Mad Men...what's next?

[What the .... ?!?!]

I was still watching the DVDs of season 1-3 while season 4 was going on and I just finished season 4.

I've been dieing to read what all of the Dopers have had to say but I'm having trouble searching because of the two three letter words that aren't very search friendly. Can anybody help with some thread links?

Any speculation on where the next season is headed?

[Alka Seltzer]

Search on Dan Draper maybe? Or try using google to search just the straight dope message board (I forget how to do this now).

[Miss Mapp]

In addition to searching for "Draper," once I found some Mad Men threads, I searched for the names of frequent posters to find other threads on the subject. There are individual MM episodes threads here from the 2nd season on.

[sco3tt]

Originally Posted by Alka Seltzer

Search on Dan Draper maybe? Or try using google to search just the straight dope message board (I forget how to do this now).

http://www.google.com/#q=site:boards...+%22mad+men%22

[alphaboi867]

Originally Posted by Miss Mapp

In addition to searching for "Draper," once I found some Mad Men threads, I searched for the names of frequent posters to find other threads on the subject. There are individual MM episodes threads here from the 2nd season on.

I used "Mad-Men" with a hyphen in the thread titles so that they can be searched for.

I have no clue where season 5 is headed or how big the time jump will be. A sixth season has been ordered along with season 5 and there's a very strong possibility of a 7th. Assuming Weiner doesn't want to leave the '60s that means this season will probally be set in 1966 or '67. Alot of stuff was left up in the air; Joan's adulterine baby, Don & Megan's marriage (& Megan's desire to be a copywriter), the Betty & Henry's less than rosy marriage, and Peggy wanting to advance her career. The show does have a history of never resolving stuff, but these are all likely to be addressed.

Are Don & Megan going to be happy together? Will Don stay faithful? What about her being a copywriter? Megan's almost a polar opposite of Betty; will Don be able to handle working with his wife? How 'bout the rest of the office? What if she sucks as a copywriter?

Will Joan end up a war widow? Would this turn her into a hawk or a dove (I could see it going either way)? What if Greg does come back, but is crippled/horribly disfugured/brain damaged/ etc and end's up in an institution? Will he realize it's not his baby? How's Joan going to balance work & family life? And it's entirely possible Joan could have a miscarriage off-camera and Greg could return perfectly healthy (this would be really boring).

Peggy's going to hit the glass ceiling sooner or later. She's faced surprisingly little overt sexism so far, at least from anyone that matters. Not one client has voiced the slightest objection to her handling her account. She did bring up the equal pay issue with done, but it wasn't made clear if she was actually being paid less because she was a woman. Neither Don or even Sterling have treated her any differently that a man lately. She's apparenly the Deputy Creative Directive in practice if not in title. If she keeps bringing in more and more accounts and money she's going to reach a stage where a partnership (junior, & unamed) discussion would be approriate, and that's were I predict she'll hit the ceiling. I predict she'll end up leaving to start her own firm by the series finale.

Peggy also has alot going on in her personal life. Her relationship with her mother is getting worse & worse. She puts her career before her romantic life in a way that alot of men would have issued with today, let alone in 1965. She's show minimal interest in marriage and zero in motherhood. Her & Pete's love child may or may not ever show up (I'm betting on he latter). If she does get pregnant again she'll almost certainly get an abortion. God help her if her mother finds out.

Betty & Henry weren't all that happy last season. Things might improve now that the added stress of Don being their landlord is gone, but Mother Francis still hates Betty and has a very low opinion of her parenting skills. Her relationship with Sally is getting downright toxic. And is Betty using any kind of birth control? If she get's pregnant again it'll only make things worse with her existing children. I could even see her cheating on Henry; which could get really nasty if he decided to divorce her. It's a short marriage and since she would be at fault for ending it she wouldn't get alimony. She doesn't have any job skills, got nothign from Don in the divorce, & whatever she inheireted from her father probally isn't enought to really live on so she'd be 100% on child support from Don.