I figured it would be hard to top the last two episodes, and I was right.
This was a “meh” if ever I saw one.
Not horrible, but nothing all that riveting.
When Don walked into the theater, I thought it was a porn theater (I lived in NYC too long).
Pete story kinda boring.
Nobody has noticed the $50,000 advance that Lane took out, but now with the $175,000 (minus $50,000) it is probably a moot point.
Megan is nice enough, and a pretty woman, but how clueless is she? She has been auditioning for what, two months? And she is SHOCKED that she doesn’t have a starring role or any big parts yet! What are the odds of an actress in NYC not finding work after 10 auditions? Geez - at this rate it could take 6 months to a year to become a star…bummer. Unemployment in the acting industry - whodathunk?
He started treating Megan like a child: he manipulated things to ensure her success. And then walked away.
It’s the same pattern he used to follow with Betty. So he’s gone back to his old ways.
As has Roger, having an affair with Megan’s mom. And Pete’s sorta moved back to the city, and will be just as unhappy. Peggy isn’t around, Joan is back ruling the roost, and the firm is doing well even though there’s no finance person to be seen. In a lot of ways, they’ve come back full circle.
Yeah, I don’t get the Trudy hate. Her list of faults starts and ends with: chose to marry the biggest shitheel in history.
I was reading some other discussion of this episode on Slate, where they posit that Don is upset that Megan is fully pursuing her acting and that he can’t handle an equal partner and wants a new Betty (like Megan’s mom thinks he wants). Err, no. He’s lost respect for her for cashing in on her connections to get a crappy commercial gig. He was happiest when they were both working advertising together.
I wonder if next season they’ll explore the idea that Megan sucks at what she loves (acting) but is great at what she doesn’t enjoy (advertising).
Again, it wasn’t an “advance.” It was an extension of their already existing line of credit. All it would show up is as a larger debit on their account. And even if anyone noticed, it would just be paid down as a part of their routine accounting practices. The only anomaly is the $7,500 check made out to Pryce and that doesn’t appear on the Chemical Bank line of credit.
Every conductor I’ve met on a Metro North train is a feisty Irishman. I remember the train rides home after a night at the clubs or at a concert. They needed the muscle to handle all those drunken teens. They were all friendly as hell, but they meant business.
What to make (if anything) of the two Jame Bond references? Peggy and Don watch the original Casino Royale in the theater and the show closes with the theme song from You Only Live Twice.
Trudy doesn’t deserve an idiot like Pete. Giving him the green light for a city apartment! I wonder if on some level she knows they’re going to grow further and further apart, but that’s the price she’ll have to pay to live the life she wants. Someday it’ll all explode.
When I considered that song choice, the first thing that came to mind was nepotism. Nancy and Megan wouldn’t be without their connections. Also, that intro just sounds cool.
[Matt Weiner inner dialog]
I am thoroughly sick and tired of every two-bit columnist and smartass message board poster in America picking apart every word and glance and pause on the show for what it really means. I’ll show them. I’ll give them an episode in which none of it means anything! They want metaphors? How about the stupidest one in the book? Tooth decay! Rotting from the inside! And dream sequences. Hah. Don will see his dead brother while breathing nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide doesn’t work that way at all, of course. I know that. That’s why his delirium will be so banal. Wait. I’ve got a great idea. I’ll pair that with electroshock losing Beth her memories. Fake memories against tricked-up memory loss. Meaningless but it’ll seem like something to the suckers. Just like Megan’s audition role. Acting is done in b&w and silence. Just like the real thing! That’ll be my commentary on acting. Interpret that, losers. You expected drama? You get Weiner. Weiner. Weiner dogs. Dogs. Fuck you. There’s my commentary. Outside your window is the real world. Sex? Love? Relationships? Nah, just two dogs going into heat. Pete’s a dog. Don’s a dog. Roger’s a dog. The late Lane was a dog. What you see is what you get. Now pant for next year’s shows. Good audience, beg. Beg, I tell you! Beg me for more!
[/Matt Weiner inner dialog]
Yeah, that and Don has lived twice, once as Dick Whitman. I just thought it was odd that there were two references to James Bond movies in the episode.
When Don walks away from Megan as she’s on the set of the Beauty & the Beast ad, was the distance he walks from her intentionally surreal or are regular studios (the type where an ad would be shot) really that huge?
Pete will have other girls, maybe even a regular mistress. That could be an interesting subplot; especially if his mistress get’s pregnant with his child (again ;)).
Lane’s only been dead a few weeks right? Still it’s odd that Rebecca’s shipping her mother over from England rather than having everything packed up. She has absolutely no connection with the US or reason to go back home, unless she’s planning some kind of lawsuit.
Eventually it’s Joan and Burt sitting in a rooming make all the important decisions.
Considering that the two episodes leading up to the finale were incredibly dramatic, I was expecting the final episode to be more subdued. I like that it was, actually, because we got to actually explore some of the heavy stuff that has happened recently, in nice scenes between Don & Peggy, Joan & Don, and Don & Mrs. Pryce.
My interpretation of the final scene was similar to many here. I read it as Don having lost respect for Megan as the result of her actions re: pursuing the commercial, and as a result he’s back to his old ways. The fact that he ordered an “old fashioned” at the bar seemed particularly anvil-y to me.
I will say that the entire storyline with Pete and Rory Gilmore fell sort of flat with me. I was just never that interested in it, though I do appreciate seeing Pete take blows to the face, of course, and I liked Trudy’s “Another car accident?”
I also don’t see how Trudy is a bitch. Maybe she should be more open toward Pete’s dislike of the country, but it’s not like she’s doing it just to spite him.
I don’t get the vehemence towards Trudy either. Not that she’s a total angel, I remember her going to her parents for their old apartment which Pete felt he couldn’t afford and things like that. But her wanting to move out to the suburbs for the baby doesn’t sound all that evil even if it’s not what Pete wanted. In a situation like that, someone is going to have to make a sacrifice. Pete dislikes his commute but his reason for wanting the apartment was so he can have a bang-pad for all the chippies he hopes to collect. Kind of hard to side with him there. And this is coming from someone who usually gave Pete some benefit of the doubt or tried to see what was making him that way (up until this season where he started to become a bit cartoonish in my opinion).
Vincent Kartheiser isn’t drop dead gorgeous by any means, but away from this show he can be really cute, but when playing Pete he seems pasty and weaselly and the last guy you’d ever want to have sex with. I wonder if it’s the acting or the styling that removes any kind of sexiness (at least to me, others mileage may vary).
