Mad Men: My Thoughts

[Phantasee]

Just watched the pilot again, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

Some thoughts:

The first time we see Don Draper, he sleeps with Midge within the first five minutes. He suggests they get married the next morning. Within the first ten minutes we learn his secretaries usually keep a fifth of rye in their desk for him. He gets to his office, and we learn he has a drawer in his desk full of fresh shirts. At the end of the episode, we see him ride the train, arriving home in his car... to his wife and children. The closing scene shows him sitting by his sleeping children while his happy wife stands in the door, looking on.

The foreshadowing of Salvatore's sexuality is hilarious. At one point he says, "We're supposed to believe that people are living one way, and secretly thinking the exact opposite? That's ridiculous." He shakes his head and turns away. Later, when Pete asks him if he has a girlfriend, Salvatore just says, "I'm Italian."

Don's hair is taller in the front in season one than in season five. I wonder how much of it is changing styles and how much it's an intentional thing (aging?). Peggy's hair is quite different as well, of course. She changes her appearance the most over the course of the five seasons. Pete calls her out on her appearance on her first day, calling her Amish for her modest dress.

Pete seems to be the other main character, but overlooked by everyone in the show as well as by most viewers. Which is hilarious in a dark way. He's terrible with women and people, his ambition bites him in the ass regularly, he's conniving, slightly slimy, fairly fake... he strives to be like Don, but he can't be Don himself. He wants Don's position, status, respect (both from Don and the respect Don receives from others). He's so hungry you can almost see the drool, you can hear the rumbling in his stomach, and it drives him to be a shitty person. He's a counterpoint to Don, in a lot of ways, coming from a rich family with a long history, proud of his name... and he's so honest. Versus Dick Whitman aka Donald Draper who lives his whole life as a lie, down to his name, but who is so good at everything he does, with work, women, career.

I'm going to hit a few of my favourite episodes of the first four seasons over the next couple weeks, and I'll be adding my thoughts as I see the episodes.

[Guardsman Bass]

I remember Season One was enjoyable, but very heavy-handed in how how it dealt with some of Mad Men's themes. Peggy's visit with the contraception doctor was a seriously huge culture shock moment - the condescension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I probably need to re-watch it. I can't remember much about Season One, except Pete's failed attempt at blackmail and the Don-Pete tension.

The foreshadowing of Salvatore's sexuality is hilarious. At one point he says, "We're supposed to believe that people are living one way, and secretly thinking the exact opposite? That's ridiculous." He shakes his head and turns away. Later, when Pete asks him if he has a girlfriend, Salvatore just says, "I'm Italian."

I remember the scene where he was at the club with some of the guys immediately made me think he was gay. It was something he said, and how he said it.

[Phantasee]

That's where he's asked if he has a girlfriend. A bunch of girls join them after and one of them tries to strike up a conversation with him, mentioning how nice the place is, and he just turns up and looks at the roof and walls and agrees, admiring the decorating instead of paying attention to her.

The contraception prescription scene is really heavy-handed, and the doctor is a pig. Part of it was to establish Joan's character, I think.

[Uraniun235]

That's where he's asked if he has a girlfriend. A bunch of girls join them after and one of them tries to strike up a conversation with him, mentioning how nice the place is, and he just turns up and looks at the roof and walls and agrees, admiring the decorating instead of paying attention to her.

I think it was when she said it was hot and "full of men", and he agreed with a certain note of enthusiasm.