# Mad-Men: 7.04 "The Monolith" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681 "2014-05-05T01:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/61 "2014-05-06T16:35:27Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Good article in the [LA Times](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-mad-men-recap-monolith-computer-20140505-story.html#axzz30txzzc00&page=1). > \*As mentioned elsewhere, 1968 film [_2001: A Space Odyssey_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/?ref_=nv_sr_1) The first shot, after Don walks in, was a direct steal from 2001 - especially the scene near the end where the monolith appears in the hotel room. And the shots of the corridor of SCP with the bright fluorescent lights on the ceiling reminded me of the brightly lit floor of the space station where Floyd talks to the Russians. There might also be a reference to the myth that HAL came from IBM, subtracting one from each letter. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/62 "2014-05-06T16:37:13Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I think that this trip to visit “Marigold” is going to force Roger to recognize how ridiculous his own life has become. His daughter sleeping around was the final straw of a “Oh my God, she really is turning into me” moment which is why he turned so cold on the situation in the morning. I predict we’ll see Roger straighten out a bit going forward. That subplot where guy in a suit visits commune, gets stoned, and then freaks out got done tons of times at the time. Let’s hope Roger doesn’t come back with a gun like Peter Boyle in **Joe**. ---
**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 6, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/63 "2014-05-06T16:37:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Also, I didn’t think the position “my kid won’t miss me because you were never around, Dad” rang true one single bit. If anything, kids who were neglected tend to overcompensate by wanting to be on the spot. I think she was just exaggerating in a way that she knew would hurt Roger. I don’t think she was really neglected. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/64 "2014-05-06T16:41:57Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Let me put that job up there with the list of Jobs That Would Make Me Put A Bullet In My Head: 25 pitches by the end of the day, X2? Then another 25 from the one guy because Lou likes to sneak up on the angle? Seventy-five ideas to wade through. > > I’d last about half a day. > > And I chuckled picturing my secretary entertaining my kid all day by chasing each other through the office. Yeah, that would happen. I was in New York all the time at the time of this episode and I don’t recall ever seeing a Burger Chef - not that the ad writers would have gone there. So he was writing the pitches with absolutely no knowledge of the client. Which might be one reason why Don thought it was a useless exercise. When I was in grad school in Louisiana in the late '70s there was a Burger Chef right near campus. Absolutely the worse fast food burgers ever ate. I don’t know if they were any better ten years earlier but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/65 "2014-05-06T16:45:26Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > WTF was up with Don’s drunken rant against the computer installer dude? Did I miss something, or was he just so loaded he was lashing out for no reason? Besides the other stuff, there was the incessant sound of hammering which could be heard from Don’s office, just another sign of how Creative was being insulted. If Done were smart he’d just say that he couldn’t work with the noise and was going to work at home, and then get smashed there. But people back then didn’t have the concept of working from home. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/66 "2014-05-06T18:22:34Z")
A purely placeholder episode. Don’s back. Don gets the sads. Don gets drunk. Freddy talks Don back from the edge. That was almost interesting. Roger and Mona go upstate to “rescue” their daughter. Arguments ensue. And … ? (The son-in-law got arrested after starting a fight in a bar coming back from the commune, and was in Kingston jail. Kingston is halfway to Albany. Presumably the commune is further north. Like Woodstock. However, Bethel NY, where the festival took place, is actually SW of Kingston.) Anyway. The partners didn’t put Peggy on Burger Chef. Cutler (Lou’s ally) wanted Ted or Lou. Roger pushed for Don and he won. Lou undercut that decision by actually giving it to Peggy with Don added to the team to sort of make it like the partner’s decision. The IBM was being placed on a raised floor, BTW. It was clearly shown later in the install. Cutler hates creative. Thinks they are mostly a waste of time. His philosophy is find out what the client looks for and echo it back. No Grand Ideas or anything is needed. Waste of time, money and endangering trouble to do more. So Lou is “adequate” and that’s better than Don or Peggy being great. The lounge goes away since the creatives underlings should stick to their offices like normal people. How far Peggy has come that her raise is of little interest to herself. What did she start at, $50-60 a week? The IBM leaser is [Robert Blake](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1151899). Lot’s of appearances in the standard set of TV dramas. Best known for a bunch of appearances in season 6 of _Grey’s Anatomy_ plus one flashback episode. Not such a great actor. I sort of groaned a bit when he appeared. With so few episodes left, why was such a pointless episode required? ---
**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 6, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/67 "2014-05-06T18:59:28Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Lou didn’t assign Peggy to the account, the partners did. Lou did, however, make her the top creative person on the account with Don reporting to her which both Peggy and Don immediately realized was messed up. And he did it to insulate himself from Don at Peggy’s expense, not because he thinks Peggy is awesome (based on every previous interaction we’ve seen between Peggy & Lou). ---
**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 6, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/68 "2014-05-06T19:08:03Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Also, I didn’t think the position “my kid won’t miss me because you were never around, Dad” rang true one single bit. That whole subplot fell flat for me. Beyond what you said about abandoned children overcompensating as parents, there’s a world of difference between going to work (and bringing home a paycheck) and abandoning your kid in order to fuck in the dirt and sell jelly. On the other hand, I don’t care enough about Roger’s daughter/grandkid to be upset when I was watching it at what a fool she was being or to really feel bad on Roger’s behalf. It just felt like “Well, we gotta work some hippie communes in here somewhere so who’s someone no one will care is gone for the rest of the season?” They should have just had Kinsey wander back in from his sojourn to Hollywood for another episode before wandering out to join a new hippie commune 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/69 "2014-05-06T19:08:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > With so few episodes left, why was such a pointless episode required? I agree. The writing was not very good. Like all of us, Don had to know that last week’s proposal meant that this is the way things would be. Based on the way he eagerly said “okay” to the offer, we all felt as though Don understood he’d be insulted at every turn. So why does he act surprised when it actually happens? This episode ended exactly where the previous one did. First time I’ve said it, but this was disappointing. I guess Weiner felt like the point really needed to be hammered home. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/70 "2014-05-06T22:22:53Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The partners didn’t put Peggy on Burger Chef. Cutler (Lou’s ally) wanted Ted or Lou. Roger pushed for Don and he won. Lou undercut that decision by actually giving it to Peggy with Don added to the team to sort of make it like the partner’s decision. Roger wasn’t there. It was _Pete_ who wanted Don on the account. Not because he was Don’s ally, but because he thinks Don is better than Peggy (or Lou), and wants to land the account to show up Bob. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/71 "2014-05-06T22:40:05Z")
Roger was on the NYC end of the conference call and supported Pete when the latter suggested that Don be put on the account. ---
**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 6, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/72 "2014-05-06T23:30:06Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > … > The IBM leaser is [Robert Blake](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1151899). Lot’s of appearances in the standard set of TV dramas. Best known for a bunch of appearances in season 6 of _Grey’s Anatomy_ plus one flashback episode. Not such a great actor. I sort of groaned a bit when he appeared. > > … That’d be Robert Baker. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/73 "2014-05-07T01:22:19Z")
Forgive me if this was discussed last week and I forgot, but what would the agency use a computer for then? ---
**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 7, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/74 "2014-05-07T01:26:30Z")
For making media buys. In the United States at that time there were thousands of independently programmed and priced newspapers and television and radio stations. If an advertiser wants to do a national campaign that means looking up thousands of separate schedules and price listings. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/75 "2014-05-07T01:50:23Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > For making media buys. In the United States at that time there were thousands of independently programmed and priced newspapers and television and radio stations. If an advertiser wants to do a national campaign that means looking up thousands of separate schedules and price listings. Sounds daunting even with a computer of that era. I know it’s a huge PITA now and we have google and right-click-save-as. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/76 "2014-05-07T02:30:22Z")
Back in those days there were directories of newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, etc. with advertising rates and contacts. Each directory was hundreds of pages and full of information that was constantly out of date or listings that read only “contact directly for rates.” That was _really_ where the 15% commission for advertising agencies came from – the service of selecting and purchasing media for the advertiser. A few years after the Mad Men era, agencies would make a big deal out of divorcing media buying from creative and production services. ---
**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 7, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/77 "2014-05-07T04:46:05Z")
[http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/05/mad-men-the-monolith/](http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/05/mad-men-the-monolith/) This mini review has the sharpest criticisms of what the show has become. ---
**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 7, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/78 "2014-05-07T09:01:30Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > [Mad Men: The Monolith - Tom + Lorenzo](http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/05/mad-men-the-monolith/) > > This mini review has the sharpest criticisms of what the show has become. For some reason, the article itself wouldn’t load on my kindlefire, but the comments did, and they are excellent. Well worth a look. ---
**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 7, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/79 "2014-05-07T11:41:02Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > [Mad Men: The Monolith - Tom + Lorenzo](http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/05/mad-men-the-monolith/) > > This mini review has the sharpest criticisms of what the show has become. I agree with every word of it. It explains in detail what I’ve been uneasy with all season – the other partners’ treatment of Don doesn’t make sense for their characters. And a nice tip of the hat to Freddie: > [@](#): > > ”What the hell are you doing? I mean are you just gonna kill yourself? Give them what they want? Or go in your bedroom, get in uniform, fix your bayonet and hit the parade. Do the work, Don.” Hell, yes. It wasn’t our favorite of episodes, but that might be one of our favorite moments in the show. That’s beautifully full-circle. Don and Roger pushed Freddie into a cab and wished him well when his life fell apart. He’s clearly a better man than they are. He might turn out to be the best of them all, given how sour and nasty most of the characters are now. Freddie Rumsen. Of all people. The ultimate hero of Mad Men. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681/80 "2014-05-07T14:06:17Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Roger was on the NYC end of the conference call and supported Pete when the latter suggested that Don be put on the account. I may have misinterpreted it but I assumed they were talking about who should take the lead. Is it clear that they were just talking about putting them both on the account and that Lou had discretion to assign whoever he wanted the lead? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-04-the-monolith-open-spoilers/687681.md?page=5)