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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 15, 2010 15:52:53 GMT
Here is something I find interesting about Mad Men -- the fact that it doesn't sound interesting. I had to be nagged into watching it. I think I watched part of the first episode and concluded that it was not for me. But because I had a couple of friends who were crazy about it, I gave it another chance & obviously got hooked. Here's a recap of the 4th season from the NYTimes. If I didn't already know & love the show, the article would not tempt me to watch it. The deep enjoyment of the series comes from its delicacy of touch which allows for the same shadings of nuance and different interpretations as real life.
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Post by lola on Oct 20, 2010 15:50:33 GMT
Okay, the finale. Joan, Joan, Joan. Bixa noticed. It was nice to see her and Peggy giggling together, though. Everyone is happy for now except Betty, I guess.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 20, 2010 22:29:46 GMT
Well, wasn't that last episode something?! They truly came up with a good surprise which was believable and absorbing. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Peggy's reaction to the The News, both when she got it & afterward, dishing the dirt with Joan, really let Elisabeth Moss shine as an actress. Those scenes, plus the one with Harry boorishly coming into her office to slobber over the pretty model, and when she pitches her panty hose ideas almost made her the star of that particular episode, although her time on screen wasn't that long.
I have to say, the way Peggy was treated throughout this week's episode had my blood boiling. So many aspects of casual sexism have not gone away yet.
Speaking of blood boiling, god Betty is a bitch! Her treatment of Carla was vile. Of course, she's always treated Carla as more or less a household appliance. And I wonder, with all of Henry's fury, will he be contacting Carla to make sure she gets severance?
The whole show was beautifully put together, plausibly pulling together some pieces -- the agency will go on for now, Don is pulling himself together, Betty is falling apart -- and setting us up with just the right amount of suspense for next season.
One thing I particularly liked this week is the excellent way they touched upon some issues of women in the workplace and even in life. Joan has to fight (or use) being too much a pretty "girl". Peggy has her face rubbed in not being a pretty girl. Megan knows she's a pretty enough girl, but that there's more to life than being pretty. This is clearly shown by Betty, whose prettiness has not brought her happiness and will not so much fade, as sour.
I'm already obsessing about next season. They certainly could have used another show or two in this one. I would have loved to see the kids' reaction to The News before they're too much older, for instance.
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Post by lola on Oct 21, 2010 14:39:06 GMT
Yes, and I doubt Henry will write Carla a letter of recommendation, either. If Don hadn't been engaged, he might have fallen into Betty's arms after her display of vulnerability. Having them get together again might not have been all that bad. My parents, distant delayed echoes of Don and Betty, remarried each other fairly successfully.
I don't know so much about the not-pretty Peggy thing. Pete was ready to throw Trudy over for her. Don was looking for a good mother for his kids, understandably, which rules Peggy out.
So, Joan's baby will be Roger Jr, right? I think her husband, even though he's only a surgeon, will be able to figure it out eventually.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2010 1:51:00 GMT
Hmmm. I dunno. I think Don is well over Betty, even relieved to be rid of her. Their divorce may have started his downhill slide, but I think that it was more a catalyst to releasing his hidden demons than true grief over losing Betty.
I can't imagine any way at all that Pete would ever have followed through on ditching Trudy, the perfect wife for the man he imagines himself to be and, tragically, probably is.
No, Peggy simply made herself available, in a misguided attempt to get what the pretty girls get without having to put out.
Okay. Your last paragraph. I am COMPLETELY lost. Also, I think I spaced out some pertinent plot bits, thinking something on the order of ...... she had the abortion, so hubby must have gotten leave long enough for her to be pregnant with his kid. But no, right?
So, is that why they keep showing her in profile, and why she seems so much heavier? I can't believe I got so caught up in other parts of the plot that this crucial thing escaped me.
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2010 3:17:49 GMT
And yet again Hmmm . She was seen in the waiting room being reminded that she wasn't as young as she used to be. She told Roger she had taken care of it. I just assumed it's Roger's, and that she had walked out of the waiting rm taking a calculated risk.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2010 4:26:45 GMT
Ahhhhhhhh. Yeah! Thanks, Lola. You have to be right. That went right over my head.
Well, she did tell Roger it had to be his, which of course we accepted. But what if it wasn't Roger's, and she knew all along that it wasn't? That would be an interesting twist.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2012 1:34:12 GMT
Finally .............
Mad Men Season 5 premieres Sunday, March 25 at 9 EST/8 CST
The last episode of Season 4 aired on October 17, 2010.
I don't know about anyone else, but I need a refresher course on what went before!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2012 4:27:10 GMT
Talk about a serendipitous find, & just in the nick of time, too ~~This is from Neatorama's fb page -- don't know where they got it. And for those of you who dither over decisions, just ask yourselves, What would Don Draper do?" <-- click
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 26, 2012 8:11:19 GMT
Season 5 ~~ episode 1 .............
WHO WATCHED?
Gad, it was depressing!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2012 1:55:25 GMT
I just saw it. I have not seen the last season (I lost interest,now,my curiosity is piqued and I want to see it... ). So.....what are we in for here? Whole new era. I still love,love Peggy. I did quite like the French song and dance by Don's new wife,although,yes, depressing in that she was humiliated. I guess we're in for more highlights into what seems to be the S&M side of Don's persona and their relationship.(which there were always glimmers of anyway). I don't know that it snagged me,but,I am going to give it a go. (My husband is quite into it and has followed throughout.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 27, 2012 5:00:42 GMT
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Post by lola on Mar 27, 2012 16:00:28 GMT
Tips on how to watch it without cable TV?
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Post by onlymark on Mar 27, 2012 16:44:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2012 22:08:30 GMT
I continue to be unable to watch Mad Men due to my irrevocable allergy to anything from the years 1950-1968.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 27, 2012 23:12:04 GMT
Casimira, can you rent the dvds & catch up the last season? Lola, you haven't missed any except for this new episode, right? Casimira*, Do you mean that Megan was humiliated because Don was so rejecting about the party? I was wondering if anyone else found the whole tone of the episode kind of a downer? I think the series is really quite feminist, and the whole way women were looked at and treated is well presented. But that was part of a pervasive feeling of the times that really came through in this episode -- that whole "lonely crowd" sort of thing. Yeah, Peggy continues to be one of the most interesting and well-defined characters and the one I most root for. Incidentally, for a refresher, Wikipedia has an exhaustive run-down on the show's personnel: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mad_Men_characters* Is this where you go for all your decorating needs?
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Post by lola on Mar 29, 2012 2:12:39 GMT
Thank you, Mark! I'd better ask my tech person/husband whether it's OK to download the player.
I'm current, Bixa. I've always enjoyed the social background and artifacts more than the who's doing what to whom aspects. My inner prude wants to yell, "No! Do NOT jump into the sack with that big fat piece of bad news" about every other episode.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 29, 2012 2:15:29 GMT
Yes, true. My inner prude is appalled at how little of hating themselves in the mornings goes on.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 2, 2012 5:24:29 GMT
Season 5, episode 2 -- "Tea Leaves" Let's just jump to the most important question of all: fat suit, or chubby January Jones? madmendaily.tumblr.com/post/20332767650/im-lost-is-she-wearing-a-fat-suit-or-did-she-reallyJon Hamm directed this episode. It may have been the fault of the script, but there was something fitful about the whole thing, besides being one of the most blah episodes I can remember. I truly can't remember who "Joyce" is -- former neighbor? The episode apparently took place on and around the Fourth of July; we saw the Draper-Francis children celebrating with sparklers on their lawn. The Rolling Stones played the tennis stadium in Forest Hills on July 2, 1966, when, we now know, two square advertising executives tried to meet them backstage. And in the closing moments, Mike Ginsberg’s father was upset by the fact that Pete Fox, a talented right fielder for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox, had died at 57 — establishing the date as July 5, 1966. SourceDid anyone else have a teeny moment of disconnected excitement, thinking they were actually going to see young Mick, et al? Re: 1966 -- Betty uses the remote control to turn off the tv. Were there such things in '66? Well, the Francises are rich, so maybe they had an early model. 4th of July, 1966 -- I'd been out of high school for one month.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 6, 2012 0:13:37 GMT
Am I the lone watcher of this series?
I still watch it and still think it's good although, truthfully, the thrill is sorta gone.
The most recent episode, though, Christmas Waltz, had a long segment with Don & Joan that was just dynamite.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2012 4:41:44 GMT
I still have an aversion to that period of time, so I am unable to watch.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 6, 2012 6:19:21 GMT
I watch it when I have the time. It's not something I go out of my way to watch but it is entertaining enough all the same. Spoiler alert if anyone is following it and has not seen it recently - One enjoyment was the quintessential Englishman, but alas, no more. I would say that from personal experience the makeup for him after his suicide was spot on and realistic. At one time the actor, Jared Harris, was married to a favourite actress of mine, Emilia Fox, the daughter of Edward Fox (Day of the Jackal).
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Post by onlymark on Jun 6, 2012 6:20:11 GMT
I still have an aversion to that period of time, so I am unable to watch. A good job that the series isn't about clowns as well then.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2012 6:29:49 GMT
I watch it when I have the time. It's not something I go out of my way to watch but it is entertaining enough all the same. Spoiler alert if anyone is following it and has not seen it recently - One enjoyment was the quintessential Englishman, but alas, no more. I would say that from personal experience the makeup for him after his suicide was spot on and realistic. At one time the actor, Jared Harris, was married to a favourite actress of mine, Emilia Fox, the daughter of Edward Fox (Day of the Jackal). Ah, Emilia, one of the most wicked characters on Merlin...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 6, 2012 6:38:36 GMT
Crapdoodle! I guess I was an episode behind, as Mark's spoiler turned out to be a real spoiler for me.
Meant to mention that the Christmas Waltz episode, which was taking place on December 7, 1967, included mention of a remote control. The context indicated that it was a commonplace object, which it most certainly was not at that time.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 6, 2012 9:07:53 GMT
bixa, that's why it's a spoiler! I watch it the day after it is broadcast in the US, which is several days before the UK. It always seems to be uploaded very quickly on here - watchseries.eu/serie/mad_men
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Post by onlymark on Jun 6, 2012 9:11:02 GMT
She's quite a talented actress k2, never mind she's a looker. She's been in quite a few things like Silent Witness and Upstairs Downstairs as well.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 6, 2012 14:56:50 GMT
Not your fault, Mark. I thought I'd watched the most recent episode, but was actually one behind.
I venerate watchseries.eu as it's my portal to Bad Girls. I limit myself to one episode an evening (okay, two a day if I'm home sick) and am up to the middle of season 5.
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Post by lola on Jun 17, 2012 14:58:48 GMT
I've read all the spoilers and the end of season interview with the creator whose name escapes me now. What I haven't done is manage to watch any yet. By the time I do it'll be old hat to everyone else. At least it won't be such a shock about that one bloke.
By the time I've almost loaded one to watch, someone comes in and I put it off. This week's to do list.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 18, 2012 18:04:52 GMT
Just watched the concluding episode of season five. In the last couple of episodes the show has really hit its stride again & I'm hooked all over again.
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