Mad Men season 7 thread

I wonder if they'll try to find a way to say that Don fucked up, so they can fire him and he loses his share of the business.

 

I really wish they would've done this storyline last year instead of recircling the drain. This was incredible.

 

I don't know. I thought the moment when he told the truth, for once, in a meeting, and then took his kids to his real life whore house was pretty powerful.

 

So the man falling from the building in the opening credits is more metaphor than foreshadowing of an actual event?

Did not think Don was going to say yes. Though he was going west to open an agency with Pete.

 

I should clarify that I actually enjoyed last season ( I LOVED the episode when they got drugged). I just think they could've compacted Don's descent into fewer episodes. I got bored with the Cardellini affair and stretching out the inevitable Don-Megan endgame. Loved Bob Benson, the Hershey's pitch breakdown and the complexity added to the Don-Sally relationship, however. They got to a good place, but a little slower than I'd like given the limited amount of time we have left peering into this universe.

 

Next week is entitled The Monolith. Seems like a dated reference given 2001 had been in wide release since fall of 1968. But that does point towards something groundbreaking happening in this episode.

I'd like to see Bobby Draper's reaction to 2001, though. "Dad, are we starchildren?"

Some odes to Kubrick in theme and cinematography would be pretty awesome, too.

 

The ghost of Lane Pryce, now without explanation sporting a handlebar mustache, rises from the carpeting to punch Lou Adler in the style of an 1870s pugilist.

Fade to black. "Don't Stop Believin'" cranks.

Mad Men is over.

 

This season is setting up nicely to make Don the hero again. The first three episodes had everything falling apart. Don's wife dumped him, his apartment was a dump with booze and cockroachess, and Sally was still pissed. Dawn didn't have time for him and Peggy and Roger had forgotten about him too.

Meanwhile, the office was falling apart. None of the partners are getting along. Peggy is fueding with everyone. Joan is pissed, the secretaries are pissed and even Bert Cooper who rarely says a word, is complaining about secretaries. No one is in charge and Bert is letting people into his office with their shoes on! Up is down and down is up and the agency is struggling with order. They don't know who is in charge of signing accounts, who is in charge of running the place or what campaigns should be nominated for awards.

So here comes Don to fix the mess. All he has to do is work his magic with the creatives/Peggy who already hate Lou Avery. Then he has to win an account or two. Sooner or later he's going to be back on top and you have to imagine he's going to do it magnificent Don Draper fashion by shitting on the lives of those who doubted him. I expect, Ted, Lou and Jim to get a lesson in why Don is king of Madison Avenue.

Also, I'm sure we will get another cameo or two of Betty being shitty with the kids.

 

Lou Adler:

 

I'm fascinated by whatever the stipulations Don has to deal with and how he will deal with it.

This move by the firm is exactly what TV stations do to news anchors to make them quit -- they'll move them to weekends or to reporting so that they get so fed up that they quit and the company doesn't have severance or a deal to pay out. (Happened to me before and I can't wait to see how the agency will try to screw him over in the next four episodes. They will try.)

 

What is the point of the Betty Draper/Bobby Draper/Gene Draper Henry Francis storyline at this point? To keep January Jones employed? I truly do not give a hoot anymore, Weiner. I wish Don hooking up with Betty last season would have been the end of any significant time spent with her. And I used to defend her presence on the show post-divorce.

 

On contracts... I love how this has flipped.

For the longest time, Don resisted a contract with Sterling Cooper. Now that he's been on leave, his contract saves him and is his lifeline to staying in the game.