Mad Men 2x04 Reaction
Added 2025-08-07 23:47:15 +0000 UTC
Comments
Beating worked on me.
INFJ-T Tyrone
2025-08-10 06:44:04 +0000 UTCThe Mad Men experience, as inspired by this episode (and that one cat meme) https://i.imgur.com/q3tV96N.png
Kev
2025-08-09 09:32:33 +0000 UTCwe love Sally, folks Anita ratting out Peggy to the priest is so mean and selfi-intersted.
Mike
2025-08-09 04:38:37 +0000 UTCFor the first -- and not last -- time: I would die for Sally Draper. Also, the first SC pitch meeting weekend lock-in! I love that we don't see the actual pitch. It's all about the different ways that people do (and don't) lock in to make the American Airlines pitch happen. Shout out to Pete's shorts.
Mike
2025-08-09 04:08:55 +0000 UTCI forgot to say this earlier but to answer Lola's question: Andre Jacquemetton & Maria Jacquemetton, the writers for this episode, are a husband + wife pair that write for the series! Another fun dynamic in the writer's room.
Kara
2025-08-08 17:08:58 +0000 UTCI don't think the girls see Joan as not having had agency in her relationship with Roger or being a victim really. They really clearly understand that Joan is aware of her place in this workspace, in these relationships. Yes maybe in the moment they could see Joan as being somewhat reduced once again to her physical qualities by Roger considering the delicate situation that a break-up is but I genuinely believe that LM feed no illusions in thinking the way you're describing above. I do believe they see her as what the show presents her as – a victim of her contemporary society – but this reading of a victim is not without agency. You must wonder why "it was Joan that was telling Roger to enjoy things as they are, a few episodes prior. SHE was putting the breaks on the relationship, not him. SHE was the one setting/enforcing the boundaries of their relationship". Obviously it can be chalked up to her strong personality and intelligence but within the context of the show we must ask what it's trying to say. Maybe Joan HAS to keep the relationship at a distance because of their workspace dynamic, because Roger is a man that was given everything and society has reinforced him whilst undermining her, because she can't trust anything that comes with his promises, because she's smart enough to know he likes the chase etc. Is Joan an active or reactive character to her context? Both? Where does it lean more? How much "activism" does this society even allow her? I would've agreed with you maybe if you've written just the last paragraph but seeing this extensive comment I must say that it comes across as you projecting on the girls and overcorrecting them. When they reference it I genuinely think they say it from their perspective while understanding all the intricacies of Joan's context.
bondbond53
2025-08-08 15:13:42 +0000 UTCAA was absolutely a long shot but Roger is right that it was worth it. it feels like absolute shit to be undercut at the last second due to forces out of your control (like a plane crashing, lets say) but this is a route to win big business and for stable Sterling Cooper its definitely worth the risk, the upside is huge and as someone said (I forgot who) it puts small-medium size Sterling Cooper in the conversation alongside big agencies, pitching for big clients, which makes other bigger clients think about them more seriously, and makes smaller clients think "wow im working with a firm that is pitching American Airlines" etc. The only downside is the 'loyalty' thing, but Roger is right again: most business-people know its 'just business' + would do the same, even if they get emotional when they're involved.
Kara
2025-08-08 14:49:51 +0000 UTCRoger's line when Joan was doing his make up post-heart attack ("greatest piece of ass") keeps coming up. Early in the series you two had a lot of discussion about being wary of projection. I think this is a good reminder of that. I very highly doubt that Joan was offended or hurt by what Roger said. I might even say that perhaps she was moved by it, which may be inconceivable to a contemporary audience. Joan is not naive. Of the entire cast of female characters, she understood best how to wield power the traditional way - and had the assets for it. She knew what sort of arrangement she had with Roger. Of course there were some degrees of feelings there - on both sides, believe it or not (as tends to exist within any long term sexual relationship). But she knew the deal. That line would not have phased her. Remember that it was Joan that was telling Roger to enjoy things as they are, a few episodes prior. SHE was putting the breaks on the relationship, not him. SHE was the one setting/enforcing the boundaries of their relationship. Joan is not a victim of Roger. Not even in this patriarchal system. She was not waiting for him to leave his wife or some such. She had no illusions about the nature of their relationship. And once again, she was the one enforcing the boundaries. I feel like that reality is getting lost with every reference to "greatest piece of ass." It's a shocking line to us (line many other things in Mad Men, which is the point). It's critical to understand that for JOAN, it was not shocking. She was not hurt.
Julien
2025-08-08 14:40:39 +0000 UTC– The thing is, more than not, I think Duck knew that AA was almost impossible to become a client but he did it anyway to look good in his first months at SC (he mentioned these last few words to Don in a previous episode). Here we've got another shade of the MADison Avenue MEN. Do anything, even something that sabotages your workplace in order to present good. Don is generally a liar if we think about his identity but he can back his bluffs whereas Duck seems to be skirting the line. We'll see how he fares in the future. – I agree with you girls - Pete looks cute in his country club outfit. He was always lovable ;) – I've had a similar situation with my parents as seen in this episode. My mother has always been the bad cop. She was especially stern with my older sister (she'll never forget that 9x9 is 81 and not 18 as she wrongly said once in primary school when they were going through the multiplication table with my mother). I got less of the heat. My father on the other hand has always been the carefree parent that never gets mad. With age though my mother has mellowed and I've realised that she was always the parent that cared and had to keep it all together. Not justifying her parenting mostly, but it was late 90's/early 00's in Eastern Europe and it was rough out there. In the meantime my dad had managed to keep the family in debt, not telling my mother much and had alcohol issues. Now they're divorced and he's away and it's my mother who's pulled me through university in the West. Funny thing is, as much as I share many similarities with my mother, I do bear a striking resemblance to my dad and the way he acts sometimes and I always hated my mother pointing these things out. All this to say that family, relationships, generational trauma are such complex things and I'm glad Mad Men is so honest in portraying these things on the screen.
bondbond53
2025-08-08 14:21:33 +0000 UTCWow we even getting comments on the reactors comments
bondbond53
2025-08-08 13:47:18 +0000 UTCWhy did I not put this simple 1+1 until now? See this is what I was lpsing all these years by not having Mad Men reactions to watch and look through the comments
bondbond53
2025-08-08 13:41:37 +0000 UTCHaving a sexual alpha-off with Bobbie at work then going home and getting asked to discipline your son, also named Bobby, for not behaving. 👍👍
cheech
2025-08-08 12:04:46 +0000 UTCSPOILERS: [ROT13.com] to decipher - V jnf whfg guvaxvat vg'f shaal ubj zhpu gurl ner ranzberq jvgu Fnyyl nf n phgr puvyq, yvggyr qb gurl xabj fur orpbzrf bar bs gur orfg punenpgref ba gur fubj (V jvyy qvr ba guvf uvyy). "Unccl Inyragvar'f Qnl, V ybir lbh" jvyy oernx gurz. Gubhtu vg qbrf gnxr n juvyr orsber fur srryf zber yvxr n crefba guna n xvq, V guvax frnfba fvk (juvpu unccraf gb or zl snibevgr) vf jura fur'f fhqqrayl n shyy-oybja punenpgre.
Kev
2025-08-08 09:41:33 +0000 UTCSPOILERS: [ROT13.com] to decipher - Vf Wbna ernyyl zrnag gb or zber enpvfg guna gur bgure punenpgref? Fur guebjf Cnhy'f tveysevraq haqre gur ohf sbe n qvt ng uvz, naq fher fur'f ab Crgr jura vg pbzrf gb pvivy evtugf ohg V nyjnlf whfg gbbx gur "bcra-zvaqrq" pbzzrag nf na njxjneq vafrafvgvir 60f zbzrag (juvpu rira Crgr unf jvgu gur ryringbe bcrengbe). V pbhyq or zvferzrzorevat ohg qbrfa'g Furvyn rira raq hc qhzcvat Cnhy orpnhfr fur sryg cnenqrq nebhaq, cebivat Wbna evtug? - Gubhtu V nz ybbxvat sbejneq gb bar bs gur zbfg pevatrjbegul fprarf va gur fubj juvpu vf jura Wbna gevrf gb uht Qnja gb fubj gung fur'f na #Nyyl.
Kev
2025-08-08 09:34:59 +0000 UTCI get a little emotional watching the end of this episode too. You can see a parallel between Don, Bobby and Don's father Archibald. Don 'got away with' everything last season, with Pete and Betty. It's just making him more self destructive and unhappy, cheating again, skipping work, losing his temper. Just like Bobby he's pushing his limits. He's acting more like his father, but at the same time he sees himself in Bobby, and doesn't want to become his dad. But he's so unstable that while he can be kind to his kids, he's not a good example to them, someone they can rely on to be secure. Betty is understandable that she wants Don to punish the kids. Her idea of 'being afraid of your father' is very different to Don's. She doesn't know about his past. But at the same time she is projecting onto Bobby and being cruel to him. She keeps calling him a liar and treating him like an adult, like he's Don. He's about five years old and he's not doing anything that bad. Her being alone with the kids I think leads her to take them being bad personally. Also I noticed watching this that Peggy's sister's confession is very similar to what Peggy says at the end of season one. About trying to follow the rules while others don't and get away with it. Peggy is one of the more upstanding people in the office, but she did sleep with a married man. She's not entirely without sin, religious or otherwise, so I get why her sister looks at her that way. It's not a fair reflection of the whole story, but she doesn't know that.
Mark M
2025-08-08 06:56:16 +0000 UTCwhenever Sally's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Sally?". Don reaches a boiling point in the moment, which makes Betty reach a boiling point for their marriage, you can see her becoming more and more assertive as time goes on, not willing to accept the status quo. The way Don lashed out reminds me of my dad when I was young, a lot of smaller annoyances piling up until he explodes. Sally's fear was very recognizable. My dad always prided himself on never laying a finger on us, when I got older I realized that a parent can still be abusive without being physically violent. Even though Peggy's sister seemed legitimately emotional about it, her revealing that about Peggy to the priest felt, at least partially, like a cynical move.
Nina
2025-08-08 04:48:40 +0000 UTCDon breaking Bobby's toy as if to show Betty "is this what you want me to do?" Is so poignant and sad. Betty is a cruel mother and Don is an absent father. But at the end of the day we see that Don is "trying" to be better than his father. He has a long way to go, but he resents him and really understands how not to be like him. Because in this episode he knows what its like to be physically beat by his father, and he doesn't want to make the same mistakes with his son.
Chris B
2025-08-08 04:21:41 +0000 UTCIf you re-watch the previous two episodes, you can realize that S&C were never going to win American Airlines. Duck completely misread Shel Keneally's intent in the first place. At the dinner in episode two before Pete joins them, Shel is actually trying to back Duck off when Duck is talking about how serious they are taking this opportunity to pitch to AA. Even if Shel had been as interested as Duck thought he was, we see here that Shel's position wasn't secure enough to make this decision anyway. So they spent all this money on putting together this pitch, and even fired a reliable client, when they never really had a chance. Pete cozied up to the airline that killed his father, for nothing. Every study on spanking has shown that it has zero positive impacts on behavior, or social development, or any other area of childhood. Leaving aside all questions of morality or whether it's "right", it simply doesn't WORK. As Don pointed out, all it did was make him resentful and fantasize about revenge. So again, Don steps over the bar that was on the floor. But despite being on the right side of parenting in this scenario, Don's still absent and neglectful in all other areas. If he was more present and supportive in general, I think Betty probably wouldn't think she "had" to beat their children.
JBK405
2025-08-08 04:18:14 +0000 UTCSally Draper will always be one of my favorite characters. Kiernan Shipka was a very talented kid actor and it is obvious watching her throughout the show’s run.
Haye Zeus
2025-08-08 04:10:49 +0000 UTCdon doesnt even flinch 😭 betty was drinking them tooo
Kara
2025-08-08 01:56:37 +0000 UTCits basically guaranteed given how much Lola loves him already and its only 2x4 lol, we're not even thru 1.5 seasons of the show 💀
Kara
2025-08-08 01:54:47 +0000 UTClol every rewatch I appreciate dons sweater fit. It is better. They manage to make him stand out in a room already filled with good looking people
cheech
2025-08-08 01:52:38 +0000 UTCYeah, Catholic priests aren't supposed to have relationships or marry, hence the plot of Fleabag, though other religions have different rules. We can know Peggy's father is dead because her mother asks her to "light a candle" for him at church in a previous episode, which is a ritual you do for dead people. When Lola started tearing up I started tearing up, that scene always stuck with me, like a candy that tasted of violets. I really like the choice to make Betty more traditional when it comes to physical punishment (which was normalized at the time as Lola says, as we saw in S1) and make Don the type of person who was beat up as a child and never ever wants to inflict that on his own children. After he pushes Betty back and she leaves the room, you can see the instant regret / shame on his face... that might be the first time he ever did anything physical like that to her, even in retaliation. We learn a few things about Roger, including that he doesn't usually go to prostitutes - all his affairs are with women who at least ostensibly aren't paid for sex (although he's rich and taking them on dates to fancy hotels and restaurants and buying them stuff, obviously). The woman was basically saying the options for prostitution are the same (including no kissing) but the prices have changed. Roger wants things that are "off-menu" because he's roger and rich and likes the chase. He's probably one of the "better" men she's slept with for money tbf. I agree with Milena, you have to meet the characters where they are in every show you watch whether its 2000s Sopranos, 1962 Mad Men etc. I think there's great value in attempting to depict historical characters as products of their time... sure its fun to have a "progressive" character but its more interesting when they're chunky crunchy contraditions of good and bad opinions - Joan is sexually positive but racist, Don wont hit his kids but wont talk to his wife, Peggy's sister (Anita) both loves her little sister and resents her, Pete is "pitiful" and "pathetic" depending what kind of episode he's in... that's what makes the show and its characters so damn engaging. I love how much you love Don too, we're not even halfway through S2.... imo, starting next week is one of longest, best runs of episodes in television history. I don't even know where it ends, maybe it doesn't end 💀👀
Kara
2025-08-08 01:51:13 +0000 UTCSerbian is a rare European language in which there is no word for "cousin", cousins are just "brothers" or "sisters". So sometimes Serbs speaking English will say things that sound very strange to native speakers as at 28:34 : "Like my uncle, my father's brother, has, in my opinion, beaten my sisters."
Derek Halvorson
2025-08-08 01:48:39 +0000 UTCThere's a lot of potential for Don Draper to be one of your all-time favorite characters, and I'm not exaggerating.
Bernardo
2025-08-08 01:47:40 +0000 UTCBroken… A lot of words can be used to describe Don Draper, but I think that one encapsulates him the best.
JJ
2025-08-08 01:39:05 +0000 UTCRandom observations: 1. Pete looked adorable in his little short shorts lol. 2. Is it just me or does Don look way hotter in that sweater than he does in a suit? 3. Joan gets sexually harassed by literally everyone, even children! 4. Totally agree that Betty wasn't wrong to want Don to spank the kids. Spanking was the norm back then, and still was even in the 90's when I was a kid! It's not that Betty wanted Don to be really physically abusive to them, she just wanted him to show that he cared. She softened immediately when he told her about his own abuse, and looked happy that he finally gave her just the tiniest kernel of information about his childhood. If she'd known about that beforehand, she wouldn't have pressed him about the spanking. Bobby's "We have to get you a new daddy" is so sweet!
Taya
2025-08-08 01:02:07 +0000 UTC7:29 That's what I call a wise man, ladies and gentleman.
Gaboxxy
2025-08-08 00:16:34 +0000 UTCThat vodka to tomato juice ratio... good god
Taya
2025-08-07 23:58:54 +0000 UTCI was about to go to bed you know.
Patrick
2025-08-07 23:49:50 +0000 UTC
