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LTTP: Mad Men. Don is a dick

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Raptomex

Raptomex

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Netflix recently removed X-Files from their list right after I finished season four. I decided to start watching Mad Men.

Just started season 4. Excellent show, excellent characters. I like Don but the dude infuriates me. You have a family, kids. Keep that shit in your pants. I love how he just leaves Suzanne in the car. He shows love and care for specific people close to him and just wants to fuck everything.

Roger is my favorite character. He's definitely an asswipe, too, but I find him humorous.

I wanted to punch Pete in the face from the moment I saw him and apparently I'm not the only one. That was great casting and his sneers and facade in general is fantastic and I'm starting to see him as more of a comical character.

I don't know where to start with Peggy. Great character development. I know she was shocked, maybe even traumatized, but not even holding the baby? Wow.

Betty was definitely treated like shit and she did the right thing by divorcing Don but she's like the ice queen or something. I can't put my finger on it. I'm guessing it's because she's just bored and lonely. Or was.

Oh, and the LA Noire guy.

Also, what an unhealthy time to be alive. Everyone just drinks and smokes.

I know it was a different time and when a show is able to stir up feelings like this, it's got something.
 
Raptomex said:
Betty was definitely treated like shit and she did the right thing by divorcing Don but she's like the ice queen or something. I can't put my finger on it. I'm guessing it's because she's just bored and lonely. Or was.
Click to expand...

No, she's the White Queen
 
I loved season one, they'd lost me after season two which I thought was so bad in comparison to season one. The fact that Don just got to keep committing the same behavior got on my nerve. But also how anticlimactic certain sub storylines felt as well. nothing on that show ever seemed to have a good payoff. Especially the one girl who gets pregnant and then I'm expecting this huge blow up for her keeping it secret from the dad and ...it never happens, its just like nothing no repercussion, he doesn't seem angry...yeah not for me
 
Betty (and I think this applies to most of JJ's roles) has so little affect that she comes off like a robot. I guess it worked for that character but otherwise it's off putting for an actress.

Oh and one thing I liked about the show is that everyone is an asshole, at least sometimes. No black and white.
 
The show does a great job of getting you emotionally involved in every person on the show, regardless of how shitty they may be. It's a slow burner, but a truly great show.
 
I finished it about two weeks ago. Became Top 3 for me, alongside Sopranos and Breaking Bad.

And yeah, Roger is the best character.
 
I couldnt stand Betty in Mad Men. Some episodes she is tolerable but for the most part she is completely unbearable. I prefered Joan's character development and Peggy's developments, they felt a good bit more interesting.

Don is a huge dick tho 👀
 
Season 4 has a pair of episodes about halfway through -- The Suitcase and The Summer Man -- that pack one of the greatest 1-2 punches in TV. It's not just peak Mad Men (though there was some stuff nearly as good in the final season), it's some of the best TV of the decade.
 
Don is a dick, but the do a very good job of making him one that you want to follow and believe in. I think he is one of the most fascinating characters ever created in the TV medium and I actually identify a lot with his character issues.
 
Betty and Don are both pretty fucked up people. Hilariously it seems like Betty moving on was a Grade-A bitch move to a lot of male viewers and yet Don was fucking every dame that would throw it his way while trying to maintain his home life. Its a rare case of 'both sides'. As far as the irrational hate its almost shades of Skyler on Breaking Bad. Skyler was definitely a more sympathetic character but Betty wasn't some monster.
 
TheMan said:
Betty (and I think this applies to most of JJ's roles) has so little affect that she comes off like a robot. I guess it worked for that character but otherwise it's off putting for an actress.
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Idk. The only other thing I saw her in was Anger Management. I didn't notice the same character. Although it was a comedy and she didn't have much screen time.

Even Henry is an ass. Fucking homewrecker (not that Don isn't). Should of left her alone until after she left Don.
 
InfiniteBento said:
I couldnt stand Betty in Mad Men. Some episodes she is tolerable but for the most part she is completely unbearable. I prefered Joan's character development and Peggy's developments, they felt a good bit more interesting.

Don is a huge dick tho 👀
Click to expand...

man, I loved betty's character arc. I loved how peggy, joan, and betty all showed different sides of what being a woman in the 60's was like. betty was a well off stay at home mother/trophy wife. she had a box that she had to stay in and you could tell she loathed staying in it yet she would always keep up appearances anyway (season 7 spoilers OP)
even in the face of death when she makes sure that sally knows which dress to bury her in
. it was also telling that betty was willing to stay with don through all the cheating just to keep the appearance of a picturesque family unit together but once she found out that he was poor it was over.
 
Yeah, it's a great show. I think the highest highs are probably towards the end of Season 3 and the first half of Season 4, but it's all pretty great.

On Don:

He's definitely a huge asshole, but when he's on, he's the best ad man alive. I think that's what keeps him compelling. His life is a constant battle between his talent and his godawful decisions.

On Roger:

Roger's an easy guy to love. While he's got tons of issues himself, he's a little less rough around the edges, and his humor keeps things light. It's almost enough to forget that time he tried to fuck Betty in Season 1, or, ya know, the blackface.

On Pete:

Agreed - Pete is a perfectly-cast toad. But (Season 4-and-on spoilers)
I appreciated that they gave him some redeeming qualities later in the show, as well. Also, Receding Hairline Pete is Best Pete
.

On Peggy:

As the closest thing to a co-lead on the show, Peggy is really just as important as Don in terms of the overall storyline, and when you frame the series as an exploration of cultural evolution in the 60s, she's arguably more important than Don. "My name is Peggy Olsen and I want to smoke some marijuana" was such a great moment, and it only gets better.

On Ken Cosgrove:

Kenny's actually one of the few "good dudes" on Mad Men. Ultimately not super important to the overall story, but I enjoyed what he brought to the table. Especially his (Season 5? spoilers)
eyepatch
.

Series spoilers:

I still wish they'd brought back Sal at some point. :(
 
Viewt said:
On Ken Cosgrove:

Kenny's actually one of the few "good dudes" on Mad Men. Ultimately not super important to the overall story, but I enjoyed what he brought to the table. Especially his (Season 5? spoilers)
eyepatch
.
Click to expand...

it's also telling of the times that ken is one of the good ones and yet in the early seasons you can catch him chasing women around to see what color panties they had on

the show did a really good job of reflecting the time period
 
The final season was a big misfire for me. Which was a huge shame, as everything up until that part is ine of my favourite TV shows of all time.

It's literally impossible to not crave a drink whilst you watch though.
 
I forgot about Sal. That just sucks. A different time. But that look on Kitty's face when she realized, or at least started to, I couldn't stop laughing.

The blackface thing was just uncomfortable. I know it was a thing, but I didn't know what to think. Crazy.
 
Great show but there are so few likable characters. I wanted to like Don so much but he just kept being an asshole to everyone. It's the same reason it was hard for me to watch the Sopranos. So many douchebags making dumb decisions, lol.
 
I couldn't stand Don. Eventually even Jon Hamm's beautiful face couldn't make me enjoy anytime he was on screen.
 
Raptomex said:
I forgot about Sal. That just sucks. A different time. But that look on Kitty's face when she realized, or at least started to, I couldn't stop laughing.
Click to expand...

My heart sank during that scene. To realize that the person you've tied your life to doesn't even love you romantically... that's rough. And then it's a double-whammy because you realize Sal never had a choice - he was doomed to a life of loneliness or lies, and he chose the slightly-less-awful path.

Thankfully the series at least hints that he decided to live out in the open, and I know there was a possible plotline where
he was going to come back as a bigshot director, probably during the LA storyline, but the actor apparently was satisfied with how his arc concluded. It was one of those "you can't really go home again" things.
 
I'm kind of thankful this wasn't on HBO or the sex scenes would probably be rampant, overshadowing the characters. Everyone is just fucking around.
 
Ya know, I find I finished this show for the second time last fall and now I want to start it again based know your post.

Mad Men is one of my favorite shows of all time, even beating that other critically acclaimed show on the channel. I feel the show got better every season, culminating with one of my favorite series finales of all time.

The Suitcase is the best by the way, the fact that John Hamm never got an Emmy for this show is beyond beyond my comprehension.
 
bleaker said:
Ya know, I find I finished this show for the second time last fall and now I want to start it again based know your post.

Mad Men is one of my favorite shows of all time, even beating that other critically acclaimed show on the channel. I feel the show got better every season, culminating with one of my favorite series finales of all time.

The Suitcase is the best by the way, the fact that John Hamm never got an Emmy for this show is beyond beyond my comprehension.
Click to expand...

He won for the final season.
 
I think I quit at some point in season 3 or 4. Don basically continually being a dick without growing in any meaningful way doesn't make for interesting story-telling in my opinion. Sure some of the side characters have development but it doesn't make up for Don who you can always count on to make the wrong decision.
 
bleaker said:
Ya know, I find I finished this show for the second time last fall and now I want to start it again based know your post.

Mad Men is one of my favorite shows of all time, even beating that other critically acclaimed show on the channel. I feel the show got better every season, culminating with one of my favorite series finales of all time.

The Suitcase is the best by the way, the fact that John Hamm never got an Emmy for this show is beyond beyond my comprehension.
Click to expand...

Thankfully, he got one during his last shot!
 
Viewt said:
My heart sank during that scene. To realize that the person you've tied your life to doesn't even love you romantically... that's rough. And then it's a double-whammy because you realize Sal never had a choice - he was doomed to a life of loneliness or lies, and he chose the slightly-less-awful path.

Thankfully the series at least hints that he decided to live out in the open, and I know there was a possible plotline where
he was going to come back as a bigshot director, probably during the LA storyline, but the actor apparently was satisfied with how his arc concluded. It was one of those "you can't really go home again" things.
Click to expand...
I liked the character. It is tragic. But also well cast. I love how the bell boy just gets it going. Who does that? Shame to see Sal go.
bleaker said:
Ya know, I find I finished this show for the second time last fall and now I want to start it again based know your post.

Mad Men is one of my favorite shows of all time, even beating that other critically acclaimed show on the channel. I feel the show got better every season, culminating with one of my favorite series finales of all time.

The Suitcase is the best by the way, the fact that John Hamm never got an Emmy for this show is beyond beyond my comprehension.
Click to expand...
I thought he did win one at the end of the series?

Oh, and this Glen Kid. He's got balls.
 
Mad Men was the best TV show ever, but Don was like reason #410 of the top 500 reasons it was the best TV show ever. I think the show smartly got away from him just a bit and gave the side characters some real scenes in the last half.
 
For my second watch of the series, I picked up the Mad Men Carousel. It's a great piece to read though as you watch the episodes. It gives a lot of good contextual details that are subtle enough to slip through the cracks and it brings them to the forefront.

The season 1 or 2 episode where the elevator is broken
and they have to walk up the stairs and Roger throws up everywhere is hilarious.
 
I ended up not finishing the series. Everyone was ultimately too unsympathetic for me to care one way or another. Don was an emotionally stunted horndog, and Betty was... emotionally stunted in a different way, I guess.

Probably the most interesting part of the show was the 99 million different ways you could get fucked, literally or metaphorically, as a woman in that era.

It was definitely interesting as a more heightened but still pretty realistic reflection of some of the time period. My dad laughed when the Drapers go on a picnic and they literally leave all their trash in the park, and he recalled that people really did that before all the littering public awareness campaigns.

Also, Don Draper had the fridge my parents kept in the basement. The thing was massive, heavy, and single-handedly was 1/4th of my parents' total power bill, but nothing kept soda and beer colder.
 
Binged it late last year and a lot of moments still stick with me.

An excellent example of a slow burn show that doesn't need twists and excessive cliffhangers to really sell a story.
 
Peggy, Sally, Roger, and Pete get the best arcs in the series. Well, most interesting to me, anyway. The performances from these four... jeez.
 
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