Mad Men Season 6: Going the wrong way on a one way street

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

I also really like Ted. It was interesting how, when he saw Don in the bar, Ted immediately understood what was going on with Chevy. "Dammit!" He had to spell it out for Don before Don could get to "dammit".

That's true. Come to think of it, Don has been portrayed as surprisingly naive about some aspects of the advertising industry. Probably the biggest example I can think of was his failure to anticipate how his anti-tobacco letter would be received by the industry - earning him a lot of platitudes but killing off a lot of business potential.

[Tears of Lys]

Don just goes with his gut instincts in all his interactions, both business and personal. It was pretty funny to see him even get close to kissing the client's ass at that dinner from hell. You knew it wouldn't last long.

[naz]

A lot of things are pointing to disaster this season:

- The Vega. 'nuff said.

- The hastily arranged merger. I see a major clash of egos in the future of SCDPCGC and intense office conflict at a time when the SCDP partners themselves can barely tolerate each other.

- Don and Megan's marriage reduced to her having to seduce him to keep him interested in her at all. Why is she taking advice from her mother, of all people? Didn't she just witness her parents' marriage disintegrate less than a year ago? And realize that it was all a sham to begin with?

- Benson. Something's definitely up with that guy. The way he smiled in the hallway and gamely offered up coffee to Pete and Ken was... unnerving. He always seems to be in just the right place at the right time. Is this simple ambition or something more sinister?

- Peggy's apartment/domestic experiment. Abe (and their new apartment) are starting to lose their luster before they even become anything of significance. And now she's back under Don's paternalistic wing again. No matter how Ted frames it, it wasn't the title or prestige that kept her happy at CGC; it was the independence. Hey, at least she gets to have more scenes with Stan.

- Don's affair is potentially unraveling now that Dr. Rosen is thinking of leaving NYC.

- The way that decisions are being made in the agency is ominous. Every partner seems to be doing their own thing in their own way. The public offering, the GM pursuit, the Jaguar and Vicks losses... There are 5 people each trying to run their version of the agency, and doing it essentially independently of each other. And now CGC is thrown into the mix. Don's line to Peggy re: the press release was telling: "Make it sound like the agency you want to work for." Everyone has their own idea of what the agency is and no one is making much of an effort to reconcile that idea with the others. Add in the issues that Ken and Harry are having and the whole thing is a catastrophe waiting to explode.

[Mya Stone]

Thinking it over, I think my big concern with this move is what it means for Peggy. I loved her leaving SCDP, and I thought it was a great moment of independence, and I hope that her relationship with Don has changed enough that this isn't just a reset button for her. (I think it makes Joan's story potentially work even better, but I'll want to rewatch that episode at some point to see how I feel.)

I'm afraid it is. At Chaugh's, she was essentially the top creative mind, but now she's second-fiddle to Don again.

I don't necessarily think it's a reset button for Peggy. Don pleasantly surprised me when he actually recognized his mistake from last time and ASKED Peggy this time around.

However, as to naz's points that this is a ticking time bomb. Yes. I view the agency as a pressure cooker, just waiting for the top to blow off. Maybe we'll watch it go down in flames by the end of this season, leaving us to wonder where we go from here.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

I don't necessarily think it's a reset button for Peggy. Don pleasantly surprised me when he actually recognized his mistake from last time and ASKED Peggy this time around.

However, as to naz's points that this is a ticking time bomb. Yes. I view the agency as a pressure cooker, just waiting for the top to blow off. Maybe we'll watch it go down in flames by the end of this season, leaving us to wonder where we go from here.

That's consistent with some of the things that Weiner has said about this season. . . .

I actually really liked this change of pace. This season sort of felt more like the same, with some rumblings of change on the outside, but this episode, this episode was change. It was perfect from that perspective.

What does chief copywriter mean? Does that mean that Peggy will come back in "charge" of day to day creative, reporting to Don and Ted? Note how Don knew he screwed up with Peggy. He had a rapprochment with both Peggy and Megan this ep. But the opposite with Joan.

Also, note how Joan's taken over the CFO role? It was clear from the conversation with the banker.

Anyhow, more later. . .

[Castel]

6. Pete once again badly misreads the situation. He doesn't realize that there's no Mutually Assured Destruction - if he tells his wife that he caught his father-in-law at a brothel with a prostitute, then . . . what? Tom might get in trouble with Trudy, assuming she believes Pete? Whereas Tom caught Pete betraying his daughter, and finally had an opportunity to pay him back for years of manipulation and general sliminess by yanking the account.

Six seasons in and he makes the same mistake he made with Don.I do want Tom to suffer a bit though. Even though Pete ended up shooting himself in the face it was still a bad move.

Also: If anything good can come from Peggy and Chaough it's the removal of Drexler. Something about him is just...ugh. I loved how his great adventure with the apartment was going.

[Spring Bass]

What's ironic is that the best revenge and way back to the Vicks account would have been for Pete to calm down and reconcile with Trudy, then guilt trip his father-in-law into reversing the decision. Sure, Tom hates the marriage and hates Pete, but it's not like he can go to Trudy and tell her that he caught Pete in a whorehouse, since that would entail admitting that he was there (at which point Pete could fill in the details).

[Baitac]

This is a weird observation but was this episode scored differently? I just noticed a certain music leitmotif which reminded me of the type of music that was used in between scenes in The Odd Couple or shows like that. Hmm.

FYI: Rolling Stone article

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/q-a-mad-men-actor-kevin-rahm-on-sunday-s-game-changing-episode-20130507

[Mya Stone]

Blaine promises me he'll be back here on Monday to give us jokes and insight. ;)

[Rhom]

Blaine promises me he'll be back here on Monday to give us jokes and insight. ;)

Whew.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Crackpot theory: Could Bob be a reporter writing an expose of the ad world? He's one way or another privy to a lot of dirty stuff going on. It's a little far-fetched. I'm sure there's something else (even more sinister) going on, but it occurred to me that might be it.

[Kaldaur]

See, I took Peggy's sudden vision of Ted and the book "Something" to illustrate she was high off the paint fumes from the other room.

[Rhom]

Crackpot theory: Could Bob be a reporter writing an expose of the ad world? He's one way or another privy to a lot of dirty stuff going on. It's a little far-fetched. I'm sure there's something else (even more sinister) going on, but it occurred to me that might be it.

You know, I don't think its all that crackpot. I had a similar thought after reading someone else's comments about race after the MLK episode. They brought up a previous line about how the government was investigating the advertising industry and race. Was curious if he could be a planted investigator... but I think that's unlikely.

[drawkcabi]

See, I took Peggy's sudden vision of Ted and the book "Something" to illustrate she was high off the paint fumes from the other room.

I took it as both, high on paint fumes and she has subconscious or conscious desires for Ted.

[Winterfell is Burning]

Crackpot theory: Could Bob be a reporter writing an expose of the ad world? He's one way or another privy to a lot of dirty stuff going on. It's a little far-fetched. I'm sure there's something else (even more sinister) going on, but it occurred to me that might be it.

I imagine a reporter interested in that area would choose a bigger firm.

[naz]

Yeah, I think the planted reporter or investigator angle would be very unlike the way the show has worked in the past. If Benson's a plant, then it might be from another agency. But I think it's more likely that, yes, he'll be involved in the ultimate downfall of the firm, but in a sort of.... accidental way. I can see a scenario like this unfolding:

Benson acts all friendly and nice, but is actually a backstabber and is looking for a way to pull Pete (the firm's most tempestuous partner and an easy target) down. He somehow sets up a situation where it looks like Pete sabotages GM (as if in retaliation for Don and Jaguar), then Benson swoops in and saves the day. The firm promotes Benson, turns on Pete and maybe buys him out, and he, of course, freaks out and, out of spite, makes public the way the partners prostituted Joan to get Jaguar, thereby humiliating her and the firm with it. GM goes, CGC goes, everyone goes, Roger drowns his sorrows in the bottle, Bert has a heart attack and kicks the bucket, and Don is left holding his dick in his hand (Megan having left him two episodes earlier). Roll end credits.

[Iskaral Pust]

- The way that decisions are being made in the agency is ominous. Every partner seems to be doing their own thing in their own way. The public offering, the GM pursuit, the Jaguar and Vicks losses... There are 5 people each trying to run their version of the agency, and doing it essentially independently of each other. And now CGC is thrown into the mix. Don's line to Peggy re: the press release was telling: "Make it sound like the agency you want to work for." Everyone has their own idea of what the agency is and no one is making much of an effort to reconcile that idea with the others. Add in the issues that Ken and Harry are having and the whole thing is a catastrophe waiting to explode.

Good insight.

As this episode opened with the public offering discussion I wondered if I had missed an episode. The slow burn shifted gears too dramatically (an improbably in a partnership). And then we got an hour of twists and turns to completely shake up the season. I like the chemistry between Don and Chaough but definitely a tough situation for Peggy ahead. But at least it brings Peggy back into the main story. It was a big stretch to follow her arc in a new setting. And even more pointless to keep following Betty's arc (please MW, just drop it).

I couldn't cheer on Joan's attack on Don. Her righteousness is too hypocritical. She very explicitly prostituted herself for a partnership. Even when Harry Crane acts like a crass jerk, he's still right about that. I even felt the banker's compliment of her book-keeping was a heavy handed attempt to belatedly build up her credibility for a partner-on-merit who had to compromise herself to become a partner-in-fact in this unfair man's world. Don't moral indignation toward Herb is just as hypocritical too, but at least it's not portrayed any other way.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

I even felt the banker's compliment of her book-keeping was a heavy handed attempt to belatedly build up her credibility for a partner-on-merit who had to compromise herself to become a partner-in-fact in this unfair man's world.

Belatedly? As early as season two, MM has been saying that Joan is more talented than she gets credit for. She made Harry's TV department function, and then she was set aside. When they left to form SCDP, Joan was the one who handled all the logistics, and knew what they needed and where to get it; arguably it wouldn't have happened without her. In the season five premiere, Lane tells Joan that she's perfectly capable of doing his job without him, and after Lane died at the end of last year she seemed to take over without a hitch. We've gotten a lot of reason to believe that Joan deserves her position, and is very good at her job. What the underwriter said on Sunday was not new.

Besides which, I think you have to consider her position once Herb's offer was made to her. Whatever the partners said, she basically had to choose between taking the offer or being blamed for the loss of Jaguar. There is no loyalty at SCDP, and that kind of reputation could place her current job in jeopardy at a time when she's raising a small child. It's an impossibly situation to be in.

[Arbor Gold]

I couldn't cheer on Joan's attack on Don. Her righteousness is too hypocritical. She very explicitly prostituted herself for a partnership.

I think her blowup at Don was more about the fact that his actions (firing Jaguar) cost her $1 million and less about the prostitution thing, regardless of what she said in the moment.

[Baitac]

I think her blowup at Don was more about the fact that his actions (firing Jaguar) cost her $1 million and less about the prostitution thing, regardless of what she said in the moment.

I'm not sure. I thought I saw her eyes water and I don't think she would have cried for money (maybe Pete, but not her).