ZedIndyLil
Member
Is AMC planning to show any more eps beyond the first one? I'd rather watch it through AMC because I get it in HD. I've heard great things about it.
Mad Men - Season 6 - Sundays on AMC
- Thread starter Cornballer
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Is AMC planning to show any more eps beyond the first one? I'd rather watch it through AMC because I get it in HD. I've heard great things about it.
I've been meaning to check it out because Mackinnon is awesome.
I have yet to add to the praise over this episode, but my god, what an episode.
BertramCooper
Banned
Doubtful. I don't get Sundance in HD either, so I bought it from Amazon.
It's also worth noting that Miss Farrell (Abigail Spencer) from S3 stars in it.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Cornballer
Member
Same issue as some other people - I'm reluctant to watch it in SD off of Sundance. I'll give it a shot soon.
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
I think he is going to see something he shouldn't and demand a bribe for his silence.... I mean think about it so far he has been privy to a lot of the inner workings of the company for no reason other than he kisses ass and has coffee
Jackben
bitch I'm taking calls.
So that's Pete's marriage done for good. Fucking slimy bastard just had to say it, didn't he? Miserable jerk just ensured we'll probably never see Alison Brie on the show again.
We didn't get to see the reaction to the rest of the company to the merger but there are going to be some unhappy folks. Pete is a genuine bachelor now. I truly expect someone to die before the season is out.
We didn't get to see the reaction to the rest of the company to the merger but there are going to be some unhappy folks. Pete is a genuine bachelor now. I truly expect someone to die before the season is out.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
even matt weiner said his intention is to show that Don not only still has it but he is evolving to stay ahead and all that, rather than being left behind by the younger generation.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Help us Netflix, you're our only hope!
Oh, I hope not. Trudy was one of my faves and she's been on FIYAH this season.
Pete is such a cunt. I'm angrier now.
Trudy is absolutely the best wife of any of the wives the show has had to offer. Just scathing in her withering rebuke of Pete. Merciless. Some of those scenes were so intense I felt like I was a next-door house wife greedily inhaling all the incoming gossip from the other side of the wall as the only interesting moment in my entire week is consumed like wildfire.
I mean jesus.... They went completely in.
I don't believe anyone claiming to have seen the merger thing coming before the airing of this episode. There were a few hints in the episode itself, but prior to this? No way....
Jesus, a hilariously bold and HUGE move. And I loved Joan destroying Don, and I loved the shortlived dream of them going public.
Just.... wow. Easy contender for best episode of the show. Felt like a season finale.
Supermanisdead
Member
Bob Benson will be a partner soon. Believe that.
Hours Left
Member
I'm down for anything the keeps James Wolk on the show.
Jackben
bitch I'm taking calls.
I just had a thought: Don has effectively pissed off and/or betrayed just about everyone in the office except Roger (the last two seasons anyway) and shown such ruthless intent to go business first, that I wouldn't be surprised if he gets devoured down the line. That goes for his personal life as well, as the people who don't despise him right now would if they knew the truth. Especially in the event that something happens concerning his past as we have been anticipating. Would someone tip off the fact that Don deserted to destroy him and get the chance at usurping his position?
Absolutely, after all it's just business and SCDP has broken just about every rule of decency and honor up to this point to achieve more wealth and power.
At this point Pete Campbell, Bertram Cooper, Betty & Megan are the only four I know of that are still around that know his secret. But Don has made a lot of enemies and I definitely see the political thing with Henry coming into play.
The writers have effectively ended Don's arc with Sylvia by having the good doc quit his job. He is either going to get caught at this point or fuck around somewhere else because he hasn't solved his issues. He hasn't changed himself at all, he's just bullied his way into opportunity like he always does.
I really think Don is going to get screwed by the end of the season worse than he ever has before. I can't see how he won't be. And while Pete may have claimed before that he "has nothing" he truly does have nothing now as I doubt Trudy will want to see him ever again, she will keep his child from him largely in the same way and his position in the newly merged company has just been marginalized greatly along with the loss of one of his biggest personal accounts right as he was on the cusp of glory.
We've already seen him blab to Trudy just because he was mad, what would really keepihim from destroying Don should he be given the opportunity?
Absolutely, after all it's just business and SCDP has broken just about every rule of decency and honor up to this point to achieve more wealth and power.
At this point Pete Campbell, Bertram Cooper, Betty & Megan are the only four I know of that are still around that know his secret. But Don has made a lot of enemies and I definitely see the political thing with Henry coming into play.
The writers have effectively ended Don's arc with Sylvia by having the good doc quit his job. He is either going to get caught at this point or fuck around somewhere else because he hasn't solved his issues. He hasn't changed himself at all, he's just bullied his way into opportunity like he always does.
I really think Don is going to get screwed by the end of the season worse than he ever has before. I can't see how he won't be. And while Pete may have claimed before that he "has nothing" he truly does have nothing now as I doubt Trudy will want to see him ever again, she will keep his child from him largely in the same way and his position in the newly merged company has just been marginalized greatly along with the loss of one of his biggest personal accounts right as he was on the cusp of glory.
We've already seen him blab to Trudy just because he was mad, what would really keepihim from destroying Don should he be given the opportunity?
In typical Pete fashion he'd screw it up somehow and play himself.
Insane episode, everything happened so much. Amazing TV. It was bomb after bomb but, precisely because of that:
Anyway
I have to agree with this in a way. I enjoyed the episode but I wouldn't have opposed all these developments getting more breathing room. Felt like 2 hours worth of content. In the future what I'll probably remember the most about this are the specific bombshell plot points instead of the way the overall episode unravelled (which usually takes precedence in Mad Men for me). Still need more time to digest it though.
Anyway
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
A little late, but here's my recap. Here are the major beats:
- Roger has made the company rich again, and is essentially in the accounts drivers seat ahead of Pete.
- Meanwhile, Peggy is scuffling like Roger once was. I’ve decided it’s because she’s too acquiescent. It’s horribly ironic that she now finds herself back under Don’s rule. She’s in a new cage and back with the same owner. She ends the episode typing out a press release, just as if she were a secretary again.
- Pete’s life is positively out of control. If he wasn’t tied up as a partner in the company, he might very well have pulled a Peggy and left. Lord knows none of his co-workers respect him. Even more important than that, though, are the accounts Pete holds. He’s lost a car—his Jaguar becomes Roger’s Chevrolet. But he’s also lost Vicks, which was worth (as we heard) some nine million dollars—a tremendous amount of the company’s business. Whatever remains on his desk utterly pales in comparison. His value to the agency has, in the space of a few hours, declined dramatically.
- The day Joan slept with the Jaguar man was the day she won. From that point forward she’s been making money off everyone else. She ignores the fact that Don was the only man there that didn’t want her to do it—perhaps a sentimental fact in comparison to one’s financial security and livelihood, but still a fact she should never forget. As far as I’m concerned, Don didn’t betray her, but in that attack on him and his character, she betrayed him.
Hours Left
Member
The problem with Don is not the fact that he expects more from his coworkers, it's that he thinks he's the end all, be all. He is completely self obsessed and an uncontrollable narcissist with a penchant for self destruction, bringing everyone down along with him.
Joan was exactly right in what she said to Don. He never gives a single thought to other people unless it will somehow benefit him. He doesn't even have it within himself to love his children unless they've "earned" it.
So, Don's a dick. I agree with that and I just want to get that out of the way. I don't think he's a good person and I don't think he handled this well.
But at the same time, he was entirely right to say fuck off to the guy, and staying with him would have hurt the company as a whole in the long run. He's a shitty client who would have taken SCDP down with him by making them make an idiotic move, and he was trying to use his position to force SCDP to take all the risk on his shitty idea.
Was it shitty for Don to do it without telling anyone? Yes. But the company would not have benefited from continuing the association, and Don shouldn't be forced to take a fall for something that would hurt the company as well as him (as if these are entirely separable things at this point anyway). Nor should Joan, for that matter, and Don was hardcore against that. So in this situation he's not even a hypocrite like he usually is.
This is the new "forever alone internet nerds siding with Walter over Skyler" isn't it... if people can sympathize with a main character who
is clearly meant to be the evil villain
Steelyuhas
Member
I haven't been so hot on the season so far, but damn if that wasn't an excellent episode. Very excited for the shakeup and what it'll bring to the show.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
She's right that he's self-centered, but that's about all she was right about -- and that much is self-evident to everybody there, so it's not like she was saying anything revelatory.
The rest of her rant was about her and her personal sacrifice, but she screamed at the one and only person that didn't want her to go through with what she did. I call that poor form. She should pick her targets better next time. Don's always had her back. This was a slap in the face, nothing less.
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
I agree Don is an asshole but he didn't do anything wrong ending that account. The car salesman was a horrible client who just wanted SCDP to do whatever he wanted (since honestly that was the relationship he expected after he was able to have the agency get Joan to sleep with him). The account was basically over when he wasn't able to get his way over the radio marketing. Don just decided not to linger around for extra billings.
Also Don had no idea they were going public neither he nor roger were privy to that information. If they had known they would of likely not have done any of the business maneuvers they had during this episode up to the point of the argument between the partners.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Don is just a guy with a lot of pride. And yes he is a dick. Dick Whitman dat izzzz.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
More on that... I don't think we should overlook the fact that Jaguar was Pete's account. (As far as I can tell it was Pete's account.) If Roger was handling it, I don't think Don would have acted in the same way -- at least Roger would have known what was coming, even if the end result would have been the same. Don has about zero respect for Pete, and I'm sure he enjoyed the fact that ending Jaguar was as much a slight against Pete as anything else. For me, Don not telling anyone is tied with his relationship with Pete as much as it is with him just being Don and acting like a jerk. Pete's gone behind Don's back (as he did again with the notion of the company going public) and Don's just returned the favor.
My sentiments exactly
Just want to check if you know you're agreeing with me here?
This and the fact that he pretty obviously found what happened between him and Joan distasteful and wrong. Honestly he probably would have found a way to sabotage the account eventually either way. He might have waited until they had another car account before doing it if the guy hadn't also been a total tool, though.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
Personally, I can't see that happening. Which is not to say that it couldn't, but the problem is that Don is essentially the most important person in the agency. Without him they're nothing. Like, literally. He's the only one that matters. Practically everyone else is expendable. Now, that might change a little with the merger, but I can't see it changing by much. Everyone knows who Don Draper is, and everyone knows he has amazing ideas. If Pete took down Don in that fashion, he'd essentially destroy the agency in the process. He better have a bunch of money set aside first.
A caveat: I will say that an interesting ending for the series would be for Don to flee New York -- his life, his family, his career, whatever -- and create a third identity. I don't think this is a likely outcome because he's too old now, but thematically that would be an interesting conclusion to it all, and one way that might be set up is if his past life is somehow revealed and he has to go into hiding yet again.
I'm tempted to say the whole "we're going to reveal your dirty secret to everyone!" arc is done. It comes up every once in a while (i.e. the lighter), but only for Don. I think that's a demon that he has to carry with him forever, and I'm not entirely sold on the idea that it's suddenly going to come out and cause a crisis. I haven't seen any foreshadowing for that, but if somebody has I'd be interested in what the hints might be.
Hours Left
Member
I don't disagree with Don dropping Jaguar. The client was a parasite, dragging the company down.
But what I do disagree with is exactly how he did it. For someone that is supposed to be some smooth and calculating, he certainly lets his hubris get the better of him far too often. All of this could of waited until after he discussed it with the other partners. But no, Don takes it upon himself (like he always does) to make these huge decisions, consequences be damned.
The straw that broke the camel's back was not the client's lecherous behavior, or his insistence that they focus more on local business, it was because he dared suggest that someone else should look over Don's work. Don's reactionary behavior and single mindedness is a huge flaw, regardless if it sometimes results in beneficial situations. And he's certainly not making these decisions with anyone in mind but himself.
I disagree with this. Is him important to the company? Certainly. Is he the only think keeping them afloat? Not even close. There are plenty of other key players there, and to say that they are just there to support Don is not taking the big picture into account.
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
Yeah I should of quoted more people but I am using a tab and Editing quotes for them to fit is annoying. But yeah I agree with you 100%. Don is far from a good person but he did the right thing from a business standpoint (which not for nothing is the norm for him). If anything Joan, Bert, and Pete were on the wrong for planning something big like going public and not involving their company's key partner (Don) to the early planning sessions to begin with. Same goes for not inviting Roger. Its almost ironic how Pete and Joan react to the news of Don's and Roger's actions when they had planned to drop some important news on them later that same day.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
Name any other person that a) has as much talent as him and b) has as much gravitas in the industry as him. There's no one else. Peggy doesn't have enough talent; neither does Ted. Could they stay alive with just those two? Probably barely. But getting rid of Don would be a colossal misstep. He is the one most responsible for making that company as successful as it is, back all the way to Season One. SCDP would have had nothing to stand on if it didn't have Don. I don't think the situation has changed since then.
Pete's not that important -- certainly not now that he's lost his major accounts. The second most important person now is Roger, because he's the one in charge of Chevy.
I can't see anybody else filling Don's shoes, and everybody there knows that, most of all Pete.
I don't think Joan's rant was as much about her sleeping with the jaguar guy as you're thinking. It started off that way, but she quickly steered it towards Don generally thinking his opinion and what he wants to do is the only thing that matters for the company. Joan was completely accurate about that.
Really, she only brought up what she did with the guy to point out how much of a spoiled brat Don was being ("If I could deal with him, you could deal with him.")...
Hours Left
Member
The difference in that situation is that the public offering would be nothing but beneficial to everyone in the company. And Don is not a numbers man, so I'm not surprised they didn't include him in the planning. (Though they should of consulted all the partners regardless.)
And as I said before, I strongly doubt that Don had the agency's interests in mind when he lambasted the Jaguar guy. His pride was hurt and he lashed out. He can try to spin it anyway he wants, but he didn't go into that dinner with the intention of dropping Jaguar. It happened because he can't keep his indignation in check, even through one dinner.
The company wouldn't exist without Roger's clout and capital. Harry runs the extremely vital TV department, which is the future of the industry. (Has Don even once had any sort of meaningful conversation about television's importance in advertizing?) Joan runs the inner agency like clockwork and has a very keen instinct for the office environment. Stan and Ginsberg are obviously the up and coming talent, and the future of the industry, which has been alluded to in past episodes, especially with Don and Ginsberg. And now that Peggy is back, Don's creative rival is back, and she will almost certainly surpass him someday.
But as I said before, Don is a very key component of the company, and I'm not suggesting they dump him. Yet he is not the glue keeping things together. More like a bronco they have to constantly keep penned up.
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
I don't think Don doesn't like Pete its just in his eyes he is still the equivalent of two coffee's guy... An obvious corporate climber and a bit slimey. That's why Pete's drawn to that guy they are the same in a lot of ways.
Also idk if it had been rogers account Don would act differently. Don does what he does and usually Roger is more supporting and would of saw the truth in what Don said about the account being basically over and moved on. The real issue is Don hated the jaguar guy because everytime he saw Don he tried to impose his will on Down and the agency and act like the big rooster in the hen house.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
I disagree. She's been putting up with Don for close to a decade, and now's the time to break? Sure, she would have been out of a big payday if Chevy didn't come through. But she injected herself and her history into that situation. She was almost moved to tears by it. For what? Because of Don? Because he acted totally predictably? I can't buy into that.
I think that was totally about her and the Jaguar guy. She hates herself for having done it, and she hates everybody for putting her in that position (save for Don). "I went through all of that for nothing?" was the most important line of the whole thing. And once she got going, she brought up Don and his horrible character flaws -- she start rolling and couldn't stop. But I'm not convinced Don's impropriety was the genesis of her meltdown.
But this goes against the opening scene of the episode. We're shown that Joan was very much about going public. It makes more sense for that being the source behind her telling Don off.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
I think you're placing too much importance on her criticism of Don and not enough on her anguish at (essentially) prostituting herself and her feelings over having done that and being used in that way.
Matt Zoller Seitz:
I can't believe she'd cry because Don maybe lost her a few thousand dollars (figuratively speaking). She was crying because of what she did with that man.
ConfusingJazz
Member
It was more then a couple thousand.
ZanzibarBreeze
Member
I meant that as a euphemism -- my point was that I can't see her crying over money.
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