Mad Men Discussion

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Goodbye Blue Monday

Goodbye Blue Monday

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Hey everyone! So, because @Typhlosionisafirebadger; and I tend to take up way too much space in the Conversational Chat with discussions about Mad Men, it was suggested that we create our own thread here. I decided to do that, since I'm pretty sure we're not the only people who watch this show on Bulbagarden! And with a new season starting up in less than a month, there's a lot to discuss!

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The sixth season will be starting April 7th with a two-episode premiere. I haven't heard anything about what year it's set in (Season 5 left us in early 1967, so I assume later that year or in 1968) but there's an official poster out that all us obsessives can analyze. I'm re-watching the earlier seasons to prepare myself!

So for discussion topics:
Who is your favorite character? Least favorite?
What did you think of Season 5?
Is Peggy going to come back to SCDP?
How will the office move on from Lane's death?
Are Don and Megan going to stay together?
Are Roger and Joan finally going to get together now that they're both unmarried?
How will Pete Campbell top himself in dickishness?
And any other Season 6 predictions you might have.

Some of mine:

I think there's definitely trouble in paradise for Don and Megan. The poster itself even shows him without a wedding ring. I don't know if she's going to leave him, but I do think she's definitely going to feel that there's a conflict between her acting dreams and what he wants out of a wife.
I think Peggy's going to eventually come back to SCDP, but not for a while. I just hope we see more of her this season than we did in the latter half of season 5.
 
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Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Favorite character? Hands down it's Ken MF"in Algonquin Cosgrove. Draper and Sterling come in second, with some love for Pete cause he's a pretty complex foil/admirer of Don Draper

least favorite? I think Pete still, as weird as that sounds. He's gonna screw up his life soooo badly but what person at SCDP won't?

I liked seeing Joan take a step forward in the company with Peggy in Season 5, albeit not in a way that many preferred. Glad Don stood up for her at that meeting too.

I don't think Don and Megan are going to last, and I"m unsure if Roger and Joan will FINALLY hook up.

I see Pete making an ass ot of himself and costing SCDP a deal though

oh yeah yaaay mad men thread, you go girl
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Typhlosionisafirebadger said:
I liked seeing Joan take a step forward in the company with Peggy in Season 5, albeit not in a way that many preferred. Glad Don stood up for her at that meeting too.
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I still don't know how I feel about that. I mean, other than it was horrible that the guys all agreed (except Don) for her to do that.

It seems so soapy and unrealistic - not that women had to sleep to the top, but that it would have been decided in that way. Then again, this is the show where the main character stole a dead man's identity in Korea, and remember that whole Glen Bishop weirdness in the first season? Suffice it to say Mad Men can get away with a lot of strange storylines.

One thing I know I want for Season 6 - a new LGBTQ character. Sal's probably not coming back, and Joyce's actress is tied up with her role on Girls. But I really liked that perspective on the show (and as a bisexual, I'm totally biased, so whatever). Particularly now that we're moving into the Summer of Love (assuming they don't skip ahead a year).
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Goodbye Blue Monday said:
Typhlosionisafirebadger said:
I liked seeing Joan take a step forward in the company with Peggy in Season 5, albeit not in a way that many preferred. Glad Don stood up for her at that meeting too.
Click to expand...

I still don't know how I feel about that. I mean, other than it was horrible that the guys all agreed (except Don) for her to do that.

It seems so soapy and unrealistic - not that women had to sleep to the top, but that it would have been decided in that way. Then again, this is the show where the main character stole a dead man's identity in Korea, and remember that whole Glen Bishop weirdness in the first season? Suffice it to say Mad Men can get away with a lot of strange storylines.

One thing I know I want for Season 6 - a new LGBTQ character. Sal's probably not coming back, and Joyce's actress is tied up with her role on Girls. But I really liked that perspective on the show (and as a bisexual, I'm totally biased, so whatever). Particularly now that we're moving into the Summer of Love (assuming they don't skip ahead a year).
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yeah it was kinda skeevy bt I liked that her and Don have this sort of like solidarity with each other,, you know?
yo i had the weirdest time watching that since i jumped into the series like in season two

so it was like "yo what with the who gen?'

I do agree that new perspectives like someone to replace Joyce wold be nice but i'd rather they be someone outside of the office, maybe someone Pete knows. I'd like to see his reaction/way of dealing with it you know?
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Typhlosionisafirebadger said:
I do agree that new perspectives like someone to replace Joyce wold be nice but i'd rather they be someone outside of the office, maybe someone Pete knows. I'd like to see his reaction/way of dealing with it you know?
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Well even Ken Cosgrove was dismissive and assholish when that one European copywriter guy said "I make love to de men, not to de women" when people thought he was going on a date with Peggy. So I can't see Pete being all that open-minded about it. He's progressive to the extent that it can help the company, but not really much beyond that.

I'm hoping when we get to 1969 (maybe in the last season) we'll have an episode about Stonewall and get a Sal cameo. He was one of my favorite characters and I was so sad to see him leave in Season 3.
 
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Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

yoooo, Stonewall would be a GOOD spot for him to pop up, props for that! I didn't even think about it.


I think i want to see Pete's reaction because as you said, he's kind of a dick, and it makes for good drama. Dude is hella conflicted about everything he wants to be
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

it's something, better than nothing

still got me intrigued, what with breaking bad coming back soon too, I'll be busy
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

In so excited to see what these crazy ad ppl are doing

Also, how much do you want to see din's daughter? She's such a fun kid! That ep with her "boyfriend" was on earlier today, the one where he meets don lol
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

I hate how the Italian-American guy is an offensive gay stereotype. Do they have to say that men from Mediterranean cultures are inherently weaker than men from Anglo Protestant cultures? My grandfather was here during that time period, and he was 100 percent Italian. No one ever thought he was less of a man. I'm surprised the show didn't talk about the anti-Catholicism during the 1960 election. Because, according to Mad Men, New York is a WASP paradise, when in fact over half the population is Catholic - and it was probably even higher in those days.

And plus my grandmothers never acted like the women on the show - not every white American women in the 60s looked like Jackie Kennedy (who I hate with a flaming passion). Neither did my great-grandmothers. They didn't live like the women on the show, either. I admit, all but one of my great-grandmothers were housewives at the time, but they weren't exactly like June Cleaver. Even my maternal grandmother, who was a homemaker most of her married life, never thought she was inherently inferior to her husband. (Jackie Kennedy was actually one of those women who considered women to be inferior to men. She gloatingly talked about her slavish obedience to JFK. But then again, it was my fault for thinking she'd be like Eleanor Roosevelt, who I have a much more positive view of.)

Sorry, but I hate Mad Men. I think it glorifies a time period when a lot of people thought a lot of horrible things about women and minorities. I mean, it is realistic to show that people back then had different values, but just try to remind people that just because something was the norm 50 years ago doesn't mean that it was right for the people to think that way.
 
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Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Feanor said:
Sorry, but I hate Mad Men. I think it glorifies a time period when a lot of people thought a lot of horrible things about women and minorities. I mean, it is realistic to show that people back then had different values, but just try to remind people that just because something was the norm 50 years ago doesn't mean that it was right for the people to think that way.
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But I don't see how anyone who watches Mad Men can think that the show condones those values. I think it definitely shows that those attitude's are fucked-up. Peggy's and Joan's and Sal's storylines themselves are great examples of that.

I mean if Mad Men is offensive in that sense, any show that shows a previous historical period accurately is offensive. And I think whitewashing those periods is definitely worse.

Anyway I'm Italian-American and I don't find Sal remotely offensive. If anything, I think it makes fun of WASPs' preconceptions about Italians, not Italians themselves. Their racism keeps them from noticing the giant-sized hints that he's a closeted gay man. There are so many more offensive stereotypes about Italian-Americans in the media, like us all being part of the Mafia or something, I can't see how anyone could get that offended about Sal. At least flamboyance is not an inherently negative thing.

(Also, he hasn't been on the show in three seasons.)
 
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Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

well, Feanor I kind of classify Mad Men as white people acting trifling in all honesty

blame my grandma and telenovelas
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

@Typhlosionisafirebadger; So what were your impressions of the premiere?

I enjoyed it, though I already detailed all my feels on Tumblr. But as Todd VanDerWerff noted in his A.V. Club review, there were a lot of little callbacks to earlier seasons. The vet in the bar calling Don "Lieutenant," the Roger/Mona subtext, Betty caring more about somebody else's kid than her own, and so on...It seems like a lot of this season will be in reference to earlier seasons.

Also I need to know opinions on this matter.
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

@Faye Valentine;

Omg I thought I was the only person who found that beginning to be crazy! Don would prob be guiding dante through each level I think. Pretty surreal moment though and yea, the callbacks were some of my fav parts

Then there was the funeral with roger acting a fool. It was definitely an entertaining premiere. "Roger sterling no matter what you do everybody loves you"=so true

I also liked seeing James Wolk as a new character on the show, and I wonder what he'll bring to the series, as he's a good actor IMO. More and more often it seems to me like don is gonna end up dead or like, leave his job?

Is it wrong I laughed at the death ad?

Pete's wife FINALLY gonna leave him?

If you so much as open your fly to urinate ill destroy you omg that was great

Dyou think don is going to get busted?
 
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Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Typhlosionisafirebadger said:
Pete's wife FINALLY gonna leave him?

If you so much as open your fly to urinate ill destroy you omg that was great
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This is what I was coming to this thread to discuss.

I was just like HOLY SHIT last night when that happened. But in a very good way.

FOUR FOR YOU TRUDY CAMPBELL YOU GO TRUDY CAMPBELL
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

She laid the smack down on Pete, and he's clashing with Don again

My fav characters are still ken cosgrove and roger sterling. You think Don will get busted for banging Velma/the doctor's wife?

James Wolk's character seems interesting to me but only bc I don't trust him
 
Re: Mad Men Discussion (Season Six Begins 4/7!)

Holy crap, what an episode.

It seems to be pretty polarizing around the Internet; everyone either loved or hated it.

I'm leaning on the side of loving it. My Tumblr friend and I have a theory that, per the producers making it clear the Inferno reference in the premiere was intentional, that Don is going through Hell, I wonder if there's some sort of reference intended to the different levels in each episode. Last week seemed pretty focused on lust, so what would this week be? There seemed to be a theme of selfishness this week, of people protecting their own rather than caring about the larger picture (like Harry only caring how the MLK assassination affected TV ads, Peggy and her apartment, Don thinking about his mistress in D.C. first and foremost, to the point of forgetting to pick up his kids, Pete unsuccessfully using the events to try to mend his marriage). So maybe greed?
 
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