It had writing on it. In fact they showed enough to indicate it was really the end of the book. Which bring me to this …
Yes, I knew that, my point was that for some reason I feel it elevated him to a higher level (or is that lower?) of dickery.
You wouldn’t think that just ripping the last page out of a book would seem worse than cheating and lying, but it was such a casually done asshole thing to do. The lying was mostly for reasons I can kind of understand. The cheating seems to be nearly every character on this show. The ruining the book for the girl he just made love to seems especially heinous. I don’t really know why.
I’ll explain it. First, you’re a book guy, as your love of Professor Tolkien indicates; I’ll lay odds that you have intentionally defaced exactly as many books in your lifetime as I have --i.e., zero–and thus the thought of that repulses you on a personal level. Moroever, doing that to another person’s property demonstrates the I-Itness of Don’s relationships with everyone in the world, when it’s clear that he was not always that way.
Don’s worse than being inherently evil. He’s growing more and more corrupt by the day. The ONLY person he’s decent to is Peggy, and i don’t believe that’s going to last.
Do you think maybe Don assumed she wouldn’t care? She did say the sex was good but the book was only fair? (Or words to that effect.)
I didn’t like this episode. Too creepy. Talk about Hotel California. Plus, the background music they used for the California scenes was distracting, I thought.
I was really surprised at Don’s reaction to the Betty doppleganger at the bar. I think he was probably surprised, himself. I don’t think there’s anyway Don and Betty will split up. Not for at least two more seasons, anyway.
The music reminded me of the music from the opening credits of Rome. Someone at TWOP says it’s a rearrangement of the Mad Men theme. I can’t tell.
The episode was definitely creepy. Almost surreal. Don seemed bemused but not terribly surprised that those people would take an interest in him (cuz he’s Don Draper, don’cha know), but he was also a bit tentative, just observing.
I don’t think that Don gave a single moment’s thought as to whether Joy would care that he ripped out the last page of her book. While I also cringed at the scene, I think it was a great way of demonstrating how much regard Don gives those around him - none at all.
One other thing that I found disturbing, and I’m wondering who else did, and if it’s a generational break down: the slide show on MIRVs seemed, to me, what probably put Don over the edge. This was a sort of condensation of the whole 60s “live for the moment because it might be your last” meme. I’m guessing it probably had more power for people who actually recall the threat of mutually assured destruction.
For starters in 1962 actually having sex with another man was illegal in 49 states, DC, and all of our territories (Illinois decriminalized it '61). Getting caught dancing with another man in a gay bar (hell being caught in a gay bar) would get you arrested and beaten. The Stonewall riots were still 7 years away. Your name and picture would of course be published in the paper. Your boss would most likely fire you (he might not really care, but what would the clients think). This is in NYC, not some backwater town in Alabama. Being a foreigner Kurt would be subject to deportation (they didn’t like to grant visas to sex perverts and mental defectives back then).
Amen to that. Don might have gone off with Joy anyway, but that presentation was scary, and we didn’t see anyone questioning where a weapons race might lead.
My surreal moment came when Don was (I think) having dinner in Palm Springs. I looked at my husband and said, “Who are these people?” Don’s next line, of course, was “Who are you people?”
I thought it was noteworthy how casually he introduced himself on the phone as Dick Whitman, obviously speaking to someone who is not aware that “Dick Whitman” supposedly died in the war. Either he was speaking to someone who didn’t know Dick before the war, or someone who did but knows of the ruse that Dick pulled to make people think he’s Don. The person on the other end must be someone that Don as Dick has spoken to fairly recently. Thus far in the series we’ve been led to believe that the only people that knew him as Dick were his half-brother (now dead) and people that knew him long ago, but he wants to distance himself from those people.
Re: the nomads- I think at first he was sort of asking himself ‘are these people for real?’- as if he’s always dreamed of living that sort of jet set life of debauchery. But after he saw how empty their lives really are, he asked himself ‘what the hell am I doing’, and decided to be who he really is. That’s Dick.
Pete seemed like the Invisible Man; always being dismissed by everyone (if they even noticed him). The Viscount dismissed him virtually with a wave of his hand (although was Pete serious when he asked if they’d met before? Or was it just small talk?) and the girls at the pool when his papers blew onto the ground. No wonder he couldn’t live in California because he doesn’t like the people!
They seem to be implying that Duck is really on his game only when he’s full of Dutch courage.
Where would Don come up with that kind of money? Don’s not as rich as Cooper or Sterling. He’s just starting his climb into the upper echelon of New York society. I doubt the jetsetters would give it to him.
I think the whole point was that it was shocking. But do you think that there were absolutely zero “out” homosexuals in 1962? Sure, they were probably rare, but it’s believable that for there to be at least one guy as open as Kurt.
Keep in mind that Kurt’s buddy (Smitty?) scoffed at the others being surprised at there being a gay man in the ad business – implying that being openly gay in the ad business might be slightly less shocking than in any other environment. Sterling Cooper just seems to be more parochial than other ad companies.
No, Pete Campbell and Bertram Cooper also know. IIRC, Campbell accidentally received a package from Draper’s brother, which contained all the incriminating information. Campbell tried to blackmail Draper, and then tried to make good on his threat by telling Cooper. Cooper, however, just didn’t care.
Does anyone remember what happened to that package?
Concur. At least if it’s the same music I’m thinking of, it was kind of a laid-back tropical interpretation of “Miserlou,” but it was definitely “Miserlou.”
