Mad Men - New Season

[Yeti]

So, while Lane's death was handled well and it made sense from where they put the character, the setup was very lacking.  I didn't buy Lane's issue with coming up with the cash for back taxes or how the bank upped the line of credit.

Lane was involved in mergers and overseas management of more than one branch of the Britich company he worked for. He had to be well paid. He has no savings? $7,500 is about $50,000 today.  He has to come up with that much right now?  To pay back taxes to a country 6000 miles away? What happens to him if he doesn't pay on time? I doubt US Marshalls are going to come to deport him. And his family is in the States. Not like he has to go back to London anytime soon.  Felt like a very ginned up Macguffin to get Lane in deep trouble.

Add that the writers handled the last bit with the bank so well when they all the partners had to sign on to loans to keep the company afloat.  That was done quite well and quite accurately.  This time, Lane goes to the bank, pours a drink with me-circa-1967 and the guy gives him a $50,000 increase?  That has to be signed for by the officers of the company.  Given that there are dual check signors, the likely have dual loan signors as well.

This show did great on details in the past.  This was sloppy by their previous standards.  The resolution was fine.  The setup felt like, "OK, we need to have Lane commit suicide. What could motivate him to do that? I know, tax debts!"

Could you possibly be more one dimensional?

This was a very good episode.

I really, really hate Internet Chuck.

And by saying that I mean I like Real Chuck.

I'm so conflicted.

I concur. Given that millionaires find ways to declare bankruptcy, I find it odd Chuck is shocked that a man who loved to live beyond his means is was broke

[Chuck to Chuck]

Could you possibly be more one dimensional?

Hmm...

This was a very good episode.

Yes.  I think I said that when I said, "The resolution was fine."  You want me to expound on "fine"?  I liked the episode.  Well, except for the Sally and Glen part.

[CBStew]

Could you possibly be more one dimensional?

Hmm...

This was a very good episode.

Yes.  I think I said that when I said, "The resolution was fine."  You want me to expound on "fine"?  I liked the episode.  Well, except for the Sally and Glen part.

Glen is creepy.  But so is Sally.   Made for each other. 

[J. Walter Weatherman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5s4e7TaLhY

[Saul Goodman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5s4e7TaLhY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcIl_6amBvU

[CBStew]

We listened to a lot of cheesy music in the 60's.  We also saw a lot of cheesy movies.  Would anyone be interested in buying my vinyl collection from that era?  (Except for the Beatles stuff and Janis Joplin)  For every Herb Alpert you buy I will throw in a Hermut's Hermits.  This is my Jos. A. Bank special for today only.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

We listened to a lot of cheesy music in the 60's.  We also saw a lot of cheesy movies.  Would anyone be interested in buying my vinyl collection from that era?  (Except for the Beatles stuff and Janis Joplin)  For every Herb Alpert you buy I will throw in a Hermut's Hermits.  This is my Jos. A. Bank special for today only.

If you have the soundtrack album from Casino Royale ('67), I'd certainly be willing to buy that off of you. Even if it lacks the reprise of the theme song from the end credits featuring Mike Redway's vocals.

[Internet Apex]

I agree with Chuck. This season was meh with some highlights along the way. I'll continue to watch and hope for better days.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I agree with Chuck. This season was meh with some highlights along the way.

That's not really what Chuck said, is it?

Chuck was more like: "All that banking stuff was totally unrealistic. I know. I'm a banker."

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Relatedly...

Someday, when we're old and ancient, I'm going to link to a blog by someone who is well-known for watching and blogging about TV that is going to concur that this season has been a blemish on an otherwise outstanding series and you're going to feel so dumb at that time.

http://hje.me/sbox/dlog.php?date=2012-05-30&highlight=p143841967#p143841967

That's what I'm going do to all of you* when the Spurs win the NBA title and Kerry Wood is named color commentator... oh, and Sepinwall starts shitting on this season of Mad Men.

*Presumably "mushroom [stamp] the bejesus out of [us], [strip us] naked and [throw us] out in the street."

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/season-finale-review-mad-men-the-phantom-the-tooth-hurts

This has been a transformational season of "Mad Men," in terms of both what's been happening on screen and how the show has chosen to depict it. It's the first season of the series where it feels like society itself changed significantly from the beginning to the end. It's a season that barely featured Don Draper's first wife while turning his second wife into the second most prominent character on the show, that saw Peggy leave the agency and Lane leave this mortal coil. And it's a season that experimented formally more than any previous one, whether the fever dream atmosphere of the Richard Speck episode, the trippy nature of the entire episode where Roger first took LSD, or the Beatles montage at the end of "Lady Lazarus."

And because of these changes in content and style, this has felt like a more divisive season of the show than the previous ones. If you didn't like Megan as much as Matt Weiner obviously did, or if you thought some of the more high-concept episodes were too far out there, or if you felt the subtext wasn't being quite as submerged as it used to be, then it's easy to imagine you finding parts or all of the season to be off.

I've taken issue with the season here and there — questioning, for instance, whether Joan's decision felt natural, or like something where Weiner came up with the end-point and reverse-engineered the rest — but have for the most part applauded the formal boldness of it. Some of the most memorable scenes and moments of the series' run occurred over these last three months, and I look forward to revisiting many of them during the long break before season 6. And, I'll be honest: as someone who has had/chosen to stay up late each Sunday to write these reviews, I haven't exactly minded that the themes have been more overt than in previous seasons. It's all fine and dandy for the meaning to be hidden when I've got days and days to dig, but when 2 in the morning is staring me in the face, it's a relief to be able to say, "Oh, the codfish is a metaphor for disappointment!"

That said, "The Phantom" was an episode that seemed to take some of the smaller earlier missteps and magnify them. If not for a great final 10 minutes or so (from Don and Peggy in the movie theater until the last close-up of Don), I'd be going into that hiatus feeling much more sour about the season than I should.

...

And it was in that final "You Only Live Twice" montage — Don taking that incredibly long walk through that darkened soundstage (Megan's dream lit up in bright colors, Don in shadow), Peggy getting a less-than-glamorous view out of her hotel window in Virginia, Pete sadly listening to his enormous hi-fi system through a compact headset, Roger going on another acid trip all by his lonesome, and then Don at the bar going back to being Don Draper — that "The Phantom" finally felt like "Mad Men" again to me. This is who Don is, and this is what the show can be at its best — which it was for so much of this season, and unfortunately for me wasn't for most of its final hour.

[Chuck to Chuck]

I agree with Chuck. This season was meh with some highlights along the way.

That's not really what Chuck said, is it?

https://twitter.com/ivychat/status/212034464023445505

Chuck was more like: "All that banking stuff was totally unrealistic given how realistically they did it last year. I know. I'm a banker."

[J. Walter Weatherman]

https://twitter.com/ivychat/status/212034464023445505

( #MadMen - really Meh Men this year)

First of all: wrong.

Second of all: shouldn't that be "Mad Meh"?

Chuck was more like: "All that banking stuff was totally unrealistic given how realistically they did it last year. I know. I'm a banker."

Some truly "big picture" stuff right there, Chuck.

[Internet Apex]

The thing about predictions is they sometimes don't come true. But when they do, you get to mushroom stamp people with them. So the key is to make a whole bunch of them and be ready to make good when they occasionally pan out. /Skip Bayless

[Canadouche]

The thing about predictions is they sometimes don't come true. But when they do, you get to mushroom stamp people with them. So the key is to make a whole bunch of them and be ready to make good when they occasionally pan out. /Skip Bayless

Apex is right.

[Canadouche]

The thing about predictions is they sometimes don't come true. But when they do, you get to mushroom stamp people with them. So the key is to make a whole bunch of them and be ready to make good when they occasionally pan out. /Skip Bayless

Apex is wrong.