MAD MEN -- FINAL Season Official Thread (possible spoilers)

Geez...Peggys trials and tribulations AGAIN? Cant they write something else?

 

I didn't think they could get any darker than last season - I was so wrong.

I loved every second of it. The Don/Freddie thing was brilliant. But really... everybody is going off the rails.

This show is so far beyond anything else I've ever seen on TV, it's not even funny.

Oh, and LA Pete rules.

 

Great opening plus Vanilla Fudge !!!!

 

I really enjoyed this episode.

 

It's January 69. Nixon was just sworn in. I for one lived the episode. But the older guys like Don in the ad world at that time did look like that. And yes many women really love the style and the success

 

Indeed. I'm about Sally Draper's age, I remember what adults were like then. Don's from the Korean War generation, those guys were starting to get pretty square by 1969.

 

Speaking of Sally, I am interested in seeing how she and Betty are faring, especially after last season's ending with the children.

 

Nice opener, I like the way they revealed the changes and the pace was nice. The door was a great touch!

 

Yes, I was surprised there was no Sally. I expected this season would have her as one of the foci, illustrating the generational effects, esp. given the last scene from last season that you alluded to and how much focus she had last season.

 

It was. When Freddie stopped pictching the idea to Pegs I thought "that sounds like Draper." And yet never put two and two together until Freddie walked into Don's apartment.

 

Yup, Freddie is Don's beard

 

I can't help but see this entire episode to be about the changing gender roles. Every single woman in this episode was up against male dominance and dismissal. Most of them lost, though Joan seemed to come out on top despite Ken's arrogance.

 

I really want that TV Don bought Megan. It would look so perfect in our living room!

LA Pete is awesome! So is that restaurant he and Don ate in. Such brilliant art direction in this series from start to finish. They really know how to recreate that world.

I'm heartbroken for Peggy and Joan. Both brilliant and driven, both completely stuck at the proverbial 'glass ceiling'. Is getting halfway there worse than not being there at all?

The scene with Roger and his daughter was interesting and sad as well. She's trying to work through her abandonment issues (though weirdly, and culty), and Roger stubbornly refuses to ever admit or even think about what kind of father he's been. Well, I'm sure he's thinking about it. Sad.

Loved the episode.

dan c

 

I felt myself getting a bit angry watching that scene on the phone. Joan saved that little dip****'s a$$, but he still just has to act like he gets to walk all over her.

Peggy is obviously the most creative and driven person there, but the new guy gets to dismiss her like some annoying school girl.

Like I said a bit ago, it seems even more challenging for the women at this point than ever before.

dan c

 

How did Roger suddenly fall into a Charles Manson-type free love/orgy lifestyle? I didn't like how that was just thrown in there without context. It doesn't seem to fit Roger's old-school personality at all.

 

That didn't make sense to me either. Joan is a partner----is Kenny?

 

I think Mad Men has "jumped the shark" for my wife and me. It's just not nearly as compelling as the first couple seasons, plus we both really liked the time period in which the show began, and don't really care much about the current late 60s/early 70s time frame (likely because we both grew up in it, and don't find any interest reliving that which we already lived, and are already so familiar).

I'm not necessarily saying the show has "jumped the shark" - obviously there are plenty of you who love it to pieces. From my point of view, however, it's just no longer a "must see." I found parts of last night's premier interesting (Freddy's opening pitch, for example, was great; and Pete's "California-mation" was a hoot), but that's about the extent of it.

It's funny - a while back we learned that Matt Weiner hates the "coming next week" clips that he's contracted to provide, so he's said he creates them almost as a parody of previews (disjointed scenes, quotes from characters that are insipid and mean nothing - like showing Roger on the phone and having him say, "This is Roger..." - etc.). To me, the show has almost become that same kind of presentation. It seems more like a collection of vignettes that are only loosely interwoven than a cohesive storyline. If that's Weiner's intent, then he's achieving his goal. It's just not my cup of tea.

Given that this is the last season, I'm going to watch it to its conclusion - what the heck, right? I've already come this far. I just hope the remaining episodes pay off in a huge way - not just for me, but for everyone who enjoys Mad Men.

 

He's been taking LSD for, what, two seasons now? He's on a spiritual quest. I don't agree that it's a "Charles Manson-type" lifestyle (that remains to be seen), but he is certainly experimenting.

EDIT: Maybe not a spiritual quest, but he's looking to change his life in some way. I think in the end, every character just needs to accept who they are and live their lives.

 

That wasn't Wendy from last season was it?

 

I don't see it that way. In my opinion this show shares a characteristic with two others (Sons of Anarchy, The Good Wife) in that the season is strongly plotted and well-paced with surprising twists. These little vignettes often are fore-shadowings or building blocks for the central themes of the Mad Men season. For instance last season Bob Benson was a puzzler, lots of little disjointed scenes with him but over the course of the season we find Bob is a character with a similar deceptive back story to Don,* and we see Pete thinking he's learned from his own discovery and disgust with Don't background, now thinking he'll turn Bob's situation more directly to his benefit. (He certainly benefited from knowing the truth about Don, but mainly by Don proactively taking the initiative and doing things like paying his share of a partner shellout, etc.)

I find it fascinating the way the characters and the little plotlines based around personal life of office life congeal into season themes.

* And it's fascinating to see how Don used real talent and bold moves to keep his secrets afloat, and Bob had steered a course of good humored ass-kissing. Both had used their previous skills as they saw fit in their new professions: Don the fur salesman, Bob the man-servant.

 

Bob Benson's character was mentioned last night so I'm assuming he still works in the New York office. But do we know if James Wolk will be able to appear again this season due to scheduling?

 

Anyone else think Roger's daughter joined a jesus cult (or some other kind) and they put her up to the "forgive your parents" thing?

 

Sounds more like EST to me, but that didn't come into prominence until 1971.

 

Yeah does sound EST-y. Also could be something like Al-Anon.
Not familiar with the details of all such groups, but it smacked of "programming" and or a "program"

 

I thought it was a great way to start the season! Loved Don's entrance at Burbank Airport and (being from L.A.) I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with old time L.A. Locations. I too think that by the end of this half season, Don, Peggy, Joan and Pete team up and create their own agency based in L.A. (Building from the ground up like they mentioned in the last episode of season 6). It would be interesting to see where Roger's Daughter's path is going, could be a cult of some sort. Really can't wait for next week!!!