Mad Men season 6 (spoilers)

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by ALF, Apr 7, 2013.

  1. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've been DVRing these shows live but careful to not skip ahead or pause because my cable provider (Bell in Canada in case you're wondering) has the bad habit of clipping off the last few minutes of each and every Mad Men to date. You would think that this oversight would have been corrected by now. So for repeat viewings I have to keep my eye on when the red light does dim and hit 'record' a second time to catch the ending. In this case the ending scene was somewhat important; sometimes it's just vague and unhelpful.

    I remember hearing the same... my guess (and this is in response to the many posts about this) is that it'll end up with the final season in the wee hours of the 1970s but then flash forward to present day only for a few short scenes. There's no guarantee that Don will be there; maybe he ends up tossing himself out the window as the opening playfully depicts? ;)

    I love the idea of someone plummeting from a window as the very last scene but it seems the people who make this show love to intentionally do the unexpected as it makes things interesting. I don't know... someone should jump out of a window but I'm not sure who. Maybe joke-a-day Wiener will take the plunge.

    Metaphors, metaphors, metaphors.

    I thought of Six Feet Under as well... but maybe we'll see the fate of these characters as the last two seasons progress. I just hope there isn't much fast forwarding past the 60s because they are nailing the 60s in an incredible way. I feel like I've seen enough of the 70s and 80s and 90s elsewhere but this show is dreaming in the 1960s and there's nothing else quite like it.... a decade I never cared for much until this show aired.


    I'm actually loving the friendship between Stan and Peggy. Didn't see it coming, either. When Peggy left it was so under the radar (Joan knew!) so excepting Don I didn't see Peggy having a relationship with anyone at SCDP was possible.

    As for Abe... he's her little working tool. He is her lifeline to the young and hip, at least that is how I chose to interpret that final glance he gives her. Here is Abe helping out her lady on a tight deadline, bringing sandwiches and an insight into the youthful (drunk) market for the headphones.

    I reckon Peggy will have her way with Ted (or vice versa) and dump Abe when practicality is observed.

    By the way, I think Peggy's overall arc for the next two years will somehow involve a collision course between her and Don. Thematically it fits because she is Don's protégé, but ultimately I think it will be fascinating if they are both scrambling over signing a lucrative account - we know what lengths SCDP are willing to go to as evidenced by Jaguar/Joan.

    But until all that we're going to see half a season of Peggy working her way to the top at Ted's firm. He certainly noticed her. "You're good in a crisis", etc.

    I'm kind of glad there's no Kurt and Smitty. I found them kind of flat, but that's just me.

    Don's cheating means he's finally back to his old, comfortable ways. Was it Faye Miller in season 4 who told Don he 'only enjoys the beginning of things?' Well, that's more true than ever after his obsession with death after the Hawaiian vacation. When things are great he seems out of place. There's really no reason for him to cheat, Megan is essentially his perfect wife, so all the more intense that he would choose to cheat with her.

    In the opening scenes I remember the word that came to mind was 'paradise'. Here is Don in a tropical paradise of his own with his sexy wife, great food, scored a couple of joints and 'blue drinks in the white sand' and all he can think about is the end! A couple of the characters even mentioned 'paradise' by name.

    "What is happiness? Just another moment before you need more happiness." - Miserable Don Draper nailing the entire world of advertising on the head. After realizing that he was indirectly responsible for Lane's death last year and his brother's a few years' previous, Don is starting to carry around some serious baggage. No wonder he's obsessed with the end of it all.

    "Of course! That's what's so great about it." - Stan, on if he noticed suicide being a theme of the Hotel Campaign.

    Back to Peggy a bit more... I loved the comparison between Peggy and Don's account trouble. Both dealt with unimaginative clients that made the process burdensome; both cited the need to make a great ad and not one that 'anyone else' could do. Like the image of the hotel in the background of the ad for "the Jumping Off Point" or the cute "Lend Me Your Ears" idea that likely would have gone completely unnoticed (pre-internet, how would the masses become aware of a one-off joke from late night TV?) the episode was a case in point on how Peggy and Don deal with the same kind of situation. And Peggy did way better than Don.

    I like that idea... the Dick Whitman thing. When Mad Men ends, will Don end up starting another life?
    Is there a reference to "A Star is Born" in this episode? I missed it entirely, though I wasn't familiar with it until you brought it up. But the eclipsing part... I hope to see more of that this season! Especially after Peggy's "sound so good you can see it" commercial airs.

    Any takers on this bet: Peggy gets an advertising award this year and Don doesn't! :D

    It seems Betty's activities this episode were the most mysterious... when she made the uncomfortable rape joke my interpretation was that she was doing whatever she could to keep herself entertained! I think she is a very bored woman. In the end, she was able to both satisfy her own lack of anything to do by coloring her hair and turning on Henry (he loved the new hairstyle!) despite her teasing of him leering at the violin girl.

    Was anyone else confused as hell as to her origins? I watched the episode twice and had to go to the internet to find out why she was there. Anyway, I hope they have some sort of plan in place for Betty this year because she's been nothing but a background distraction for the past two. I'd love to see her try and ruin Don's life to get back into it but it seems clear that Don is going to do that himself.

    I think the majority of your annoyances stem from 'setups' that the season will pay off for (although I'm certain that a minor cosmetic change like the stairs will factor into any stories!). Abe is certainly getting dumped and Roger's insanities at the moment provide the show with some much needed comic relief, although you need to be a Roger fan for that to work. This was in many ways a very heavy episode and I thought it was interesting that it was set between Xmas and NYE - again highlighting the intensity of the theme of eventual death. We didn't see a convivial holiday party but people working - and hard to meet new deadlines.

    Not sure where they are going with the guy in accounts though. Anything could happen. So far the only thing it did (besides confuse) was highlight Ken's ability to be a hard ass, although he was correct when he stripped the guy down in front of the receptionist.

    Personally I loved the premiere but I couldn't help but notice there was no "Zou Bisou Bisou" moment like last year's - which was amazing!

    I doubt they will get back together but some alcohol-fueled hanky-panky might be interesting.... leading me to recall:

    In the final scene when Don crawls back into bed with Megan (from the bed of the doctor's wife) once again I thought of Big Love and how that family used religious interpretation to rationalize from society's view that having multiple wives is perfectly fine... it's unacceptable for Don to have multiple wives but he could if he wanted to. He's got the cash flow to make it work and seems to have the energy to spend on the women in his life. That's what I always thought would be the worst part of having multiple partners is all the running around involved. Is there any chance that Megan would allow Don to sleep around? Probably not - but I guess she'll end up finding out and may cook up her own revenge by banging one of his enemies - Ted from Peggy's new firm?

    I doubt highly that bigamy will become a theme in Mad Men but I can't help but find the minor comparisons. Sleeping around =/= bigamy but my only point here is that Don has the means if he were so inclined.

    Sorry for the super-long post. Fingers crossed for some substantial Joan / Pete plots tonight!
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2013
  2. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Your DVR may have the option of setting it so that it records an extra minute or two of a particular show. Here in NYS Time Warner cable had a bad habit of clipping off the last couple minutes of South Park. Then I noticed when I set up the season pass I had the option to adjust the start and/or stop times. So I adjusted the stop time and the clipping ended.
     
  3. Dorian Thompson

    Dorian Thompson Admiral Admiral

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    Don, Don, Don. The man is begging--pleading--to get caught. I suspect Megan isn't going to go silently into the night turning on herself and becoming bitter. I suspect she's capable of some serious revenge. :lol: I had to shake my head at Sylvia getting jealous; of course he's still sleeping with his wife, genius. They usually are, and Don doesn't abstain under any circumstances. Sex is his salve for the pain and boredom of life.

    Loved Trudy laying the smack down on Pete, but why is she staying married to the man? Am I judging her through a 2013 lens? She could take him to the cleaners in divorce court and get the house, especially in that time period. Alimony by half. She doesn't want to "fail" and keep up appearances? Why?

    Wow, when Don wants to tank a presentation, he doesn't mess around.
     
  4. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    As shallow as Pete is, Trudy is a good match for him. They are both obsessed with appearances.

    As for Don, I'm starting to think that despite his fondness for Megan, he already sees it 'over' with her career success starting to build. I think he's at a "why bother" point with it. That's part of it... but another huge part of it is that he gave the doctor's wife money (and I guess that's why we had the whorehouse flashback?) but the flashback left me wondering about Don's origins... didn't his mother die in childbirth? I'm sure she did. So the woman that came with him was his half-brother's mother? Hmmm. But anyway, we know why he gave her (the doctor's wife) $$$, that what he does with women. He pays them so he doesn't have to handle their heavy baggage.

    Oh Don... obsessed with your own death you befriend a doctor, and obsessed with things ending/beginning you are pounding his wife. Talk about making your bed and lying in it.

    Well said!

    Was Megan really upset about the miscarriage? I think relief would be the more obvious feeling. Now that her career in TV has just begun I can't imagine anything worse than a year of down time - however Megan's soap gig is just a mystery at this point. "To Have And To Hold", next week's show is the same title as Megan's soap so can we assume we'll get to see a bit of that world?

    Loved seeing the eventual build up for Don vs. Peggy over the ketchup account. Heads are going to roll and I'd say, sadly, the first on the chopping block is Stan. Ted is really a shark and his hatred for Don will overshadow any relationship built with Peggy in the meantime.

    Overall this was an incredibly serious episode; it reminded me of old season 1/2 Man Men where very little comic relief was employed. After several seasons of build up it was nice to see Pete get what was coming but I half expect the situation to be resolved next week.

    We've never really seen Pete "single" as the series began with his stag party. What's in store for him? Is the airheaded neighbour going to take care of him (a woman's touch)? Good god, that house party with the people from the neighbourhood was mighty sketchy. Between the sexual tension with Pete and the play tickets and the weirdness of the two rapist looking husbands leering at Trudy over the Easter Bunny outfit, I'd be putting that house for sale were I Pete or Trudy!

    Speaking of weirdos, that creep from Jaguar encountering Joan was surreal! I love the way the she always forms sentences that he can't understand. Pure gold.

    Plus with the whorehouse flashbacks, Pete and Trudy's neighbours, the glazed-over maid, that lame ass from Heinz, this week's Mad Men was a full on 1960s freak show... and then we get adverts highlighting AMC's new freak show series!

    BTW, thanks for the DVR tip, theGman. Unfortunately my timer has never worked, so I had to manually record the last 3 minutes again. If they could only play all the Hundai commercials after the show was over...
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2013
  5. sidious618

    sidious618 Admiral Admiral

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    Don's overacting during the meeting was great. We need more of that.
     
  6. marillion

    marillion Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^^ That's what this show has been missing... I'm growing a bit tired of the "affair of the week" thing with Don and Pete.. I know the Peggy plot lines focus on the Ad biz, but I wish they'd show more of it with Don & Co.

    Yes, we get it.. Pete is a snivelling weasle, but the affairs and subsequent fallout get uncomfortable to watch... Don is who Don is, and I get that... But let's have some more focus on drama that doesn't involve messing around on one's spouse...
     
  7. Dorian Thompson

    Dorian Thompson Admiral Admiral

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    My mother, who turned 29 in 1968, assured me that white frosted lipstick was all the rage. Peggy's secretary isn't color blind. It was hideous, but it was the rage.
     
  8. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Don checked out of his marriage to Megan at the moment she became "independent.". That was the point of last season's finale. Probably because, to Don, an independent woman is a 'whore' like his mothers.

    Other, random, thoughts:

    My parents had that remote Pete was clicking. They also had Don and Megan's bed spread.

    Continuing the "don death imagery," there's the switch from a light grey suit to a Navy-almost black-one as his every day work suit. Not to mention Megan's miscarriage.

    Joan's outward cool towards the Jaguar guy, followed by her grabbing a drink from Don's touch was a nice bit of characterization. Well played by Ms Hendrix.

    Jaguar guy reminds me a little too much of Chris Christie.

    Draper passive aggressived him to death. As sideous said, we more acting like that from Hamm.

    Linda cardellini looks remarkably like Dean Mrs Wormer from Animal House in that get up.

    There was something almost Seinfelidian but sad the way that Don and Sylvia started acting like an old married couple at the dinner....until Don pulled his patented Bond moves.

    Peggy deserved what happened regarding Heinz. She should have known better than to blab like that.

    "Poor" Pete. He tries desperately to be Don but he can't handle anything-even his affairs-the way that Draper does.

    Trudy demolished him. She gave him every thing he wanted but his illusion of dignity. Bastard never deserved her.

    "just a gigolo.". Could be the shows theme song.
     
  9. gblews

    gblews Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Absolutely agree, though the ackward moments don't really bother me. They don't have to completely cut out the cheating, just don't make it the main focus of so many episodes.
     
  10. Pondwater

    Pondwater Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I was thinking Tony Soprano.
     
  11. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Chris Christie sometimes reminds me a little too much of Tony Soprano. ;)
     
  12. Capt. Vulcan

    Capt. Vulcan Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Anyone else think Betty's digital fat suit looked terrible?
     
  13. Dorian Thompson

    Dorian Thompson Admiral Admiral

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    She does look a little frumpy in it. It looked....doughy.
     
  14. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Something about her face looked off, but I had attributed that to makeup and this being the first season I'd watched in hi def, until you mentioned it
     
  15. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, it's confusing too (the fat neck). Is it meant to coincide with the likely reality of slow weight loss (Betty's storyline last season) which was explained by covering up her real life pregnancy?
    It was interesting seeing Betty fat last season though now I'm wondering if Betty and Don's storylines are meant to be independent of each other for the rest of the series or are they going to cross paths again? Really hard to tell where they are going with her.
    But I think she's getting even crazier, if that's even possible.
     
  16. Pondwater

    Pondwater Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It's most likely that they'll cross paths again because of the kids.
     
  17. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh yes of course, but I was thinking something a lot more substantial than what we've been seeing, dropping off and picking up kids. Betty and Don haven't even been in the same scene together since... I can't recall.
     
  18. Lord Garth

    Lord Garth Admiral Admiral

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    Much better.

    I'm so glad Trudy saw through why Pete really wanted an apartment in the city and threw him out so early on in the season. I can't wait for when they do try to maintain appearances and things go from South to Antarctic.

    Love that they flashback to Uncle Mack. Last year, I was wondering what Don would know about growing up in a "whorehouse". Archie was a farmer and I didn't peg Mack for being a pimp but now it makes sense why Don felt that he had to get out of there.

    Now that we know that Abigail was a prostitute, I'm now of the belief that Don was right when he said in the first season flashback, "He ain't my brother." Where did Adam get the red hair from? Definitely not his parents. I think Adam's father was one of Abigail's clients for lack of a better term. Wanting to deny everything, she couldn't wanted to pass of Adam as Archie's.

    The only problem I had with the flashback is I think they should've either recast Dick or set it a few years after they moved in with Mack, when Dick actually would've been a teenager. The actor clearly doesn't look he's 10 anymore, which is how old Dick was when his father died and how old he looked in the flashback to when Adam was born.

    Don sabotaging the pitch for more local Jaguar ads was priceless. :devil:
     
  19. Dorian Thompson

    Dorian Thompson Admiral Admiral

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    Abigail was already pregnant when they went to the whorehouse. She had a small pregnant belly.
     
  20. Lord Garth

    Lord Garth Admiral Admiral

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    ^ I was speculating about whether or not she'd already been a prostitute even before that.