Mad Men 4x11 Reaction

Psa…mad men is on hbo in 4k now. Been doing my best Strawhat pirate impersonation up to now and it’s only been hd. Be interesting to see if I can even tell the difference lol.

During the MM S1 finale's discussion, Lola hastily (but accurately) declared that IF the series keeps up the consistency in quality (it increased), she will acknowledge MM on the level of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, AoT, Derry Girls', Succession, etc while Milena said around S4, she'll make that call (fair play). Now, as we near the end of MM S4, will we get a definitive confirmation from Milena after watching MM S4 finale on whether or not the show is peak or not?

I LOVE how diverse the female cast of Mad Men is. Of course, we in the comments have brought this up ad nauseam but it's still always such a joy to witness. We don't know Megan's character yet really and we can compare it somewhat to Jane or Peggy, but I feel like she's so clearly different. She seems very much from a different generation. The show is clear in establishing her as an educated, aspiring, different woman (she's French-Canadian which is quite contrasting to the typical American). She tells Don not to worry about storming off the next day the way Allison did and takes initiative. Even if she was a social climber it still felt like a woman taking what she wants (a talented, handsome man). Now of course there is always going to be a power imbalance but it really felt like Megan was able to bridge that effortlessly and to assert herself. Fantastic character work

Uhh this episode turned from Mad Men into Mad Women at the end...

I know I know but Don bullshit aside Megan is kinda my favorite lol Glad we’ve made it to her

Sorry, but it is kind of funny that y'all are so crushed by Don cheating on Faye. I don't remember feeling that at all. Not because I don't like Faye as a character (she is great) but because, well, what else is Don going to do? I would be more surprised if he didn't cheat.

Mad Men is imbued with capitalism's logic of competition and moral decay. The show attentively animates the logic's foundational adage, "it's not personal, it's just business." In 4x11, the proverb's incoherence is revealed as business permeates beyond professional premises. David Montgomery's reward for prioritizing work over family is a memorial that prioritizes work over family. After Ken's family dinner is disrupted by news of Lucky Strike's departure, Pete decides to go network at Montgomery's memorial and misses the birth of his daughter. Critically, the deceased's wife and daughter are disturbed and disassociating throughout every memorial scene. They recognize it's become a networking event for Madison Avenue ad men. This bleak outcome exemplifies how 'just business' logic encourages and rewards moral decay. "Chinese Wall" repeatedly blurs what's 'business' and what's 'personal.' Roger seeks emotional work from Joan after losing Lucky Strike, Stan sexually assaults and humiliates Peggy at work, Chaough attempts to poach Pete in a hospital hallway, Don sleeps with another secretary, and Faye compromises her personal integrity to prolong Don's professional ambition. These cases suggest it's always personal. It reveals "it's just business" to be a thin veneer excusing cruelty. Obviously, Megan wouldn't get a pass to pursue Don if it was done solely to jumpstart her career. And Don doesn't get away with cheating if it's done solely to alleviate work stress. In 4x11 we see the logic of competition degrade both the professional and personal ethics of the characters. All to say, the real-world consequences of this depraved logic are innumerable. It's never been 'just business.' It's environmental destruction, it's children mining cobalt, it's data centers ruining water supplies, it's profiting from prison labor, it's profiting from death, etc

Among the many reasons Mad Men is the greatest TV show of all time (for my tastes) is that it can elicit these types of reactions. Lola is right, it really does feel like being trapped in a car careening off a cliff. I "love" how mad Milena is... the fact the show can make you this mad, characters in shows have pissed me off before but I don't feel like I KNOW them. The question that textually opened season 4 was: "Who is Don Draper?". With 2 eps and 3 full, incredible seasons left, the followup questions write themselves. For the first time we see Peggy in wild lust with someone. She's killing it at work - even got Don to say he's counting on her - and found a guy she vibes with who challenges her somewhat and they have great sex. As far as we're aware Peggy's sexual partners have been: Pete laying god awful pipe two(?) times, that one broke kid one night stand, "Herman" Duck "I'll give you a go around" Phillips, that one annoying fake-fiance and the Relax-a-Cizor. I love how awkward her and Abe are, but then how sincerely into each other they are ("you look so earnest"). If I were to stretch I might say it's another way she's emulating Don - a passionate lunchtime hookup in her office. AND she lands the account with lipstick teeth. Good for her! Bonus Thoughts: Don going from berating Pete to unironically defending him against Roger is so funny to me. He really just goes at whoever is in front of him when he's pissed off. The SCDP folks trawl for clients at a funeral and Ted from CGC pitches Pete at the hospital (SCDP's funeral?). We don't even see him and I'm cracking up imagining Lane in London trying to fix his horrible marriage while dealing with the news from New York.

One correction to what you two took from the episode: When Faye said Don was the most hireable man in advertising and he said it hadn't gotten to that point yet, he wasn't saying that he ISN'T the most hireable man. He was saying that they haven't gotten to the point where he needs to begin looking for a new job yet. He wasn't being modest on his own talents. I think the last dollar figure we got for the Lucky Strike account was $24 million in billings, when they were starting up SCDP and going over numbers. Percentage-wise, I think the last figure we got was somewhere between 60-70% of their current total billing, but I'm much less certain on that because I can't recall exactly where they gave the numbers. Bear in mind that this doesn't mean SCDP makes $24 million a year from Lucky Strike, since most of that money goes OUT of the company to purchase the ad space, but that's how much money they're working with. I think Don's best quality, if we're really trying to honestly appraise his morality, is that he doesn't feel that other people need to lose in order for him to win. He still wants to win, but what matters is that HE win. As long as he gets his success, he's fine with other people also succeeding in their own ways. Compare with Tony Soprano, who was never happy just with his own success. When he saw somebody else making progress emotionally or professionally, even when it took NOTHING away from him, he always had to knock them down just so that they wouldn't be happy on their own. For all of Don's faults, that's one thing he doesn't need to do. Of course, when it comes to him getting his own success, there's very few lines he won't cross to get it. When it comes to Megan, I actually think she's a view at "what could have been" when it comes to Peggy's arc. Remember, one of the first things Peggy did was flirt with Don because she thought that was expected of her and how you got ahead in business. She was inexperienced (in every meaning of the word), but she dove in head-first. Megan already has more experience than Peggy had (This was Peggy's very first job after secretarial school, whereas Megan has a college degree and references having prior jobs), so she's pursuing this angle with more skill and experience. What if Peggy had been just a few years older and more "worldly" when she started at Sterling Cooper? And Don had already had his life implode as well. Maybe Peggy would have made a pass like this instead.

Lola turns off the auto play when she needs to feel a clear win against a vanquishable enemy. Only to turn it on again to feel the sensation again.

I love you, Karen Wheeler

Mad Men has now made Lola push away her microphone from both happiness and anger lol

Said it before, Faye is usually the only adult in any scene she's in. Don is Don. Charming and hopeless.

Lmao you are so angry. It's no surprise, I would say Faye is a very popular character between Mad Men fans.

Boy that Don sure is a stinker ain't he? Lol

For me personally this was Dons worst moment. Faye is perfect and him doing this to her is beyond disgusting

I have faith that one day, Lola will dedicate the 10 seconds to turning off the Netflix autoplay she hates. Not this day, but one day.

"I wouldn't say I'm an artist. I'm an artistic person." Vg'f uneq gb jngpu, ohg guvf vf jung unccraf jura lbh unir gur negvfgvp grzcrenzrag ohg lbh'er abg na negvfg.