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Mad Men: Season Five (1 Viewer)

Quentin

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Great, GREAT episode. Mad Men meets Pulp Fiction meets David Lynch. And, my favorite three characters to boot.
Poor Peggy...she tries to be Don and she has what it takes...well, everything but a pair of cojones. Sorry, Peg - wrong era. But, I love how she vents with sex - just like a man.
Memo to Don: you married a younger woman. This is no longer the 50's. You'd better get used to her having her own wants, needs, independence.
 

mattCR

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Definitely the wrong door for Sally! But what a sucker punch for Don: "Sure, they admire you.. but no one here will ever hire you after you sold out your client like that.." OUCH. In the end, even if the one confessing you is a murderer, no one wants to go to the priest who talks out of the confessional, it seems.
Bad news for Don.. he completely misjudged where it could go.
Good night for Megan, though.. is she learning to love/be good at her craft, or is there something else she always wanted with her life that she isn't going after. Ah, Roger.. well, I guess that's one way to make sure you get back in the swing of life :)
 

Mikah Cerucco

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Don't quote me, but I think Megan wanted to be an actress, not not an advertising person. Working at the firm as a secretary was just about paying bills while she worked on her acting career. Advertising is more Don's passion, and as she's pursuing it with him. Her father is probably right in that she's letting go of her own dreams to purshe her husband's. And that might also be one reason for her sadness over Peggy's reaction. Is the "as good as it gets" moment she has already had the same as the "as good as it gets" ceiling for being a successful actress? To her? At this point, we don't know, but I read a little of that into Megan's reaction.
 

joshEH

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30322986_350x197px-LL-824f0a58_tumblr_m39zsvdAJM1qi532yo2_500.gif

For the first time, I don't think Megan's going anywhere. In a story about Don's award, he was a supporting player in her episode. The show already has enough failed/failing relationships to mine for those stories.
This episode was so great in the way it took all of the characters from their heights, and dragged them down into reality in a matter of minutes:
Don going from toast of the town, back to nothing in the time it took to utter to phrase, "Bite the hand."
Sally going from blossoming youth entering adult society, to being repulsed in the time it takes to open a door.
Megan going from perfect wife and a career-woman, to being taken seriously, to being measured as a "failure" and dilettante in her father's eyes.
Peggy going from blushing bride to ashamed.
It seems that only Roger and Pete emerged relatively unscathed from this episode. The conversations between Roger and Sally were just amazing, BTW. He was the only one there who treated her like an adult.
 

joshEH

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Also, Jesus...Roger was just killing it last night. "I didn't tie that one, either." (Margaret Dumont!)
BTW, I'd totally watch an "Austin Powers/Demolition Man"-type movie where Roger Sterling wakes up in the future (after being cryogenically frozen), and doesn't change at all.
Then after that's done, he kills Mike Myers.
So he doesn't make any more movies.
 

Albert_M

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Another great episode, but the only thing I would say that didn't work as well for me (I get it - it's necessary for the plot) is Megan's parents.
They are at their core, two people whose core is at odds with the other. These are not two people who didn't know each other well in youth, or grew apart. This is who they are, so it's somewhat odd that they would be in relationship and continue to be in one. You get absolutely no sense that this is a fighting couple that loves each other deep down. It's deep rooted contempt.
 

Quentin

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Roger ruled the night. "I ordered you a Shirley Temple. You need to taper off."
Don is gut-punched and this is the type of thing that usually spells downard spiral for him.
And, Megan? I'm not so sure she'll stick around. Her reaction to the champagne celebration reeked of "is this all there is?" Peggy's confirmation of "it doesn't get any better" did NOT help matters. She's still a kid (26) and she's very much looking for/expecting the spiral staircase at the ball (sorry, Sally). I can see her leaving Don behind to pursue her dream of acting.
Of course, the one thing that makes absolutely NO sense here was her communist father telling her to pursue her dream of becoming an actress??!! Uhmmmm...I think not.
 

joshEH

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Holy shit, I just figured out what all this season's allusions to violence are pointing towards:
e5daf3f6_350x211px-LL-a61a6f7a_tumblr_m3a5mtlD5N1qi532yo2_500.gif

Sally is going to turn into Travis Bickle!
One thing I'm not sure I took in last night -- what reaction did Megan hope to get from Peggy? She seemed obviously disappointed from Peggy's seemingly-sincere praise and acknowledgement. Maybe it's just the old, "If this is as good as it gets...then frak me."
That's how I read it. Peggy's acting like (to continue her analogy) it's a game-winning homer in the 7th game of the World Series, while Megan's feeling like it's an RBI double in the first inning. Even in Canada.
Basically, Megan just had the orange sherbet of the ad-game.
(Also: "Lots of people who haven't taken LSD already know that, Roger.")
 

Patrick Sun

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BTW, did anyone see Kiernan Shipka (Sally) on "Don't Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23" last week? The meta-ness of her appearance makes Josh's suspicions even funnier to me.
 

Joe_H

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MattH. said:
The best written and acted episode of the season for me.
It might be my favorite episode ever. It might not be quite the achievement that "The Suitcase" was, but it had entertainment on all levels. And I absolutely loved that scene right before Sally got on the phone with Glen, where everyone was at the table, completely miserable.
 

Matt Hough

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Originally Posted by Joe_H /t/317541/mad-men-season-five/90#post_3921538
It might be my favorite episode ever. It might not be quite the achievement that "The Suitcase" was, but it had entertainment on all levels. And I absolutely loved that scene right before Sally got on the phone with Glen, where everyone was at the table, completely miserable.

Yep, that was the watershed moment for me in the episode. From a series of highs to that stiff, formal line-up of miserably unhappy people. Superb writing and direction.
 

TravisR

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I would have guessed that this show's time in the Emmy spotlight had faded (not because of a slide in quality but because it's just natural for the Emmys to move on to another show especially after multiple wins) but this season has been so strong that I'm already fairly certain that they're going to get their fifth straight Best Drama award.
 

Doug Smith

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Two more great Rogerisms in a brilliantly written show, "who knows why people in history did good things, for all we know Jesus was trying to get the loaves and fishes account", and how about when he leaned over to Sally to say "he's at Dow Corning, they make beautiful dishes, glassware, .....napalm".
 

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