Mad Men Season 6 Season Finale

Huge episode squeezed into just an hour tonight. Mad Men Season 6 season finale IN CARE OF resolved a lot of things but also opened up a whole new set of issues. Don has finally completely outed himself. Even though many knew he wasn't who he said he was, it wasn't until this episode that he owned the entirety of the bleakness of his childhood. Spilling the childhood in the brothel to the people from Hershey was stunning. Followed up by taking the kids to his childhood whorehouse.

Don is making another run at sobriety and when he does that he gets truthful. Last time that didn't hold out more than a year, we'll see next season if he's still on the straight and narrow. But just in this episode he seems to have ended his marriage and be put on leave from his job. It's a bit like the poster for this season, with him leaving the one self behind and Megan out of the picture.

In other stories there was a game of musical chairs for moving to LA. First Stan, then Don steals it from him, then Don gives it to Ted ( to save him from Peggy) and then Pete gets roped in too. Which leaves Peggy in charge in New York, we even see Peggy sitting in Don's office toward the end of the episode. Peggy who seems destined to be alone, now that Ted is moving to the other coast to escape his fixation with her.

Pete's story is a wild ride this week too. First he's going to Detroit, but he tangles with Bob( which he knew better than to do last week) and Bob gives him the full treatment, making him drive a stick shift in the lobby of Chevy. It was Don getting Roger to vomit oysters and martinis in front of clients, all over again. Pete crashes the car and Chevy wants no part of a guy who can't drive stick. Goodbye Pete! If all that weren't enough, Pete's mother seems to have married nurse Manolo and fallen off a cruise ship. Which Pete is furious about initially, but then once he sees that Manolo can't get to their mother's money and the expense it would cost the family to find him... Long story short Mom liked the ocean, do we really need justice???

Lastly, Don gets the Fred Rumsen brush off by the company. Ted is not there but Roger and Joan tell him to his face, he needs time to regroup. Don runs into Duck on his way out of the office, which is extra brutal. Duck loves it of course.

This and That:
Two great Roger zingers this week
-(Detroit) it's all fun and games till they shoot you in the face
-Joan has lots of buddies, she goes fishing with them.

Peggy telling Ted that he should go home before her neighbors kill him.

Uncle Mac telling the preacher I'd tell you to go to hell but I don't ever want to see you again.

Sally on the phone with Don re: the burglar. She doesn't want to make a statement and tells him "why don't you just tell them what I saw. ( like he did when she caught him with Sylvia) ouch

And the perfect end credit song Judy Collins singing BOTH SIDES NOW

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Mad Men Season 6 Episode 12 The Quality Of Mercy

Tonight's episode debuted the new SC&P logo (pictured above). I love it, definitely looks like the time period. Is it safe to say the 60s and 70s was all about the ampersand? Now that we know Don's name and the company's name all that was left is to find out about the mysterious Bob Benson. Turns out our eager young man is not who he pretends to be. He never went to Wharton, and though he did work at Brown Bros. and  Haraman. it was as some kind of valet. Bob is stunned that when Pete confronts him with all this information and follows with "I've learned not to tangle with your kind of animal". Bob's only orders are to leave Pete out of it and get Manolo away from his mother.

Don betrays his pact to stop sabotaging Ted when he (and everyone in the office) sees that Ted is completely gaga over Peggy. First, I thought Don was just jealous that Ted is with Peggy. Harry calls from the coast with a big account from Sunkist and Don says absolutely not but after finding out about Peggy and Ted he calls Harry back and presents it to the partners. When that doesn't dampen the affair Don dampens the aspirin account Ted and Peggy are running. After which Ted confronts Don and Don straight out tells him he isn't thinking with his head, repeatedly. Ted can't argue that. The whole thing ends with Peggy calling Don a monster and Don in the fetal position on his couch. There isn't a woman in Don's life at this moment who doesn't hate him, at least a little.

Sally of course is at the top of the Don hater list. She's off to boarding school to get away from him and her mother too, probably. I can only imagine what it will be like when she is enrolled. On her trial one night her room mate hosts insist she provide them with cigarettes and alcohol. Ever resourceful Sally calls Glen and he turns up with a buddy, weed, and booze. It gets interesting though, when Glen goes off to a room with another girl, leaving Sally alone with his friend. The friend gets a little handsy with Sally and she gets Glen saying his friend was trying to force her. Glen reminds the guy that Sally is like his little sister and when he doesn't apologize starts beating him up. This is the interesting part, Sally is kind of smiling like she likes the fighting. It reminded me of when Betty set up her friend with the guy at the stables. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Or maybe has decided she does like Glen like that....

This and That

Roger's line about Lee Garner Jr making him hold his balls. I want the rest of that story...was Sal there?

Chevy actually shot Ken in the face, and Pete can't wait to take over for him.

The Rosemary's Baby aspirin ad 

Ted saying Peggy has "juice" experience.

Betty giving Sally a cigarette. It really was another time.

Don telling Betty both she and Jackie O. married well twice.

"You finally found a hooker who takes traveler checks" Don to Harry

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Mad Men Season 6 Episode 11 Favors

Last night's episode, Favors, seemed like maybe it should be called, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished..

We start with Silvia's son, Mitchel who is 1A (first up on the draft list) asking Megan if she can help him get into Canada. Don scratches that quickly, and though he tells Megan to stay out of it, starts trying to find his own solution. First Don goes to Pete, who is not helpful at all and points Don toward Chevy with their government contracts, but not without getting in a jab about his not being on the account so he can't help. After taking Chevy's "temperature" to see if they can help our draft dodger at a client dinner with Ted, Jim Roger, and a couple Chevy guys doesn't go well Ted comes to the rescue. But Ted's favor isn't free, he wants Don to stop competing with him, like in this episode with OceanSpray and Sunkist. Don seems like maybe he isn't even aware he is doing that, but agrees to cut it out and genuinely thanks Ted for his help. How this will effect the company is yet to be seen.

Ted's favor does lead to Don and Silvia reconnecting. Silvia is of course moved that he has saved her son from being drafted, but I think mistakenly assumes he did it for her, I think he did it for Mitchel to save him from what Don experienced. We don't know how but Don and Silvia end up back in bed, which really isn't good for either of them.

In another story line we have Sally and her friend staying in the city at Don and Megan's meeting Mitchell and thinking he is cute, like Mark Lindsay lead singer of Paul Revere and The Raiders according to Sally friend Julie. The two girls make a list of all the things they like about him, his smile, shoulders, ass etc... Julie decides to sign Sally's name to it and slip it under the Rosen's door. When Sally is, understandable, upset by this she tells Sally she'll thank her for it. Another favor? Sally goes back to her father's apartment to get the letter, asking the door man for the building keys, as she has earlier. This time she goes to the Rosen's apartment and opens the service door. When the letter isn't right in front of the door she steps in and sees it on the opposite counter. She walks across the room to get it which allows her to see into the maids room, where she sees her father and Silvia having sex. 

All these good deeds, some definitely better than others but it all leads to pain and destruction anyway. Don chases after Sally and ultimately gives her a lame excuse about "comforting Mrs. Rosen and it being complicated." Sally seems to say OK that's the story we'll try to tell ourselves about this. But unlike so many things in Mad Men characters lives this happened and I don't think Sally will ever be able to forget it. Basically, she will never be surprised by how much this didn't happen. Don knows he's completely blown it too based on how awful he looks.

In yet another story line the nurse that Bob referred to Pete for his mother appears in this episode and seems to have started a physical relationship with her. Pete is not happy and wants to fire him. When he calls Bob on the carpet to confront him about his referral, Bob tells Pete he doubts it because the nurse is gay. Pete calls him a degenerate, which you can see makes Bob flinch. Then Bob launches into a long speech about how if someone took care of your every need couldn't Pete see developing feelings for that person and it not matter who they were. All topped off with placing his leg so it touched Pete's. I have to say I was surprise they had Bob call this one so wrong. Is he really suppose to have thought that Pete would go for him??? Still it is another example of favors not paying off for anyone. Pete's mother isn't going to be happy with the loss of her nurse and Bob just lost an ally in Pete. I wonder if Joan know Bob's gay?

This and that:

Poor Peggy in her scary apartment. She tries to get Stan over to help her with her rat problem even offering to "make it worth his while" which he doesn't believe. The closing scene finds her eating dinner in front of the TV with a cat. Feels like foreshadowing of a lonely life alone.

Peggy and Pete together again. When Peggy tells Pete about his mother's relationship with her nurse. They have a very close moment where Pete says Peggy is the only person who really knows him and she agrees. When Ted comes back to the table he can sense their closeness and doesn't like it. I still don't know what Ted's intentions are toward Peggy, maybe he doesn't either...

When  Henry comes home and is calling through the huge house and finds Sally and Betty in the kitchen saying why do we have a  mansion when we are always in the kitchen.

I felt like we saw a lot of TVs on in the scenes in people's homes, more than usual. Maybe just a nod to the fact that media is changing and people have really embraced it.

Stan has a poster of Moshe Dayan over his bed. He is such a poser.

Sally's Disneyland silhouette over her bed at Don's house

Peggy's face when Pete's mother start talking about their child.

Ted gets Mitchel into the Air National Guard which I believe is how George W. Bush avoided Vietnam.

More Mad Med wrap ups

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 10 A Tale Of Two Cities

Tonight's episode, A Tale Of Two Cities, is representative of so many relationship on this show as well as Don and Roger's trip to LA and New York. LA and New York may be the least divergent of these. The actual story of A Tale Of Two Cities is about life before and after a revolution, with fits into 1960's America perfectly.

Seeing Don and Megan cuddling and talking about Don's trip to LA. They're being kind of sweet to one another but they're saying really mean things. She says she made the worst mistake of her life when they got together on the trip to LA with the kids. Then when she tells him to stay away from actresses, he says he hates actresses. Are they fighting??? You really see how divided they are as people while they watch both the democratic convention and the riots that followed. Their experience of both are incredible different.

The scenes between Peggy and Joan were fascinating. These are two women who are both on career paths with no way beaten for them. As much as they struggle with one another's methods they also support one another in their own way. They have so much in common as working women, even more than they know if you include the children they both have by coworkers, that they pretend didn't happen. Still Peggy has gotten a lot of help from men along the way, while Joan hasn't. She feels she has to make her own way and if that means cutting Pete out, so be it.

SCDP and CGC are one but really they are still two separate entities.  Cutler is definitely over SCDP partners and with the odd decision to change their name too Sterling, Cooper and Partners, I think he's convinced Chaough to stage a coup. Why would they cut their names out that way, willingly? I think they're setting them up in a false sense of security so they can get away with something else. 

Don and Roger's trip to LA. I'm giving Roger a pass for basically calling LA a primitive land with hill billy natives. LA and NY are represented as really different worlds. Don and Roger walk around in their buttoned up suits, while everyone around them in LA is in Nehru jackets. When Roger runs into Danny at a party he tries to belittle (pardon the pun) him, needling that once would have worked ends with Roger getting socked in the gut by now Daniel J Segal. The world has changed.

Finally there is always the duality that is Don/Dick. As soon as he took a hit of the hash pipe, I thought we were in for some flash backs, but we got an insane and almost deadly hallucination. It starts with Megan turning up saying he is free to be with other women, because we all share in LA, which by the way is where she lives. I don't know if that means he feels he left the real Megan (the one he wanted to be married to) in LA, or if she feels as though she lives on the opposite coast from him. Either way it doesn't bode well for their relationship. Suddenly, Megan morphs into Dinkins, the solder he stood up for in Hawaii. Dinkins' is missing an arm and tells us that his wife thinks he's MIA but really he's dead. Don asks when he'll get his arm back, which leads to the remark "Dying doesn't make you whole, you should see what you look like." 

We cut back to reality here and Roger has pulled Don from the pool. The last lines we hear before the Megan hallucination is Don saying he's thirsty and the woman with him saying "there's a pool full of water out there". The strange thing is when Don is looking at his body floating in the pool he is wearing white pants, but when he's pulled out they are black. Might be some good old white death imagery, or something else. Roger is wearing white pants. Does he want to kill the Roger in him and move out to LA with imaginary Megan who told him she was having his baby and they had a second chance?

This and That:

Roger, Don and Harry at the carnation meeting being served chocolate milk.

Ginsberg blowing up at Cutler, and then Cutler calling him on the hypocrisy of his politics and cashing his checks from Dow and Chevy.

Avon doesn't know whether to be groovier or nostalgic. Seems like there is a lot of that going around.

In the final scene Pete smokes the joint Stan was smoking in the art room. Was I the only one that remembered Pete can't smoke? He's tried before and has huge coughing fits...

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Mad Men Season 6 Episode 9 The Better Half

I think they meant The Better Half ironically as the title of tonight's episode. Do any of these couples have a better half? They're all pretty badly behaved.

 Let's get right to the meat of tonight. Don and Betty- As soon as I saw her in the gas station my heart started to pound. We finally got to see Don and Betty back together and in a whole new dynamic. Betty's new look seems to have come with a sharpening of her manipulative nature. Which is probably what drew Don to her in the  first place. With Don's upbringing he can only be drawn to women who are pushing him away, or are even being mean to him. He may not realize but Betty has just set him up. I bet he'll be chasing her around for the rest of the season. Betty definitely has got his number maybe it was the therapy but her saying " That poor girl (Megan) she doesn't know that loving you is the worse way to get to you." Says it all.

Chaugh and Don are still fighting it out and it looks like Peggy is their battlefield and or prize. Peggy tells Don that Chaugh cares about the idea and Don only cares about his idea. Don says "Don't let him fool you" and "he doesn't know you". Then Chaugh plays his I'm in love with you card and then draws it back when Abe and Peggy break up. All Chaugh's kind deeds and acts may be just his way of manipulating people. Either way Chaugh's halo is seriously dented after tonight's episode.

Roger is flailing around trying to find some identity. Grandpa didn't really work out, though I must say Planet of The Apes isn't that bad of a movie for a four year old by 60s-70s standards. After his daughter calls to tell him he will no longer be trusted alone with his grandson, he runs over to Joan's to see if he can get the father position open there. No Dice. Roger has spent his life running around acting like a child and now he wants to be an adult and no one will trust him.

Peggy and Abe are done. Abe kind of reminds me of my father he went into the 60s a liberal in a suit and came out completely radicalized with an afro and a huge mustache. Peggy and him have been on different tracks from the beginning, remember the article he wrote about her (Nuremberg on Madison Avenue)?  It's insane that she actually had to stab him to bring the whole relationship crashing down.

Henry and Betty seem to have developed a kinky little pattern. She gets him all torked up with jealousy and then they have sex. She probably learned this from her relations with Don, make sure your man never knows whether you love him or are about to leave him. This is going to get exhausting for all involved.

This and That

Every time we see Don and Megan in their apartment sirens are sounding in the streets below.

Pete and Harry calling the new firm the 27 Yankees. Basically saying their bench is loaded with heavy hitters.

Duck is back as a head hunter. The should have called this character cat, he seems to have 9 lives.

Bobby playing a major part in two episodes in one season, and getting his parents back together. This must be fantasy camp.

Who took Roger to see The Golem  as a boy??? Youtube link to movie The Golem

Butter is fresh and Margarine is indestructible. Guess which is Don and which is Chaugh?

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 8 The Crash

Tonight's episode brought more flash backs. I have to say the more I see of Dick/Don's childhood the more I'm surprised this guy functions at all. Let's take stock. Dick is born to a prostitute who name's him Dick because his father is such an awful person. Dick is raised by his father, who cheats passing hobos and whores. His adoptive mother who wanted a child, still probably was not enthused to get one from her husband encounter with a prostitute, and even less so once she gets pregnant. Then of course her husband dies and Don and his step mother go to live in a whore house.

Based on this weeks flash back of her sending him to sleep in the basement when he gets sick, you get the idea that no one ever took care of Dick. In this case one of the prostitutes in the house takes him in.  Once he's well she takes his virginity. This is probably the first time anyone was kind to Dick, taking care of him when he was sick, but then that experience got all mixed up with sex. Now maybe if he sleeps with enough women he'll feel cared for again.

When Chaugh is talking about Gleason passing "He is a piece that can not be replaced" Don's face says no one will ever say that about me when I die. Dick has such self loathing. Why wouldn't he? He has no other frame of reference.

Really, if you were this guy and you saw any chance to be someone else, wouldn't you take it. While Peggy tells Stan in this episode to face his pain and not hide in sex and drugs. It's good for these two who have limited exposure (remember that line) to pain, Dick is bathing in it. He either needs to start 3 sessions a week with a shrink or keep the girls and booze coming. I would suggest avoiding any more of Jim's doctors shots of B vitamins and"mild stimulants" however.

At the end of the episode Don seems to have regained his composure as far as Silvia and Chevy go. Giving Silvia the cold shoulder in the elevator. Then telling Chaugh that he won't jump through any more hoops for Chevy and will only supervise others work on it. Leaving us with the line "Every time this place gets a car it turns into a whore house." The one place Dick has risked every thing to escape.


This and That:

The whole office on speed made for the freakiest Mad Men ever. Loved Peggy and Ginsberg quoting Alice in Wonderland.

Ken tap Dancing while describing his job as a crash test dummy with the real Mad Men, Chevy executives. Not to mention the fact that he mixes up his mother and his first girl friend.

Playing William Tell with Stan and stabbing him in the arm with an x-acto knife

Don lurking outside Silvia's service entrance smoking cigarettes

Don has no heart beat

Silvia's version of mutual assured destruction and cheating. Now Don isn't playing by the rules

Betty's looking more her old self, as Henry heads out on the campaign trail

Don and the soup ad mother with the beauty mark that repeats on the prostitute, who takes his virginity, and Silvia.

Sally knowing so little about her father that a complete stranger/thief can answer any question with a plausible answer she can't refute.

For previous Mad Men recaps

Mad Men Season 6 episode 7 Man With A Plan

Mad Men, Man with a Plan opens with Don ease dropping on Silvia and Arnold in a huge fight. From there Silvia calls Don at the office and says she needs him and "nothing else will do" This, he likes and tells her to meet him at the Sherry Netherland. Once there we watch 50 Shades of Draper. He could have been a great S&M dominatrix. Silvia goes for it, why she doesn't hurl his shoes in his face, when he tells her to crawl on her hand and knees to find them for him, I have no idea. By the end of the day, Silvia realizes that this relationship has run it's course and tells Don so. Then something unexpected happens, Don begs just a "Please?", but still it was shocking.

I loved seeing Joan showing Peggy around the office again. Only this time Peggy knows what's going on and they are equals. Peggy's fears are realized when they get to her office and the "boys" have labeled it Peggy Olsen Coffee Chief, she's back to fighting for respect. It's not going to be as fun, but I'm sure she'll handle it.  Especially, if the way she deals with Don is any indication. When she goes in to talk to him about his stunt with Chaugh. He tries to shut her down with his usual put downs but she serves it right back. Good for Peggy!

Don vs Chaugh reminds me so much of the time Don got Roger ruined at lunch on oysters and martinis and then made him run flights of stairs to a client meeting. Like Chaugh's dying partner says, Don wins the early rounds, but when Chaugh gets Don in his plane, it's no contest. Chaugh takes it hands down. Don's going to have to work out some kind of peace or this is going to get ugly.

I love the partner meeting. They start normally but it quickly devolves into a fight about all the things the two firms have hidden from one another. They are still two separate entities they better resolve that. The only two who seem to have become one is Roger and Jim. They have gotten Leica to send them to Germany and they are smiling at each other like they are in love.

Joan and Bob at the hospital was charming. Bob is so smooth. He knows he's last hired and the person he's reporting to has been fired. He sees Joan and knows if he plays it right she will be a word for him in the partner meeting. I want to think he is also just being nice but I think he is a pretty calculating guy. Joan knows too of course, but she does save his job in the end.

Pete's descent into hell continues. Pete's brother and sister in law have had it with their senile mother. Pete's sister in law left his address in the city on mom's bed side table, so she shows up there. Pete's brother refuses to take her back. So now Pete is living with his mother, which is only increasing the speed of his decline at work. Rolling in late to the partner meeting there is no chair for him and Roger relishes the opportunity to point out that Don got the last seat which means even Don got to the meeting before Pete. As I said last week Pete better get it together, quick.

The show closes with Robert Kennedy's death. Things are not looking up.

This and That:

Roger firing Bert Peterson...again.
Bert " You're a prick."
Roger "You stole my goodbye"

Don and Chaugh flying. Don says he is relaxed so Chaugh makes the plane bump to scare him again.

Harry gets bumped down to a smaller office so Peggy can have his.

Pete saying his mother can go to hell and Ted Chaugh can fly here there.

All of Chaugh's hip speak- groovy, free associate, and wrap session.

Silvia is reading THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Perfect for Mad Men so far, just a bunch of messed up people trying to figure out who they are as everything comes down around them. Hoping our Mad Men characters get a happier ending, but I doubt it...

For all my Mad Men posts

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 6 For Immediate Release

Loved last night episode, not the least reason being we finally got some Joan time. I think the opening scene was the first time we've seen her with her hair down. It was a Saturday, but I'm hoping she brings it to the office soon. Also I thought it was great that Don finally got told to be a team player by someone who could get through to him. When Joan tells you, you are a spoiled child, you hear it. And Don did by the end of the show. Of course Joan is totally right , she had to sleep with that "pig" from Jaguar and Don can't even deal with talking with him. The million her shares would be worth if they go public would definitely go a long way to making her feel better about that.

Roger has got his mojo back, he's seriously hunting down clients with his stewardess spy in the first class lounge, Daisy. Even passing up a night with Megan's mom, Marie, to land a client. I love that we see him shining his own shoes with the deceased shine guys box. It's like he's all grown up now and taking care of himself.

Looks like Pete and Trudy are officially done. I thought he almost had her back after the Mother's Day scene, in bed. Once he spilled the beans on the whole whore house thing with her father though, a divorce is now inevitable. Pete is a bit on the wane. They've now lost Jag and Vicks, both his clients, while Roger has brought in Dow and Chevy. Better get your eye back on the ball Petey.

Chaugh and Don in the bar deciding to merge solved a lot of problems for everyone (except maybe Peggy). Chaugh's partner is dying, probably quickly with pancreatic cancer, this merge may have just pulled his agency out of the frying pan.  Don in the middle of pitching actually says "we" which Joan had pointed out he never does. Don actually stops and says "that's interesting" after. Also gotta love when Don says "I have a better idea" and Chaugh thinks he means a pitch for Chevy and says" No you Don't...This is why everyone hates you" Whoa, everyone hates him and Don doesn't skip a beat and continues to sell him.

Finally, poor Peggy is not happy in her new apartment with Abe. It's a little to funky, with junkies defecating on the stairs. Last week when Abe mentioned their kids she was ready to follow him to the ends of the earth, but this week after drunk Chaugh kisses her, she seems a bit less enamored. Maybe it's just the bleak apartment that has awakened her. Either way I'll be sad if they write off Abe, he's the only decent boyfriend she's had, and plus I just like him. Also she is now headed back to the gang at SCDP, who she worked so hard to break from. She's going to have to work even harder to maintain the respect she's earned at the other firm.

This and that:
On a personal note

Pete and Trudy's bed side lamps- my grandparents had the exact same one in their living room. they are now painted black in my aunts house. Loved seeing them.

The guy who played the banker at the beginning- I babysat his kids about 20 years ago.

General

I love Harry Hamlin, Jim Cutler, in this. He's so smooth and the glasses are perfect "Unless this works, I'm against it"

Bob wandering the halsl with his 2 cups of coffee, seeing what doors it will get him in.

Ken's understanding of mutual assured destruction based on seeing someone in a porn movie and how that make him feel safe about the bomb.


For previous Mad Men episode wrap ups

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 5 The Flood Wrap Up

Episode 5 The Flood brings us to April 1968 and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. America is hitting a point of cataclysmic change. Bobby Kennedy will be killed in just two more month. Change has been coming slowly but now there is no more dragging your feet, everyone is going to change in relation to it. As Megan's father says "...the escalation of decay".

This show opens with Peggy looking at an apartment on the Eastside. She's making lots of money and coming up in the world. Abe is along for the ride, but without being  financially involved, he feels he has no say. When Peggy finally asks his opinion he says he'd rather they raise their kids in a more diverse neighborhood. I think all Peggy hears is he wants to have kids with her and she is happy to live wherever that is going to happen, apparently. Also if Abe keeps writing political peices for the NY times he's coming into the best time to be anewspaper reporter.

We get some real time with Bobby this episode. He seems to be disturbed by the misalignment of the wallpaper in his room. I'm not sure if this is some OCD showing itself or just a metaphor for him seeing that things aren't right in his home and his wanting to see what's beneath it.  Henry looks to be heading to the senate, and Betty pulls out an old dress from her thin blond days. I think we may be seeing that incarnation again soon.

Ginsberg set up on a date was a surprise, but not as big a surprise as his announcing he's a virgin. I know his social skills are not what they should be but hopefully this girl will resurface as a girlfriend for him. His father brings us the speech about The Flood and the animals being gathered in twos. Saying who are you going to go with your father?

There were lots of new characters this episode. Jim Cutler, who Peggey discribes as Roger Sterling with bad breathe. With the way he leers at Megan looks like he wants to park in Don's garage too. We also meet Roger's loopy insurance friend Randy Walsh. I get the feeling these two have been having some acid  sessions together. I think Randy may have taken one tab to many...

Finally Don reveals his feelings about his children to Megan. From all the flashbacks over the years we have learned that Don has never experienced love as a child and after last week, his adolescence in a whore house probably didn't teach him any healthy lessons about adult love, either. He really has no idea how he is suppose to feel, and has just been faking it. But when the real feeling comes over him it overwhelms him. He really is the saddest character.

This and That:
Roger to Randy - I think the emotions of the day and whatever else you have in your system
Abe going to Harlem in a tux to cover the MLK assassination
Pete and Harry arguing who is the worse human being
Ernest Borgnine on Mchales Navy
Planet of the Apes
Megan telling Don he drinks like her father believes in Marx
Hope we hear next week if Silvia and Arnold make it home safe from DC
Tecumseh quote in the original Shawnee

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 4 To Have And To Hold

To Have And To Hold really isn't the characters of Mad Men's strong suit. With the possible exception of Ken they are all cheating on their spouses, clients and co workers. All of which is shown in the opening scene of tonight's episode. We find Pete and Don meeting Heinz Kecthup behind Heinz vinegars/sauces/bean back, after they promised they wouldn't, and in Pete's city "apartment" no less.

We did get to see into Joan's life a tiny bit, with her visiting friend Kate. Who of course, is not only looking to jump from Mary Kay to Avon but is also looking to have a fling in the city, while her husband and boys are at home. She does tell us that Joan has always had bad taste in men. Which explains how she didn't get married until so late, and then to  a complete jerk. She also mentions a Scotty, It's unclear if Joan was married to him as a young girl or just went out with him, for the worst 6 months of her life...

Harry Crane makes a stand to be partner, but not without throwing Joan under the bus in the process. When Roger and Bert give him a bonus that is bigger than his annual salary, he still threatens to jump to another agency, as he walks out the door. Once he's gone Roger asks if they should fire him before he cashes the check.

When Don, Pete and Stan go to pitch Heinz Ketchup they find that Chaugh and Peggy are coming in to pitch right after them. It's just another example of how there is no loyalty. Not only has Peggy left SCDP but she also gave her new agency the Heinz info Stan told her in confidence. Peggy even steals Don's "If you don't like what they're saying change the conversation." Oh yeah and Peggy had Pete's baby and gave it away....

Finally, Megan's character on the soap is getting a love scene. She is very careful about presenting it to Don. The lead actress and her head writer husband offer to try to help smooth it over with Don by taking them out to dinner, but it turns out they're looking for a little swinging. No thanks. Don, while not happy about the love scene, seems like he is resigned to it, that is until the Heinz fiasco with Peggy. After that he shows up on set to watch Megan's love scene, after which he calls her a whore (more or less). Then he's straight on to their neighbors apartment for an actual love scene.

It's no wonder everyone is drinking so much. Dawn says it sounds like New Years eve when their trash is emptied. When these characters say to have and to hold they mean until no one is looking or I think I can get away with it. I don't know if they all need to switch to acid or what, but I need a little ray of sunshine in this mess.

This and That:

Black people might actually get a story line, looks like Dawn's part is growing

Lancers wine

Calling Don James Garner

Bert telling Harry "I was different than you in every way"

Stan giving Peggy the finger

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Mad Men Season 6 episode 3 The Collaborators

Tonight episode of Mad Men was full of bombshells. Every scene was another explosion. Also we got to hear Don's motto from his lip "This didn't happen" I wonder how many times he's said that during the run of this show. Finally getting to see a glimpse of his life after his father's death cleared it's origin up quite a bit.

Last season when Don said he was raised in a whore house I was confused, but tonight we see he was. His "mother" was taken into her sister and Uncle Mack's cat house. He saw her with Uncle Mack and I'm guessing johns after that. I was under the impression that Uncle Mack and his mother were an item so, if I'm right, at some point she must take him from her sister. Then I assume they either take over the whore house or move on. Either way I'm guessing "this never happened" was said to Don a lot.

It took me awhile to figure out the title The Collaborator. But I think the Heinz guys explain it. Sometimes the person you think is on your team is your worst enemy. Exemplified by every marriage in this episode. First we see Trudy and Pete at a dinner party being hit on by all their neighbors. Then the first bomb shell that Megan has had a miscarriage, apparently while she was considering an abortion. Of course there is Don and Silvia's relationship. According to this episode there is nothing but Is in team.

Peggy's relationship with Stan continues it's late night calls. But when she let's slip to Chaugh the information Stan has given her about the Heinz Ketchup client, it's her turn to decide if she is ready to be about advertising and not friends. All of her underlinings are already scared of her and when she tries to be a little supportive of them they respond by giving her feminine itch powder and a cruel client profile folder.

Seeing Trudy throw Pete out was a long time coming. They were a great power couple. Trudy kept giving Pete more and more slack and finally he hung himself. Loved her line "I'm drawing a 50 mile perimeter around this house. If you so much as open your fly to urinate, I will destroy you." And I believe it. God I hope they don't draw him back in with Peggy.

In the end it's all "like Munich" none of these people will ever be happy with what they have been given. They always want more and in the process will lose any chance at happiness. Don of course being exhibit A.

This and that:

Bob is the new Pete.  Pete is the new Don. Don is the new Roger. Roger may actually have figured out how good he had it to start with and seemed like he was trying to get Mona ( his first wife) back in last weeks episode.

Dance with the one that brought you.

Don burying icky Jaguar guy with back handed praise

Joan slamming Jag guy with "I know there's a part of you, you haven't seen in years.

Teenage Don with a Moe hair cut. Ugly duckling and how!

Jim Garrison mentioned in the tonight show clip Pete watches about new JFK assassination evidence is perhaps the ultimate in your collaborator stabbing/shooting you in the back.

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Mad Men Season 6

Mad Men Season 6 started tonight. I love this show!

After a brief moment of someone being resuscitated  we open right up with Don reading Dante's Inferno "Midway on our life's journey I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood." Is there a better description of Don?

Megan and Don are on the beach in Hawaii (for a hotel client) and throughout the scenes on the vacation Megan's wardrobe reminded me of Betty's in Italy (for a hotel client). First she was wearing red ball earrings that looked a lot like the ones Betty wore when she was all dressed up in her black fringe in Italy. Then the next morning she puts on a dress that looks like the one Betty wears the day they get back from Italy. Looks like things have fallen into old patterns.(no pun intended) He's even sleeping with someone on the side.

Megan has landed a part on a soap opera. She's recognized by fans. By the end of the show her part has been expanded and she is going to be the character everyone loves to hate. I'm guessing she's going to be too busy to deal with home life.

We see Betty looking like she is trying to be, or at least look like, her mother in law. She spends a lot of the episode worrying about Sally's friend who runs off to the city. It may be that she sees herself in this character, who wants to go to the city and have an exciting life. That's what Betty did and then married Don and we all know how well that worked out. She even goes into the city and spends an odd day in a flop house. In the end she seems to decide to let the girl go and completes her transformation into her mother in law by dying her hair brown.

Roger comes back to us in a therapy session. He seems like he wants answers but then he seems pretty sure about life being meaningless. All women are the same and all relationships leave you unchanged. Even with the news that his mother has died he's unfazed.  Only at the end of the episode does he break down over a shoe shine box that his, also deceased, shine guy's family has sent to him, since he's the only one that's asked about him. Roger's party seems to have come to an end. He may need some more acid?

While in Hawaii Don meets a private whose getting married and ends up giving the bride away. Some how their military issue zippos get switched. The private's has the inscription "In life we often have to do things that just are not our bag." Apparently, a common phrase inscribed on Vietnam vets zippos. I don't know if Don has ever figured out what his bag is. But regardless, he can't get rid of it fast enough. He tries to throw it away, but it gets returned. In the end he lies to his secretary and says he found it and ask her to try to return it.

Don shows up drunk at Roger's mother's funeral and while a friend talks about how much Roger's mother loved him to the exclusion of anyone else Don pukes into an umbrella stand. It may just be the liquor but I think it was a least a little about the fact that no one has ever loved him like that. He has never believed that anyone would love him just for himself, that someone would truly be his. To himself he will always be a whore child.

In the end Don pitches the hotel client an ad that looks like someone walking into the ocean to kill them self. The tag line was equally awful, "Hawaii The Jumping Off Point . I hope we aren't facing another season of the constantly plastered Draper who can't do his job.

Mostly the episode just kept coming back around to death beginning with what turns out to be their doorman being resuscitated. then the death of Roger's mother and shine guy, and of course Don's suicide in Hawaii pitch. Thing are off to a dark start.

This and That:

There seems to be someone sleeping on the couch in every scene in the work room at SCDP.

Peggy is still doing a great job but has her staff scared of her.

Abe needs a hair cut.

Roger's wife #1 telling him "Maybe there is nothing to drink about"

Roger mentions From Here To Eternity, which starred Donna Reed, and then later we see Don watching The Donna Reed show.


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Mad Men Season 6 Poster

AMC's Mad Men returns for it's 6th season in less than a month, April 7th. Yesterday they released this season poster and it's quite a departure from the Mad Men Posters of the past. The others have either been our beloved black silhouette or a photograph. This one is a drawing that is derivative of the late 60' and early 70's.

Now what does this poster tell us. Well as usual our Don is looking over his shoulder wondering if those cops are there for him. I kind of hope he reveals his alter identity this season and he can finally fully merge them. Although, I don't know what that would do for the dramatic edge of the show. Probably nothing good.

All the Megan haters are probably happy to see her out of frame. I'm assuming that hand he is holding is hers. Perhaps that means this season she'll be busy with her acting and while they are still together she is out of the picture. Betty will be happy about that too, she's the ultimate Megan hater.

Beyond that I can't imagine where they're going.The firm is successful again and they'll all be rolling in cash. Hopefully Joan is finding some kind of happiness, I'm guessing she's off men. I really did hope Roger would have gone off the psychedelic deep end, but based on the pictures that have come out it doesn't look like it. Though, my grandfather's name sake, Harold Crane seems to be on something.

Vanityfair.com

Of course, I have faith in Father Weiner to  bring us another great season, so I'll see you all on April 7th on AMC. I'm sure there will be lots of tweeting and blogging and facebooking and any other way we can find to share our love for this show. 

See you then!

UPDATE: here's a peak at the new seasons direction.

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AMC's Mad Men Returns April 7th

Finally, word yesterday that Mad Men will return April 7th to AMC with a two hour special. Looking forward to finding out what all this Inferno business is about or what new circle of hell Don has made for himself. What do you think the odds are Roger Sterling will have gone full bore psychedelic. All these years we thought we'd get to see Don in crazy 60's wear, it'd be just like Weiner, to bait and switch us with Roger.

There were so many things left open at the end of last season. Peggy in here new position at a new firm. Pete getting his city apartment. Joan doing what it took to become a partner. Don getting Megan the part in the commercial and then going to the bar and possibly returning to his old cheating ways. Can't wait to see where they are all at.

Just a few more months and we can all relax into a smoke filled room and find out what all our Madison Avenue friends have been up to. Is it crazy I still hold out hope for Joan and Roger??? Don't answer that.

AMC just posted some picture from Season 6 looks like psychedelic Roger is out.

Go to AMC to see more picture from Mad Men season 6

Mad Men Season 6 Peek

Mad Men Season 6 is still illusive but there has been a little leak. A few pictures are surfacing. Just like last year's leak they feature Jon Hamm and Jessica Pare in bathing suits but this time they're in Hawaii. One would think this means their relationship survives, but than maybe they're just going through the motions on a trip with the kids???

Here's one shot of Don reading, what appears to be, Dante's The Inferno. It makes sense that Mr. Draper should familiarize himself with the circles of hell, since he so often finds himself in one or another of them.

What ever the scenerio, I would advise they stay away from tiki necklaces...

Meanwhile, IRL, you can pick up Mad Men Season 5 DVD now. I love listening to all the commentaries, especially while waiting for a new season to begin.

For all seasons recaps and news on Mad Men

Mad Men Meets Rick Astley

Waiting waiting waiting for season 6 of Mad Men. Here's a funny video to pass the time. I loved the good byes.



If you need more Mad Men, I saw there is a Jon Hamm interview on BBC America's Graham Norton Show. You can find it On Demand.

Hopefully we will have an announcement soon about the return date for season 6. I believe the show is set to run through at least season 7, so this could be the second to last season. I can't even imagine what I'm going to do when there is no more.

Season 5 DVD will be released October 16th. Maybe they'll announce the season 6's start date then....