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Mad Men season 6 (spoilers)

I think that subconsciously, Ted sees Peggy as the trophy in his battle with Don. She was Don's protege. Having her symbolizes Ted's ultimate victory over Don. It's just that, once Don is out, the spoils are not so sweet. Not Peggy per se, but the whole sordid business that Peggy has come to represent to Ted. He did after all encourage Don to take that drink before he made his chocolate pitch. Screwing your enemy's protege is one thing. Kicking a sick and struggling man off the cart is another.
 
Affair-wise, Ted comes off way worse than Don. I was totally disgusted by him in this ep, though it had been coming on for some time.
 
Warped9 said:
Donald Draper said:
No words. I was blown away!
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Same here. Don is basically outing himself in unexpected places. First at a client's meeting and then it looks like he's going to do the same with his kids. I even got the feeling he's was going to tell Megan before she flew out the door.
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Meagan already knows about "Dick Whitman".
Dorian Thompson said:
I don't get the man.
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I'm not surprised. Don is a very complex character but you seem to see only the surfacy, obviously assholish and contradictory stuff that Don does. Weiner has, over the last 6 seasons, shown us what, and from where Don came, and why he is who he is. There is much more to the character than the things you choose to focus on.

I get the impression he is your favorite character but you are missing several dimensions of the character that might help you get a clearer picture of who he is and might make him even more interesting (or enjoyable -- assuming you want to enjoy the character).

BTW, Peggy bears at least some of the responsibility for being "led on" by Ted. Part of her wanted to be led on. She knew at all times that Ted was married. Not absolving Ted for his deceit and weakness, but Peggy brought it ob herself.
Was that a subpoena for her and Don to testify at a divorce hearing for Sylvia and Arthur? My sound was having trouble at the very beginning.
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The burglar was apparently caught and the D.A.'s office wants Sally to testify or at least wants her statement.
J.T.B. said:
It actually didn't end as bleak as I thought it might. The ties of family have been strong this season, and they appear to be revealing some redemptive power. It was family bonds, apparently, that got Duck back on the rails. It was family bonds that got Don to loosen up and sing a song in public with his son and ex-wife. It was family bonds -- his own and Ted's -- that made Don realize he couldn't go to California. The appeal of Stan's California pitch to Don's instincts of moving and re-inventing was so strong that he ripped it off almost word for word. For all the hurt it's caused Megan, it was still a more mature Don that ultimately rejected it. Rachel chucked Don because she couldn't respect herself being with a man who would desert his family. Megan may come to see it that way, or maybe not. But Don starting over and reinventing himself for the right reasons, that's got some real positive potential.
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I found the end, when Don physically took his kids to the house, then standing in the street out in front and telling them that this is where he grew up, quite moving. They made a point of letting us here Bobby say that "this is a bad neighborhood". So the kids knew where they were. For Don Draper, this was beyond huge, in fact I'de say it was the most biggest and most positive step we've seen Don make toward understanding himself and allowing those whom he loves most to actually enter his life.

It made me nuts with curiosity about where and how this most damaged character would end up.

I agree with the poster who said that a physical suicide for Don is almost surely not going to happen. This show is too good for that.
I felt like I missed something: How did the California job go from "one man and a desk" to a two-partner operation?
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I wondered about this too, especially since they made such a point of telling us (several times) that it was a one man operation.

Most interesting episode. Can't wait for net season.
 
gblews said:
I found the end, when Don physically took his kids to the house, then standing in the street out in front and telling them that this is where he grew up, quite moving. They made a point of letting us here Bobby say that "this is a bad neighborhood". So the kids knew where they were. For Don Draper, this was beyond huge, in fact I'de say it was the most biggest and most positive step we've seen Don make toward understanding himself and allowing those whom he loves most to actually enter his life.
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I felt the same way. And remember the song that played as Don looked at his kids:

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all​

I usually don't speculate on what direction things will go, but that scene was very suggestive of redemptive potential.
 
I'm not surprised. Don is a very complex character but you seem to see only the surfacy, obviously assholish and contradictory stuff that Don does. Weiner has, over the last 6 seasons, shown us what, and from where Don came, and why he is who he is. There is much more to the character than the things you choose to focus on.
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I know there's more to the character than what's on the surface. I see what Weiner has chosen to present as the traumatic events that molded Don, but Don's stinging cruelty at several points during the series have often surpassed what might be considered expected due to the abuse Don suffered. There are times the character's behavior has been completely beyond the pale. Shocking, even. Hamm really nailed it. Don completely rejecting his brother was one of those moments. His treatment of Betty at times really tiptoed that line.

I don't know if its Hamm's portrayal, or the writing, but I've always had a hard time sympathizing with the character. Pete's done equally horrible things, but there's something about the pathetic-ness of Pete and his lack of social graces that makes me feel a level of sympathy even though he deserves a thousand smacks for his behavior. Could be the actor. Kartheiser's never gotten enough kuds, IMHO.
 
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Los Angeles is Detroit with palm trees. Heh.

Don sitting in the bar drinking like Darren Stevens used to on 'Bewitched' watching Darren Stevens on 'bewitched' was one of the greatest meta moments in recent television history.

Pete's mother falling off the ship was a little too soap opera and a little too Roselyn Shay's going down an elevator shaft for me.

For your consideration advertisement: Elizabeth Moss probably should get an Emmy this year.

That look that Sally and Don gave each other and was goddamned heartbreaking. Well done. One of the things I've always said about don as far as being redemptive is that even when he fails he tries to be a good father. It seems like the realization that he's been a bad father is what is triggering his possible rehabilitation.
 
I always listen both commentaries whenever I purchase the latest season of Mad Men on Blu-Ray.

This time, I'll be even more interested than usual in what Matt Weiner has to say in the commentaries.
 
J.T.B. said:
remember the song that played as Don looked at his kids:

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all​

I usually don't speculate on what direction things will go, but that scene was very suggestive of redemptive potential.
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Even moreso when you consider this part of the song:
Oh but now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From WIN and LOSE and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all​
 
It's a major irony that I only post on TrekBBS anymore to talk about Mad Men but there we are...

... sorry to bump this thread, but I figured fellow fans should know, if they haven't kept up, that the seventh season is being split up. Seven episodes will be airing in Spring 2014 and seven in Spring 2015.

Here's a link.
 
I think they should be cautious about this kind of thing. If you want fans to remain enthusiastic about your product, you have to actually deliver that product. Seems like TPTB at Mad Men are operating under the assumption that "absence make the heart grow fonder." Maybe they should pay more attention to another saying: "Out of sight, out of mind."
 
As long as it's planned in two parts, and not just arbitrarily split into two halves with an interminable hiatus between them, I don't mind. This seems to be the case, so, okay.

Of course, I'd rather have it all now, but this has always been a series that requires a bit of patience.

The only downside is the inevitable home video release, in which I will end up paying double what I did for the previous seasons (well, of the first four I own so far, anyway), but for only one extra episode of content.
 
Man, I hope they don't split the Season 7 video release into two parts. That would be an unconscientionable cash grab.
 
Those in charge split the home video releases for the split seasons of Breaking Bad, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Universe, and The Sopranos. I rather doubt this will be different, especially since, after a year hiatus, the first half of the season on home video will be used to promote the second half of the season on television.
 
Dream said:
So yeah, this is nothing but a cash grab by AMC.
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The article also quotes Weiner as saying:

We plan to take advantage of this chance to have a more elaborate story told in two parts, which can resonate a little bit longer in the minds of our audience.
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There's economic and scheduling reasons to film everything at once. That, in and of itself, doesn't really speak to the motives of AMC (which strikes me less as an effort to make more money, than an effort to heighten the network's profile by keeping new episodes of Mad Men in the air for another two years rather than one).
 
AMC also split the final season of Breaking Bad. This network seems desperate to extend their hit shows as long as possible, the only reason that we are getting spinoffs of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

But I see the network falling hard as soon as their three big hit shows end. AMC's bad reputation for kicking their show runners to the curb is starting to catch up with them. Who wants to work for people like that?
 
Their treatment of talent will probably continue to be a problem -- I know Bryan Cranston had a show he wanted to do at AMC, but the network balked, saying they were more interested in doing shows with broader appeal, like The Walking Dead -- but their bigger problem has been that nothing they've done lately has made waves like their early successes in scripted drama (in this cycle of scripted shows on AMC, anyway).

Not unlike Showtime before it, there was a brief period when people were talking about AMC as a successor to HBO. Now their biggest hit is a horror show, and they have gotten into reality programming and talk shows.
 
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