Mad Men Season 7: Once a hobo, always a hobo (Spoilers) (Now including part 2)

[Rhom]

Thought this was a great episode as well. Can't disagree with anything PryceLF had to say. Just when you think Don has it all figured out to come to the rescue, they interrupt him in the middle of his pitch and won't even listen. (Which honestly makes no sense to me... why the hell wouldn't they want to keep those clients?!!?)

It also reminded me of an article I read (probably linked here a few pages back) that talked about the real life acquisitions of smaller ad agencies by McCann-Erikson and how it pretty much all wound up just like this one. (IIRC, it usually took a few more years before the full absorption though.)

And yes, Pete Campbell is despicable but probably one of the best characters I remember on TV in a long time.

Can someone please remind me if Pete knows about Peggy having their child?

Yes. At one point a few seasons ago, Pete was moping around and getting all weepy with Peggy and she says "I could have had you. I had your son and I gave him away."

That episode closed with a great shot of Pete holding the rifle wedding present from season one looking out his window over the world.

[Hugorfonics]

Right of the bat, they give me Dawn and Trudy! Although Dawns days are numbered, and Joan... poor Joannie. I was a little upset that she ditched Roger but then Roger got Marie, Pete maybe gets Trudy and Ted also finds a former lover. Don looked for Diana and finds two gay dudes who ask if he wants to bang. Don gives the Draper look. Lol, he'd probably be down, fuck it, as long as Dons happy.

Lou was happy as well (wasn't he in cali under contract, that's why Jim kept him last season and I assume he's still around, how can he go to Tokyo?), good for him for some reason.

I'm back to loving Peggy and Stan, they're the best, very real.( I wonder if Peggys kid can draw fingers instead of a mustache)

Pete. Lmao. Killed a noble under false pretense because of the Kings orders. Petes 1/2 Frey!!

Fucking Mccan. I was yelling at my tv, "say it!" Dude doesn't even have the balls, gotta mouth out cocacola. Don shoulda laid him out, Trudys wrong; You can punch everyone, it's the 70s!

Ps

Pete is not that despicable, compared to company.

1. Bert (rip) manipulated everyone. Juggles with Rogers heart and blackmails Don, racist

2. Harry. Schemer, tries to sleep with Megan, is cool with layoffs that don't reflect on him

3. Jim. 4. Lou. I need no explanation.

Then the weak who look evil.

5. Pryce (rip) was an embezzler and a pimp. His pride kept him from asking for help.

6. Don, takes weakness and insecurity at every turn, though strives to change

7. Ken, was finally given his clean start. Too much pressure and now sells bombs not to his old friends out of spite.

I'd say Pete falls into the good guy category. He cheats, and is rude. But is loyal, politically moral, and the hardest worker at SC. The other good guys are Joan and Betty. Which is hysterical because all three were the antagonists in the early seasons

[Winterfell is Burning]

SC&P fought the law, and the law won. Well, McCann did, but you get the idea.

I imagine McCann will turn all of them into irrelevant pawns. Don would be the only that could rise more due to his talent, but he'll probably hate the lack of freedom more than any of the others.

For Don, there's really 3 paths:

1- Walk out of advertising entirely (or maybe everything entirely);

2- Death or suicide;

3- Absorption into the hive-mind of McCann.

There's really no happy ending for him or pretty much anyone else in sight. Which is of course inevitable to people that put too much emphasis on their work in an increasingly corporate world.

Thought this was a great episode as well. Can't disagree with anything PryceLF had to say. Just when you think Don has it all figured out to come to the rescue, they interrupt him in the middle of his pitch and won't even listen. (Which honestly makes no sense to me... why the hell wouldn't they want to keep those clients?!!?)

There's two things:

1- They have so much money they can afford to lose a client or two;

2- It is not just business there and the man in charge (forgot his name) wanted payback for them bailing on McCann all those years ago.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

This was the best episode in a while--like, maybe all of S7 thus far.

* Ken, you magnificent bastard. What an exit. That could be the last we see of him for the series and it'd be perfect.

* Holy crap--DAWN! Gurrrl, where you been!?!

* Peggy is still kinda in bitch mode but that scene with Stan on the couch was incredible. I can't be alone in hoping she and Stan get together. Stan the man.

* Roger and Don at the bar = closest thing Roger does to a bromance moment.

*Don lingered at that gay couple's apartment door a bit too long. Hmm. It is the 70s...

...I'd say Pete falls into the good guy category. He cheats, and is rude. But is loyal, politically moral, and the hardest worker at SC. The other good guys are Joan and Betty. Which is hysterical because all three were the antagonists in the early seasons

You make a good argument for Pete, but I think your just high off this last season filled with redemptive Pete moments (an abundance of which were in this latest episode) by differentiating him from the other "bad guys" on your list.

Joan is a good-ish guy. But I don't see her as so very far apart from the others. She's been motivated by greed in a big way these past two seasons. And Betty? Pshh. I ain't even...

[Spring Bass]

My favorite columns on Mad Men - the Power Rankings and Mad Style - are both out here and here.

I am sorely disappointed that Pete Campbell showing that McDonald bastard the mighty fists of the Campbell Clan did not make it to the top of the list, but it was still fun. The Mad Style was good, too - I particularly liked this comparison:

Notice Jim Hobart’s black (or near black) suit, white shirt and red tie; a little bit Satan, a little bit Coca-Colaaaaaaa.

“This is the beginning,” Don says futilely, to an empty room, dressed exactly like the Satanic figure who tempted him the day before, in a Coca-Cola red tie.

Stop struggling. You’ve won.

Surrender.

[Iskaral Pust]

Good episode. The caper to save the firm doesn't actually work this time. The five partners are all being drawn in different directions outside of work, except Don who is adrift and directionless. Peggy is the moral center yet again, but a bit heavy handed in the explicit rhetoric. Last week was all about the uncertain future (and a pointless, nepotistic cameo for Glenn) and now it's about relationships for jaded people -- echoing the career situations of people who have already been entrepreneurs (young love, newly-weds) and are now in a more pragmatic phase: Ted:"she's not too young", Roger: she's crazy and age-appropriate, Joan: he accepts her divorces and son. There's loss of power and relevance, which might be a further allusion to middle-age, to follow Megan and Sally's rants.

[Rhom]

You know who I was just thinking of that I'd like to see again? Rory Gilmore.

Not that there's any reason to dredge her back up, I just really liked the confused Pete interaction.

[Raja]

There was lots of movement on the office front, and whilst that's pretty thrilling to watch, I don't think this episode ranks as my favorite of this season. On a completely different note, I've really come around to Ted in the past couple of seasons.

[Spring Bass]

One of the few perks of the split season is that the DVDs for the first half have come out - and they have the commentary tracks again! I've re-watched most of the first half's episodes with commentary, and it's good stuff. Not really surprising so far in terms of what they were aiming for versus what we've interpreted, but interesting.

[Tears of Lys]

I don't think I've watched an episode that drove me as insane as this one. :tantrum:

"He has a wife and three children. He's not going to work for a girl." Say WHAT?? I know that in my past I've probably heard things very similar to this, but to hear it again so blatantly drove me INSANE.

Suing the assholes wouldn't be near enough. Burning the place down would be a nice start.

[drawkcabi]

150 year old hentai :lol:

Though I hope Joan is able to really stick it to the whole McCann agency ToL's style, still Joan and Peggy should be at the top of the rankings this week.

Draper is westward bound! Portland is coming into range. Weiner is either really going through with the D.B. Cooper storyline or ending with his biggest fakeout of the show.

[Tears of Lys]

I hope Peggy DOES hang it on her wall! :lol:

[Rockroi]

I don't think I've watched an episode that drove me as insane as this one. :tantrum:

"He has a wife and three children. He's not going to work for a girl." Say WHAT?? I know that in my past I've probably heard things very similar to this, but to hear it again so blatantly drove me INSANE.

Suing the assholes wouldn't be near enough. Burning the place down would be a nice start.

Yeah. I think they are hitting things a little TOO on the nose. I mean, as anyone THAT much of a dick back then? All the time?

And there is no way that company would think Peggy was a secretary. She's practically a legend in that industry.

[Spring Bass]

That episode was a like a series of crazy-awesome sequences strung together, and I have no idea whether it was good or not - probably not. I can't wait to see the Mad Men Power Rankings on this one.

1. What's the total number of Peggy-Roger scenes they've had together, ever, before this one? One? The awesome scene that gave us this? Sure, the whole scene is a tad on the nose and was just generally weird in general, but damned if I didn't like seeing Peggy and Roger get drunk together and play the organ/roller skate. And of course, Peggy's awesome entrance with the Fisherman's Wife.

2. "On the nose" doesn't even begin to describe Joan's scenes this episode, but I loved them. This was Joan cornered, with no stops left except to leave without half a million dollars - and she turned around and sunk her teeth right into Jim Hogart's leg. That's a victory in of itself, and at the very least she'll get to walk away with half her remaining money instead of suffering through one creepy McCann guy after another for four years. I'd love it if she took the money, and then sued him anyways over it,

3. Don was the weak link in this episode. I did like the image of him revolting at no longer being "special", running out of a meeting full of creative directors looking at figures (something he memorably scorned in the past in season 4) - but after that, mostly ugh. Even the scene with Mr. Too Eloquent and Perceptive was just awkward feeling. The only awesome part was Bert Cooper as Don's Sleep-Deprived State Spirit Guide.*

* I always got the impression that Don joined up at the company right at the tail end of Cooper's reign as head of the creative, and thus served directly under him. There was a scene back in the episode where he fired Lane Pryce where Cooper got his attention with an ad that had been marked up with commentary and notes.

4. I could watch half an episode of Jim Hogart getting flustered over and over again by SC&P folks. "Is this the Con of the Century?" "You may have sold me a rotten apple". Good times. I'm kind of surprised how much shit they've given McCann-Erickson (a real company) over the course of the series - are they drawing upon stories from folks who worked there at the time?

5. Harry Crane is home, people. These are his folks, with tons of data, computers, and marketing research. It turns out his destiny all along was to happily become a Mid-Level Cog at McCann-Erickson, just like what Cooper warned him about back in Season 3.

6. The title, of course, was accurate - "Lost Horizon". What do most of these SC&P senior folks have to look forward to? Joan, four years of sexual harassment or worse just to hang on to what she has from men who won't take her seriously? Roger, banished to the "geriatric" floor - quite literally kicked upstairs? Don, sublimated into a hive of fellow creative directors reading research briefs?

All in all, fun stuff - and next episode looks like there is a lot of Pete Campbell getting himself into trouble and trying to dodge folks, which is always, always great. Was that him talking to himself in the previews? And showing up at goddamn Sally's school looking for Don?

[Ran]

"Space Oddity" put a huge grin on my face. We've come a long, long way from "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".

[RumHam]

The realization that the organ music was not part of the soundtrack was perfect. I was sure she was gonna find Roger's corpse.

* I always got the impression that Don joined up at the company right at the tail end of Cooper's reign as head of the creative, and thus served directly under him. There was a scene back in the episode where he fired Lane Pryce where Cooper got his attention with an ad that had been marked up with commentary and notes.

I believe Cooper's job was head of media, or at least something in that department. At one point Harry tried to tell Cooper "you used to be me."

[Tears of Lys]

When Hogart told Don SDP was "dying and going to advertising heaven," I guess he meant it literally.

:(

[smegma]

Seriously, is Weiner just trolling the DB Cooper-theorists, or are we really going there? Don heading west, "Lost Horizon", and that beautiful shot of him looking up at the airplane. Space Oddity? Jesus. That mad, mad genius.

[Hugorfonics]

The hunt for Diana! And runs into some Jesus dude. He was in a meeting and left, he does that sometimes lol. (Dude from Malcolm? Was in navy school and moved to Alaska) That guy who quit was awesome, I never learned his name. "Your secretary is a moran" lol, but Meredith is learning!

I love peggy. Skating around with Roger playing the organ. And then entering like the boss she is! "Who invisioned her in this ecstasy... we were just talking about you" Were they? Or were they talking about the true brains behind Don, and all scdpcgc. Fucks wrong with mccan, she's the real sensitive piece of horse flesh! Fucking mccan, who do I hate more? Uh Joan, heartache story, she shoulda fought, but I understand taking the quarter mill and retiring with that grey haired dude.

[RumHam]

(Dude from Malcolm? Was in navy school and moved to Alaska)

Thaat's were I knew him from. Thank you.