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Mad Men
Topic Started: Jan 25 2013, 11:26 AM (11,111 Views)
Mariah
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I love what the show is doing this season, 1968 was such a crazy/scary/volatile/heartbreaking/shocking/worrisome year, and they are reflecting that so well--it's almost like living through it again.

Some favorites:

Betty learning to turn off the TV. My mother never did, and I was watching when Oswald was shot. When Dr. King was murdered, I was older.

Roger saying "He was a good talker, I thought that might save him..." just nailed that feeling of danger we all had for MLK, and the hopes, especially after his mountaintop speech.

The way they handled the riots and fires.

I loved Pete yelling at Harry, and frankly, loved that they showed Harry's reaction, which was not at all uncommon.

I loved that Trudy didn't cave in to Pete, she's a strong woman, and if he ever wins her back, I doubt that guy will ever cheat again.

all of it...so perfect
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cccharley
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She probably turned it off because she saw Ruby being shot and she was alone.

I think Don may actually fall in love with his neighbor. I see her as both a lover and a mother figure. She prays for him. Something that his mother never did or maybe anyone else for that matter.
Edited by cccharley, Apr 30 2013, 08:19 AM.
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weaver
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I liked only two scenes, Don in the theater, and Don telling Megan how he feels about his kids.

When Weiner brings too much "outside" to the inside, I rarely like the show, which is why I somewhat feared 1968. I find him heavy handed. And what the heck was the Ginsburg kid and his father all about? I'd forgotten all about that character.

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Mariah
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Weaver, I really loved it, and feel like ignoring that event, and the changes it made in people would have been awful. I totally understand what you are saying though, and get that point of view. To me though, 1968 changed EVERYTHING, and as tumultuous as it was, of course it is going to change the characters on Mad Men as well. Does that make sense?

This Huffington post recap put it better...the event did change everything, from the personal to the day-to-day, to history. For show purposes, it would push stories ahead or color them, as it did with Pete and Trudy, a whole new layer to that relationship, it brought things to a head, revealed souls in a way. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-ryan/mad-men-recap-flood_b_3176604.html
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Certainly, if the show were going to deal with one huge national event this season, this was the one to focus on. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an enormous event that affected the course of American history. Thanks to the various strategies employed by the show, the news felt as though it came from nowhere (though, as more than one character noted, it's not as if such an event hadn't been predicted). Even if we had speculated before the season began about whether this enormous incident would be discussed during the season, thanks to "The Flood's" stealthiness, the events of that April day felt like a bolt from the blue.

And that was completely intentional, given how stunned people were then. That event mentally dislocated most people and left them feeling bereft, afraid and unsure of what to do next. Many of us were probably too young to remember that awful day, but those who were old enough to process it probably still remember it vividly. And even those of us aware or alive then can draw on our memories of other horrific moments in American history. It was unsettling, to say the least, to see characters glued to news coverage, as we were just a week or so ago when events in Boston played themselves out. At moments like that, we look at the screen and feel both numb and a dozen roiling emotions. Just like Don.

Surely we can all relate to the moments of reassessment that took place in many of the characters' lives. Tragedy forces people to take a hard look at what they value and why; it stops everything and compels people to think about what rules matter, what they want and where they're going. Things don't look the same, and even if they get back to a kind of normal, people have been altered -- at least some of them.

You know it's a world gone terribly awry when Pete Campbell seems like a good guy.


Weaver, you might like this recap, two guys arguing about the show, and though I don't agree with everything they are saying, there is dissatisfaction with much of it, including Ginsberg. http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/mad-men-recap-season-6-martin-luther-king-assassination.html

For me though, the show hit me in the heart, and reflected how many things changed forever in that moment...a pretty nice feat to capture those emotions and reactions.

ETA, I've been reading a ton of recaps and they are almost all really good. This one tells me something I didn't even consider!
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Henry Francis too showed his ugly side, although not in quite so obvious a way. The riots have stoked his political ambitions, but for all the wrong reasons. His complaints about Mayor Lindsay “negotiating with hoodlums,” smiling like he was at a pancake breakfast—that’s a future petty Republican talking. In fact what Mayor Lindsay did that night was unusually ballsy—he left his Broadway show and headed straight to Harlem, helped avert riots in New York just by showing up and talking to people on the streets. (Here is a great clip of Lindsay talking about that night, from archives of the Museum of the City of New York.)

Maybe if we follow Francis through his campaign for state Senate, we will finally come to understand what he sees in Betty. (“I can’t wait for people to really meet you,” he says. Really? Her?) All this time I’ve been thinking Henry willfully ignores the ugly sides of Betty because he loves her so, sweet guy, but maybe they are more similar than we realize—petty, suburban, interested in keeping the wallpaper lined up.


Interesting, so Henry really is a shallow prick after all, no wonder he chose Betty.

Edited by Mariah, Apr 30 2013, 05:15 PM.
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cccharley
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can't stop listening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIKpko4Ln90
Edited by cccharley, Apr 30 2013, 05:54 PM.
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Mariah
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http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-night-new-york-avoided-a-riot

Another account of the guy Henry insulted preventing New York from having a meltdown, riots, and burnings, and assaults that exploded in many other cities. I keep reading recaps because in about 70 % of them I am learning something new. Paul Newman really was saying that when someone in the audience shouted that out by the way, and they DID take a 10 minute break and then resume. Newman sat down, stunned and speechless. Can't remember which recapper mentioned that.

So interesting, so many different reactions to the show, most loved it, but for different reasons. A few agreed with weaver though, one in particular was Brian Moylan, now writing for Hollywood something. Odd, I usually agree with his take on things.
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cccharley
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I never thought Henry was that sweet. I always thought he wanted Betty as a trophy in a way. I did see him as her rescuer though and he liked that. I don't think any of the characters are supposed to be that cut and dry. There is depth to all of them - even Roger. I think that's the point of showing the many sides of their personalities and how complicated life is and when current events inflict upon these lives or as they say - the best laid plans.....
Edited by cccharley, Apr 30 2013, 06:40 PM.
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Mariah
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I didn't realize he was such an asshole though, and probably would have missed it if I didn't read that article above.
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IcyAll
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Personally, the episode was sort of lackluster for me. I wanted to see more of Dawn and what it meant to her. I don't have a memory of the assassination, too young. So I'm surprised to find the history of rioting, which I didn't know about. I guess I'm shallow -- I don't watch the show to see a recap of history; I watch to see the characters and their lives. And yes, we got that, but I felt preached to ...and yet not. I felt bad for Don when Bobby worried about Henry.


Oh, here is that last song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjsNNcsUNzE
Edited by IcyAll, May 1 2013, 02:30 AM.
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weaver
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Mariah
Apr 30 2013, 06:01 PM
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-night-new-york-avoided-a-riot

Another account of the guy Henry insulted preventing New York from having a meltdown, riots, and burnings, and assaults that exploded in many other cities. I keep reading recaps because in about 70 % of them I am learning something new. Paul Newman really was saying that when someone in the audience shouted that out by the way, and they DID take a 10 minute break and then resume. Newman sat down, stunned and speechless. Can't remember which recapper mentioned that.

So interesting, so many different reactions to the show, most loved it, but for different reasons. A few agreed with weaver though, one in particular was Brian Moylan, now writing for Hollywood something. Odd, I usually agree with his take on things.
Thanks for all the recaps, Mariah.

Must say the Henry thing was really puzzling to me. I recalled that Lindsay got kudos for his behavior during those nights, and I could not reconcile Henry's attitude that he was pandering. Now I get it. Well I always thought Henry was a jerk. Only good thing about it, on a shallow note, is maybe we'll get to see the old, gorgeous Betty if Henry runs for a state job.

I know Weiner can't avoid the events of 1968, so I guess I wish he'd stopped at 1967! That's my only solution. As I recall I really liked the way they treated JFK's assasination, yes it was there, and it dominated the show, but more subtly. I thought I was being hit by a hammer this episode, OK, here is how Pete feels (and his attitude seemed out of character), here is Harry (usual jerk), Dawn of course is the stalwart employee, Roger is himself (thank heavens), Don is more interested in Sylvia, etc. etc, etc.

It's why I'm anxious to see how they treat RFK's assassination. They can't avoid it, but I don't want it to dominate the show.

I want more Roger. Slattery is being underused. Less Ginsburg, more Roger.
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cccharley
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I love Roger and would also like to see more of him. He's the comic relief on the show. I like Ginsburg and I assume - which I should not with MM- that he will become a bigger character. Dh and I both thought the episode was really intense.

Icy = I posted the song too but with some video to it. I'm afraid to start playing it again today since I went to sleep last night and couldn't get it out of my head or fall asleep.
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IcyAll
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Sorry, CCCharley! I see that you did! I thought your link was for more Mayor Lindsey, so I didn't click on it! My bad!
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Mariah
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I think that's the thing though, everything DID change when MLK was killed, it was a huge catalyst for so many things, at homes, in the workplace, the politics, the huge divide between young and old, and black and white--it began right then. It's almost like the volcano had always been there, but people were only slightly uneasy living around it, then it erupted and the lava, smoke, and fire spewed out and left a new terrain to navigate.

I thought Weiner did so well last night because he did make it personal, and he really showed how life does go on, even when it's all different. Some of the characters realize it's all different now, some feel it but don't really get it yet. Most of what he did was so subtle last night, he just perfectly caught the flavor of a momentous moment in history. (Kind of the like smoking and drinking while pregnant ;) )

They can't not deal with Bobby Kennedy's death, because that murder was so soon after, and while MLK's felt like the end of all peaceful racial civil rights and equality hopes, when Bobby was murdered, the divide between generations became a war zone.

JFK's death took away innocence, and made the world seem scarier.
MLK's and RFK's took away hope, trust, and patience. In many ways they were much more significant in an everyday life kind of way, and certainly politically, and the repercussions from those are still echoing.
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cccharley
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IcyAll
May 1 2013, 01:29 AM
Personally, the episode was sort of lackluster for me. I wanted to see more of Dawn and what it meant to her. I don't have a memory of the assassination, too young. So I'm surprised to find the history of rioting, which I didn't know about. I guess I'm shallow -- I don't watch the show to see a recap of history; I watch to see the characters and their lives. And yes, we got that, but I felt preached to ...and yet not. I felt bad for Don when Bobby worried about Henry.


Oh, here is that last song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjsNNcsUNzE
I will listen to all of them - I listened with the words - without the words. It's just amazing..........NP I also keep thinking of Don on the balcony and having sexy dreams. He's such an ass but I'd do him in a hot minute.
Edited by cccharley, May 1 2013, 01:34 PM.
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Mariah
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:D ccc! I know what you mean!
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