Best yet this year – told you 5 is the magic number …
Pete & Trudy’s doctor’s office
Trudy’s about to burst
S-C Office
Would love to see what’s inside the thought bubble over Don’s head while Fred (“slow and obvious”) Rumsen tells him a joke.
Pete & Trudy’s doctor’s office
“Have you ever fathered a child?”
“No.”
“Have you ever fathered a child you didn’t know about?”
“No.”
“Do you know what a blue Easter Egg symbolizes?”
“No.”
“What man doesn’t want a child?” And then launches into the “today’s world” rap just great writing here because you know he’s reaching for justification for how he really feels “ he hopes the doctor will tell him that’s a reasonable line of logic.
Pete sounds thrilled with his job.
Contrast Pete’s loss of his father with Betty losing her mother “ he tries not to think about it, and she is consumed by it. Throw in Don’s “extended self-pity” line “ seems like a gender thing.
S-C Office
Nobody backs away from a desk in her chair like Christina Hendricks.
So is the consensus that Joan’s third color is delusion “ she’s in love with the idea of marriage, but not necessarily crazy about this guy? We ever gonna meet Dr. Rosenrosen?
Don’s Office (Bobbie on phone)
First time I can remember Don wearing a light colored suit.
So this is Bobbie “being a woman” “ or at least her version. Great contrast to the upcoming scenes with Peggy.
Question: why does Don go to Sardi’s? He must really be into her, even though he does a great job of looking disgusted in every conversation with her.
Sardi’s
“The big opportunity he’s bound to ruin.” “ foreshadowing.
Alternate version of the scene:
“Hey, Rachel “ over here! It’s Don. DON! Don Draper from Sterling-Coo yeah you remember, of course. Of course. Who’s the lucky fella? What? Something Jewish? Come sit with us sure you can.”
She ends every scene with him by giving him a look that could melt an icecap.
She wants some “chow” and he wants to go elsewhere
Interesting that Don hates negotiating he’s a creative.
Don’s Car
What’s with Don having a car in the city? Thought he takes the train every day
“Why is it so hard to just enjoy things?” Like that line.
The other driver asking “you okay in there” is our clue that no one was seriously hurt in the accident.
Police Station
Legal limit – .15% – that’s way, way wasted most states now it’s like .07 or .08%
Peggy’s Don’s Winston Wolf.
The look on Peggy’s face when she sees Bobbie
Draper’s Boudoir
“Where the hell were you?” Remember the good old days when she never said anything when Don stayed out? Now she’s cussin’.
“I have high blood pressure.” He prepared that excuse while he was waiting for Peggy to show up.
He tells her she’s being hysterical, but she’s not.
“You promised you wouldn’t disappear like that anymore.” Don doesn’t respond.
“My father has high blood pressure.”
“Shit. Picked the wrong problem.”
My mom never looked that good at 5 a.m.
Peggy’s Apartment
Melinda McGraw’s a good actor “ not really evident until these scenes.
S-C Office
Someone mentioned Joan looking especially, um, curvy lately. Affirmative.
“I’m clairvoyant, and you’re going to use the word ˜décolletage’ by the end of this episode. “
Jane is quite the peach, though.
That Welcome Wagon music is a RIOT.
Gotta love that term “your girl”.
Peggy’s Apartment
“These books ” “ I’m feeling Brenda is sooooo right about this “ just feels right. Can’t shake it.
St. Mary’s Hospital
“This kind of psycho-neurotic disorder ” Hmmmm.
So is the feeling that Anita’s faking a pregnancy? Can’t tell if those are maternity clothes or not
“I’m goin’, but I’m not leavin’, Peaches.”
A word about Mrs. Olsen: can I tell you that I nearly burst into tears at that line every time. Partly it’s the delivery (Myra Turley, veteran TV actor), and the situation. But what really makes me buckle is that most simple and basic human need on bright display: unconditional love. Katherine’s love for Peggy is unconditional. It’s total and true blue. That line is pure love. We already know that she tends to favor her youngest daughter. Now Peggy is in the hospital where she has just learned the most shocking news of her life, and enduring major psychological trauma as a result. And Mom’s there 1000%. That feeling that you can do the wrong thing and still be loved is so powerful to me. The sense that you can be laid totally bare “ uncertain, embarrassed and shamed, but still loved.
Peggy’s bedside
She knows all the answers, except why she’s there. Blocked it totally out.
Pete’s date with himself
How much fun did the crew have putting those magazine covers together? They should have had one with Peggy on the cover.
Roger’s office
Can’t see a paddleball scene without thinking of Blazing Saddles.
Roger equates marriage with sex.
Peggy’s Apartment
“You have a boyfriend?”
“No, I don’t.”
“So, are you in love with him?”
“No.”
“It’s not a ridiculous question. Are you?”
“It’s a personal question, and I’ve already answered you.”
“You’re right. Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m in love with him?”
“It’s none of my business.”
“You’re right again. You’re so young and beautiful.”
“I’m not your competition.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
“No. I love your place.”
“I’ve been trying to fix it up.”
“I like it. It takes me back.”
Peggy’s responses are so utilitarian. Speaking like a man still, of course. But they’re also unexpected “ she never says thank you to any of Bobbie’s compliments.
S-C Office
“Hmmmm I have to concentrate really hard to read this employee manual. How many holidays do we get? Joan will just post a memo when we’re closed, I guess.”
“This is an office that hinges on professional decorum. Fred Rumsen, in there if he knew you treated our company that way, he’d have you fired.”
Peggy’s Apartment
All their conversations thus far have been preamble to this one.
“What do you want? Are you just some busy little bee building a hive out in Brooklyn?”
“Are you still trying to say thank you?”
Bobbie’s observations from staying with Peggy are now revealed Who is this Peggy, and what’s her angle? Not an unreasonable premise.
“You have to start living the life of the person you want to be.”
“Is that what you did?”
Peggy counterpunches Bobbie comes in for the clinch watch her body language.
“You’re never going to get that corner office unless you start treating Don as an equal.” And now we know why this character is here
Another occasion to say, “one of the reasons I love the show is ” “ they introduce this ballsy, blowsy, Kathleen Turner-type “ generally unlikable, a bit of a clown “ and then give her the job of teaching Peggy about life. (“No one will tell you this “) And I think she pulls it off “ way off. And Peggy responds. Wonder if we’ll see them in a scene together next epi.
Anyone think “Burn After Reading” looks hilarious?
Pete & Trudy’s Apartment
Who’s “Burt Peterson?” Do we know him?
Trudy’s acting is good here.
He’s treating her like a child.
That get-up.
Peggy’s Bedside
So this is at least a month later “ maybe early Jan 1961?
I think he knows it was a child. Did we already learn that?
“Move forward.” His answer for everything “ but not always the right answer. Don’s ability to “move forward” is both the key to his success and the reason he screws up to begin with. Kind of like America.
Don’s Office
I like that he gives her a hard time about not getting the copy done.
First kinda feminine blouse Peggy’s worn.
She calls him “Mr. Draper” at the beginning of the scene, and “Don” at the end.
She is going to be a woman, like Bobbie suggests, but in her own way. I don’t think the rejected her advice at all, as some have suggested. She interpreted it, internalized it.
Peggy and Bobbie make eye contact while witnessing another woman “being a woman.”
“I’ll keep this short.” Can he help it?
Draper Kitchen
Mmmm meatloaf.
God, take the jacket off, Don.
“Because we love him.” Whoa.
Show continues to work at the highest levels.
“This can be fixed.”
“If you’re lucky it will disappear.”
“I never expect him to be any other way than what he is.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
Any other show, and these lines would never work “ so corny and showy. Not here.
14 Responses to “Not-So-Live Blogging "The New Girl"”
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Mr Coop, another winner. And yes, I've been telling everyone that you called it about #5.
Pete's father seems more a specific Pete pathology than a gender thing. He is literally listing the things that should sound like they are causing him stress, and his father was an afterthought.
I'll get back to you on Joan. I'm not sure she's in love with the idea of marriage so much as she's afraid of the alternative. I don't exactly see her as mother material. And she's kind of an amazing powerhouse in the office.
The look on Don's face when he was on the phone with Bobbie… he seemed to be enjoying himself. I wrote it way high up on the live thread; she's started to grow on him. Which, though I don't love it, it is human of him.
Your take on Peggy's mom is breathtaking, Mr. C.
Ftr, the feeling on the part of the Lipp sisters is that Anita was not faking a pregnancy. Our official position is, that's just crazy-talk.
Genius episode. Love your NSL writeups.
Anyone think “Burn After Reading†looks hilarious?
The Coens are a national treasure.
And George Clooney is hot.
Pete’s father seems more a specific Pete pathology than a gender thing. He is literally listing the things that should sound like they are causing him stress, and his father was an afterthought.
Right. Better–in his own self-conception–that Pete is a red-blooded American male thoughtfully considered the State We're In, rather than somebody prone to ordinary human feelings.
Roberta – great points all. Interesting take on Pete's pathology, and Don/Bobbie.
As for calling the 5th episode, some people can make predictions, watch them come to pass and eschew the natural human impulse to gloat and remind the people around them that they were right. They can resist the temptation to pat themselves on the back. I'm not one of them.
Oh my god I'm not either. If there was a search function on this blog for every time I said "I called that!" or the like, my lack of humility would be unpleasantly measurable.
What I like about the Peggy/Bobbie scenes is how Peggy has an unerring comeback for everything Bobbie tries. Bobbie is completely overmatched and by the end she seems to realize it (though I think the implied insult of "is that what you did" goes right past her). In the end I think she really does "think she's trying to help," and far more sincerely than in the Joan/Peggy scenes during Season 1.
Something I hadn't stopped to think of in those scenes: Bobbie asking "Aren't you going to ask me if I'm in love with him?" Oh, Bobbie, you know I don't like you, but take my advice and don't go there!
Love the Winston Wolf and Blazing Saddles references (now as I think of Roger with the paddleball all I can see is Mel Brooks as the governor, who was also screwing his sexy redhaired secretary.)
Completely agree on Peggy's mom. Clearly, a Great Woman.
If we're passing out credit for foresight, big points to Patti, Post #109 on the episode 1 open thread, for being the first here to speculate that Don knew the truth about Peggy's absence.
No disrespect to Patti, but we've been saying it here for weeks… either from FTWTY, or definitely by Flight 1.
I don't remember who said it first. For all I know it could be me, but honestly, I don't remember.
^Like I said, it was on the open thread for Episode 1:
http://www.lippsisters.com/2008/07/27/open-thread…
Scroll down to Post # 109.
Oh!
Well then, total disrespect for Patti!
And now, total restored respect.
I'm a mope.
Mel – I'm not sure "overmatched" is how I would describe Bobbie in those scenes. It's kind of like a young prodigy tennis player hitting balls with a mere teaching pro. The prodigy is zipping shots all over the court, making the pro work hard. Finally the pro stops the practice to tell the prodigy that she doesn't have to prove her skill on every shot. "Cool your jets. Be who you are. There's plenty of time to be great."
"Excuse me, gentlemen. I was just walking the, uh, parapet." – Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles
Bobbie is completely overmatched and by the end she seems to realize it (though I think the implied insult of “is that what you did†goes right past her).
Yeah, I don't think so. Bobbie knows what she's saying, and as a former dancer, she's very used to being insulted. Hell, look who she's married to! She's letting it roll past her because she has something she wants to say and Peggy's little slap isn't going to stop her.
^I just watched again and you're right. Bobbie does react, then lets it go.
Thanks to you