# Mad Men: 5.10 "Christmas Waltz" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570 "2012-05-21T01:26:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/41 "2012-05-21T13:58:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I think that a lot of you missed the point of Meagan’s tantrum. She didn’t think that he was having a fling. She was pissed that he left at noon and wasn’t focused on and loving his work anymore. Pete had been saying pretty much the same thing and was angry that he wasn’t taking Jaguar seriously. > > Don had a big realization after Meagan lit into him. That’s why he gave that inspiring pep talk at the end. He’s going to start kicking ass again and save the company. I’m **John Mace** , and I endorse this post. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/42 "2012-05-21T14:00:02Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > A question – why does Pete say “Jagwire”? That’s neither Brit nor American. I have heard that pronunciation, but I associate it more with rustic folks rather than a Manhattanite like Pete. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong. Do New Yorkers say [dʒæg waɪɚ] (“jag-wire”) instead of [dʒæg wɑr] (“jag-war”)? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/43 "2012-05-21T14:01:39Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Had Roger acknowledged Kevin’s paternity before last night? He acknowledged it the first time Joan told him she was pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/44 "2012-05-21T14:07:55Z")
Anyone else have a worried moment when Don was driving the jaguar back from the bar completely shitfaced? If it hadn’t cut to commercial right then, I would have been sure that check he wrote was going to end up cashed. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/45 "2012-05-21T14:13:09Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Don had a big realization after Meagan lit into him. That’s why he gave that inspiring pep talk at the end. He’s going to start kicking ass again and save the company. At the exact same time that Lane’s shenanigans might kill it. $50k in 1966 is equivalent to over $350k in today’s money. With Mohawk going on strike and pulling back on their advertising indefinitely, things are about to get dark at SCDP - even if they do win Jaguar (which is a glamorous client to have, but has never spent a ton of money in the US ad market.) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/46 "2012-05-21T14:15:35Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Anyone else have a worried moment when Don was driving the jaguar back from the bar completely shitfaced? If it hadn’t cut to commercial right then, I would have been sure that check he wrote was going to end up cashed. Me too but I’m glad it didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/47 "2012-05-21T17:31:00Z")
Don & Joan have wonderful chemistry, but I hope the writers never go there. I don’t want anything to ruin their friendship. Didn’t enjoy this episode. The Lane subplot was boring and the Hare Krishna stuff was just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/48 "2012-05-21T17:53:18Z")
They are going to make the staff work their asses off over the holidays. So if they don’t get it, with Don basically telling them, this is our Hail Mary pass, the employees are going to start to worry and maybe look elsewhere. My guess is they lose Ginsberg first and maybe Ken. I still think the firm is going to fall and fall fast. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/49 "2012-05-21T18:29:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > He acknowledged it the first time Joan told him she was pregnant. Had he done so after Kevin’s birth? I thought he had been playing along with the discreet fiction that Joan’s husband was the father. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/50 "2012-05-21T18:52:15Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Lane needs $$ because Inland Revenue is after him. Lane stealing money: BO-ring. Hare Krishna & office sex: BO-ring. > > But holy shit! The chemistry between Don and Joan: worth the price of admission tonight. Worth the whole episode. Joan’s tantrum was perfection. And Don was his old, smooth, sexy self. > > “Here’s $6,000. If we don’t come back, consider it sold.” > > Those two are dynamite together. The whole scene in the bar was great. Even the song “Waltz in Three-Quarter Time” (which I love) supported the mood. > > We need MORE JOAN!! Agreed 100%! The Don-Joan scene ought to be their new template. We talking serious chemistry and excitement. No more Betty! No more Campbell! Don & Joan! One more thing: Don can flat wear a hat! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/51 "2012-05-21T18:55:04Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Had he done so after Kevin’s birth? I thought he had been playing along with the discreet fiction that Joan’s husband was the father. He made reference to it when Joan first brought the baby to work. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/52 "2012-05-21T18:58:18Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Indeed. Betty never stood up to Don until she asked for a divorce. When Megan sits him down and tells him to eat his dinner, she’s demanding respect for herself. Betty never did this–she waited until she had another man she could run to. Don respects Megan; I’m not sure it’s possible to respect Betty. Don may respect Megan, I don’t. On the one hand, it’s good for her that she stands up for herself. On the other, the methods she uses for doing so are, to me, incredibly childish. Throwing plates across the room, this week, standing and screaming “I don’t want to talk to you” last comes across as throwing a tantrum. It’s a step up from Betty, but it’s a far cry from where I expect a grown up to behave. Speaking of childish - was I the only person watching through my fingers with Don & Joan? They’re beautiful people and the actors have crazy chemistry with each other and still I really don’t want them to hook up. I like that the characters have a great friendship and respect the hell out of each other and want it to stay that way. (I also have the thought that Don hasn’t slept with either of his two work wives (Joan or Peggy) but I don’t know what to make of that.) I’d love to see Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks in a screwball romantic comedy together. It would be awesome. Just not as Don and Joan. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/53 "2012-05-21T19:50:39Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > He made reference to it when Joan first brought the baby to work. Sorry to keep beating this dead horse, but I thought he’d said “There’s my baby…” then made a bee-line for Joan, remarking “…somebody get the kid out of the way.” I.e., implying Joan was the baby in question. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/54 "2012-05-21T19:53:49Z")
Roger is a master of double entendre. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/55 "2012-05-21T19:57:18Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Sorry to keep beating this dead horse, but I thought he’d said “There’s my baby…” then made a bee-line for Joan, remarking “…somebody get the kid out of the way.” I.e., implying Joan was the baby in question. No. I.e. making a joke that only Joan would understand. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/56 "2012-05-22T00:30:37Z")
Not sure I understood the Hare Krishna subplot. Was she trying to blackmail him after the sex? There was no proof that anything happened, so she has no leverage. What was the point of having sex with him? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/57 "2012-05-22T01:01:29Z")
You think his wife is going to be looking for ironclad proof if a hot woman shows up with that story? Harry has a history of infidelity and there are witnesses that she came to see him. And even if her story isn’t 100 percent persuasive to Jennifer, it’s enough to strain their relationship. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/58 "2012-05-22T01:05:05Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Speaking of childish - was I the only person watching through my fingers with Don & Joan? They’re beautiful people and the actors have crazy chemistry with each other… > I’d love to see Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks in a screwball romantic comedy together. It would be awesome. Just not as Don and Joan. Fabulous idea! Reminiscent of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade and Cary and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/59 "2012-05-22T01:05:46Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Not sure I understood the Hare Krishna subplot. Was she trying to blackmail him after the sex? There was no proof that anything happened, so she has no leverage. What was the point of having sex with him? No, she was too inept for blackmail. She said that she traded herself to get Harry to manipulate Paul into staying in the cult. But even Harry pointed out that she did it backwards by first giving it away and then negotiating. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570/60 "2012-05-22T01:28:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > You really think that this was a horrible tantrum? Why didn’t Don call to say where he would be? > > Does anyone who was around back then know whether it was usual for someone to just be gone all evening without letting his or her family know? Megan might be justified to be angry, even yell “Where the hell were you? Why didn’t you call?” when he walked in the door. Throwing a plate of food across the room, slamming another plate of food in front of Don and demanding he eat it while she sits there in stony silence, glaring icily out the window (while the smashed plate of food sits on the floor) qualifies as a tantrum. Especially when it’s the first time he’s done that to her. And besides, Megan was Don’s secretary for a year (and an office receptionist for longer) and certainly knows that Don is quite often pulling very late nights, or all-nighters, often on the spur of the moment, and rushing out at the drop of the hat to glad-handle clients. Running out for cocktails on the spur of the moment with the CEO of Heinz Baked Beans (for example) is just a part of his job. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-10-christmas-waltz-open-spoilers/622570.md?page=4)