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I know, I'll be sure to put a more proper rundown next time, that said:

PEGGY OLSEN !

First question, will we keep seeing her ? Or did she just get the axe ?

Also, what prevents her from being both liberated woman and misunderstood ?

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I'll do a rundown for the final 2(!) episodes. This season sure flew by fast, didn't it? Anyways, since you weren't yet caught up, and since Mal hasn't really been visiting this thread, I didn't bother.



I'd imagine we'd keep seeing her, but I think her role will be drastically reduced, like Betty's. But if Moss is no longer a recurring character, I'm sure some new show will come along and snatch her up. I think for her story to have any impact, though, she should probably stay away from the show for a while. Still, I feel it's probably for the best. I think they took her character as far as they could.



Sorry, I was just trying to come up with a Mclachlan Group styled, rapid fire segue.

t3cii. Genuine article, or radical charlatan? Go!

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

My workload is much lighter, so I'll be able to respond more quickly if you decide to keep doing dem rundowns !

Also, any news on the new Breaking Bad season ? I feel it's taking it's sweet time getting here.



They deffinitely stretched her as much as possible, and it was noticing, best scene was Don literally buying her out after he had failed miserably at preventing the same damn thing !

Speaking of that, Joan ...



Genuine charlatan most certainly !

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Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is the show returns July 15th. The bad news is the season has been split into two, 8 episode parts. Meaning after episode 8, we won't see another episode until summer of 2013. I really don't understand why shows do this, that is going to be a huge wait in between episodes, especially since this is the final season. I get that we will be getting three more episodes than we would normally be getting, but I think I'd rather have a standard season and not have to wait so long. I hope episode 8 ends on a massive cliffhanger.



Yes, speaking of Joan. Big sacrifice she made. While she gets a partnership (which doesn't sound right), and tons more money, how will she live knowing that everything she earned was through her sleeping with that client?

Going back to Peggy, it sucks that she's going to be gone, and that Betty and Megan, two totally bland female characters, are still in the mix.

Also, I'm not sure we'll be seeing too much of Lane next season if things seem to be going in the direction they're going. He's a decent character, but it's going to blow up in his face, and seriously hurt the company. I feel they've made that storyline a bit too vague, but basically I believe he's taken money from the company, and now they have landed a client they might not be able to afford.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

FUCK YES !!! MORE BREAKING BAD !!!

Still, I have to say I also don't like this "season splitting".

Even though there has to be a reason why networks do that, same thing happened with the sixth season of The Sopranos.



Well, I don't think Joan would be one to constantly badger herself over something like that, she'll probably become a little more cynical, but overall, life as usual.



Betty was a great character back when she was married with Don, but she should've been let go the moment they got divorced, she just has no place in the show anymore.

And even though I don't hate Jessica Paré as much as you do , I have to say I've been getting tired of her lately, every single episode is the same bullshit with her and Don, over and over and over, I don't know what the writers have in mind, but the payoff sure as shit better be worth the journey of seeing her so often being the "First World Problems" meme.



Did I miss something in previous seasons !? WHERE THE HELL did that plot come from ? I didn't realize Lane was ever in some sort of debt, that was confusing as hell, and it's obviously going to blow up on his face someday.

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I don't hate Paré, I just think she is out of her depth, and the fact Megan has been shoved down our throats this season doesn't help. Seeing Megan try to make it as an actress is really boring, and she adds so little to the story.



Nope, you didn't miss anything. I'm not too sure of the details (wikipedia isn't working at the moment), but I think at the time this season is set, British ex patriots saw high taxes which they would have to pay if they made a certain amount abroad. So, basically Lane wasn't declaring the money he had made while working in America.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I actually like the angle of her being a natural for advertising, she is much more talented than many of the "senior" characters on the show, and Don being at odds with her for not being able to convince her to seize that potential says a lot of interesting things about Don as a person.

However, we don't get that, instead, we got what is probably the fourth "fight" this season, the latest one being the lamest of all, really Megan ? Throwing pasta at the wall ? Really ?

Also, Jessica Paré is THE WORST "crier" ever !



!

Well, at least the showrunners have a good defense for pulling a crazy plot out of their assholes.

ALSO

You never commented on this :

http://www.cracked.com/article_19874_ho ... balls.html

I wouldn't feel "cheated" if Mad Men ended like that, in fact, I like that ending A LOT.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I didn't know.



Really? It sounds like a really dumb idea. What would the point be? And how would it work? He's fantasizing he's Don, but he's also fantasizing about the rest of the cast and their lives?

It doesn't matter, Weiner has said he envisions us seeing Don reach today, and looking back at his life.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I posted it back in the General Talk thread !

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

Why not ? In the end, Mad Men would be the ultimate metaphor for the American Dream, finding love, having friends, and being a succesful businessman is as good as you could've gotten at the time.

And I can hardly see how it would be so wrong for him to fantasize about the lives of other characters, I mean, you're in a distorted state of consciousness from severe third-degree burns, all you're going to do while being on a bed in a helicopter is basically imagine shit around while in complete delirium.

I just find it beautiful, he's dying, and he imagines how great everything is going to be when he gets back, how he will achieve success and become the person he has always wanted to be. While us, as the audience, can meditate on the grim aspect of his inminent death.

Hell, the final season could be about Don having nightmares about Korea, constantly getting in touch with the war, eventually realizing he is dying.





FUCK YEAH !

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Okay, but, this proposed scenario, he wouldn't have actually lived the American Dream. It would just be a really complicated dream.



Doesn't you trying to figure out the mechanics of the dream sort of make you think it might be a dumb idea?



It just seems to be more about the idea itself, than the content. This isn't a single story we're talking here, or the ending of a movie, this would be the ending of an entire series. Peggy, Joan, Pete, Sally, none of these people would exist. All of the stories wouldn't have happened. And it would be a twist that has nothing to do with what the series is about. This was never a story that dwelt on Don's Korean War past, so it would just be a twist for the sake of having a twist. This is one of the reasons why I didn't like the ending to Lost. Yeah, when you first see the ending, it's emotional, and it works. But then you start to think about it and you realize the ending had nothing to with the final season, or with the series in general.



Making it a completely different series! I'm really baffled that you think this would be a good idea.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

You've never had dreams that seemed like they have lasted for more than what you have actually slept ? The perception of time in sleep is very different from when we are awake.



Uhm NO ? I like it when something makes me THINK



I'll admit the following:

- An ending like this really jumps out of nowhere, as you say, it cancels all the other characters not named Dick Whitman, even Don Draper himself is nulified completely.

- An ending like this is forced, at least as the show is right now, if this show tackled other themes, then yes, it would've been a great idea.

HOWEVER

Isn't Mad Men also a story about seeking happiness and fulfillment ? I think the "cracked" ending fits that theme quite beautifully, even if, as you say, it may not really be for a show like Mad Men.



I like that it touches upon what I believe is important about Mad Men, it's about the struggles of many people trying to find success in all ways of life, wether it's professional, romantic or personal success, it's just a show about people trying to achieve the American Dream in an era where people believed that was completely possible.

Though yeah, it's probably not for a show like Mad Men, certainly not at a point where the show is, too much would have to be changed for an ending like that to fit well into the story, but I still like the idea though.





WHAT IS THIS SHIT ?

I thought WE ALL liked the ending of Lost !!!

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Okay, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not actually living out these scenarios in real life. Or that everyone around me is really just a figment of my imagination.

Unless....



Actually, I think you just like the idea of some mind fuck ending.



Wouldn't this hold greater weight if these things actually did happen to Don and the cast? You know, the characters we've been investing our time in?



And what better way to show that than actually fucking showing them trying to achieve it?!



Hey, you wanna know the ending to Breaking Bad?

Here it is.

Walt is surrounded by cops, all pointing guns at him. It's night. He has killed all of his enemies (including Jesse! And Hank!), and finds himself as the head of the largest crystal meth operation in the entire state, which has just been discovered. His family have left him. He is utterly ruined. As he looks back behind him at the steep canyon, he gages how deep a drop it is. While cops are shouting at him to put his hands behind him and drop to the floor, he remembers the gun tucked into the back of his pants. He looks up, and with a smile, he pulls the gun out, but he doesn't get a single shot off. The cops unleash a fury of bullets. He is thrown back against the canyon's railing, and is killed. His body sits there, covered in blood, with a lifeless smile on his face. The camera lingers on his face, when suddenly....

We see Walt at home. He has a full head of hair, and a mustache. We see him sitting asleep in his recliner. We hear a voice calling his name. He wakes up, and shakes his head. It's Skylar, she has been calling him and needs his help with the groceries. She asks him what he was dreaming about, but he just smiles, and says "Oh...nothing unusual."

THE END


Satisfying, right?



Dude, this isn't the first time I've said this.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I said "seeking", not "getting" !



But.........that's what we see throughout the entire show, Pete trying to assert himself as a man, Peggy trying to validate herself by her work, Don trying to find true happiness.

YES ! I know the cracked ending invalidates a lot of these things, but I already conceded on that point.



There's some things I liked about your ending !

Still, I get it, "it was all a dream" bullshit.

But, AS I'VE SAID, maybe I like the idea more than I would like to see it on screen because I can see how something like that is a gut punch for the most part.



.................................

My life is a lie.

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"Fees and Commissions".

I think I'll go straight into the rundown, although it's not going to be a typical rundown. Because really, there is only one story in this episode worth talking about. So...

the t3cii rundown!!




SPOILERS


Early this season I predicted that Megan would kill herself. While that could still happen (although it's really unlikely given what happened in this episode), it seems the show had another person in mind. Lane Pryce. When he first appeared back in season 3, I thought the character came off a bit cold and stuffy. But he quickly developed into a fully fleshed out supporting character, one whom seemed to have found some happiness when forming SCDP. Happiness which ultimately would fall out of his grasp. There were some sighs, early on. He would take off his glasses when his superiors wanted to meet with him, presumably because he saw his glasses as a sign of weakness. Then there was the night he went out drinking with Don, which ended with Lane in bed with a prostitute. There seemed to be a crossing of some kind of boundary, both professionally, and personally, one which Don is partly to blame. Later, we met Lane's father, who would viciously strike Lane down, and we got another glimpse into Lane's life. He then began to emerge as a man in desperate need of love and acceptance, searching for something to validate him.

Still, despite what we knew of him, I found his departure rather abrupt. Specifically, the build up to it. His financial woes were kind of vague, and seem to come out of know where. But soon, we see him resorting to forging Don's signature, and from then on there was nowhere for him to go but down. Every line reading sounded like he was sinking into quick sand. Finally, Cooper of all people, came close to discovering the truth. And when Don confronted Lane about it, Lane was finished. He pathetically tried to play it off as if it was no big deal, but taking money from the company was serious. Forging Don's signature was even more serious. Don asked the question most people would ask if put in a similar situation, and that is "why didn't you just ask?" But Lane is from a different time, and has that British, "stiff upper lip". He wouldn't ask because it would have been embarrassing. And as he sat there, crying, he was utterly ruined. Personally, I think Don showed some good tact in giving Lane the chance of resigning with some dignity left intact. He gave Lane the advice that the hardest part is over, that is, the hard part of telling the truth. In Don's eyes, there is the belief that you can still turn your life around. After all, he did. But he was a young man when he started over, and Lane isn't. Seeing his reputation tarnished, the prospect of being humiliated in front of his wife, and being sent to back to England, Lane saw he had only one choice left.

His wife bought him a Jag. I hate when characters are oblivious to other characters, and Lane's wife was annoyingly oblivious. She sees her husband come home drunk and irritable, and thinks it's just a case of him celebrating early? Eventually, Lane tries to kill himself in the car. He takes off his glasses, and snaps them in two, forever getting rid of that weakness. But when he starts the car, it won't run. At first I thought it was the show letting him off the hook, and telling the viewer, who would obviously be anticipating his death, not to be so hasty. But then we see him walking through his office, and there was simply no way he wasn't going to kill himself. I think the writers may have not wanted to fall into the trap most drams fall into, by having to have a character's death happen at the end of the episode, and be this big surprise. Maybe they wanted to get that aspect out of the way so they could focus on the reaction instead? In this case, all of the actors do a great job, in particular Jon Hamm. He looks completely shaken by it, and when he realizes Lane is still hanging in his office, his instance that they can't leave him there is brutal. Lane had suffered too much humiliation already. But it's interesting that Lane chose to kill himself at the office, where they would come across his body. One final "fuck you" to the office?

I think this episode would have worked a bit better were it not for the other stories, such as Don's and Sally's. Personally I found these distracted from the Lane storyline, and the ending was a bit jarring, as it tries to end on an optimistic note. As well, the scene where Pete tries to cut down Lane's body comes a bit too close to being comedic, if only because Pete and physical comedy seem to go together.

A few more thoughts...

- I found it strange that there was no mention of Peggy leaving the office. We never got to see how everyone reacted to that, in particular Ken, who seemed to be in Peggy's corner.

- With Lane's death, does this mean the company will still go by the same name? I assume Don won't tell the others that Lane had been taking money from the company, so would they leave the name as is? What about Pete and Joan? I wouldn't be surprised if they gave the company a new makeover, with a new name, one that didn't include the names of the other partners.

- Sally's Aunt Flow comes for a visit. Sorry, I just thought that would be an old fashioned sounding way of saying "period".

- Betty returns and shows Sally some affection. But it's too late, Ice Queen!

- It's weird when kids refer to their parents by their first name.

- I wish they wouldn't try to make Glen a recurring character. Matt Weiner's son just doesn't have any knack for acting, and it gives all of his line readings a creepiness I'm not sure is ever intended.

Only one more episode to go!

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

t3cii writes a rundown...........................and all is well with the world !



There's some actors in this world that just make whatever you're watching...........better.

I knew that as soon as I noticed Lane Pryce was being portrayed by Jared Harris, I was sure that this show had reached an entirely new level, I had confidence in the future of Mad Men simply because Mr. Harris was now part of the cast, he is just that awesome.

And play Lane Pryce he did, and even more, still, I'll also "jump on the wagon" about his abrupt departure. What confuses me specially, is how they didn't build up his demise, they'd rather go with the pointless "Emma" sub-plot rather than building it slowly, from the first episode.

I'm sensing foul play here, maybe Jared Harris had a contractual or creative disagreement and wanted out of the show, and this was the quickest way Weiner and crew thought to get rid of him, it just came out of nowhere.



Don was a goddamn gentleman here, unlike what happened with Sal a couple of seasons ago, he reassured Lane as best as he could, but making it very clear he just couldn't work with them anymore.

If there's anything I want to know is, who will fill Lane's spot now ? Will the shares be split among the senior partners ? Will this make Joan stronger company-wise ? Or will they offer the spot to someone else ?



Maybe that was the point ? Despite seeming like such a good person, she was just another burden in Lane's life, no wonder he thought sticking carbon dioxide into his lungs was a decent solution for his problems !



For being such a pussy, Don sure demonstrated plenty of courage in this episode

As for Lane saying a final "fuck you" to the office, it's the most likely scenario, even though, where could he have gone ? It was either his house or the office, not much choice there.



Maybe it's being relegated to the final episode.



All the while I was thinking:

"Be a good mother Betty, be a good mother Betty, be a good mother Betty".

And a good mother Betty was !

Even if she had to fuck it up by rubbing her nose in Megan's face



At least he sounds like a normal kid, I fucking hate adultified kids, I'm very glad Matt Weiner hasn't fallen into that horrible hole many movies and TV shows today tend to fall into, kids behave akwardly, kids are kids, KIDS ARE NOT ADULTS !

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That, and his actual scheming was kind of vague. But I suspect they didn't know until half way through filming that they would kill him off.



I wonder if it had to do with the fact the show had difficult negotiations with AMC? I know some roles, such as Joan and Lane, seemed to take a bit of a back burner. Maybe they had to start cutting roles?

It depends on whether or not Don decides to tell the others what Lane had been up to. If he doesn't, he might have to give money to Lane's wife, although that would also depend on Lane's insurance plan, if he even had one. As for his work, even he felt he didn't really contribute anything to the company, so presumably Joan could pick up the slack.

Either way, I'll miss Lane. He was a fighter.





True, but Harris confirmed it was meant to be a fuck you, that it was supposed to seem passive aggressive. He hanged himself in his office, as if to say "look at what you did to me", but he only left his simple resignation as a suicide note.



Maybe, but time seems to progress rather quickly. Each episode seems to take place weeks or months after the one before.

So, how will this season end? Apparently, from what Weiner has said, we will know more about Don's past than we ever have. Hmmm....

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

Jesus Christ, the execs at AMC sure are a cheap bunch ! Same thing happened with The Walking Dead.



I don't know where that even came from, wasn't he IN CONTROL of the company's finances ? I think it's pretty damn important to be able to control the money and not run a company into bankrupcy !



Classic.



Seems like Lane



I don't know where you get this idea, you said the same thing a long time ago with the "years" between each season, when I don't feel that AT ALL.



Huh ? What else do we need to know about Don's past !?

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