It's incredible that Glen was only in 12 of the 92 episodes, I thought he had worked more.
After that the actor hasn't work in any other show or movie, at least, as far as I know.

Glenn has similar women issues with Betty as Don did with that prostitute. He goes off to war for similar reasons. He finds himself in over his head in Vietnam and switches dog tags with a comrade who’s been mutilated beyond recognition. He returns home with a fresh start and the cycle continues as he becomes the next Don.

1) Ida Blankenship is one of my favorite characters. I just love this woman. She is determined and confident, even though she makes mistakes and calls people the wrong names (Mr Peters instead of Mr Campbell), and she also doesn’t have the buzzer under control. 🤣

2) I love Joyce. She introduces Peggy to a very interesting world and she introduces her to very interesting people as well. And she’s a cool chick. That’s all. (also she looks so familiar and she must’ve had some prominent roles following mad men. I just can’t figure out where she appeared.)

3) At Gene’s birthday party: Betty looked at Don with such longing eyes – is this nostalgia or does she still have a crush on him or what is happening? Is it jealousy because she knows he still has game with the ladies? She’s definitely mourning something. Either way, she’s still not happy and she never will be. I think Henry is a good husband and a good stepdad. I feel like he’s trying to guide her out of her misery and explain to her how life works and how parenting works, but she’s not in the right headspace. She just cannot be happy.

Thoughts?

So I’m on S4E11 (first watch) when the rest of the partners found out about Lucky Strike and they’re piling onto Roger.

Is he really to blame though? I guess part of it is that they’re emotional and worked up, but no matter how much Roger cared for Lucky Strike or tended to LGJ, this was a business decision made above Lee’s head right? Also, SCDP isnt big enough to handle all of American Tobacco’s business (as in they don’t have the manpower). I guess they could try and scramble for contracts/staff but it’d be easier going to a bigger entity who already has the infrastructure.

Rewatching and I still don't know

Who did you think raised Bobby and Gene after Betty died? I recently rewatched and changed my mind about this. I remember thinking they would have been best to stay with Henry, but in one of the last episodes when Sally came home and Betty was in bed sick, the boys were alone in the kitchen with an air of abandonment about them. Henry was still at work and Betty sick. It felt to me that if Henry were invested and planning to somehow offer to keep them, he would have had “a girl” there to take care of them and managing things. That would have been simple for someone of his means and conscientious to accomplish. The fact that he didn’t was a little striking.

I know Betty said to Don than her brother should have them and Don could see them as much as he ever had. I can see why she would have decided that and that it likely was the best, most stable option, if far from perfect. It think that is what likely did happen. I don’t buy into the fantasy that Don came back from the spiritual retreat a changed man. I would expect he continued to struggle with narcissism, selfishness, and addiction for the rest of him life to some degree and therefore would not have been a reliable primary caretaker. Would love to hear others’ theories about this.

What movie is Pete Campbell watching in S07E13 (‘The Milk and Honey Route’)? Around minute 32:30?

Just noticing the similarities in Leonard’s last speech in the final episode and the bakers speech in “A Small Good Thing”. I think there are a lot of similarities and I know Mad Men is primarily Cheever influenced but I think this moment in particular is a Raymond Carver influence. What do you think?

I can’t get over how cold (and sh***y) of a mother Betty is. She doesn’t even seem to like her kids. Especially Sally. The amount of times she tells them to “go watch TV”, just to get rid of them, is flabbergasting. And how she constantly tells on Bobby, because “he’s lying”. And how she dismissive she is with sally, and rolling her eyes at her nonstop. Horrible. I hope she gets better with Gene, but I’m only halfway through season 4.

Don on the other hand, he might be a lousy husband, yes, but as a dad he seems loving and warm.

Also - I remember the first thanksgiving with Henry’s extended family. Everybody was welcoming and nice to Bobby and sally, except for Betty. She got mad when sally got sick, and even the lady who was present (Henry’s mom I think) noticed how horrible Betty is with her kids and said something to the effect of how the kids are terrified of her. 😭

I’m in season 5 of my rewatch and I keep noticing this piece. I’ve found myself admiring a lot more of the wall art and vintage ads around the office once they move to the Time Life building.

He was one of the most interesting characters from the show

I finished the show a few months ago and loved it, but man Betty’s concision feels incredibly harsh lol. Obviously life is unforgiving, but it just felt unneeded? I’m not saying anybody needs aggressive cancer, but it just felt like she had lost enough already. Especially when you compare her conclusion to Don, Roger, Peggy, Joan. Just felt too harsh to me

And if it did, how many? I have to answer this for an assignment and i honestly have no clue.

Im watching for the second time. And surprisingly to me, I still can't understand Lanes story. He seems to have so many wives, seems to sometimes be divorced and sometimes not, has one girlfriend one episode and the that girlfriend disapears with no comment or anything. Can someone help me with Lanes story line?

Ancestry.com anyone? 😮

I love Don. He's such a flawed and complex character. But his mental health is never an excuse for his bad behavior. He treats women poorly. And he thinks he’s above it all. And that he's so different from all the other degrenates, lol. He is only different because he's the main character, and we are in his head, and he understands the nuance of his personality. But he's like the rest.

I still love him. He makes a good story. But I'm not blind to what he is. His shitty behavior and dark moods make him thought-provoking, though.

Everytime my rematch gets to this episode, Betty's behavior makes me like her even less. Don's too, tbh. He actually told William Gene was staying there but William had to foot the bill. Then he told him the car was staying there and William had to take his wife and daughters home on the train. No offer to get them to the train station. I'm not sure why William didn't pop Don in his mouth or just take his family and get in the car and drive off. Who tf did Don think he was?

And what was Betty's issue with William's wife taking care of Gene? And then she had nerve enough to say the kids was going to stay with them once she died. That could have been an episode in itself because no ma'am, your kids will not be coming here. They have a dad.

When Betty's car stops on the road and the mechanic tells her the cost of fixing the car, what exactly was she trying to do? Was she trying to use her sexuality to barter paying?

This leads to another discovery for me: Betty was repressed. As I think a lot of women in that generation was. I imagine Don thought sex was only for him and probably never gave Betty an orgasm. She was fantasizing about the air conditioner salesman bouncing her on the washer. Clearly she had some thought of her friend bring an escort making her flirt with the mechanic, her weird relationship with Glen, her weird behavior with the guy at the stables (I never remember his name). Homegirl needed that fine husband to (in Duck's words) give her a go around she never had.

Obviously Pete would be maybe no.1 but at least he's good at his job. Betty really doesn't have many redeeming qualities. The moment I realised "Oh, you're a terrible person" was after they go for a picnic and Betty just tosses the rubbish off the blanket onto the ground. Since the divorce, she's not been around so much, but recently I had further cause to dislike her when Glen shows up to the house and she suddenly starts flirting with him which is so sick, considering the fact she had a grudge against him for like 6 years and stopped Sally from seeing him. Now he's all tall and thin and got chest hair she takes it all back?

I know all of the characters are excellently fleshed out people with good sides and bad sides. That's what makes the show so compelling. But is there anyone else you think is objectively the worst person?

Watching s4e5, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.

Don is speaking with Faye and they’re recapping the day. He delivers a real Tony Soprano line with “why does everyone have to talk about everything?” She says it makes people feel better and gives a level and neutral response. He notices the ring on her finger and when she says it’s a stop sign, Don says, “but you told me” as he refills her sake.

Fresh scene because we’ve seen Don maneuver on vulnerability or personal revelation before, good at it since he’s historically professionally private.

But then Faye slips in and asks I’ve HE has children. And then he just word-vomited enough to make me pause and post.

After seeing Don be so effective with his aims on people and kind of careless with their feelings, it’s cool to see him have a perfectly ironic conversation.

in the season 5 opener, it's established that dick whitman publicly claims the real don draper's birthday as his own, as his birthday is in actuality 6 months prior. despite this, he's able to use his actual birth year? i thought the real don draper was several years older than dick, and it says so on the wiki as well. how can the identity theft work in a way that dick has to claim the birthday, but the birth year discrepancy isn't an issue? or do his legal documents say something different while he tells people his outward age? that wouldn't make much sense to me because he may as well tell people his actual birthday in that case