HOME / tv club: Talking television.

Mad Men, Season 3

Print This ArticlePRINTEmail to a FriendE-MAILShare This ArticleRECOMMEND...Get Slate RSS FeedsRSS
Patrick Radden Keefe is the author of The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream, which has just been published. John Swansburg is Slate's culture editor. You can e-mail him at and follow him at www.twitter.com/swansburg. Julia Turner is Slate's deputy editor. You can e-mail her at or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/juliaturner.
Stills from Mad Men © 2009 American Movie Classics Company LLC. All rights reserved. Stills in entries 65-70 by Carin Baer.
COMMENTS

Series creator Matthew Weiner has stated he leaves nothing for future seasons and puts everything out there each season, like its the last, and this episode could almost double as a series finale. I think when Mad Men eventually ends its run, there will be discussion whether this episode was the proper series finale and should have called it quits right here, or will Weiner have new and interesting places to take us in season 4?

-- guyroy
(To reply,
click here)

"And the way that they saw themselves is gone." Julia, I think this pretty clearly refers to Peggy having her child and giving it away. Until Peggy told Pete about the baby, Don was only person on the show outside of her family and priest that knew her secret. Don was the one that visited Peggy in the hospital after she gave birth and had been out of work for a while.

-- BumblebeeMan
(To reply,
click here)

Who's in charge, Betty or Henry? Something that surprised me was the amount of involvement Henry had in Betty's divorce advice. Does it ring true for the period that Henry went to the lawyer with Betty and apparently also knew the lawyer and may have selected the lawyer for Betty? And, when Betty told Don that she would be consulting with a divorce attorney and Don should too, was she simply parroting Henry's words?

Certainly since Henry's divorced he knows the routine and I can understand him giving Betty the benefit of his experience. Last episode Henry was willing to give Betty the time she needed and he would wait. Now, things are fast-tracked to Reno. I'm sure that it's been hard for Betty to continue to live in the same house with Don who continues to deny Betty's feelings. But, seeing Betty sitting in the lawyer's office on the sofa with Henry, reminded me of Betty sitting on the sofa with Glen last season. Then, when Don confronts Betty about Henry, they seem to be having their first real fight.

Anyway, I wonder if Betty/Henry are the 'lasting love' mentioned in the Roy Orbison song at the end.

-- lkd711
(To reply,
click here)

I think season 4 will include a serious health issue for Don-perhaps lung cancer. Note the cough at the beginning of the last episode. Also the brief scene when Sterling's dog food heiress old flame states that her first husband died of lung cancer, there is a brief cut to Don lighting up another. Thoughts while I write an order for Don to get a screening cat scan.

-- ldbmd
(To reply,
click here)

What did you think of this article?
Join The Fray: Our Reader Discussion Forum
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
TODAY'S PICTURES
TODAY'S CARTOONS
TODAY'S DOONESBURY
TODAY'S VIDEO
The end of Prohibition.58/091204_TP.jpg
Cartoonists' take on Tiger Woods.37/091204_TC.jpg
The gee word.1/122939/2183724/DoonesburyPlaceholder.jpg