Mad Men 8/10/08
 

Ah, remember when you could smoke at the movies?

Gotta love the hail storm.

Don's persuasiveness took on a different tone with Bobbie at the dinner. Didn't really see that tact for Don to take, but it was effective.

Betty knows how to handle herself nowadays (she's definitely different than she was in season 1).

The irony of asking Peggy about what she thought of the controversial TV episode (being screened for the lipstick manufacturer) was sublime.

Good thing he remembered to wipe his hand off with his napkin when he got back to the table:lol:

WOW.

That is all I have to say about this episode right now. So many things made me outright smile.

How intense was that sequence with Don and Bobbie in the (I assume) bathroom? Hot damn that was amazing.

Another solid episode.

Half of me was going "Ooo...Commissioner Gordon won't like that!" (actress playing Bobbie also played Barbara Gordon in "The Dark Knight")

Why exactly was the reason Don fired his secretary? Because she couldn't effectively come up with good enough lies to cover for Don coming and going at will?

what was amazing about that scene was that it was the lobby of the restaurant, not the bathroom. It was right out "in the open." I didn't catch exactly what Don said to her to make her change her mind about the money, but that didn't diminish from how effective that scene was.

That actor guy from the commercial was creepy-looking. I can't place my finger on why, exactly. And I had no idea Utz was from so long ago. I grew up in the 70's and didn't remember seeing Utz chips until adulthood.

Ok it was the lobby. I wasn't sure, it was hard to place where it was exactly. I didn't catch what he said either. Your summation is spot on though.

Don, in essence, said "talk to the hand."

Should be interesting to see Joan as Don's secretary.

Anybody know what film Don was watching when he skipped out on work?

ehhh I dunno, I didn't love it, I mean I like the show, but I like it as an ensemble. I'm tired of every edgy new show being about a man who's great at his job, but his personal life is a mess. I.E. Rescue Me, The Wire, The Shield, 24, Sopranos.

and they all have the magic dick factor in which every female on the show wants to sleep with them.

It's not just the females on the show. -wink-

Really? Vic Mackey? Dennis Leary? Tony Soprano? Seriously?

Yes, in the shows the characters are hot (not necessarily the actors). It is a confidence thing.

"I will ruin him. Do what I say."

Great scene.

I think Joan was Don's original secretary. Something she said to him eluded to this (I could be wrong).

I believe you are probably thinking of this line (from memory, so probably not verbatim): "Do you want a cup of coffee? I think I remember how you take it." Not sure that necessarily means she was formerly Mr. Draper's secretary.

P.S. You mean "alluded" not "eluded".

Was it my imagination, or do you think we are meant to infer anything by the brief exchange between Herman 'Duck' Phillips and Salvatore Romano as they left the conference room?

Do you mean the Belle Jolie guy? That was the guy that hit on Sal in season 1.

Definitely a gem in the summer wasteland!

That was the bathroom antechamber. A common room/hall that leads to the two bathrooms - not exactly private, but still less public than the lobby.
I thought it looked like Night and Fog, but I'm not sure. The subtitles sure didn't look like the '60s era burnt-in kind, though.

What I love about this show - apart from the production design, the writing, and the fact that ever since Undressed I'd willingly crawl across broken glass for a sip of Christina Hendricks' bathwater - is the way the characters lie to each other as part of their daily routines. It's so natural and unforced, the way deceitfulness should be. On many shows, when a character is hiding something there's a tendency to "cheat it out" to the audience; pauses, sideways glances, the unmotivated closeup, and other lame devices. But Mad Men doesn't seem to telegraph things like that to its audience, and I dig that.

"Hiroshima Mon Amour"

I'm still liking this show but it's getting harder and harder to fathom WTF Don's problem is. He's very good at a job he obviously loves, has a gorgeous and interesting wife (and he's also plenty attractive to other women), kids, financial security, the whole nine yards. So WTF is his problem? Ok, he had a bad childhood. Boo-fucking-hoo. Get over it already.

This show is now walking a very fine line between angst and self-indulgent whine.

I had a delayed bust out laugh at the scene where Jimmy apologizes to the Shillings, and Mrs. Shilling says something like, "I know what you do, but I guess I just don't have the stomach for it." And then Jimmy has to bite his fist.

Solid episode.

According to the AMC recap, the film was Antonioni’s “La Notte".

I loved all the movie references in this episode. I chuckled when Betty's friend compared Arthur to Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the Sin" and Betty retorted "Somewhere there is a pregnant girl at the bottom of the lake."

And I loved it when Jimmy said to Don "I loved you in Gentlemen's Agreement".
Even better was the shocked look on Don's face. Jimmy was essentially pointing out Don as an imposter. There were a lot of references in the first season to Don identifying with Jewish people trying to fit into WASPy society.

The reference to Arthur being like the lead character from A Place in the Sun was also interesting since Arthur seems to have the same social-climbing desire that Don had. Betty seemed pretty aware of Arthur being a fake and I think it hints that she knows more about Don's deceit besides just infidelity.