If I won a million bucks on a game show I would totally redecorate my house to look exactly like Don and Megan’s pad. And the bitch of it is that I actually used to have the furniture, but I couldn’t afford the storage so I sold it all. The only thing that would be modern would be the PC, but you would never know it’s there, The keyboard would be a modified IBM Selectric, and the monitor would be disguised as a CRT TV set.
Principal Belding packed on a few pounds over the years. For a second I thought it was Jonathan Winters.
Was their any symbolism in Beth Dawes lowering the car window to erase the heart, or was drawing the heart the only symbolic part, and the erasing was just practical?
I think Megan and Joan might be gearing up to do Roger & Don in, symbolically speaking. I think free spirit Megan is going to break Don’s heart and Roger may end up regretting not holding on to Joan when he had the chance.
I like how they spliced Tomorrow Never Knows (Don lifts the needle, then it gets going again for the closing credits) right at the electronic “beep” which the Beatles inserted at the exact half-way point of the song (under the rotating-Leslified lyric, “But love is all…”).
We are going to be thinking about that elevator for the rest of the series, till someone falls down it. Esp. us New York office workers, who are nervous about our high-rise elevators (they have been eating people lately).
I have the advantage of having never watched Angel and thinking it’s Mrs. Campbell on Community.
Every office needs a Joan. She’s like Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction. She fixes things.
Yeah, I kept thinking how cool that apartment is. My parents had some friends who had an apartment sorta like that. Peggy needs to lose her Condaleeza Rice hairdo.
I didn’t like Megan in this episode. She’s starting to seem fake, for some reason. But all the dialog, as usual, was great.
Whether Don and Megan last to the end of the series or beyond is one issue.
However, this particular episode shows to me that there’s at least a possibility that they have a chance to last for a while. Don is getting a sense of perspective and proportion from his relationship with Megan that he didn’t have before. Inter-generational relationships aren’t always doomed, after all.
I don’t think so. There are so many different ways that this can play out and not all of them end in divorce.
What’s interesting is that every plot arc in this episode, indirectly, was a commentary on Don and Megan’s relationship. First, we’ve got the comment by Joan where she’s pissed that Megan can go off and be an actress. Because Betty used to be a model and we all saw how that turned out.
Also, remember the comment by the insurance salesman on the train when talking with Pete? Pete asked what his wife thinks about his dalliances in the city and the guy responds, effectively, “what does she care? I provide for her and she’s happy!”
Don’s clearly not a feminist but I think, for his own good, he needs someone he can view as his equal. Having Megan at work and showing off how good and useful she was, was pleasing to Don. Having her bring home a paycheck (as meager as it may have been compared to Don’s) was essential.
The problem comes right now in that Megan truly loves Don and Don truly loves Megan but Don is also going to get resentful that she’s shunned what he has to offer and now he’s just supporting a “trophy wife.” This seems like a recipe for disaster but it doesn’t have to be. There are a number of ways to turn it around (like, for instance, Megan actually being good at acting and getting some great parts for Don to boast about).
Jon Hamm was on the Nerdist a couple weeks ago, and they talked about how this season has been so tense because everything is going relatively well for the characters. For the first four seasons it seemed like everything was constantly crumbling around them, but now, everyone is in a pretty good place. Which means the audience is constantly waiting for something to go horribly wrong. Pretty much everytime someone is in a car and the driver isn’t looking straight ahead, I’m sure they’re gonna get in a wreck. When that Grandma fell down last week, I was sure she had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. That elevator shaft is just the writers taunting us now, really amping up the tension even more.
I notice Don did not immediately tell Dawn to call building management and put up a sign on the elevator door! Every time someone left to go home, I kept expecting to hear an offstage “Aaaaahhhhh . . . [splat].”
The open elevator shaft reminded me of a famous surprise scene from LA Law back in the 1980s, although the character in that scene backed into the open elevator shaft.
I knew the actress who played Beth was familiar, but couldn’t place her. (Actually, I really like The Gilmore Girls–at first I thought it was just a chick show, but when I saw Edward Hermann in it, I stuck around for a few minutes, then thought it was funny. My wife and I then watched every episode.)
I think that’s true, but one part of his perspective is he’s getting older and more out of touch. It’s damned interesting to see Don realize he’s no longer part of the prime demographic, and is leaning more on Megan for the youth view.
Did anyone notice the book Pete was reading on the train? The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon. Curious choice for stuffy Mr. Campbell.
“Thanks for choosing Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.”
“Aaaaaaaah . . . !”
“I mean, Sterling Cooper Draper.”
“Waaaaaaaaah . . . !”
“Sorry, I guess it’s Sterling Draper.”
“Noooooooo . . . !”
“All right, try again. Thanks for choosing Draper, Inc., for this account. We — er, I mean I — won’t disappoint you.”
Don has always been an outsider, though. I don’t thing he has ever believed himself to be “in touch” with popular culture. He has a knack for touching people’s emotions and selling them stuff, but I don’t think that this is very much of a “fall” for him. Especially since he cedes this stuff pretty quickly and easily to the younger people. It’s not like he’s trying to hold on to some self-perception.
“Pizzahouse!”
So popular consensus? Alexis Biedel purposefully aping January Jones’ Betty or cast because she naturally has a similar acting style?
Whether it was foreshadowing or symbolism, I will not forget that elevator shaft. That was a very eerie moment.
I don’t know, but Alan Sepinwall complained a lot about Biedel’s wooden delivery in his review. The entire thing is a great read.
Anybody get the impression Don is getting bored with his job?
I thought it was interesting when the other guy (not Ginsburg) said something about “Heinz Baked Beans” that kind of put Peggy off, the implication being when Heinz Baked Beans is your biggest accomplishment is that something you want to hang your hat on.