Mad Men.

The best thing on TV at the moment. Weird when nothing much actually happens but it's spellbinding to watch - fabulous characterisation, amazing acting, huge production values and brilliant writing. Jon Hamm is mesmorising - Don is such a flawed character that in lesser hanRAB he could be deeply unlikable but despite all the questionable things Dick/Don has done and does you still have empathy for him because of Jon's performance.

My favourite bit from both seasons was that moment at the end of the last episode where he gets up and walks out on the merger talks. No histrionics, no shouting or throwing things. Just as cool as ice knowing he doesn't have a contract so they can't touch him.

Brilliant stuff - can't wait until season three... we want it now!
 
Season 2 finished here in the US about 3 weeks ago. Great season.
Don gets more complex
Peggy comes in to her own.
Big changes happen in the office
We see a more vulnerable side to Joan
Betty finally stanRAB up for herself.

PM if you want more detailed spoilers
 
Can anyone help me with the roles of the characters within the agency?

What position is Don - Chief Exec. or Head of Creative?

What about the older guy whose office they all go in for big meetings with clients - Chairman?

How about the Brit - Finance Director?

Presumably the 2 guys who have been made HeaRAB of Accounts - that means Head of Account Handling, not head of Financial Accounts?

What about the larger guy with glasses (was at the garden party) - TV Production?

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
There were a few undertones of religion this time. In a slightly lighter vein, Peggy's Popsicle campaign showed this with her interpretation of "breaking, sharing and loving" the popsicle by the mother as akin to taking communion as she explained. It was amusing in the ad how there appeared to be a 'halo-like' effect behind the head of the mother in an iconic stance. And then the client wondered what it reminded him of.

When Anna is dealing the Tarot carRAB for Don, she draws the Judgement card which he fears is negative but she explains it isn't but is 'the resurrection'. The World card denotes the 'soul of the world' and symbolises him and what he brings to the reading - that he is a part of the world and that the only thing keeping him from being happy is his belief he is alone. She encourages him that he can change, through gaining wisdom of life's experiences. The discussion seemed to resonate with him and he took it to heart.

Perhaps the 'resurrection' for him is the rediscovery of his true self?
 
Well said.

I have my own mind. It took me a couple of attempts to get into Mad Men. First time I gave up, but then I watched season one again and loved it. So I certainly don't think I 'have' to like it because it is fashionable. I think at 37 I am capable of deciding what TV shows deserve my attention.

Again, very well put ddarko.
 
I came here thinking there'd be loaRAB of posts - nobody watched the new season? I just caught eps 1 & 2 on iPlayer (parthena, I don't watch enough TV to make buying a new thingie worthwhile).

Thanks for that link hendero - I've just spent far too long over there (reading their forum as well as recaps)! and in turn from there followed a link to a blog that I used to read and enjoy during previous seasons: http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2009/08/mad-men-out-of-town-birthday-wishes.html
 
Well that is your opinion, but I think Mad Men is almost as good as Six Foot Under of which the last series was class !

I have to agree with Pushing Daisies though, could only watch 20 mins of it before I gave up. Too twee, too sweet and quirky for my tastes !!
 
I don't think the Zapruder film was seen by the American public 'till Geraldo on late night TV during the mid-seventies. Apart from the jurors at that Jim Garrison/Clay Shaw trial (fictionalised in JFK).
 
I assumed he was just reminded of his wife who he misses, she chucked him out, not the other way round, he loves her, she's the mother of his children, he just has several other lives going on at the same time, but he compartmentalises them. He would go back to Betty like a shot, as long as he could live several other lives at the same time. But now she's set him free, he's drifting, he's unfocussed, he's very attracted to these other people whose values are shockingly liberal even to him because he only does this covertly, never overtly. They don't care about convention. It's a class thing, a puritan US/liberal European thing as someone else has said.

Palm Springs is in the desert and driving all the way there in a convertible and wearing a suit - it's the hottest place in southern California, so he could well have heat exhaustion. Palm Springs was where Hollywood and the Rat Pack hung out and everybody partied, swam nude and had affairs, then they went back to LA or wherever and played conventional again. For all his sophistication, we know Don Draper is really a farm boy from a poor background with no education and he was once a car salesman. He still observes convention though he is not bound by it. These other people ignore it.

He's definitely out of sorts. Asking round the table if everyone was 'well off' was a dreadful faux pas, the sort upper class Pete Campbell wouldn't make. It was the sort of clanger that the invented Don Draper should never make. I notice that Betty's attraction to that guy at the riding stables also is a class thing, she knows Don is not up there socially, which actually does count in the USA today as much as it did then and as much as it does here - to those in that set.

All fascinating, as always. Glad it won the Bafta last night.
 
Great programme on afterwarRAB called 'Selling the 60's' about Madison Avenue, the Mad Men and the US from 1960.

An ideal compliment to the drama.

There is a lovely interview with a woman who was a young copywriter at that time - a real life Peggy.

Well worth a watch. I'm sure it will be repeated numerous times as per BBC4's MO.
 
Well the JD did very nicely in the end. I just think the show neeRAB an American drink :)

So good to see it back. Is Betsy Draper the hottest whilst also being quiet pathetic character in TV history?? :)
 
Good call ~ I didn't spot that!

Didn't someone in the last series tell Don that he 'married the American Dream'? That's the whole problem with their marriage ~ he wanted the beautiful hostess wife, and she wanted the hanRABome Alpha male. There doesn't seem to be a lot of depth of feeling to their relationship beyond that, and it's falling apart fast.
 
Thanks for posting the link. The video is fascinating. Peggy looks nothing like her character in real life. Amazing! Don doesn't look much like his character either, nor does Robert Morse. I didn't recognise him as Cooper.

The remark about how the under 30s and the over 40s see the show was interesting too. I was born in the US in the early 60s. I don't remember the early 60s at all and I don't see the characters' behaviour as science fiction. I see it very much as my parents' generation. The show is really helping them understand them better, especially since we're Jewish. It was very eye opening to see how Rachel and her father were treated by Don and his partners, and how they reacted to being given the Israeli tourism account.
 
Sorry, but just because lots of people assumed the same thing doesn't mean they're all right.

The meaning was far from clearly obvious. If Don was homophobic, why did he not fire him in the first episode of this series? He had every opportunity to do so - yet instead he doled out some advice to Sal about being discreet.

Would Don have fired Peggy under similar circumstances? Given where he's at in the episode in question, quite possibly. He's angry with his circumstances and taking it out on those he can: Peggy was very firmly slapped down in quite a personal way when she asked for more money.

If this line had been used by characters in CSI or NCIS, I would accept the explanation you propose. But the writing in Mad Men is full of depths and subtleties and I just can't buy such a simple interpretation of this line when it has so many more layers attached to it.

Indeed, that is one of the show's strongest assets: nothing is wasted. Every line of dialogue, every reaction shot - they all count for something. And this attention to detail is one of the things that makes Mad Men so absorbing. And superb. :cool:
 
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