Mad Men 5x05 Reaction
merry christmas if you’re celebrating today, otherwise happy holidays ❤️
Comments (42)
"Clog in the machine" might be my new favourite phrase.
"I know cooler heads should prevail but..." in a series of fine moments, one of Roger Sterling's finest. That and lighting his cigarette before the fight started lol\
Just an fyi coz Lola has been saying it a lot recently, the phrase is ‘cog in the machine’, as in a small piece of machinery part of a larger whole, not ‘clog in the machine’, which would imply being a blockage or something stopping a machine from functioning.
My favourite LM-ism is when they say 'Gouge' something instead of 'Gauge' - which makes it seem much more violent!
"Still, Coe thought, it might have been living in the country that was making him cry. It was killing him with its silence and loneliness – making everything ordinary, too beautiful to bear." - Dave Algonquin
"Gurer ner ab tbbq avtug abvfrf!"
A GRIMY LITTLE PIMP
This episode reminds me of The Office or Peep Show for how much it just drills into Pete's insecurities and humiliates him. Even the 'this is an office, we're supposed to be friends' line is very Michael Scott. He can't see how much he has because he's unfulfilled, jealous of shallow things, oily and spiteful. Ken being encouraged to give up on writing is also kind of like Pam and her art in The Office. There's an almost vindictive nature to it. I've always found this episode hard to watch, bar the fight, but it's a great one.
lol It IS Michael Scott. And that little shake of the head from Don, "he just never gets it".
The Speck murders, the World Cup final, and the Chrles Whitman shooting all occurred within 19 days of each other. Kind of mirrors the 25 days in the Summer of 69, when the moon landing, Chappaquidick, the Manson murders and Woodstock all took place.
I think the Ginsberg in this case is probably Allen Ginsberg, a poet and writer who was very famous in the 50's and 60's. He kickstarted the Beatnik movement in the 50's and early 60's, which were a kind of proto-hippies. Not as popular as the actual hippy movement of the late 60's, but it did pave the way for it.
They were probably thinking of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
" ... he needs to just like accept Dick" ayoo pause 😭😭😭
I like how Don didn't have anything to say at the dinner party until the countryside came up and he immediately got more enthusiastic and started talking, there's this need in him to share his experiences and find common ground with others, which is stifled by his fear of revealing his secret. It's the same in the brothel, he absolutely didn't need to share that he grew up in such a place but he wanted to share it.
im reading about space, bodies, familiarity. there's a bit on how our "bodies" can extend out all over our rooms, houses, etc., and how we shape those spaces (decorations, pictures, furniture), but also those spaces shape us anyways, through that line, Don feels comfortable enough to share bc of his strong familiarity with the brothel as a space, even if his childhood 'whorehouse' didn't look as nice, it's still functionally similar, and inhabited by 'familiar' people such as the madam wish i could elaborate. i need to hit the books this thought is even more incomplete: growing up in the country adds to the masculine aura + grants an ability to be authentic while not disclosing his identity
Imagining what size my ego would inflate to if people gave me the nickname "Handsome".
I think it's the writers being very on the nose here and pointing out to the viewer "HEY THIS GUY IS HOTTER THAN PETE". It is very goofy but considering the purpose of this character it's whatever.
Love how casual Pete getting his face battered is treated. He easily could've suffered a broken jaw, or even lost an eye, to a perfectly placed shot in the right/wrong spot. Ahh, it doesn't matter, cause Pete's a pieceashit anyway so he'd deserve whatever happens.
This brilliant episode, Top 10 episode IMHO, is the reason I wanted to stop watching Mad Men. Relentless mendacity from all the guys except Ken. Don doesn't count cause hes been ABSENT this season. Cruelty for cruelty's sake. As if Matt Weiner was like, 'let's see if I can tilt the Asshole Meter to 11 on this one'. Uggghhh. Don't care how brilliant a show is, if it actually makes you depressed just watching it, why even bother? The real title of this episode should be The Demolition of Peter Satan Campbell. How that guy doesn't commit suicide by the end of the hour is surprising. I guess his little girl would keep him from doing that. He fails at EVERYTHING here, while being the worst version of himself every step of the way. Someone referenced Edgar Allan Poe in regards to Kenny's writing. At the end, with the water torture sounding louder and louder, Pete becomes a character in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Where a body has been placed under the floorboards, but its heart is still beating. Made me think that Pete and his rifle is a ticking time bomb, Chekov's gun, literally waiting to go off. I have never felt worse watching an episode.
Thank you for your knd words. I don't want haters. I'm here to share, not to fight. Regardless if our opinions differ greatly.
Back when this episode aired, the Mad Men forum on Television Without Pity (a great TV discussion site, one of many when the Internet was more diverse before reddit and social media swallowed up everything) was dominated by women for some reason. They *hated* what Don told Pete in the cab. Basically, Don made it sound like "if I had found happiness (Megan!) back then I wouldn't have been a man-whore and eventually divorced." They felt that he was full a shit and essentially threw Betty under the bus, when the fact is that the unhappiness of his first marriage was largely his own doing. I tend to agree. Don was implying that he would have been a virtuous man if he had found and married Megan back then is some funny and delusional shit.
What would you expect Don to say? I was wrong, and Betty was right? He'd rather get kicked in the face by a horse.
I think this appropriate for today (it's a scene from a past episode): https://youtu.be/d91dmiEs240?si=6uDPGPVwTKKLv-PA
I'd like to think that seasoned reactors know how to handle links of shows they are watching. I'll add a note. The link is for everyone here too.
I love Pete so much, easily my top 3 in the show because of this episode specifically.
Roger's convo with Ken reflects an attitude typical of this kind of business (big law, finance, and apparently advertising): You get paid very well but the partners basically own your time. Today, this conversation wouldn't have taken place in those terms and in fact, big law firms and other similar businesses go out of their way to indicate that they want associates to have lives and pursue their hobbies etc. That's entirely because they want to attract the best talent. So they would never talk to you like this. But it's bullshit. Make no mistake about it: they actually want as much of your time as possible and would look at a time consuming hobby like writing as a distraction. I've been in that world (law, not ads) and speak from personal experience. Remember what Peggy said last season: it doesn't seem like anything matters as much as what happens in here. She abandoned her family and boyfriend on her birthday so she can keep working (even though she didn't really want to, that's a choice she made - AFTER Don let her go). The people who rise to the top in this type of job are not the smartest people or the hardest-working people. It's the people for who love the job so much that it's not a job, but a life. That's Peggy. And Pete, Don, Roger, Cooper. Maybe even Joan. Being an author on the side, having a true passion that's not work, is the opposite of that. The only way you rise in places like these is if they can tell that this job is not just a job for you but it's your life. Because that's how *they* are (the partners). That's how they got where they are and that's how they think that you should be if you hope to rise at the firm. Anyone who has worked at a place like this understands this. It's just another aspect of naked capitalism, which is something the show obviously explores.
What I say about Don at this point, with regards to his marriage, is that he's TRYING. Is he a good husband? I'll still say "no". But he's making more of an effort than we ever saw him make with Betty, which is why he avoids cheating, he shows up to the party, etc. He knows that he has to put in SOME effort to keep Megan around, while he used to just take Betty for granted and never even imagined that she would ever leave him. Yes, the brothel madame was offering to arrange a man for Don to sleep with, since she assumed that he was gay and that's why he wasn't sleeping with any of the women there. It was in an off-location apartment to separate it from her operation and prevent police action against the whole organization. Lane laying Pete flat on the ground is one the highlights that always sticks in our collective memory. We've all wanted to do it at one time or another, and Lane got to live our dreams for us. The title of this episode is "Signal 30". That is the name of the real-life educational video that Pete watches in drivers' ed. The film takes its name from the radio code used by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for a fatal traffic accident.
Mechanized Death was a better movie. Coincidentally, the last episode of The Wire was -30-, witch reporters use to signal the end of a story.
What should Don do to be at peace, particularly with who he is? "Accept Dick" - Lola (Dec 2025)
Love this episode. It does an amazing job distilling Pete's general feeling of inadequacy and insecurity we've seen throughout the show.
my vocal ticks for the past ten years: MISTER CAMPBELL, YOU AND I ARE GOING TO ADDRESS THAT INSULT. NOOO, YOU'RE A GRIMY LITTLE PIMP. AS SOON AS I RAISE MY HANDS I WARN YOU IT SHALL BE TOO LATE TO RUN. CONSIDER THAT MY LAST PIECE OF ADVICE.
Where the hell have you been. Lol. Welcome back!
Happy Holidays to all! ✨
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone 🎄
"if youre celebrating today" is so lame... merry christmas everybody
well not everyone celebrates christmas today, ours is for example in 2 weeks
It's a festivus miracle!
For the rest of us?
A Mad Men reaction dropping on Christmas Day. A thing like that!
Also this episode was very good
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays! 🎄