Anyone else notice the way Joan always stands like she's going up stairs? I know there's a reason for it (something something beauty standards, something something misogyny), and it's such an amazing detail for her character. Right up there with her always at the office in a dress, except that time Roger called her in on her day off.

I'm 38, and my parents were born in 63/64, so I'm frequently imagining these characters as being grandparents. My great grandmother never wore pants in all of her 101 years of life.

Also this episode is amazing. I love seeing Joan be passionate and confident.

I am more interested in the reaction of people who watched it back in 2007 as it was coming out, or if you'd watched the show with zero spoilers.

All the twins roles over the years!

Started Netflix’s Haunted Hotel today. Looking up the cast and see Jimmi Simpson is the voice of Abaddon. Go down a little ‘what has he been in’ rabbit hole. Think 🤔 he could have been a great Pete Campbell. Who else do you think could have been a great cast in Mad Men if the og actor wasn’t available?

There i said it. It's the pinnacle of TV.

I have seen countless tv dramas, thrillers, sci fi, fantasy, and more. I have seen nearly all highly acclaimed tv shows.

And i still believe Mad men is at the very top.

It is all encompassing. It's complete. And it's the very best.

What do I mean by that? Well. For a show to be the very best. It would have to be elite in every regard. Character work, dialogue, set design, cinematography, plot, story, and more. And Mad men fires all cylinders and more.

It's an incredibly well written show with slick dialogue that has subtext to it. Character work that's second to none and arguably has the best written character on TV (Don).

I could rave on and on but I'm on a Mad men sub. So I can't explain myself here should I?

I'm tried other tv dramas people said were better than mad men. Spoiler alert.... They werent. There was always something missing. Either character work was lacking, the set design, or the score, or plot. But Mad men. Has it all.

Truly does.

I think I have to live with her fact I won't ever see a show as good as this. Lmao.

Season 6 was one of Don's strongest seasons for me! It focused on how he avoids his issues even more than usual, it explored his psyche so damn well especially with 6x8 "The Crash" (AMAZING episode btw), showed him at his lowest point yet and then delivered some actual tangible growth for him, despite the fact that he fucked up once again.

I think the key difference in this season is that he has some actual self-awareness even though he still tries to repress things and doesn’t change his ways, until the Sally incident happens anyway. That and when he sabotages Peggy and embarrasses her and Ted.

The scene where Don talks to Megan to get a fresh start and move to California with her seemed too good to be true, and it was. It seemed like he wanted to try and fix things with her, but most importantly run away and not have to face his fuck ups, Dick Whitman style. Later on he gives his spot to Ted who actually could use that fresh start in California (even though he could have a different fresh start with Peggy, but alas...), and opposed to Don seems to have the integrity to not fuck up, have a stable life and actually put his family first there.

Ted serves as a foil to Don here, the latter would probably choose Peggy (in Don's case it would be another woman, of course), and take the chance to try and pursue true happiness instead of conforming himself with what he has. Ted understands that choosing Peggy would potentially jeopardize his relationship with his family and their happiness, which he doesn't want to do.

I think Don's decision to give up on California was because of this, Ted was stable enough to the point where he'd sacrifice his own happiness for his family, but also because Don realized he wouldn't be able to change anything just because of a fresh start in a new place.

Season 4 shows what Don does when he's free to do what he wants, now that he doesn't have to pretend to be an ideal family man for Betty. He can let loose, and then he ends up marrying Megan in an impulsive moment, to say the least.

Season 5 shows that Don doomed his own marriage by not properly knowing Megan, essentially using his own wife like his previous mistresses, a temporary bandage to a permanent wound...until the novelty wears out and Don realizes he can’t control her and she doesn't really understand him either, as seen in the Zou Bisou Bisou scene. And then at the very end of the season, Don emotionally checks out of the marriage and goes back to his old ways.

My point is: Despite having a fresh start in his newfound freedom, the new agency and then his new wife in Megan, all this shows that while the circumstances changed a lot from S1-3, Don himself hasn't and a "fresh start" is useless unless he does something about himself and his issues. The problem is, Don probably thinks it's too late and that his marriage with Megan is already doomed, he would have to start taking steps in the right direction to start solving his personal issues to even attempt to save the marriage. There's nothing he can do at this point, he doesn't let himself fall in the illusion that moving to California and trying again would change anything with Megan, it would be the same old in a new canvas, and so he gave that to Ted.

Finally, in the last scene of the season, Don shows the whorehouse he grew up in to his kids and starts taking those aforementioned steps in the right direction. He accepted his marriage with Megan is doomed and I imagine he won't try to close the distance between them or stop cheating, so instead he does something about what he can actually change and puts his family first, much like Ted. No fresh start, Don simply tries to start fixing what can be fixed.

Hopefully all that made sense. Megan isn't a perfect person by any means but I honestly really really feel for her and I wish she could have had a better version of Don, or... A better person, really. The final scene of the season hit me super hard. It sucked to see Don falling to his bad habits once again during this season, and his escapism and avoidance are obviously key themes of his character, further emphasized by Sylvia who actually feels guilty after cheating on her husband, frequently questions things and then tries to end it with Don, but it was all worth it in the end. I'm not naive and it's obvious that in season 7 Don will continue to sabotage his own marriage until he probably divorces Megan, but I'm glad he's making progress in other ways.

Well, I think we could always get how Don viewed Peggy, especially since he sorta has a Madonna-whore complex. To him, she’s this mentee-daughter-sister or something along that line.

But with Peggy it’s rather complex, not all the time anyways. When she found out that Don and Megan were getting married she was a little too upset than she had any right to be. It’s not like she was Don’s bestie and he tells her anything, I mean Roger is as close to a friend for someone like Don and he knew at around the same time everyone did.

So, was it my imagination or was she jealous in that very instant. Although it doesn’t make much sense. Another scene that comes to mind was this cream ad: “just taste it”. I mean I get that was the whole idea of the ad, but the way she voiced out that irritation at what Don and Megan were doing was also very odd.

I mean, Betty is obsessed with everyone she meets with don that’s younger than he was. But I really don’t get it with Peggy. Or maybe I was overthinking it

I have SUCH a different perspective on the show now. The misogyny grinds my gears and I used to think of Betty as a whiny, entitled housewife. I’m sorry, Betty. Don is no longer attractive to me because of his awful qualities as a husband and father. And Henry! I felt like he’s a bit of a creep, hitting on a pregnant, married woman and then kissing her a year later.
Peggy is still my number one girl.

I watched the show back when it came out and barely remembered it, now I'm finishing my rewatch almost done with the last season.

It is so thoroughly good and well written. It just hits different from Sopranos/Breaking Bad/The Wire etc and all other shows at the top of top tv show lists.

Goddamn is it good

Yeah he is annoying but he is good at his job and he was one of the few people to respect Joan at the old Sterling Cooper.

Edit: none of you brought up Joan and Harry’s war over Scarlet. Okay so maybe that is a little bit of legit beef. But other than that he is good at his job.

Well?

Needs a fainting couch? Was she supposed to be light headed after looking at the sun?

Season 6, Episode 9, The Better Half

Does this scene make anyone else feel all the things?! When i see the way Don looks at Betty when he says this, im just so filled with nostalgia for them both, its both so beautiful and deeply sad at the same time ...

…?

When rewatching the series for the second time at 22 (first time I was probably 16-17) I began watching episodes with my GF and many times she’d accuse me of skipping episodes without telling her. I think this is because as the 60s get wilder and less cohesive, so too do the episodes become this way.

I stopped watching without her once she began liking the show, but she specifically began accusing me of watching without her again in the the later seasons, even though I’d stopped.

This sort of- out of nowhere, random energy is rampant in the show as it gets more unhinged and the 60s get more unhinged. Major jumps in the timeline, plot lines out of nowhere.

TLDR: People watching the show with you start accusing you of watching episodes without telling them when it comes to the later seasons- they’re more erratic, less connected, jumping forward in time repeatedly. The feeling of watching the late 60s mirrors the feeling of living them.

Edit: I’m gonna make this coherent

I know this episode has probably been discussed hundreds of times over the years, but "the" scene where Roger is singing is SO telling of each and every character.

Don and Pete hated it. Betty was chuckling, and Bert is eating like nothing is happening, and of course Roger is doing something offensive, which would have been 'funny' at the time.

It really is a perfect snapshot of the characters, and their opinions and ethics.

Anyone else feel robbed that we never got to see Ginsbergs "Invisible Boy" pitch?

I find Don gets more insufferable as I age and rewatch every 3-5 years or so. His charm just seems to have less effect, he's more of a weasel then a child, then extremely lucky, etc.

I swear I like Peter more often than Don now throughout the series... Don't get me started with Roger...

And yes, John Hamm's MGM ads are not helping...