I can’t stand that I was wrong about Don and Suzanne Farrell. CAN’T.
Okay, it’s not that I hate being wrong. I hate being wrong, but that’s not what’s driving me crazy here.
I hate this relationship. I hate that Don’s interest in her was sexual. I hate that touching the grass during the maypole dance was sexual. I hate how obvious it is.
I don’t hate Don sleeping around. I mean, I get it’s not good for his marriage or his character, but I don’t hate it. It’s part of who he is, the warts-and-all Don. Sleeping with Shelly in Out of Town made sense to me, it was consistent with Don as a person.
Suzanne Farrell makes no sense. She is too young, for one thing; Don was uncomfortable with Joy’s age and I didn’t think he’d make that mistake again. And his interest in her, it seemed different to me. At the maypole, it was almost spiritual. Overall, I think he sees the new world coming; she’s a positive side of it, just as the hitchhikers were a negative side of it (and how odd that he connects with each by the side of a dark road). To translate that into another affair kind of ruins it. It’s “tawdry” as Betty said. Maybe that’s all he has to offer?
I get no chemistry between these two. I didn’t like the way he pushed himself on her (first with standing in the door, then with the strange “hug”). Maybe I’m over-sensitive after Pete in Souvenir, but I was scared.
But I just can’t stand it. I just don’t like the writing that put these two in bed.
At the beginning of Season 2, a lot of people were speculating that Peggy would have an affair with Father Gill, but as Elisabeth Moss said, “that’s not our show.” When we interviewed Matt Weiner after the Season 2 finale and we were discussing Don and Peggy, Matt said:
Isn’t it great that Don has relationships with people that are not sexual? Isn’t it great?
Yep. Great. And here we are, as predictable-yet-not-right as Father Gill, and not-great. I am so disappointed.
114 Responses to “I Can't Stand It!”
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# 87 Dirk Funk: The problem with the show is that it doesn't have a "serious male perspective"? What is a serious male perspective, and how would it change the show, exactly?
On a totally unrelated note, I'm curious about something. Why do most viewers strongly dislike Bobbie? I've seen that sentiment here and on other boards, again and again. I get that Don's affair with her wasn't exactly romantic or functional, but I liked her as a character nonetheless. As Cheryl6 says above, she was "kind of awesome." She was aggressive, resilient, smart, powerful–and she had a great smoky voice! What's not to like? I certainly don't think Don should be with her any more–I don't think he should be with anyone–but I wonder why Bobbie gets a lot of derision.
I was wondering the same thing! I really liked her. She was a female Don Draper, for better and for worse, but she KNEW what that was. Jimmy knew too — which, of course, doesn't make her a good _person_ or a good _partner_, but I got the impression that she never lied about her disposition, priorities, or agenda. I loved watching them interact — few people can out-smooth Don when he's at his peak (a mountaintop we haven't seen in a while), and she could do it better than most.
I felt like she unleashed something animalistic in him — took a part of his appeal that he was afraid to acknowledge. She didn't fake any barriers between who she was and who people saw, and Don hated the fact that she tried to take his down. She's not someone who's ever had to couch anything in denial.
I posted this earlier on the wrong thread.
Don was very pushy, like he was not going to take no as an answer from the teacher. Not unlike Pete. We cannot judge Don by his past moves, he seems so much out of control now. One thing I know about people with drinking problems. The out -of-control-ness can be progressive and it takes less to put you in a stupor. The person drinking thinks they can handle the amount they used to and they can’t.
I don’t think he was drinking at the time he knocked on her door but he was drinking earlier in the evening, in fact the moment he walked in the door from work he started, which seems to be his normal ritual.
When he walked into Suzanne’s place and he started walking up to her she had a drink in her hand and she finished it and put the empty glass on the table as he walked up to her. (drinking in the wee hours?) She was drinking the night she called the house when baby Gene was born.
So at least they have something in common
That’s the mark of an immensely complex character that is Don, the varying shades of grey that make up the man.
You know I agree with this statement, but in this season it doesn't apply to Don. My problem with the writing this year is that it is so transparently bleak, and black, black, black in regards to Don, that it doesn't feel like "shades of grey" at all, but a complete "blackwash." The only lighter shades I remember him displaying this year were his compassion for Sally and the nightmares and asking Gene to stay with them. Even with that, he managed to be a right bastard to Betty and William, respectively, during those plot points. Well, maybe you could throw in looking the other way about Sal in Out of Town, but we see how that turned out.
On the "black side" we have everything else he's done this season, and it's pretty damn mean. Betraying Sal, and Peggy and Betty. Being a dick to pretty much everyone he meets, except Connie, who he has to suck up to. And everyone else, all at the same time, noticing that he's a dick and having the glamour wear off. This is clunky, imo, and way too obviously aimed at manipulating viewers' view of Don.
And everyone else, all at the same time, noticing that he’s a dick
You realize how funny that is, right? Everyone starting to notice what a DICK he is? The mask slips off Don, and look, it's a Dick underneath!
Sorry. Bad pun.
@ 102 Sarah M-
"I really liked her. She was a female Don Draper, for better and for worse, but she KNEW what that was".
I liked Bobbie Barrett too. She was Don's equal in just about every way, and they had real chemistry. It was pure sparks and electricity. I thought Bobbie's advice to Peggy was great, even though it took Peggy a few episodes to process what it meant, and lead to the one piece of advice from Joan Peggy listened to.
OK, here's why I don't like Bobbie.
1) She made it sound like Jimmy was totally within his rights to insult Edith Schilling, and didn't give a damn about Edith's feelings or about the awkward situation Jimmy put S-C into with the client. She doesn't even care if S-C loses the account, as long as she and Jimmy get their money. (Not very savvy of her, really; it's not like Jimmy would ever become so popular that he could afford to keep being difficult.)
2) She wouldn't take "no" for an answer when Don didn't want to go to bed with her — she cornered him in a cab in a hailstorm and grabbed his crotch. A less charitable person might even call that "rape."
3) She doesn't give a crap about Jimmy's feelings, either. This obviously wasn't the first time she screwed around behind his back, and Jimmy obviously knew about every one of them and she doesn't care. Yeah, Jimmy may very well deserve her, but still.
None of this is Melinda McGraw's fault; she was very convincing. But Bobbie gives me the creepy crawlies. And I absolutely hated the way Don behaved when he was with her.
#101 — I liked Bobbie a lot, too, for many of the reasons stated here. She was a lot more interesting than Ms. Farrell has shown herself to be and Bobbie fit in more with what I had thought was the milieu of the show — Manhattan, showbiz, smoke & mirrors, chutzpah, self-promotion, ruthlessness.
Whether Suzanne is a kook or a pioneer of the consciousness-raising set, she still seems like a rather pallid foil for Don. A suburban elementary school teacher?
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I had a longer post typed out, but it's been lost to the ether. At any rate, I agree with Sarah M and RetroGirl: what was cool about Bobbie was that she was Don without all the identity confusion, deception, and angst. She did some pretty distasteful things, of course, but so did Don–and Bobbie's actions somehow seemed more honest than Don's. As Sarah M says above, there was no discrepancy between "who she was and who people saw."
Millicent, you bring up an interesting point that hadn't really occurred to me. Bobbie was cool because, well, she was cool–she represented that "Manhattan, showbiz, smoke & mirrors" milieu very well. So I wonder: are we spending too much time in the suburbs this season? Is the show sacrificing that milieu in favor of exploring the horrors of the Draper family home? I've always been very sympathetic to Betty and I really like Sally, but something's got to give. . . . And I guess the Ms. Farrell affair will keep the storyline in the suburbs even longer.
I'd welcome Bobbie back!
after hating Bobbie for like forever, I rewatched her episodes on the season 2 dvd, and cant help but fall in love with her. she is disgusting at some points, but she is also a strong woman who has her independence even when she is married. to best sum her up she wants what she wants when she wants it. She is like Don, but without the identity crisis and bullshit lying. What you see is what you get. I also started to like her because she kept their affair secret. They went to fancy hotels and ate lunch at fancy but secluded restaurants. However she really didnt keep it a secret when she went to his office and probably offered him a bit of oral sex, thats when we see Joan turn her head and look away immediately, she knew very well what was going on.
But, in the end she didnt want Don to divorce Betty, or maybe the cut that storyline out. She was not like Rachel who wanted Don to divorce Betty and run away with her. She wanted a conquest and that conquest was Don. Nothing more, nothing less. In the end Don ended being the piece of ass, not Bobbie being the piece ass. Suzanne looks a bit crazy if you ask me, and no I dont mean crazy as fatal attraction crazy, but a crazy leave everything behind and lets run away, in which Don the pussy that he is will bail out which will cause Suzanne to tell Betty or the other parents. Thats my theory on that. But to make a long story short, Bobbie was Don's equal maybe a bit more superior from Don, because Bobbie was happy in her life, Don is not happy with anything. Sometimes I think it is never going to click with Don, he is meant to be alone, because of his selfishness, greed, lust, and above all his lies!
and Sally keeping a secret of the affair is really messed up. She will probably be heartbroken, and of course she would probably tell her mother!
I have been Sally Draper and you'd be surprised what secrets children keep.
Joan vs. Jane, I doubt Sally would keep that a secret. She truly loved Ms. Farrell as a teacher, and to see her Dad betray her mother, I am sorry but that is heartbreaking, and if she does keep the secret it wont be a secret for long. She will eventually tell her Mother once she realizes papa Don isnt coming home.
[...] the Lipp Sisters are pissed that Don slept with Suzanne. I can’t say that I feel the same way. I mean, I’d [...]
[...] spent Season 3 seeking something pure. It’s part of the reason I objected so much to the “romance” with Suzanne Farrell; seeking after something pure can, itself, have [...]