Last night's Mad Men...
Sep. 20th, 2010 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalSpoilers under the cut, so if you haven't seen it... what the heck are you waiting for?
We haven't had an episode that was all about the women in a while, and alas, it's 1965, so it's kinda depressing. I think this is the most overtly we've had feminism being discussed thus far, am I right? (It actually felt a little stilted when Peggy was giving her speech about the things women can't do, like it was a speech she'd rehearsed - or that someone put in her mouth - rather than something she blurted out in the middle of a conversation/argument.) I admit, I rolled my eyes a lot at the douchebag reporter completely blowing it with Peggy twice - and, having screwed up by being obnoxiously opinionated, thinking the solution is to be MORE obnoxiously opinionated, lol. He may have prompted her to think about race a bit, but he sure as hell isn't getting a date with her. :) Despite her poor matchmaking skills, I also am enjoying Peggy's lesbian friend Joyce, if only because she teases chauvinist Stan mercilessly. :)
Oh, man. Sally is by far the most sympathetic character on this show, and she was totally breaking my heart last night. How awful it must be, living with Betty, to be so unhappy and so desperate as to get on the train all by herself, with no money, trying to escape to Don. And when she said she wished she could live there all the time, and offered to babysit her brothers in exchange. Oh, the poor little thing. But of course, she gets there and Don doesn't know what to do with her. This episode is a really interesting view of Don's parenting, because on the one hand, he's not much better at it than Betty - more than once, we've seen him hand off the kids to a babysitter (in this episode Faye), and he doesn't know what to do when he's around them. Even before the divorce, children never really fit into his life. But I also think it shows - as other moments have shown, though few and far between - that he could be good at it, if he'd let himself. I think really he's just afraid to try.
Not that it makes much difference, because there's no way Betty would ever let him have custody - much as she clearly hates Sally and sees all the children as a burden, she'd never suffer the horrible embarrassment of them living with Don, and she'd never allow him to "win" in that respect (though I'm not sure he'd see it as winning). And so Sally, so grown up in demanding pizza and making french toast (with rum! lol) and bargaining with Don over the day's activities, suddenly becomes the child she still is and throws a monster of a temper tantrum. How sad that the only person who shows her affection is some random secretary - and oh, break my heart a little more when she says everything's going to be all right, and Sally responds sadly, "No, it's not." I did love that Don had the back-up of all the women when he finally handed Sally over to Betty, who could not have been colder to either of them.
I felt bad for Faye, since I'm not good with kids, either. I certainly don't think Don was deliberately testing her - I think he was just at a loss and needed all the help he could get - but it's also the simple truth of dating a single parent. At some point, if you want the relationship to go anywhere, you have to get along with the kids. I can see how that felt like a momentous event for them, and from her perspective, she did everything wrong.
And Joan. Oh, poor Joanie. I always find myself wanting so much more for her. I miss the days when she pwned everyone with her awesomeness. I want her to have the husband and the life she deserves. I don't want her ending up like poor, dead Miss Blankenship. But at this point, I'm not sure that what she wants, what would make her happy, is even still possible, with the world changing so quickly around her. As the comparisons in this episode and many others have shown, Joan's way is the past and Peggy's is the future.
On the subject of Miss Blankenship, may she rest in peace, I loved Cooper's line - it was very poetically Bert Cooperesque - but I have to quote Alan Sepinwall here, who said it better than me: "She was an astronaut." But there were no actual female astronauts in 1965 America, and a life of answering phones and following the orders of men like Bert and Don was the highest job Ida could aspire to. It's uplifting and depressing all at the same time. Oh, Mad Men.
We haven't had an episode that was all about the women in a while, and alas, it's 1965, so it's kinda depressing. I think this is the most overtly we've had feminism being discussed thus far, am I right? (It actually felt a little stilted when Peggy was giving her speech about the things women can't do, like it was a speech she'd rehearsed - or that someone put in her mouth - rather than something she blurted out in the middle of a conversation/argument.) I admit, I rolled my eyes a lot at the douchebag reporter completely blowing it with Peggy twice - and, having screwed up by being obnoxiously opinionated, thinking the solution is to be MORE obnoxiously opinionated, lol. He may have prompted her to think about race a bit, but he sure as hell isn't getting a date with her. :) Despite her poor matchmaking skills, I also am enjoying Peggy's lesbian friend Joyce, if only because she teases chauvinist Stan mercilessly. :)
Oh, man. Sally is by far the most sympathetic character on this show, and she was totally breaking my heart last night. How awful it must be, living with Betty, to be so unhappy and so desperate as to get on the train all by herself, with no money, trying to escape to Don. And when she said she wished she could live there all the time, and offered to babysit her brothers in exchange. Oh, the poor little thing. But of course, she gets there and Don doesn't know what to do with her. This episode is a really interesting view of Don's parenting, because on the one hand, he's not much better at it than Betty - more than once, we've seen him hand off the kids to a babysitter (in this episode Faye), and he doesn't know what to do when he's around them. Even before the divorce, children never really fit into his life. But I also think it shows - as other moments have shown, though few and far between - that he could be good at it, if he'd let himself. I think really he's just afraid to try.
Not that it makes much difference, because there's no way Betty would ever let him have custody - much as she clearly hates Sally and sees all the children as a burden, she'd never suffer the horrible embarrassment of them living with Don, and she'd never allow him to "win" in that respect (though I'm not sure he'd see it as winning). And so Sally, so grown up in demanding pizza and making french toast (with rum! lol) and bargaining with Don over the day's activities, suddenly becomes the child she still is and throws a monster of a temper tantrum. How sad that the only person who shows her affection is some random secretary - and oh, break my heart a little more when she says everything's going to be all right, and Sally responds sadly, "No, it's not." I did love that Don had the back-up of all the women when he finally handed Sally over to Betty, who could not have been colder to either of them.
I felt bad for Faye, since I'm not good with kids, either. I certainly don't think Don was deliberately testing her - I think he was just at a loss and needed all the help he could get - but it's also the simple truth of dating a single parent. At some point, if you want the relationship to go anywhere, you have to get along with the kids. I can see how that felt like a momentous event for them, and from her perspective, she did everything wrong.
And Joan. Oh, poor Joanie. I always find myself wanting so much more for her. I miss the days when she pwned everyone with her awesomeness. I want her to have the husband and the life she deserves. I don't want her ending up like poor, dead Miss Blankenship. But at this point, I'm not sure that what she wants, what would make her happy, is even still possible, with the world changing so quickly around her. As the comparisons in this episode and many others have shown, Joan's way is the past and Peggy's is the future.
On the subject of Miss Blankenship, may she rest in peace, I loved Cooper's line - it was very poetically Bert Cooperesque - but I have to quote Alan Sepinwall here, who said it better than me: "She was an astronaut." But there were no actual female astronauts in 1965 America, and a life of answering phones and following the orders of men like Bert and Don was the highest job Ida could aspire to. It's uplifting and depressing all at the same time. Oh, Mad Men.
no subject
Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 01:55 am (UTC)Joan really isn't living the dream :( but then again, neither is Peggy, honestly. I think this episode was partially about that. Not sure the dream exists for them yet.
no subject
Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 02:01 am (UTC)but then again, neither is Peggy, honestly.
True. But I think Peggy's dreams are in line with the future, and so she'll be better off in the end. For Joan, her best days may be behind her. :(
no subject
Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 06:22 am (UTC)Yup.
I certainly don't think Don was deliberately testing her
I agree. He simply, without thinking, took for granted that that's the role she a) would and b) should fill in the relationship - Betty Mk II.
As the comparisons in this episode and many others have shown, Joan's way is the past and Peggy's is the future.
When you put it that way, it makes me fear for Peggy. This is drama, after all.
It's uplifting and depressing all at the same time. Oh, Mad Men.
Yup.
no subject
Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 03:08 pm (UTC)Eeek! Do you have specific fears, or just general foreboding, lol? I don't know, I think Peggy will come out on top in the end, but I'm sure she'll go through some tough times to get there.
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Date: Sep. 22nd, 2010 09:13 pm (UTC)I LOL'ed at the part where Peggy opens Don's door to tell Sally to stay in there (because of Miss Blankenship), and Sally is like, "I KNOW!"
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Date: Sep. 23rd, 2010 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2010 09:23 pm (UTC)I kind of think it was something she'd rehearsed, or at least something she'd thought through, you know? She reads the news, she hangs out with Joyce and her friends, she's spending all this time hearing about how it is JUST SO TERRIBLE that some people are excluded from opportunity. I think she's spent some time trying to put her finger on why it feels weird to her coming from bourgeoise white guys who are trying to impress her. Like, wrong is wrong, but I matter too. I mean, I know it didn't endear her to a lot of people, but the only way she's surviving is to keep in mind that she matters too.
I am always amazed at what a douche Don is. Every time I think I'm as appalled as I'm going to get, I am wrong. Seriously? His reaction to his kid making breakfast for him is to let her wait on him? I don't think he even thanks her. Bad politics, bad parenting, AND bad manners. That's just bad form.
I'm up and down on Joan. She's always interesting for sure, but sometimes she's owning and sometimes she's just bullying. Always an engaging character, but not any more someone I'd want to know than Betty or Don.
no subject
Date: Sep. 23rd, 2010 02:23 am (UTC)Yeah, I could definitely see that. I kind of picture her having that speech in her pocket, just waiting for some unsuspecting schlub like Abe to put his foot in it, so she can unleash. :) It amuses me.
The breakfast thing didn't bother me that much. I mean, she does seem rather proud of herself, so I can see Don letting her play the grown-up (although I do think she's manipulating him, and in that sense, in the context of the whole thing, the effort she's going to is rather sad).