Season 4 Episode 9, The Beautiful Girls. All the women in Don's life around him, him in the center, his daughter in front of him. His future love in one corner, his former lover face to face with him... The diametric opposites of Faye and Marie on each of his shoulders. What other scenes in the show do such heavy lifting with just the placement of the characters?

Bob Benson is swindling health care at Grey Sloan hospital in Seattle and goes by the pseudonym of Seth Norton. (Grey’s Anatomy). lol 😂

The book Don reads in bed in I believe S1, as he remarks how "dirty" it is and Betty mentions the movie not being as good. Have any of you indulged in some of the media mentioned on the show?

This book is interesting in how it parallels the Mad Men universe and how the writer's room likely used it as a source when writing Joan, Peggy, and maybe some other female characters. The norms and cadences of the day are also very interesting (the book was published in 1958).

I also have "La Notte" in my HBO queue, the foreign film Don mentions to Bobbie Barrett. Looking forward to watching that one.

How is Don actually allowed to work without a contract, more importantly, how is he made a partner without a contract?

Was the idea that he's so good that he gets a "pass"? Or am I misunderstanding US employment laws?

Roger uses the phrase “shit the bed” talking to Don in 1968. I’m no spring chicken and this is a phrase that I never heard till probably 2000 or so. Am I wrong?

Sal was a damn fine artist.

Found on the back covers of old football magazines.

Like a lot of people here, Mad Men is my favorite show of all time. And while I have so much love for Sopranos, The Wire, etc. There's just nothing that beats Mad Men.

To me it has the most oddly relatable human moments and characters (and on the surface, I am absolutely like pretty much none of them).It's so uniquely rare and beautiful when a show/movie can capture that weird little moments that we all experience but I couldn't even put into words.

I always liked the show and at first glance it's because I have sweet memories as a kid staying up to watch it with my mom. It also didn't feel like a 60's period piece at all. It genuinely just felt like you were watching real people at that time, even though I never lived through it.

For me the moment I knew this show was on another level was "Far Away Places" (Howard Johnson's Episode)

After Don and Megan fought, he drove away briefly, came back, couldn't find her and in the wee hours of the morning drove home to see if she was there. He was so excited when the day first started. He got to play hooky with his wife, blow off work and show her this place that he obviously had a very personal connection to.

But now the day is ruined. They had a massive, semi public blowout (their first real fight). And now he's scared to death that he can't find her, so in desperation, he drives home hoping she'll be there.

The scene then cuts to a flashback of him, Megan and the kids driving back from the airport from Disneyland. It's winter and everyone's bundled up and warm in the car. Bobby and Gene are sleeping and peaceful in the back. Sally is happy and inquisitive in her Disneyland hat. Don and Megan are speaking sweetly to each other, both in a glow of romance and contentment. A genuinely beautiful moment.

Then the scene cuts right back to where it started. He's in the car racing down the highway back home. Its 3 am. He feels tired, sweaty, paranoid, dirty, embarrassed, frightened, angry and guilty all at the same time.

You see the regret in his eyes. "How did things get this bad? Why the hell did I drive away? Why would she say that?"

He thinks back to that moment. In the same car, at the same time of night, maybe even on the same highway, but completely different and shittier circumstances.

He'd give anything to get back to that moment.

And all this was conveyed without anyone one character explicitly saying any of that. Show, don't tell.

Idk why, but that was just such a relatable moment to me. The amount of times I've had a fight with my wife, mom, dad, whoever. And you're miserable. Whoever's fault it was doesn't even matter in that moment. You feel like shit. You hate being at odds with this person you love. And your mind can't help but think back to maybe even a few weeks ago when you were in that same restaurant, car or house, when you were sweet to each other. When things were good.

A show's never made me feel quite like that before.

Another honorable mention would be when Lane and Don are both at the office alone on New Years, both depressed and deflated with their own issues at the moment. Lane's sulking and drinking in his office when Don tells him they're going to the movies. He doesn't ask. He just says "we're doing this whether you want to or not. Now pick a movie with me".

They see a movie, get drunk, have dinner, invite some women over etc.

That scene always gives me a comforting feeling. I've done that and that had done to me before too. When your friend just knows what's good for you. And in that case, get the hell out of the office, have some stupid fun, and forget about your problems for a night.

Those are mine. What's yours?

Would love any suggestions! Hosting a very small, immediate-family party with a Mad Men theme. The birthday person's fav characters are Joan, Bert, and Roger.

Thank you so much for any suggestions you have. This party is for a mostly homebound family member and we go all out on the decorations each year to make it special. I have several things planned, but I would love to do more! Thank you!

That he didn’t means there’s hope for him

Like the Carousel pitch or "It's toasted." What do you think makes him think so differently from everyone else?
Is Don's non-linear thinking a product of his past as Dick Whitman? Curious how people read it.

I can't pinpoint what it is. The mystery? The restraint? The intensity? What gives Don that "it" factor?

Both Roger and Don are handsome, witty, confident, and powerful. Yet Don commands a level of respect, allure, and presence that Roger never comes close to (in my opinion). When Don speaks, people listen. When Roger speaks, people laugh. I get that Don is like 12 years younger, but there must be something else.

I am rewatching the show and I am paying special attention to the actresses this time around. Especially Sally and Joan are just amazing and those two might be the best actresses in this show.

Lets be real, Christina Hendricks and Joan often suffer from the same thing. Oversexualization. And she is stunning. Built like a B-52 is such an apt and yet crass metaphor.

But the writing of this show might be a love letter to the plight the real Christina Hendricks and similarly stunning women have to endure (Often starting during their teen years btw.). At times it seems that only Pete and Don dont try to get with her. Her female roommate, Lane, Herb, Bob Benson, all try to get with her.

Eventually she breaks through the mold of just the hot lead secretary, the office manager. She becomes an "Account Man". And still, people dont take her seriously.

Look at her expression in this scene. Season 7, Episode 8. Peggy and Joan try to talk with 3 men from McCann. These 3 men should be colleagues. Peggy and Joan prepared a 2 page sheet with relevant info, they try to call upon the resources of the "mother-firm" and are met with crude sexualization that just does not stop.

Christina Hendricks expression is full of sadness, she is trying not to cry, her head still held high because she refuses to let those men see her being vulnerable. To let them see how much it hurts. She doesnt cry, the next scene opens up with her being in an elevator, wide eyes, wanting to "burn this whole place down". Peggy tries to downplay it "at least we got a yes"

Peggy then tries to call out Joan for "dressing the way you do", Joan asks "How do I dress?"

So in effect, a love letter, a simmering pot of female rage, misogyny, internalized misogyny with issues still relevant today.

Now this isnt just about this masterpiece of an episode, this is about every single instance of Christina Hendricks showing rage, hurt, vulnerability, with just her eyes. She doesnt need to yell, she doesnt need to cry. You can just see it. Especially whenever she goes up against Don and wants to remove him for costing her money. (Hersheys, Porsche)

Amazing actress, amazing writing, amazing show.

Diana was from Racine, Wisconsin. Racine is the French word for “root”, and knowing Matthew Weiner, nothing in this show is coincidental. Interesting locale for two very uprooted/rootless characters. Still trying to make sense of Diana after all these years. Haha.

I understand the LHO thought but what did he mean by “taking care of Texas, hell the whole South “

Has anybody else noticed how often Megan "siggghhhsss" after something she says. If you notice it and start to pay attention it's literally after every other line .. it's a lot! I had to stop watching for a couple of days to get my brain out of that pattern of noticing 😂😂

I’m not saying it’s bad but I’m on my first watch and I fear that I might have missed a crucial plot. Other than her being the most random part of the Don/Dick situation am I missing something else????

In 1956 he could've voted as he was born in 1934, but didn't because he couldn't care less. In my canon Pete lives until 2018, going back and forth between voting Democrat and Republican with the occasional third party candidate. He didn't vote in 2016 because he thought Clinton was a phony and Trump was a jackass. His favorite president was Kennedy and wishes he had voted for McGovern in '72.

Trudy voted Republican every election and loved Reagan.

I'm at the tail end of Season 5, so forgive me if there is more to his character. So, Joan, who is ludicrously beautiful (even in the TV world where everyone is pretty or handsome, the other characters react like she's Marilyn Monroe in the flesh) and has an adulterous relationship with the powerful (and generally liked by audience) Roger Sterling, ends up having a serious relationship and getting married to some random doctor off screen. Typical Mad Men subversion of expectations; weird, but it's whatever.

The first time we really spend any time with him, he gets weird about sex with her and then RAPES HER AT HER JOB! Probably the worst thing we've seen anyone do on the show. Imo, the show tries to straddle two different aspects of being a woman in the 60's with Joan, and I'm not sure it 's fully believable in this case. It's understood that she's "older" and theoretically has less options and that Greg, on paper, offers the perfect life, but men fall at her feet 90% of the time, lol. They aren't even married when the rape happens, so it makes no sense why she'd stay. We never see any single positive aspect of their relationship on the show or any real insight into her choice of hitching everything to Greg. Seems like she has options and the show portrays her as incredibly savvy.

From there, we get the saga of him trying and failing to be a surgeon, and I don't know why anyone could care about this after he did what he did. The show depicts their marriage as a bad one, but honestly it seems like a best case scenario after how he was introduced? I honestly expected him to be domineering and physically abusive, so him just being kind of an insecure loser who can't find his place is a relief. You'd have some pity for him if he wasn't introduced that way, tbh. He's basically Pete if Pete was incompetent. I don't really know what to make of his plot after that. He randomly decides to go to Vietnam and he's gone from the show and Joan gets knocked up by Roger and passes the kid off as his. You think this will be relevant, but nah, lol. He cuts his return short and volunteers to go back, Joan gives him the cathartic breakup speech he was owed for multiple seasons and then he dips from plot entirely. WTF?

Most shows would have his insecure, loser behavior lead up to the rape, so it was a different way of approaching the subject matter, but I have to be honest; it didn't work for me at all. Wondering if anyone here agreed or has any thoughts on it.

I'm at early season 4. They created this company at the end of the previous season but they gave us no hint as to who has the most shares or who calles the shots.

The whole thing seems to be revolving around Draper so it's obvious he's running the show at least in practice. He has the most leverage as nobody else can do what he does.

But is there an official hierarchy between the partners? Who is the managing partner a.k.a the boss?