Laurel Canyon is about 10 minutes away from the Tate residence in Benedict Canyon. I can just see that douchebag agent getting Megan into a party at the Polanskis.
It is 20 minutes to Los Feliz where the Labianca home resides. All in all not far…
Not sure what month we are in, likely early Spring at the moment. The murders occurred in August.
Woodstock was a little over a week later. I can see Sally sneaking off to that. Possibly with Betty, who will get really pissed when Sally trades her sandwich for some bad acid.
I can’t imagine them writing Megan into history by making her a Manson victim, but I can totally see her being caught up in the paranoia that I have read seized L.A. at the time. Supposedly you could not buy a guard dog or a handgun or hire a security guard anywhere in Los Angeles unless you had a box of cash.
Or they could make her (surprisingly modest) place the site of a non violent creepy-crawl.
They will surely formalize all of those conditions to set him up to being fired for cause.
If they were smart, the existing buy-out terms would be over time and factor in the ongoing success of the firm. Don may realize that his ability to get much out of his partnership interest hinges on the success of the firm and plans on either being a part of it or taking it down.
Bingo! My wife and I both answered for Don with a “No”… and then I immediatly realized that he is smarter than we are… and they are.
He’s going to either get the firm back on his terms or take it down.
I wonder whether they were trying to scare him away or sincere in their desire to have him back under those terms or however they might reasonably evolve>
I believe our colleagues above pinpointed the time, which agrees with your estimate.
I agree. The only ones who’d know Don was there was the other firm and the older guy seemed sincere in his “I wish I’d thought of it” remark. Intended as such or not, I didn’t really get a “How Don Got His Groove Back” vibe from it so much as it felt like a slightly clumsy set up for the door knocking fake-out.
Regarding Manson and Woodstock, etc so far the show has done a nice job of letting the events of the world happen around the cast without turning it into Forrest Gump with someone waving in the background of each event. I think making someone a Mason victim or whatever would really cheapen that.
When the board minus Don were having that discussion about what to do with him, I thought it was weird that 1) they were having that discussion in the first place [I mean that they had not had it before], 2) how clueless about the situation most of the people in the conversation were. Not only were they apparently under the impression that he’d been fired, Roger also needed to remind them that he’s still a partner. Their failure to understand this basic situation that does not take a great deal of legal genius to comprehend seemed a bit contrived - meant to remind viewers of what the deal was.
Dave Wooster–THAT’S who he is!! The guy who sits across from Don and could be his clone (except for the bad clothes):
I used to watch JAG all the time, and Elliott has those same movie-star-recruiting-poster good looks as our boy Don. To me those scenes look like Don is sitting in front of a mirror looking at himself.
That’s a terrible read of Roger in this episode. Roger could care less whether Don will be controllable, and certainly didn’t realize that Don needs to work. Roger wants Don back because Lou isn’t any fun and because he’s feeling (understandably) threatened and outnumbered by Cutler. Roger’s motivation here was Roger.
What is this, the first episode you’ve seen over the past season and a half?
One other thing Don has going for him is that even if he was terminated at some point, he knows he could go almost anywhere else to work.
Exactly. Roger is the same asshole that Don is. He wants his drinking buddy because Lou isnt a player.
As far as Don getting the firm back, meh, the firm is not really interested they are weary of him. Hes damaged goods. Maybe he can convince some hotshot company with his charm and get some accounts again, but the staff have seen the real Don Draper, the guy who will steal Rizzos dream of a California office and dump all over a pitch just to wallow in self pity. Unless he gets a huge account and can clean house, he has to deal with his shit and really make amends, not pretend to in one breath and then drop his stink in the next. The allure of the firm is his alcohol, he abuses it to no end, until everyone except Roger decided its time to stop being his enabler.
No I’ve watched the series and I have absolutely no pity for this guy. There are guys like him all over and they’re revered for being assholes. The people around him are far more interesting than he is.
I thought they deliberately put Elliott in ugly horn rimmed glasses so chubby Don wouldnt be shown up in the handsome department.
I don’t think we’re supposed to think that Don is the bees’ knees of handsome anymore. I think he’s supposed to look worn and dissolute. One more reason I think the sudden come-on came across so oddly.
I think they nerded up Elliott because his firm is supposed to be an older, established firm (in contrast with upstart SDP).
All the people around him are assholes, too! Dawn and Bobby are about the only ones I’d have any sympathy for. Burt’s kinda okay, but has been complicit in too much of the asshole shennanigans at SDP over the years. Betty, Roger, Peggy, Pete, even Joan – all jerks.
I think it’s funny that we all hate Don Draper because he’s done - and continues to do - some seriously shitty stuff throughout the run of the show.
But as soon as they show people being mean to him we’re all like “Hey! Back off! Why is everyone being a jerk to Don? Don’t be a jerk to Don!”
Well maybe not all of us, but me at least. I just thought of this, how I was mad at Joan and Peggy and Bert and all of a sudden realized “Hey aren’t I supposed to be mad at Don?” 
I don’t have much pity for him either, but your statement was more than a little odd. He didn’t get his comeuppance when they tossed him out the door, but he gets it when they let him come back. That’s when you say “finally”?
And if you don’t think he’s interesting, then I’m not sure what other character would scratch that itch for you.
Most of his life he has been shoved down a notch or two or three. You know, I think that’s what I like about the show. I like Don; he’s a character I like despite not wanting to like him. I see him as sort of an everyman in a way; that’s just what I feel. You peel away the exterior of slickness and good looks and charm and there’s something there, there’s a sort of substance of a human being who’s suffered and suffers in a way that can’t be cured with money and status; it’s like despite all this he’s an empty man always searching for a place to belong and never finding it. He grew up in an environment where people did not care about each other as human beings, just what they could get out of them.
He cannot connect with people, he has to always be something for them except for the woman who was the wife of the husband of the guy who’s identity he stole - but then she dies of cancer. That’s why he has that breakdown I believe; he doesn’t want to be a liar and a cheat - but he will not be accepted for who he is, who he really is; warts, bad past and all. His first wife rejects him when she finds out about his past, when he breaks down and talks about his past in the pitch he gets put on leave. He has created a facade because that is what the world wants of him, that’s the only way he can try to escape the life of poverty he would otherwise have inherited. His upbringing that exposed him to a world where people manipulate and cheat each other prepared him for a the world of Madison avenue; but it is a double edged sword that is destroying him.
I don’t really think dismissing his childhood of growing up in a whorehouse into a situation where there was no caring about people; where people just used each other as just a shitty childhood he should just get over really portrays the situation accurately.
When you speak of a character who is a true narcisist, Betty is what comes to mind.
Well, yeah… Wooster is the Bizarro Don Draper. But it’s amazing how their faces are practically identical.