Mad Men Season 5 - Page 37

Pete got punched in the face twice this episode. No lulz? At least he got his apartment though.

Yes, those punches were satisfying. And when Pete finally got what he wanted, he didn't look happy, like he'd finally decided to be faithful and then a playpad is placed in front of him.

Remind me who Adam is? Was he don's half-brother or whoever that kid who came looking for him was?

I thought he might try to pawn meghan off on peggy who might feel more comfortable handing off the reel of a friend rather than handing off the reel of your wife.

Yes, he was Dick's half brother. He found Dick/Don and wanted to be part of his life, but Don was so afraid of his past catching up with him that he paid him to go away. Adam then hanged himself.

When Pete said to Don "Ill have the same view as you now."

Wasn't there some exchange during one of the first episodes where Pete talks about wanting a corner office and Don says he will feel alone and never enjoy it because no one will like him? Or something to that effect?

I was underwhelmed.

Don happening to meet Peggy in a movie theater? Meh



I dont consider an affair a forgone conclusion here. Dont was given the temptation but the season ended before a decision to or not to do it happened.


While you point is compelling, couldn't Don have just let her fail? He didn't need to do that, but he did. As far as I know, Betty was not a failed model, Don took her from it.

Yes, Pete getting bitch slapped around twice was pretty good. However, I think this is a many layered development going on right now. As you say he didn't look happy about his new apartment. He will become what he hates, i.e. his train friend with the girlfriend in the city and the messed up wife. Then speaking of the wife, now only Pete and the guy knows he screwed her, the woman actually forgot due to her ECT treatment. How horrible is that? The only one that remotely shares Pete's memories of those interludes is the cuckold.

Pete is fun to hate on but they are really making him a complex character.

Anyone notice that Don's reluctance to go to the dentist may have been due to dental records? I don't know if those were in place at the time just curious.

I too agree that Pete is a very complex character. His speech to his fling was really well done and I think he should be considered for an Emmy for best supporting actor. His work has been very well done this season. In particular, I like that Pete is seemingly halfway between worlds constantly. He is not young but not old, he is well off but not uber wealthy. He is decent looking but not handsome. He always wants someone, or something, to validate this image he has of himself in his mind. He has little empathy for others (i.e. Joan, Roger, his wife etc.) because he has little of it for himself. I wonder if he was more upset by the fact that she could not remember who he was, or if he lost the affection and lust of a woman he felt he could never get but ultimately "seduced" (given her histrionic nature, it is likely his charm or looks had little to do with her decision to make love to him).

In stark contrast, we have Don, who has an identity so diffuse and hollow that it can hardly stand any cracks. Even when he attempts to tell the truth or show genuine concern (i.e. telling Sally about Anna, going to Lane's wife, his speeches to Lane/Joan) it is clearly always about him and his need to either show everyone how to act (i.e. move on with life) or to reinforce his identity as "the man" (i.e. telling Joan the Jaguar scandal wasn't worth it, clearly it was to him, but not on those terms). I don't deny that he has empathy, clearly he does, but he often needs to fill the void within himself with "something" and that void is clearly sexual conquest, financial conquest, or having power and control over others. We see how vulnerable Don is many times in the series. Any chance that his world will come apart and he either has the instinct to run, rant and rave, panic, or show reluctant cruelty (someone labeled it tough love earlier). The montage at the end of this episode shows how the various characters handle themselves, Peggy trying hard to feel proud and satisfied, Pete drowning out the outside world with headphones focusing intently on himself, and Roger, bearing himself to the world high on LSD, unable to face reality for what it truly is.

I think we feel underwhelmed because we feel the hallowness of these characters. Not in terms of complexity, but in terms of their sense of self, identity, and internal fortitude. Lane's suicide was the true finale, that the only alternative to the nausea (in Sarte's use of the term as the impending doom of nonexistence and the loneliness of the human experience) these characters experience is death. Without taking that step, they are doomed to repeat the same patterns over and over, banging their heads against the wall to find fulfillment.

That being said, this show really does need to focus on the racial issues in society next season or it teters dangerously close to being a blueblood dramedy...

Does anyone else think Peggy had just finished another random fling at the end? I wonder if it was actually Don she finally bedded? The two dogs humping when she looked out the window was a little heavy handed but the look on her face was lulz inducing.

I think Peggy was in a hotel in Richmond, Va.

So was she schtooping Teger?

Agree but total fail on the detail.

A Madison Ave ad exec would have stayed at The Jefferson not some crappy motel.

Anyone got a hi-def version of the 5 partners standing in the new office space?