Mad Men season 7 thread

[Steak Snabler]

Interesting start to the season, only jumping ahead a few months to January 1969 (which we know because of the Nixon inauguration).

Don continues to be hopelessly out of touch. In what world is a guy wearing a sweater tied around his neck a hippie?

Sad turn of events for Peggy. Living in a dump apartment and trapped in a job she doesn't want.

And they continue to play up the Sharon Tate parallels with Megan, right down to the house in the hills and husband who wasn't around. Her agent even looked a little bit like a young Roman Polanski.

Also welcome back, Neve Campbell!

 

[Tarheel316]

Best part of the show was hearing that awesome song I'm a Man by the Spencer Davis Group.

 

[exmediahack]

Whoa... that was Neve Campbell. (I didn't place her until I saw this). Surprised that Don didn't bang her at some midtown apartment at flight's end.

I joked with a colleague earlier today that Megan's life would end in a puzzling car crash on Mulholland the night before she was supposed to go to the infamous Sharon Tate party... and then I saw all of the parallels tonight.

Will Don even tell Megan that he's been sacked? She was in full ***** mode. Probably screwing that weasel agent.

A fairly unsatisfying season premiere compared with some of the recent season openers. Kept waiting for a payoff but it didn't hit. Simply despair with so many -- a sense of malaise from everyone except for Campbell. That little **** is livin' the life with a blonde baby doll. Now the show is spread out with two continents and still a larger cast than the hour can handle.

In recent seasons, there has been a trend of good episode followed by a bad one. I assume this season will be just as choppy until we hit that final stretch to wrap it all up.

 

[ifilus]

Don wasn't sacked, he's on a paid suspension.
And it was pretty clear that Megan wasn't the agent's "type".

 

[Amy]

No mention of (my biggest TV crush ever) Roger's living arrangements?

 

[Kato]

The thing that bothered me about trying to cram so much into the first hour is that this (half) season is only seven episodes. So six remain. Weiner almost had to waste an episode by making sure the viewers are caught up with everyone (except Betty and Sally).

If it were 13 episodes this wouldn't bother me so much. Then again, if it were 13 episodes, they probably wouldn't have stuffed 10 pounds of plot into this 5-pound bag.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

That was way more of John Slattery than I ever wanted to see.

Never got around to IMDBing the ep so I could figure out who the woman on the plane was. In any case, it's a sad state of affairs when a woman throws herself at Don and he says he has to go to work. Complete opposite from where the series started, when he'd take a two-hour (or three, or four) lunch break for a shag. Had it not been the first ep of the season, I would have expected him to jump off his balcony at the end.

 

[Boom_70]

I wish Megan would get her teeth fixed. Would love to see her
try and eat corn on the cob.

 

[heyabbott]

I thought it was Neve while watching last night and I did imdb it. She does not have Mad Men to her imdb credits. THats her though, right?

 

[Steak Snabler]

I thought it was Neve while watching last night and I did imdb it. She does not have Mad Men to her imdb credits. THats her though, right?

It's definitely her:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/arts/television/neve-campbell-appears-in-mad-men-season-premiere.html?_r=0

Weiner is so spoiler-phobic that he forbid show personnel from disclosing Campbell was on the show this year (and sent a letter to that effect to reviewers with the advance screener), just like with Linda Cardellini last year.

 

[Brian]

Best part of the show was hearing that awesome song I'm a Man by the Spencer Davis Group.

No matter the quality of the show this season, being 1969 means the music is going to be incredible.

 

[Brian]

Also, Elizabeth Olsen in that hat only deepened my crush on her. Crazy Scientologist or not.

- Everything has gone horribly for Ken since he mixed family with business. His character seems to be the truest to real life. Dreams, success but finally worn down by his job to the point that he's become everything he used to reject. He may the most tragic character onthe show, in a traditional sense.

-Good for Pete Campbell. We argued for a long time about whether he was redeemable. While he could still turn back into a monster by series end, he's only 5/8 the asshole he used to be in New York. Smarmy but no longer evil.

- I was hoping Megan was gone. She's superfluous at this point.

 

[ifilus]

Also, Elizabeth Moss/Peggy Olsen in that hat only deepened my crush on her. Crazy Scientologist or not.

 

[Big Circus]

Also, Elizabeth Moss/Peggy Olsen in that hat only deepened my crush on her. Crazy Scientologist or not.

In his defense, Elizabeth Olsen can get it, too.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Don't worry, Don. I always thought she was kind of overrated anyway.

 

[Brian]

Also, Elizabeth Moss/Peggy Olsen in that hat only deepened my crush on her. Crazy Scientologist or not.

Jesus, that was bad. At least I didn't call her Elizabeth Zoe Olsen Bartlett.

 

[RickStain]

They are running out of stream. I'm having trouble finding reasons to care about what happens to Don or Peggy or Roger or Pete.

I do think it's funny that Pete "I Would Give Anything To Be Don Draper" Campbell is boinking a Betty Draper lookalike.

I will bet 8 million internet dollars that before this two-year season is over, Don's potential desertion problems come back.

 

[jr/shotglass]

I loved Pete Campbell's transformation. Never saw that coming.

 

[Brian]

I believe Weiner is a big enough asshole in real life to finish this show off right, with no fan service. I'm going to love it. But I could see the ratings plummet. He actively antagonizes his own fans (Megan's teeth, Pete's gun). That means he's not going to rescue anyone. This will be a true to life document of the era crashing and burning. That final scene of S6 turned out to be such a headfake.

 

[DanOregon]

I think the Sharon Tate allusions are a similar Weiner yank of the fans' chain.