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Mad Men - Season 4

Discussion in 'TV Shows' started by WickedBitch, Jul 10, 2010.

  1. Sam N

    Sam N
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    Regardless of how old Glenn is in the show, I'm sort of under the opinion that outburst had nothing to do with Betty wanting to protect Sally from Glenn. Just like the running theme of Betty's narcissistic, almost referential maniac (to use a made up affliction) state of mind that manifests every time she speaks about the kids, especially in the psychologist's office, I think she is making this totally about herself.

    Betty has connected with Glenn on a couple different occasions, and got called out big time by Glenn's Mom for giving him a lock of her hair(???). Regardless of whatever else Betty is, I think you can definitely say she is a fucking child. I think she sees Sally with Glenn, someone that she had connected with (which was enforced by her screaming, "You don't know him!!" er whatever the fuck she said), and in some weird fucky kind of super reverse Oedipal mode, is almost jealous.

    Or maybe we don't have to go that far. Maybe we can say that Betty has negative feelings towards Glenn, because the strangeness and inappropriateness of what she did in giving him the hair, and being called out on it. Maybe she feels resentful because Glenn's mother that called her out was a divorcee, something Betty gossiped about with the friend of Betty's that disappeared, and Betty's family was ruined in a likely similar way and now she is stuck with Francis when she still feels the burn deep in her loins for Don. Or maybe Betty just feels a sense of embarrassment when she sees Glenn and doesn't want Sally around him.

    No matter what, that wasn't motivated by Good Parenting in my opinion. If anyone has read Pope's The Rape of the Lock, I think you can definitely see some of what the director was doing in having Betty so freely give him her hair and all he had to do was ask (yes, I think that scene was influenced by the poem)... But I don't want to go into all that.
     
  2. El Tee

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    No, I disagree completely. Glenn was the little creep that busted in on Betty while she was trying to pee and wouldn't leave until she waddled over and shut the door. She did give him a lock of her hair, but it was only after he whined like a baby and she took pity on him. Helen took it the wrong way and confronted Betty at the store but Betty, for whatever reason, decided not to tell Glenn's mom what a disfunctional little perv he was. Maybe she wanted to spare Helen any more shame, or maybe she was slighty embarassed by the whole situation. Regardless, Glenn is a fucking bastard that's probably going to end up murdering Sally and keeping her severed head in his closet along with his hair collection. (And of course, we know that Glenn was also the little asshole that broke in and vandalized Betty's house, too.)

    Just like a broken clock is still right twice a day, Betty Draper is still capable of making sound decisions when it comes to the daughter she probably hates. It pains me to say it, but I'm totally on Betty's side here.
     
  3. WickedBitch

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    Jesus christ! He's marrying the bottle opener! I was hoping it was just a dream sequence or something. I want her to get hit by a bus. Major lulz on the teeth conversation though.

    And holy shit could they have shown any more commercials for The Walking Dead?! I am hella excited for the show myself but fuck! Ram it down our throats why don'tcha?
     
  4. Supertramp

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    I accidentally spoiled it for myself by reading the Wikipedia Episode guide to make sure I was caught up.

    spoilers:

    I expected a bigger, crazier season finale - like last season. I guess the new Don is more of a family man? I don't know what to read into it to be honest.
     
  5. Parker

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    After watching that finale, I've learned two things.

    1. Matthew Weiner is a genius.
    2. I hate him very very much.

    I also feel great that after 5 years, we've finally called him on something and been right: Joan is preggers with Sterling's baby. The kicker is her husband isn't even suspicious, he wants to know if her already massive tits got bigger.

    Leave Megan alone! Also, proof of number 1. "She said I couldn't be an actress because of my teeth." Basically "Fuck you haters!" I loved every second of it. God she is fucking stunning wrapped up in sheets when her mouth isn't open. I am going to miss Faye Miller, her eyes always slayed me when she had her head turned up and to the side.

    I'm going to have to watch it again to pull out all the deep stuff. Wow, just wow. Or I can let you nerds handle it....and go!
     
  6. mad5427

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    Don had a real thing developing with Faye. It was legitimate, she knew the real Don. He, in my opinion, just showed that he isn't capable of growing. I'm torn about the secretary. She seems like she can potentially be a good example for the children, likes the children unlike Betty, who's a broken horrible human. She seems like she can bring out some good in Don. I just don't think Don is good for her.

    He's just coming full circle without any growth. It seems like she is just a band aid to his deeply wounded, heavily bleeding life.

    This show is so wonderful in its subtlety. There is more packed in 10 seconds of this show than most shows 60 minutes. While not nearly as action packed as past season finales, how they subtlety showed the characters development from even the beginning of this season was great.
     
  7. WickedBitch

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    I want to know how she thinks she'll actually get away with it. Roger is going to blow a gasket when he finds out. Since he loves her, he is liable to try and do the right thing.

    Plus, when she and Roger were discussing the pregnancy, didn't she say her husband had been gone for months? How is she going to pull off a 50 week pregnancy? Inducing labor on a full-term pregnancy is nigh impossible. There's no way she'll be able to do it extra early. Or is she expecting her husband to die overseas which means he'll never find out?
     
  8. El Tee

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    I wonder if the proposal would have ever happened if Betty hadn't fired Carla? Clearly, Megan wouldn't have made the trip at all but seeing her with the kids probably made Don realize how important it is to have a good female role model in their lives. (I think it's also clear that Faye's lack of motherly instincts was her downfall.) Who knows, now that there's a new Mrs. Don Draper in the mix maybe Don could make a play for increased custody, and the writers won't have any reason to keep Betty on the show at all. (Of course, Don also could have popped the question to Megan just to prevent her from accidentally getting him court-martialed again, too.)

    Random thoughts:

    - I wonder what Joan is going to tell her husband when "their" baby comes out with silver hair? Probably nothing, since he'll be more fascinated by his wife's swollen mommy boobs to do the math.

    - We didn't see any movement on this issue, but I also have to wonder if Season 5 will feature the Sterling Campbell Draper Pryce agency. It's a whole lot easier than paying to have the letterhead changed.

    - I thought Peggy's little fit of jealousy was appropriate and in character. Even though Don paid her one of the biggest compliments he's capable of - that Megan reminds him of her - her insecurity about her own age, that she's still unmarried, her position in the company, and the fact that this wedding will do nothing to dispell the idea that she fucked Don all came out pretty believably. Bitching about it to Joan (who probably realized she'd end up answering Don's phones herself) only helped enable her.

    Great episode, but I suspect a lot of people will feel let down by it as a season finale (I would disagree). A surprise proposal and not-surprising pregnancy don't exactly match up to Peggy giving birth or the formation of SCDP from seasons past.
     
  9. El Tee

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    No, it wasn't that long. It was more like he'd been gone for 7 weeks and she and Roger had sex 4 weeks before she found out. Or something like that, but well within the range of explanation, considering she slept with Greg a few hours before he shipped out.
     
  10. WickedBitch

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    And also, Faye looked pretty pissed. I think burning that bridge is going to come back to haunt Don since Faye knows his deep, dark secret. Did he not even think about that?

    That's still nearly 2 months! Her husband is a raging idiot though so y'all are right in that respect. He'll probably never put 2 and 2 together, although he is a doctor so maybe it'll filter through.
     
  11. WickedBitch

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    I found the video from when she told Roger she was late and El Tee is right. I thought it had been 7 weeks that her husband had been gone when she slept with Roger but when she tells him she's late, she said he had then been gone for 7 weeks. I stand corrected. My bad.
     
  12. El Tee

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    I'm assuming that when we come back from hiatus, it will be past the six-month make-or-break window for SCDP. That means Joan should have a newborn by then, sparing the viewers the sight of Christina Hendricks using Elisabeth Moss' old fat suits and allowing us to move past the awkward "I didn't get the abortion" conversation Joan is going to have with Roger. The one good thing is that Joan should be an expert mother, since she's been dealing with Sterling's childlike behavior for years.

    The only real question is whether or not Megan Draper will be with child. I'm pretty sure Don will be eager to get to business and have a kid with his Quebecois, resulting in all sorts of awesome jealousy issues from Sally. (I'll make a bet right now: the kid will be named either Adam or Anna.)
     
  13. WickedBitch

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    Now see, I actually want to see that. The look on his face when she makes what will probably be a public, company-wide announcement is going to be awesome. I anticipate another heart attack.

    I hope the next season hurries up! This is one of 2 shows I actually make a point to watch as it airs (the other being Chopped on Food Network) and my Sunday nights will be boring without it.
     
  14. audreymonroe

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    I am so mad. I am SO. MAD. I AM SO MAD.

    Maybe Don should just fucking learn to stop going to California, because he turns into this child that lives in this fantasy world and has absolutely no grasp on reality whatsoever. The only reason he wound up with Horse Face is because she just so happened to be there when he gets in his stupid dreamy moods, and he had the convenience of the ring in his fucking pocket. That is the ONLY reason they are engaged right now and it is driving me up a wall. She has no substance whatsoever and is just another Betty Stand In, only with a much more maternal nature. Faye was an actual adult with whom he had his ONLY relationship of any depth whatsoever on this entire show, who actually had something to give him besides something pretty to hold on his arm, and I can't believe he just threw that away because of STUPID CALIFORNIA. Except that I can, because that fits Don to a T.

    Someone said something like this earlier, but what disappointed me so much about this finale is that for the whole second half of the season, I was so confident that Don was actually growing and becoming a better person, and excited about/interested in watching that transformation, and in what? Twenty minutes? That entire hope came crashing down because he's just as infantile as he always has been.

    The only scene in this episode that didn't make me want to punch my computer screen was when Joan and Peggy were bitching in her office.

    Right now, I really only have two hopes for next season. That Greg dies in Vietnam and Joan and Roger finally get together. And that it's revealed that Meghan has totally just been using Don to make her way up in the company. That's the only way I would ever enjoy Meghan as a character, and I think it's about god damn time that Don gets screwed over/used by a woman and not the other way around.

    I AM SO MAD.
     
  15. El Tee

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    Quite a few bloggers are suggesting that the switch flipped in Don's head when Sally spilled her milkshake: Megan kept her cool, like most normal human beings would, but Don knew Betty would have lost her shit in that same instance. Betty = bad, Megan = good.

    I can see the logic in that argument, but if it's true than "childish" doesn't even begin to describe Don's rationale. He's turning into Roger Sterling a lot faster than he realizes.
     
  16. audreymonroe

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    Great point. I totally forgot about that whole parallel they've been building.
     
  17. WickedBitch

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    Speaking of Roger Sterling....

    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ranker.com/list/top-20-sexist-roger-sterling-quotes/laura?page=1&format=blogstyle_view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ranker.com/list/top-20-sexis ... style_view</a>
     
  18. Kubla Kahn

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    Well shit, wrong about the pro-abort Joan. Honestly though her husband is a doctor who is possessive enough to rape his wife on her boss' floor. She must have slept with Roger pretty soon after he left because I don't see a guy like that not raising an eye brow if the timing didn't match up correctly.

    I wasn't very excited but not shocked in the lightest when Don pulled out the ring. The guy is really all over the place when it comes to his understanding of women, which still seems pretty low to begin with.

    Im not sure if I agree with the logic that Betty is in the right when separating Glenn and Sally. He is a delinquent because he comes from a totally broken home. I think that's why Betty ended up confiding in him even after his bathroom/lock of hair stunt. Her married life was falling down all around her and he had been through the same turmoil. I think she is embarrassed that she opened up to him and doesn't like the idea of Sally being friends because of that. I think his behavior is less about being a sociopath and more about him acting out against the shitty life his parents have put him through.
     
  19. Parker

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    Now that I've had time to process. I loved the season Finale. It wasn't the full meal that people like most season finales to be but it was damn good. Faye Miller cannot be done. She is a woman scorned...and well...hell...you know. I do think the hating on Megan is a bitch much. I don't think she's using him this far for his career, but I'm not excited for the storyline of her being preggers.

    I'm dreading, just fucking dreading the redemption of Betty that is coming. No idea how they're going to pull it off, but you know it is coming. Even though January Jones is still fucking stunning. She wants help, she really does, but doesn't know how to ask for it.

    But something needs to turn with Sally. We cannot have her keep going bat shit. It just isn't going to work.

    I loved the Peggy and Joan scene, because finally Joan stopped being a bitch to Peggy.

    Also, anyone else fucking love the fact that AMC has been granting Mad Men the ability to say "shit" every episode this season? I love it. More shows need to push the limit.
     
  20. Roxanne

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    I don't know what is with the Megan hate either. Personally, I didn't find Faye all that great for Don. She wasn't the sort of person who could compel him to become better. She could say the words, sure, but he loved that relationship because it was secret and he could feel sorry for himself--just like everything else in his life.

    I feel like Don is himself in California more so than anywhere else in the show. When he used to visit Anna, he was more laid-back and willing to laugh. I think he sees a lot of Anna in Megan, and also realizes that Megan can give him the sort of life that he always wanted, the life he thought he was going to have with Betty (who, let's all remember, used to be a fun and carefree sort of girl if her memory is to be believed). I think essentially Don is a family man who lost his family, and he's been trying to find ways to get it back. Faye wasn't going to ever deliver, and Megan definitely can.

    On top of that, I forgave Megan's teeth this episode because she is a genuine sweetheart and gorgeous to boot. I think her steady and forgiving manner is exactly what Don needs, and she doesn't act like the normal spoiled 25-year-old like Jane does. Good for her for getting an awesome break.

    With all that said, the best moment of the episode, once again goes to Henry, whose function seems to be 'badass that shuts Betty down at every opportunity.'

    "Nobody is ever on your side, Betty!"

    Beautiful.