Mad Men - Series 1 repeat - BBC2 Sunday Nights

This is a very confusing convo.

Don Draper's 3 women.

1. Pretty blonde Stepford wifey.

2. Beatnik brunette/sometime redhead artist, resides in a shabby flat, throws tv out of window, always up for it. Overheard phone conversation between her and Draper by Peggy.

3. Well dressed department store owner, Jewish woman just discovers Draper is married but seems to be serious about him, only flirting no sex so far.

Hope i got that right.
 
Me being thick.

Don planned the whole elevator / Roger incident?

'Can we have a glass of iced water'

How about getting someone to clear up the sick (receptionist carries on regardless after owner drills projectile vomit onto the middle of the entrance)?

I thought Betsy was being the perfect Stepford wife hostess.

'Would you like to bounce me off the walls?'

Sal - That's why he went to the hotel, right? Got cold feet? Or cold something!

Joaney to Peggy - 'Explains the deterioration in your other work'. OOOohh. Jealous. Bitchy. (Do they stuff a pillow down her lower back to create that backside?)

All very dark. So intense. Nearly had to switch off at one point.

But can't wait until next Sunday.
 
My sister refuses to watch it!!!

But its brilliance is the way it communicates the values and culture of the times.

It is an amazing snapshot of how things were; recreated and bought to life.

And without wanting to spoil things for anyone, another marvellous aspect of the script/storylines and how the terrific cast act it out is how these values and culture adjust through the characters as times and episodes and seasons go by.

It moves from the late 50's through into the mid 6o's and these were times of huge change, often seized upon, fuelled and driven by the Mad Men.

Stick with it, Peach. You won't be disappointed.

Go Peggy!!!
 
didn't see that at all. It seemed to me that Roger is just realising the limits of (his) human frailty - he's no spring chicken. We saw this again when he was "interested" in the two women in the bar - they kept looking in his direction, which he took to be a "come on". However, when Don left to use the phone, their gaze followed him - a point that Roger noticed.
(added later) On reflection, it sounds like this was a bit of a "measuring contest", At one point during ther oysters Roger made a comment along the lines of "you're keeping up, I like a man who can keep up". - referring to the vast number of Martini's they'd knocked back.Which makes me think that Roger was testing Don, and Don came out ahead)
[side note:] they all drink huge amounts during the working day - how come they're never seen to be drunk?

We also heard from her psychiatrist that she's particularly immature. Don obviously didn't like the way that she & Roger were flirting.
BTW. A true Stepford would have had something in the "freezer that I bought you"

Probably, yes. Presumably this was the first time Sal had been put in that situation, wasn't ready to follow through. (What would his mother think? )

good grief! :)
 
Has anybody else had Series Link problems recording this, mine has failed. Ep1 didnt record, Ep2 recorded 20mins, Ep3 recorded properly, Ep4 did not record at all. This on a Sony HXD870.
 
Episodes 2 and 3 are on BBC2 this Sunday at 22:50.
Glad they've not done a 4/5 nights a week re-run like they did with The Wire.
 
Interesting take on Roger.

But why did Don pay the elevator attendant a few scenes before???

Don's character does get a bit aggressive with clients sometimes. My way or the highway.

Its an odd way to go bearing in mind that even in the short bits we see of them coming up with angles and ideas, the characters are often amazed themselves when one of them comes up with something great that no-one had thought of.

Its as if the clients sometimes aren't allowed to add to the process.

Of course, it doesn't make nearly so good a drama if they all sit around merging ideas with clients together in a wonderful 1980's version of Japanese Corporate style team work!
 
I did watch 1 or 2 eposodes of this but because it is so plot and character-driven, you can't just dip in and out of it.

I saw episodes 1 and 2 and they were fantastic. The writers are unflinching when it comes to portraying the social and cultural attitudes at the time. I loved the bit where they were desperately searching for a Jewish employee to bring to a meeting with a Jewish client. As the CEO said, "I had to go all the way to the postroom but I found one".

Also, where Betsy is chatting to a friend about an unfortunate divorce in the neighbourhood and, far from any sympathy with the divorced woman, they are concerned about a negative impact on local property prices. Both women are smoking and it is only when the friend stands up that you see she is heavily pregnant.

The writing is slick and the characters are coming together nicely. Don Draper is clearly a character of some depth and not all of it is good.

Given the somewhat unattractive attitudes and behaviour of the time, the writers somehow make the whole milieu quite appealing. The office workers obviously aren't very busy, skiving is rife, there is very little regulation of people's lives, everyone drinks and smokes all the time, the clothes are stylish and sexy etc.

I'll be watching the rest of this one...
 
I loved the fact the working lunch they'd got in for the Jewish woman was shrimp cocktail... Well done guys :D

It's the attitiudes in the show that are jaw dropping - whether the black bus "boy" was bothering Don in the restaurant or Don ringing up Betty's shrink to find out what was said.
 
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