Mad Men 7x09 Reaction

What exactly did Megan give up for Don? How did he ruin her life? She’s walking away from this a millionaire actress. Was Don a good husband? Certainly not. However, if not for him, whose money afforded her the opportunity to live comfortably while going on auditions, she would have been waiting tables, or working as a secretary. She was the one to make the first overture.

I didn’t see it as a redemption for Don so much. To me, it felt more like Don just wanted to be done with it. Partly because he was tired and didn’t want to go through the whole process again, but also because if he was going to start something new with Diana he wanted a clean slate However, I completely agree that gaslighting Megan’s character this episode left a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily though, I think any person who’s seen this episode has probably seen the series up to this point and would understand what she’s gone through and that’s not who she is Even though I disliked the whole fling with Diana, it makes sense to me when you consider that Don’s standard process is to move onto somebody new. He hasn’t learned yet that it’s not the right move, and that he needs to take time to heal himself first. However, I think the fling with Diana maybe helped teach him that lesson

Y'know I hate to break it to you, but I think there was a problem with the audio for your recording.... I don't think this is the BEST episode of the series, but I also don't think it's the WORST episode. I think everything here leads logically from what came before, even if it could have been done better. I think the episode is more kind to Megan than you think it is. She's not portrayed as demanding a huge cash settlement from Don, and she's not shown as being vindictive or hateful (Since it's her mother who stole all of his furniture out of pure pettiness). Her venting at Don when they're face-to-face is portrayed as her being hurt and angry, not mean or greedy. The show doesn't say she's "another Jane" (And I'll also say that not even Jane was "Jane" like Roger was saying). Does she come across looking GREAT? No. But she does come across looking human and vulnerable, and I was in her corner 100% when matching her against Don here. Stan is just...sad. I lost respect for him when he slept with Pima Ryan because there's no extenuating circumstances that I could PRETEND justified him cheating on his girlfriend. There's nothing. I could twist the scenario into a pretzel trying to justify it and come up empty. It's one of those basic human failures that makes him smaller in my mind. I do like how Don's relationship with his family is closer to healthy now. It's still not healthy yet, but it's CLOSER. He can talk civilly to Betty and Henry, and that's not nothing. Three years ago I couldn't imagine him having this pleasant of a conversation in Henry's kitchen.

The script writer this episode probably had an ex-wife named Megan

I don't know what this episode was trying to tell me about Stan (or Peggy). Does anybody have an idea how to understand his scenes here?

It's easy to say "You don't owe me anything" on the phone during a tearful, amicable goodbye. It's a lot harder when your life is falling apart, you've been negotiating a difficult divorce for months, your family is at each other's throats, your career is in a rut and its basically all because Don convinced a naive 25yo you into marrying him for 5 years. It's a realistic treatment of a complicated 30yo woman at probably the lowest point we've seen her. I don't think the show is absolving Don as much as you think; It sounds crazy to say but a million dollars in 1970 money won't even help; it will guarantee you a permanently comfortable life free from monetary stress, but it can't buy back 5 of the most important years of your life, as a young woman, as a growing actress. She would trade that million dollars away for a thriving acting career (and maybe she will!). All Don can do is throw money at the problem and he makes it a ludicrous amount because he can afford it and he knows that's all he can do. There's a reason the show doesn't make Megan say thank you or absolve him of his crimes in any way, or make Don ask for or expect anything after giving the money (like when Roger bought Jane an apartment). What did Betty say in the 7A Finale, when asked about Don? "I'm starting to think of him as an old, bad boyfriend. Someone a teenage anthropologist would marry." When Don sees Betty this episode, she's not looking back at Don conflicted; she seems content with her family, with her new college degree, with Henry. Don is a part of her life through the kids, but she's being genuine; he is like an old boyfriend to her now. She has grown. It's actually Don who looks back, missing... something. We can't see Megan get to Betty's point because it's only been some months, but the show included these scenes for a reason: We, the audience, know that Megan will be okay. Not now, not soon. But one day she'll wake up and think of Don as just an old bad boyfriend; someone a naive 20-something secretary would marry. And she'll be a million dollars richer, at least. I'm glad the show did this, rather than end off on one perfect phone call. When embracing Don, Diana describes a twinge in her chest and he says, wistfully: "A pain?" What did Don say in the Carousel pitch? "Nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone". Don thinks Diana is feeling this because Don is deeply nostalgic, constantly craving some perfect imaginary past that he helped invent. But Diana is describing something else, something that Don feels but doesn't want to admit or perhaps isn't even conscious of. The pain we see bubble up, in the Hershey's pitch, in his lowest most honest moments. Don tries to go "round and around, and back home again, to a place where he knows he is loved" again and again, and Diana is the latest version of that. But unlike literally everyone else he's tried this with, Diana is under no illusions. She lost one daughter and abandoned another and doesn't want to forget it. She moved to a city where she could be anonymous and trapped herself in a little hell of her own making. It reminds me a lot of Severance (iykyk). This conflict between Don and Diana is important (they even have similar names). Diana is very intentionally written and a good addition to the show. Bonus Thoughts: It was fun watching Lola being an early Harry hater knowing this is where he ends up, doing gross weinstein casting couch abuse. Disgusting man. Pete stocks are at an all time high. Don scene with Henry was really nice, time erodes sharp cliffs into nice walkable sand. Pete asks "What if you never get past the beginning again?" and Don just tells him "Watch the road"... Don's solace is that no matter what happens you can always run away and start over... but what if Pete's right? What if you can never get past the beginning? And what if you "only enjoy the beginnings of things"?

I wonder if LM's awareness of toxic fandoms, especially regarding female characters, influenced their views on Megan's scenes a bit. Nothing Megan did in this episode was unjustified, nothing she told Don was untruthful, she suffered multiple humiliations that weren't her fault, and she wasn't planning on going after any of Don's big money. Nothing in this episode screamed "gold digger", and yet those are the words Lola uses in her review. She's clearly thinking about how other viewers might interpret the scenes.

It was our beloved Henry who said "There is no fresh start. Lives carry on!'

This episode feels a little sloppy by usual MM standards, but I disagree re: Megan. I don't think the writers were trying to make her look bad or undeserving of Don's money. Breakups are difficult, emotions are all over the place, and just because they ended their previous phone call cordially doesn't mean there isn't lingering bitterness. She just caught her mom cheating with Roger, Harry just tried to Harvey Weinstein her and I think as a result her emotions are heightened and she's acutely feeling the weight of her situation and how her career has tanked... and she feels it's all Don's fault (which it mostly is). He did ruin her life. And she took the money because of course, who wouldn't? (I wish all breakups ended with being handed a million dollar check tbh lol...) And like others have already said, Don writing the check isn't being a bigger man, it's tossing money at problems because he doesn't want to deal with them emotionally. Megan is NOT Jane, all she ever truly wanted from the beginning was an honest, loving, emotionally available husband. I think the writers counted on the viewers taking their entire history into account, and wanted to show how Don has turned this happy vibrant young woman into a bitter, angry one. They were not trying to ruin her character or retroactively turn her into a gold digger or something.

Hmm... maybe the weakest episode of the series? It's kind of fascinating to look at The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, who all split their "final season" into two truncated parts, and how (imo) they alll stumbled out of the blocks a bit for the last batch of episodes. The Sopranos started off Season 6B with "Sopranos Home Movies" (an all-timer) then got bogged down in Tony's gambling arc. Breaking Bad kind of spun its wheels with the post-Leaves of Grass story beats... And now Mad Men is doing this Diana stuff, which I agree is a pretty flat. Gurer'f n ybg bs gurzngvp erfbanapr gb Qba'f fgbel bs pbhefr, rfcrpvnyyl jura jr trg gb Enpvar, ohg gur fgbel vgfrys vf abg rknpgyl pbzcryyvat... A highlight: I love Julia Ormond's performance as Marie. So great to see her again. We always had the impression in her previous episodes that she knew more the world than Megan. It's nice to get this extra layer of characterization where she's screwing up her own life (and disappointing her kids) a bit. Another highlight: Pete in golf attire.

I don't think the Pima Ryan storyline was meant to make Peggy feel jealous of Stan. It was a playful way of showing both of their insecurities at work. It felt like Stan was in a rut at work and seeking Pima's approval was a way to assuage that. Peggy rejecting Pima after initially showing respect for her as an artist in advertising was a moment of growth that we may not have seen from her earlier in the series. I think it was also a way to show that Stan was not that attached to Elaine.

So while some things feel disjointed I don’t think the show is trying to make us think badly about Megan. Yes she’s acting a bit immature but she’s in her 20s. This is her marriage dissolving, she doesn’t have a good example of a marriage with her parents and so she doesn’t handle it well. What Don does here by giving her the money feels like what he does when he writes that letter for his ex secretary that he slept with — it feels like a slap in the face. Don can’t express himself and truly give a heartfelt apology and tell them how he feels. These women want emotional connection, something real. Like Don once said to Peggy “that’s what the money is for” that’s how he shows his gratitude and it feels disrespectful to the woman who gave up so much for him to end up with crushed dreams and a broke heart

The scene with Megan and Don reminds me of what Megan's father once told her, critiquing her choice to marry Don: "you've skipped the struggle and went right to the end". Like others have said, Don is just throwing money at another problem, blindly. What he doesn't see is how the money is just an extension of their failed marriage; both being with Don and this money have and will cripple Megan from finding her own path, just like what Roger did to Jane.

This was back in season 5 but it was mentioned or at least heavily implied that Marie's husband was cheating with his grad student.

A thing the girls didn't discussed or maybe didn't noted in previous episodes is the fact that the show hints a lot that Megan isn't a very good actress, in many ways she really just got her job because of Don helping with that AD. This is important here because that's just it, she is throwing this frustrations at Don ( he deserves some of that ), it's kinda petty of her, but also fairly understandable.

I don't see Don giving her that money as him being the bigger man. That's how Don deals with any problem he faces in his life - he throws money at it. It's his cowardly way of absolving or resolving any issues he has rather than confronting them. He did it with Adam, with Suzanne's brother, with Midge, with Peggy, tried to do it with Rachel. Everything Megan said to him in this episode is true. She wasted her youth, lost her career for him and he cut her off emotionally. The only way he knows to make up for the harm he's caused her is with money.

Yes, I've always felt this is a weird episode. I personally like the Diana storyline (a lot of people don't) , I think she makes sense for Don at that point in his life, but they just needed one extra episode to develop her character and their relationship a bit more. I think the problem with this episode are not the stories and scenes themselves, but the disconnection with the previous episodes. For example, it makes sense that Megan is angry at Don, she is still a very young woman and she doesn't need to be the bigger person (and she is also affected by what happened with Harry and then her parents situation). But the previous episodes didn't lead us properly to this situation. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that Matthew Weiner wanted to have more episodes for Megan, but they couldn't make it for contractual reasons.

You never have problems with the audio on your cartoon videos.

I totally agree -- the tone left a sour taste in my mouth too. It felt like a regression for Megan that didn't align with her character.

Roger in this ep is like that "Accidentally became important at work and it's ruining my life" meme

Pretty good episode to have shitty audio