Official Mad Men Season 5 Thread - Episode - 13 - "The Phantom" 6/10 10pm - Season Finale

[wildmoodswings]

No shortening of the episodes. Nice. Thanks for the info, Big J.
I'm in the middle of watching season 3 as well.

 

[big j 33]

"Mad Men" finally returns to television next Sunday, March 25 at 9 p.m., but because creator Matthew Weiner is so paranoid about spoilers (and has a much broader definition of the concept than almost any other showrunner), the "Mad Men" panel at PaleyFest spent virtually the entire time looking back, not forward. Fans got to watch last season's finale, "Tomorrowland," and though moderator Elvis Mitchell tried to prod Weiner for a few details about the upcoming season, the biggest tidbit the show's creator revealed is that (spoiler alert!) Lane Pryce will become a Mets fan. 

But with almost the full cast on-hand (Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks had other commitments), there was plenty of time to reflect on where we left the characters when "Tomorrowland" aired 17 months ago, to learn a bit about how the actors see their Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce alter egos, and to get a few amusing anecdotes along the way. Among the highlights: 

Because the crowd had just watched "Tomorrowland," there was a lot of discussion of Don's impulsive decision to propose to Megan, what that means for him, etc. Jon Hamm said he was glad that the season ended on a note of hope after Don had been in a downward spiral all year. Weiner said when he directed the scene where Don told his co-workers about the engagement, he filmed the reaction shots first, and the other actors mostly seemed frozen. Then he turned the camera around to see what they were so stunned by, and it was Hamm smiling as broadly as he ever has playing the role, which unnerved everyone. Hamm also enjoyed last season's "The Summer Man," where Don keeps a journal of his attempts to drink less, because, "It was refreshing to actually get to say those things and go through those emotions as a character who had really been wrung out." 

Speaking of reaction shots, John Slattery got a lot of laughs recapping the filming of the blackface scene from the season 3 episode "My Old Kentucky Home," and how he wishes they had filmed the reaction shots first, as his co-stars and the extras were all suitably horrified at their first glimpse of him. He also admitted that he couldn't exactly ask Weiner to take it out of the script: "You can't ride the girl in her underwear singing cowboy sings and then say, 'No, I won't do the blackface.'" 

Rich Sommer introduced the word of the night when he said his reaction to "Tomorrowland" was to ask, "When, exactly, did Harry become such a ++$#!*+$%?" Various other actors would try to seize the ++$#!*+$% mantle for their character (Jay R. Ferguson thought "the douche torch had been passed to Stan"), but it kept coming back to Sommer, who said he didn't actually think Harry had changed all that much from the first season. ""I think if you took Harry Crane from episodes in season 1 and put him into the situation he's in now," he said, "I don't think he would've been any different. He was just under a thumb before. He just has freedom to be who he truly is." Weiner said that Harry had become incredibly important to the agency, but Sommer has no illusions about his own position within the series: "I still think it'll be a show about Don Draper. Harry just might have more important places to go when he leaves a scene." 

Kiernan Shipka, who plays Sally Draper, once again proved herself to be more composed and articulate than many actors twice her age or more. When Weiner asked whether she felt Sally was more like her mother or father, Shipka observed, "I think she's more like her own person." The crowd applauded, and Sommer interjected, "If you guys are going to applaud every time Kiernan says something smart, then you will be applauding all night. She'll definitely say the smartest things out of everyone."

As for Sally's mom, the audience Q&A brought up how much fans dislike Betty, and January Jones quipped that "People run away from me on the street all the time. They're worried about me being a mother now." Weiner defended Betty, insisting that her open-handed slap of Sally's face last season wasn't that unusual for the period ("Oh, she's a monster! Lock her up!" he said sarcastically), and said that Betty had just cause to fire Carla for letting creepy, older Glen be around Sally despite her orders not to. (Though he did admit that Betty should have let Carla say goodbye to the kids.)

 The contract Weiner negotiated during the hiatus should take the show through the seventh season, which he confirmed is their current plan of when to end the show. "My whole thing is, I don't want to overstay our welcome, and it's really hard to do (the show)." He said that he and writer/producers Marie and André Jacquemetton had discussed what they want to do over the final season, but "there's no master plan." With each season so far, he's tried to end it in such a way that if the show didn't continue, that finale would feel like a good ending. Noting that people ask him about the ending all the time and seem anxious that he has something specific in mind, he joked, "I know everything, exactly how it's going to go."

Again, "Mad Men" is back on the 25th. It sounds like the premiere is the only episode AMC will be sending out in advance this season, so future episode reviews will come sometime on Monday, but you should have my thoughts on the first one that night.

Link

 

[big j 33]

Outside Matthew Weiner’s office in downtown Los Angeles hangs a framed spoof advertisement from Advertising Age. “Mad Men Wanted,

 

[big j 33]

Alison Brie with "spoilers" (they're fake/just jokes)

 

[kix4kix]

Can't wait for this season. 

 

[cucumbercool]

On season 2 on Netflix and its pretty good. I still don't know all the characters names but its getting there

 

[Nawzlew]

 

[danger style]

So close, yet still so far....just have to get through this finals week

 

[2morrowbegins2day]

I tried to follow this show but after mid way through the first season, i just couldn't anymore. i envy y'all for having such fascinations with this series

 

[the coolness]

Originally Posted by Big J 33

Alison Brie with "spoilers" (they're fake/just jokes)

 

[welcometothetonezone]

Originally Posted by Big J 33

Alison Brie with "spoilers" (they're fake/just jokes)

i'd simp for her so bad it's not even funny.

 

[scunny]

I just started watching all the seasons 2 weeks ago. Season 1 kind of drug on but the rest was awesome. Glad I'm all caught up and ready for Sunday!

 

[shogun]

Originally Posted by Born illa

I have a feeling Cooper is dunzo this season 

Dude is so old, he'll probably die in one of the episodes.  He still looks in better shape than Don and Roger.  The only exercise those guys get is sex with young women.

 

[livemyreality]

So, I saw Season 1 and 2 on blu-ray for $15 at Target. I know this is a good show, but should I get into it? I've kind of been hesitant.

 

[vaphenom06]

http://www.avclub.com/articles/jon-hamm,71202/
Figured everyone would enjoy this.

 

[big j 33]

Originally Posted by LiveMyReality

So, I saw Season 1 and 2 on blu-ray for $15 at Target. I know this is a good show, but should I get into it? I've kind of been hesitant.

Absolutely. It's also available on Netflix Instant (if you have an account or know someone who does) so you can try it out there.
I thought season 1 was good, 2 is my least favorite but nothing I hated, and 3 and 4 continued to get better.

 

[venom lyrix]

just realized yesterday that the season premiere is 2 hrs

awesome

 

[onthenephs]

ATLAS SHRUGGED BY AYN RAND > MAD MEN
/end of it.

As far as visuals and directing goes, Mad men is exceptional. 

 

[venom lyrix]

is there a mashup of recaps of the season - i feel like it's been so long since the last season that we need to be refreshed

 

[venom lyrix]

Originally Posted by Big J 33

\\

this is an amazing picture

 

[wildmoodswings]

Trying to finish rewatching season 4 this week. Season 3 solidified how unlikable Betty is.
Nothing will get in the way of my viewing of the season premiere on Sunday. 

That video of Alison Brie. 

 

[big j 33]

Only a few days away.. cannot wait. I finished my re-watch of the series, I'll post my thoughts on all of that this weekend.. until then I figured we should look back at the past women of Don Draper.
I forgot how great Dr. Faye was. She helped Don out when he needed business, she didn't run when she heard Don's secret, but the only problem was she wasn't a good fit as a mother. And that was obviously the biggest thing that sold Don on Megan.. when they went on the trip and he realized how much the kids liked her and how she was caring and patient (quite unlike Betty). Personally, I think my favorite was Ms. Farrel.
The write-ups are courtesy of Vulture
Betty Francis 

The woman: Don's wife is a former model and graduate of Bryn Mawr (anthropology!) who gave up her career to be Don's wife and a suburban mother in Ossining. Also: handy with a shotgun.
The fantasy: The perfect wife. Completing the illusion of Don Draper: Dashing Ad Man, Don needed a wife to play her part. A model, Betty was happy to get all dolled up and play her role. At first. Early in the series, Don brushed away any serious conversation with her and treated her, essentially, as an accessory, a prop. Eventually, he seems to understand her a bit more clearly — but by then it's too late.
How it ends: A spectacular series of betrayals and revelations confirm Betty's suspicions that the real Don, **** Whitman, is not the fantasy person that Betty had imagined either.

Midge Daniels

The woman: Independent, witty, and well aware of the downtown bohemian hep-cat scene, Midge, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, is a confident, brunette art illustrator who's not overly impressed with Don and the Suits in midtown. She'll drop a TV out a window without a second thought.
The fantasy: Wild, sexually aggressive bohemian dreamgal. She calls him at the office, saying, "Pull my hair and ravish me and leave me for dead." Don dreams of leaving it all behind and escaping with her to café culture in Paris. "Grab a bag," he tells her — but she's stoned with her beatnik pal.
How it ends: Don takes a Polaroid and notices something genuine between Midge and her male friend. Perhaps realizing how superficial it's all been, Don stuffs his bonus check down her bra and leaves.
Rachel Menken Katz

The woman: Powerful, sharp, whip-smart Jewish department-store scion who seems a half-step ahead of Don at every turn. 
The fantasy: The exotic equal. Don clearly admires her brass, her aggressiveness, and her success. Though running the family business, she seems to be a self-made success like himself. He dreams about starting all over with her, moving to Los Angeles, and beginning again.
How it ends: "I don't know if I understand how this works or where it goes," Rachel says early in their affair. "I'm worried this is a fantasy." Soon, she's convinced. When Don proposes that they escape to Los Angeles, she looks at him as if he's pitifully deluded — knowing that he wants a clean slate more than he wants her. Soon, she marries and leaves him wondering about what might have been.
Bobbie Barrett

The woman: Bobbie, red-haired wife and manager of comedian Jimmy, is a pragmatic sexual tactician who has mastered the "powerful business" of being a woman in a man's world.
The fantasy: Bobbie is Don's opponent, and nearly an equal on the sexual battlefield. "I like being bad and then going home and being good," she says — zeroing in on Don's kink. Few have played the dynamics of sexual power better than Bobbie, who all but forces Don to sleep with her in the taxi in exchange for handling her husband (Don scrubs his hands clean afterward in his kitchen). Then Don finger-blasts her by the coat check to even things out — but it still doesn't work for him. "I feel nothing," he tells her before they wreck a car.
How it ends: After Bobbie points out that "the full Don Draper treatment" (implying aggressive, rough sex) is the stuff of legend, Don ties her up to the bed and leaves her there, telling her, "I am not like you" — disturbed because he's clearly afraid that it's true.

Joy

The woman: A young free-spirit brunette with a wealthy weirdo family. 
The fantasy: The escape fantasy. Joy represents pure hedonism: skinny-dipping, heavy-drinking, globetrotting, irresponsible fun. If Don ever wanted to run away from everything and disappear, this was his opportunity. 
How it ends: Don decides he must face his past. He calls the real Mrs. Draper and leaves.

Suzanne Farrell

The woman: Sally's brunette teacher has a mysterious brother, a naughty streak, and a good handle on Don. "I'm new and I'm different," she says. "Or maybe I'm exactly the same." 
The fantasy: The embodiment of squeaky-clean maternal goodness. Just when things have gotten the most complicated with Betty, Don imagines Suzanne to be a dancing, maypole vision of simple idealistic virtue. Don asks her if she's "dumb or pure." Clearly, she's neither dumb nor pure — but Don wants to imagine her as some simpler option.
How it ends: We last see her idling in his car as they prepare to take a sweet vacation to the beach. On the phone with her later, Don is touched that she would care about his troubles: "Only you would ask about that now … "
Bethany Van Nuys

The woman: Bethany is a young, blonde, picture-perfect gal pal of Roger's ladyfriend Jane, who has seen Don's tricks before but enjoys getting dressed up anyway.
The fantasy: A simpler, younger Betty? As our commenters have pointed out, it's notable that Bethany is not only a supernumerary (an opera stand-in) but also the kind of gal who can wear another girl's dress. She looks more like Betty than any other girl Don has seduced, and that fresh blonde, young, and naïve cuteness is the opposite of the anti-fantasy that Don is running away from: the prostitute who birthed him.
Allison

Dr. Faye Miller

Megan

 

[hybridsoldier23]

Eh, vulture screwed up with Midge. She's a got damn heroine addict now but Don still hooked her up with cash. Gotta admire how he takes care of his people.

Can't wait for Sunday.

 

[ohboydanny]

Will tune in only for Trudy.

 

[rolaholic]

Bobbie Barret,Ms Farrell and Dr. Faye were my faves. He could've easily ended up with Dr Faye,they were perfect for each other. Used to really like Betty at first but after the 3rd season and last season she's become unbearable.
And yea, Don takes care of his people well,I remember he took care of Ms Farrell's brother. 

I'm excited to see how they portray the Don-Joan dynamic because the best part of last season was when they went deep into Don and Peggys relationship. That episode is probably my favorite of the series.