Mad Men

Makeshift Python wrote:

Bledel usually plays sweet wholesome girls but those twenty seconds changed everything. Nice rack too.

*CJB likes this*

The White Tuxedo wrote:

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Four more episodes. Next one seems to be a Christmas one, and then we might get into 1967. Damn.

I pray the show doesn't hit the 70's or we may see Draper go through a mid-life crisis and grow sideburns.

And wear a ice cream colored leisure suits.

Still wanna see Sally go Patty Hearst and Glen Bishop go Son of Sam.

I wonder if Bobby Draper will ever be more than a shape-shifting also-ran.

Makeshift Python wrote:

And wear a ice cream colored leisure suits.

Are you thinking of the suit Nimoy wore for TWOK's press sessions? It is on one of the DVDs, and all he needs is a cane & top hat to be Dick Van Dyke having an epileptic seizure.

As for the new episode, "Christmas Waltz"... Overall I'd say call it so-so, like last week's episode, but I loved the Don/Joan scenes.

I hope this season isn't going to slip out of being great in the last five episodes. Maybe they had a lot of time to dedicate to the scripts from the first half, but not as much on the second?

Paul Kinsey is back, and probably gone forever again. Well, who knows? But his reveal as a Hari Krishna felt like a false note. I instantly thought of Martin Short's guest spot on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT; that episode where they simply went too far. But he's in it for pussy, so I can buy it. And he's a Trekkie, so we got our first Trek reference.

I'd say Pete doesn't feel like he's on suicide watch, but I'll be keeping my eyes on Lane. That cheque.

Loved the airplane bit.

Yeah, an average episode overall. I didn't expect Trek to get more than just a passing reference

There were a few minutes early on where I was thinking, "Am I watching the first bad episode of MAD MEN?" It was during the Krishna stuff. And to my eyes, MAD MEN has never had an outright bad episode.

This one just felt uneven to me. But I loved the stuff in the bar with Don and Joan. And we'll see how that plays out, which I kinda hope it does. *rubs hands together* Drama.

And we'll see what happens with Lane, who has been absent for four episodes I think, since he beat the shit out of Pete in "Signal 30". Maybe Lane will kill himself. This guy is starting to have motive. That cheque and that loan won't go unnoticed methinks.

Not sorry to see Paul leave again, I rather have Sal make an appearance.

"I don't remember everything everybody says"
"Because you're an idiot!"
"Don't talk to me like that!"
"Do you understand having you out here is like having noone?!"
"He said he knew you. He said it was a surprise."
"A surprise? Well thankyou for that! Here's a surprise! SURPRISE THERE'S AN AIRPLANE HERE TO SEE YOU!"

And with those lines Matthew Weiner defined and condensed the frustration of managing staff into a fifty five second scene.

The airplane bit was my favorite moment of the episode.

I throw airplanes at bitches all the time. Bitches love airplanes.

But yeah, I felt Ep 10 was a bit of a fizzer.

Unlike you fellas, I really liked this episode. Significantly more than its predecessor, at any rate. The Paul-as-Hari-Krishna didn't work for me at first, but I liked how the episode wrapped up that storyline. And there's interesting developments afoot re: Don/Joan, Don/Megan, and Lane's financial woes.

Don't know if the MM staff have heard this story or not, but De Kelley throughout the 70s recited a rejected TREK pitch that sounds an awful lot like Kinsey's. McCoy and Uhura would be on a planet where she had to be the master and he the slave.

Don't know if it was rejected for being too on-the-nose or other reasons (y'know, like the network wouldn't let them do LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD for a couple of years, till they changed the two aliens from one looking like an angel and the other like a devil to the two half-white/half-black guys.)

I thought this was a real bounceback improvement from the last couple, which are the only ones that seemed less than super to me thiis year. i've been expecting TREK to turn up, but with Cosgrove pitching to them, not Kinsey.

And yeah, Don & OurMrsReynolds make for a helluva two-shot ... would be even more interesting if they did that vertical-to-horizontal Fonda/Cardinale number from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST at some point. I think as an actress she sparks Hamm in a very interesting way, kind of like how Delancie always brought out the best in Baldy on TNG.

Kinsey pitching to TREK does make sense, as he mentioned loving THE TWILIGHT ZONE in S1.

Did not remember that, which is weird, because I liked Kinsey a lot more than the rest of the 7 dwarves, and was actually pissed that he was written out (with my wife it was Sal's disappearance that angered her.)

Kinsey... Personally I found him a little annoying, what with him being a pretentious proto-hipster. I don't know if he'd have really fit into S4 and S5 to be honest. One character too many perhaps. I didn't really miss him, but I have wanted him to return in some capacity. I'd have prefered him to return as an occasional recurring character, but he seems to be gone for good.

Of course, I thought proto-serial killer Glen Bishop was gone for good too...

Always loved Sal, but he seemed to have run his course as well IMHO. I would still like to see him return like Kinsey did, but not until next season. Don't want to have too many people return in short order.

Actually, I wanna see Sal come back as a successful director of commercials.

If they jumped to the mid-70s and Glen caught Malick's BADLANDS, maybe he'd hunt up the Draper girl and go on a romantic spree together.

Sal was the least interesting chorus member as far as I was concerned. Kinsey I didn't like but liked as a character. Sal as a character and as a storyline never really hit the right notes for me to be interested. I didn't help that he was played as being just a big old stereotypical queer. I think there was an interesting storyline there, but by making the character it revolved around such a mincing queen it took alot of the punch out of it. The original character was clearly meant as a bit of a joke 'hey look! this flaming homosexual is pretending to be interested in women! Hilarious!' but carrying it on I just don't think it worked.

Which is a bit of a shame because thematically, the duality and shades of grey that surround homosexuals who try to conform to gender roles and marry is perfect fodder on its own for this show, and that's before you throw in the 60s backdrop. It would've been far more compelling to give the impression the character is straight, make the viewer relate, then sucker punch them with that.

re: the latest episode. I think the show is obviously building to some Joan/Don affair. The impact that could potentially have on Roger, Peggy, Megan and to a lesser extent Joane would be rich dramatic fodder (and as a catalyst, would have a lot of impact). In terms of signalling, Don was having trouble being inspired or inspiring as a leader at work and was feeling adrift once Megan left... suddenly when he has some sexual goal in Joan he is focused and a rock of confidence. Joan was obviously being written in being interested (the bar scene, 'I can't hit on him... we've been sitting together all night' line was the most obvious)

I forgot to tune in until it was 10:15. I'll catch it on iTunes.

This last episode... holy crap.

I just watched "The Other Woman".

HOLY SHIT. The last two episodes didn't impress me as much, but THIS was one of the most gripping episodes I've seen from the whole series. Jesus, watching this show has become like watching the fall of Rome. This episode was like watching the fall of Rome while wading though an emotional sewer.

Just the idea alone of The Boys hooking Joan out to that grotesquely disgusting fat fuck made this episode deeply disturbing to me. In a good way, dramatically. And it gives Hendricks soooooooo much to work with, and she's impeccable in the episode.

I'm sure we all knew Peggy was gonna jump ship at some point, and they really capture that perfectly in the last five minutes of the episode.

Megan's story.... Doesn't really do much for me.

The real stars in this episode: Joan, Peggy, Don, and Pete. Oh, Pete. I've always given him the benefit of the doubt, but no... he's a slimy little piece of shit. Trudy should cut his dick off.

Harmsway wrote:

This last episode... holy crap.

The episode clutched my heart for 47 minutes.

Damn, I forgot to upload it on my iPod for lunch time.

It's ironic, they get the Jaguar , but Don isn't happy. And he's crushed by Peggy leaving. Peggy's... sorta the other woman? He's got everything now, or he's got a lot with Jaguar. But he can't have Peggy along.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Megan's story.... Doesn't really do much for me.

At certain points in this season, I've been very interested in her--the episode with her parents was great and did a lot to expand upon what baggage she brings to the table--but I'm not very invested in her career struggles. Since she's left the office, I'm not sure the show has found any really good moments for her.

What was being implied with her audition? I couldn't tell if I was supposed to be reading between the lines there or not.