I wasn't in last week's thread, but right now all I have to say is Jonathan! Danny! YAY! :D

Such a great episode. So, so good. I'll have more to say when it's light out (to paraphrase Tommy.)

Edited at 2010-09-06 04:17 am (UTC)

Can someone please tell me why Jon Hamm and Elizabeth Moss don't have emmys?

That episode was beyond amazing. Peggy has never looked so gorgeous.

Random thoughts:
Love that she is no longer dating that idiot. Peggy is better than him. She's completely correct. If he knew her at all, he would know the last thing she would want to do for her birthday is spend time with her family.

Love Roger and Don acting like an old married couple. It cracks me up when Don says goodnight sweetheart.


This:

"Somebody very important to me died." -Don
"Who?" -Peggy
"The only person in the world who really knew me." -Don
"...That's not true." -Peggy

Because it isn't. Peggy knows him. Little by little Don is letting Peggy in. Don doesn't want to be alone so he makes Peggy stay late to work on the campaign. Peggy could have left several times. But she doesn't. She knows he needs her.

That scene with the two of them sleeping on the couch was so good. Don has the vision of Anna carrying a suitcase and she smiles. She knows that someone is there to take care of him.

I also like that Don has Peggy's back. When Duck turns up and calls her a whore, Don takes a swing at him. I like that Don doesn't judge Peggy for her past. It's just something that's there. Don doesn't lecture her for sleeping with Duck. The look on her face says she enough. She regrets it.

Can someone please tell me why Jon Hamm and Elizabeth Moss don't have emmys?

Gatzy, you took the words that I was going to take from Sepinwall right out of my mouth. He tweeted this just as the ep ended: Well, I think we know what episode both Hamm and Moss are submitting for next year's Emmys. Wow.

That was, just as you say, beyond amazing. The best episode of what has been a great season. It immediately, no questions asked, cuts in line to somewhere in the Mad Men All-Time Top 10.

Because it isn't. Peggy knows him.
Exactly. She knows he knows this, and is pointing out to him that they know each other.

Don clasping Peggy's hand was such a lovely, understated moment. Her smile in response says so much, doesn't it?

I also like that Don has Peggy's back. When Duck turns up and calls her a whore, Don takes a swing at him.
I would've taken a drunken swing at Duck, too. What an ass. Every time we think Don's hitting bottom, we can just remind ourselves of Duck. (He's giving me flashbacks to other addicts in my past.)

That scene with the two of them sleeping on the couch was so good.
It was, wasn't it? I love that he finally apologizes to her for something, and she just shushes him. Because she doesn't need an apology at that moment. And because she knows him.

I loved all those same moments, Gatz. I loved the two of them in the bar, and the restaurant... "That's a roach. We need to go someplace darker."

I also really loved the symmetry between this episode and where they were in the pilot/first ep (?). When Don grabs Peggy hand and squeezes it...oh, wow. My heart just melted. They're partners. Probably the only female partnership he's had since Mrs. Draper. And contrasting that hand squeeze to the one in the beginning, where Peggy squeezes Don hand, because she thinks that making herself "available" to Don is part of her role as his new secretary. They've come so far, right? Imagine what a disaster it would have been for them both if that first hand squeeze had gone a different way...

I'm sure it was deliberate. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd go back and check the DVDs...it looked as if it might have even been the same camera angle. I thought it was a great way to sum up the growth/change in their relationship to date.

Love Roger and Don acting like an old married couple. It cracks me up when Don says goodnight sweetheart.
"Look out your window. See me waving?" And he's actually waving. Slattery knew he was the comic relief for this episode -- the banter in the Roosevelt Room while they're telling Toby in the Oval -- and he did a bang-up job with it.

Meanwhile, I like that they showed us how hated Muhammad Ali was in '65. Right down to people insisting on still calling him Cassius Clay.

It's good to note how far we've come in our understanding of Islam. :/

I also loved (I need to come up with a verb other than "loved," but you know what I mean) the open door at the end. It's a new day for Don, isn't it? Somehow, having the weight of California--the waiting for the inevitable--off his shoulders, with the knowledge that there is someone else there who has his back, allows him to "open the door" again.

Plus, the knowledge of the "lost weekend," and the reality that Duck faces...he doesn't want to become Duck, and I think he finally realized that he's headed in that direction.

How many of you think Roger *actually* hired him? I think Don bluffed his way into that job, knowing that Roger was too drunk to remember anything from the lunch...and thus be forced to take Don's word for it that he hired him.


Again, symmetry--Don being forced to hire Danny because he was too drunk to remember that the tagline was his.

But, you know, it's Jonathan Danny, so I welcome the comic relief. *waits patiently for Mary to show up so someone knows what I'm talking about*

(I watched the last two episodes back to back, so please excuse me if I end up getting what's in what episode confused and just talk about it all here.)

I KNOW, RIGHT?!? At the time, I was like, "Only Mary will appreciate this..." :)

*realizes she has no Whedonverse icons*
*iz sad*

Here you all are!

I just dropped my long comment in last week's thread. Now I'm going to watch this episode. BRB.

the open door at the end

IA, and this is something MM do so well. "Open or closed?" "Open." We know what it means, metaphorically, but they don't beat it to death. And part of the elegance is that a) this is simply what the secretary says to the executive --- it's not embellished to make sure we get its double meaning, and b) it reminds us that Peggy used to be his secretary. In that moment, we're flashed back and forward to Peggy and Don as they are now.

How many of you think Roger *actually* hired him? I think Don bluffed his way into that job, knowing that Roger was too drunk to remember anything from the lunch...and thus be forced to take Don's word for it that he hired him.

I agree with you and Tom. Don saw the way in with Roger. Danny didn't weasel into his job, but he did benefit from Don's drunkeness. AND he got some traction with Don when he said all he had was his connection to Pete and his ideas. That was another nice tie-back to Don the fur salesman, who was trying to break in any way he could.

I AM TOTALLY STEALING THIS LINE:
Don: "Peggy, I'm glad this is an environment where you free to fail."

Don is such an asshole -- it's Peggy's birthday and she's lost her fiance and he just comes at her with guns blaring. Yeah, Anna, I know, but still. He has all the power in that room and that pisses me off. I don't care if he came around, he still made me mad.

Having said that, I agree with him. Peggy's been out of the secretarial pool for two years (according to Don). He says that instead of seeing every situation as an opportunity to learn and prove herself, she's "already counting her ideas." I actually agree with that. (It's oddly parallel to things I've seen in the workplace in recent decades -- people having little sense of growing and paying their dues.)

I think maybe it's down to Peggy being a woman, and not knowing where the line of disrespect is -- she's junior AND female. She must have to ask herself, "If I were a man, would he have acknowledged my contribution to that Cleo?" It must be hard to know the answer.





Edited at 2010-09-07 03:36 am (UTC)

it's Peggy's birthday and she's lost her fiance and he just comes at her with guns blaring. Yeah, Anna, I know, but still. He has all the power in that room and that pisses me off. I don't care if he came around, he still made me mad.

Mary, I remember thinking at the time, "Wait. I thought Betty was supposed to be the most unsympathetic character on the show (right after Pete, of course.)" He does come around, but still...it's intolerable.

And then I realized--how many people does Don really lose his shit with like that? It's as if he realizes on some level that Peggy can be a safety valve for him. Part of what I love about MM is the arc a character can take in a single episode. At that point, he unloads unconsciously on Peggy; by the end of the episode, as he's crying with her, he unloads consciously. That's some big growth, right there.

Edited because it's important to type the correct character's name. *headdesk*

Edited at 2010-09-07 09:01 pm (UTC)

And then I realized--how many people does Don really lose his shit with like that? It's as if he realizes on some level that Peggy can be a safety valve for him. Part of what I love about MM is the arc a character can take in a single episode. At that point, he unloads unconsciously on Peggy; by the end of the episode, as he's crying with her, he unloads consciously. That's some big growth, right there.
I think you might be right about Peggy as Don's safety valve, Amy. People lash out when they're grieving, sometimes toward people who care about them. Grieving doesn't excuse it, but it does explain it. He was simultaneously rude and right, if I may interpret what Mary said.

At that point, he unloads unconsciously on Peggy; by the end of the episode, as he's crying with her, he unloads consciously.
I know you're right about that. :)

Yeah, I see your point about losing it in a safe place, amygirl. IMO, with the rant it was just a matter of degree (he yells at plenty of people, just not that much). When he moved on to sharing the tape, then throwing up, then crying, it became more and more significant.

It was wonderful, wasn't it Anabelle? I'm fairly certain it's every MM fan's favorite episode of the season.

I love how they could spend all those hours together and we watch more and more layers of their trust and understanding build. They are fascinating characters alone, but I find even more so together.
Absolutely. It was wonderful to see the bond between them re-established.