# Mad-Men: 7.09 "New Business" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527 "2015-04-13T00:10:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/41 "2015-04-13T23:00:01Z")
I hate Megan. I hate Betty. I hate Joan. I hate the waitress and hope her stint on the show is over. I hate that I couldn’t enjoy the scenes with Mimi Rogers and Elizabeth Moss because the I couldn’t help but get distracted by their Scientology link. Ugh. For some odd reason, I still love Don. I don’t know how Weiner is going to wrap up the series, but I hope that he ends up happy. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/42 "2015-04-14T01:13:06Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I hate Megan. I hate Betty. I hate Joan. I hate the waitress and hope her stint on the show is over. > > I hate that I couldn’t enjoy the scenes with Mimi Rogers and Elizabeth Moss because the I couldn’t help but get distracted by their Scientology link. Ugh. > > For some odd reason, I still love Don. I don’t know how Weiner is going to wrap up the series, but I hope that he ends up happy. Our Ms. Moss is a Scientologist? I find this strangely disappointing ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/43 "2015-04-14T02:23:57Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > … too much Harry… that was the only part I liked. Harry is such a loser. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/44 "2015-04-14T04:17:06Z")
A bit of a digression, but are we ever supposed to like Don’s romantic interests? To a one I have disliked all of them, including Rachel, who I had no idea anyone was supposed to like until the discussions that arose as a result of the ep that included her death. I can’t decide if it’s Mr Weiner’s brilliant direction and he purposely casts totally unappealing actresses to achieve the desired affect or if it’s my personal hang up or what. I don’t \*think \*it’s some subconscious “no one can have \*my \*Don Draper” sort of thing. I have just found every woman he’s been with revolting in some way. Is that on purpose, do you suppose? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/45 "2015-04-14T04:46:49Z")
I don’t think it was intentional that people tend to like Rachel Mencken the most, I think it’s mainly because she seemed to have the best head about her, didn’t come across as damaged and her life wasn’t all mooning over Don. I doubt many people were _rooting_ for her & Don, if anything she seemed too good for Don. Plus she didn’t last long enough to wear out her welcome like Dr. Faye, Sylvia or Megan. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/46 "2015-04-14T04:59:33Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > A bit of a digression, but are we ever supposed to like Don’s romantic interests? To a one I have disliked all of them, including Rachel, who I had no idea anyone was supposed to like until the discussions that arose as a result of the ep that included her death. > > I can’t decide if it’s Mr Weiner’s brilliant direction and he purposely casts totally unappealing actresses to achieve the desired affect or if it’s my personal hang up or what. I don’t \*think \*it’s some subconscious “no one can have \*my \*Don Draper” sort of thing. I have just found every woman he’s been with revolting in some way. Is that on purpose, do you suppose? His “type” is certainly intentional, at least when it comes to his major affair partners. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/47 "2015-04-14T05:02:44Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I don’t think it was intentional that people tend to like Rachel Mencken the most, I think it’s mainly because she seemed to have the best head about her, didn’t come across as damaged and her life wasn’t all mooning over Don. I doubt many people were _rooting_ for her & Don, if anything she seemed too good for Don. > > Plus she didn’t last long enough to wear out her welcome like Dr. Faye, Sylvia or Megan. Good points, but I also found her to be a bit of a bitch. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the actress that played her nailed it; I just can’t help but feel that we were supposed to find her a little abrasive/ objectionable or something. I know I’m not explaining this very well, but I keep getting the feeling that Mr Weiner always wants us to be on Don’s side so he keeps giving him leading ladies that we never really connect with, even though on paper they seem like keepers. Does that make sense? I personally cannot even imagine what sort of woman would be a good fit. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/48 "2015-04-14T08:53:17Z")
I’m amused people here are complaining about the episode’s plot. I mean, plot? Since when is _Mad Men_ about plot? The series has always been a mood piece, a collection of Raymond Carver stories. I expect no more progress and resolution in the last few episodes than we’ve seen in the preceding six seasons. To me, that’s not what the show’s about. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/49 "2015-04-14T13:21:59Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Good points, but I also found her to be a bit of a bitch. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the actress that played her nailed it; I just can’t help but feel that we were supposed to find her a little abrasive/ objectionable or something. I know I’m not explaining this very well, but I keep getting the feeling that Mr Weiner always wants us to be on Don’s side so he keeps giving him leading ladies that we never really connect with, even though on paper they seem like keepers. Does that make sense? > I personally cannot even imagine what sort of woman would be a good fit. Well, there’s Betty Draper, his WIFE - I don’t think she would think any of his hookups were ‘keepers’, either, even the awesome Rachel Mencken (who debated her giddy affair with our Don, with her sister). She (Rachel) had the brains to break it off when she realized she was going to be used as Don’s excuse for leaving his marriage. The school teacher was the most annoying. It irritated me no end when Don just stopped by after work, and they were acting like sweet little newlyweds. I felt like yelling, "Don, you’re in the wrong house - your house is a few blocks away, go home and help Bobby with his homework and talk to Betty about getting a new lawn mower! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/50 "2015-04-14T13:43:04Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Well, there’s Betty Draper, his WIFE - I don’t think she would think any of his hookups were ‘keepers’, either, even the awesome Rachel Mencken (who debated her giddy affair with our Don, with her sister). She (Rachel) had the brains to break it off when she realized she was going to be used as Don’s excuse for leaving his marriage. > > The school teacher was the most annoying. It irritated me no end when Don just stopped by after work, and they were acting like sweet little newlyweds. I felt like yelling, "Don, you’re in the wrong house - your house is a few blocks away, go home and help Bobby with his homework and talk to Betty about getting a new lawn mower! Yeah, perhaps “keepers” isn’t the right word. I guess I mean that they seem respectable enough (with the possible exception of the hippy artist). Faye was a smart professional woman; hated her. Sylvia was a refined, upper class lady; hated her. Megan seems to have been sweet and well intentioned; hated her I know I’m forgetting some but I hated them also. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/51 "2015-04-14T13:44:37Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > As for the rest of the episode… eh. At least Roger got some good lines in with the secretaries (“Yeah, this is a two person job…”). Don… ummm… so I guess the mystery woman he had obsessed over turned out to just be a screwed up waitress after all. And leaving her daughter was the unforgivable sin. Don, to his partial credit, has tried to stay involved with his kids in his own flawed way but also Betty left _him_ and took the kids, he didn’t walk out on them. I don’t think Don saw that as an unforgivable sin. He’s trying to leave the past behind him, but Diana doesn’t want to do that. She wants to feel the pain. I thought it was interesting seeing Diana, because she was someone Don seemed to think could be a partner, or at least a good fling for a while, but she chooses to wallow in her past experiences, unlike Don. > [@Jophiel](#): > > Also, I don’t know if Stan was just a hornball or what but between the other creative guy talking about her and Stan’s immediate darkroom humping, they set Pima up to be some super-sexy thing and I did not buy it at all. And not just physically, you can be sexy without being 22 years old and dressed in plastic wrap, but nothing about her manner or style spoke “sex” to me convincingly. I don’t remember the other creative guys talking about her being sexy, I might have missed that. But Peggy was right about Pima being a hustler, she was good at saying what Stan would want to hear. Not that it would be difficult to figure out, it’s an easy guess that a lot of people working at advertising agencies have artistic ambitions that haven’t quite worked out. > [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I kinda liked it myself, but my favorite parts were definitely the Pete/Don banter, with Pete getting annoyed that Don, who forgot his golf clothes, would just throw his tie over and roll up his sleeves and the client would love that. That was hilarious. Poor Pete, always jealous of Don, even when he shouldn’t be. > [@Jophiel](#): > > As **Voyager** says though, she probably just isn’t good enough for much beyond secondary roles or bit parts. I suppose she could always go back to trying advertising (where she was Peggy-envy-inducing good during her brief stint). I agree, she probably wouldn’t have ever been a big star. But she did have a decent start to her career with the job on the soap opera, and could have kept that going and gotten some bigger roles. She can blame Don for ending that, and she’s not wrong. She can also imagine that she would be a huge star if it wasn’t for Don messing up her trajectory, and she’s not exactly right, but it’s easier to do that than to confront her own limited abilities. I wonder if we’ll see her again. If she’s smart, she could be set for life now. According to the inflation calculator, $1 million in 1970 is equivalent to $6,049,536.08 today. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/52 "2015-04-14T13:52:32Z")
I hated the schoolteacher because the actress played Scotty on “Suits” and I hated Scotty. I was always yelling at the TV for her to brush her damn hair. I hated Rachel because the actress played Tara on “Sons of Anarchy” and I hated Tara. I hated Betty because she’s an insufferable bitch. I loved that lady out in CA though, Don’s stolen-identity-man’s wife. The one who died of cancer. She wasn’t a romantic interest, but they had such a nice friendship. Remember that storyline with Don and the freaky hippie chick? That was just plain weird. I never understood the point of that. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/53 "2015-04-14T14:25:54Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I don’t remember the other creative guys talking about her being sexy, I might have missed that. The other creative guy, the one who set Peggy up with his brother, opened the conversation about her by talking about her sexy voice or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/54 "2015-04-14T23:35:35Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > …I hated Betty because she’s an insufferable bitch… Yes she is, and I’d almost be willing to watch a spinoff based around her career as therapist and trying to solve people’s problems. 😉 On a side note it’s a shame we don’t have a devil smilie. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/55 "2015-04-14T23:45:04Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I loved that lady out in CA though, Don’s stolen-identity-man’s wife. The one who died of cancer. She wasn’t a romantic interest, but they had such a nice friendship… Was Anna her name? That was definitely the healthiest relationship Don ever had with a woman. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/56 "2015-04-15T01:51:34Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Don, to his partial credit, has tried to stay involved with his kids in his own flawed way but also Betty left _him_ and took the kids, he didn’t walk out on them. Oh, come on. He walked out on his family every time he “worked late” or left early so that he could screw his latest conquest. Attending a token little league game once every season does not a father make. HE broke up the family by his physical absence and emotional distance. Betty just initiated the formal paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/57 "2015-04-15T05:35:18Z")
This is a mediocre episode that’s necessary to set up something coming up soon. Megan will likely be dead, Don will wish he hadn’t written her that check, the other shoe will drop re: Diana, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/58 "2015-04-15T12:29:39Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > This is a mediocre episode that’s necessary to set up something coming up soon. Megan will likely be dead, Don will wish he hadn’t written her that check, the other shoe will drop re: Diana, etc. IMHO, Megan is done. We won’t be seeing or hearing about her again. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/59 "2015-04-15T12:59:56Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The other creative guy, the one who set Peggy up with his brother, opened the conversation about her by talking about her sexy voice or somesuch. I think it was a different creative guy. The set-up guy is married. This guy, Stan asked “aren’t you gay?” when he was talking about la Pima. But, I can’t tell these new background characters apart, either, _because I don’t care_. With a handful of episodes left, I’m not interested in time spent fleshing out the banal details of background characters’ lives. … Well, maybe I’d like to get a brief bit on how Dawn’s life is going nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527/60 "2015-04-15T14:11:16Z")
I feel like this show is almost out of gas, just sputtering along. I’m watching just to get some closure but so far I haven’t seen anything that surprised or shocked me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-7-09-new-business-open-spoilers/717527.md?page=4)