- 27,785
- 12,449
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2011
I'm rewatching the earlier seasons.
I miss Pete's old secretary.
I miss Pete's old secretary.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: this_feature_currently_requires_accessing_site_using_safari
The review also mentioned the obvious parallel to Don drinking Roger under the table back in the first season and how Don was the hero in that scene... but doing the same thing here makes him the villain.Don doesn’t really plot a professional humiliation of Ted. It’s more like he toys with the other guy like a cat with a mouse. Yet Ted has the support of friends and a respect that comes from his colleagues not from fear but from camaraderie. Peggy, who, let’s not forget, is nursing a crush on the man, tells Don that she wishes Ted had rubbed off on Don, rather than the other way around, and this episode seems to go out of its way to paint Ted as a long-suffering guy who just wants to do good work and get ahead, while painting Don as a man who likes to put the people in his life into little boxes—very nearly literally, in the case of Sylvia—then insist that they abandon free will in the face of his desires.
Don Draper may be the cool guy in the room, and he may be the person so many men around him want to be, but he’ll never be the guy who flew the plane to that meeting. Stuck on an island of his own making, Don can’t make the climb. He can only rely on others to do it for him.
+1wow that last theory. I wouldn't even be mad
They may be 1 more season. AMC has stated that season 7 is probably going to be the last. Seeing as this show applies historical events 5 years must pass between now and the end of season 7. Doubt it. But I think he will switch identities after ruining his life.I'd be really happy if that's how the series ended.
Great episode.
Roger gets a lot of great one liners, but he nailed it this week and John Slattery directed a great episode. Roger was SO HAPPY to fire Burt again "Probably doesn't make a difference at this point, but no one fought for you". cold blooded
I'm really liking Ted so far, from his different approach to the job and then this point I read in a review from the AV Club
http://www.avclub.com/articles/man-with-a-plan,97161/
The review also mentioned the obvious parallel to Don drinking Roger under the table back in the first season and how Don was the hero in that scene... but doing the same thing here makes him the villain.Don doesn’t really plot a professional humiliation of Ted. It’s more like he toys with the other guy like a cat with a mouse. Yet Ted has the support of friends and a respect that comes from his colleagues not from fear but from camaraderie. Peggy, who, let’s not forget, is nursing a crush on the man, tells Don that she wishes Ted had rubbed off on Don, rather than the other way around, and this episode seems to go out of its way to paint Ted as a long-suffering guy who just wants to do good work and get ahead, while painting Don as a man who likes to put the people in his life into little boxes—very nearly literally, in the case of Sylvia—then insist that they abandon free will in the face of his desires.
Ted also is as close to a true rival as Don ever had... and we never really got to see that up close and personal until now. Ted is obviously talented and like the quote says, he has people he can turn to and who respect him... unlike Don.
I'm glad Don and Sylvia are done, just because that story was over and they would have needed to elaborate on it to drag it out any longer. Jon Hamm delivered a great performance tonight, ranging from his sexual dominance over her to immediately being broken when she ended it. Don won't ever be satisfied with the woman he's with and she ended it before he came to that same realization
Bob Benson was finally useful in this episode and I liked his and Joan's little story. Whether or not he wanted to save his own job, he still helped her when she needed it... and I was glad Joan returned the favor.
Subtle, thematic line of the night, Ted saying to Don "Sometimes when you're flying you think you're right side up but you're upside down... have to read your instruments". Which could definitely be applied to Don. He always thinks he has a handle on things and when things go bad, he seems so surprised... but he's never looking at his instruments. His co-workers, his family, and those around him... he never cares or pays attention.
Also from the AV Club
Don Draper may be the cool guy in the room, and he may be the person so many men around him want to be, but he’ll never be the guy who flew the plane to that meeting. Stuck on an island of his own making, Don can’t make the climb. He can only rely on others to do it for him.
A really solid episode sizing Don up, even after all these years, they've found interesting ways to go after this character. When Ted was talking to his partner in the hospital, he described Don as "mysterious" and that "He doesn't talk for long stretches, then he's incredibly eloquent". Don still has the charm and mystique, but that only goes so far.