Ugh. Mad Men nearly broke me this week.

Loved seeing relaxed and more in his element Don.

Loved Cooper's sister. I want to be her when I grow up.

I couldn't love Roger more. (Get it? Roger more? Bus dum dum.)

But the scene with Joan. Joan. My Joanie. When Dr D.R. said, "This is what you wanted." or whatever he said and then, pushed her face to the side because he knew goddamn well what he was doing just broke. my. heart. I hope she hands him his balls through his asshole.

And whoever above said something about Peggy and Joan almost trading places is dead on. How amazing, and yet, there's something so very sad about it.

Poor Don, he married the wrong woman, but it was interesting to see that he seemed to have genuine feelings for Betty at one time.

Nice write up on Mad Men from the Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert: [link]

One of the master strokes of the season was the way Weiner and his writers revealed Don and Peggy Olson as two peas in a pod. They are the parallel leads of “Mad Men,” different and yet so much alike. They are both frauds, living double lives -- which oddly qualifies both them to be ace advertising executives who can wax with almost spiritual intensity during sales pitches. Don and Peggy intimately understand how to build a convincing artifice, and they struggle against genuine emotion.

Yeah, that was an interesting summary. I love how this show can be continually delved into. How we don't get tired of talking about it through the week because there's so much there there.

Joan's rape was horrendous, and I hadn't quite assessed her situation as the article says, settling into life as an object at work & home. But she does seem to feel she needs to leave it there. I had thought of her as using her status as an object at the office, that she recognized and manipulated it. But seeing it juxtaposed against her personal life at home, it does become deeply worrying.

I also hadn't quite put Peggy as a fraud. Does her child make her a fraud? If she had the baby adopted outside of the family would that make her a fraud? I guess because she feels she is leading a life that she would not be able to if she were raising her son herself.

Which is where the deeply seated gender issues come in, because Pete would not be able to lead the life he is leading either, if he were raising his son. But he doesn't even know.

Joan's rape was horrendous, and I hadn't quite assessed her situation as the article says, settling into life as an object at work & home.

I hope she wakes up and realizes that if she lets that happen, she's probably going to end up like Roger's wife (thrown aside for a younger trophy), if not worse given what a scumbag her fiancee is. I shudder that he's a doctor (or going to be - is he still in med school?). I'm waiting for the reveal that he's a gynecologist or a pediatrician. Of course, I'd laugh my ass off if he turned out to be a proctologist.

Of course, I'd laugh my ass off if he turned out to be a proctologist.

Thoracic surgery resident - sorry.

Thoracic surgery resident - sorry.

Bugger. I thought I might have forgotten that they said what his speciality was.

I watched the pilot for the first time, which made a bunch of things stand out to me in the most recent ep, in particular Joan's treatment of Peggy on her first day. Specifically, the assumption that Peggy was pretty much expected to sleep with Don, that Peggy needs to shorten her hems and shrink her sweaters, that Peggy needs to play up her assets because that's what will get noticed. Which all plays into that that's all Peggy's worth - what her physical attributes are. And then, some episodes later, Joan is violated in one of the worst possible ways a woman CAN be violated and it's because of her physical attributes, her rejection of which was shown clearly in her choice of a plain, drab, please don't notice me anymore type of dress. Reverting back to how Peggy was dressed that first day.

Such an interesting juxtaposition and somewhat brilliant twist for the writers to come up with.

Somebody on the Onion A.V. board just pointed out that Cooper's sister is named Alice. Alice Cooper.

I really liked this episode despite the abundant anviling (tarot card reading and a baptismal renewal in the ocean?). The characters were all revealed in such interesting ways. There are so many huge decisions to be dealt with in the finale.

Specifically, the assumption that Peggy was pretty much expected to sleep with Don

It's easy to forget that she made a play for him when they first met. An early indicator that she wasn't just the church mouse she appeared to be.

It's easy to forget that she made a play for him when they first met.

She did, but the way she did it and how nervous she seemed when she did it made me think that it was more Joan's prompting that made Peggy make the play. She didn't make the play until after the switchboard operators and Joan talked about Don's other girl losing her job and also after her dressing down. I think it was more motivated by "I'd better do what Joan told me to do and make myself available to this man or else I'm going to get fired." than it was desire and attraction.