Mad Men season 6 (spoilers)

[Lord Garth]

I'm a little surprised that SCDPCGC would expend so much "effort" into creative when Chevy won't even pick anything until 1970. Ultimately, I have to agree with Don.

I wonder if Don's shutting out Chevy is just the first step in checking out of Creative entirely, except as an acceptor or rejecter, and leaving the charge to Ted and Peggy. If that turns out to be the case, then CGC won the creative war against SCDP.

Sally and Bobby are lucky beyond belief that they weren't harmed or that someone more dangerous didn't break in. This cannot be stressed enough.

 

[the G-man]

I'm a little surprised that SCDPCGC would expend so much "effort" into creative when Chevy won't even pick anything until 1970.

I might be wrong but I thought the agency was getting paid big bucks to expend the effort at this time.

I wonder if Don's shutting out Chevy is just the first step in checking out of Creative entirely, except as an acceptor or rejecter, and leaving the charge to Ted and Peggy. If that turns out to be the case, then CGC won the creative war against SCDP.

I don't know. Some might say becoming the boss of your rivals is winning. The real issue would seem to me to be the idea that Don is aging and becoming out of touch with both the ad game and the world in general.

Sally and Bobby are lucky beyond belief that they weren't harmed or that someone more dangerous didn't break in. This cannot be stressed enough.

One of the little subtleties of the show is when they show how progressively dangerous NYC was getting as we headed Into the 70s. A lot of people, especially those about 30 and under don't know about the pre-Guiliani city that served as a backdrop for films like Death Wish and Taxi Driver and how rough a place it could be.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm a little surprised that SCDPCGC would expend so much "effort" into creative when Chevy won't even pick anything until 1970.

I might be wrong but I thought the agency was getting paid big bucks to expend the effort at this time.

I didn't say they weren't but still...

 

[the G-man]

It's a business. They get paid by clients to come up with advertisements. As long as they are getting paid sufficient money to make a profit it would surprising for them to turn it down just because those ads aren't getting published for a few years. It only becomes an issue if they allow the client to so consume the agency that they lose other business and can't recover if they lose GM.

 

[J.T.B.]

I might be wrong but I thought the agency was getting paid big bucks to expend the effort at this time.

I didn't say they weren't but still...

I don't know that they have a choice after losing Jaguar and Vicks.

 

[the G-man]

Presactly. The only real question is whether they have to find a way to expand further in order to keep/obtain other clients in case they lose GM.

And, of course, whether Don will find yet another way to sabotage that expansion the way he has pretty much every other time. Deep down he likes being a big fish in a small pond and, further, he has difficulty accepting that he's moving into the "mentor" phase of his life.

 

[Warped9]

Peggy accidentally stabbing Abe was priceless.

And Betty finally cheats on Henry... WITH DON!!! I just never saw that coming.

What I did see coming was Megan's coworker putting a move on her.

Bob Benson just pops up everywhere doesn't he?

 

[the G-man]

Don and Teds fight about butter and margarine in front of Peggy Was like watching the dad and the new boyfriend argue in front of the daughter.

Megan does a good job playing a soap opera actress who is not that good of an actress.

The worst thing about John and Betty's little tête-à-tête is that means more screen time for January Jones. Though you have to give Betty credit for nailing Don's number.

Poor Peggy. She stabbed Meathead and Rob Petrie Spurned her advances. This may be her lowest moment since she had to watch two dogs fucking outside her hotel room

 

[Snaploud]

I'm half expecting Bob to become a partner before Harry. That guy really knows how to suck up to the bosses. Though, he might have unintentionally pissed off Roger by hitting on Joan.

Peggy accidentally stabbing Abe was priceless.

That was definitely my favorite part of the episode.

 

[Data Holmes]

I saw the stabbing comming the moment she picked up her home made spear.

I was waiting for the hookup of Don and Betty ever since they divorced.

Is Bert Cooper dead? When they ran off the list of agency names, someone said "two of them are dead"...

I have to say, I hated the Betty charecter from day one, and have even skipped over her parts in rewatching the spearly seasons, but I actually didn't mind her in tonight's episode. J. Jones played her different or something. More mature? She defiantly wasn't grating and annoying like usual. I actually started to notice a shift in her charecter away from annoying, at least for me, this season. I think she may be growing tired of her new husband as his political ambitions take over. I also suspect that he has a "perv" side which has been hinted at but not fully shown that Betty may be growing tired of (his nonchalant reaction to her "out of place" rape joke early in the season and his seeming to get turned on by the other guy propositioning Betty after ogling her all night at that event).

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I, too, have been waiting for Don and Betty to have a one night stand again. I love that she one night standed him and didn't act as if they would get together again. The volume was a little iffy since I have to watch by "other means." Did Betty say "Once I got you, I'd never hold on to you"? Basically, that she knew Don would soon grow disinterested again if they started seeing one another? If that's so, she's got him pegged.

Don is just flat out not in love with Megan. He fell in love with an image. I feel bad for her. She loves him, but Don's uninterested. If Don got back together with Betty, he'd soon lose interest again. Betty's right as rain. I don't think she's tired of Henry; I think she wants to keep what she has. She loves Henry in her own way. She likes that he's interested in her exclusively as far as women go. That blue eye shadow was hideous, but it was in fashion. I remember blue eye shadow.

What is UP with mr. suck up, Bob whats his name? He must have an angle somewhere. Just because he likes Joan doesn't mean there's no angle.

 

[Data Holmes]

I, too, have been waiting for Don and Betty to have a one night stand again. I love that she one night standed him and didn't act as if they would get together again. The volume was a little iffy since I have to watch by "other means." Did Betty say "Once I got you, I'd never hold on to you"? Basically, that she knew Don would soon grow disinterested again if they started seeing one another? If that's so, she's got him pegged.

Don is just flat out not in love with Megan. He fell in love with an image. I feel bad for her. She loves him, but Don's uninterested. If Don got back together with Betty, he'd soon lose interest again. Betty's right as rain. I don't think she's tired of Henry; I think she wants to keep what she has. She loves Henry in her own way. She likes that he's interested in her exclusively as far as women go. That blue eye shadow was hideous, but it was in fashion. I remember blue eye shadow.

What is UP with mr. suck up, Bob whats his name? He must have an angle somewhere. Just because he likes Joan doesn't mean there's no angle.

I've bounced between three different explanations for Bob. He is either a total red herring ment to distract, an undercover writer looking to do an inside exposé on the "mad men", or he is Don's illegitimate son from that time with the young prostitute.

I have to say, I like the illegitimate son angle.

 

[Snaploud]

I think Bob is exactly what he appears to be: a young guy who will work his way up the corporate ladder very quickly by making friends with the partners. He'll probably end up stealing a lot of their clients or at the very least replacing Ken or Pete in the office pecking order. I could also see the writers playing up Joan/Bob as the Joan/Roger dynamic in reverse (where Joan is finally in the position of power in an office romance).

 

[the G-man]

Is Bert Cooper dead? When they ran off the list of agency names, someone said "two of them are dead"...

That was a joke about how useless a couple of the senior partners are, Bert and (I think) Harry Hamlin.

I think Bob is exactly what he appears to be: a young guy who will work his way up the corporate ladder very quickly by making friends with the partners...

This. So much of the show is about the shift to youth that occurred in the 60s. Bob is another manifestation of that. When the show started, Don was the top dog middle aged guy, Pete was the up and comer and Roger and Bert were the elder statesmen.

Pete is now the middle aged guy and Bob is nipping at his heels. Don is aging into the elder statesman role but can't accept it.

 

[J.T.B.]

That was a joke about how useless a couple of the senior partners are, Bert and (I think) Harry Hamlin.

No, it was referring to Gleason, who just died, and Lane Price.

 

[the G-man]

Ah, that makes even more sense. Thanks

 

[Lord Garth]

"Admiral, David is dead." Okay, that's not what happened but that's all I could think of when Peggy accidentally stabbed Abe. "He'll never play golf again" moment of the season.

I'm glad the writers got Don/Betty out of their system and out of the viewers'.

The Bob/Joan/Roger scene in its "out of context" nature was perfect.

I'm involved in independent film, primarily as a script supervisor, but I'm on set and I could so relate to the scene when the soap was being shot. I feel bad for Megan, on the work front and the home front.

EDIT

Always Something There to Remind Me. Definitely not the version of the song I grew up with. Like Venus, I didn't know there was an earlier version.

 

[the G-man]

Always Something There to Remind Me. Definitely not the version of the song I grew up with. Like Venus, I didn't know there was an earlier version.

And the version from last night wasn't even the only previous "hit" version. A lot of people made the charts in the 60s and 70s with that song. The Diane Warwick version was the one I knew best before Naked Eyes.

 

[Lord Garth]

I Don't Wanna Be Right would've been a perfect song -- too perfect -- for one of the closing credits if it wasn't released in 1972.

 

[J.T.B.]

One of the little subtleties of the show is when they show how progressively dangerous NYC was getting as we headed Into the 70s. A lot of people, especially those about 30 and under don't know about the pre-Guiliani city that served as a backdrop for films like Death Wish and Taxi Driver and how rough a place it could be.

You called that right. The sirens in the last one were pretty obtrusive.

Always Something There to Remind Me. Definitely not the version of the song I grew up with. Like Venus, I didn't know there was an earlier version.

Oh dear. Burt Bacharach and Hal David were quite an industry in the '60s, with artists fairly lining up to record their songs. Dionne Warwick was usually their go-to singer in the US, and Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black for the UK, but plenty of other artists made the charts with B-D compositions: Cher, B. J. Thomas, Herb Alpert, the Carpenters, Jerry Butler and on and on. Some of their songs seem to get re-discovered every generation or so, for instance "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" recordings by Elvis Costello and the Attractions and the White Stripes.

The Diane Warwick version was the one I knew best before Naked Eyes.

And the best version for my money. The way she kicks it upstairs at the key change... incredble. It didn't chart well for her, though.