Mad Men 6x09 Reaction
Added 2026-02-21 22:28:34 +0000 UTC
Comments
Proof positive that no one’s ever really done with the Mother/Father of their children
Isaiah Bryant
2026-02-23 12:35:10 +0000 UTCThe funhouse mirror maze feeling is very well embodied in the poster for S6. I haven't really looked at all of them or carefully analyzed, but the S6 one has always really stuck out to me. I wanted to make a comment about Bob being kind of like a young Don at some point, but there's been so much to talk about!
Kev
2026-02-23 01:20:48 +0000 UTCHenry's Republican which makes his adequateness enough of a contrast for his character complexity
bondbond53
2026-02-23 00:24:50 +0000 UTC[sharon tate theorizing intensifies] Betty rationalizing her tryst with Don as something that "happened a long time ago" is such a gorgeous character moment. Obviously she's being unfaithful to Henry, but there's something so "Sliding Doors" to that whole interlude at camp with Bobby -- a world where they stayed together, only if... Of course that was never a real option, but the way can compartmentalize and romanticize their time together feels so true to life to me. If the show is doing a "bad job" communicating Betty's character arc here -- I don't think it is, personally -- I wonder if that's more a failing in their portrayal of Henry. On a show full of complicated, damaged people, Henry just gets to bob along for several seasons as Betty's mostly two-dimensional Good Guy second husband/foil to Don. I think if he were a slightly more complicated character, we'd read Betty cheating with Don more as a messy, complicated character moment than as a symbolic back-slide away from what Henry represents.
Mike
2026-02-22 22:41:10 +0000 UTCBob Bunson constantly holding his coffee is peak comedy
Scott
2026-02-22 19:31:42 +0000 UTCThey’ve been emboldened by the liberal lens, wishy-washy writing of Abe this particular episode. I love this show but it ain’t leftist, that much is clear.
Darrach
2026-02-22 19:18:20 +0000 UTCfor anyone anxious about the overall LM patron community: of those who identify as political, "74% of us are at least somewhat left-wing" additionally, LM are transparently left-wing in values and beliefs. how amusing that patrons so clearly part of the "4% [who] identify as somewhat right-wing, and 13% [who] identify as very right-wing" are showing up in the comments of this specific episode, opining on Abe/peggy in particular *i'm pulling these stats from a survey someone on the discord conducted. also not surprisingly, those who identified as right-wing/very right-wing are all men
on crip ...
2026-02-22 18:59:47 +0000 UTCIt’s occurred to me that as much as Mad Men is about “doors,” Season 6 is more about Don’s “mirrors”. We see lots of characters reflecting his behavior: 1. Ted mirroring Don as a boss (showing us an alternative) 2. Peggy mirroring Don in her confidence, career climbing, resistance to change, cheating 3. Bob Benson mirroring a young Don trying to get his foot in the door any way he can, leading you to wonder “who is this guy and what are his intentions?” every time we see him 4. Betty mirroring Don in this episode, being the seducer and holding the power 5. Roger mirroring Don, taking his grandson to Planet of the Apes as a desperate attempt to bond with a kid he has no real relationship with (then also Kevin) 6. And not Don himself, but Sylvia mirroring Aimee (which is all about Don anyway) And maybe not in any direct way that we've seen, but Betty says that Henry thinks Sally is a lot like Don. S6 now feels like Don is in a funhouse mirror maze that’s trying to get him to look inward. He takes a couple steps in any direction, but he’s still mostly confused.
Jamie
2026-02-22 17:53:01 +0000 UTCJust noticed that Bob Benson said the nurse he recommended to Peter had recently nursed his father to full health. In the season premiere, he says to Ken that the reason he sent the spread to Roger was that it reminded him of what he would have wanted when his own father died.
Darrach
2026-02-22 17:27:33 +0000 UTC- It's unfortunate that Lola feels that relationships she had viewed as pure (Joan/Roger and Betty/Henry) are now tainted. I've said my piece on Betty/Henry, but as for the former I just have to reiterate that Roger spent S5 trying to connect with Joan and being consistently told no, to the point where he offers her money for her son and she refuses to take it. Then he finds out she wants the company's money for a payout, and I can completely understand why Roger didn't want to get in the way of her decision at that point (he probably thought something like "their money is good enough, but not mine?" but wouldn't dare to say it after the persistent rejection). It took him being scolded by his daughter and cut off from his grandson (hilarious plot point by the way, I love the idea of Roger hearing about Don taking Bobby to that movie a few episodes back, trying the same thing and fumbling it completely) to try again with his son. Roger was not the hero in "The Other Woman" because he never was the hero, just like he's hardly a father. - Joan's tenacity on insisting Greg is Kevin's father is almost admirable. Despite her telling Greg to his face what she thinks of him, she continues to compartmentalize to have the life she wants.
Kev
2026-02-22 16:57:21 +0000 UTC"They're two halves of the same person and they want the same thing, but they're trying to get it in different ways". On its surface, this is a clear description of Ted and Don as they continue to butt heads this episode (framed by the butter/margarine debate as they interrogate the differences between these similar but distinct products). We see Peggy's concern over Ted becoming like Don grow into frustration this episode that maybe he *is* Don, as he ever-so-coldly compartmentalizes with a smile. It's ironic if we remember what Allison said to a befuddled Peggy in S4: "I don't know how you stand it. The way he turns on the charm one minute and then yanks it away". Well, Peggy, you should just get over it, right? That being said, I don't think Ted was saying what he did to spark Peggy's interest, I think he was overthinking and then at the end he cuts things off as they both agreed, giving no indication to an open door. Peggy may have stabbed her way out of her relationship, but Ted's still married. Regardless, Peggy is caught between these two men whose approval she realizes she is right back to seeking. "Status quo ante --" wait, I did that one already. The link between Ted and Don might say a lot about why Peggy is drawn to Ted, which I think she realizes in that fantastic final shot. Sometimes I think Ted was only given that office for the sole purpose of ending this episode with Peggy watching as both men retreat into their offices as she's left, stunned. It's, on the one hand, almost cosmically unfair that Peggy is back in this position, yet of course she wouldn't be here if she wasn't the person she was ("It's a business of sadists and masochists, and you know which one you are"). This framing device can speak to other characters too. Yada yada yada, the duality of Don Draper and Dick Whitman, we've been there, Betty Draper and Betty Francis, did that in the last comment, now let's talk about the duality of Abe! But really, I think the confusion around Abe's authenticity can be resolved by just understanding that it's possible for one to hold political/moral beliefs while also having a job that draws upon those beliefs. I think he is written to ride that line, are we forgetting the whole episode that took place prior to Peggy and Abe dating where his job clashing with hers was explored? I don't think it's outrageous for him to think he could still be in a relationship with her; people date across political lines all the time, and Abe seems to think he could "fix" Peggy -- pretty sure he explicitly says as much in the episode in question. Slapstick sitcom special aside (the stabbing is hilarious, but so is that one moment where they scare each other in the same room and let's not forget the comedy gold of Peggy's face when she says "Abe got stabbed"), I do think it's intentional that it's the ruthless career-driven side of Abe that unfavorably deals the final blow to their relationship, rather than the optimistic visionary that, yes annoyed her, but she often found endearing -- you'd think it would be the opposite. And, what do you know, it happens to be the same with Ted. If we are being real, 90% (maybe 95%) of humans get their morals from social acceptance, because most people aren't doing the mental labour of introspecting and philosophically deriving ethics from axiomatic values (and you can see why, I nearly fell asleep just describing it). For what it's worth, I think Abe is more of a "real leftist" than Paul Kinsey, who would not keep up the performativity as far as endangering his own physical safety. But I don't think it's inconsistent (nor do I think there is one writer who writes all of Abe's scenes).
Kev
2026-02-22 16:41:09 +0000 UTC"It's disappointing when you see someone have the opportunity to have a good life and then still choose to mess it up" Characters making decisions that get in the way of their own happiness? In my Mad Men? In all seriousness, this might be one of my favorite episodes for the character in question, Mrs Betty Francis, who we see has come a long way from being Mrs Betty Draper. I actually disagree with Lola's assessment this episode, I think in a roundabout way this is one of the least self-destructive decisions we have seen from this character. It's lying, deceitful infidelity. And yet it's somehow also powerful, enlightening and cathartic. Betty fans, this one's for you. From her arrival on scene as she leans out of the car window -- that hair! -- there's an immediate warmth to the nostalgia of seeing Don and Betty together that's impossible to deny, coupled with the cute "Hello, stranger" dynamic that calls back to their trip to Rome in S3 (only this time the poor victim is a young gas station attendant instead of two sleazy Italian men). What does it say about these two that they connect most after a defamiliarized pretense? Well, probably the same thing as a mutual affair being the most honest and balanced this dynamic has ever been. Their interactions initially framing Don as the pursuer who gets to waltz in and outclass that young man, because he happens to know this beautiful woman stopping by, is turned on its head with the undeniable conclusion that Betty was the one who got what she wanted, succeeding in a pursuit that wasn't even revealed until it was won. The complete shift in power balance occurs as soon as Betty leaves that door open, is finalized when the next scene opens on her lighting a cigarette while her exploit sits in the background, and is capped with that wistful look Don gives her in the dining room as she talks to Henry, the night with Don as distant a memory to her as their marriage. Quite the reversal from the S4 finale, where Don gleefully barrelled towards Tomorrowland as Betty worried that she made a mistake. It's a masterclass in compartmentalization, too, and unlike Ted (I genuinely may be the first to ever compare these two characters, lol) she doesn't have to lock up and become robotic to do it. It's not "It didn't happen". It did, and now it's done. "Status quo ante bellum. Everything as it was." Around the carousel we go. The parallels continue, with Betty being reciprocal to an advance from an eager stranger, while she waits for her husband at some fancy event. Remember how she met Henry? That eager stranger from the first time round has now become her husband this time round. He's a little more aware though. Betty having to explain herself as a recipient calls back to Don chewing her out in S1 for Roger's advances. Though, while Don became aggressive and then cold, Henry is instead passionate and then aroused. Not to get too conceptual, but it's why rather than a circle or a cycle (or a carousel), I see a lot of Mad Men's development, and certainly Betty in this context, as an outward spiral. Despite things seeming as if they are retracing old steps, there is clear growth and Betty's perspective and position just feels so much larger, as if she's peering down at a more narrower version of herself from so long ago. Very different to the Birdie we saw in S1, pointlessly shooting at the winged symbols of a freedom she could never have. I think this moment is so important to me because this was the episode where Betty first clicked for me as a character. Yes, her role and purpose is very clear in the first three seasons, and she's characterized quite strongly as being discontent/bitter and insecure/envious in the following two seasons. However, the almost magnanimous elegance radiating off Betty this episode is when I connected to her as a fully-rounded character and began appreciating everything that came before. The touch of the past integrated into the present to be able to move forward was the secret ingredient to make everything make sense, and I suspect a similar logic is what drives Betty's decision to sleep with Don this episode. These old souls, two peas in the same 1950s pod, drinking on a porch and sighing about teenagers as the world passes them by. There's a lot said about the women in Don Draper's life, who truly knows him the most (Peggy? Anna? Rachel?), but this episode unveils a deep melancholic understanding between these two. The distance and, as Betty notes, the absence of love, gives clarity here. Perhaps nostalgia does that on its own, but it's often these two who are most adamant to sticking to the past they know, as society changes around them. Betty's choice to dip into the past, just to reaffirm her commitment to the future is the subversion here; I get that it's fundamentally paradoxical to some, but it just works for me. Just them talking on that porch would have made for a nice memorable scene between two former lovers discussing how things have changed and the bond they share, but the sex and the dialogue afterward elevates it to one of the most poignant scenes in Mad Men.
Kev
2026-02-22 16:16:30 +0000 UTCVery funny episode. "It's me, Bob Benson!", "I'm Bobby Five", "Abe got stabbed 😕", "You will always be the enemy" - "Are you breaking up with me?" Betty and Don's scenes are great in this episode, disappointing but very revealing. The scene with them singing reminds me a lot of the early seasons, pulling back the camera to frame this beautiful scene, with the viewer knowing that it's not as it seems. The shoe is on the other foot here, with Don now realising what he threw away, but that doesn't really make it feel good. Abe and Peggy's scenes are good too. I can understand why Abe wouldn't want to report the crime to that cop, but also why Peggy is sick of him excusing it. I don't think Ted does anything wrong at the end though, it's blunt but he'd already said that they shouldn't pursue it.
Mark M
2026-02-22 11:28:58 +0000 UTC
