This is our plan for show nights, folks. Open thread for everyone to comment live (especially during commercials), so that we can all chat as things happen. This thread will go up nine p.m. Eastern time so we can start pre-chatting. Western time viewers beware of spoilers!
For the premier tonight, we’re at Roberta’s place with Progrrl from Galactica Sitrep and zeitgeist from Whedonesque and our friend Al who isn’t from a show blog.
So, comment away!
165 Responses to “Open Thread: For Those Who Think Young”
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Oh juicy comments! Thanks everyone. I agree with some folks, that the episode wasn't cohesive in the way most of the previous season eps did. However, I have high hopes for the future…
Ah Betty – her entire demeanor has changed, hasn't it? I do feel that last season's Betty might have thought the line 'I wish you would tell me what to do' to Don in bed, but never would have been able to actually articulate it the way she did last night.
I did get a bit tingly in the scene at the Savoy when Betty comes down the stairs, in slo-mo, as Don watches. It seems that the two of them have reached some sort of accord for the moment. Great dress as well.
I find it fascinating that Betty could have easily been raped if things with the Esso man went just a bit differently – I'm intrigued as to where Betty's arc is going to go this season.
Fantastic blog as always! And Mazel tov on getting your question answered by Matt, Roberta!
I mean, Jackie smoked like a chimney, not my mother (my mother would be appalled, ha!)
With this show, I think character, not TV.
In TV land, a guy finds out he’s the father of a child a couple of episodes after the child is born. But on Mad Men, you have to think about how far Peggy would go to conceal that information — not to mention the fact she’d had a child in the first place.
So while there might be an event in the lives of these characters (Mrs. Kennedy showing viewers around the White House, a film, a real-world crisis), I don’t think you’ll see much evidence of them doing extreme things around one another.
That’s network-TV stuff: the twist, the shock, the big reaction.
Also, consider the time. Certain things persisted that no longer exist: the all-volunteer army, cocktail hour, some idea of when and where to wear one’s hat. There were still rules. People would not have broken them so casually.
A screenwriter in the 1970′s said of the culture that succeeded this one, “It was fun watching the applecart being upset. But now where do we go for apples?”
In 1962, they still had apples …
#28 Jackie: "What the? Is your tongue soft too, Don? Get to work!"
OMG we all (my MM dinner party for eight) have voted it best line of the episode!
A few random thoughts:
- Salvadore does great decorating. Love the wallpaper! And the "wife" is styling.
- Interesting reference about Gertie (the horse riding instructor) having a "crush" on Betty. Perhaps Betty will have Gertie express a romantic interest much like Joan Holloway's roommate did.
- Duck is Don's boomerang karma for treating Pete badly. The main reason Don hired Duck was to spite Pete for finding out that Don is [a] Dick. Now Duck [which is to my way of thinking rhyming with F**uck as far as Don's life is concerned] is giving Don grief for not listening to Pete's ideas. It's payback time baby!
- On the topic of boomerang karma, well I'd say there are some very interesting equations:
HOT WIFE + SOFT DICK = WIFE LOOKS ELSEWHERE
HAS A BABY + NO BABY = WHO'S YOUR DADDY
HATES DAD + NEEDS DAD + LOSES DAD = DON GET TRANSFERRED
#28 Jackie: "What the? Is your tongue soft too, Don? Get to work!"
OMG we all (my MM dinner party for eight) have voted it best line of the episode!
A few random thoughts:
- Salvadore does great decorating. Love the wallpaper! And the "wife" is styling.
- Interesting reference about Gertie (the horse riding instructor) having a "crush" on Betty. Perhaps Betty will have Gertie express a romantic interest much like Joan Holloway's roommate did.
- Duck is Don's boomerang karma for treating Pete badly. The main reason Don hired Duck was to spite Pete for finding out that Don is [a] Dick. Now Duck [which is to my way of thinking rhyming with F**uck as far as Don's life is concerned] is giving Don grief for not listening to Pete's ideas. It's payback time baby!
- On the topic of boomerang karma, well I'd say there are some very interesting equations:
Don and Betty:
HOT WIFE + SOFT DICK = WIFE LOOKS ELSEWHERE
Peggy, Pete, Don:
HAS A BABY + NO BABY = WHO'S YOUR DADDY
Pete and Don:
HATES DAD + NEEDS DAD + LOSES DAD = PETE DOES DON TRANSFERENCE
Everybody's Life in General:
ONE BIG HUNKING XEROX COPY MACHINE = KARMA MACHINE
#152 – 1962 was not before my time (I was 13) and "blah, blah, blah" was absolutely in common usage. Actually I think it was in general usage for really a long time before that. Now if he had said, "yada, yada, yada…" that would be an anachronism. Seinfeld didn't invent everything!
New here, but I love this site!
*Like popular old movies are re-released on DVD today, Gone With the Wind was re-released in '47 (When a teenaged Betty could've seen it), '54, and '61, when Sally could've seen it.
* Does anyone think it is just like Betty to put Sally in Ballet, an activity where girls strive to be thin and pretty?
*I love the fact that Peggy is coming into her own, pitching her own "Welcome back, Daddy" ad and deciding that acne cream should be directed at 6th graders.
*Pete and Trudy won't last if they can't have a baby. Trudy has everything and is obsessed with a baby, and if she can't have one, she'll blame Pete. Pete is not one to take blame, and while he didn't seem to one a child that much, if everyone else can have one, like Harry Crane, he'll want one, too.
Okay. Since I've already been outed as having a ring fetish, did anyone notice that Betty wore her wedding and engagement rings on her "right" hand when she and Don were in bed at the hotel? In every other scene, including the one just prior to that when she emerged from the bathroom, the rings were on her left hand. I can't imagine that Matthew Weiner would allow that sort of slip up, so I have to conclude it was intentional.
Was this her version of a Madonna/Whore game? Did she think Don would be more responsive to her if she pretended not to be his wife? Did it make her appear to be more loose and adventurous? Was she pretending to be one of his mistresses…or a "party girl"? That also suggests to me that Don's impotence has been an ongoing problem, and not something brought about by his health and medication.
I'm curious to hear everyone's theories. I know you all taped it, so go back and re-watch, and tell me what you think.
I think there is something about a couple getting a room that speaks of hot sex. The kids aren't in the next room, there is no housework to be done, and it's time to let the good times roll.
Part of the allure, for both people, could be how well it lends to roleplaying. This could be someone you picked up at the hotel bar. I think Betty's outfit lends to the fantasy although my friend, the fan of stockings, says they overplayed the reaction to what should be a variation on her normal underthings. Basically, the lingering camera was more for us than Don, although I think she'd stepped it up a notch or three anyhow.
Maybe Betty really was wanting to give him what she imagined the other women had provided.
Only she didn't know to bring the brunette wig.
LOL, Ms. D. That's because in Betty's mind, blondes represent the pinnacle of beauty. I don't think she could even comprehend that some men prefer darker women–just as she couldn't fathom that "some men like eyebrows,"
**my friend, the fan of stockings, says they overplayed the reaction to what should be a variation on her normal underthings. **
But is that really a variation on her normal underthings? We saw Betty last season in her normal underthings, and they were pretty chaste. Slip, white, bullet bra, white, and matching (presumably) girdle/garter and panties (also white, I bet). Even her negligees were kind of prim. I doubt she'd have let that traveling salesman in her house or stood out in the yard shooting pigeons in that lacy black number–even if she were completely bonkers. But she had no problem doing those things in her "normal" lingerie.
You have a point — I think he was just saying that foundation garments were usually worn under clothing and stockings with garters were still the norm, so, while very sexy, it wouldn't have the same bang as if most of us appeared like that at bedtime.
I think your point is excellent in that Betty liked to rock it more virginal, but she was never wearing Hanes Her Way and one of Don's old wife beaters — not that that's not a look, too.
"it wouldn’t have the same bang as if most of us appeared like that at bedtime"
It certainly would have a different impact if I appeared like that at bedtime, let me tell you!
If I appeared like that at bedtime and there wasn’t a bang…!
Must. Have. Bang!
Almost all I can think about is smoking. I don't wish to smoke and if perhaps someone offered me a smoke right now, I will not accept. I feel I'm in a very horrible mental condition and have had trouble falling asleep yet I do know I ought to end up resilient and strong. The ecig may help me out in the long run.