Mad Men 3x02 Reaction

And we're all being really cool about it 😶🤫

Kara

There is a portentous moment in the episode that on one level is a wink to anyone in the audience who is familiar with the events of this decade. The writers probably thought it necessary to properly set up a future episode, but to me it just illustrated that life is something that happens when you're busy making plans.

Thomas Fahey

Man I can't wait for you to see where this goes. This season is fantastic

Stephen Calvird

Also no one gonna mention Betty smoking and drinking throughout the episode while being pregnant? 😂 I know the dangers weren't quite well known during this era but still kinda startling haha.

TylerNorCal

Enjoyed the Peggy conversation. She's very relatable and endearing to me this episode. There's a contrast between the more cynical, boorish nature of the office and the youthful passion of Bye Bye Birdie, which 'makes your heart hurt' as Don says. Losing weight with Patio 'the drink that makes you think of a floor' can help you regain your youthful vitality and looks. Roger marries his secretary to do the same. But ultimately he still loves Joan, and chooses to talk to Peggy because he knows she's not naive.

Mark M

No Alison is there in season 1, just not as Don's secretary

Eric Viola

Mike

Geography also plays a role in why it is difficult for Betty to commit to taking care of their father. Eugene and her brother live near Philadelphia and the Drapers live a few hours away in Ossining just north of NYC.

Eric Viola

Roger's hilarious. "What does that old saddlebag want" as a response to his ex-wife's date lmao.

Eric Viola

even still it's kind of cool that he even noticed that she has a different look/vibe, like she stands out enough for the boss/partner to take note.

Kara

On the commentary Matthew Weiner says Betty feels guilty that Judy takes care of her father, and that informs her choices and feelings.

Kara

Oh, the reason Gene was pouring alcohol down the drain in the middle of the night was that he lost time again and thought he was back in Prohibition. Prohibition extended from 1920 to 1933, and the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. Gene would have grown up during this era, and it would have run during his transition to adulthood and his time in the army as well. As he sinks into dementia and loses his grasp on the present, he defaults back to this era.

JBK405

"Do you have cab fare?" was a sexual innuendo: They see that Peggy and this man are going to have sex, and afterwards he's going to need to send her home in a cab. It's a slightly more subtle way of saying "Dude, you're going to get laid!" Don's decisive action when Betty tells him what William's plan is, is another example of the way that Don does seem to honestly care for Betty. This is an instance where he managed to follow through on that. But unfortunately, as we've seen in their relationship as a whole, he can't keep this going on an ongoing basis.

JBK405

"If you don't like what they're saying, change the conversation." I forgot that one of the most iconic phrases of the show turns up here. On the micro level, it means you can reframe anything with the right campaign. "It's Toasted" is a good example of this, they 'changed the conversation' from "cigarettes are dangerous" to "Lucky Strikes are toasted and yummy". On the macro level, Don has changed the narrative of his life several times and it's a distillation of one of his core (perhaps only?) worldviews. He tells Peggy to reframe herself not as a broken unwed mother, but as a young ambitious career woman. He tells Adam to take money and rewrite the story of his life from broke orphan janitor to something better. Don explains a little more: "Change is neither good or bad. It simply is." Can they stop you? No? Then why do you care? Can Betty stop Don desiring more? Can William stop Don taking Gene? Can Margaret stop Jane coming to her wedding? Can Sterling Cooper stop the 'London office' from making disruptive top-down decisions? We're in 1963 now. Maybe the country will start asking these questions. "You're not an artist. You solve problems." is harsh but good advice. Despite what a lot of modern 'creative professionals' want to believe, writing copy isn't art, it is functional problem solving. Peggy is ~3 years into a career and still figuring things out, and while written copy can entertain and perhaps even be 'art' that changes the world, that's a byproduct of the goal... to sell diet soda, or convince people smoking is poggers, or soften the blow of demolishing something beautiful to build something profitable. Accepting this will make Peggy a better writer, even if it does make her call Don a jerk 😅 To build on Lola's point: I think a lot of people can empathise with Peggy here, that for whatever reason you feel like you don't fit whatever the stereotype is for desirability in your culture, time, gender etc. I'm sure anyone 'weird', 'nerdy', alternative, queer, autistic etc has felt this way. While Peggy isn't textually queer or anything, she's fully aware she's an outsider in the office, Roger even mentions it with his funny elevator comment, and trying to Just Dance 1963 in the mirror only reaffirms that feeling. Peggy is for better and worse ahead of her time, the "sexual revolution" is still developing and it won't be until the 70s that relationship dynamics really shift to afford the sort of casual unmarried sex and fun that Peggy desires. But in the bar, with the nice-seeming goofy yapper, Peggy tries a new flirting tactic - she takes a bite of his burger and he thinks its "funny" and she's a bit more herself, and it works! Maybe she can find her own way in relationships, just like she's finding her own way in the office. Bonus thoughts: You missed a good bit where Gene is complaining about his room and Don says "You're an army man, drop your socks and grab something" and Gene genuinely laughs... maybe the only nice moment Don ever had with his father-in-law 😭 I'll leave others to cover Betty but she's so funny to me, "I bet JUDY is behind this" smash cut to Judy sweetly saying she'll take care of the sick man. Peggy is in work and locked in every day, she's Don's strongest soldier frfr. I LOVE the crowded scenes in this show, they feel so busy and real. The eps are shot so good this season, the summer grass touching scene is wrapped around my brain like ribbons on a maypole.

Kara

I think it's sentimental, she's probably worried William will sell it off and keep the money. I don't mean to talk badly about my favorite show of all time but I agree with you. This episode is just meh, a bit underwhelming compared to the outstanding episodes of the rest of the season.

Taya

I will admit I don't really understand the issue with William and Judith taking care of Gene either. Even if they move in and get the house. Don is rich. He is a partner at S&C and just cleared $5M in today's money when they sold to PPL. So what if lil bro gets the house when Gene passes? Or is it more of a sentimental attachment? This episode is probably in the bottom tier of Mad Men eps for me so I haven't watched it many times like some of the others.

Julien

The elevator scene with Roger and Peggy is so funny, you know immediately that he doesn't care about her opinion at all, and he confirms that by basically having a conversation with himself AT her.

Nina

And now, somewhat ironically, Madison Square Garden is an iconic fixture of NYC for tourists whereas most new yorkers probably only know Penn Station as being a somewhat nasty transit hub. So it goes.

Kara

The show very specifically gives us a scene right after the Betty/Don scene with William and Judy where it's extremely clear that Judy is kind and willing whereas Williams hangups are basically about living in his father's shadow. It's clever, intentional structuring that tells us Betty is not making rational arguments, even if they're coming from an authentic emotional place.

Kara

I don't think it was jealousy. Betty doesn't see Judy as someone who is as capable or appropriate a person to be taking care of her Dad. I think Betty thinks that she would be best at taking care of him; also someone more appropriate (daughter vs daughter in law). The other part is that Betty sees her brother as someone who wants their parents' house and is using the situation with their Dad to get to it. If they're taking care of him, there's a better chance he could coax inheritance of the house from him - I don't think the house is automatically passed down to him, it would be whatever is in Gene's will.

Eric Viola

I don't think William did anything wrong. Betty was just being petulant and assumed that his motives were selfish, that he only wanted the house. And she was clearly just jealous of Judy, who seems perfectly normal and nice. I'm not sure Betty even knew what she wanted, she just knew she was unhappy with the situation. So Don made a decision and that's that. The look she gave him when she realized what he did for her was very sweet. I'm happy you guys are coming around to Roger. He's not a good guy, but he's hilarious! He takes absolutely nothing in his life seriously, which must be infuriating for the people around him, but fun for us to watch. "Change is neither good or bad. It simply is. It can be greeted with terror or joy, a tantrum that says 'I want it the way it was,' or a dance that says, Look, something new!" Great line, Don should write a self-help book fr.

Taya

The original Penn Station was gorgeous. They got the same stone that was used to build the Coliseum in Rome shipped over to the states and built this gorgeous building and it lasted for I think less than 60 years before, in a typical American way, they tore it down to build something gray and ugly

My Toasty Toast

This episode is an ode to Penn Station, the original. It was a beautiful and grand piece of architecture that got demolished to make way for MSG and office buildings, etc. The plan was already controversial, as shown in this episode, but soon after the place was demolished, a consensus solidified that the destruction of such a historic piece of architecture was a tragic mistake that robbed NYC of an important historic landmark. A now obvious example of cannibalizing culture for profit. Penn Station as it exists today is trash, even by US standards. There are subway stations in Europe and elsewhere that are nicer. Still, they recently built an expansion that is big, clean (because new) and functional. But the original, which would have been a 100+ years old architectural treasure today, is lost forever. Here for more: https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/penn-station-masterpiece

Julien

Also, let's just say when Don gently touched that grass with his fingers I felt a small tingle down my spine haha

bondbond53

Those sunglasses on Don are peak

bondbond53

The first time I watched this episode was about three years ago and I was still 16, and I remember being angry at the way they portrayed the male reaction to the commercial with the girl singing Bye Bye Birdie, because yes, Peggy is right about it being weird and not sexy (at least for me) and I, as a straight man and at the height of my immaturity, went to send a message to the MM community I was part of and said "why are they showing that men are attracted to absolutely any stupid shit a blonde woman does?"  And I started fighting with other guys using Portuguese words that I won't even be able to translate lol. At the end of the arguments, I realized the writers were right to portray it that way 😂 What Don says to Peggy is still something many people think today, but personally, for me, watching Mad Men at such a young age really helped me understand the sexist thoughts we men have, which are so normalized that we don't even realize it. It was a show that really educated me on some points, and I realize it continues to educate me today when I watch it again, now that I'm 19.

Bernardo