Yikes—we did "change the conversation," didn't we? I'm glad to see that Fraysters have been more intrepid than we have in their discussions of the maypole scene. Readers have also been posting on the subject of Peggy's "jerk" comment, which I assumed was directed at Don. But reader Ianto Steerpike, making an argument several folks in the Fray agree with, writes:
No, no, no ... that "jerk" line wasn't anything at all about Don or anyone real at Sterling Cooper. Didn't you catch, when the dweeb said "I don't know how you girls can do all that typing?" Peggy hesitated, clearly considering correcting him, and then decided to go with the idea that she was just a secretary. Because she's learned that men are intimidated by her as a "career gal." … That's the kind of line "just a secretary" might use.
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StumbleUponIt's a persuasive reading. But even if her motive was to play secretary, I still believe Peggy might have been thinking about Don when she made the comment. As Patrick noted, she'd just appealed to Don's sense of good advertising only to have her objections brusquely dismissed. I also think Mad Men's writers are quite content to have left the "Who's the jerk?" question open to interpretation.
Patrick, I'm very happy to learn that you, too, have worried about the fate of poor Chauncey. Duck's abandonment of his Irish setter was excruciating viewing for this dog lover, but it's also a scene that left an indelible mark. I think you're right about the icky moments giving Mad Men its distinctiveness, even if Peggy's Ann-Margret routine didn't quite do it for me. I'm totally with you on Glen Bishop. Another scene I can't shake is the one between Betty and Glen in the supermarket parking lot. Afraid his mother will emerge from the store and find him talking with Betty, Glen utters one of the great lines in the series to date, "I don't know how long 20 minutes is." Funny, tragic, perfectly childlike.
Stray note from my Episode 2 notebook: "Did Wilma Flintstone really carry Pebbles as elegantly as Betty Draper is carrying her third child?" Post your YouTube evidence in the Fray.
Like the Bordeaux grape, may we all get better with time,
John
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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
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"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
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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
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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
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