<p>What an episode for Pete: the girl in driver’s ed, the hooker and the fight.</p>
<p>Not the most mature guy, is he? We re-ran the fight scene just to see the look on Roger’s and Don’s faces. Great scene.</p>
<p>Tonight’s episode had a very unique style to it. John Slattery directed it and had some wonderful choices made in terms on transitions and the tone of the actors. </p>
<p>I really like Ken Cosgrove in this episode. I liked them bringing back his writing and I am wondering if it will be brought up again. </p>
<p>Don drawing the noose at the beginning and then Pete’s gun being mentioned were odd. Maybe a suicide by the end of the season?</p>
<p>I’m trying to remember which season Petes gun was first “introduced”. I think it was as early as the second season.(??) I remember thinking that if anyone would be pushed over the edge and take pot shots out the window, it would be Pete and I do vaguely remember him pointing the gun out the window. There’s an interesting male violence subtext going on this season. Since I do enjoy it, I guess it goes under the heading of “guilty pleasures”. What a way to usher in the “peace and love” generation.</p>
<p>I thought Joan’s scene in Lane’s office was great. I guess she was just trying to be motherly and he misinterpreted (I can see how). She was so calm in opening the office door and making sure he knew his advance would never be mentioned again.</p>
<p>Joan is nothing but pragmatic and diplomatic when it comes to men making inappropriate passes at her.
Pete is now beginning to mirror Don’s old life:
House in the 'burbs, taking the train to and fro.
Drawn to young women.
Calm on the surface with a dangerous undertow roiling beneath his calm demeanor.
I had my money on Lane, he went to an English boarding school and they learn the manly sport of boxing.
Plus Lane’s dad was a violent man-remember the cane to Lane’s head?</p>
<p>Pete bought the gun in a 2007 episode. Sunday morning AMC airs re-runs. This past Sunday they ran four featuring Ken’s stories and Pete’s gun. They must be selecting episodes to re-run that will be referenced in the new ones. Pete returned a “chip and dip” (we had one too) wedding gift and exchanged it for the gun. He took the gun to work after his wife had a fit. He pointed the gun at several co-workers. Imagine that happening today. The episodes where Ken was published in the Atlantic were also aired. It was weird that Pete asked his wife to talk to an old boyfriend who was a publisher to see what she could do to get him published. Her ex, the publisher, hit on her and she declined. Pete’s story was featured in “Boy’s Life”. It was a bit vague, but he seemed to be annoyed that was all she managed to get for him and it was implied he would have preferred her to have compromised herself in order to get him into a more prestigious publication. Creepy!</p>
<p>Thanks for that OHIOMOM. I remember the chip and dip set but forgot that he exchanged it for a gun. Too funny.</p>
<p>I have to say…I like Megan more and more. She’s very straight forward with Don (and bossy). He doesn’t seem to know what to make of it but I’m glad to see he’s treating her respectfully (by not sleeping around). Maybe he does realize that she is worth it. </p>
<p>I thought it was a pretty good episode. Seems like many of the male characters are struggling with their ‘issues’ this season. Will be interesting to see where this goes as the season develops.</p>
<p>Something else funny in re-run. (I missed the early seasons.) Roger was a dinner guest at Don and Betty’s home and he made a pass at Betty while the two were in the kitchen. He then left. Don sensed it and was pretty mad. Later Roger and Don went to lunch, had oysters and got sloshed. When they returned to the office the elevator was out and they had to walk up 20 flights. When they got to the office, new clients were waiting to meet them. Roger was introduced and proceeded to throw up in front of them. Don’s pay back.</p>
<p>So, now I’ve watched all four seasons of Mad Men on Netflix (having previously polished off Friday Night Lights). What to do, what to do…</p>
<p>Consolation - I amuse myself with Rescue Me and am patiently waiting for another season of Damages!</p>
<p>I have not had a chance to watch Mad Men yet, but plan to shortly. I attended a legal seminar this morning (employment) that was Mad Men themed and it was awesome!</p>
<p>Consolation, if you are looking for something funny, have you seen Arrested Development?</p>
<p>FYI, the executive producers let out at a q&a that Sal may make an appearance. </p>
<p>They also noted Don is the toughest to write and that writing for Peggy requires remembering that she’s really odd. </p>
<p>The yearly process is Matt Weiner talks to them during hiatus about some major goals. Last season was Don marries a secretary. They didn’t know who it would be. Worked that out later. They told Jessica Par</p>
<p>Consolation: have you watched all the seasons of 'In Treatment"?</p>
<p>Lergnom: nice run down of the writing process. In my opinion the subtext IS the main character of the show. I would encourage anyone who has not “gotten into” the show, to watch it from the beginning. Plenty of dark secrets for everyone.</p>
<p>I hope they do bring back poor old Sal!!! This time, I hope he is now openly gay.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s worth watching from season one. I read somewhere once that you can pick up on it at any point, but the character development is so important. It is all about the subtext.</p>
<p>Mad Men took on new meaning this season when I read that Don is my father’s age. I’m older than Don’s kids, though–I was in college by 1967. Like Betty, I went to a Seven Sisters school. But by the time I graduated we had some inkling (though it wasn’t totally clear yet) that we could be something more than the educated wives of successful men. She didn’t, and I think you could see her repressed resentment and anger from the beginning of the series. And as the writers say, now the core of her being is under attack. Though I don’t like her, I do feel some sympathy for why she is the way she is. But I don’t see her rushing to the library to check out The Feminine Mystique.</p>
<p>I’d like to see Sal again, too!</p>
<p>I’m fairly sure that I am almost the same age as Sally–born in 1953–and I grew up in a CT suburb of NYC. My father commuted into the city on the train. But my parents were NOTHING like the Drapers, thankfully. I think a lot of what they portray had to do with advertising. The rest of the corporate scene wasn’t as extreme, as far as I can tell.</p>
<p>Damages was great. I thought it was all over. Glad to hear there will be more. I haven’t seen In Treatment…I’ll have to take a look. I was also thinking about checking out The Good Wife. </p>
<p>I must say, watching seasons of shows on Netflix with no commercials really spoils one for the normal viewing experience.</p>
<p>“In Treatment”----must be watched in its entirety from the beginning. NO CHEATING. A little intense, it may be hard watching more than one patients session at a time.</p>
<p>This thread is so great! I love the winding around the plots, characters, lines (we are basically sussing out that all important sub-text and how it is developing), the explanations of how the series is made, the comments about our own feelings and experiences during the MM period, and also, the suggested shows to watch- very good taste here!</p>
<p>I grew up in NYC during this very era. It was a very turbulent and ground-breaking time (I watched all the anti-Vietnam and Civil Rights demonstrations from my apt window in lower and middle school), even if one’s Daddy did not work in Advertising. The era really affected my family, basically tore it apart, because one of my bro’s got very involved in the drug and concert scene at a very young age, and so it went. He was the one who drank the kool-aid of the times, and boy were my parents ill-equipped to to deal with that… Things in our home and and among us were never the same again. “Normal” was re-defined, permanently.</p>