Sep 282008
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We’re up to the 9th episode, do you believe it? Show starts at 10:00, theater doors open at 7:00. Enjoy; this promises to be a good one!
Kisses–
326 Responses to “Open Thread: Six Month Leave”
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I also have trouble rooting for Don. I agree with my sister who said that Don only looks good in comparison to all the other yahoos that work at SC. He's the lesser of available evils.
Plus he's smoking hot. That does turn a few heads.
I will probably always root for Don — and Peggy, too, because they are two self-made people. Their absolute refusal to let anyone in is, for me, a dare: why not? Why can't I come in? I'm just gonna hang around here till you let me in, you bastard.
This is an issue with me. It goes waaaaay back (in my case, to my childhood as the second-oldest of a very reserved man who looked a lot like Don). And yes, barking up the wrong tree in this way has hurt me in the past. Some closed-off people really get angry when others try to get close to them, and can be complete bullies.
But that's not the sense I get with Don and Peggy. I think that they are broken but accessible people, trying to navigate the world while trying to hide their badly-healed broken places. Broken people, because I am the child of one, fascinate me.
I also sense that both Don and Peggy are trying to change. That goes a long way with me. When my dad did it, it was late in the game — but at least he tried. He has became a softer, more emotional person in the past couple of decades. It's been hard going for him, but quite lovely for me.
Understand, though, the perspective of the child who has never completely understood her dad. He always hid a huge part of his life from us, and much of that part is still hidden and lost forever (family members we will never meet, the story he's never fully told). The search for clues is everything, to me. If I see a side of Dad that looks new to me, I am enthralled by it: Oh my God! A clue!
I'm much the same way with Don, which is one reason why I loved that punch. He was doing something completely authentic and impulsive. He was Dick AND Don at once: which is, when I'm being honest, what I want for him. I want Don to be able to be past and present at once, and not this sad patchwork guy from nowhere. That guy is good-looking, but he's also kind of an empty shell.
I also just felt Don's anger, at the moment he punched Jimmy. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I felt it on a gut level. I'd say that was the POV kicking in, but I think it was something else.
Good thing I have a shrink.
From the pov of someone like Don (and I certainly feel it tonight, maybe because it's Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year): well, I can totally relate to this aspect of his personality, AnneB. And it's funny that you mention it because some weeks back I began a post about it (about leaving the past behind) and haven't finished it. I promise I will finish it before the end of the week and post it.
Don has high values and cares about the people at work. He has no control in his personal life however. It is just like JFK. Still he is an essentially good man. His wife is weak and should have put her foot down long ago, but it just wasn't that easy to do back then. He is handsome and attracts women like flies. Betty is so naive. And yet she is changing and seeing the light as are many other women in the office including Peggy. It is the beginning of the Women’s liberations movement in earnest. It is also the beginning, particularly for men, for seeing the low values in business. The generational discord will begin not too long after. Don is not happy deep inside because he sees how cruel the business world is. He has high values in that regard. If he only could control himself in his personal relationships. Maybe he just doesn't love Betty because she is so weak.
Things are about to change in society: actually explode in many new directions.
Thanks, Rosie — you just inspired my next topic.
Ms Darkly: "ho bag" LMAO! I noticed that Roger seems to be making Jane over to look like Joan.
New commenter here, so hello all from the bottom of this very long post!
People have been discussing whether or not Don loves Betty, and MW apparently confirmed that he does. But does *Betty* know that? She thought he set her up with the Heineken thing, she knows he's cheated on her even if she has no proof, and he's apparently a-okay with moving out if that's what she wants. I would think from her perspective it doesn't seem like he cares that she's kicked him out except insofar as it affects the kids. And god only knows what Don thinks this is doing to Sally and Bobby, given that his models for parenting growing up were… less than ideal.
Also: dear Betty, one doesn't use a screwdriver to open a locked drawer, one uses a bent hairpin or paper clips.
Finally, for the next news roundup: Glarkware has a t-shirt tribute this month to everybody's favorite office manager.
I don't think Betty knows it, no. I'm not sure Don knows it either.
I don't have access to season 1 at the moment, would someone mind checking out the MW commentary for Shoot, the scene when Don comes home after Betty is fired from Coke? Verify that love was mentioned? I remember it, but since I can't check my recollections…
A few thoughts…
When Carla suggested Betty get a breath of fresh air, her first thought was to see what Arthur was up to at the riding stables. She believed him when he confessed that he was with Tara, but thought about her…all the time. So, she shows up to get some male attention and Arthur is hitting on someone else! She set him up for revenge and she set SB up to get her to leave her alone.
Then there is Carla who is raising someone else's kids and doing Betty's housework while her own kids are probably at home raising themselves because Mom has to work. Yet, she shows kindness towards Betty because she knows exactly what is going on.
A side note:
If Queen Latifa had played Carla, she would have said, "Girl, let me help you get that thing open."
Jane was out to get Rodger as soon as he set up the challenge when he saved her from being axed. I bet she played the game much better than Joan did; she wanted more.
Finally – loved Jimmy's comeback line to the boxer after being punched.
Love this site. Lots of insightful comments.
"If Queen Latifa had played Carla, she would have said, “Girl, let me help you get that thing open.â€
LOL. Actually she would have said, "Girl, let me show you how to open it."
Watched it last night on iTunes. Loved it!! One of my favorite episodes this season: very rich. A couple of thoughts:
(1) I love the relationship between Don and Peggy. There is so much mutual respect. He sees himself in her, and he identifies with her. It's unusual to see an older, more powerful man identifying with a younger, less powerful woman. This is one of the reasons I like Don: his respect for Peggy. She blossoms in its light.
(2) The "Archibald Whitman" moment. Cary Grant's given name was Archibald Leach." There is a scene is one of his movies–The Philadelphia Story, maybe?–where Grant's character makes a passing comment almost under his breath about a guy named Archie Leach. The self-referentiality makes it funny. When Don mumbled that the punch was "a real Archibald Whitman move" (I don't remember the exact line), he sat there looking like Cary Grant…and I thought of Archie Leach, who remade himself into the divine Cary Grant.
Finally watched it last night.
lol at #293 DH called this episode "The One Where Everyone is Shown Sleeping on a Couch"
I really liked Peggy in this episode. When she defended her actions to Don and defended Freddy I thought the look on Don's face called to mind when he said to Betty "She blinds you with her earnestness" or something along those lines. You could see his respect grow for her.
And I agree with your second point Inanna Don didn't even miss a beat and appeared to have the faintest smirk on his face when said just like C. K. Dexter Haven.
MW may have said that Don loved Betty last season. Is it possible that in the meantime, with all the water under the bridge and losing Rachel, that he no longer does?
Lurker, first time poster(just wanted to say I really enjoy your site!). I think this was definitely one of the best eps of the season, it's 3 days later, and my husband and I are still talking about it.
This was the first episode in a long while where I have liked Peggy. For most of this season, she has seemed almost like an automoton, not able (or willing) to show much emotion on any subject, taking Don's advice a little too much to heart. I really enjoyed her this week, liked how she covered for Freddy without a thought, was furious with Pete for being a 'tattle tale', genuinely sad to see Freddy go, and stating that while she was happy about the promotion, she hadn't wanted it that way.
Don is very flawed, and frustrating to no end, but I think he is great. This was also a good ep for him, loved his smacking down Jimmy. And his comment to the boys when they were making fun of Freddy. (Shame on Harry! I almost expected better of him). I have wondered how Betty was before she met Don, if Don has made her the way she is, or if it was there all along?
" Maybe he just doesn’t love Betty because she is so weak."
Wouldn't that be hypocritical of Don? In his own way, he is just as weak and cowardly. In fact, I can say the same for all of the characters.
Welcome, new Basketcases!
Nemirra, I think Harry is the kind of guy who goes along. He's a follower, a definite Beta male. He's a good guy, but I don't see him ever standing up to a group of guys like that.
Rosie, Don is very strong. Sometimes cowardly, but he reads "strong" as independent and stoical. Betty is intensely dependent and she breaks.
I see both Don and Betty as being good products of their time. Strong or weak is a judgement. They are the result of the choices offered them, the examples they had growing up, and the kinds of behavior they felt their settings would support.
Not unlike us.
What's interesting about the time portrayed in this show — and ours — is that what many of these people have been investing in has not really worked out as they planned. They find themselves unhappy when they expected to be happy and fulfilled. They're having to fight harder just to keep what they have, when they're not even sure sure they want it anymore.
Those on the show who are solidly outside this mold — Peggy, Carla — step into opportunity where it slips away from others. They are workers; their worlds are defined by what they can do, not by what they won't do. They can see where things are moving, and go with it.
What I like about the character of Don is that he stands between these types. He is two men (Don and Dick), a worker and a smooth operator, but most of all a survivor. We are seeing him flex between those two sides now, and it's fascinating. Don may or may not be strong, but he learns very quickly, and moves on even faster. In this way, he is thoroughly modern.
Likewise, Betty may or may not be weak. I am not sure what she is learning. She seems to be sensing things right now: deep things, messages about her current life and probably also about her past. I'm positive that she can move on, and I think that she will. She's just taking more time to do that than her husband does — because, honestly, she's less broken than he is, and things hurt her more.
But Betty will rise. She's angry. Anger's a hell of a motivator.
Semi-lurking. Wanting to share my loosely connected thoughts so I can get back to sleep.
Thinking about my own continuous partial POV–identifying with the Draper children, as I belong to their generation. Does Daddy love me? The warmth that comes from Daddy makes me want to forgive his sins. Daddy lives in a fascinating world. We miss him. Does Mommy love me? I might someday blame all my problems on her, as a kind of revenge for her seeing me as not good enough, not enough to make her happy. (This, by the way, is something I wonder about when I see so much animosity towards Betty on the AMC blog).
In "A Night to Remember" Duck referred to having lived in New Rochelle, home of Dick and Laura Petrie on the Dick Van Dyke show. There is a song by the Scud Mountain boys, titled "Van Drunk", which was the alcoholic Van Dyke's nickname. Opening lyric
"I was unhappy/
To hear you'd been wasted/
When you made all those TV shows/
The whiskey and the mouthwash/
And Mary's fine underclothes/
Can't hide all the trouble you knew/
Each night in my parlor/
I leaned on my elbows/
The ottoman got you again/
But that was a dim light/
Compared to the way you fell/
Over, and over, and over.
This song resonates with me in the same way Mad Men does. It's about seeing through, while still fascinated with, the beautiful illusion of the Dick Van Dyke show, a show and an illusion that was so important to my parents.
On another note, parallels between MM and DD. Both self-created name changers, who achieved success beyond the wildest expectations of the sorry people who raised them, through a devastating (but for whom?) combination of good looks and a talent for riding the zeitgeist. Has Don Draper ever had thoughts of suicide? What will happen when he gives himself the legendary "Don Draper treatment?" He sees through the illusion, but understands and uses its power, and this makes him seem almost magical. So for him, MM's death seems to be a cautionary tale.
@ #318: What’s interesting about the time portrayed in this show — and ours — is that what many of these people have been investing in has not really worked out as they planned. They find themselves unhappy when they expected to be happy and fulfilled.
Yes, this happened to me, even though I tried really hard not to let it. It may just be part of the modern human condition.
@ #319: On another note, parallels between MM and DD. Both self-created name changers, who achieved success beyond the wildest expectations of the sorry people who raised them, through a devastating (but for whom?) combination of good looks and a talent for riding the zeitgeist.
Very smart.
Don Draper does not strike me as a strong man. Rachel Menken was right about him. He is a coward. And for me, he made that perfectly clear when he refused to admit his affair with Bobbie in "A Night to Remember" . . . and when he punched Jimmy in "Six Months Leave". For me that punch was nothing more than an attempt by Don to place all of the blame for his marital woes upon Jimmy's shoulders, instead of accepting responsibility for his own actions.
Away for 2 days. So much to catch up on here!
@Inanna @311
It was in His Girl Friday where Cary Grant makes the reference to Archie Leach (it's a movie that glories in self-referential in-jokes. At one point, Grant identifies a character by saying "he looks like that actor, uh, you know, Ralph Bellamy." The character is played by, of course, Ralph Bellamy LOL). Also, in Gunga Din, he plays a character named Archibald Cutter. In one scene, where he reads the name aloud off of an invitation, you can see him savor the sound, enjoying the joke on his own name. Nice comparison, as he was a desperately poor kid who made himself into THE model of sophistication.
Just a quick comment about the guys making fun of Freddy & Don confronting them about their "disrespectful" ways.
First. The guys don't know that Freddy is going to be fired because of this. Like Peggy says, they just assumed nothing would happen to him and it would just be a funny tale to tell around the office. But Don now know that Freddy is going to be fired because of this drunkin mistake. Therefor he has the hindsight of the consequences where as the other men do not.
I think if they would have know about Freddy losing his job..they probably would've kept the jokes to themselves.
Plus, y'know, Rich Sommer did an awesome Joel Murray.
"Jane’s as morally warped as Pete!"
They're all morally warped. And I'm including Don and Peggy. They're just all morally warped in different ways.
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