Mad for Mad Men Corner

[jlhoots]

So will Peggy wind up ruling the world??

[Rooster_Ties]

My wife is hooked on Mad Men, so it's on every week like clockwork -- and in our small, one-bedroom apartment, I've seen more than my fair share.

I love the production values, and sets and such (and especially all the design-related eye-candy, i.e. furniture and clothes) -- but I mostly don't care for the show much at all. Half the characters are archetypes of people I've tried to avoid my entire life. And the old boys network of that workplace reminds me of aspects of the corporate world I was in for 10 years starting in the mid 90's (with tons of Type-A personalities, which I particularly dislike in men, though I don't mind them in women much at all). I don't mean to suggest things were anywhere near as bad in my work experience 15 and 20 years ago, but I worked in the fairly male-dominated world of a IT (Information Systems) team, within the fairly male-dominated world of a metal-buildings manufacturer -- so some of that bullshit was a little bit the norm.

I see enough of Mad Men to enjoy some aspects of it, but I try NOT to see enough of it that it pisses me off (which seeing all of it would inevitably do). As a result, I probably see 20-30 minutes of every episode (and I try to avoid seeing entire episodes).

What my wife sees in it, I'll never understand. The stuff that annoys me about it, pisses her off even more than it does me. And yet she watches week after week - and she can't stand to watch it on the DVR a day or two late (she has to see it on Sunday nights, in real-time).

All that personal, back-stabbing work-related politics (especially testosterone driven as it is), just annoys me to no end.

[jazzbo]

I understand your stance. I shared it for most of the first season. I certainly saw plenty of this behavior in my work worlds and it annoyed and angered me off and on. But I did get hooked on the show and the little bursts of outrage I sometimes feel has in fact made me think and feel certain things and I have come to think it is one of the best TV shows ever. Just is, for me.

I was over at my parents' late and my DVR for some reason didn't pick up last night's episode. So I'll have to patiently wait til Wednesday to see it. I'll be as patient as I can.

[Rooster_Ties]

All my rant to the contrary, I to think the show is very well acted - and I have no complaints with it otherwise (I don't think it's "stupid" - quite to the contrary, it's arguably one of the better series on all of television). That said, I still avoid seeing too much of it, cuz it just pisses me off.

[JSngry]

If Don & Peggy get married, I will barf. Forever.

If they just sex, I will still barf, but only for a few days.

[erwbol]

A great send-off for that old swinging dick, Bert Cooper. Perhaps he could return for the final seven episodes as a mascot. The swinging Office paperclip to Harry's new computer.

Edited May 26, 2014 by erwbol

[jazzbo]

Yes, a good episode. The build up paid off.

[jlhoots]

Great episode.

Go, Peggy!!

[etherbored]

If Don & Peggy get married, I will barf. Forever.

If they just sex, I will still barf, but only for a few days.

they carefully tread through those waters previously, so i don't see it happening. however, does anyone ever see anything coming on this show...?

[Guy Berger]

Loved this episode.

Seriously LOLd at JSngry's comment (in fact, I shared it with some IRL friends).

[ghost of miles]

Anybody else watching the final season as it unfolds? I thought "Lost Horizon" was a MM homerun, one of those episodes that stays in my head for the next several days.

[JSngry]

Anybody else watching the final season as it unfolds? I thought "Lost Horizon" was a MM homerun, one of those episodes that stays in my head for the next several days.

I'm a'steady watchin'!

Still not sure if Don ever comes back or not. After what happened to Tony Soprano (and how long it took to get a final answer), I'm betting nothing.

[kinuta]

Anybody else watching the final season as it unfolds? I thought "Lost Horizon" was a MM homerun, one of those episodes that stays in my head for the next several days.

I'm a'steady watchin'!

Still not sure if Don ever comes back or not. After what happened to Tony Soprano (and how long it took to get a final answer), I'm betting nothing.

I had similar thoughts, it would be an unexpected, whimsical and original way to bid farewell to DD.

Somehow I doubt the producers have the confidence to leave well alone. I'm sure he'll be back for the, is it, final two episodes.

[JSngry]

Two more episodes, yes, but the way AMC is billing it is one more episode and then...THE SERIES FINALE.

Perhaps the series finale will not be an episode, maybe it will be new lyrics to "I Will Survive" pumped into every karaoke bar in every corner of eh know galaxy, or something like that.

But that seems unlikely. I think AMC is just hypin' the math.

Just wondering, btw, how do you get AMC in Japan, satellite or is there enough interest that it's provided locally as premium?

[ghost of miles]

Think we'll see Diana at all again in the last two episodes? Doesn't seem likely after "Lost Horizon," though you never know with Weiner and company. Maybe she's going to end up becoming the equivalent of the Russian in The Sopranos. Also loved the Roger-on-organ, Peggy-on-rollerskates sequence and Joan's showdowns with the parade of McCann a#&holes.

Edited May 6, 2015 by ghost of miles

[.:.impossible]

The DB Cooper hypothesis is really panning out!

[jazzbo]

I think we might see Diana again. And there's talk on Hoffman board that photos have surfaced of Don on the California coast. Partly this reinforces a feeling I had earlier that Don was going to go back to see if Megan and he had another chance in them. But we'll see. Two more episodes! I've liked the languid pace of this "season."

[medjuck]

On the night of the last broadcast Jason Reitman is doing one of his "live readings" of the script for the last show followed by a screening of the episode and an appearance by Weiner at The Ace Hotel theater (the former United Artists) in downtown LA. I managed to get 2 tickets though it does seem like a strange idea. The theater holds 1600 people and apparently the event is sold out with almost no advertising.

[JSngry]

[jazzbo]

Interesting ending.

[jlhoots]

Interesting ending.

I thought so too.

[JSngry]

Don was chanting a tritone off from the leader/group. The devil's interval!

[John Tapscott]

Don was chanting a tritone off from the leader/group. The devil's interval!

For some reason, this came to mind as I watched and listened.

Interesting ending.

Yes, rather more hopeful than I had expected. Things were looking up for everyone, it seemed, except for Betty of course.

Edited May 18, 2015 by John Tapscott

[Larry Kart]

So glad I stopped watching "Mad Men" part ways through episode two of season one -- first because, as Chuck said at the time, having lived through the '50s I don't need to see them regurgitated; second, because I could tell right off that they were getting or going to get just about everything wrong. The ludicrously demonstrative smoking was a good clue.

[Teasing the Korean]

So glad I stopped watching "Mad Men" part ways through episode two of season one -- first because, as Chuck said at the time, having lived through the '50s I don't need to see them regurgitated; second, because I could tell right off that they were getting or going to get just about everything wrong. The ludicrously demonstrative smoking was a good clue.

It is/was an amazing show, possibly my favorite ever, for many reasons.