Mad Men Season 5 running thread

Well, there you have it.
Roger is happy and Pete seems to be doing just fine.

 

Peggy's a very naughty girl ... I like it.

Also, here's the first line of Alan Sepinwall's review of last night's episode:

Couldn't agree more ...

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-mad-men-far-away-places-the-hojo-code

EDIT: To add the link.

 

One quick thought as well ... Megan saying to Don "Why don't you call your mother?" is 10 times crueler than anything Betty ever said to him. Megan may be young and pretty, but she's not to be trifled with.

 

Peggy is starting to remind me of the Faye Dunaway character in Network. She won't let the guy feel her up in the movie theater but she's more than willing to give him a handjob. The boyfriend complains that she wants to boff him as quick as she can and be done with it. If you Network fans recall, Dunaway's character tries to explain to William Holden at one point why she has sex like a guy: fast, quick, get it over with, back to business.

 

Sepinwall says the remark by Megan was unintentional. That was my take, too. She said it without thinking, not to intentionally hurt him. But the damage was done anyway.

 

Did not see this quote of Hamm's -- But I LOVE it!!! Why in the hell more celebs don't speak out about this subject (not liking the celebrating of stupidity in our culture/celebrating people who are famous because they are famous, etc.,) is beyond me. They need to.

<We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.>

 

I read Sepinwall, too, but I'm not sure about that. We know Megan knows at least part of Dick Whitman's back story, and her remark could have been totally intentional.

 

I was sure that was Bess Armstrong as the head LSD woman, but they flash the credits so quick at the end, I had to DVR to go back to confirm.

She looks pretty good still; always a weak spot for me back in her/our younger days.

I actually thought for a moment that Peggy telling off the Heinz guy was going to be her "becoming Don" moment, but then of course, they did what probably would have happened in life, which somehow made it better.

 

As far as the Pete-is-going-to-die thing goes: Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there always that same speculation about Paulie on "The Sopranos"? Seems like there was a character like that. I remember dreading episodes some weeks because I thought Paulie was a goner. Christopher, too, though (SOPRANOS SPOILER ALERT), by the time they finally did it late in the final season, it seemed pretty anti-climactic.

 

So looking forward to last night's episode...

And it turned out to be the first one I was searching ahead (fast forwarding), especially to get through the acid trip.

 

One more thought about Pete:

I find it interesting that we're unwilling to forgive him for the possible rape, although we realize that part of his narcissism is that he grew up as a child of privilege who just never learned that he can't just take what he wants. He's stunted, right? And it's not all his fault.

WIRE SEASON ONE SPOILER AHEAD

We refuse to sympathize with him because of this, but we have no problem sympathizing with, say, Bodie or Omar from "The Wire," who also do horrible things - Bodie killed his best friend. Why? Because we realize they are a product of their upbringing.

Psychologically, is there any real difference in the effect that privilege can have on someone as compared to the effect that poverty can? The forces will manifest themselves in different ways, but isn't it arguable that each has an effect on one's personality that is difficult to escape?

 

I agree with the general idea, but it wasn't privilege that ruined Pete, it was that he had bad parents.