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

[DemiNymph]

Always knew Peggy will come off the best and Joan was going to come off the worst in the merger. Didn't expect her to get axed so fast thou, in just one episode. She was basically an admin staff who clawed her way into accounts and with very little accounts (3?) under her belt. In a large establishment like McCann she's a super small fry. The worst mistake she did was still thinking that she was a powerful partner and going to the big boss Hobart. To him, Joan is a pest who thought too highly of her new position in the office and baggage that came with the merger and totally expendable. He only wanted Don Draper anyway.

The best she can do now is to make McCann lose her 3? accounts. Not that it'll hurt Mcann. Wonder how she's going to do that, it's not like she has any other ad agencies' contacts to link the clients to.

I think Hobart will try to get rid of Roger next after he uses him to get his people settled in. He's no use to anyone in the office after that.

[Arbor Gold]

Did Peggy come off the best? She was mistaken for a secretary and had no office. I feel like Ted and Pete came off the best by far. Peggy has to fight for her position with a carefully crafted image of badassness and tentacle porn.

[Athias]

Don has been remarkably cavalier about money on several occasions. But his most notable association with money is giving it to women- Midge, Alison, Peggy (very aggressively throwing it at her), Sylvia, most recently Megan. Clearly the idea is that he's treating women like prostitutes, out of some kind of Oedipal impulse (as his mother was a prostitute) plus the imprint of his whorehouse upbringing plus his first sexual experience, which was forced on him (thus after divorce one he pays a prostitue to slap him). Notably, Diana the mystical waitress actually believes Roger's exorbitant tip was down payment from Don for sex, making Don's infatuation a final on-the-nose example of his pathology- which I think is exactly the point of her vague and even bland characterization.

I agree. Don's interactions--and not just the ones he has with women--have been analogous to a prostitute and her "john," in that all obligations are absolved once money has been exchanged. To use another interaction between him and Peggy as an example, in season 4 episode 7, he argues with Peggy over the Glo-Coat idea, where she says, "...and you never say thank you" to which he responds, "that's what the money is for!" His pathology has been shaped by a notion of money as a principal index of exchange for both tangible and intangible goods (i.e. intimacy, love, obligation, gratitude, etc.)

I'm curious, OAR: you believe Don's first sexual experience was forced on him. Are you going by the prostitute slapping him, alone?

[OnionAhaiReborn]

I'm curious, OAR: you believe Don's first sexual experience was forced on him. Are you going by the prostitute slapping him, alone?

I'm going by this flashback.

[Winterfell is Burning]

I'm curious, OAR: you believe Don's first sexual experience was forced on him. Are you going by the prostitute slapping him, alone?

Uh...he was, what, 13? The woman was an adult and somewhat of an authority figure to him, and he was sick.

[DemiNymph]

Did Peggy come off the best? She was mistaken for a secretary and had no office. I feel like Ted and Pete came off the best by far. Peggy has to fight for her position with a carefully crafted image of badassness and tentacle porn.

Yes she still has the best chances of climbing up the coporate ladder compared to the rest of them. She has the best potential. The initial hiccups are down to the sexism in the office - the show however hints she will get over the hurdle with her splendid entrance.

Ted is fitting in well and will maintain his position as long as he toes the line. Pete is those type who can survive anywhere. No chances of promotion for these 2 thou unless something big happens. The reason is simple, there are too many similar staff in the same position as them. They may be in a higher cooperate level now than Peggy now but there's a chance she will surpass them in future.

[Rockroi]

I agree. Don's interactions--and not just the ones he has with women--have been analogous to a prostitute and her "john," in that all obligations are absolved once money has been exchanged. To use another interaction between him and Peggy as an example, in season 4 episode 7, he argues with Peggy over the Glo-Coat idea, where she says, "...and you never say thank you" to which he responds, "that's what the money is for!" His pathology has been shaped by a notion of money as a principal index of exchange for both tangible and intangible goods (i.e. intimacy, love, obligation, gratitude, etc.)

Which is what I was saying from the start; to Don, money IS value.

Also, don't forget that the FIRST person Don tried to buy off wasn't a woman; it was his brother. He tried to give the brother $10K to stay away. This is not trivial.

And with Don, the money has another HUGE benefit- freedom. The more money one has, the more apt one is to be able to "start over."

[Rhom]

I didn't get to see it until yesterday, but wife and I are sitting here ready for tonight's episode!

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.

I think it may be a collective trolling of speculated endings. Remember, early in the episode he also checked the window in his new office. Almost like he would do if he were considering jumping like so many have proposed.

[drawkcabi]

ah fuck Betty

[Rhom]

ah fuck Betty

Yeah. It's karma from the episode where she thought she might have cancer but didn't I suppose.

Part of me couldn't get past the extraordinarily fast diagnosis given its a world without MRI's and she doesn't seem to have had a biopsy. But therein comes the dramatic suspension of belief. :lol:

[RumHam]

Oh shit the Korea vet is Pam's fiancee from the american version of The Office. I can't place the hotel owner guy, but I know I know him from somewhere.

[drawkcabi]

Oh shit the Korea vet is Pam's fiancee from the american version of The Office. I can't place the hotel owner guy, but I know I know him from somewhere.

He's a character actor been in tons of shows. All the vets are. The guy with the beard is Wojo from Barney Miller. It's something Mad Men has always done, take good TV actors that are "I know that guy/gal from somewhere" actors and give them nice parts, but having the table of vets be TV vets like this is a particularly nice touch.

That weasel kid, the one that got the booze for Don, he took the money.

[Tears of Lys]

I don't think anyone's theory about anything has ever been debunked as spectacularly as Rockroi's theory about Don's love of money.

I always felt SOMEONE on this show was going to get lung cancer - just wasn't sure who.

:(

[smegma]

I had just commented to my boyfriend earlier today that Betty had thyroid problems but her health had never been revisited. But there it is with a bang. For a show that starts off with Lucky cigarettes, someone had to get lung cancer. :(

[Tears of Lys]

As an aside, I seriously hope Pete has checked that this guy from Lear really **is** from Lear. A guy who would let his dog out on a busy street wouldn't be above something as lowdown as wrecking another man's career by leading him on a wild goose chase after some dream job that didn't exist.

[smegma]

As an aside, I seriously hope Pete has checked that this guy from Lear really **is** from Lear. A guy who would let his dog out on a busy street wouldn't be above something as lowdown as wrecking another man's career by leading him on a wild goose chase after some dream job that didn't exist.

Duck always spelled trouble to me. When he showed up, I got a feeling a dread for Pete, and especially now that his "ending" in this episode is so uncharacteristically happy for the show.

Edit: of course, there's that one last episode for the gun to finally reappear.

[Rockroi]

I don't think anyone's theory about anything has ever been debunked as spectacularly as Rockroi's theory about Don's love of money.

Nice try.

Just remember how this episode started- with Don REMINDING Sally that she doesn't understand money; and how he wants her to sell her sports equipment to teach her a lesson. It was literally one of the first things he said. A constant reminder.

This does not mean that Don WANTED to steal these guys' money; he just knows what gives people comfort. Money. I mean, what shows he DOES NOT love money from this episode? The fact that he DID NOT steal their donation money? Or that he gave the kid a Cadillac? You understand that "generosity" does not somehow equal a hatred of money just as "greed" would not somehow mean a love for it, right?

I mean, if Don was dirt fucking poor, I bet he would not be as flashy with his cash. But in the end, this is a man who has money FOR A REASON.

Just stop trying so hard.

But on another note.... how god-damn depressing was Betty's story-line? Fuck.

[Spring Bass]

Well, damn. That was a good Betty storyline, although it makes me immensely sad to see her decide to give up and let go - I had a step-grandmother who did that, and it was bad near the end. Same thing as what is getting Betty as well (aggressive, metastatic lung cancer).

Christ, that Don storyline was depressing as well. Don continues shedding the aspects of his Don Draper identity, now including his car (although that has a useful purpose as well in case the Vets decide to notify the police about him). I honestly have no idea where they're going with him, although I remember someone suggesting that he might reach the Pacific and just walk out into it - much like the advertisement he came up for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

. . . I assume Duck isn't bullshitting Pete about the job, although Duck made a similar offer for a marketing job in Wichita back in Season 5 or Season 6 when Pete asked for his help as a recruiter. I mean, it's not like Pete could leave otherwise, and he'd investigate to make sure that the guy was who he said he was.

So . . . only one episode left. That's . . . . it.

:bawl: :bawl: :bawl:

[Commodore]

Difficult to empathize with Don's existential journey. So self-centered and boomer-like (even though his character is not a boomer).

Especially given his near total abdication of parental responsibilities beyond financial support.

[Tears of Lys]

Nice try.

Just remember how this episode started- with Don REMINDING Sally that she doesn't understand money; and how he wants her to sell her sports equipment to teach her a lesson. It was literally one of the first things he said. A constant reminder.

This does not mean that Don WANTED to steal these guys' money; he just knows what gives people comfort. Money. I mean, what shows he DOES NOT love money from this episode? The fact that he DID NOT steal their donation money? Or that he gave the kid a Cadillac? You understand that "generosity" does not somehow equal a hatred of money just as "greed" would not somehow mean a love for it, right?

I mean, if Don was dirt fucking poor, I bet he would not be as flashy with his cash. But in the end, this is a man who has money FOR A REASON.

Just stop trying so hard.

But on another note.... how god-damn depressing was Betty's story-line? Fuck.

I think you're confusing the Don Draper from the beginning of the series, really from long before he became Don Draper, with the guy he has become (for some time now.) Money - and status - may have been driving forces in his life, but not anymore. He literally walked away from the money he was owed at McCann, walked away from his millionaire's lifestyle with all its perks, and is generally going back to his roots.

His gentle, friendly (how many times have we seen THAT kind of interaction between them?) father's admonition to Sally was more like something the average dad would say to his kid so they turned out to be financially responsible - NOT because he was upset at her for letting some sports equipment sit idle because she changed her mind.

As for his giving the kid the Cadillac, OF COURSE this "generosity" doesn't indicate a hatred of money. What it does mean is that Don is shedding the trappings of a meaningless life. In that timeframe, beginning of the '70s, a car like that to a young guy (at least at first) would have been everything that symbolized success. He'd most likely trade it in for a Hemi 'cuda, but at first he'd enjoy it for a while.

I didn't mean to stir you up by puncturing your pet theory. I think you were half-right. But Don just isn't that guy anymore.

As for Betty, we can certainly agree that her story is ending on a heartbreaking note.