The Jet Set
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 01:58pm by freakgirl
Regular MM blogger Michael is tie-tie from running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday (we are so proud of you!). Talk about this week’s Mad Men in the comments. WTF, Don Draper? Really? Also — Peggy got herself a fairy godfather! And Duck…oh, Duck.
Also, I highly recommend reading Alan Sepinwall’s weekly thoughts on the show. As the geekboy said last night, it’s like reading a fascinating term paper about every episode.
1. Bianca said ( Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 6:37 pm )
Don is over the edge at this point. At least he used to be somewhat dedicated to his work. Now not even that. It’s like being away from Betty has just made him drop everything. Maybe it’s the sun haha.
2. freakgirl said ( Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 9:24 pm )
That passing out scene was well-done, wasn’t it? I hated Don in this episode. The entire episode was weird, actually.
3. bianca said ( Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 12:55 am )
It was. The whole vibe of the house creeped me out. Maybe it’s too many weeks in a row of uncomfortable father/daughter interaction
4. Grey Rainbow said ( Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 8:37 am )
Not my favorite epi. but, when I go on Mad Men forums and read the fan’s insights, I start thinking I liked it a little bit more. Of course, these are the hardcore fans who are arguing about 1. Whether Don was eating Chilis Rellanos or Jalapeno Poppers and 2. Whether it was possible to make direct phone calls (no operator assistance) in 1962. They are the smartest/most interesting TV fans out there by far, I have to admit!!!!
5. freakgirl said ( Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 9:28 am )
I’m pretty sure they were chilis rellenos.
I’ve also seen a few websites where people are discussing the font usage in a lot of episodes and whether or not that particular font existed in the 1960s.
6. sandra said ( Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 11:17 am )
There definitely was a strange and off-kilter feel in this episode, and it felt very Twilight Zone-ish when Don made that call at the end. He certainly was a different person in this episode, and I feel his heat exhaustion moment was the main turning point – that thump was the wake up moment for Dick. One of the comments on that blog you linked to FG makes note that the scene where we see Don from behind reclining on the sofa, his arm is stretched out in the opposite direction than that in the opening credits, perhaps signifying a shift from Don to Dick (I haven’t really compared the two to see if this is true).
I so adore this show and am sad to know it will be ending for the season soon. And man, Sal’s face reflecting all those emotions all at once made my heart break.
7. GeekBoy said ( Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 11:20 am )
As described, it was definitely rellenos.
This was a very bizarre episode. And the English major in me can’t stop thinking about how exactly the choice of “The Sound and the Fury” was relevant. It’s hard not to think about the Shakespeare line from which that book got its title:
Because what is Don but kind of a “walking shadow” these days? Literally even, because he’s living the life of a dead man. And as somebody whose life is a constant lie that’s always five minutes away from being revealed, the idea of him as a stage actor who “struts and frets” (and aren’t those perfect words for Don?) is almost too perfect a metaphor.
The novel is not Macbeth, of course, but we know that Faulkner didn’t choose this title arbitrarily. “The Sound and the Fury” is the story of an old Southern family, The Compsons, which has already fallen from its former grace. The book is filled with depression, suicide, sexual promiscuity, greed, and embezzlement. Most importantly, the first half of the book is written in such a way that it almost deliberately frustrates the reader — first from the point of view of the mentally retarded son, and then from the point of view of the suicidal son. Ultimately, the first half of the book only makes sense in the context of the rest of it.
And that’s kind of how I saw this episode. It was almost hard to get through in spots, because you just want to smack Don, and maybe even smack the writers for making you watch him wander through this strange world that isn’t his family and isn’t even his business. But knowing a bit about his past already, it’s clear that he’s not so much moving away from his new life as perhaps drifting back to an older one — which is confirmed for us when he picks up the phone and calls himself Dick Whitman. So bottom line, as odd as this episode was, I’m confident that it serves the big picture.
8. Michael said ( Monday, October 27, 2008 at 1:06 pm )
That screen cap was my favorite scene! I can’t help but love (when I should probably hate) the idea that the homo makes Peggy over. Let’s be real, she’s born to hag.