Basket of Kisses

The Dawn of Correction

Dawn: I don’t care if everybody hates me here, as long as you don’t. Joan: We’ll see about that. – To Have and to Hold Finally, Dawn Chambers gets her own storyline on Mad Men. And it’s a beaut: We get to see Scarlett dump the task of punching her time clock fraudulently into Dawn’s [...]

The Pete Campbell Dilemma

This cannot be ‘made good.’ – Pete Campbell, The Flood It is one of the unifying principles of the Mad Men universe that Pete Campbell is a douche. He’s the Crown Prince of Douches, or at least the Duke of East New Doucheford. Everyone knows that. But … Where Pete is concerned, always the caveat: But [...]

Waiting for Ginzo

(Ed. Note: This post was composed prior to The Flood, and Ginsburg’s introduction to Beverly Farber … but I stand by the general point.) He’s had, what, one, maybe two lines in each of the first four episodes this season?  And most, if not all, of them have been gems (Project Kill Machine!!). However, you [...]

The Animals Coming Two By Two

Morris Ginsberg explained to his son that it’s in times of tragedy and crisis that couples come together, like the animals on Noah’s ark, going two-by-two. It’s too simplistic a reading of this episode to say that’s what it’s about. It’s become something of a guessing game to find the scene that explains the theme, [...]

Treachery

“Now fraud, that eats away at every conscience, is practiced by a man against another who trusts in him, or one who has no trust. This latter way seems only to cut off the bond of love that nature forges…But in the former way of fraud, not only the love that nature forges is forgotten, [...]

Dr. Rosen Knows What He’s Doing

From a poster named TC3200 on TWoP, a startling idea about Arnold Rosen that I wanted to highlight because its utter perfection just made me gasp: If he’s not cheating, he is wanting out of that marriage. I think some of his answering service calls might only be fakes that are calculated to throw his [...]

Fan Art Thursday 4/25/13 “Joan” by Celinemachine

Joan’s had a rough week, let’s give her an Art Nouveau fantasy… “Joan” by Celinemachine (creaturecave) on DeviantArt.   I love that the artist used clocks in the border detail, how very Joan!

Don’s Favorites

Every once in a while we get little call backs on Mad Men–déjà vu moments, scenes that are reminiscent of something else. Sometimes it’s the way that a character says something. Sometimes it’s a situation. Don:  So, what looks good here? Sylvia: It depends what you want. Don: Well, I’m hungry, I’m in a good [...]

No Man’s Land

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce should be the best workplace in the world for an outsider. It was founded by one. Ginsberg is an alien. Stan works in a closet. Joan is the beautiful figurehead of the ship, and what could be a lonelier place than that? In early 1968, Dawn Chambers is the ultimate outsider [...]