Mad Men Season 7 *Spoilers*

Technocentral

Excellent episode, must be the best written TV show ever, will really miss it. Great entrance by Peggy btw! Only 2 episodes til the end.

GreNoLi

Beautiful episode, Dick pissing off during the meeting with Ted knowingly looking on was one of the many poignant moments in this surreal episode.

Sad Professor

Oh man, I love how Don just walked out of that meeting. I know we’ve seen him do stuff like this before, but this time it's different. He gave all his money to Megan and he has a non-compete clause with McCann. He can’t just show up in a few days as if nothing happened and he can’t go to another agency.

Don/Dick reinventing himself yet again, this time in California, is a possibility. But his chances of starting a new life there seems tied to Megan and I can’t see him patching that relationship up. For this reason I think the west coast is a dead-end that will sap his spirits and maybe even send him limping back to New York.

Starting over isn't easy. If it was everyone would do it. The trail of destruction Don has left behind from his two previous lives is too great to ignore. It catches up with you sooner or later, as it probably has with Diane, who I suspect is dead. She’s a mirror of Don and the possibility that he will give into the same despair that killed his brother and Lane has to be there.

For this reason I expect the show will end on an ambiguous note. Maybe Don wading off into the ocean a la A Star is Born. Going to be die or be reborn, who knows.

expectationlost

wasn't he supposed to pick up sally?

what state is he from originally?

greenfrogs

I think it would be the most depressing ending if Don takes his own life. Being honest I can't see that happening. I think he might reinvent himself. He has seen Betty get to do what she wants by returning to college. So maybe he will do the same. I thought the scene with him and Betty was really sweet. Overall a brilliant episode. Peggy skating around the office was very funny and I loved her walk into the new office. I think it shows just how strong a person Peggy is. She has some setbacks but she gets back up and fights back. I think her and Joan are very different in that respect. Joan didn't take the chance to fight for her money whereas I think Peggy would have had. I think Joan is quite dependent on the men in her life but Peggy is more independent. I can't wait for the next two episodes.

expectationlost

i still can't get over what joan did to get the money and the position and now shes acting all high and mighty

sipstrassi

expectationlost wrote: »

i still can't get over what joan did to get the money and the position and now shes acting all high and mighty

A woman defending herself against sexual harassment is "high and mighty"???

Joan did what she did under extreme pressure from the partners. She has made a bigger sacrifice for her partnership than any of them.
I think she wants respect from others because she has never really respected herself after that while telling herself she did what was necessary.
She is also much more sensitive to the sort of boorish behaviour she used to brush off because she never wants to be in that position again.

expectationlost

sipstrassi wrote: »

A woman defending herself against sexual harassment is "high and mighty"???

Joan did what she did under extreme pressure from the partners. She has made a bigger sacrifice for her partnership than any of them.
I think she wants respect from others because she has never really respected herself after that while telling herself she did what was necessary.
She is also much more sensitive to the sort of boorish behaviour she used to brush off because she never wants to be in that position again.

don't treat me like sex object after I consciously chose to be treated like a sex object to land an account.

sipstrassi

expectationlost wrote: »

don't treat me like sex object after I consciously chose to be treated like a sex object to land an account.

You need to rewatch the episodes if you think she did it that lightly.

And I think landing that account saved the company at the time?

expectationlost

sipstrassi wrote: »

You need to rewatch the episodes if you think she did it that lightly.

And I think landing that account saved the company at the time?

lightly or not, she chose, how can she now get on her high horse.

Agent Smith

I've said it before and i'll say it again.

Roger Sterling is my spirit animal

zeffabelli

I think we are seeing here how dreams let you down.

Trudy wanted to live in the suburbs and we see how the fantasy and the reality of being divorced in teh suburbs has left her.

Joan's dreams of escaping the pitfalls of her alluring sexuality to be taken seriously professionally, have also collapsed.

The dream of the family for Don has also gone caput. Two divorces....three wives if you count the original Mrs. Draper....

The dreams of the 60s are not eroding into the seedy decadence of the 70s.

trishasaffron

I've just got back into watching this. I'm watching online so I'm only at episode 8.....having od'd on 4 episodes last night.

I had stopped watching as I found it too emotionally intense:o. As a woman who had worked in an all male environment (not in the 60's!!! - but the 80's or 90's in Ireland weren't too different for a "career woman"!) I shared Peggy's pain too much and of course came across my fair share of Don Drapers and fell for some of them:(

But after one episode I was pulled straight back in....rooting for Peggy, aching for Don, laughing at Roger, smirking with Pete etc etc..... I did feel that Don and Peggy had matured and grown since I saw them last. Don definitely looks older and pudgier (still gorgeous though) and much wiser and kinder. The scene with Peggy and Joan pitching to Macys pained me deeply as it was so reminiscent of the non-pc world of work. Peggy just put up with it, while Joan couldn't cope. It did make me think though that Joan is one character that hasn't really developed much over the years. She is still affecting a 1950s look while most have moved on - and she is still exploiting her "assets" while objecting to being treated as a sex object. In the episode she reacts by going out to buy more sexy clothes - I'd love to see her change her image and see how that works for her. But maybe her physique and hair are too much of a money spinner for the series or actress - so not so PC after all;)

Anyway overall the acting is superb - understated responses that work so well compared with most of the OTT stuff we see in TV.

sipstrassi

expectationlost wrote: »

lightly or not, she chose, how can she now get on her high horse.

What do you mean by 'on her high horse' though? Do you think she should have to sleep with her boss to keep her accounts because she once bowed to pressure and slept with a customer with the potential to save the company?

She prostituted herself for the partnership but she earned the account management position in the face of opposition from her male partners. That wasn't a reward for that one vile incident, she proved she could do the job.

So despise her for the way she got the partnership but allow her the credit she is due for succeeding at the account management role, to which she should be allowed some respect from her colleagues, male or female.

On another note, did anyone notice Ferg's remark about Peggy having a supervisory role "I don't see that continuing" I think were his exact words. Would hate to see Peggy shafted, especially after that entrance.

expectationlost

sipstrassi wrote: »

What do you mean by 'on her high horse' though? Do you think she should have to sleep with her boss to keep her accounts because she once bowed to pressure and slept with a customer with the potential to save the company?

She prostituted herself for the partnership but she earned the account management position in the face of opposition from her male partners. That wasn't a reward for that one vile incident, she proved she could do the job.

So despise her for the way she got the partnership but allow her the credit she is due for succeeding at the account management role, to which she should be allowed some respect from her colleagues, male or female.

yes but she can't get on her high horse about, the top boss says to her 'I don't know how you got all that', she can't rebut and say she got it all through hard work and competency, she didn't, If she sued and they started digging...

zeffabelli

expectationlost wrote: »

yes but she can't get on her high horse about, the top boss says to her eI don't know how you got all that, she can't rebut and say she got it all through hard work and competency. If she sued and they started digging...

You should be reminded that Don has prostituted his way through his career and got mad at Sal because Sal did not also prostitute himself.

No one would treat Don like that.

expectationlost

zeffabelli wrote: »

You should be reminded that Don has prostituted his way through his career and got mad at Sal because Sal did not also prostitute himself.

No one would treat Don like that.

he did when did he sleep with a client to get a job? bobby?

pickarooney

sipstrassi wrote: »

What do you mean by 'on her high horse' though? Do you think she should have to sleep with her boss to keep her accounts because she once bowed to pressure and slept with a customer with the potential to save the company?

She prostituted herself for the partnership but she earned the account management position in the face of opposition from her male partners. That wasn't a reward for that one vile incident, she proved she could do the job.

So despise her for the way she got the partnership but allow her the credit she is due for succeeding at the account management role, to which she should be allowed some respect from her colleagues, male or female.

On another note, did anyone notice Ferg's remark about Peggy having a supervisory role "I don't see that continuing" I think were his exact words. Would hate to see Peggy shafted, especially after that entrance.

Both she and Don should have deconstructive surgery if they want to be taken seriously, right?

expectationlost wrote:

she can't rebut and say she got it all through hard work and competency, she didn't,

She has always been a competent hard worker. It's hardly her fault if they weren't willing to recognise that and reward her accordingly. Seems like she's damned either way.

sipstrassi

expectationlost wrote: »

yes but she can't get on her high horse about, the top boss says to her 'I don't know how you got all that', she can't rebut and say she got it all through hard work and competency, she didn't, If she sued and they started digging...

Actually she got everything bar the partnership through hard work and competency. If she wasnt a woman she'd have been a partner before the Chevy incident anyway. But, their conversation wasn't about how she got her partnership, it was mentioned as a dismissal of her.
She didn't want to work with Ferg because not only does he not respect her as a colleague, he expects her to sleep with him to keep her accounts. Both she and Jim knew what she was talking about and she found that Jim thought the same as Ferg.
Joan saved the company more than once. I think the only person who ever condemned her was Harry. And he's an ass.

The Black Oil

Fascinating episode, imo. One of the best they've ever done. So much going on with the power dynamics, the general ****storm of moving to McCann, Joan having to deal with those dickheads, Don going AWOL. Plus, Peggy and Roger's scenes were class. Roger as the captain of the ship.

And that painting. :pac:

youngblood

So what do people think of

Don checking the window............

Are we in for a real life opening sequence???

Thargor

I dont think Don will go back to McCann so not sure about the window tbh, seemed more like the writers messing with the viewer.

greenfrogs

Thargor wrote: »

I dont think Don will go back to McCann so not sure about the window tbh, seemed more like the writers messing with the viewer.

Yah I feel the same. It was a little too obvious. Usually mad men is very subtle.

Technocentral

Great new interview with Weiner on NPR (around 45 minutes) some great insight into the characters and show.

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/09/405211195/fresh-air-weekend-inside-mad-men-british-pulp-fiction-youth-sports

Sad Professor

Weiner shot down the DB Cooper and Don jumping out the window theories on Conan.

expectationlost

black lung betty

johnny_ultimate

Another stellar episode in what has been one of the most perfect closing seasons in television history. With only one week to go, the depth of the characterisation, themes and even form of Mad Men is still as visceral and engaging as ever. It's great to see a programme going out totally on its own terms, and the directions Betty, Pete and Don's plots took this week surprise while still remaining true to everything that has come before. The way its themes emerge organically and subtly, through the interplay of different plots and very often what is not said, is the feature that puts Mad Men in a league of its own.

I'll miss this show, as it has been essential television for almost a decade. But it's immensely gratifying that it is fading to black with the intelligence, provocation and grace that it has maintained throughout its extended run.

As long as Ken returns for one last uber troll, I have no doubt Weiner and co will go out swinging

Euphoria Intensifies

That was some episode.

PETE AND TRUDY! I hope their happy ending comes true and Pete gets to fly everywhere on his private jet.

I've never been a fan of Betty, but god. terminal cancer. I had a feeling one of the main characters would die, but I was thinking Roger tbh (although there's still another episode so you never know).

And Don's general storyline this episode... I was sure he was going to be found out as Dick Whitman at that veterans thing. I'm guessing he's going to ring Sally at his next stop and that's what will bring him back to NY. It can't end without him coming back.

metaoblivia

One of the best episodes of television I've ever had the pleasure of watching. It was Mother's Day in the US, so the Betty Draper subplot - and particularly her moment with Sally - was fitting. She's not always been the best mother, and the final sentences of that letter certainly don't make up for everything, but this was Betty at her best. As much as her own mother screwed her up, and as much as it seemed she might do the same to Sally, in the end, she didn't. Sally got her mother's blessing to be her own person.

It will be interesting to see where the next episode picks up (before or after Betty's death) and how Don now deals with fatherhood. There's only so much soul searching you can do before reality comes calling and you realize your three children are soon to be motherless.

zeffabelli

metaoblivia wrote: »

One of the best episodes of television I've ever had the pleasure of watching. It was Mother's Day in the US, so the Betty Draper subplot - and particularly her moment with Sally - was fitting. She's not always been the best mother, and the final sentences of that letter certainly don't make up for everything, but this was Betty at her best. As much as her own mother screwed her up, and as much as it seemed she might do the same to Sally, in the end, she didn't. Sally got her mother's blessing to be her own person.

It will be interesting to see where the next episode picks up (before or after Betty's death) and how Don now deals with fatherhood. There's only so much soul searching you can do before reality comes calling and you realize your three children are soon to be motherless.

Yeah and for the two boys Betty's husband is way more of their father.

I found that episode really sad....I saw a parent die of cancer so I felt for both of them. I was never a Betty hater, she was no better or worse than her counterparts....they are all crap parents in their own way..but I think she is handling her death sentence with great courage. It can appear cold, but I think she is steeling herself because she is now having to manage everyone else's feelings.

Pete got some fantastic lines....will have to watch it again. Love the Trudy reconciliation. I predicted it a couple seasons back...where she was complaining about the suburbs....