tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2404509015791000032.post7698832912298742768..comments2024-03-04T00:09:50.431-08:00Comments on Rikdad's Comic Thoughts: Mad Men 406Rikdadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14475851964933197612noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2404509015791000032.post-25354992956753755472010-08-31T06:29:45.536-07:002010-08-31T06:29:45.536-07:00iamkimiam, that's a fantastic series of observ...iamkimiam, that's a fantastic series of observations! Perhaps Don's contempt for Danny is another way of loathing his former self. I particularly like your focus on the supporting characters in terms of what they mean to Don. (E.g., to whom he owes an apology, and to whom not.) That's a perspective I'll try to remember in the future.<br /><br />It seemed like episode 405 moved Don to a more stable place, and away from a breaking point, but now that looks like a short spell from the overall trend.Rikdadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14475851964933197612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2404509015791000032.post-89008428702287571642010-08-31T00:29:04.522-07:002010-08-31T00:29:04.522-07:00kim, i am,
her name is Betty (pet name Bets) nick...kim, i am,<br /><br />her name is Betty (pet name Bets) nickname for Elizabeth, very popular with girls born in the depression era, not Betsy.<br /><br />Rik, you overlooked Don's workproduct which Roger noticed immediately: Betty in a Heller mink om an enlarged promo ad.<br /><br />Both Roger and Betty converged in Hellers and changed the course of Don's life: He had it made in the shade, except he can't hold onto anything valuable.<br /><br />Last season:<br />Roger: "You are not good at relationships, because you don't value them."<br />Don: "I value ours." (It sounded phony, because he never had a role model to emulate value.)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12317438894787806610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2404509015791000032.post-59540940374097714622010-08-30T07:12:59.663-07:002010-08-30T07:12:59.663-07:00Your Mad Men reviews are consistently excellent! I...Your Mad Men reviews are consistently excellent! I've thoroughly enjoyed them. <br /><br />Some other points about this episode I noticed:<br /><br />Both Don and Danny got into advertising because of their horrible ads. Don thinks Roger Sterling was playing a joke on him because Danny's cocky naivety eerily paralleled his own start, complete with a bad book. <br /><br />Don gave advice about his drink in the board room, "Make it simple, but significant." Peggy was listening. She returned that drink to him, unsipped, on the corner of his desk when he refused to budge with regards to taking undue credit. Later, Peggy lets Stan shine in the presentation of his ad design, saying, "It's true, I only changed one little thing." Another small but significant gesture, covertly demonstrating to her ego-inflated peers that what has transpired is not lost on her.<br /><br />Don told Doris that his name was Dick, as evidenced by her using that name when she woke up. It also shows how they both woke up in bed with somebody different than the person they thought they laid down with the night before. Later, Don can't look Doris in the eye when he says "I had a great time" but stares at her directly when he says "I'm really sorry I forgot I had plans." It's a sincere apology to the wrong person. A substitute blond for the one he can't have (Betsy), and the one he needs professionally (Faye), but can't step up to meet. And of course, Anna, who is his home, and slipping away.<br /><br />This is at least the second time this season that Don's name was used to signal the shifting line of his public/private world and his past/present. Two episodes ago, Anna addressed her letter to 'Dick' as 'Don', showing that she understands him and his need for discretion, despite that they both see and address each other as they really are. That also dovetailed nicely with the whole privacy theme, outlined in this nice Slate piece/comment: http://www.slate.com/id/2261483/entry/2264354/<br />And, as my friend from MetaFilter, Cool Papa Bell noticed, Don opens the episode reading a letter from someone who knows him well and ends it unable to write one to someone who doesn't.<br /><br />Anna, Faye, Doris, Betsy (the four diametrically opposed blondes)...Rachel, Allison...Peggy, Joan...all of this juxtaposition of who he can and can't have, who he rejects (or rejects him), paired with themes of abandonment, anonymity, etc...all this surely will come to a breaking point soon. <br /><br />Can't wait to see it all, and hear what you have to say about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com