SPOILER ALERT
HUH! Does Don go nuts every time he goes to California?
Does Don need to marry a woman as helpless as Betty?
Can Don spend a night without a woman in his bed?
Is Don afraid of smart women except in the workplace?
Would Don have married any woman he came upon after he was given the ring? Perhaps it was THE RING.
"Oh, how do you solve a problem like Don Draper?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?"
Great season. What did you think?
23 comments:
On a lark, my wife and I started watching this season of Mad Men. Haven't seen a minute of seasons 1-3. We both very much enjoyed this season and we surprised at how engrossing a pure drama can be. The season opener was a splendid piece of television. Had it not been, we would not have watched the entire season.
As to Don's actions, all I can say is that it shocked the heck out of me and I've known him this season.
What I really take away from MM are the little moments of each episode. It's in these details that the show, the writing, and the acting really sing. Was laughing out loud as [Elizabeth Moss] and Joan sat in Joan's office, smoking, and bitching. Was wonderful to see Don's reaction to What'sHerName's (new fiancee) *non*-reaction to the spilled milkshake. So much to love with this series. Now, to go back and watch the first three seasons.
Oh, I'm going to miss this show! I think Don fell in love with the secretary because 1) He was in CA, where he felt more like himself. 2)She was great with the kids. 3)She was subordinate and adoring and never asked for more than a one-night stand (a Hefneresque fantasy) 4) She DIDN'T CRY OVER SPILLED MILK (well, a milkshake.)5) She's scrawny. Men only fall in love with size zero women on TV.
But I fear for that poor woman...a hound is a hound, and I don't see Don changing all that much.
Still seems to me that the desire to have every petty vice demonstrated by at least one character at all times is still this series' greatest weakness.
But it's still a good series. Certainly BOARDWALK EMPIRE will make no one forget it.
I don't know, I thought this was easily the weakest season so far.
I was surprised Don Draper is marrying his beautiful secretary, Megan (reminds me of another Megan...). Dr. Faye Miller told Don he would soon marry someone after their first confrontation. But Don was obsessed with saving his agency. I was angry at Don for telling Peggy that Megan "reminds me of you." Hurtful.
Oh, I envy you Scott, having the last three seasons to watch. Don is the most interesting, frustrating, and probed character on TV. It was his year more than the others. I am going to miss it too. I think they try to include characters by doing that too much too, Todd.
I started out thinking it was an off season, Chad, but by the end thought it was pretty strong.
Yes, it was really hurtful because he must know Peggy is in love with him. But any smart woman is a threat to him, I think. At least out of the workplace.
Oh, I envy you Scott, having the last three seasons to watch. Don is the most interesting, frustrating, and probed character on TV. It was his year more than the others. I am going to miss it too. I think they try to include characters by doing that too much too, Todd.
I started out thinking it was an off season, Chad, but by the end thought it was pretty strong.
Yes, it was really hurtful because he must know Peggy is in love with him. But any smart woman is a threat to him, I think. At least out of the workplace.
Todd, agree totally on BOARDWALK EMPIRE. This last episode almost put us to sleep.
It's been downhill since the first episode, which was by far the strongest. Forget the period detail and give us a story and characters to care about.
Jeff M.
We are two weeks behind on Boardwalk Empire and I cannot get myself to watch. Buscemi was badly miscast. I just can't care about any of them, even the Irish mother.
I have the first three seasons of MAD MEN on DVD, Patti, and I can say this season was the best. It was the best because the 1960s are just now setting in with Don and the rest of the agency. Most of these people were products of the 1950s, and the sixties just caught them completely off guard.
The first season begins in March of 1960, but IMHO, the fifties didn't really end until the JFK Assassination. At that moment, the country took a sharp left turn, and we got the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion, acceleration of the Vietnam War, the hippie movement, civil rights, and all the rest of it. It was in this, the 4th season, 1965, that these cataclysmic events began to sink in.
It goes without saying that Don & Co. weren't really ready for it.
I plan to watch them all over again eventually. I have to say it is probably my favorite TV series followed closely by THE WIRE, DEADWOOD and BREAKING BAD. But that this one can keep the tension up without any crimes or a truly evil villain amazes me.
Kings and Aces over last season. For some reason I watched the proposal scene thinking it was a Don fantasy.
Have to admit: the rise and fall of Blankenship was amazing.
You know it almost played out like a fantasy. I wonder if you could have read it right.
I love it!!!!!
Still have the last episode "taped" but know the basics of how it "transgresses."
I hope this improves fashions of today's peeps. Most people (well, most men) look like walking slobs or overgrown teenagers today (is this what freedom brings?). Though, since JFK set the trend, we don't need men's hats.
p.s. Baker's Keyboard Lounge or Jazz Scat Lounge for some style watching -- very hepcat in the evenings.
I'm going to earn a lot of enemies here, but I think Mad Men had jumped the shark. To me it's turned into a "Dallas"-like soap opera. The creators seem to throw in stuff with no rhyme or reason, just for shock value. I hope it gets back on track.
The hats drive me crazy too. It seems to be that by 1964 they were disappearing.
I can see where you're coming from Randy. I think you have to like melodrama a bit. Like the movies of Douglas Sirk.
Uh, did you say this is a television program? I have never heard of it. Does it come on after Love Boat?
Don may be engaged to Megan, but what are the odds they end up married? At the very end, you see Don with eyes open as he's lying on bed with Megan fast asleep next to him, clearly looking as discontented as he had all season.
Betty doesn't seem useless to me, but Don is a bit of a flake at this point. Glad he got rid of the blonde, though ... she was trouble from ten miles away.
Yes, it reminded of the final scene of THE GRADUATE.
Funny how differently men and women see various characters. To me the blonde was his life preserver, had the brains to help negotiate his way out of a jam.
I liked the couple of episodes I saw but just never was able to catch it regularly.
Regarding the hats, yes, they were on their way out by 1965, thanks to JFK, but a lot of men were still wearing them. Those were the men who, like Don, were stuck in the 1950s and didn't want to think about the earth that was shifting under their feet.
Regarding Don's proposal and marriage, I thought that was a major flaw in what was otherwise a great season. He was hitting it off with Faye, who is a sort of Rachel Minkin redux, someone who will stand up to him and command his respect. Meghan is not that type of woman at all, and their brief dalliance/marriage is completely out of line.
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