![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Mad Men "Signal 30"
I'm only partially caught up on my TV shows but right now, I really feel like talking Mad Men.
.
-Oh Pete Cambell, you indescribable and compelling mess. I don't even know where to begin with Pete with this episode. I was alternating between cringing in embarassment, wanting to punch him and feeling moments of sympathy despite myself. To be fair, that's my usual reaction when watching Pete, but turned up to eleven. Focusing an episode on his Many Issues doesn't make for comfortable viewing, but it's certainly far from boring.
-Don should just bring Trudy into the firm and be done with. Watching them in a battle of wits was hilarious, not the least because you just knew poor Don never had a chance.
-And speaking of Don never having a chance...I wasn't sure how I felt about Megan at the end of last season, mostly because the heavy-handed way they held her up as the polar opposite of Betty annoyed me (look, she's warm! And like kids! And doesn't have any of Betty's hang-ups!), but she's really come into her own this season. I enjoyed how she handed off the Trudy-facing responsibility to Don. She's clearly not one to take Don's bullshit without challenge.
-Having said that, I'm less than convinced about Don's apparent brand spanking new attitude towards marriage. There's something almost desperate in his rejections of the many opportunities for illicit nookie (and there are many-as Roger hilariously pointed out, even the professional girls show a preference for Don over everybody else), like he's trying to convince himself above all.
-Speaking of the offers Don gets, all three of the ladies at the dinner party looked ready to jump him when he was fixing the sink in a wet T-Shirt, and who can blame them? John Hamm looked scrumptious.
-Of course, in the self-obsessed and wonderfully weird mind of Pete Cambell, that was just one more demonstration of how he's unworthy ofDaddy his mentor. It realise that Pete issues go so very beyond Don-his feeling of inadequacy runs deep, and is tied into his (very fucked-up, but probably period accurate) views on masculinity. I think it's funny that both Pete and Peggy are trying to be Don in a sense, but Peggy is significantly more succesful at it, while Pete is turning into some sad wannabe parody. To continue on this paralell, both lack Don's ease at dealing with people, but where Peggy merely commits a few social blunders, Pete has the ability to make everything in a ten mile radius SUPER AWKWARD. It's like a superpower!
-When Pete started chatting up that ridiculously young-looking girl, I was worrying that we'd have a retread of the Nanny ConsentIssues!scenario, so I was relieved this was merely a device to show Pete mistaking signals and being rejected on a personal level.
-The role-playing scenario the hooker did that got Pete going had me at once grossed out and laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, which again: Pete Cambell, in a nutshell.
-"Am I the only one who wants to see this?" No Roger, you are definitely not. From the moment Lane took off this jacket, I knew he was going to wipe the floor with Pete, but it was still extremely satisfying to watch, because he deserved it: for what he said to Lane, but also, so much more. And I just realised, between Don with the sink and Lane with the fisticuffs, there was a lot of men taking off their jackets and actingkind of hot hypermasculine in this episode, just to make Pete feel even smaller.
-Poor Lane though. I definitely saw some chemistry between him and Joan before, but I guess it was one-sided. I did love their scene, and the way she let him down while making it clear they're still friends (not to mention her priceless comment on everyone wanting to punch Pete).
-I need a Roger in my life: he can give me extremely unprofessional but probably effective advice on how to do business, make hilarious comments and tell me where the nearest debauchery is taking place, sort of like a perverted proto-Googlemaps.
-More Ken and Peggy interaction please! I need to see more of this pact (Ken and Peggy's good working relationship has been one of my favourite lowkey storylines over the seasons. I still remember how Ken was the one who treated Peggy the new copywriter the best out of all the other junior execs), and Peggy fangirling Ken's writing (I really hope he doesn't stop).
Some general observations on the season:
-I know January Jones is pregnant, but Fat!Betty is one of the most hilarious visuals and unconvincing fat suit since Fat!Lee in Galactica.
-Last week's episode was far more disturbing than I ever expected from this show, but excellent nevertheless. And I'd rewatch a hundred times for the scenes of Peggy pawning Roger and Joan kicking Dr Rapist to the curb (FINALLY) alone.
-I really hope we'll get more scenes with Dawn, last week's Peggy and Dawn scene was cringeworthy , but the subject matter was long overdue on the show. Hopefully she'll stick around long enough for that, because at this point, the position of Don's secretary is like teaching DADA at Hogwarts.
.
-Oh Pete Cambell, you indescribable and compelling mess. I don't even know where to begin with Pete with this episode. I was alternating between cringing in embarassment, wanting to punch him and feeling moments of sympathy despite myself. To be fair, that's my usual reaction when watching Pete, but turned up to eleven. Focusing an episode on his Many Issues doesn't make for comfortable viewing, but it's certainly far from boring.
-Don should just bring Trudy into the firm and be done with. Watching them in a battle of wits was hilarious, not the least because you just knew poor Don never had a chance.
-And speaking of Don never having a chance...I wasn't sure how I felt about Megan at the end of last season, mostly because the heavy-handed way they held her up as the polar opposite of Betty annoyed me (look, she's warm! And like kids! And doesn't have any of Betty's hang-ups!), but she's really come into her own this season. I enjoyed how she handed off the Trudy-facing responsibility to Don. She's clearly not one to take Don's bullshit without challenge.
-Having said that, I'm less than convinced about Don's apparent brand spanking new attitude towards marriage. There's something almost desperate in his rejections of the many opportunities for illicit nookie (and there are many-as Roger hilariously pointed out, even the professional girls show a preference for Don over everybody else), like he's trying to convince himself above all.
-Speaking of the offers Don gets, all three of the ladies at the dinner party looked ready to jump him when he was fixing the sink in a wet T-Shirt, and who can blame them? John Hamm looked scrumptious.
-Of course, in the self-obsessed and wonderfully weird mind of Pete Cambell, that was just one more demonstration of how he's unworthy of
-When Pete started chatting up that ridiculously young-looking girl, I was worrying that we'd have a retread of the Nanny ConsentIssues!scenario, so I was relieved this was merely a device to show Pete mistaking signals and being rejected on a personal level.
-The role-playing scenario the hooker did that got Pete going had me at once grossed out and laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, which again: Pete Cambell, in a nutshell.
-"Am I the only one who wants to see this?" No Roger, you are definitely not. From the moment Lane took off this jacket, I knew he was going to wipe the floor with Pete, but it was still extremely satisfying to watch, because he deserved it: for what he said to Lane, but also, so much more. And I just realised, between Don with the sink and Lane with the fisticuffs, there was a lot of men taking off their jackets and acting
-Poor Lane though. I definitely saw some chemistry between him and Joan before, but I guess it was one-sided. I did love their scene, and the way she let him down while making it clear they're still friends (not to mention her priceless comment on everyone wanting to punch Pete).
-I need a Roger in my life: he can give me extremely unprofessional but probably effective advice on how to do business, make hilarious comments and tell me where the nearest debauchery is taking place, sort of like a perverted proto-Googlemaps.
-More Ken and Peggy interaction please! I need to see more of this pact (Ken and Peggy's good working relationship has been one of my favourite lowkey storylines over the seasons. I still remember how Ken was the one who treated Peggy the new copywriter the best out of all the other junior execs), and Peggy fangirling Ken's writing (I really hope he doesn't stop).
Some general observations on the season:
-I know January Jones is pregnant, but Fat!Betty is one of the most hilarious visuals and unconvincing fat suit since Fat!Lee in Galactica.
-Last week's episode was far more disturbing than I ever expected from this show, but excellent nevertheless. And I'd rewatch a hundred times for the scenes of Peggy pawning Roger and Joan kicking Dr Rapist to the curb (FINALLY) alone.
-I really hope we'll get more scenes with Dawn, last week's Peggy and Dawn scene was cringeworthy , but the subject matter was long overdue on the show. Hopefully she'll stick around long enough for that, because at this point, the position of Don's secretary is like teaching DADA at Hogwarts.