I got through some of the new season 5 episode 1…your thoughts guys?
Don Draper gets the classiest of the babes…what a cool guy.
Don draper is the man. First off he got with all sorts of women while married to Betty, then divorced her and now she is miserable. He traded younger, got the hot secretary (who’s only flaw is that her character is from Quebec), and is still awesome.
i like Joanie…super classy babe…
Dunno, Draper’s new wife has some weird thing going on with her mouth or teeth or something. She’s above average, don’t get me wrong, but I sort of can’t handle looking at her for long. He shoulda gone with the teacher, she is way hotter.
should have gone with Joan…
Did you see her ass in jeans in “Drive?” It looked terrible.
At least he gave up on the middle aged woman from season 2, although her husband, the comedian was great.
That’s true, she wasn’t the best, but the auburn haired hooker was pretty epic – that girl was HOTTTTT. He should have stuck with her, the secretary girl isn’t in the same league. Same thing with the pool side girl – smokin. What was the hurry to leave that HCB?
Can’t decide what I think about Betty Draper. Super hot, but killjoy much.
betty not my type…a bit too classy…
I think in the earlier seasons, Betty was supposed to be a “model wife” - pretty, young, smart, loving, etc. Most likely, they gave her few distinguishing characteristics so you could imagine her as anyone’s wife. You were supposed to find her to be slightly bland. The purposes of her character were to: 1) Make us think Don is a scumbag for cheating, and 2) As a parody of American ideals - that is, the family is outwardly perfect, but this hides Don’s true dissatisfaction, which he expresses through unfaithful behavior. Both of these support the central theme of the show, which is the greed and superficial lives of the 1960s ad men.
Season 4 is about Don “winning” again at life. So naturally, they changed Betty’s behavior to make her a bitch. We are supposed to side with Don this time, as the show portrays that his ex-wife is actually the bad guy.
I distinctly recall Betty being a little off her rocker as early as Season 1. Even in Season 2 she was sleeping with random dudes at a bar and treating her daugther like crap. As for Season 4, the “winning” behavior was not portrayed in a positive light. Here’s a nearly 40-year old man who blacks out all weekend and has no meaningful relationships. Betty certainly was a bitch, but she had been a bitch for awhile. That doesn’t justify Don.
you guys have given this some serious thought. good analysis…what is your analysis of Joan?
HCB
I think Joan is an intentionally conflicted character - maybe some sort of “coming of age” transitional 1960s woman. She is portrayed as having empowerment in the office, but she maintains this by pandering to the misogynistic attitudes of the male characters. She is regarded by other women as a career model, but is afraid of dying alone and cries when Marilyn Monroe dies. She is the emotional anchor for her husband/fiance when he fails as a doctor, but she is raped by him in Don’s office.
Furthermore, despite being the most successful person in a traditional female role, she is not really as respected as people outside the secretarial pool (like Peggy). This is probably some sort of metaphor for 1960s women having to prove they can do men’s jobs. Otherwise, they are not treated seriously.
While she is always portrayed as dignified and “classy” (as Frank would say), it’s almost like she is not a real person. She is something, but at the same time, she is not that thing. She’s more like an exotic creature or unicorn.
great analysis…
You think she was raped in the office by her husband? that’s what i thought initially but nothing came about because of it…
That was definitely a rape. They made it a point to show her disconnected stare during and after that scene - that is, that she was “disassociating her mind from her body”. As she leaves the office, she tells someone that Greg “really is a good man” or something like that. Like she is trying to deny what just happened.
I think the more ambiguous event is whether Pete raped his neighbor’s German au pair. If it’s rape, how come there were no repercussions? I guess that sort of thing was just cool back then?
Hard to tell. She’s so reserved and difficult to read. Unlike other female characters, and the woman’s movement in general, she has remained subserviant to men. In contrast, look how the Peggy character has evolved.
I don’t know, I’ve watched every episode of Mad Men, and every time I finish one, I’m like, damn, I really don’t like ANY of these characters. Maybe that’s the point. I always wonder why I watch that show since it’s strangely bad in a good way – can’t pin point it exactly. It’s salacious I guess, which is entertaining. I guess Cosgrove is not a shithead, there’s one.
i gotta rewatch it…i usually read while i have shows playing…i actually don’t remember her being raped…i got confused with that guy with the white hair who has the lucky strike account and always boned her on the side…lucky bastard…
Holy F. Betty got huge.
Don: 1; Henry: 0