Support NeoGAF

[-Pyromaniac-]

The focus on Don's inner struggle definitely paints him as a darker person, as it's supposed to. What I love about this show is I don't have even a single guess on how this season will end in the next 4 episodes.

Also Roger's mom died

 

[Kaladin]

The focus on Don's inner struggle definitely paints him as a darker person, as it's supposed to. What I love about this show is I don't have even a single guess on how this season will end in the next 4 episodes.

Also Roger's mom died

Yeah, I have no clue where they're going with this season either. Last year had a more clear direction to it....this season has been kind of all over the place and you get a sense that anything could happen (and probably will) in the final episodes.

 

[Nitemare1]

The focus on Don's inner struggle definitely paints him as a darker person, as it's supposed to. What I love about this show is I don't have even a single guess on how this season will end in the next 4 episodes.

Also Roger's mom died

I completely forgot that. One of the best Roger moments this season too. IMHO.

I wouldn't anticipate it.

Don's had two chances now -- he got a new agency, a new wife and a new home and tried to start over and figure out how to have a happy life. That's what last season was all about -- but, as we saw at the end of that and the beginning of this one, it failed. Don is having the same problems with his agency and his marriage that he did way back in the first few seasons (returning to the past is a huge, huge theme this season). That's probably because the problems aren't with his agency or his wife, but with Don.

I don't think he'll get another chance. Remember...you only live twice.

good point. Maybe thats where they are going with it.

 

[Macmanus]

It sucks that Abe was the one to break up with Peggy.

Peggy deserved to be the one dumping him, after all the dumb shit he pulled.

Didn't Peggy cheat on him - like - several times over? Including giving a stranger a handy in a movie theater?

I'm not the usual butt-hurt GAF when it comes to infidelity and the need to demonize a woman because of it (I've been on both sides more than once) but lets not pretend that Peggy was a saint - and in the end she did fucking stab him in the gut.

(Note: Pegs is my fav. No bias here.)

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Yes. I'll go one more by saying that they are also doing things that might cross one's mind, but you wouldn't think would actually happen. To both viewers and characters

- Abe being stabbed (I thought, nah, that's not going to happen, and then it did)
- Don sleeping with Betty (thought about it when he was scoping her at the gas station, and then BAM, it happened)
- The agencies merging
- Bob turning out to be a serial killer
- Peggy and Ted kissing
- The lesbian come-on
- The swinging invitation in the first place for that matter
- Pete's father-in-law not following the mutually-assured-destruction default


Lots of "oh no they won't, oh wow they did" things this season. Very unsettling.

Wait, what?

 

[Angry Fork]

Do you think they would dare kill off Don and have the entire final season be without him?

 

[Cornballer]

Do you think they would dare kill off Don and have the entire final season be without him?

Nope

 

[Jackben]

I could see the season ending with an injury or near death experience for Don but I strongly doubt the show would or could go on without him. I could see something catastrophic happening in the finale to him that threatens or damages his health.

After all, remember his Hawaii pitch: "In order to get to paradise, something terrible has to happen first." This whole season has been pretty terrible for him, but I feel like something truly bad lurks in the finale that will drive this point home.

 

[Dany]

Do you think they would dare kill off Don and have the entire final season be without him?

I find it funny how we always mention this for Breaking Bad. I could see a show like that pulling something daring. Not so much mad men.

 

[ZaCH3000]

Didn't Peggy cheat on him - like - several times over? Including giving a stranger a handy in a movie theater?

I'm not the usual butt-hurt GAF when it comes to infidelity and the need to demonize a woman because of it (I've been on both sides more than once) but lets not pretend that Peggy was a saint - and in the end she did fucking stab him in the gut.

(Note: Pegs is my fav. No bias here.)

She didn't "fucking" stab him in the gut. She stabbed him in the gut by accident.

Her infidelity, and more relevantly her morality has nothing to do with stabbing Abe. Therefore, no analysis can be drawn between the two events.

What was NYC like back then in the rougher neighborhoods? Was it crime ridden as the show portrays to such an extent?

 

[Leona Lewis]

What was NYC like back then in the rougher neighborhoods? Was it crime ridden as the show portrays to such an extent?

Absolutely. I wrote a paper about it back in college.

The show really started hinting at the shift in the episode where Roger and Joan were mugged right out in the open.

 

[Macmanus]

She didn't "fucking" stab him in the gut. She stabbed him in the gut by accident.

Her infidelity, and more relevantly her morality has nothing to do with stabbing Abe. Therefore, no analysis can be drawn between the two events.

What was NYC like back then in the rougher neighborhoods? Was it crime ridden as the show portrays to such an extent?

Thanks for pointing out it was an accident. I literally thought Peggy intentionally stabbed him. There goes my analysis? (Note: Did not think that.)

Also I don't recall stating that the accidental stabbing and infidelity were in any way, shape, or form related. My point was that if we're making obtuse statements like "Peggy should have broken up with her boyfriend, not vice versa!" both characters have pros and cons that fall each side of the ledger, accidental stabbings and infidelity included.

As for your question -

 

[Leona Lewis]

Thanks for pointing out it was an accident. I literally thought Peggy intentionally stabbed him. There goes my analysis? (Note: Did not think that.)

Also I don't recall stating that the accidental stabbing and infidelity were in any way, shape, or form related. My point was that if we're making obtuse statements like "Peggy should have broken up with her boyfriend, not vice versa!" both characters have pros and cons that fall each side of the ledger, accidental stabbings and infidelity included.

As for your question -

What a lovely attitude.

Hey ZaCH3000 (and your sexy new haircut...rawr), this joker's characterization of "the usual butt-hurt GAF" was probably a hint that he wasn't worth entertaining on any level, intellectual or otherwise.

 

[Chucker]

They're really playing up the "unsafe" side of the city, just listen to the background and you'll surely hear a siren. It was especially apparent when Don was talking to Megan on the balcony.

 

[Macmanus]

What a lovely attitude.

Hey ZaCH3000 (and your sexy new haircut...rawr), this joker's characterization of "the usual butt-hurt GAF" was probably a hint that he wasn't worth entertaining on any level, intellectual or otherwise.

If you're going to miss the point of a post, proceed to make bizarre assumptions about it, then and ask a question that you can research with relative ease in 2013, don't be shocked when you're called out on GAF? Snark isn't a new thing around here, don't pretend otherwise.

My statement about the usual gaf was an attempt to ward off assumptions that I house the misogynistic sentiment that a woman should be demonized indefinitely for infidelity that I keep running into over and over on this site. Apologies if I struck a nerve.

 

[Wool]

I haven't seen a "let me google that for you" post in a long time.




I just got around to watching the new one. Betty's dress at the beginning was ridiculous. Was that really what politician's wives wore to events? She had a cape.

Not at all excited about seeing Duck again. Why do they bring back all the boring old men and none of the attractive ex-mistresses of Don's?

Also, when I saw this I thought it was some kind of Being John Malkovich scene for a second How old is the guy in the back supposed to be:

 

[Leona Lewis]

Hmm, looks like apologies are in order for bean breath. It seems that a significant portion of the weekly blogroll agrees.

I dunno, I agree that there didn't seem to be much romantic chemistry between them this past episode and that maybe he's more of the supportive figure for Kevin than a romantic one for Joan.

But that doesn't gel with my theory that the reason Bob and Joan were mysteriously absent from the office during last week's episode was that they were holed in playing with each others' holes all weekend.

 

[Trent Strong]

Peggy should have broken up with her naive idiot boyfriend a long time ago. She's lucky he didn't get her killed.

 

[ZaCH3000]

If you're going to miss the point of a post, proceed to make bizarre assumptions about it, then and ask a question that you can research with relative ease in 2013, don't be shocked when you're called out on GAF? Snark isn't a new thing around here, don't pretend otherwise.

My statement about the usual gaf was an attempt to ward off assumptions that I house the misogynistic sentiment that a woman should be demonized indefinitely for infidelity that I keep running into over and over on this site. Apologies if I struck a nerve.

I can research, or I can enter into an interesting conversation on forum I like having conversations with. I find the people more interesting in this thread than I would a Wikipedia page. That explain it? I did laugh at the link though, that was legit funny.

Also, I called out you out because you went out of your way to explain to this thread that you are anti-misogynistic, yet you basically call Peggy the crazy girl-friend by saying, "and in the end she did stab him in the fucking gut." The need to tell an entire thread you are something is suspect in itself.

This is a mature thread. You don't need to justify your statement before you make a statement about the shows content.

(Thanks for the compliment Leona Lewis)

 

[bean breath]

Hmm, looks like apologies are in order for bean breath. It seems that a significant portion of the weekly blogroll agrees.

I dunno, I agree that there didn't seem to be much romantic chemistry between them this past episode and that maybe he's more of the supportive figure for Kevin than a romantic one for Joan.

But that doesn't gel with my theory that the reason Bob and Joan were mysteriously absent from the office during last week's episode was that they were holed in playing with each others' holes all weekend.

My juvenile reasoning was primarily that he knows a male nurse in the 1960's and the way he reacted when Joan told him about Pete's mom, seemed like an office gossip.

Plus the shorts.

 

[Leona Lewis]

My juvenile reasoning was primarily that he knows a male nurse in the 1960's and the way he reacted when Joan told him about Pete's mom, seemed like an office gossip.

Plus the shorts.

He's got nothing on Pete in that department

 

[Macmanus]

I can research, or I can enter into an interesting conversation on forum I like having conversations with. I find the people more interesting in this thread than I would a Wikipedia page. That explain it?

Wonderfully, actually.

Also, I called out you out because you went out of your way to explain to this thread that you are anti-misogynistic, yet you basically call Peggy the crazy girl-friend by saying, "and in the end she did stab him in the fucking gut." The need to tell an entire thread you are something is suspect in itself.

I never called Peggy crazy at all. You're insinuating that, most likely because I tossed an expletive in there. Peggy is the center of this show for me, and far and away my favorite character. Whatever level of neurosis she deals with is easily on par with any other character the show portrays. Perhaps you weren't around for earlier seasons where GAF took turns 'forum punching' January Jones' character for being a "cold hearted bitch" for daring show even the slightest semblance of character traits that Don possesses on the weekly, but I felt the need to remove myself from that hivemind to clarify my position preemptively. Your very response proves the necessity - it was just something you missed or simply weren't aware of.

 

[ZaCH3000]

Wonderfully, actually.




I never called Peggy crazy at all. You're insinuating that, most likely because I tossed an expletive in there. Peggy is the center of this show for me, and far and away my favorite character. Whatever level of neurosis she deals with is easily on par with any other character the show portrays. Perhaps you weren't around for earlier seasons where GAF took turns 'forum punching' January Jones' character for being a "cold hearted bitch" for daring show even the slightest semblance of character traits that Don possesses on the weekly, but I felt the need to remove myself from that hivemind to clarify my position preemptively. Your very response proves the necessity - it was just something you missed or simply weren't aware of.

The conversation has evolved. Its not like that anymore. Everyone in the show has a dark side (except for Bob Benson) and the thread generally accepts that. Welcome to the conversation.

 

[ZaCH3000]

He's got nothing on Pete in that department

Look at Pete. Even he knows his shorts are too short.

Probably went home to complain to Trudy about how terrible of a choice the shorts she chose for him were.

 

[Hours Left]

Even though I like Joan and Bob together, it would be cool if Bob was gay. (Sal... ;_ I certainly won't complain seeing James Wolk getting some man love.

Though that would mean he's just using Joan. :/

 

[bean breath]

He's got nothing on Pete in that department

LOL


Speaking of Bob Benson possibly being gay, When Pete and Bob ran into Pete's father-in-Law in that brothel, it seemed like Bob didn't partake in the services of the establishment. One more notch in the gay column.

Are the blogs your talking about in Cornballer's wrap up post?

 

[brianjones]

 

[Macmanus]

The conversation has evolved. Its not like that anymore. Everyone in the show has a dark side (except for Bob Benson) and the thread generally accepts that. Welcome to the conversation.

Everyone in the show has had a dark side since it's inception - so I'm not seeing your point. Nor does the progression of the conversation change years upon years of common thought espoused on this website. Also I'm not seeing the link between evolution of conversation in regards to nonsensical assumptions.

 

[ZaCH3000]

Everyone in the show has had a dark side since it's inception - so I'm not seeing your point. Nor does the progression of the conversation change years upon years of common thought espoused on this website. Also I'm not seeing the link between evolution of conversation in regards to nonsensical assumptions.

So read the thread. Perhaps, those years and years of conversation have been based on nonsensical assumptions like you claim that have caused you to think this thread would be the same.

I've been here since the first episode, and I haven't once thought the overwhelming majority of posters in this thread make posts based on nonsensical assumptions. That is why yours stuck out like a sore thumb.

Just letting you know, any post from you regarding this exchange is a waste of your time and will be ignored. Want to talk? Wait until this coming Monday to discuss the latest episode.

 

[CrankyJay]

lol, was about to beg for this GIF but I see that it was made. Should be good for E3.

 

[CrankyJay]

So much awesome stuff happened this episode but I didn't like it as much as the last two...I think the pacing or direction was off for me or something.

 

[gdt]

This was so great. Betty man....really wonderful stuff.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Wait, what?

I was wondering if anyone caught that...

 

[Cornballer]

- Tom & Lorenzo's Mad Style: The Better Half

Once again, yellow seems to be a repeating color this week. Regardless of whether one feels there’s a deeper underlying message to it all, it’s pretty obviously (to us anyway) meant to highlight the constant conversations about butter vs. margarine. What’s interesting to us here is that Peggy’s outfit is so non-committal in color; it’s sort-of-but-not-quite yellow; more of a tan with yellow undertones. She can’t commit to Don or to Ted in this scene, even though they’re both asking her to; neither butter nor margarine. It’s that passivity that really bit Peggy in the ass this week.

Odds and ends:
- Warming Glow: The Megan Draper As Sharon Tate Theory
- Wired: Premium Brands in the Bedroom: Seeing Mad Men Through Its Ads
- EW.com: Is Betty the secret hero of 'Mad Men'?

 

[f0rk]

Odds and ends:
- Warming Glow: The Megan Draper As Sharon Tate Theory

This is quite convincing with all the home invasion stuff that's been going on

 

[CrankyJay]

This is quite convincing with all the home invasion stuff that's been going on

Dunno, seems like a stretch to me.

 

[Jackben]

A lot of what they discuss in that theory is very interesting though and I feel like even if it's not exactly accurate, it does point to something sinister. We just don't know what it is. It's hard to sort the legitimate foreshadowing from red herrings. I'm still curious where the plane in the season 6 poster will come into play.

 

[CrankyJay]

A lot of what they discuss in that theory is very interesting though and I feel like even if it's not exactly accurate, it does point to something sinister. We just don't know what it is. It's hard to sort the legitimate foreshadowing from red herrings. I'm still curious where the plane in the season 6 poster will come into play.

Maybe it's Henry that gets killed.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

After reading that stuff:

Megan gets iced, definitely.

Ted's already sleeping with Moira by the end of last episode.

Does anybody else constantly think of that wall as "Ted's vagina wallpaper"?

 

[Cornballer]

Here's the poster again for those that didn't click through:

 

[NathanMcMahon]

the Tate theory is really interesting.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I was wondering if anyone caught that...

Haha, well there are questions I suppose. The way the post was written made it seem like it was revealed.

Bob is a really interesting character and I absolutely agree there's something not quite right about him.

Also did anyone else think that the ambulance passing when Megan and Don were on the balcony was the one carrying Abe and Peggy? Or was it so obvious that I'm foolish to think otherwise?

 

[120v]

Also did anyone else think that the ambulance passing when Megan and Don were on the balcony was the one carrying Abe and Peggy? Or was it so obvious that I'm foolish to think otherwise?

i'd assumed that was the case

i love how the ambulance guy shrugged when peggy asked if abe would be ok

 

[indigo-cyclops]

i'd assumed that was the case

i love how the ambulance guy was like shrugged when peggy asked if abe would be ok

Yea, it's also much more interesting a scene after reading that bit on Sharon Tate/Megan...

 

[Dominican Power]

She didn't "fucking" stab him in the gut. She stabbed him in the gut by accident.

Her infidelity, and more relevantly her morality has nothing to do with stabbing Abe. Therefore, no analysis can be drawn between the two events.

What was NYC like back then in the rougher neighborhoods? Was it crime ridden as the show portrays to such an extent?

The 70's are right around the corner and that's when heroin took the city by storm, and the city almost going bankrupt during that time. Then you had the 80's with coke/crack.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Haha, well there are questions I suppose. The way the post was written made it seem like it was revealed.

That was the joke.

I figured it was a different ambulance, it's a big city.

 

[CrankyJay]

The 70's are right around the corner and that's when heroin took the city by storm, and the city almost going bankrupt during that time. Then you had the 80's with coke/crack.

I'm hoping the show makes it to the 80s so we can get a Patrick Bateman tie in.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The conscious decision to put her in Sharon Tate's clothing means SOMETHING.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

The conscious decision to put her in Sharon Tate's clothing means SOMETHING.

I'm hoping it's just subconscious allusions to the danger of the times.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

I'm definitely getting the vibe that something dark is going to happen considering what we've seen. Remember last season with all the dark imagery we just knew that a suicide was coming or something, and it happened. I hope we get another crazy thing like that.

I definitely have a similar feeling.