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RE: Ginsburg:
I don’t think he’s insane, nor does he believe he’s a Martian. I think he’s adept at masking very pain deep beneath humor and deadpan bullshit. “Second Generation” children - children of Holocaust survivors - often suffer from severe psychological problems.
Ginsburg kind of reminds me of Art Siegelman, the author of the graphic novel Maus. Both have issues with their fathers that are tied very much into the Holocaust. They are actually embarrassed by their father’s eccentricities, they are frustrated because their ability to deal with it is hindered by the Holocaust experience, and they feel the need to express their conflicted feelings using their imagination.
I don’t think Don was actually concerned that Megan was embarrassing him in front of a waitress (and the waitress clearly didn’t care); he was mad at Megan because he thought she was acting the way he did just to bug him. It was a very parent/child exchange. In fact, it’s practically the same scene that played out between Betty and Sally at Henry’s mother’s house during Thanksgiving. Megan’s follow-up of cramming the sherbert in her mouth was similarly childish.
And Don was probably right - Megan probably just didn’t like the ice cream specifically because Don told her she’d love it when he was describing the trip, and she was resentful for him making her go, and at the very least she exaggerated her reaction as a barb toward him.
I have never been on an acid trip but I found Roger’s very entertaining.
Yeah, I found it entertaining not because watching other people do drugs is entertaining, but because it was Roger doing drugs, and that was a Roger we hadn’t really seen before (and we hadn’t seen him really interact much with Jane for a really long time).
I think Don just had a picture in his head of having this really nice surprise weekend for Megan and it wasn’t working out. She was worrying about work instead of relaxing, she forgot her bathing suit, she didn’t like the ice cream, etc. Don wasn’t the most mature about it but neither was Megan when Don didn’t love his surprise party to Megan’s expectations. He went into it with good intentions, immediately thinking of her when he saw that it was within driving distance of Montreal and pretty much choosing her over Roger (with the token offer to make it a foursome).
I agree that he was pouty that she wasn’t having fun. However, she was rightfully pissed that her career means little to him. He doesn’t take her own interest in her work seriously. Plus, he refused to travel the extra hour to see her folks when she suggested it!
I enjoyed the acid trip a lot.
Did he? I thought that was part of the premise of the trip… “It’s only an hour from Montreal!”
For all that, Megan’s comment about Don’s mother was extremely bitchy and uncalled for. Doesn’t excuse whatever but if we’re gonna grouse on Don for not being happy over a glass of sherbet…
This is what I took away from it.
However, I disagree that he went into it with good intentions, or that he was thinking of her when he accepted the assignment. He had a very specific image of how things were going to play out (Megan was going to be thankful and excited, she was going to love the orange sherbert) that didn’t allow for Megan being a contributing partner in the trip.
And that kind of fantasy had been (up until this point) the foundation of their relationship. I have the impression, from this season and from the last episode of the previous season, that when Don looks at Megan, he’s not seeing a person but a fantastical relationship. A huge part of healthy long-term relationships is the dismantling of the initial larger-than-life infatuation you have with the other person to see the reality that lies underneath. That entails making room for their flaws, their opinions, and their desires. That Don could labor this long without seeing Megan as an actual person doesn’t bode well for their relationship.
Incidentally, I’ve been in the same position as Don was in this episode; from planning something romantic and surprising without consulting the other person, to acting immature when my intentions aren’t received as warmly as I’d imagined they would be. Complete with throwing my hands up and saying, “Fuck this,” and storming off, then returning later and being unable to apologize or deflate the tension and anger because the person hadn’t waited around for me. The sole difference being that I didn’t end up kicking a door down and chasing her around.
It was thoroughly selfish on my part, just like it was with Don. Fortunately for me, it was only a solitary lapse of judgement. Unfortunately for Don, that lapse has been ongoing since the start of his relationship with Megan.
He said it was near Lake Placid. I think on the road she said that it was only 1.5 hours and he replied “your parents are coming next week” or something?
And her comment was awful, but she did try to apologize right away. I love Don, don’t get me wrong… But he was an ass to her.
All the fun trippy 1919 White Sox, Ted Knight photo stuff happens, but not always. The gift acid gave to Roger and Jane was the ability to view themselves, each other, their marriage and their lives with complete objectivity.
They were able to sort out their lives and marriage laying on the bathroom floor. Roger completely “got it.” When he was in his suit on the way to work Jane wanted to feign an LSD hangover and say it was just the drug talking. When Roger said yeah, as in duh, all she could do was own up to it and make sure she was going to be set financially.
Also, unrelated to anything else, did anyone think this episode was might be paying homage to Pulp Fiction. At one point I thought Amanda Plummer was going to walk into Hojo’s and jump up on to the counter with a gun in her hand.
Exactly. I think many of you are missing key aspects of Don and Megan’s conflict. While he pretty much ordered her to go with him, remember he chose to do this instead of going with Rodger and engaging in the adulterous activities he would have in the past. He instead chose to spend that fun time with his wife, which is a big step forward for him. Also, he does know his wife, and she did dislike the dessert to spite him. She was rightfully mad that he was slipping into work mode on a trip they were supposed to be enjoying when he dragged her away from working. Also, she pretty much launched a deep psychological attack by referencing his mother. That’s not a light thing and she knows it was a very sensitive thing to him. Too often people dismiss these kind of mental assaults women do to men. That was a deep blow unjustified in the context of their argument.
Further, remember he wanted to leave *with *her. She didn’t want to get in the car. He was angry, and he just had to get away from her, because, as we sense, he is capable of violence, and I think he had to get away from her to ensure he didn’t hurt her. He was filled rage.
I’m not excusing Don, but Megan was far from innocent here either.
I think Don speeding away without her in anger, and she independently going home were symbolic demonstrations that both are very capable of leaving the other. I think Rodger and Jane juxtaposed with Don and Megan was an inference of the same. Don doesn’t love Megan and Rodger didn’t love Jane. Their marriages to both were fun alternatives to their painful presents.
I agree. Don wasn’t seeing Megan as a person with her own desires (he overruled her choice of dessert for crying out loud). She was almost a prop to him.
That’s why I can forgive her for acting silly with the ice cream. He’d been disregarding her wishes all day, and she snapped. Megan’s not like Betty, who acts childish all the time. Megan was just fed up.
(But then again, I happen to agree with her that orange sherbet is nasty stuff. 
)
Again, same as Don’s surprise party. Peggy made it clear it was a bad idea. Don balked when he saw Roger and figured it out. Megan barged in full steam ahead “youregonnaloveitjustwait!” and got all pissy when – surprise! – Don didn’t.
We can give Don all sorts of shit for it and say “He’s older” and stuff but I think sometimes you just have something planned nice in your head and get thrown off when it doesn’t work out. At worst, neither of them fully understands the other as a whole person (Megan’s interest in work, Don’s introverted nature) and will either have to work at it or suffer the consequences.
I took a different set of meanings away from it.
In any marriage, having an issue in which one partner can talk about X but the other partner can’t talk about X is going to create lasting problems. Don does have an unusual background and Megan understood that she was being deliberately hurtful by referencing his mother but everything after that I see in a different light.
In a real marriage, bring up the X issue may lead to a fight. But this isn’t a real marriage: it’s a television show and all key scenes are symbolic. Megan’s bringing up Don’s mother is shorthand for all the things she’s not allowed to bring up. This whole season has been a compilation of a list of situations in which she gets the short stick, and I don’t need to repeat them all. Don’s issues haven’t changed all that much since the Betty years - Megan may challenge them more adultly than Betty but he still firmly believes that he’s the man, the wage-earner, and the boss and he will not tolerate challenges of any sort.
The scene at the apartment was equally symbolic. Being abjectly contrite after a violent display is standard behavior for abusers. The audience wouldn’t tolerate Don actually hitting Megan but this displacement is an obvious substitute. Roger and Jane can break up behaving as adults. Don can’t. He never has. Don is an ugly, ugly character. It’s been brought up in many past threads about the show how odd it is that people admire Don Draper given his displayed behavior.
Don destroyed Betty in their marriage. She’s an unlikable character that people love to hate, but Don was shown breaking her for three full seasons. He’s doing it all over again, and people still defend him. That’s the most remarkable achievement of a remarkable show.
I don’t know that tripping on LSD and accidentally revealing that your shrink thinks you’re waiting to end the relationship, then having one person remember the conversation in the morning counts as “as adults”. Jane was obviously mortified and unready when Roger talked about it the next day. And, this being the same Jane who connived her way into the marriage in the first place, I wouldn’t expect her to quietly take a check and go away.
I agree with the bulk of what Exapno says.
I disagree that Megan is “far from innocent” in this episode. At worst, she’s guilty of saying something inappropriately nasty during a fight. That’s not exemplary behavior, but those kinds of things happen during fights. I give her a complete pass on not getting in the car with Don, because his behavior was not only childish and controlling, it was scary. I don’t give Don any points for not indulging in an adulterous weekend romp with Roger; regardless of how much personal growth that demonstrates on the part of Don, it’s still minimally decent human behavior.
Just a little side question . . .
We recently gave up our DirectTV and no longer have AMC. Is there anywhere to watch the current series legally and for free online or on Roku?
I checked AMC site and it doesn’t stream from there. I miss this show!
LH
Not free, but it is available the next day on itunes. I’m able to watch it in Afghanistan the next day.
There is no way Megan is at fault: Don pushed her buttons over and over until she did something slightly dramatic and Don left her in a parking lot miles from home. He expected her to sit there and think about what she did like a good little girl (which is what Betty would have done).