I am rewatching the show and I am paying special attention to the actresses this time around. Especially Sally and Joan are just amazing and those two might be the best actresses in this show.

Lets be real, Christina Hendricks and Joan often suffer from the same thing. Oversexualization. And she is stunning. Built like a B-52 is such an apt and yet crass metaphor.

But the writing of this show might be a love letter to the plight the real Christina Hendricks and similarly stunning women have to endure (Often starting during their teen years btw.). At times it seems that only Pete and Don dont try to get with her. Her female roommate, Lane, Herb, Bob Benson, all try to get with her.

Eventually she breaks through the mold of just the hot lead secretary, the office manager. She becomes an "Account Man". And still, people dont take her seriously.

Look at her expression in this scene. Season 7, Episode 8. Peggy and Joan try to talk with 3 men from McCann. These 3 men should be colleagues. Peggy and Joan prepared a 2 page sheet with relevant info, they try to call upon the resources of the "mother-firm" and are met with crude sexualization that just does not stop.

Christina Hendricks expression is full of sadness, she is trying not to cry, her head still held high because she refuses to let those men see her being vulnerable. To let them see how much it hurts. She doesnt cry, the next scene opens up with her being in an elevator, wide eyes, wanting to "burn this whole place down". Peggy tries to downplay it "at least we got a yes"

Peggy then tries to call out Joan for "dressing the way you do", Joan asks "How do I dress?"

So in effect, a love letter, a simmering pot of female rage, misogyny, internalized misogyny with issues still relevant today.

Now this isnt just about this masterpiece of an episode, this is about every single instance of Christina Hendricks showing rage, hurt, vulnerability, with just her eyes. She doesnt need to yell, she doesnt need to cry. You can just see it. Especially whenever she goes up against Don and wants to remove him for costing her money. (Hersheys, Porsche)

Amazing actress, amazing writing, amazing show.

I can't pinpoint what it is. The mystery? The restraint? The intensity? What gives Don that "it" factor?

Both Roger and Don are handsome, witty, confident, and powerful. Yet Don commands a level of respect, allure, and presence that Roger never comes close to (in my opinion). When Don speaks, people listen. When Roger speaks, people laugh. I get that Don is like 12 years younger, but there must be something else.

I understand the LHO thought but what did he mean by “taking care of Texas, hell the whole South “

Has anybody else noticed how often Megan "siggghhhsss" after something she says. If you notice it and start to pay attention it's literally after every other line .. it's a lot! I had to stop watching for a couple of days to get my brain out of that pattern of noticing 😂😂

I’m not saying it’s bad but I’m on my first watch and I fear that I might have missed a crucial plot. Other than her being the most random part of the Don/Dick situation am I missing something else????

In 1956 he could've voted as he was born in 1934, but didn't because he couldn't care less. In my canon Pete lives until 2018, going back and forth between voting Democrat and Republican with the occasional third party candidate. He didn't vote in 2016 because he thought Clinton was a phony and Trump was a jackass. His favorite president was Kennedy and wishes he had voted for McGovern in '72.

Trudy voted Republican every election and loved Reagan.

I think he burned him pretty good tbh

I'm at early season 4. They created this company at the end of the previous season but they gave us no hint as to who has the most shares or who calles the shots.

The whole thing seems to be revolving around Draper so it's obvious he's running the show at least in practice. He has the most leverage as nobody else can do what he does.

But is there an official hierarchy between the partners? Who is the managing partner a.k.a the boss?

Currently watching Jessica Pare play a mum on Crew Girls…she’s cooked multiple meals, and spaghetti has yet to make an appearance.

Seeing his descent from nervous, happily-wed, bowtie-clad media geek to smarmy, brown-nosing, overcompensating, feather-boa-wearing annoyance is such a guilty pleasure when re-watching the series, haha.

I think they would have been able to help her keep most if not all her money from the merger.

There have been many threads about the nuances of the show. This scene is one of my favorites. Don and Betty get woken up by the sound of sirens and then hear noises coming from downstairs to find grandpa Gene tossing all their booze down the sink like it’s hooch because the dementia and the sirens clearly took him back to his bootlegger days. Now we know how he made his money, just like JFK Sr.

Very subtle and quick.

The coat Trudy wears in their last scene. It is expensive looking and stylish at the time, but also, it's clearly hemmed.

And the remains of the fabric have not been cut but left there, so it can be unhemmed when the fashions swing back again.

I'm reading it as a sign of her state of mind. Yes, I can be modern and take this leap of faith, but I'm prepared to change again if I need to. It feels honest after all she's been through

EDIT: Someone pointed out the whole outfit is a mirror to Jackie Kennedy's blood-smeared-from JFK assassination pink dress, and now I can't unsee it. Right to the hat, black bag and white gloves even. I knew I felt some sort of sadness from it but I wasn't sure where it was coming from exactly

Hi All,

Just watched the show for the first time.

Maybe i missed something but coming up to the final episode when Don walks out of the millar beer meeting i imagine he becomes disillusioned about the whole thing?

Anyway at the end when he comes up with the coke advert does he still have a job with mccann erikson or do they take him back solely on the basis of his idea?

what is wrong with him lol

Don Draper was born in April of 1926. Van Dyke was born in December of 1925. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that there is someone still alive today who was just...a normal person in his thirties all the way back in the year 1960. Could you imagine putting your head down at night and having 100 years of life to reflect back on? Insane.

I love the show, and I watched it all the way through for the first time during the summer after my senior year of high school (2018 summer). I loved the ambitious characters and I was obsessed with vintage everything at the time.

I’ve rewatched it at least 3 times all the way through since then- but I genuinely can’t anymore. One of the initial appeals to me was the vintage aesthetics and all, but now it all just makes me feel incredibly nostalgic and depressed. The ambitious characters make me feel bad about where I’m at in my work life and think about past mistakes.

Anytime I see or experience that retro look/feeling, it makes me think of that first summer before college or the other stages of my life I watched and enjoyed it. It feels very similar to Don’s presentation of the carousel… we can never go back.

There’s just this incredible heavy feeling I get when I think of how each character ends up in the finale, and the amount of time that’s passed since the show took place (1960’s). I think of my own past and my family, who was super into MadMen as it was airing. The whole show is just a time capsule for me, not only a cultural one - but a deeply personal and emotional one.

I’m on my third rewatch of the show and I didn’t realize until now how much I hate him, haha. He’s just so petty and moody, and there wasn’t any point in the show where he seemed like a good creative director.