Mad-Men: 7.09 "New Business" (open spoilers)

Double ditto this. Who the hell is this woman and who cares? And when she was coming down in the elevator with Don, why didn’t she take off that friggin’ apron!

The compulsive coupling in this episode would be laughable if it weren’t so pathetic.

And I agree with the poster above who said **no new characters! ** We only have three episodes left–why on earth introduce new people now?

Not a good episode.

We actually have five episodes left but yeah.

HA! I thought the same thing about the apron. I’m surprised she didn’t put on a little paper hat for the trip home.

I’m sure it was authentic 1970 decor, but that towel Don was wearing looked more like he grabbed the bath mat or a rug to cover himself. That fringe… :dubious:

I stand corrected. God, I hope they get better than this.

I have to admit that I laughed out loud when we saw Megan’s mother standing in the apartment devoid of furniture. That was brutal.

And would someone remind me of exactly how Don ruined Megan’s life? I’ve lost track of that.

And speaking of no new characters, how about bringing back some old characters, like Sally, for instance?

Don had (Stan’s) idea to move to California for the Tropicana account. He sold it to Megan who quit her New York acting job in the soap opera in anticipation of moving to Los Angeles and hitting Hollywood.

Then Don gave the position to Ted, leaving Megan stuck in New York without her job. So she said “screw it, I’m out” and moved to California with the idea of having this bicoastal marriage. That didn’t work out so now Megan is divorced, in California, jobless and blaming Don (not altogether unjustified).

Also, Harry made the wrong comment when he told Don that Megan was “Stupid” to have given up her soap opera role – not knowing WHY she had given it up. Which no doubt spurred Don’s million dollar idea.

She had a great paying gig as a lead in a soap opera being filmed in New York. He convinced her to move to California where he would work at the ad office there. She quit the soap and started auditioning for jobs there but it never went very well. Then he said, “oops. Changed my mind. I want to stay in New York.”

Megan never specifically mentioned a sister that I recall, but she did say she was the baby of the family and had nieces and nephews, so siblings must exist previously unseen.

Megan wasn’t a lead in the soap, she played the maid. Her big break was playing both the maid and the maid’s evil twin. Still, it was steady acting work.

I forgot about Megan’s soap. It’s hard to remember everything. That’s why we have the SDMB.

This will surely get a nomination for the Thomas Wolfe Award for ‘Most Time Spent for Least Plot Advancement’, though it’s far from their first.
MAD MEN has been touted as one of the best dramas of all time, but episodes like this are why it will never have the clout of BREAKING BAD for that title.

Especially that damn fly in the lab episode. :slight_smile:

It would be cool to recast that episode with Don and Joan.

Which one plays the fly?

I think Megan is screwed in the long term unless she finds herself another husband.

Yes, that scene would’ve looked much better if Don hadn’t been wearing that towel, but this is AMC not HBO. :wink:

Supposedly Megan comes from one of the stereotypically large Québécois, but Marie just doesn’t look like the kind of woman who got married as a teenager then had a baby every other year. :dubious: So maybe her father remarried after his first wife died, or the writers just decided that French & French-Canadian were the same thing.

Fact is that California is a much better place for an actress than NY. NY has soaps, a lot of commercials, a few series, Sesame Street, but California has the majority of TV series and movies.
Megan probably is not very good - before she met Don she was such a great actress that she had a secretary gig - and is blaming Don for her failure.

As I recall, Megan originally moved to New York to work in theater. Her overly sophisticated father bemoans the fact that she is slumming on TV instead working on the stage. So her initial reason for being in New York was sound, just that her break happened to be with a TV gig and she thought she could move into something bigger on the west coast.

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).

That was what killed Don. She was a natural in the ad game. He envisioned them as a team doing amazing work. But her passions, not necessarily her talents, were elsewhere.

Possibly Matthew Weiner et al have Spin-Off hopes…? (Spin-off series typically have lower costs to begin with, if they use mainly unknown performers with only a couple of higher-paycheck regulars from the parent show.)

The Depressing-Ass Adventures of Diana: Absentee Mother

I wonder if Marie and Roger left another stain as additional payback? :eek::smiley: