Henry's mother needs to take it easy with the drug pushing. Oh, and is any character happy this season?
Wow talk about lack self esteem. Joannie's husband is an idiot. Choosing the Military and another one year tour in Vietnam is ridiculous even if he is not in harm's way. Though for Joannie choosing Beavis (Roger) isn't much of an option/improvement.
I think other seasons, there was always some level of optimism. Most of the characters are moving ahead in their personal or professional lives, or at least appear so (for example, at the start of last season, Don was on top of the world, swinging single and his agency the buzz of the town). This season, it's dark, dark, dark (though I'm wondering if Vietnam and the backend of the Civil Rights Movement are reflected). Right, but remember that he was a failure as a surgeon in the States. Vietnam is the only place where he can command respect and get any job satisfaction. And he's clearly not ready for fatherhood (or seeing Joan as a mother). Which is totally understandable since he's not the father.
I cringed when Don was choking Madchen Amick and when Joan reminded the hubby of what happened in Don's office.
As a doctor he can command respect. His level of expectations were such that he could not accept the fact that he was not a top flight surgeon. He might still be a good administrator or something.
It echoed the mass murder of the nurses in Chicago -- the survivor hid under the bed. Every plot line was in some way about women's vulnerability to violence. Even Ginsberg's pitch to the footwear people was about that. Also, I would not say that Joan has chosen Roger. She wasn't choosing between two men. She was finally rejecting a man whose low level of esteem for her was made clear years ago.
Don't jump to conclusions there. If referencing my post, I didn't state that Beavis was her only option, I stated it was not much of an option, regardless of whether Roger is the biological father or not. Joannie clearly can be on her own since neither man is fully realized and have many character defects. Just to be clear, Joannie's wasn't rejecting her husband for a lack of self esteem. She was rejecting the fact that his lack of self esteem got in the way of their moving their relationship forward. He chose his career in the Military over his wife and (bastard) child. I think she could and would have accepted him if he was happy just being a doctor, but he was hung up on being the surgeon. Also, there is a lot to be said about Joannie resuming her affair for a time with Roger. She has issues as well.
SOUNDS LIKE GOOD TIMES!!! No, seriously, I totally get that even in good times, there were serious undertones. It's just that this season, about the only thing that's bright is Megan's outfit. Somehow, I missed that. But that makes sense, thanks.
The title of the episode was "Mystery Date," referring to the game for girls where you don't know who is behind the door. It could be the cutie pie, or it could be the dud. That was the through-line of the episode, using Mystery Date as a metaphor for women's vulnerability. In real life, being a woman means answering that door in the hopes that you'll find Prince Charming, but always living in fear that it'll be Richard Speck instead. Peggy suddenly finds herself afraid while alone in the office at night. For the first time her gender means not just being marginalized or treated dismissively; it means literal physical vulnerability. When her mystery date is revealed to be Dawn, Peggy takes the opportunity to opine about her dilemma of being a woman in a man's world -- she feels she needs to "act like a man," but she's not sure how much she wants to. But in the end Peggy's mystery date is her own internal demon -- her unthinking, casual racism. Sally, spending the night in the "haunted mansion," gets a little indoctrination into womanhood from Paulina. Paulina tells the story of the student nurses' mass murder in a way that ties everything into sexuality -- their short nurse's outfits, a strange man watching them, wanting them sexually. This is shortly after Paulina casually shared a story of being abused by her own father. The implication is, being a woman is being vulnerable to violence. That's what Sally has in store for her. Joan's mystery date is her husband, and over the course of the episode Joan realizes that while on paper she has Prince Charming, in reality she's married to the monster. In ending her awful marriage, she is also finally saying goodbye to the Joan of season 1, the 1950s Joan... her mother, basically. In Ginsberg's pitch, Cinderella doesn't care who has caught up to her in the dark alley. She's just tired of running; she wants to be caught. Joan realizes that she doesn't want to be caught after all. In Don's case, a woman shows up at his door instead of the other way around. But his fever dream isn't about his fear of who might show up at the door; rather, it's about his fear that he is really the monster.
I'm - sadly - a Madmen newbie.... does he actually know that it's not his kid either from Joan or from working out the dates?
We don't know if he knows. What we do know is that neither Joan nor Greg brought up the paternity issue (and the breakup would've been the time to do it), but reading other people's take on it, I'm thinking he at least suspects it. My reading is that he kinda knows, but doesn't want to admit it, because acknowledging that he was cuckolded is yet another blow for someone who's already super defensive about his masculinity. Maybe his colleagues in Vietnam have said, "Hey, the timing isn't quite right". And he's been resentful of the relationship she had with Roger SPOILER ALERT IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN WATCHING SEASON 2 [result]which is what led to the rape in Don's office that she alludes to[/result]. So I'm thinking he's done the math, and he knows. But it'll be too painful for him to be the one to bring it up.