Froot Loop

Mad Men and GoT are the only two programmes I watch regularly (like, the day they're available online.) After the series finale of GoT, I've been thinking, it's been so long (if it's ever happened) that I've been disappointed by an episode of Mad Men.

I'm struggling with the position of agreeing with Pete Campbell. How can he see that things are changing and nobody else does?

Okay, I'll do without because they don't seem to be working. I thought this was a really strong episode. I haven't been the hugest fan of this season (or series, I can never remember which in America,) maybe because the last was so strong but this episode really grabbed me. Don, in the plane - "You're the guy who flew here in his own plane." - and getting rejected by Linda Cardellini was great and I really think it brought him back to what he was doing. Ironically, I think that came through the strongest when Megan's voice was phased out.

How do you do spoiler tags again?

I love "The Good Soldier" - I read it during my literature degree as well. Another text from the same era and dealing with similar themes is "Quartet" by Jean Rhys (Ford's former lover.)

Just finished "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene. I tried to read it when I was about 17 but didn't really get into it but I totally romped through it this time. Quite short but really intense. I've also just finished listening to a Librivox recording of "A Room with a View." Loved the book and the production was really good considering it was free! The Librivox recordings are on iTunes as podcasts - loads of audiobooks public domain texts and they're generally good quality.

I've really struggled with this as well (it's in my"half-read" pile at the moment.) It's annoying because I do like the characters, I just can't get through it. I found the same with Time's Arrow (although for completely different reasons.) I still want to read Lionel Asbo though.

Stumbled across this, it's brilliant:

Yeah, it definitely made it seem a little lighter than the bit with Joan and maybe that's what I didn't like about it. It was actually a really sad moment for me to see her leave the office and it was hard to see it relegated to a kind of humorous foil to Joan. I've actually been surprised recently by how few people I've asked watch Mad Men. I've wanted to talk about this season, particularly, on a few occasions but those I've asked haven't seen it (or have watched season 1/2 and then stopped.) Breaking Bad is definitely the hot series just now, I think, but a few of my friends even watch things like Boardwalk Empire and Homeland but not Mad Men which I find surprising.

What else is there to say when the episode is that good? That last scene almost made me cry but as soon as I finished the ep, I went back and watched the final episode of season three when PPL gets sold and Lane fires the guys so they can start a new agency. I felt like the conversation Don and Peggy had in this episode was an extension of the one in her apartment in season three - this is what Don would have felt and what would have happened if Peggy hadn't gone with him then (although it's questionable she would have gotten as good an offer - I can't remember what offers she'd received back then.) One thing I didn't like was the music when Peggy was getting in to the elevator. I thought it cheapened the whole thing.

I didn't respond to this episode as well as other people. I'm not sure what I'm going to remember from it apart from Roger and Sally. That being said, it's a good change of pace from the other eps so far. I totally agree about Abe and is Peggy settling for him? Because I didn't think that was implied previously. Also, what's up with Megan? I thought that the show with Heinz was going to lead in to a stellar ad career but she doesn't want that? I suppose she wants to be an actress then?

When the Roger/Jane bit finished I had thought it was a bit gimmicky to do a 'drugs' episode, but the collapsing cigarette was hilarious and the conversation with Jane was kind of touching. His appearance at the end of the episode kind of cheapened it for me which was annoying. I liked the fight in the flat between Don and Megan as well. I had thought that they were just going to start having sex or something and that would have been a bit lame. When she said "How could you do that to me?" I was really glad she wasn't just letting Don off the hook. And how good was that ending?! I'm ashamed to say I'd gotten a bit sick of seeing Don so happy all the time...and I do want to see him back involved in the ad side of things so hopefully we've got that coming.

There was some funky editing in this episode that seemed kind of 'clunky' at points. The transition mirroring Ken leaving Peggy's office and Roger entering Lane's, Pete's face in the office to the driving class and the fade thing at the end. I can't decide about the symmetry of the dripping tap noise at the end - it was either forced and artificial or a nice way to round off the episode. I thought the dinner scene was really fun and genuine. It seemed like everyone was interested with each other and at ease. I was quite disappointed when Pete cheated, I was hoping that could be the status quo for a while. Definitely my favourite episode so far. I totally agree with the sentiment of seeing more Ken and Peggy (I don't remember anything about the pact either.)

Just saw the ep, almost spoiled it for myself on here >_< I really liked the Ken bit in the bar as well, it's a nice reminder that the character's there and he is awesome. Peggy again I thought the Joan bit was a bit heavy-handed. The whole "You know what I'm talking about" when she was ending things with Greg and the shot that ended the episode with her, Kevin and her Mum was a bit obvious.