Mad Men 1x08 Reaction
Added 2025-07-05 23:38:09 +0000 UTC
Comments
Peggy is giving me major Anne Baxter (1950) All About Eve vibes.
INFJ-T Tyrone
2025-07-12 01:31:26 +0000 UTCThe full quote is: "You make the lie. You invent want. You're for them, not for us." To which Don responds "I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent." They're talking past each other, about different things. Don correctly believes there isn't some coordinated evil system that all the illuminati colludes to uphold and punish the little people, because he's built a successful career and hasn't seen anything like that. But the hippies are talking metaphorically, they aren't saying the universe is fair or balanced... they're saying the "system" does exist and every day Don wakes up, heads into the office and helps build it. Capitalism, Corporatism, empirical American hegemony. Real systems that benefit Don and people like him, people who can pass and thrive in corporate America. People who happen to be mostly straight, white men. I mean hell, Don is actively working to help elect Richard Nixon as US President. He does such a good job at it that he gets paid a big bonus this very episode. Don *is* for "them" - the ruling class - not for "us" - the working class. Don finds this amusing because he grew up deeply poor and working class, probably more poor than anyone else in that room, and he isn't making evil decisions to punish the working people every day like they imagine. Ultimately the argument is about individualism versus collectivism (or some version of it). Recall earlier in the episode, Bert Cooper references Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. Don embodies Randian Objectivism, even if he couldn't tell you what any of that meant. It's not about fairness, it's about whether or not you believe there is a 'system' - Don doesn't, even when he clearly is part of one. The hippies do, even when the 'system' is just macro patterns of individual human behavior and not conscious planned choices. Don's funny line at the end only serves to reinforce their point really. Don is saying "there is no system, everything is unfair, nihilism wah wah" but by being a handsome white American man in a suit and a hat, Don literally benefits from the system.
Kara
2025-07-07 19:32:02 +0000 UTCIt's so funny there's always people saying this everytime they start a new show and they're all reacted to at the same exact pace lol
Dante
2025-07-07 15:06:46 +0000 UTCWhen Don says “there is no system, the universe is indifferent” he is talking about overall justice, or cosmic/spiritual justice, and morals. He’s rejecting the idea that the world runs on fairness, justice, or some moral balance, and he highlights that when they tell him he can’t go out bc of the cops, he looks and says “you can’t” meaning there is no fairness or equal justice.
DaMoezar
2025-07-07 14:04:47 +0000 UTCIn this video its during the discussion (28:21) but the full video above is when time count reaches 28:01
Infode
2025-07-07 06:54:18 +0000 UTCI'm starting to suspect this Pete guy has some issues!
S
2025-07-06 21:10:54 +0000 UTCI'm so jealous of you guys going through this for the first time
Zosko1
2025-07-06 19:12:58 +0000 UTCNobody spoiled it but the girls clocked it within like 0.2 seconds of his first appearance. It's funny because in 2007 he was written to intentionally read as gay to most viewers in very stereotypical femme gay ways, but I've spoken to a couple younger people who didn't pick up on it at all... maybe cuz the stereotypes for "gay man" have shifted (for the better) over the years idk.
Kara
2025-07-06 18:23:49 +0000 UTCKept waiting for them to recognize Father Phil lol.
Charlie M
2025-07-06 17:22:45 +0000 UTCBeen looking forward to this one - I haven't looked at the comments in previous posts, but I hope no one confirmed anything about Sal before hand! That immediate, "oh, he's gay", off of his first lines - lmao. I watched for the first time when I was in high school and definitely didn't pick up on it. Then you rewatch later on and ... lol.
ruseka
2025-07-06 16:54:06 +0000 UTCLoved your thoughts on the "whore's son" comment. Also worth noting, young Don saying "haven't you heard?" is most likely a reflection of how much that is probably unfairly thrown in his face and held against him. He's always cruelly told "who he is" that his young child mind probably believes any vagrant off the street would know as well. Harkens back to Don's conversation with Adam - "She wasn't my mother. She never let me forget that".
Chris B
2025-07-06 02:33:24 +0000 UTCHaven't watched yet but yall are watching this show at such a fast pace lol, feels even faster than usual and you're already putting out videos faster than most reactors.
Nina
2025-07-06 02:19:56 +0000 UTCTo build on your last point, Don even tries to frame it as them loving the ad so much they bought it immediately - rather than him having to hard sell it to them. It's a small thing but maybe he wanted peggy to feel like she succeeded even moreso there. bar on the floor etc
Kara
2025-07-06 01:47:36 +0000 UTC"Hobo codes" and "signs" are a real thing to pass info between people....maybe. They're well-documented and well-publicized in the late-19th century to the 20th century (And several of the signs shown in this episode are accurate to the reporting), but several people who actually lived on the road have said that they were just made-up by newspapers to sell stories and actual PEOPLE never used them on the road. I don't know which version is true. The moment where Don left the apartment, confident that his suit would protect him, was the first scene in the series to strike me as a Great Scene all by itself. I've loved several points before this, but that was a moment of bottled lightning. To get back to my "the bar is on the floor but at least they didn't trip over it" that I mention in so many episodes, the ad men at least gave Peggy praise for her idea and let her into their celebration. They might not have given her credit in front of the client, but even admitting it privately is more than I would expect from a lot of them.
JBK405
2025-07-06 01:30:40 +0000 UTCI love how the show depicts these comical silly village hippies who are also kinda right with everything they say, at least their broad critiques about corporate capitalism and Don's active participation within it. Don slyly jokes about Roy's "words" earlier, but "you make the lie. you invent want" is like... a beautifully succinct job description. Don's (peggy's) Belle Jolie pitch earlier that day is exactly about that, inventing want, desire and control.
Kara
2025-07-06 01:16:29 +0000 UTCA great episode about all the different ways we lie, including to ourselves. (Poor Sal.) That "Old Time Religion" needle-drop really hits. Inflation Calculator: Don's $2,500 bonus is worth roughly $26,000 in 2025. Add that to the $5,000 he used to pay off Adam a few weeks ago, and that's almost $80K that he just... gave away to make himself feel better. Sorry Betty, we can't afford that summer house because I am once again experiencing ennui.
Mike
2025-07-06 01:13:59 +0000 UTCi am yearning for an era where the most popular song and dance is called "the twist" and the dance is you twist....
Kara
2025-07-06 01:13:54 +0000 UTCThe Beatles first album wasn’t until 1963, so we are three years out still. The song the girls all screamed for is ‘The Twist’, specifically the cover by Chubby Checker. It sparked a dance craze called the twist, funnily enough
Darrach
2025-07-06 01:09:33 +0000 UTCOkay I'll admit I did think it was a little odd how fast the hobo was able to carve that symbol onto the fence without being noticed, lmao
Taya
2025-07-06 01:07:48 +0000 UTCPoor Peggy! That scene on the dancefloor is just heartbreaking. Pete feels so bitterly emasculated by literally everything that he's even insulted by Peggy being playful and flirty with him. "I don't like you like this", this meaning... a real person feeling happy and excited for her own accomplishments instead of validating the fantasy of the quiet submissive little doll that exists solely to give him a boost to his manhood when he needs it.
Taya
2025-07-06 00:59:40 +0000 UTCGreat episode and amazing reaction... everything we hoped for 🙏. It's time: "copywriting" is the job of writing words for adverts (or any purpose really). The words you write are called "copy". Paul Kinsey and Freddy Rumsen (and Don to an extent) are Copywriters. It's copywriting as opposed to say creative writing like novels and short stories (did you know Ken Cosgrove is a published Author???? 🤯). Fun fact: I've written a bunch of copy in my career and Mad Men is somewhat responsible 💀 Maybe I'm just dumb but it took me several watches to realize that the "dishonest man here" sign was scratched into a post covered by overgrown shrubbery, meaning someone scratched it there a long time ago. It wasn't scratched in by the hobo that day in the 5 seconds he was off-screen 🤦♀️ I also love the way the show uses flashbacks. Extremely tactical, borderline magical realist vibe at points. Stoned Don fading into a relevant memory that bleeds into current day reality. Precision strikes on theme unwasted. The weaving of narratives, theme, performance, sets/costumes etc create a dream like quality that never gets old even when you've watched the show 15 times 😭 All-time cunt moment from Pete there. Just slicing Peggy in half for no reason cuz he's bothered about marrying someone he barely knows (like many semi-arranged marriages in 50s and 60s) on the best day of her career so far. Peggy is like 20yo and literally just wants to do fun job, have unmarried sex and dance with the girlies, relatable babygirl. Still the use of music in the show is so good: The Twist was basically Brat Summer for 1960 white women.
Kara
2025-07-06 00:58:38 +0000 UTCThe scene when Don goes to his son to sanitize himself morally shows how much Roy gutted him. He is well aware his whole job is about mass manipulation of the public. I've see a lot of people (especially reactionaries) completely misread that scene as merely "Don telling off a bunch of hippies," but really it's Don who walks away limping. LM nailed it once again !
Eric Viola
2025-07-06 00:55:52 +0000 UTC
