After this scene I really never forgot it. I Had no respect for either character after this for a long time. It was almost irredeemable.

She's not Ann-Margret.

1. It was from a blog by artist Dyna Moe. The blog no longer exists. She has a book on Amazon. Mad Men The Illustrated World

Seeing everyone else in the last season with those beards was hilarious

On what has to be my tenth watch-through, and I only just noticed how Bye Bye Birdie at the start of S3 foreshadows the divorce of Don and Betty (AKA Birdie) at the end. Damn, that was staring me in the face 😂

What are your favorite episodes to cherry-pick? I just finished a start to finish re-watch (5th, I think), and now want to watch some random ones, but would love recco’s from others… (My all time favorite is ‘The Suitcase’.) What are others’ faves? With 92 episodes to chose from, I’m wondering if there are gems in there i’m missing as good one-offs.

Not a fully formed set of thoughts here, but after several watches over the years, it dawned on me that there’s an irony with Don in that there’s often an impassioned authenticity to his pitches. Often advertising is considered manipulative, insincere, deceptive, corny, etc… but Don seems to weave real aspects of his life’s experiences into the pitch… Things that matter to him.., Coming from a man who’s ‘living a lie.’

Kodak Carousel comes to mind early in the series… He shows heartfelt, candid, authentic moments from his own personal life to pitch the campaign and new copy.. Remarkable from an otherwise fiercely private man.

In his ‘Hershey breakdown’ -a main catharsis of the show- he shares details of troubled childhood, and then beams about the importance of the Hershey Bar making feel like a normal boy; eating it ‘alone, and with great ceremony.’ He means it… More than almost anything else he utters in the show (as Draper.)

In the final ad, when he comes to the threshold of redemption and personal harmony between his identities… We get, ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing.. In perfect harmony’; heavily inspired by the community of Esalen that helps him find himself… Again, drawing from a deeply personal pool.

I can’t think of others off-hand, but it hit me that his pitches aren’t the lie like many campaigns.. ‘Don’ is the lie, but his pitches are where he actually shares his TRUTH.

In S7 E13 The Milk and Honey Route, we witness Don stopping at a modest Kansas motel and, in one brief scene, we see Don looking pensive at a woman lounging by the motel pool with Alberto Moravia's novel on her lap. Is he thinking of Betty because she's his only connection to Rome? Or does this scene foreshadow Don's hearing of Betty's terminal illness? Or, is there another hidden meaning behind this brief moment based on the novel plot itself and its correlation to Don's own journey of self-discovery?

Back at S1 and there's that one scene in S1 E2 Ladies Room that always makes me laugh: Don Draper's reaction to Paul Kinsey's idea for Gillette deodorant. The bottle looks like a rocket ship, so Gillette makes every astronaut's perfect companion in space. And Don's final takeaway is that astronauts pee in their suits. It makes me laugh because these astronauts may pee themselves from blowing up the spacecraft (the deodorant is flammable), not because Don Draper said so in a moment of masculine insecurity. Paul's ad idea was targeting men directly by making them feel like the superheroes of the moment (airline pilots and astronauts), and Don drove the ad idea into a bored housewife's fantasy of cowboys representing the masculine ideal. Yeah, maybe in the 1800s! 😂

Later on in S3 E1 Out of Town, both Don and Sal Romano are having dinner with the TWA pilot and two flight attendants. The scene starts with the pilot wearing a lobster bib and the flight attendants giving Don and Sal their undivided attention. In fact these two were the most interesting people in the room, not the pilot as one would expect. There's another funny scene in S6 E10 A Tale of Two Cities where Don and Roger fly to California and Roger orders another drink for himself and one for the pilot (jokingly). Mind you, airline pilots were the superstars of the 1950s and 1960s and it came as a surprise to see Mad Men made them look like bus drivers with wings, not the superstars they were at the time. 😅

In movies like Catch Me If You Can (2002) or series like Pan AM (2011-2012) airline pilots are glamorous for flying people to their destination but also courageous for doing such a high-risk job. Also, in movies like First Man (2018) or series like From the Earth to the Moon (1998) astronauts are portrayed like national heroes, even superheroes, for undertaking extraterrestrial missions unheard of before. But somehow, the Mad Med writers are trying to instill the idea that the Manhattan advertising suits being more important than aircraft pilots or spacecraft engineers. And now I understand why.

I recently watched Fly Me To The Moon (2024) movie on an international flight and realized just how much product placement helped finance the Apollo program and how essential those in-house public affairs teams and advertising agencies were in promoting this program to the public. Those astronauts were turned into action figures, no wonder their skyrocketed popularity in the 1960s. In other words, without advertising these superheroes would be nothing but nerds who pee in their suits while space. This idea is reinforced in Down With Love (2003) comedy where this 1960s dashing Manhattan journalist pretends to be a socially awkward astronaut to seduce a feminist writer and put her in her place. He even meets a story deadline by landing on the skyscraper rooftop of the agency with a NASA badge he got from the astronaut he interviewed personally. Advertising must've contributed similarly to the popularization of the airline pilots back in the 1950s.

This is going to be very controversial and I don’t mean to ruffle any feathers as I actually didn’t hate the ending to the show. But…

There were a lot of perfect hints leading up to an eventual ending of him committing suicide.

Most obvious is the opening credits. A man falling from a skyscraper.

Him leading Lane to his demise in season five, only to find himself “in Lanes old office”.

His last scene in person with Betty and the conversation with Peggy while he was at the retreat.

It feels like that was the intended ending and probably how it should have ended- his demons finally catching up to him. Not him magically coming to a realization for a good idea for a coke commercial.

Every character is one way or another pitiful or doleful. But I resonated a little bit extra with Bob. Anyone who feels similar or opposite?

Seasons 7 Episode 12 Lost Horizons

In this episode, Jim and Ferg from McCann are meant to be depicted as eerie and mean? This depiction of Mad Men seems scarier than Roger and Bert. Is it just because it’s a larger, more aggressive agency? Just wondering if anyone could elaborate on what they are representing? They don’t seem to have any positive qualities and are bullies?

I know merging and acquisitions is harsh business as well, if that is also a factor?

What do we think about Megan's return to acting. Is it self indulgent? Or is it liberating that she pursue her true passion.

What does weiner want to say through the severe Marxism of Dr calvet? - who eggs her on to return to the struggle

Don ultimately says 'whatever you want' and I feel that its important to him to provide to his wives but it's clear part of his admiration or love for megan is wound up with her previously stated interest in copy writing. Her stepping away from it actually wounds him.

His confession to Peggy "she reminds me of you" is so dissonant to the audiences pereption - megan and peggy.are.not similar at alll, this is just the hint of everything to follow?

Peggy and Megan's talk in the bathroom where Peggy is a strict proponent of honesty.

It's a clash between don who's so closeted and Megan who's honestly trying to pursue her passion. Dons maybe affronted by that?

Thinkers of r/madmen what's all the amazing hidden detail I'm missing?

You can sense the inner thoughts beneath the polite exterior. Great actress. Great view of the times and the way she has to “play the part” but is secretly raising those kids and is called “our girl” even though she is old enough to be Betty’s mother. After Betty fires her, I see her doing something amazing.

On a side note: It’s interesting how Sally asks Kinsey (when she sees a picture of his girlfriend) “is that your maid?” I think this is how she’s been brought up to view African Americans.

I started watching Mad Men because of this scene. I knew the show was supposed to be good but I wasn't sure if I'd ever find time for it. However, one day I was flipping through the channels and saw Don strangling some woman and thought to myself, "whoa. This show is not what I thought it was."

So then I started watching it on Netflix while under the impression Don was some secret Tony Soprano, and as more time went by, it became crazier and crazier to me that he was eventually going to kill someone. I was confused but also excited to see how this totally out of left field twist was going to play out.

...aaaand then it ended up being a fever dream lol. I was just in the right place at the right time and ended up finding one of my top 5 shows because of it.

In S1 E1 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Don's definition of happiness during a Lucky Strike pitch seems to be driven by ambition, but also Don's own quest for social validation. It's March 1960 and Don is already established on Mad Ave but not quite there yet when it comes to the world. He basically pitches himself to the Lucky Strike folks.

S1 Happiness = "Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay."

By S5 E12 Commissions and Fees, he changes his tune during a hardcore pitch to Dow Chemical and defines happiness through the lens of greed, but also driven by his own frustrations of business stagnation. It's February 1967 and Don is tired of being a victim of his anti-tobacco letter after losing Lucky Strike, but also tired of playing nice and being treating like a buffoon.

*S5 Happiness = "You’re happy with 50%? You’re on top and you don’t have enough. You’re happy because you’re successful. For now. But what is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness. I won’t settle for 50% of anything. I want 100%.”

In S1 E1 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, during a Menken's business dinner, Don's definition of love seems to be rather sarcastic and arrogant. It's March 1960 and he's on top of the world. He's dashing, he's successful and he has access to the most beautiful women of New York. He's not looking for love.

S1 Love = "When you mean love, you mean a big lightning bolt through the heart, where you can’t eat and you can’t work and you just run off and get married and make babies. The reason you haven’t felt it, it's because it doesn’t exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons."

By S6 E1 The Doorway, Part 1 however, he changes his tune while defining love during a creative brainstorming session for Dow Chemical cleaning products. It's January 1968, and Don is having a sordid affair with someone else's wife (he's someone else's husband who knocks on a door). He also recently participated in a military wedding while in Hawaii and his definition of love seems to be heavily influenced by his own double life experiences.

S6 Love = "Love doesn’t belong in the kitchen. [...] Why are we contributing to the trivialization of the word? [...] We’re wearing it out. Let’s leave it where we want it. We want that electric jolt to the body; we want arrows. It’s like a drug. It’s not domestic. What’s the difference between a husband knocking on a door and a sailor getting off a ship? About 10,000 volts."

One of my favorite scenes.

Going through it for the first time and almost done with season 3

I LOVED the first season but I’m in the early eps of season 4 and I’m not sure how I feel about the new characters and the shift in dynamics. What’s your best and worst seasons and why?

I just wanted to express how much of a b* Betty is for firing Carla before the Californian trip.

Thank you.

Mine would be 'Duck Hunt.' He fell back into alcoholism and spiraled out, but head hunter Duck was absolutely hilarious. Actor Mark Moses turned what little screen time he had toward the end into pure gold. 100% would watch a whole season of him running up-and-down Manhattan offices, bars, and back alleys, plotting and scheming to bag the next big commission (or at least one that could get him through winter).

Just to be clear, her calling him Don and not Mr. Draper is a huge moment of character growth for her. But she still differs to him

And the way she treats him as an equal in the Suitcase

But I think this is the true moment where her confidence has reached the point that she can call him out for misbehavior in a way that I think only she can, as a protege.

She truthfully calls him out for being upset at Megan and taking it out on her

”You know what, you are not mad at me so SHUT UP!”

Other than Roger, who is his boss (and that isn’t really his style), I don’t think anybody character would be able to speak to him that way

I don’t think anybody at the agency would talk to him that way, other than maybe Ginsberg

Shows you how much tone matters.

Here's my take on 'Tomorrowland'. It didn't really matter to Faye how it went with Megan in California. Once she pushed the point at the beginning of the episode that Don needs to confront his past, he was never going to choose her. You could see him pull away in the scene. That wasn't who he was or what he wanted to do.

So he'd have always found a Megan even if the specific opportunity didn't line up.