<p>I would be around Sally’s age too. My dad was an executive and he was not faithful, hate to say it, but it’s true. He was a typical 60s dad, had a big life outside the house. Recently found out he joined the Navy at age 17 (lied about his age - 1945) Even with his old fashioned ways, he respected women. I’m not so sure Don could not work for a woman.</p>
<p>Ditto with being around Sally’s age. My dad was a professional (psychologist and college professor) and also was not faithful (hate to say it as well), and my mother had weight issues and was an alcoholic. So this show was really hard to watch for me at first, I think because so many really difficult memories were recalled.</p>
<p>My parents, though, DID manage to overcome many stereotypical expectations of that day and age, and in spite of their problems, I am proud of them for that. One huge example (forgive the slightly off-topic story to follow):</p>
<p>We lived in Tuscaloosa, AL and my dad was a prof. at the University of Alabama (when George Wallace stood in the door to prevent enrollment of the first black student…). Yet my parents were great friends with all sorts of people and routinely had groups of friends over at our home, including great friends who were black, white, gay and straight (though i only figured out the gay-straight part as an adult). They were all people I grew up to love and respect and will always admire my parents for that.</p>
<p>OhioMom - Ditto on the lying about the age for my dad! I don’t really think anyone was really trying to verify their ages - I know this was before computers, but really? They just said they were 18 and they were good to go!</p>
<p>Anyway - I think for all of us of a certain age, it is very interesting to look back at that time period now and see how we were part of some monumental shifts in society.</p>
<p>Yes, it is amazing they just had to say they were 18! They did not want to miss the action. Would never happen today.</p>
<p>My husband grew up a mile or so from Ossining, same age as the character Sally…with the same family dynamic. He loves the show. (As do I). We don’t miss an episode.</p>
<p>Someone said upthread that the costume designer is a genius - I agree. I went to first grade in 1968 and Sally’s dresses are very similar to the ones I wore.
As for Peggy, on the AMC website she is interviewed in Don and Megan’s “dining room” wearing a burgundy Chanel-esque suit with white trim and I haven’t seen her wearing it in any episode so far. A costume for Lane’s memorial, possibly?
And speaking of Lane - why did Matthew Weiner kill off the Brit? Remember Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy and Swinging London? Everything British was very cool in those days. He could have made some use of Lane’s character in relation to that.</p>
<p>Of course I do!!! One of my daughters looks like Jean Shrimpton. When I told her that she was offended: I look like a shrimp man? And Twiggy? But, as my old mind says I think it was around 67 when they first came. </p>
<p>Oh…to have had long swinging hair!!!</p>
<p>Having owned a couple of Brit sport cars in my early life, the Jag not starting brought back memories of [Lucas</a> Electrics](<a href=“Hermit IT Library Index”>Lucas, the Prince of Darkness), AKA, Prince Of Darkness.</p>
<p>Poor Pete. Everyone’s punching bag.</p>
<p>Yet another uplifting end to a Mad Men season. </p>
<p>It seems they like to end with an office move. </p>
<p>They just kind of dropped Peggy in with no rhyme or reason. </p>
<p>Where’s Bertty and the kids?</p>
<p>Is it me or did they leave it ambiguous about how Megan gets the commercial?</p>
<p>And is next season the answer to: Are you alone?</p>
<p>(But, yay, Breaking Bad begins begins July 15. More feel good for the summer. I’ll be interested to see how they pick up when everything seemed resolved.)</p>
<p>I really wish there had been a big change or cliff hanger in last nights show. </p>
<p>The blond that talked to Don at the end looked just like Megan’s friend who wanted the commercial. Was it the same gal?</p>
<p>Interesting final episode for season. I LIKE that it didn’t end with a dramatic cliffhanger. I think the two previous episodes were so provocative that it was great to end with something that was more understated and yet thought-provoking.</p>
<p>I don’t think the blonde was Megan’s friend, but I think she, and more importantly her friend, were meant to represent Megan and her study buddy. </p>
<p>I loved how Peggy showed up and she and Don reconciled. I got a little teary (oh how silly) when Don said, “But I always thought it would be at my side.” And then he goes off and watches Megan’s film and seems to remember why he loved her. Then he seemingly helps Megan in her dream, having opined to Peggy that when you help someone they always leave. </p>
<p>I have said this many times IRL, so if I am repeating myself, please excuse me - but Jon Hamm is really a GREAT actor. He conveys so much in such an understated way. When you compare his goof, vacant character on 30 Rock with Don Draper, it is hard to believe it is the same man. </p>
<p>What a great twist to the Pete and “Rory Gilmore” affair. Sorry, but I can never remember her name in this show!! </p>
<p>All in all, a satisfying end to the season. A nice combination of wrapping up with new possibilities.</p>
<p>Jon Hamm is a great actor. He does drama and comedy so well!</p>
<p>I did think the blonde was Megan’s friend. And was she hinting at a threesome or is that going too far? And it must be up to the audience how he responds. A Mad Men cliffhanger.</p>
<p>The Pete and gf situation is so sad. I almost felt sorry for him. He realizes what he doesn’t have in his marriage and it eludes him with gf as well. Seems unattainable now and he has to live with that.</p>
<p>Also thought the blonde might be Megan’s friend. Very good closer. Will he bite?</p>
<p>Here’s how I saw things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The show’s title is blunt: the phantom is your dreams. You’re always chasing your dreams. No matter the generation, even if your dream is indoor plumbing, if you get that, you want more because happiness is a way station in the chase. </p></li>
<li><p>This is also a season of realization. In this episode, we see Pete finally realize that he’s unhappy because he’s unhappy, that it isn’t Trudy, that it’s something inside himself. The scene with him talking to Beth - I can’t see her as anyone other than Rory - and she can’t remember him was amazing; he recognizes his condition. That leads to him saying to Trudy at the end that he’ll always come home. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>We see with Beth the interplay of past and unhappiness made raw: she erases her unhappiness along with her memories with shock treatment. But it comes back, an open door she wants to step through, and the only way she - and apparently her louse of a husband - can deal with that is to erase it again. </p>
<ol>
<li>I loved the way the past “hangs” around, even the literal metaphor of Don’s dead brother Adam with the rope marks around his neck. He knows his dissatisfaction is inside himself, that it will never leave. This matches exactly with Don’s remark to Megan’s mother, that she comes and now Megan’s unhappy. Her doubt of her daughter, her knocking down of her dreams is something Don knows because that was his life as the son of a dead whore raised by a hard woman. The shot of him leaving the lit set with Megan in costume was magnificent, worthy of Scorcese: your dreams are brightly lit spaces in a vast darkness and you should enjoy your moments of happiness because you will be walking off the stage and away from the light.</li>
</ol>
<p>I was glad that Don helped Megan. It revealed a few things about his understanding of her: he thought she wanted to be an artist and now he realizes she wants to be an actress, that she wants to be successful at this, that getting a job matters to her. Don can give Megan the kind of support her mother withholds. It’s shoved right in his face: Marie tells him he can make her into Betty, into a traditional wife and mother who gives up her dreams - and her happiness - for him. She tells him he can exert power over Megan to make her unhappy … and his. He does the opposite. He wants her to be happy. Bravo. (Contrast that with his old, now junkie fling. He can buy a painting and the money will go up her arm, the most temporary respite from reality.) When Don looks at her reel, he sees her doing what she wants and I would say that was her audition, at least for him, because he saw that reel and felt comfortable recommending she be considered for the job. </p>
<p>I was very impressed with Jessica Par</p>
<p>Love your analysis Lergnom.</p>
<p>One little thing bothering me is why Bert Cooper hasn’t been back to Don to talk about the check to Lane since he brought it up initially. It seems like he would realize that it was connected to Lane’s suicide.</p>
<p>I can’t understand is the last thing Lane’s wife says.</p>
<p>Can someone explain the money that was recieve by Sterling, Cooper Price as a result of Lane’s dealth?</p>
<p>Is there a connection between Beauty and the Beast - Megan/Don
Beth or Trudy/Pete?</p>
<p>Wow, Lergnom, very insightful.</p>
<p>We also did not understand the last thing Lane’s wife said. We actually paused and debated and rewatched it and still didn’t understand it. </p>
<p>This episode was not as good as the previous two. I’m not a fan of skipping time after a major catastrophic event. I felt that we should have seen Don telling Megan about Lane, there should have maybe been some reference to it in the conversation with Peggy. I just don’t especially like it when shows do something big and then the next episode is clearly further in the future. </p>
<p>And what about the tooth? That was an interesting, if heavy-handed symbol – Don finally excising something that was poisoning him. No coincidence that he saw his dead brother during that process.</p>
<p>The insurance money would have been “key man” type insurance. As a partner, for example, Lane’s loss - say in an accident - would be costly to the firm. He would be on bank loans so there might be a requirement to show collateral. There would be costs of replacement. That kind of thing is typical. </p>
<p>I thought the symmetry of Don cutting a check without a vote compared to Lane forging a check was neat. </p>
<p>I think Lane’s wife meant what he had was worth more than the ambitions Don and the others put in him. Or rather, that she sullenly believes were put in “a man like that” by them - and by NYC, I suppose. She resents evidence of a girlfriend on the side, though of course, that picture was the one from the wallet Lane returned to the guy. Remember, he slipped it out before giving the wallet back. She sees Lane as being filled with stupid dreams and those killed him, that he was a proper British man, worth more than that $50k, and that he should have stayed a proper British man. She has no idea what he was really like or what he really wanted in life. I would say that puts a spin on Lane’s suicide: it was partly that he couldn’t be truthful with his wife but that was because he was living a complete lie at home, never revealing himself or his ambitions or how much he hated being used as a pawn by his old employers in Britain. Remember, they expected him to leave NYC to manage a firm in India, I think, just because they ordered him to and he was a loyal soldier of the Empire. He wasn’t. At heart, he wasn’t. </p>
<p>I thought the tooth was also a symbol of Don recognizing that stubborn adherence to belief - tough it out and hold it in - isn’t the right choice. He almost lost his jaw because he was too hard headed to accept the tooth needed to be pulled.</p>
<p>Whoa, Lergnom - wonderful post(s).</p>
<p>When Don told Joan to issue the check, I thought it was interesting because they were the two individuals that were not present when the partners agreed to reward Joan for sleeping with the scumbag auto guy. </p>
<p>I thought there were so many little details that were genius. The return of the brother, Lane’s wife finding the picture. What I enjoy, is that just when you think something really important has been forgotten, the thread is picked up later. I always thought the episode with Lane seeking out the woman in the photo and then keeping her photo was unsettling. It was pathetic and hinted at how damaged Lane was. </p>
<p>And how many of us thought the prank calls were from Glen? When we had the preview last week and Megan said. “I can hear you,” raise your hand if you thought it was Glen! I loved that it turned out to be…Roger?? I actually laughed. Roger is such a baby, but I do love his character.</p>
<p>One last (maybe) thought. When Don started watching Megan’s reel, I thought maybe it would show that she wasn’t a good actress, that there was something awkward about her on camera, and maybe her mom was just being brutally honest. But instead, the clip (using her maiden name) was so appealing. She conveyed freshness and vulnerability and was a joy to watch. I felt that Don actually recognized at that moment that she did have talent, maybe he had his doubts, too. </p>
<p>Anyway - loved the episode. I don’t usually like when a show skips ahead and we have to imagine what has transpired, but what I love is that just when we get comfortable with what transpired we find out we were often wrong! :)</p>