Mad Men 7x13 Reaction

I fell behind and rushed to catch up for the finale but this may have been the saddest reaction I’ve watched in a while lol. I remember thinking about this episode the day you started the show. It seemed so far away. Now I want to put off the finale too but I’m probably just bummed it’s ending. It’s been a great run

Boardwalk Empire (IMDb 8.6, RT 92%) [56 episodes] (has Omar) --Won Golden Globe for Best TV Series - Drama --Twice nominated for Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series Mindhunter (2017, 2019) (IMDb 8.6, RT 97%) [19 episodes]

Please please please watch Interview with the Vampire

six feet under is THE best show you could watch from now on

So what show did they pre-film for the Mad Men slot, any guesses?

I remember when M&L were confidently insisting someone would get lung cancer in the first season, thinking "well you're right, but you won't find out until you've forgotten about it, and then it'll punch you in the gut." It's tough to watch, not an 'I called it!' scene. I think I would've preferred if they just let Betty end as a student, as she did in the previous episode. It is emotionally powerful though, and I wonder if the decision to have her die is connected to Betty losing her own mother, and not wanting Sally to face the same pain she did, which she is a common undercurrent in the early seasons. You can see even through their differences how much they care about each other. Sally's 'you love the tragedy of it' is ironically one of those comments that show how much you know and care about someone. Don's confession to the soldiers is I think the only time we see him confess that he caused the real Don's death. He didn't even mention that to Anna that we know of. It's a cathartic scene. I also like that Pete is owning up to his mistakes and still asking for a second chance. It would be easy to either put your head in the sand about it all, or become so loaded with guilt that you distance and punish yourself. Trudy's "I'm saying with respect to whatever's happening in your eyes right now" comment is hilarious.

I think founding out a parent had lung cancer out of nowhere is pretty accurate to the 70s because 50s and 60s cigarettes were everywhere

One more instance of Don being honest, vulnerable, confiding about his past and his reward is to immediately get the shit kicked out of him. But his reaction is so pure, selfless. He takes the blame, doesn't rat the kid out, and gives him a leg up so he can do it differently than Don did. My fav arc of any episode for Don, just perfect.

As Lola and others have mentioned, as little agency as Betty has had in her life, her reaction to this horrible diagnosis (a diagnosis she's not even allowed to receive until her husband is present) was one of the few times we get to see her take control. She's going to follow through on trying to be different by staying in school for as long as she can. Instead of going through the horrors of early '70s chemo, as Henry's insisting, she's ready to let this disease take her. She's setting the conditions for what Sally needs to do as soon as the time comes. It is the most gut-wrenching story of the series for me, but I can also see it as a victory for Betty, by deciding to die on her own terms (for once).

I told you before: if you want more Alison Brie, check out "Community". You won't regret it! Betty's cancer has loomed over the whole series, especially every time you brought up just how much everybody smokes. But sometimes this is how it goes: Some smokers live to ripe old age and never suffer any noticeable effects, while others succumb young. It hurts that it takes THIS for Betty to finally understand and appreciate her daughter. Sally deserved this understanding earlier in her life. But it's nice that Betty did have this moment of realization and has a new connection with Sally. And sometimes that is also how it goes. Pete seems like he honestly has changed from who he used to be. He's not just saying the right words to get Trudy back as a trophy wife, he means them and understands them. Will he be able to KEEP this feeling after he's settled down and Trudy seems boring and monotonous again? That's a good question. But right now he really does have a whole new outlook. Duck is just...wild. I never know what to say about him in this episode. What kind of man gets somebody else a job, a job which they don't need or even want, and then pushes for it THIS hard? And DOES IT? Is he a genius or a madman? Don is just empty at this point, and desperately looking for something to fill that space inside him. It's a cliche to drive across the country 'looking for America' but he's really doing it. And he's not finding it. But he does seem to be finding some small pieces of himself. He gives another young, dumb kid a headstart and some advice. Would this have been good advice for him when he was younger? I don't know. I don't know the source so I can't vouch for the accuracy, but according to what "they" say, the idea of showing the veterans turn on Don and rough him up was meant to put the lie to the notion that people are Good in small towns. It's a common refrain that cities are mean, and people often talk about getting out of the dirty cities to where people Treat Each Other Right and form a Community. But they wanted to show that it's not about location, people are gonna be people no matter where you are. They can be good or bad in big cities, and they can be good or bad in small towns. This applies to Don because it's a demonstration that it doesn't matter WHERE he goes. He's still gonna be himself, so if he wants change then HE needs to change.

When you picture Betty in your mind, what do you see? Do you see her standing or sitting in a kitchen, smoking a cigarette? A show about advertising that begins in 1960 with The Platters "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" where out titual character tries to circumvent the governments warnings that "smoking causes cancer" was always bound to end up here. As the girls mention in earlier seasons they were CERTAIN someone was gonna die of lung cancer from all the smoking. Finding out it's Betty is a gut punch, it's like emotional terrorism. And then you think back to all her scenes, and to how many cigarettes she chain smokes, into how central smoking is to part of her life. It's deeply, deeply unfair. But it's true and real and raw, and gives us some scenes that will stay with you forever. I'll never forget Betty's voiceover letter, or Sally covering her ears, or Henry breaking down and crying in front of someone for perhaps the first time in his entire male-socialized life. It's a choice that makes the rewatch so powerful, like knowing what happens to [redacted] in Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul or Mr Robot. And there's so much resonance with what came before; with Betty's own relationship to her mother, who died when she was just 25. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. After decades of hiding it, Don finally admits the worst thing he's ever done, the thing he thinks is unforgiveable to a jury of peers.... and they forgive him. Sure it goes a bit wrong after, but in the moment... that catharsis. For months Lola and Milena have been saying Don should go to therapy, to talk about what happened to him... he finally does, and he gets told: You are okay. You did what you had to do. This isn't a stain or a burden. When the vets break into his room, they don't even mention Korea, because that's not what it's about. Even when they think he's a scumbag thief conman, they're still accepting of what he did in 'his war'. It's a beautiful choice that makes you ask: What is Don even running from any more? What is he scared of? Pete and Trudy's story feels so legitimately earned. Pete's whole arc is one of my favorites in the whole show and I think it makes sense why Pete has so many ride-or-dies even after the terrible things he did in earlier seasons. Mad Men is a show about a lot of things and one of the things is "How much difference can 10 years make?" Well, it depends on the years and it depends on the person. 25 to 35yo Pete is night and day. May we all continue growing to the point we look back on the versions of ourselves from 10, from 5 years ago with regret. Bonus Thoughts: Betty's "why was I ever doing it?" is so telling, like... she wasn't going to school to become a psychologist, she was going to school to Go To School, for the experience, the destination is less important than the journey. Trudy 100% is That Girl and everyone's favorite side-character for sure, just an amazing performance and character. Nice to get a shot of comic relief Duck, few people talk about how FUNNY Mad Men is. The shitty version of this show would have Don caught this episode for desertion, instead (as always with Mad Men) we get something slower, sadder, more mundane and poignant.

yeah, heartbreaking. I was blindsided by Betty's story too, "TV logic" suggests that it should've been Roger or Don or any other guys we saw living with no regard for their mortality over the course of 7 seasons, and it is such a huge thing for a show with almost no life or death stakes to pull in 1 late episode, but I've only loved it more with time. Everything's in that line, "why was I ever doing it?".- somehow it holds both the bitter nihilism that she always carried with her and a defiant hope at the same time. Maybe my biggest hot take with the last run of the show was that they let Pete off the hook a little too easy. I know he's put in work and everyone can grow, but he was always such a complex, often pathetic, often cruel character that I found it a bit surprising that he ultimately gets a romantic happy ending without caveats and flies off into the sunset. I completely get how it's nearly impossible to not be happy for him though, he's just so deeply sincere. Rkpvgrq gb frr gur raqvat ernpgvba. Sbhaq vg n ovg wneevat vavgvnyyl zlfrys pnhfr V bayl unq n yvzvgrq njnerarff bs gur erny nq fb V'z phevbhf gb frr vs vg guebjf gurz gbb, ohg ernyvfgvpnyyl gurl'er n ybg fznegre guna zr fb gurl'yy cebonoyl or svar yby

Oh man, Betty’s letter to Sally gets me every time.

The amount of times I winced whenever either of you mentioned a character getting lung cancer in previous videos. Great reaction girls! So sad that this is almost over.

This one cycles all the way back to the premise of pilot: a man with a dark secret about Korea, trying to sell cigarettes, even though they're poison. Is it a bit manipulative to spring a sudden terminal cancer diagnosis on the audience in the penultimate episode? Probably, yeah. But I can't say enough about how beautifully the show handles the fallout here. (Henry crying. Whew.) And frankly, I don't think you can write a show with this much smoking -- a show about people who *sell* cigarettes -- and not give one of your characters cancer. That wouldn't be honest storytelling. Speaking of honesty, Don's confession about Korea here reminds me of two contradictory moments from earlier in the series: The confession scene itself recalls the big "Mr. Campbell, who cares?" moment from Bert. Don has bottled up this truth for so long, and when he finally shares it (with the people who, you'd think, would look most unkindly on his desertion) it's not so bad after all. He gets understanding and even tenderness from those guys... Until the next scene, when the men who embraced him in the veterans hall beat him senseless with a telephone book. That one reminds me of when he confessed to Betty, and after all of his honesty, she divorced him. She didn't divorce him over the lies about Dick Whitman, just like these guys didn't beat him up over the incident in Korea, but can you imagine how it feels to get the shit kicked out of you every time you tell the truth? Great episode. Great show. It's been a pleasure to revisit it with y'all. It sounds like they already watched the finale, but here's one more rot13 for old times' sake: Lrnu, gurer'f gur pbxr znpuvar yhexvat va gur onpxtebhaq. Qba pna eha, ohg ur pna'g uvqr.

Pete’s talk with Trudy is one of my favourite moments I’ve ever seen. Probably the most earned character arc in any show.

Suffered in silence the entire show then gets cancer from something every single person in the show does.

I wanted to post an excerpt from John Teti's review of this episode for AV Club that I found particularly poignant: "Sally, too, will find her peace after the tears. Her letter from Betty ends with a profound reassurance: “Sally, I always worried about you because you march to the beat of your own drum. But now I know that’s good. Your life will be an adventure. I love you.” Those brief sentences bridge a divide between the two women. Sally, headstrong even for a teenager, had come to believe that Betty didn’t understand her—she perceived such a distance that she even called her mom by her first name. The letter shows Sally how Betty saw her, and not only is Betty’s vision perceptive, it’s admiring as well. As Sally cries, we see Betty climbing the stairs to her psychology classes: With months left in her existence, Betty is marching to her own drum at last. Sally found her beat earlier in life than Betty did, which fills her mother with a pride that transcends death."

Thank you so much for going on this journey with us, LM. It was great hearing your massive insights and just pure enjoyment of the show.