God, yes. The Sylvia storyline doesn’t even have a veneer of originality to save us from its blandness – we’ve seen this routine for five other seasons, now, in much more interesting variety. There’s no spark of interest in the character to redeem interest.
The only difference in this affair is how close to the edge Don is playing it. Previously, he kept some separation between his home life and affairs. But the show could have clearly established how near to the cliff he is with only a few scenes – not the dreary repetitious scenes we’ve been subjected to. We get it: he’s strayed into dangerous territory. Now shut up and move on to something interesting, Weiner.
Definitely a lesser episode compared to last week’s.
The scenes with Peggy and Pete’s mom and Sally catching Don with Sylvia were just standard TV soap fare. Mad Men is supposed to avoid such mundane bits.
I still don’t get what Peggy’s deal is. She asks Stan over to help with the rat and offers him something extra? Like the movie theater, all the Pete stuff, etc., why is she so messed up with men? We know all about Don’s issues, but so very little about Peggy.
Yeah, when Sylvia first appeared onscreen I groaned. Yet Another MM Viewer Who is Sick of Her. I have no idea why Don is interested in her. So she sleeps with him? So will a lot of women. Women who are far more interesting.
The impromptu partners meeting started off well but then fizzled into childishness. This was the tone of the whole episode.
Mitchell is not the kind of kid who is going to go along with the Air National Guard pilot thing. He probably won’t even bother to show up for basic. Don would sense this and not waste his efforts on him. Canada, CO status, etc., are for kids like him.
Too many parachute characters. In addition to Hudson Thames as Mitchell Rosen, there was Cameron Protzman as Julie. Andres Faucher as Manolo might be one-and-done. Like the violinn girl in the season openers, these kind of characters don’t work.
His actual response was more amusing. “Maybe I’ll make it worth your while?” “No, you won’t”.
Stan’s been FriendZoned by Peggy! Good for late night commiserations and vermin removal duties but he knows it’ll never be made “worth his while”. I get the impression that, if Stan actually thought Peggy was interested, he’d have only paused long enough to make sure his bedtime companion had cab fare home.
[QUOTE=Lightray]
The only difference in this affair is how close to the edge Don is playing it. Previously, he kept some separation between his home life and affairs.
[/QUOTE]
Arguably, we even had that before when he was boinking Sally’s schoolteacher. Who was also pretty boring but at least that fling was shorter. Or maybe it just felt shorter.
Maybe Bob is setting Pete up?
He of course knows that Pete is not Gay…the bordello was pretty good proof of that…but I am not quite sure whether this is an elaborate set-up, an attempt to push Pete over the edge or just a ruse to get Pete to look like a fool for even claiming this happened. There is more to this story.
Don is officially a loser now. He has lost interest in most things to do with advertising, he is going off the deep end with sex and alcohol and now his daughter has her own secret on him that pretty much can ruin two marriages. Yes, this may be the point of the series, but would anyone really give a damn if Don dies - suicide or murder or accident? From cool dude to worthless, over-the-hill addict…Don’s days are numbered.
Poor Peggy…alone with a cat and a rat in a ghetto.
Oh - and for the kid with the 1A draft card? He could say he is homosexual…he can join the National Guard now…he can move to Sweden or Canada…but yes, it is quite clear he will die learning how to fly.
Sort of glad there is only one more season left…they are just spending a long time wrapping this up and the writing is pretty much on the wall for the entire cast of characters. I don’t think it will end on a happy note.
Nah, I think Bob is just another Mad Men example of the Sad Gay. It’s a retread of why Sal was around, just played out in a different decade. Bob has an unrequited crush on Pete*, and has apparently been mooning around trying to ingratiate himself with the object of his affection (as, we have seen, is his MO). He managed to convince himself that he might have a chance with Pete, despite what he knows about Pete’s preferences.
In other words, the Sad Gay Guy Crushing On His Straight Friend.
He’ll mope around in a few more throwaway scenes, with his brittle smile and forced-cheerful demeanor indicating to us, the viewers, that he’s crying on the inside. Then it’ll end with some unexpected shocking kicker… they’ve already done the hanging-in-the-office thing with Lane, and jumping out a window would be too obvious a callback to the title sequence, so it’ll be something else. But I’m pretty sure he won’t make it out of the season.
Am I the only one who thinks Ted is acting a bit paranoid about Don? Not that Don is being the great partner or anything, I just don’t think Don is out to get Ted or anything, he’s just used to be being able to say “jump” and folks say “how high?” Don isn’t exactly working with Ted, his equal, but has more to do with Don’s obliviousness than nay desire to marginalize Ted. At least that is my opinion.
I thought the scenes of Don following Sally out the door and through the building were really well done. I don’t think Don has ever looked more like a creepy, sad, pathetic, old man than in those shots. I’m sure that’s what they were going for too.
Ted sounded a little like Pete when he was whining about the juice and wanting Don to “Stop the war”. Don was legitimately perplexed when Ted went on his tear about Don trying to steal the glory of Ocean Spray from him. Like “there has to be more that you want because what you’re asking for is nothing.”
Meanwhile, Ted is up on his Ocean Spray cross bitching to Don and Jim how everyone’s out to get him.
Claiming he’s gay (& assuming they even believe him) results in official government paperwork (that he’ll need to present for employment) labelling him a sex pervert, joining the National Guard could be very difficult unless you had the right connections (which Ted does), and fleeing to Canada or Sweden means permanent exile (Carter’s amnesty is a decade away). Also it appears his parents are trying very hard to stay within the law. Well at least his father is; I doubt Sylvia gives a fuck about breaking the law.
No, you aren’t the only one. Ted was acting uber paranoid for really no reason. And, Don was very confused when Ted was blaming him for playing saboteur.
Pete was involved with Ocean Spray. That’s why he took the trip with Ted and Peggy. Roger was the one who landed Sunkist. Pete would be more paranoid if they dropped Ocean Spray in favor of Sunkist, not the other way around.
That’s very close, but now I’m thinking Benson reminds me of Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) – they both have very expressive eyes and beautiful smiles.