I also see St. Joan's rapist husband dying off in Vietnam and Roger will take up with her again, since it's clear he was in love with her from the beginning.

Although I'll be curious how Price deals with his wife, since she really expressed how much she hated NYC.

Watched it last night and yeah, best episode of the season by far between the office stuff and the divorce stuff.

More than made up for the One Life to Live-esque humdrum of Don's affair with the teacher (worst plotline ever) or Duck's sexual picadillos (just eww).

Roger & Don back at the bar and him telling Don about his wife and Don then drunkenly accosting Betty made for a great one-two punch.

Confirmed. Peggy FAIL.

I cracked up the other day watching PTI when Cornheiser made some passing comment about Don Draper and Peggy Olsen during the "Big Finish". At the very end as they're fading out you hear Tony..........."Peggy Olsen??? WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH DUCK!?!?!"


As for Sunday's ep...........JOAN FTW!

OK I managed to watch the entire series of madmen in 6 weeks.
Watched the last episode last nite.

Sterling and Joan: duh

Sal will certainly come back on

here's a thought - Don and Peggy. The one woman he truly respects and has never layed a finger on (though he keeps it out of the office)...something is there (Duck, eww)

I don't know why people rail on Betty so hard. Why is she such a terrible mother? She is stuck in a world where her husband gets to do everything...she knows he cheats, etc. Anyone would be miserable. Though the other guy is just as bad. She was treated like a child. No wonder she acts that way.

Yeah I don't quite get the hatred either. I mean, I can understand the dislike but I don't quite get why other women on the show get a pass.

Peggy is viewed as a stong working girl despite openly fucking Pete and having his kid and Joan, so far, is this sex kitten who fucks Sterling and allows her husband to essentially rape her. Yet these are women that OTHER women view as characters they like.

Other than being horribly selfish and spoiled, what are her bad qualities?

She's by no means an innocent but if she wasn't such a ho she could easliy be the most sympathetic character on the show given Don's escapades.

As it is, I think she may be the most complex character.

Betty is annoying because she is selfish and self-absorbed. Yeah, I get that her life is miserable and with reason, but she totally created her own golden cage and seems to want nothing more than to lie about in it and mope with a vague notion that if she's lucky someone will come along and save her. She's just annoying.

But, she is somewhat interesting sociologically and makes an interesting comment about the changing roles of women in that time period. She's rather caught between an era where sitting in a rich man's home and looking petty was the ultimate accomplishment and an era where more is expected of women. She's not satisfied with her role, but isn't really ready or able to move forward and do something more either.

Good episode, best this season by quite a distance. They were able to take a show I was losing interest in and make me look forward to next season.

Definitely made up for a lackluster season. Betty annoys me, but I don't understand the hate either. Peggy also annoys me.

Peggy fuh'd Duck because she likes being pursued. Up til now we have seen her as a pin cushion for a more powerful guy (Pete, at the beginning) and resorting to dong from losers at bars after Don tells her off. With Duck, he has a career, he wants to hire AND fuck her. She likes the attention that she WANTS from Don, who is a father figure as well as a boss. (Her daddy dead)

Betty D wants to be told what to do, and she wants everything to "Right." For her, divorcing Don is not nearly as bad as being married to a fraud that could be exposed at any time. She can handle divorce (so long as Henry Francis is in the picture) but what she can't handle is being declasse.

Oh, and people hate her because we are more used to liberated women, less class bound than we were as a society back then, yet no one wants to admit that her situation is very common and that they know, and possibly are, people like this in real life.

Lane Price might be my favorite bit character on this show.

Sterling, laying in bed, drinking, in a full suit, and yelling "Can somebody get that" when the phone rings right next to him = what I am patterning the rest of my life plans on.

And, I really missed the boat not naming my kid "Saint John LooGAR"

yeah I think people aren't understanding Betty's limitations. What IS she supposed to do? The "horror" of being a divorced woman, single, with children was layed out in earlier episodes. She's caught between eras but is also stuck to where Don wants her to be while he effectively abuses her trust and makes a mockery of her role as housewife.

I mean, if you want to talk about selfish and self absorbed - look at Don,look at Sterling, look at Pete. Betty has NOTHING on them.

Betty is one of the most interesting characters, but she can be pretty annoying, which makes her one of the most accurate characters to life on the show.

Betty loved Don Draper not Dick Whitman. There's great irony in her finally learning the truth about him. Now that she has a chance at a real relationship, she doesn't want him anymore. She wants the football playing war hero not the coward son of a sharecropper. She's arrested development with an almost 15yr old girl attitude towards love and permanently mesmorized by power. But what makes her truly interesting is that while she's stunted in maturity, she often displays an accute awareness for the emotional complexities in others that suggest an heightened sense of understanding.

Lane's conversation with St. John after he learns of their move is great. "Your Fired!!!" "Very well then, good day." I agree he's a great character.

That's what I like most about this plot deveopment. All of the good characters are set-up for next season and all the shitty ones are cast off to McCann for even lesser roles.

I mean, if only January Jones was so good looking, maybe people would respect her character, as they did ScarJo's in that Sofia Coppola movie where Scar played a character like the one described above.

... Oh, wait.

Yeah, ol Fake Boho Kinsey's reaction was priceless.

Interesting that they opted for Pete over Cosgrove, and Pete has Peggy and Lane to contend with -- don't think Pete's not going to pissed at Lane. He's a grudge holder (which is part of what I like about him).

And, Bert Cooper telling Harry Crane's nebbishy loser ass that he would lock him in the closet was like Coop finally awoke from his haze and became the man he was 20 years ago or something.

I happen to think January Jones is a horrible actress too. I guess I don't hate Betty, but yes, she's annoying as all get out. She's passive-aggressive, acts like a child, and doesn't want to have to really work at anything-- she's never had to. Perhaps her "handling" of the kids was de rigueur at the time, but she might as well be dropping coins into their future therapy jars. And that whole bit, crying behind her hands while they broke the divorce news to the kids... typical Betty-- pathetic, annoying and weak.

Which makes her all the more real. I think Jones is doing a fine job portraying the spoiled little rich girl who wants to have her cake and eat it too.

I think they went w/ Pete because they knew he was ambitious enough to leave. Remember, Price tells them that everyone they go after "had to be a sure bet" because PPL couldn't find out about it. Cosgrove is a coaster on his natural golden boy charm. That kind of man would never be bold enough to leave. He's perfect for McCann.

I like when Cooper suggested that Draper didn't have the stomach to make a business.

It's kind of intersting that Don Draper thought Betty was his trophy wife. It was actually the other way around.

Same here GAR. I would hate her if I knew her in "real" life and that's because she plays an excellent version of that "fictional" character. I don't feel the least bit sorry for her. I do feel bad for the kids, but I'm really hoping Sally doesn't turn into Betty in 20 years.

As for Season 4, I'm excited to see Don really blow people away next season without the distractions of everyday life fucking with him.

i thought it was a great episode. loved Lane hanging up on Sinjin saying "happy christmas" haha. good thing they didnt have non-compete clauses in their contracts and tortuous contract interference wasn't around yet.

From what I gather from watching the series, Betty turned out exactly like her mom - cold and uncaring. So I'm thinking Sally would turn out like Betty unless something changes drastically with Henry Francis.

you have to take the late 60s and the social changes that took place then into account. I like watching it bc my parents were the same age as Sally Draper (more or less) at the same time.
MASSIVE change in generation here.

Interesting.

http://jezebel.com/5400909/bon-voyage-b ... on-mad-men

this is great.

I liked this article:

Fuck Pete Campbell
http://www.racialicious.com/2009/08/13/fuck-pete-campbell-mediations-on-mad-men-and-whiteness/