Holy shit. Sign me up for the "Mad Men" spinoff "Adventures in Babysitting with Roger Sterling". That was awesome. And for the record, Roger is right: Sally is (will be) a mean drunk. I also thought Megan's overnight sensation storyline ("Megsanity") was handled well. It could have been extremely cliche, but I like how they're trying hard to make Megan a fully-fleshed character. Giving her a Communist father is extremely interesting. I'm also curious to learn what her life's dream is, the one her father hinted at.
I need to watch this episode again sober, but this pretty much sums it up. With a little dash of Glenn added on top.
Favorite line of the episode: Roger (to Sally): "His name is Ed. He works at Dow Corning. They make beautiful dishes ... Glass wear ... Napalm."
Fucking solid episode. Id say in the running for best of the season so far. I kind of wish I had taken more writing classes in college so I can pick out subtext better. The scene where Don goes to the empty elevator shaft really struck me, very mysterious, but I haven't a clue on what it could represent for his character or on a grander scale. Of coarse sometimes I think outside of what the writer actually meant when writing it, anyone else's guess is as good as mine. Megan leaving was a tad abrupt but I think it played to her character and the general drama of the season perfectly. I had a feeling everyone, viewers, would hate any new wife in Don's life given how fast he moved with her. Instead of playing it like Peggy they are keeping her likable. She's fitting in very well with the show.
*Puts on pretentious hat* This was the one piece of symbolism I caught on to immediately. What was Don getting into the elevator for? To follow her. What happened when the elevator was down far down below where if he stepped in he would fall (echoing the opening credits of course), he couldn't follow her. The theme this season has been time, and the movement from one moment/period to the next. They start talking about music, Don says "I don't know what's going on now." And defers to Megan. Megan goes down the elevator moving on, and Don literally and figuratively cannot follow her. "Why do they get to decide what happens?" "They just do..." And shoutout to old girl from Gilmore Girls making an appearance and killing it.
Also, can we talk about how Matt Weiner just tossed his cock on the table by getting the rights to a Beatles song? The characters in the Beatles couldn't get the Beatles, but he could. Well player Weiner...well played.
Another hint at Pete killing himself, mentioning that his life insurance policy would soon cover with suicide. Seems like an odd thing to bring up if it wasn't on your mind.
Well I saw the elevator thing a bit more pragmatically... If the thing is malfunctioning, it creates a risk for one of our characters to die by accident later in the season. Seriously in the modern era if elevator doors were opening to empty shafts, there would be safety warnings and crews all over it. Don went back for a drink.
Wrong. I can only hope that with her not at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce any more that there will be much less of her on the show. And that that seconds-long scene with her in the corpse pose in acting class means she's going to die. It's either her, Pete, or Roger that's going to be the dead character fo sho. I don't know what it was about this episode, but this was one of the only ones where I've felt almost zero sympathy for any of the characters. Megan quitting and crying about it? Oh my god, shut up. Get over it. (Although I react that way to her all the time.) Don crying about Megan quitting? Oh my god, shut up. Ger over it. Pete crying about his Alexis Bledel affair? Oh my god, shut up. Get over it. Also, Bledel is almost as bad of an actress as Jessica Pare.
Oh, and for those who are interested, here's the Sylia Plath poem this episode was named after: Spoiler I have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it-- A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot A paperweight, My face a featureless, fine Jew linen. Peel off the napkin O my enemy. Do I terrify?-- The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth? The sour breath Will vanish in a day. Soon, soon the flesh The grave cave ate will be At home on me And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty. And like the cat I have nine times to die. This is Number Three. What a trash To annihilate each decade. What a million filaments. The peanut-crunching crowd Shoves in to see Them unwrap me hand and foot-- The big strip tease. Gentlemen, ladies These are my hands My knees. I may be skin and bone, Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman. The first time it happened I was ten. It was an accident. The second time I meant To last it out and not come back at all. I rocked shut As a seashell. They had to call and call And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls. Dying Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call. It's easy enough to do it in a cell. It's easy enough to do it and stay put. It's the theatrical Comeback in broad day To the same place, the same face, the same brute Amused shout: 'A miracle!' That knocks me out. There is a charge For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge For the hearing of my heart-- It really goes. And there is a charge, a very large charge For a word or a touch Or a bit of blood Or a piece of my hair or my clothes. So, so, Herr Doktor. So, Herr Enemy. I am your opus, I am your valuable, The pure gold baby That melts to a shriek. I turn and burn. Do not think I underestimate your great concern. Ash, ash-- You poke and stir. Flesh, bone, there is nothing there-- A cake of soap, A wedding ring, A gold filling. Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware Beware. Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air.
Roger Sterling is definately one of my favourite characters this season, from his LSD trip, one liners, being done over by Pete Campbell. I find that this season has less emphasis on Don, in the other seasons he dominated screen time whereas their is a lot of emphasis on several story lines. I think we are all putting money on Pete Campbell to blow his brains our or either fucking up his marriage (like Don) by getting caught. Megan is nothing more then something nice to look at, her character is boring and I much preferred when Don was a man whore. In relation to the Beatles, cannot believe they paid $250,000 for rights: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141092/How-Mad-Men-paid-250-000-license-The-Beatles--FIVE-times-song.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -song.html</a>
Sterling's one liners have been superlative. I laughed out loud when he gave Pete the ski's and said "and I got to see that." I think changing Don into a reformed ex man whore, and not even trying to struggle against it, was a good change for his character. The easy route would have been for him to man whore it up and really play up his regrets for getting remarried. Instead he seems to be dealing with situations in a much more mature fashion, leaving the real regrets for Pete who I think has been killing it this season. I think the layering, including adding Megan's character, is much better and well executed than earlier season stories. They are spreading the stories around more and it is making the show better as a whole.
We all are...which is exactly why it is NOT going to happen. Weiner knows he's been hinting at this, but since when has he hinted at anything and then followed through? This season if anything, especially with Joan's ex husband not dying in Vietnam, has proven that Weiner will feint one way and go another. Also, I don't think Jessica Pare and Alexis Bledel did bad parts. I think they both nailed (and are nailing) what they were supposed to be doing. The characters are coming off how they are supposed to. I think there is some confusion between bad acting and just not liking the character.
Key read on the Mad Men + Beatles. "Matthew Weiner Spent $250,000 to Use The Beatles on Mad Men Because He Cares."
Actually, I realized that I don't like the actress much more than I don't like the character. I think if Megan was played by another actress, I might not have as much hate for her so deep in my soul. There is something about that actress that makes me physically uncomfortable and upset every time she's on screen. I hate looking at her (which is weird because it's not like she's hideous, just generally unattractive to me), I hate the way she moves her mouth, she always seems so nervous and on the edge of tears. I'm obviously supposed to like her and find her really hot, but I can't, because I hate that actress so much. And she is a bad actress. Last episode, when she said "I love you so much, you're exactly what I wanted you to be," I yelled that I didn't believe her at my screen. But maybe the character was lying, I don't know. But that's the thing, I don't believe their entire relationship. I don't get it. So it makes me so angry that it's all we're supposed to care about this season, especially when there are so many more interesting characters and storylines or potential storylines they could be giving more screen time too. Hopefully, we'll actually get time to do that now that it may not be the Horseface Show. As for Bledel, I never said I didn't like her character. I said I didn't have any sympathy for Pete. She just can't look or behave like she's older than she's sixteen, so it's unbelievable watching her in an adult role. Especially one that's supposed to be so sexual. Again, with her line telling Pete to fantasize it and she'll fantasize it too, I laughed. She seemed so uncomfortable in that line. With the two of them, I'm just always very aware that they're acting, whereas with all the other characters, I actually believe those actors are never not like their characters, even after watching Jon Hamm in 30 Rock and Bridesmaids. Maybe it just sucks for them because they're mediocre actors in an ensemble cast full of excellent actors, so they just stand out much more than they would in mostly any other show on TV.
Here is an interesting piece on Megan and Mad Men overall. "The Alient Mystique: Megan Draper and the Upending of the Mad Men Universe"