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I'm on Season 5 now. Just finished the episode where Harry and Don try to speak to the Rolling Stones for the Heinz commercial. I'm thinking... the Who have an album cover called The Who Sell Out where one of the band members (I think Ted) is bathing in a bath of Heinz baked beans. That album came out in '67 and right now in the story it's 1966. Will the firm be responsible for that album cover in the fiction of Mad Men? EDIT: Oops, got the name wrong. Fix'd DoubleCakes fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Dec 2, 2023 |
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Dec 2, 2023 02:16
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 00:16 |
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Getting towards the end of Season 5 and towards the end of 1966 in the story's timeline. You can feel 60s counter-culture take over the environment with the Beatles' Revolver getting featured in one episode the Hare Krishna thing in "Christmas Waltz". The story has largely been about tradition and how the character's handle tradition so it's going to be interesting seeing how the characters react to the stuff that's going to happen in the lack leg of the 1960s.
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Dec 9, 2023 23:50
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I think it was more of Don thinking, "I don't get it" and tying onto the season's theme of the old guys like Don and Harry losing touch with culture.
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Jan 8, 2024 19:08
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I never liked "Tomorrow Never Knows" much until that episode. That episode made it cool for me for some reason.
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Jan 9, 2024 02:07
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Started season 6 and you can feel the jump to the end of 1967. Half the male cast look like a Beatle except Abe who so obviously got into Zappa.
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Jan 28, 2024 00:36
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Episode 4 of season 6 and we get that Serge Gainsbourg needle drop which Rush Hour 3 used that same song but that's Rush Hour 3 and what I might do is pretend like I heard Serge Gainsbourg first through Mad Men and not Rush Hour 3 but then I'm thinking the episode aired in 2013 and Rush Hour 3 came out in 2007 so I couldn't edit my personal Serge Gainsbourg history enough to accomodate getting into his music 2013 or later anyways Harry has probably brought in the most consistent work for the firm so why they got to treat him so bad?
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Jan 30, 2024 00:04
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Got to episode 4 (for real, this time) of season 6 and we get that awards show and– Oh god, the directing in that scene is so good I want to put it on a cake. Paul Newman is so far away from the camera you can't tell it's him but the prolonged camera shots with him in the distance set up an unsettling foundation for what comes next. He talks about who he's supporting for president and then that guy shouts out something apparently upsetting but the mixing is appropriately muffled so me the viewer? I have no idea what that guy said but everyone in the show does. Abe stands up and gets mad. Joan's crying. I'm sitting there like what the in hell is going on? Cut to the diner scene with Ginsberg and when I heard the radio announcement that Martin Luther King has been shot and I'm like oh poo poo, we were coming up to this historic event in the 1960s timeline. Totally caught me off guard. This episode was a solemn watch unlike the Kennedy episode which was tons of fun. At least this time Peggy got the news right away instead of turning off the TV to sleep with Duck.
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Jan 31, 2024 05:20
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Actually thinking back to the MLK episode of Mad Men, the one property insurance salesman coming in the day after MLK is shot and telling everyone about the dream he had... wow, what the hell is up with that guy? Props to the writers for perfectly illustrating that kind of person who has to make everything about them. What a lowkey weirdo. Just finished Episode 7. I'm not sure why Don is getting so grotesquely dominating on Sylvia. Even though I think the arc Don has with Sylvia is well-trodden ground for his character, his relationship with Sylvia does have its unique factors. I laughed out loud when Ted says that the skies are clear when you're above the clouds and then it cuts to him and Don in his plane in the shakiest weather.
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Feb 2, 2024 22:45
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It was yesterday I watched Episode 8 "The Crash" and I'm still thinking about Ken's dance. Just finished Episode 9 today, though, and Season 6 has turned Abe into a cartoon. Poor sucker got stabbed 3 times in a single episode!
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Feb 5, 2024 00:27
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Almost at the end of Season 6 and man does the first season of the show feel like a different story, and I mean that in a good way. Never before has a piece of media illustrated how wildly the 1960s changed America. Episode 11 had a pretty gamechanging scene where Sally walks in on Don & Sylvia. Then you get the dinner scene where Arnold and Mitchell arrive to thank Don and they say he's a really good man. I was tricked, honestly. I thought Don was helping Mitchell just to help someone. But nope– he did it all for the nookie. Episode 12– oh my god do I feel so sorry for Ken. His literal job is to suffer endlessly for the Chevy deal and he's suffered permanent damage for it, probably. He's become a low-key decent guy as someone who really early on in the show. Don is completely checked out, though. He is so checked out he could be going to work in Albany because it does not matter.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:37
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I'm between Season 6 & 7 and Don and Roger's conversation on Munich after Pete asks what they are referencing is sticking with me. "Well, who won that war?"
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Feb 28, 2024 16:05
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I've started Season 7. The first two episodes meander a bit but episode 3 where Don attempts to go back to work was spot on. That scene where he enters SC&P and the camera often takes Don's perspective as he sees how everything's changed and he feels so alien was really strong. The awkwardness of everyone not expecting Don was great. Letting Don back into work felt like a power play by Sterling. Even when the guy is doing seemingly nice things for people its about him being the boss. At the end of the episode where Don is called into conference, I was sure he was going to get told to buzz off but their ploy that he do exactly what they want him to or he gets the boot feels like them expecting him to slip up so they can fire him out of the company easily. We'll see. As for Lou, he's a jerk but I think he's a compelling character as someone who was hired to fill the position of Don and Ted after the end of Season 6. I had to look it up and see if he was in the show prior and nope. He's just here being very unpleasant.
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Mar 28, 2024 03:09
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I gotta say that Season 7 is fresh with Don being kind of an adversary in the office. I just finished episode 5 and that Jim gives him in the taxi "This won't save you." oh god, did that give me chills! Ginsberg has always been eccentric and offbeat but the dude's mental health took a dive in this episode with him cutting off his own nipple. I think he was stressed out because they took away the cool lounge they had. If I had a lounge and it went missing, my energy would be shaky too.
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Mar 29, 2024 23:56
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Today's episode was The Strategy where Peggy and Don work on their Burger Chef commercial. Jeez, this feels like a different world where Burger Chef is some big hamburger chain. Frankly, I was craving those hamburgers, but I'm kinda always craving them hamburgers. The highlight of the episode was Don and Peggy talking shop and then dancing to My Way. I'm also curious where the story is going with Bob and his MAYBE homosexuality? I think another look into the life of a queer man in the 1960s would be nice since Sal got the boot from the story and I've given up hope that he's going to have any follow up like Paul did. I don't LOVE Bob's character but even with the remaining eight episodes the story has potential to do something really interesting with Bob. Next episode is Waterloo. When I told people today that Waterloo was up next, I had to hold them up to prevent them from fainting. I'm expecting something out of sight!
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Mar 31, 2024 02:54
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Alright. So, Waterloo. I was asking myself what was so special about this episode and the moon landing is a good historical backdrop. But then Don gets the letter that he's getting the can. The music's good in this episode. It's very tense in that moment. I will say, though, that the episode is quick to break the tension. Sterling runs to sell the company to McCann and the transition over goes relatively smoothly. Then Don imagines Cooper having a musical number. Altogether, it was a wild episode. For all the spoilers that had been spoiled for me, Cooper passing was a surprise. The guy says 'Bravo!' to the moon landing and then he's just gone? Well, he left this world elegantly.
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Mar 31, 2024 19:38
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I watched Severance and New Business and man did that timeskip throw me for a loop. I saw Roger with a moustache and thought it was an alternate universe episode. The episode actually gets kinda dreamy at times which added to the confusion but by New Business I had accommodated myself to the jump forward. We are in the 1970s and people got moustaches. I'm curious about what the story is going to do with Diana because she and Don have this dark chemistry that works very well. How's this relationship going to evolve? Also, Harry has been a lowkey trash person for most of the show but that trick he pulls with Megan really brought it home. About Severance, though, Ken has been one of the most fascinating characters for me. I started the show hating him but have warmed up to him as his situation has changed. There's that dinner– I forget which season– where he explains one of his science fiction stories and he came off pretty deep. For awhile I was wondering what he was doing with his writing and in Severance he says that it had been awhile since he wrote anything. It was pretty sad. He gets fired and there's an opportunity for him to return to his writing but no he has to become head of advertising at DOW. Ken, you had an out!
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Apr 3, 2024 00:56
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So coming off of The Forecast, Glen's crush on Betty is not something I wanted to return to Mad Men. I didn't have a lot of stock in the dignity of Glen's character but I feel this episode tossed him into the gears I little bit too much.
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Apr 4, 2024 02:28
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We're in the final stretch. Time & Life: the curveball that is Don forming a plan to keep SC&P a California agency but having Jim Hobart deliver the bad news that they're going to be absorbed anyway was a gut punch. I'm assuming this sets up the story's final chapter. It's wild. Also, big laughs for Lou Avery moving to Tokyo to start his cartoon. "It's Speed Racer, Don!" Thank you Lou Avery for making Mobile Suit Gundam my faovurite animuu
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Apr 4, 2024 22:49
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Finished up Lost Horizon: Literally laughed out loud when Roger handed Peggy that classical hentai. Somehow, somewhy, Mad Men became about anime just as it was ending. Super weird to see the SC&P offices after everyone has gone and no way in hell did Peggy clean up that coffee she spilled. My favourite directing moment is when Don walks down the hall at McCann and bumps into several people. Even after Harry had a computer plopped into the middle of the agency, the halls were a decent width. Joan is probably the character who I've turned the most in favour over the course of the plot and I want to see what happens with her trying to leave McCann. Is she going to take Richard's advice and get a 'guy'?
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Apr 5, 2024 22:31
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The Milk and Honey Route: Jesus, is the Betty news heartbreaking. I think I read somewhere that Betty doesn't last to the end of the series but I guess I forgot or something 'cause this caught me off guard. It's extremely heavy business. I have anxiety and how this reflects with me experiencing media is imminent death is hard to watch. Meanwhile, Pete is getting pestered by Duck. My god, if you went back to that one episode where Duck gets divorced or that award show where Duck is drunk and screaming across the room and then told me Duck was going to make it to the end of the series somewhat put together, I would have been shocked. Anyway, I was honestly surprised that Trudy went along with Pete's plan at the end of the episode, but on the other hand, it seemed like he was repairing thing in the family. I don't even know how. Did he move back to New York and now he's patching things up with Trudy? It's understated but not necessarily bad. Now Don: getting stranded in the middle of nowhere is always an adventure. Was super worried for Don when that Korean war vet sat down with them. Would this be when Don was revealed an imposter? Apparently not, in fact Don is truthful about what he did to kill his commanding officer. It was a powerful subversion.
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Apr 6, 2024 22:51
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I finished it yesterday and I've been thinking a lot about the finale. It was a little weird seeing Peggy and Stan get together. It felt very series finale in a way that I wouldn't expect for Mad Men, like something off of Gilmore Girls or the like. I guess Peggy turned down Joan's offer but I guess that makes sense. Peggy has conformist tendencies which is maybe why she turned down Joan but I can imagine her quitting McCann in a year or so and working for Joan's production company. But Joan though, shame it didn't work out with Richard but Joan wants what she wants. She's probably the character I grew to like the most. At the start I was saying "You suck, Joan!" whenever she was on screen but by the end I was saying "You rock, Joan!" It's so weird seeing Pete get what seems like a happy ending. I'm not sure I like where his character landed in the end, but the destination is not the point. Pete's character was always entertaining and complex. I can't even fit all of my thoughts into one post. I need to lay down.
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Apr 8, 2024 23:40
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 00:16 |
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My issue with Peggy and Stan isn't that it doesn't make sense, it just feels strained that they waited to the final episode for them to come together. It was very rom-com. As for Ken another character that grew on me a lot. I'll say it again it's pretty sad for him to end up where he is when he had an opportunity to pursue something more personal. Ultimately though, Don having a breakdown at the retreat and literally sitting down by the phone– unsure what to do– was probably his lowest moment. The part where Leonard is telling his story on how no one really sees him and Don walks up to him and joins in crying is the most vulnerable Don had been throughout the story. I truly believe that Don dies at that retreat and Dick Whitman is revived. If there's any person who gets a legitimate happy ending, I would assume it's him. He seems at peace in the end and maybe it's real peace. I'm still thinking about how the show ends with that Coca-Cola commercial. Why does it end with that? It seems very ironic– that the show would flash a commercial that's about a fake promise of unity through the sale of a soft drink.
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Apr 10, 2024 02:33
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