[QUOTE=AMCTV]
Peggy’s family entertains a new priest assigned to their parish; Don, Betty and the family escape for an enjoyable weekend getaway; Freddy and Ken wine and dine an attractive client who captures Roger’s attention; the agency staff pitches in to prepare for an under-the-gun pitch meeting.
[/QUOTE]
So what’s going to happen between Peggy and the new priest? 
Isn’t this 2.4?
Vicky the Hooker pretending to be Bald Guy’s wife – how very odd, unless that was the writer’s way of showing us that she’s no ordinary hooker. She definitely captivated Roger, and I think he’s attracted to her personality more than her looks.
For the first time in my life, I have sympathy for the dad who’s expected to be the disciplinarian, the bad guy. I’ve never seen it from that side before.
Peggy’s sister is a bitch. Not very bright either, if she thought the priest wouldn’t see through her “confession.” “I feel bad that I hate my sister because she’s a slut.” Bwah!
I don’t like Bobbi hanging around. What does Don see in her? Where’s that going? Is he off his meds? Is that why he’s no longer impotent? Is there a stroke in his future?
I think Peggy’s sister was deliberately trying to sabotage her relationship with the cute priest. By giving her the egg “for the litttle one,” that was his way of saying that he knew about her kid, so kiss off. So I think the sister succeeded in passive-aggressively ruining that friendship for Peggy, though I could be wrong. Reminds me of Betty telling her therapist that she knew about Don’t cheating.
Duck really screwed the pooch on the American Airlines account. I wonder if Don will use that horrible mistake (ditching Mohawk for AA and then not getting AA) to get rid of Duck, esp. if Roger is back in the saddle, which he obviously is in more ways than one.
Don’s kids are kind of bratty, eh? The daughter was inappropriate with both Joan and Paul, dropped gum on the floor, and then got drunk and passed out. The son is obviously trying Betty’s patience, breaking things and lying, but being sweet to Dad, a tried and true tactic. I think Don was wrong to threaten to put Betty through a window over his bad day at work, though. If you don’t tell her what happened at work, and you don’t tell her about your abusive childhood, don’t get mad at her for not knowing what you’re going through. She may just have to give up the idea that it’ll get taken care of “when Daddy gets home” and deal with it herself.
Loved Pete’s short shorts (not!)
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
Peggy’s sister is a bitch. Not very bright either, if she thought the priest wouldn’t see through her “confession.” “I feel bad that I hate my sister because she’s a slut.” Bwah!
[/QUOTE]
She knew the priest would see through it. She wasn’t trying to be opaque. And it worked - the priest did distance himself from Peggy. (And I think she was honest, if bitchy. She was angry and and she was feeling guilty about it (good Catholics know better than nurture those kinds of feelings). It’s very Prodigal Son…the older son does have a point.)
Loved Don’s face when he had a drink of Sally’s 95% vodka/5% tomato juice Bloody Mary. Neither of them would win parenting awards. They don’t seem to try to avoid problems, just complain once the problems are there. When Bobby was jumping on the bed, neither said anything until it broke. Then, she punishes him. (I laughed at Don’s punishment “Don’t do it again.” “OK.” The priest at least made the two kids stand in the corner.) When Bobby was playing with the robot at the table, neither of them removes the robot. And then of course, there’s a problem later on because they didn’t avoid it.
I don’t get Betty. I don’t know if it’s the actress or the character - but her line readings do not make sense to me.
If anyone needs put through a window, it’s Peggy’s fucking bitch sister. Between her and Bobbi, I don’t know who gets my blood pressure up more.
[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
I think Peggy’s sister was deliberately trying to sabotage her relationship with the cute priest. By giving her the egg “for the litttle one,” that was his way of saying that he knew about her kid, so kiss off.
[/QUOTE]
I got a different vibe from the priest and the egg. In the confessional, he told the sister not to judge, and he was sympathetic to Peggy. “She’s not as strong as you think.” I agree that giving her the egg was his way of telling Peggy that he knew, but that it doesn’t matter. We’ve already seen that he’s forward-thinking.
I wasn’t sure what the priest was trying to say to Peggy, but didn’t he come awfully close to breaching the sanctity of the confessional?
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
I got a different vibe from the priest and the egg. In the confessional, he told the sister not to judge, and he was sympathetic to Peggy. “She’s not as strong as you think.” I agree that giving her the egg was his way of telling Peggy that he knew, but that it doesn’t matter. We’ve already seen that he’s forward-thinking.
[/QUOTE]
I think whose reading is correct will depend on if we ever see that priest character again. If they have an ongoing friendship, then I’d say it didn’t bother him. If that’s the last we see of him, then he did care and has distanced himself from her. I got pseudo-romantic overtones from him towards her, so I have no idea where, if anywhere, they are going with this.
I also agree with those who cannot understand why Don continues to involve himself with Bobbi. Eww.
I think we’ll see the priest again. His character is too interesting to be a one-off. There’s a lot of potential there, not just with Peggy, but in saying something about the changes in the Catholic Church brought about by Vatican II. I’m not Catholic and I was only 17 at the time, but I remember hearing about it.
Peggy’s family isn’t going to like it. “Are you going to say grace now?”
h. sapiens, maybe. Peggy won’t care. The sister sure would.
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
For the first time in my life, I have sympathy for the dad who’s expected to be the disciplinarian, the bad guy. I’ve never seen it from that side before.
[/QUOTE]
My thoughts, too. They do a good job of showing that gender roles aren’t just constraining to women (that being said, the casting is to die for – I love that every woman who graces the screen is just captivating and often clever).
It took me several scenes to finally concede, ‘Yup, that’s definitely Colin Hanks!’
This was such an oddly hilarious episode – I loved it. The daughter had me laughing and the son, my god, I don’t even care for kids but what a wretchedly adorable tyke.
Was it just me or did it look like Joan was having the secretaries line up to watch Peggy eat? I was surprised when it turned out to be watching Cooper sit in gum. I hope we learn more about Don and Betty’s backstory; like how they met. She doesn’t seem to know much if anything about Don’s past (including stuff he would’ve made up). Didn’t she make a comment last season about him not knowing how to act with family because he didn’t have one? Don could’ve told her he was an orphan, explaining his lack of relations. Oh, are “Don” & Betty even legally married since he’s not really Don Draper? 
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
Was it just me or did it look like Joan was having the secretaries line up to watch Peggy eat?
[/QUOTE]
Nah, but it sure was elitist to make the secretaries wait. It was a bit over the top, I think. Even in 1962, the bosses would have appreciated them giving up their Sundays.
Unless Joan was the one who orchestrated things. I can see her doing that to keep them in their place, and to make them resent Peggy. I doubt the men even noticed.
[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Don’s kids are kind of bratty, eh? The daughter was inappropriate with both Joan and Paul, dropped gum on the floor, and then got drunk and passed out. The son is obviously trying Betty’s patience, breaking things and lying, but being sweet to Dad, a tried and true tactic.
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t see them as particularly bratty. I saw them as being in need of attention.
Yes, the daughter said inappropriate things to Joan and Paul, but her father just dumped her on Joan and didn’t seem to pay any attention to her once they were at the office. Would she have said those things if her dad had been around? Also, kids do say outrageous things sometimes just because they’re kids. The getting drunk thing could be seen as an attempt to emulate adult behavior and/or a ploy for attention.
The son’s behavior is even more clearly linked to not getting enough attention, and not getting the right kind of attention. His parents are setting him up for failure by ignoring him. They’re abdicating their responsibilities by not guiding him toward behavior that won’t have bad results. They’re punishing him for being bad, but not showing him how to be good.
There were three obvious examples right in the episode. First–the robot at the dinner table. By telling him to stop playing with it but not removing it from him, they pretty much ensured he would “misbehave.” A kid that age has very little impulse control. Second–when they were letting him mess around at the stereo. You can’t let a kid that age play around with a hi-fi (much more fragile than today’s units) and expect him not to mess something up. Third–when he was jumping on the bed. They didn’t tell him to stop, and then got mad when something broke.
In all three cases, they could have given him a little more attention–taking away the robot, moving him away from the stereo, telling him to stop jumping on the bed. In all three cases, they didn’t, and then blamed the kid. Yes he lied, but kids do lie at that age. You have to teach them to tell the truth.
I think that the point being made is, in part, that even under the old housewife/breadwinner model, kids didn’t necessarily get the attention that they needed. I’d think that things are better these days, because a. it’s a woman’s choice whether she wants to be a housewife or not, b. even “breadwinner” fathers are expected to be more involved as parents than they were, and c. it’s now widely acknowledged that being a suburban housewife and mother isn’t necessarily all that’s needed for a woman’s fulfillment, and that a woman who feels stifled in such a situation isn’t necessarily maladjusted.
Note that Betty Friedan’s revolutionary The Feminine Mystique came out in 1963. Betty Draper is a perfect example of what it addressed. So much so that I’m quite confident that whoever is writing her character lifted it straight out of the book. Everything’s in there, from her psychiatric experiences to her husbands comments like “she has everything that she could ever want or need, so how could she be unhappy?” And I don’t mean that as an accusation of lazy writing. Just the opposite. The reason that Friedan was so influential was that the problems that she discussed were rampant in the American middle class. (And I predict that Betty Draper will read the book next year. Can’t wait to see what happens!)
Green Bean, sometimes “bratty” and “in need of attention” are the same thing. I don’t think they’re bad kids, and Don’s son obviously loves him and is very sweet. Betty and Don just keep passing the buck on who is supposed to be doing what in their upbringing, and consequently, neither of them is doing anything and the kids are acting out. Don and Betty drinking all day long so that they forget to give the kids dinner, while Sally acts as bartender, shows more brattiness on the part of the parents, so no surprise the kids are a bit messed up.
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
I hope we learn more about Don and Betty’s backstory; like how they met.
[/quote]
We know how they met. She was modeling and he was doing the advertising for the same company. She was wearing a fur coat in the ad, and he bought her the coat and gave it to her as a gift. Thus ended her modeling career.
I really hope we DON’T get a love affair between Peggy and Father Gil. Matt Weiner worked on The Sopranos, and we got that platonic love affair between Carmela and the schnorrer Father Phil, and copping that storyline would be too much borrowing. And if it becomes actually more than platonic, well, then Peggy would have the worst taste in men ever, wouldn’t she?
Good point!
[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Green Bean, sometimes “bratty” and “in need of attention” are the same thing. I don’t think they’re bad kids, and Don’s son obviously loves him and is very sweet. Betty and Don just keep passing the buck on who is supposed to be doing what in their upbringing, and consequently, neither of them is doing anything and the kids are acting out. Don and Betty drinking all day long so that they forget to give the kids dinner, while Sally acts as bartender, shows more brattiness on the part of the parents, so no surprise the kids are a bit messed up.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, absolutely.
Boy, looking at these people and how they lived just makes it even more obvious why “the sixties” happened. The Drapers are truly living the American dream, and they’re miserable.
I think Betty has gotten really cold to her kids this season- maybe the loss of the hope of a modeling career has made her bitter to the reality of being at home? She just seems so disconnected from them and perpetually angry.
I see Sally in ten years dancing disco and snorting coke.
Ten years from then is only 1972. I think that’s too early for disco and coke. But I think she’s the right age to spend the Summer of Love in San Francisco.
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn]
Ten years from then is only 1972. I think that’s too early for disco and coke. But I think she’s the right age to spend the Summer of Love in San Francisco.
[/QUOTE]
True- but eventually I see disco and coke in her future…
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn]
Ten years from then is only 1972. I think that’s too early for disco and coke. But I think she’s the right age to spend the Summer of Love in San Francisco.
[/QUOTE]
How old is she now? My guess would be 7 or 8, which would make her only 12 or 13 for the Summer of Love.