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Last night’s episode was a good episode although it had a couple of real clunkers. This season of Mad Men kind of makes me want to go back and start over from the beginning to see if there were always as many clunkers. “How’s the city?” “Dirty.” Oh BROTHER. That being said: Megan’s parents were pretty great, and Roger is BACK. The whole plotline with Peggy moving in with her boyfriend feels a little heavy-handed. I mean, the scene where you think he might propose marriage and then he just wants to move in together is a pretty good and tense scene, but then all of the reactions to it, while totally believable in their way, mostly feel like some kind of pedantic reminder that social mores used to be different than they are now. “Isn’t it crazy?” A little. It’s a little crazy. But sure, OK, fine. Pete actually won the night, at least quips-talk-wise when Megan’s father asked him what he did and he flattered him for a couple minutes until the guy was like “you’re so nice!” and then he was like “BOOM, KID, THAT’S WHAT I DO SON, WHAT?!” (He was not like that. But he was a little like that.) But that was a good part. And of course the final scene where they had all just gotten their punches to the stomach and had to regroup at the table. What is Megan’s secret passion? Why was her dad talking to her like she was the sleeper cell in Homeland and Don was tricking her into sleeping with him Claire Danes Manic-Depressive style? We should all get what we want. Which is a shadowy blowjob. ANYWAY, here is the thing that I want to talk about today: what is with this season’s emphasis on vocalizing the character’s on-screen mythologies? I’m thinking in particular of the moment when Peggy was amazed that someone had dumped Joan and Joan had to actually say OUT LOUD that she was just like everyone else. I mean, come ON. This was not the first time that’s happened this season:
We’ve already talked about it a little but in the first couple of episodes there were multiple instances of people casually talking about how ridiculously handsome Don was. It’s like, YEAH, WE KNOW, but YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY IT? It always seemed like Don’s attractiveness, or Roger’s predatory charm, or Pete’s impotence, or Joan’s breasts were artfully drawn for the viewer to decode and interpret at will. But when you have the other characters commenting on these things, it closes off those avenues of interpretation. It limits your engagement by doing half of the work for you. And it makes for bad television. The real life Joan is a particularly hot secretary with a history of domestic violence and a completely unprofessional dalliance with the boss that resulted in a fucking baby. She is not a PORCELAIN SEX GODDESS. And while it can be hard as a viewer to remember, even with a show as carefully written as Mad Men, that the characters you love are supposed to be real people, that is why shows tend to avoid drawing attention to the obvious things that all shows have in common: actors tend to be beautiful, dialog tends to be clever and witty and charming, imaginary lives tend to be dynamic and engaging. That’s the whole point of making a show out of those things. But if you draw attention to how pretty an actor is, or how witty his reparte is, or how unblemished his life, it reminds you that THIS PERSON IS NOT REAL, they are MAKE BELIEVE. If the people within the narrative find them just as larger-than-life as the audience then what are we left with? I will tell you: a pile of Matthew Weiner’s masturbatory fantasies. No thank you.
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Please have the decency to WEAR PANTS when you are talking to Sally on the phone, Creepy Glen.
The new look for Fall 2012? Parkas and no pants.
If this is your weekly Mad Men recap, it’s actually pretty perfect.
Now that he’s at boarding school he’s pretty much the acid generation’s Holden Caulfield.
If a Glen catch a Sally comin’ through the Rye….I don’t want to know the rest.
Glen is literally all fur coat and no trousers.
I think my favorite part of the episode was when Pauline tripped over the phone line, and Sally told Bobby to go get Pauline a glass of water. Bobby did a double take, and Sally was all “GO BOBBY!” Sally and Bobby are our generation’s Jack and Kate.
Isn’t Megan’s dream to be an actress? Is Dr. Papa really encouraging her to do that??
I hope when Mad Men ends we get a Sally Draper spin-off so we can find out what she is like as she gets older. She’s going to have some issues after things like this:
This was just a strange and jarring day in the life of Sally Draper. She just wants to see what her dad does and all of a sudden the world was like “You are now a dolled up sex object. Get ready to spread your legs and fly. Roger Sterling is now interested in you. This is a blowjob.” To be fair, that is pretty much what her dad does
Poor Sally. There is no hope for her. No hope for her at all.
She’s calling Creepy Glen for life advice!!! Ahhhh!
And she grows up to be one of our moms!
Her boots were amazing! She looked like a tiny Edie Sedgewick!
Megan wanted to be an actress/performer, if I’m remembering correctly. Whatever it is, the point was her end-all be-all isn’t working on Madison Avenue.
“Yeah, that’s what your mom said last night.” -A real put down Roger can totally use on Megan.
i knew that gif was going to happen
RE: Peggy. Rejecting the institution of marriage by bypassing it completely for co-habitation (living in sin), may be old hat now, but it was pretty controversial in the ’60s, particularly among the old guard (parents). People who did were letting others know just by their living arrangement that they were having per-marital sex, and literally heaven forbid that ever be accepted as ok or common knowledge in a society.
I didn’t think it was particularly heavy-handed, insomuch as it was on par with pretty much the rest of the other plots of the episode with the characters having and meeting expectations in their own arenas, and being met with disappointment and hard truths as a consequence. And of course the whole “parents have a fucking point” plays into all of that, even if their children aren’t particularly interested in their points or wanted their advice in the first place.
Looks like Peggy can’t have her cake and eat it too!
Juliette Binoche always. Put her in all the things.
Why are you all racist against elegant French women? That was Julia Ormond.
The one thing that bothered me about this episode was that they were so not French Canadian. That was not Quebecois. But yes, Juliette Binoche in all things.
What makes this even more embarrassing is I wasn’t sure if it was Juliette Binoche so I googled “was that Juliette Binoche on Mad Men?” and I found a result that said yes. I didn’t even think to question the internet because the internet is always right.
My bad, y’all.
Actually, if I’m remembering correctly, Megan is French Canadian, but her mother is actually French. Remember the whole “my mother’s french and has perfect skin and just uses plain old water to wash it everyday” thing?
Ah you’re right. I forgot that part.
The execution of the pitch to Heinz was flawless, but the concept itself was corny. What do the Flintstones and the Jetsons have in common? Beans, stupid! Some things never change. Kinda surprised Don liked it so much. Guess it’s better than “Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart…”
It seems corny to 2012 eyes, but in 1966 things were a lot different. Watch a reel of spots from those days and you’ll find that the ads that were considered cutting edge in those days almost all seem hopelessly corny to us.
And the space thing was de rigueur in the 60s. Because of the pace of the space race, everyone viewed things like moon colonies as something that would be a matter of fact within a few decades.
Wait a minute. Hold the phone. I knew it was popular, but de rigueur?
I just love that Kyle is Jerry’s Jerry.
And, uh, Mad Men! Even though people were fascinated with space, I agree that the winning ad was corny. I don’t see it appealing to teens in 1966.
One of my favorite things about this episode was that apparently Roger won’t shut up about his LSD experience. I’m surprised he didn’t try to tell Sally about it!
Ha! Yeah, that was great. Third-Eyed Roger was a hoot.
Roger: “It’s very interesting but a lot of times you think people are looking at you, but they’re not — their mind’s elsewhere.”
Don: “Lots of people that haven’t taken LSD already know that, Roger.”
Not LSD-related, but I loved this line too.
“Who knows why people in history did good things? For all we know Jesus was trying to get the loaves and fishes account.”
I know. He’s basically pseudo born-again. It’s the first taste of earnestness from the guy. Hilarious.
This episode should have been called “How Roger Got His Groove Back.”
Sally’s “Hey, you know something about fish? It ain’t so bad” face was probably the best thing in an episode full of best things.
Not sure why people insist on painting Glen as ‘creepy’. He’s the only person in Sally’s life who hasn’t put weird limitations and conditions on her emotions and companionship. They seems to like each other for precisely who they are. Her and Glen’s is the most normal relationship she has.
Have you seen Creepy Glen in ANY other episode?
Have you mentioned Creepy Glen on Twitter and he all of a sudden starts following you?
You don’t get a name like Creepy Glen by not being creepy.
Maybe “creepy” is subjective, but he is pretty much just kind of a dick. And it breaks my heart that he is Sally’s main friend & confidant because she is clearly at the crossroads of becoming a real person and HE IS JUST A BAD INFLUENCE! Remember when he and his friend trashed the Draper house? Then in this episode when Sally told him how her grandma broke her ankle and Glen laughed and said something dick-ish and got Sally to laugh in agreement? That was so =[
Glen is that kid at the pool party who reaches into the chip bag with wet hands.
uhhhhhhhhhmmm check it: http://memegenerator.net/instance/14844310
No mention of how Alex Mack’s dad is Leland Palmer? He’s probably (definitely) going to kill every female character on the show? Firestone, walk with me.
Wait a minute- I’m getting confused. Did Ray Wise play Alex Mack’s dad on The Secret World of Alex Mack, or is Cosgrove’s wife Alex Mack? Nevermind! Googled it. Larisa Oleynik is both Alex Mack AND Cynthia Cosgrove.
We should never pass on an opportunity to write or say Larisa Oleynik, because seriously, what a name. Same goes for Soleil Moon Frye.
And to answer your question- I don’t think we have anything to worry about. The last time Ray WIse’s hair turned white was on Psych, and it was just a bad dye job. He saved James Roday and Dule Hill from a fire!
Sorry, the double reference there was a bit misleading.
Big ‘phew’ to hear about the white flag on Ray Wise, though. I’ve never watched Psych, mostly because it used to constantly be filming in my building and I got sick of its craft service trucks hogging all the street parking. Nonetheless, I’m glad he’s cleaned up his act.
Of course, he’s lulled us into a false sense of security before! And we’ve already had it confirmed that someone is going to throw Pete Campbell out of a window…
WHAT THE WHAT IN THE WHAT NOW???????
I hate EVERYTHING but Psych is the THE BEST. I worked in the news on the night shift in L.A. for so *so* many years and even though I had a long-standing aversion to violence and total disdain for procedural dramas… I caught a marathon of Psych and was floored at how funny and clever and amazing at mimicking what it was supposed to pretend to do but then actually do… but without the awful. Also? So funny.
So funny.
I don’t want to be a dick, but WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? PSYCH IS AWESOME.
badideajeans, calm down! heywoodjewbrome wasn’t trashing Psych. heywoodjewbrome was trashing Psych’s food trucks, having colored the show in a negative light solely by association, due to daily parking headaches caused by them at heywoodjewbrome’s place of work!
(I don’t know heywoodjewbrome’s gender, which is why I keep referring to heywoodjewbrome by name. heywoodjewbrome has a pretty neutral name with a lot of things going on, and has a Princess Peach avatar, and I do not wish to presume)
This conversation has obviously passed its best before date, but… thank you, K&C, for coming to my web defense. As you point out, my sole reason for disliking Psych is how its filming often caused me great personal inconvenience. This is a constant problem in the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver, and also means I will never watch Fringe. Or Mission Impossible 4. Maybe 3. Whatever the most recent one was.
It’s also why I won’t watch films or shows with Joshua Jackson in them, since I once had to wait while he took what was OBVIOUSLY MORE THAN SEVEN ITEMS through the Express check-out lane at the local purveyor of sundries.
The defense rests, in Canadian spelling.
Sally’s boyfriend is actually Matthew Weiner’s real son. Don’t know if you all knew that or not!! Fun fact.
I had the exact opposite reaction to Gabe’s assessment. I thought the ending was fantastic when she said “dirty”. Sure it was a bit cliche, but she is also 12? I think it’s pretty funny to put all of this adult crap in the eyes of a 12 year old.
I also think that looking back on how different things use to be is interesting on more than just the “oh look things were different then” level and they really showed us how difficult it was for the people going through it. When Peggy’s boyfriend asked her to live with him she went from shock, to disappointment, to acceptance, to excitement and she showed all those mixed emotions the next day when talking to Joan. I think Elizabeth Moss did a terrific job (and I really don’t like her because I have issues with scientologists, and I wrestle with the fact that she’s such a good actress and can be brainwashed at the same time). So yes, it was like “OK, Peggy’s mom was a total betch, but that disappointment and that speech was fantastic. People still say crazy shit like that today. When I came out my mother told me “a hole’s a hole why can’t you just be happy with the one a girl has”. Yes, she really said that. She’s great now, but she was in shock. Granted this was 1995 but still…parental relationships are complicated and full of expectations and despondence. And they always will be – just like there will always be beans!!!!
I liked the “dirty” line too. I didn’t feel it was a clunker. It would’ve ben cliche if she waited a beat and then said “dirty.” But I liked that she said it right away. The only thing I wish was different was I would have liked for the same amount of time onscreen if she had waited a beat. So I guess I wanted the beats switched. I liked that Sally said “dirty” right away, but then felt they should have held on her for a beat and then gone to black instead of immediately cutting after she delivered the line.
ANWYAY. I liked that she said it immediately, is the takeaway from this ramble.
Also, HOLY CHRIST, Jim, parents are bananas.
I’m no lawyer, but your mom’s argument is also a descent defense for bestiality, Jim. The ’90s were a strange time, huh?
I think the sort of “tell, don’t show” thing that’s been happening this season can work on other shows (The excellent episode of Justified this past season where Raylan has to explain why he threw a bullet at Wynn Duffy and the agent investigating gleefully admits that that’s the coolest thing he’s ever heard) but not on Mad Men. Mad Men needs more long shots of staring and hilariously vague “Next time on Mad Men” teases.
Am I the only one who thinks Gabe’s Mad Men reviews have been miles off? It’s like he’s not even watching the show. I’m not some kind of Mad Men loyalist who thinks this season has been perfect, but half the things he criticizes are legitimately awesome, or at the very least decent, and decent by mad men standards is so far beyond any other show on tv (until breaking bad comes back). That dirty line was not a clunker, it was a great line and the perfect way to end the episode. The pilot wasn’t a bad episode either, it was the perfect way to open the show after a long hiatus. And I fail to see how someone commenting on Don’t handsomeness somehow detracts from the experience or “limits your engagement”. Don is a beautiful and I want to marry him, it would be weird if people didn’t comment on it once in awhile. This season has been a slow burn, but so was this past season of Breaking Bad, and look how that turned out.
It seems like Gabe’s become disenchanted with the show, but I think the quality is as high as ever, which is still the highest.
I think Gabe has some points about Mad Men telling rather than showing this year, though I do think most of that was in the season premiere (especially Joan’s line about how handsome Don is when he blushes – where did that come from?). Also, I thought the pacing of the Peggy/Joan conversations in this episode was almost painfully slow. But aside from those things, I’ve been enjoying the season as well – like every season of Mad Men, it is a slow burn, and that’s fine.
Is he trying to say people, who know each other well, don’t talk about one another? Because that seems like something people totally do all the time in real life.
Yeah, but this is a TV show and many would argue that a well-done show establishes character traits and such through showing these characters in action, not from what other people say about them. It’s not an effective way to make us invest in characters if we’re just told what they’re like without seeing evidence.
Joan has commented on how handsome Don is before. She did in the very first season actually. People comment about how attractive Don and Joan are all the time.
And it’s not just something we’re “told” and not shown. They’ve show Don’s charisma in pretty much every episode, depressed, divorced Don episodes not included.
I thought it was interesting that all of the major events in the episode took place during meals, and all involved some expectation being uprooted.
And the uprooted expectations were mostly focused on the female characters and the lives of their parents– Peggy and her mother, Megan and her parents, and Sally accompanying Don to get a glimpse at his professional world. All scenarios disappointing/traumatizing the characters.
Why was Don just waking up and Bobby still in pajamas when the women returned from shopping and Megan’s dad already had his publisher’s meeting and was rejected? Are everyone but the Draper men extraordinarily early risers? What did I miss? I’ll take my answer offline…
Oh man, I thought that episode was great. Maybe I’m just an old clunker, but I thought the beans on the moon idea was supposed to be a little corny, because Don has changed and he doesn’t talk clients into ideas anymore, like that time with Life cereal when he was like, “The cure for the common cereal!” Also Glen isn’t creepy, he’s awesome! He only trashed their house that one time because Sally wanted to move. He did it for Sally! What a good friend. (Also Sally is no saint, she lied about Lady Francis tripping over the phone cord, soo, they’re great for each other!)
Seriously, when Mad Men ends, I want Sally and Glen in the 70′s, like AfterMASH.
The show would be really boring if that office ran like a normal one. People would constantly be talking about how handsome Don was and how hot Joan was. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Joan character wasn’t bombarded and over other coworker chicks asking her for chick advice on a daily basis. I think it’s why it took her so long to finally ask Peggy if she wanted to close the door.
Uh, I forgot to mention my point which was, occasionally it’s fine to let those things slip out, because they seem real. What Peggy says to Joan, I’ve had that reaction and said that to various handsome folks when they’ve told me about their losses in the love department. That Joan, or anyone admits out loud that he/she thinks Don is handsome or are jealous of his looks is no stretch to anyone’s imagination.
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I like that they comment on these obvious facets of the character’s personalities/looks. It always seemed a bit unrealistic to me that nobody (except for Joan in first season, I guess) really commented much on how good looking Don was. Obviously the women he slept with thought he was attractive, but attractiveness is one of those things that people talk about even if they’re not trying to sleep with you. It’s kind of cool to see people in the office, especially the male-types, go “Yep, Don Draper, you know, the good looking guy.”