I think the differences in culture between the two agencies was interesting. Don just wanders in whenever he feels like it, and comes up with something out of no where and its brilliant. The SCDP guys almost seem to be the same in waiting for inspiration to strike.
Ted is very different. Not only does he care about being on time (what a concept!), but he wants to actively work towards something - so ‘rap’ sessions with creative - and thinks of his folks as a team rather than seemingly like just folks to provide the main guy with some spark.
Very different attitudes. Ted is far more professional as we think of it today, while Don seems far more carefree and the whole “I can get away with it because I’m brilliant” stuff that flew in the 50s and early 60s doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough going forward.
The older (compared to others in the dept.) woman in creative at SCDP who said “Nice working with you” since she figured she was going to be let go. Later it was revealed she was let go.
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
Where was Dawn?
[/QUOTE]
“Black or white?”
(I didn’t quite understand that line: is there a white Dawn [perhaps with the CGC folks])?
I know they said the building is on the UWS, but did they say an exact address? I vaguely remember the West 80’s. Which is a really lovely and expensive area now, but I think they have quite a few rough years ahead of them as the area gentrifies.
That scene made me think of something from when I was in grade school. In my class there were two unrelated kids with the same last name and first names “Geoff” and “Jeff”. The teachers always differentiated them by adding “with a G” or “with a J”, but informally among the kids it was always “fat one” or “skinny one”. That stuck even after the bigger kid slimmed down in high school.
The story being “The Last Picture Show.” This makes sense. Old, respected Sam the Lion (Don Draper?) passed away and the old ways are dying, as is Sam’s town. The movie theater he owned suffered because of the new TV shows keeping people home.
I always thought if any of the young guys in TLPS had the brains of gnats, they would get in their pickups and get out of that town.
Am I the only one who thought that “nothing else will do” would turn up as the tagline for the margarine campaign? (though, FTR, I’m glad I was wrong… that would have been a little corny)
Ted’s talent is that he can generate some ideas, run them through the Gilliganometer, and make people feel good about margarine. Don’s talent is that he can make people want to have sex with margarine so that in a brief moment of release they won’t feel the wrenching anguish of loss.
Back in junior high, we had two guys in shop class named Lawrence. We distinguished them as Black Lawrence and Regular Lawrence.
As to the episode, we’ve seen Don vulnerable before, but I can’t remember an episode where we see him vulnerable *twice *(in the plane, and when Sylvia is bailing on the “game.”)
It’s a shame about his mom though. It’s crystal clear she’s going to be committed to a home. Trudy sure as hell isn’t going take care of her. It was funny how she was right about Kennedy being shot, but concerned about Pete being late for school at the same time.
Probably not, but the scene that night in their apartment sure made it seem like she knew what Joan was doing.
No, it’s pretty obvious Joan was talking about Abe.
This is going to be so much fun to watch. They haven’t even picked out a name yet (I predict Pete get’s shafted again), and it’s clear Don & Ted are going to be at each other’s thoughts in short order. I wonder how Ted will [del]if[/del] when he finds out about Dick Whitman.
She wasn’t seen, but I think her job’s safe for now. She’s a partner’s secretary and if they decide they have too many Negros Peggy’s will be the one to go.
I think it was just Don being Don - push hard in an unexpected way and either get something the subject didn’t know s/he had, or watch them fall off the cliff and move on. He did it to Peggy several times and she always came through.
As for Dawn, I found Don’s repeated puzzlement at her absence to be another of those f/arty little games Weiner has been prone to playing in the last few seasons. Enough.
I sort of feel that the Whitman angle is played out as a scandal. In 1959 it made more sense that it might shock people but we’re nearly ten years past that and in the grips of an unpopular war. The government might care from a bureaucracy standpoint or individual people might care (veterans, etc) but it seems less and less earth-shattering the further you move from it.
So do you think that Don’s control games made Sylvia break off the affair sooner than she would have otherwise or do you think she’d already decided to call it off after one or seven more quickies?
Do you think the Doctor will find out about the affair?
If that was brought to light, would desertion be the only major charge? Certainly he hasn’t cost the Draper family anything (assuming there is one now that his wife is dead) so they couldn’t claim any monetary losses.
I would think so. I can’t imagine he’s been using Draper’s military benefits or anything (both from fear of being caught and lack of need). I don’t think Social Security numbers were the ubiquitous “Federal ID” number they’re treated as today so I doubt there’s any real fraud there. And any debts he’s taken out in Draper’s names are no doubt properly paid/maintained anyway.
I came in to say the same thing.
It is no secret that men in the 50’s were apes…but Don’s foray into 3 Shades Of Grey and getting the guy drunk and treating his employees and wife like crap pretty much sealed the deal.
Now I am actively looking forward to Don getting his just desserts…and I have the sneaking suspicion that was the plan all along.
There is a show here in Vegas with impersonators of the Rat Pack…Sinatra, Martin, Bishop, Sammy Jr…and when I took my aunt to see it ages ago (long before Mad Men started to air), I realized that while some in the audience missed the “good old days”, I loathed those guys. They were a bunch of asshole jerks - and Don Draper would have fit in just fine with all of them. In today’s world, Don is a Human Resources nightmare…and every once in awhile when I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, I can just envision how truly horrible things were just a few decades ago.
So - good show, they captured the true essence of Don Draper, and now we know he deserves whatever horrible fate they give him.