Mad Men: The Better Half Rewatch
February 4, 2015 7:57 AM - Season 6, Episode 9 - Subscribe
Peggy has a late night visitor. Don goes camping.
Once again, a character does something Don would do, and gets burned for it. This time Roger takes his grandson to see "Planet of the Apes," he even used "Don did it" as an excuse.
Is Peggy's dress supposed to remind you of butter/margarine at the beginning of the episode.
It looks like the issue Megan was facing (both characters wanting the same things but going about it in different ways) was meant as a reflection of the Don/Teddy dynamic.
posted by drezdn at 8:03 AM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is Peggy's dress supposed to remind you of butter/margarine at the beginning of the episode.
It looks like the issue Megan was facing (both characters wanting the same things but going about it in different ways) was meant as a reflection of the Don/Teddy dynamic.
posted by drezdn at 8:03 AM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
It looks like the issue Megan was facing (both characters wanting the same things but going about it in different ways) was meant as a reflection of the Don/Teddy dynamic.
Yes. It was a theme running throughout the episode. Don and Ted. Peggy and Abe wanting their relationship to work, but the way each views the world makes it impossible. Megan and Betty trying, or in Betty's case tried, in their own ways to make their marriage to Don work.
I did notice Peggy's dress was yellow and white while Ted was wearing a yellow shirt and Don a white shirt. The conflict between Ted and Don represented in Peggy. Maybe even the union of Ted and Don represented by Peggy.
Joan: "Actually, he's (Pete) the only one there who's never broken a promise to me." It's interesting how Pete views Joan. He doesn't disrespect her for sleeping with Herb, in fact he respects he even more because, in his eyes, she took one for the team. She helped the agency.
posted by cwest at 1:57 PM on February 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yes. It was a theme running throughout the episode. Don and Ted. Peggy and Abe wanting their relationship to work, but the way each views the world makes it impossible. Megan and Betty trying, or in Betty's case tried, in their own ways to make their marriage to Don work.
I did notice Peggy's dress was yellow and white while Ted was wearing a yellow shirt and Don a white shirt. The conflict between Ted and Don represented in Peggy. Maybe even the union of Ted and Don represented by Peggy.
Joan: "Actually, he's (Pete) the only one there who's never broken a promise to me." It's interesting how Pete views Joan. He doesn't disrespect her for sleeping with Herb, in fact he respects he even more because, in his eyes, she took one for the team. She helped the agency.
posted by cwest at 1:57 PM on February 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
I've stayed away from reviews during this rewatch. Fresh eyes, and all that. For all I know, everything I just commented was said in the linked AV Club review.
posted by cwest at 2:03 PM on February 5, 2015
posted by cwest at 2:03 PM on February 5, 2015
Little detail that could be an issue in the second half of season 7. Duck mentions that he placed Burt Peterson in a high up position at McCann, the company that buys SCP at the end of the first half of season 7.
posted by drezdn at 6:45 PM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 6:45 PM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
That's a great point. I heard Duck mention it, but didn't connect the dots.
posted by cwest at 10:03 PM on February 6, 2015
posted by cwest at 10:03 PM on February 6, 2015
Who's hoping Burt will get canned again? :)
posted by luckynerd at 10:34 PM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by luckynerd at 10:34 PM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Who's hoping Burt will get canned again? :)
It would be hard to top the last time Roger fired him, but I'd love to see them try.
posted by drezdn at 5:50 AM on February 12, 2015
It would be hard to top the last time Roger fired him, but I'd love to see them try.
posted by drezdn at 5:50 AM on February 12, 2015
I feel like "Let the wig do the work" is probably valuable life advice, but I haven't yet figured out how to apply it.
Good riddance, Abe. In the ambulance, when he tells her that now he has an end to the story he's writing, she should have stabbed him again.
posted by donajo at 9:00 PM on February 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
Good riddance, Abe. In the ambulance, when he tells her that now he has an end to the story he's writing, she should have stabbed him again.
posted by donajo at 9:00 PM on February 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
Bobby may have been "Bobby 5" at his camp, but he'll always be "Bobby 4" for us on the show.
I confess, I had a soft spot in my heart for Abe, although I admit that might have less to do with the character and more to do with how he looked shirtless in overalls a couple episodes back. I must say, however, that the stabbing scene might just edge out the lawnmower-over-Guy's-foot scene as the best laughing-through-the-WTFs moment of the series for me.
posted by ChrisTN at 2:30 PM on March 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I confess, I had a soft spot in my heart for Abe, although I admit that might have less to do with the character and more to do with how he looked shirtless in overalls a couple episodes back. I must say, however, that the stabbing scene might just edge out the lawnmower-over-Guy's-foot scene as the best laughing-through-the-WTFs moment of the series for me.
posted by ChrisTN at 2:30 PM on March 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh man, the opening scene where Don and Ted pull Peggy in and she's wearing an outift that's half the colour Don is wearing and half the colour Ted is wearing...
posted by dry white toast at 7:52 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dry white toast at 7:52 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
One of the interesting things about the show is how we get a gradual evolution from early 60s to the wilder and edgier late 60s. But Don and Betty's assignation seemed to be a throwback of a several years. Both characters look as they did at the start of the show.
posted by rongorongo at 10:35 PM on October 13, 2019
posted by rongorongo at 10:35 PM on October 13, 2019
I didn't notice the color symbolism in Peggy's outfit but did have to stop and show it to my wife as maybe the coolest Peggy outfit I'd ever seen.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:01 PM on March 4, 2020
posted by Navelgazer at 12:01 PM on March 4, 2020
Glamour magazine recently asked fashion historian Raissa Bretaña to talk about the clothes worn by Betty, Peggy and Joan in the show. The costume designers were using clothes not just to show 60s fashion but also to represent different personal styles and their own evolution over the decade.
posted by rongorongo at 10:02 PM on March 4, 2020
posted by rongorongo at 10:02 PM on March 4, 2020
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posted by drezdn at 7:58 AM on February 4, 2015