Mad Men 2x02 Reaction

"it's not even legal in some states now" "Let's not even comment on this... It's abhorrent." LMAO

It's nice to have an episode where don doesn't stick his dick in a random girl.

I love that no matter how much Joan actually reads Paul to filth it doesn't matter because she's still pathetic for punching down on a black woman. It's kind of crazy how only in the last decade the conversation around white women co-opting the feminist movement and leaving POC women struggles to the sidelines has gained momentum. Obviously there has always been scholarly work around it but I've only heard conversation around it in the mainstream in the last decade. It just shows how disadvantaged these women have always been and makes Joan's actions even worse in hindsight. On another note, I love that the shows portrays Don as the complex character that he is. Others have mentioned in the comments that it's interesting how neglectful he can be with his family but how troubled he is to break a promise in the professional setting. Is the writing goal to show his hypocrisy or is it to show that no matter how hard of a pill to swallow it is one action does not necessarily invalidate another or brand a person forever as a liar etc. but rather in each instance a person has the freedom to chose different and do better; the outcome of these choices however is not really up to them as we've seen with Don.

Feel so sorry for Pete in this episode. His family are so cold, no sentiment over their father's death. He can't really connect with Don or Peggy like he wants to, doesn't even know how he should feel about a father he had no warmth towards. The conversation he has with Trudy about him and his Dad arguing over dogs is a sweet moment. It's the kind of conversation Don would tell him not to think about, like he does to Betty about her mother, when they're just trying to make sense of things. You can also see how for Duck, he sees going after business as a better alternative to drinking. He is trying to help Pete, but it feels cold to turn to business in that moment.

The amount of times Milena and Lola start telling us a story, stop themselves, tell us they'll talk about it later , and just never bring it up again lol. Who did you meet? I'm curious now!

It feels a bit like they put in the Joan/Paul thing in the pilot before knowing who Paul was going to be, so now they have to commit to it after the fact. You kind of have to squint and imagine it was a short fling in the nanosecond where Joan was new and Paul managed to keep his facade up just long enough to fool her. Then again, looking at the old creeps she gets with in the episode with her lesbian roommate, they've kind of established she doesn't exactly have a discerning taste in men.

Peter father dying is an example of real life writing the plot. The actor playing petes father died between season 1 & 2 and they decided not recast the role

The Joan-Paul relationship was established in the pilot episode in the very first scene we see Joan in as a “mistake” she had made in the past. The exchange you mentioned in the Nixon v. Kennedy episode started with Paul asking Joan what he did to cause the relationship to end. The drivers license that Paul presumably made a copy of to get back at her, shows that she just turned 31. Which doesn’t make her that much older than Paul if we assume he’s the same age or even older than Pete, who is 28 at this point. But it does probably make her one of the older girls in the office and “too old” by their standards to not be married and still working.

Pete taking the meeting at the end mirrors Don in S1 finale's Carousel pitch, both individuals instead of healing/fixing personal issues, found a way to monetize it. So, for better or worse (mostly worse), Don actually did advise Pete on how to move on in a "non-robot" way.

When I was young, we found out that our stepfather was hiding a part of his identity, similar to Don Draper but less serious. The funny thing is he was a 'great guy', incredibly loyal, trustworthy, an honest person, a fierce defender of neighbors and friends. At the time I was confused how to reconcile those two qualities. Watching Mad Men helped me understand a little better. Don is more loyal to Mohawk and Henry Lamont than he is to his own wife. In that beautiful restaurant scene, Don is more distraught and conflicted than we've ever seen him be over his various infidelities. Maybe his shame over his core secrets results in overcompensation at work and elsewhere, I don't know. All I know is that Don is so attractive a waitress that isnt even on his table asks what he's doing later..... holyyyy I always appreciated the choice to make Joan racist. She's still an amazing character but is a product of her time. I'm sure some people would have semantic quibbles about me saying that, but she can't even fathom a world where Kinsey would genuinely be in a relationship with a Black woman (and racism like everything is a spectrum). She's not even wrong about Kinsey but it wouldn't matter anyway - she wouldn't be specifically mean in this way about a white woman with the same job. It's extremely realistic - even in our times, studies show that Black / POC workers say they're more afraid of white women in the workplace than white men... god forbid you become the target of coworker karen's ire. The Paul/Joan thing might not make sense but you have to picture Paul being this well-spoken, hotshot young copywriter guy once, and Joan being a much younger + more naive office secretary, flirting with a bunch of different guys, trying things out like Peggy with Pete etc. Some random details: Peggy arrives late + hungover and sees a crowd of people gathered and immediately heads to her office, queen shit. Roger says Henry Lamont was "the best poker player in the south pacific" meaning they served in the navy in WW2 together, and later entered into business, like a lot of folks who served. Don is annoyed that Betty wants to play cards when it's literally like the biggest event she has going that week lol, I know Carlton sucks but give the girl something man jeez.

We saw the doctor call for a psychiatrist when Peggy first went into labor, and we saw her disassociating after the birth itself. Based on what her sister said, it sounds like she was institutionalized while everything was going on. For that to happen against her will, the doctor/government have to declare somebody mentally incompetent. So when Peggy says she is an adult and can make her own decisions, her sister is throwing in her face that she was Officially deemed incapable of making her own decisions. Paul Kinsey's apartment is located in what I will term "Sopranos territory" for a common frame of reference. He lives in New Jersey, with all of the social and economic inferences that people make in comparison to New York. I love how this episode shows Don as actually being on the right side of several arguments, but still suffering the wrong-side effects. He refuses to hit his children and Bobby doesn't have any fear of him, which is an unambiguous good, but Betty harangues him for not instilling 'discipline'. He tries to stay loyal to a good client and doesn't want to climb over literal dead bodies for success, but he's overridden and has to be the one to break the news. He's also the only one who tries to give Pete advice and comfort after his father's death. I'd say he failed pretty seriously, but he TRIED. He gave the advice that he would want to receive in a similar situation. Even though he has pretty solid contempt for Pete, in that one moment he really tried.

We in the United States are exhausted lmao 🤣 it’s only getting worse. We are a 3rd world country with a Gucci belt fr fr

For clarity: Pete's dad was rich, but the "name" that got Pete hired at SC is actually through his mother, Dorothy Dyckman. This storyline wasn't planned in S1 -- the actor who played Pete's father in "New Amsterdam" passed away between seasons -- but the reveal that he had spent through his wife's fortune is a neat button on that contradiction. The man was living the "Dyckman" life, and was imposing those expectations on his son, even though he wasn't a Dyckman. His status was actually a kind of illusion. And so was his wealth, it turns out. An illusion on top of an illusion. I love when Pete's mother says that he called his sons Salt & Pepper like that is supposed to mean anything, or we're even supposed to know who is which. Great reaction from Trudy (and a great Alison Brie episode in general.) Oh and Sally mixing drinks is 100% cute.

The actor who played Pete's dad passed away, and instead of re-casting, they decided to write his death into the show and tie it to a real American Airlines plane crash that happened in 1962.

I live in a country where abortion is legal but I remember in high school my biology teacher was a devout catholic and he would frequently go on anti-abortion rants. God, my high school was dogshit.

lets go baybee