Anybody recognize Linda Cardellini as Rogers’s daughter?
It’s Super Bowl II, and Peggy would’ve had less than 2 weeks to change the ad.
Sterling Cooper Draper…Prostitute (Joan, that is.)
And hey! All Joan gets in two hours is one lousy line? “I’m jealous just looking at you.” Was Megan’s grousing about getting “just one line” almost seems like a backstage meta-joke about that.
Was there a real soap called “To Have and To Hold”? (I think Megan’s fan said that was the title of her show.)
It’s River Song???
Yes, I know. But IIRC, the first couple Super Bowls weren’t generally referred to as the “Super Bowl” by the media or fans.
“Was Cleopatra a prostitute?”
Agreed. That really seems like a miss by the writers. The good thing is that 1968 is a very interesting year. A lot went down to say the least.
That whole episode dragged and didn’t seem to fit together very well at all. The violin girl subplot was totally unnecessary. I hope that this is just a way to get us reintroduced to things and that the season takes off after this.
One thing that I liked is that Don’s Hawaii ad seems to be a call out to the opening title of the show with the man falling off the roof.
Oh and WTF with the kiss-up guy? Was there any purpose to that at all? Maybe he’ll get the Starbuck’s account when they go national.
God that was an excruciating start. Poorly written and paced even worse. I’m totally fine if I never have to set Betty again.
Was Roger’s therapist the same guy who turned him and Jane on to LSD last season?
That episode kind of went nowhere by going many different places. Lots of “what the F was that supposed to be about?”.
Betty looks different, like either January has had some work done, or the fat is real this time, or something. She didn’t look like the Betty from the first season or two, or like the fat-suit Betty. Something was off. I also thought it was a little inconsistent for her character to be talking about helping Henry rape Sally’s little friend, even if it was a joke, considering how her character was so frigid just a couple seasons ago. There was an episode where she was enjoying leaning against the washing machine during the spin cycle, then realized what she was doing and was immediately embarrassed. The way she was talking about that girl just didn’t ring true to her character.
It was a little strange that Don didn’t say a word for the first ten minutes or so, until the drunk showed up in the hotel bar.
I guess getting Jaguar really did make the firm. The place is hopping.
It would cost the show nothing dramatically to just stop mentioning her. I can only assume January Jones must have a strong contract.
Perhaps that was the point of the eager new guy (Bob Benson); that the firm had grown to the point that Don didn’t know all of the staff.
By the way, I was a little confused by the twin lobby scenes. I thought at first the one in which the doorman had the heart attack was when Don and Megan were returning from Hawaii, but I think it must have been as they were leaving, and the second scene as they returned.
And Don’s life looks pretty sweet; all-expense paid trip to Hawaii, closet full of Leica M2 cameras (any idea what those cost then?), nice apartment (that cost him $75,000), etc. I think his salary is under $100,000, so that swanky apartment cost around one year’s salary. Today, I think nice apartments would cost multiples of an annual salary.
And who was Sandy; just one of Sally’s friends, or one of Henry’s relatives?
She led in with saying Francis was “staring at her with the same look as Bobby”. She was (obvious in my mind) jealous and going straight to DEFCON Zero to get a reaction.
She also made a comment about “you wanted to spice things up”, so she also may be feeling insecure or who knows what he asked he to do (that may have been shocking to her sensibilities).
Frankly, I like Betty’s role in Mad Men- look where her story has gone- she was the beautiful, stylish, young wife at the beginning. We now see her looking matronly, especially as compared to the kids occupying the tenement. We see the world changing and we can see how it’s leaving her type behind. Even when Don first walked into his agency after the trip we could see the huge breech between his generation (as handsome as he still is) and the looser, more causally dressed and groomed younger talent doing the work.
This sums up the episode perfectly.
Who the fuck WAS violin girl? That whole thing made no sense. And Betty’s comments about raping her: ewww!
How did Don wind up with PFC Dinkins’ lighter? Did the guy give it to him as a present for giving away the bride? Or maybe they accidentally traded lighters while drinking, and the private wound up with Dick Whitman’s lighter?
Who was the bearded guy Peggy was on the phone with at the end-- when he overheard her client’s comments? Is he from last season but I don’t remember him because of the beard?
I almost didn’t recognize Pete. He’s looking rather attractive with slightly different hair and the foreshadowing of those '70’s looooong sideburns (which looked stupid on most guys then and really bad on guys who are attempting to revive them now). He looks like he’s lost a little weight.
I didn’t think Sally was particularly obnoxious. Not nearly so obnoxious as Lily on Modern Family. (HAD to slip that in.)
And what about that doctor SKIING to his emergency! Did/do people really do that? Hope it wasn’t too much of an emergency. That last thing with Don and the doc’s wife-- that’s low, even for him. It’s no excuse, but Megan is not the right partner for him. She’s too upbeat, optimistic, lighthearted, and uncomplicated. He needs a vampire bride or something-- someone who can plumb the depths of depravity and still make a casserole. A reclaimed redemptress. A Mary Magdalene.
Also we need a LOT more Joan!
The trouble with such a long hiatus is that you forget who the characters are in the meantime.
ETA. I don’t think the general public was familiar with the term DEFCON in the late '60’s. My father was military, and I never heard it growing up.
Violin girl was a friend of Sally’s and a stand-in for the suggestion that Sally might go to Haight-Ashbury. And yes, I think the idea was that Don did trade lighters with the PFC (although perhaps not; I’d be surprised if Don was carrying around something with Dick Whitman’s name on it). And yes, I’ve heard recently of people cross-country skiing on Manhattan streets during blizzards (although usually for fun and not to get to work).
At first I thought it was a relative (or daughter by another wife) of Betty’s husband. But the grandmother had no clue about her violin playing, nor did anyone else from that side seem to know anything about her. So she was just a friend of Sally’s that Betty had some affection for, or identified with. It was a pointless story line designed to give January Jones something to do besides just be a tiresome bitch. Didn’t work.
And the first thing he says is “Army.” I think we’re going to see a big return of the Korean War storyline this season.
I loved the entire episode. Regarding the Super Bowl, Alan Sepinwall wrote in his review that he’s found references to networks charging more for ads in the Super Bowl that year, so the ad was a big deal even if the broadcast wasn’t yet the commercial vehicle it later became.
Sepinwall’s review has a lot of great insight on the premiere, definitely worth a read.
According to Sepinwall’s review:
So while it was more of an inside-baseball thing than it is today, the ad would have still been considered important because of the higher rates.
ETA: Curse you, Bob!