Mad Men: The New Girl Rewatch
July 30, 2014 5:11 AM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Don once again finds himself having to deal with issues between TV comedian Jimmy and his wife, Bobbie. Joan finally finds Don the perfect secretary.
*plays a song on his zipper*
posted by drezdn at 6:01 AM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 6:01 AM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
Even Ken thinks Freddy's an idiot.
posted by MoonOrb at 6:22 AM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by MoonOrb at 6:22 AM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
Freddy's the best!!
posted by Pendragon at 9:49 AM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Pendragon at 9:49 AM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
The first time I saw the scene with Freddy I burst out laughing. It was so unexpected. wtf? Yeah, I do love Freddy.
I'm c! west! metafilter.
posted by cwest at 10:52 AM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'm c! west! metafilter.
posted by cwest at 10:52 AM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
Lots of "new girls" in this ep. having to do with marriage and/or career.
Bobbie Barrett and Don being of the same stripe. Bobbie: "This is America. Pick a job and then become the person that does it." And later: "You have to start living the life of the person you want to be." Maybe that's one of the reasons he started spending time with her. He sensed that she was very much like him in a certain way.
Jane saying she's a little clairvoyant and predicting happiness for Joan and her future husband. Worst. Prediction. Ever.
Don speaking with Peggy in the hospital is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. Don states the thesis of his life and their brief communication becomes a big part of the bedrock of their relationship.
This was a very good episode.
posted by cwest at 11:29 AM on July 30, 2014 [5 favorites]
Bobbie Barrett and Don being of the same stripe. Bobbie: "This is America. Pick a job and then become the person that does it." And later: "You have to start living the life of the person you want to be." Maybe that's one of the reasons he started spending time with her. He sensed that she was very much like him in a certain way.
Jane saying she's a little clairvoyant and predicting happiness for Joan and her future husband. Worst. Prediction. Ever.
Don speaking with Peggy in the hospital is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. Don states the thesis of his life and their brief communication becomes a big part of the bedrock of their relationship.
This was a very good episode.
posted by cwest at 11:29 AM on July 30, 2014 [5 favorites]
Peggy is just so great in this episode. I hadn't really thought before about why Don called her, of all people. Not because she owes him one, but because she can be trusted to be discreet; nobody else at the office would be, and he has no real friends outside of work.
I love Peggy's conversations with Bobbie. "I never expect him to be anything other than what he is." That line says so much about Peggy and Don's relationship at this point.
Don's face when Peggy calls him by his first name is great and subtle acting by Jon Hamm; surprise and confusion and "aha" in about one second.
It made me sad when Don couldn't think of anything he liked, but then I realize that probably very few people have asked him what he likes.
The ocean. Bridges. Movies.
It's interesting to read the first watch recaps and see people still trying to figure out if the baby from the last few episodes is Peggy's or her sister's.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 12:38 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
I love Peggy's conversations with Bobbie. "I never expect him to be anything other than what he is." That line says so much about Peggy and Don's relationship at this point.
Don's face when Peggy calls him by his first name is great and subtle acting by Jon Hamm; surprise and confusion and "aha" in about one second.
It made me sad when Don couldn't think of anything he liked, but then I realize that probably very few people have asked him what he likes.
The ocean. Bridges. Movies.
It's interesting to read the first watch recaps and see people still trying to figure out if the baby from the last few episodes is Peggy's or her sister's.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 12:38 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Jane saying she's a little clairvoyant
I loved that, given her future of exploring LSD.
posted by donajo at 1:49 PM on July 30, 2014
I loved that, given her future of exploring LSD.
posted by donajo at 1:49 PM on July 30, 2014
It's interesting to read the first watch recaps and see people still trying to figure out if the baby from the last few episodes is Peggy's or her sister's.
Heck, I've seen the series through a couple of times and I'm still not 100% sure that her sister didn't adopt her baby. (Not really.)
posted by donajo at 1:51 PM on July 30, 2014
Heck, I've seen the series through a couple of times and I'm still not 100% sure that her sister didn't adopt her baby. (Not really.)
posted by donajo at 1:51 PM on July 30, 2014
I didn't know it wasn't supposed to be until I read the trivia for a season 2 episode a week ago.
posted by drezdn at 2:01 PM on July 30, 2014
posted by drezdn at 2:01 PM on July 30, 2014
The baby theories are so outlandish: Anita faked a pregnancy to cover for Peggy? Anita was pregnant but her baby was stillborn, so she's raising Peggy's?
It's funny how we never go to the simplest, most logical conclusion with Mad Men, even though 99% of time time that's where it ends up. (e.g. Megan/Sharon Tate)
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:43 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's funny how we never go to the simplest, most logical conclusion with Mad Men, even though 99% of time time that's where it ends up. (e.g. Megan/Sharon Tate)
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:43 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
My boyfriend relates stuff like that back to Lost. Crazy internet theories abound about XX show? People looking for hidden meaning and clues in every drama? For some reason, the internet can't get over Lost.
posted by donajo at 7:16 PM on July 30, 2014
posted by donajo at 7:16 PM on July 30, 2014
I hadn't really thought before about why Don called her, of all people. Not because she owes him one, but because she can be trusted to be discreet [...]
And she tells Don what has to be her crystallized post-St.-Mary's-Hospital life philosophy: "You'll have to believe me that I'll forget this. I don't want you treating me badly because I remind you of it. This can be fixed."
And OMG, the US News and World Report in the stack of magazines in the doctor's office masturbatorium, cutting to the "fap fap fap fap fap" of Roger's paddleball in his office. 0.o
posted by ChrisTN at 7:42 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
And she tells Don what has to be her crystallized post-St.-Mary's-Hospital life philosophy: "You'll have to believe me that I'll forget this. I don't want you treating me badly because I remind you of it. This can be fixed."
And OMG, the US News and World Report in the stack of magazines in the doctor's office masturbatorium, cutting to the "fap fap fap fap fap" of Roger's paddleball in his office. 0.o
posted by ChrisTN at 7:42 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]
Ah, Don's comment about not bothering to learn their name until they've been there a month -- shades of Murphy Brown!
Some of the heavy handed foreshadowing is interestingly absent from later seasons; I'm thinking about Bobbie's comment on the Tragedy of Marilyn and her up coming appearance at the President's birthday celebration.
With the Peggy and Bobbie interaction, Peggy's getting some good advice from a more knowledgeable source from someone who doesn't scorn her with one hand while helping her backhandedly at times from the other (Joan). And Bobbie's advice is pretty solid.
I think Bobbie's still in shock, mentioning that she keeps forgetting about the accident. Or she just went into overdrive covering and figuring out the next few days, from Fat Farm to going back into circulation the next few days to the president's fundraiser/birthday.
"If you're lucky, it will disappear." - Peggy's line of the episode that, as others have mentioned, build up to the new level of relationship she moves up to / withMr. Draper Don.
Phones! With cords! That let you move it from the kitchen to the living room (a yellow phone, really? Fancy!).
The line of the episode I'd say was "I'm going, but I'm not leaving, Peaches." A very nice Catholic Prodigal Son link.
posted by tilde at 7:50 AM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
Some of the heavy handed foreshadowing is interestingly absent from later seasons; I'm thinking about Bobbie's comment on the Tragedy of Marilyn and her up coming appearance at the President's birthday celebration.
With the Peggy and Bobbie interaction, Peggy's getting some good advice from a more knowledgeable source from someone who doesn't scorn her with one hand while helping her backhandedly at times from the other (Joan). And Bobbie's advice is pretty solid.
I think Bobbie's still in shock, mentioning that she keeps forgetting about the accident. Or she just went into overdrive covering and figuring out the next few days, from Fat Farm to going back into circulation the next few days to the president's fundraiser/birthday.
"If you're lucky, it will disappear." - Peggy's line of the episode that, as others have mentioned, build up to the new level of relationship she moves up to / with
Phones! With cords! That let you move it from the kitchen to the living room (a yellow phone, really? Fancy!).
The line of the episode I'd say was "I'm going, but I'm not leaving, Peaches." A very nice Catholic Prodigal Son link.
posted by tilde at 7:50 AM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
With the Peggy and Bobbie interaction, Peggy's getting some good advice from a more knowledgeable source from someone who doesn't scorn her with one hand while helping her backhandedly at times from the other (Joan). And Bobbie's advice is pretty solid.
As much as I want not to like Bobbie, she really helped Peggy reframe her life with advice that Peggy probably couldn't have received from anyone else at that point.
posted by ChrisTN at 9:11 AM on July 31, 2014
As much as I want not to like Bobbie, she really helped Peggy reframe her life with advice that Peggy probably couldn't have received from anyone else at that point.
posted by ChrisTN at 9:11 AM on July 31, 2014
I loved how Bobbie was trying to figure Peggy out, but was just so...wrong about everything. Peggy and Don's relationship is so deliciously complex and layered and it's fun to watch it unfold, refold, splinter, refract and do all that kaleidoscope stuff.
I think now to how Don, Peggy and Pete were eating Burger Chef and it seems so right to me. That these folks who are suspicious of each other, and at times hate each other, also still love each other too. They're each other's true family. Warts and all.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:33 PM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
I think now to how Don, Peggy and Pete were eating Burger Chef and it seems so right to me. That these folks who are suspicious of each other, and at times hate each other, also still love each other too. They're each other's true family. Warts and all.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:33 PM on July 31, 2014 [3 favorites]
Peggy has come a long long way in compartmentalization and discretion since hearing Midge and Don on the phone. She changes so much from season to season, dissociative episode aside.
Pete wants to be Don; Peggy is the one closest to turning into him. His teaching her the ways of just forging ahead, playing into whatever fiction the authorities want. It's how he became Don; it's how she left the hospital
posted by RainyJay at 11:28 PM on July 31, 2014 [4 favorites]
Pete wants to be Don; Peggy is the one closest to turning into him. His teaching her the ways of just forging ahead, playing into whatever fiction the authorities want. It's how he became Don; it's how she left the hospital
posted by RainyJay at 11:28 PM on July 31, 2014 [4 favorites]
It made me sad when Don couldn't think of anything he liked, but then I realize that probably very few people have asked him what he likes.
It's not even that. It's more that Don spends his life alternately playing a role and doing whatever will fill the emptiness inside for the moment, and because of it he doesn't know what his tastes actually are.
I loved Bobbie's advice to Peggy. It was so sound, and it showed such insight on Bobbie's part that she saw Peggy needed it. Bobbie's such a wise, kind, generous sort of person, and I wish Joan could have known her, because she could have learned a lot from her.
posted by orange swan at 3:33 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's not even that. It's more that Don spends his life alternately playing a role and doing whatever will fill the emptiness inside for the moment, and because of it he doesn't know what his tastes actually are.
I loved Bobbie's advice to Peggy. It was so sound, and it showed such insight on Bobbie's part that she saw Peggy needed it. Bobbie's such a wise, kind, generous sort of person, and I wish Joan could have known her, because she could have learned a lot from her.
posted by orange swan at 3:33 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not only that, but he probably has to take a long pause to work out whether it's what Dick Whitman likes or what Fictional Don likes. It's hard to craft a persona.
posted by tracicle at 10:45 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by tracicle at 10:45 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
Peggy is just so great in this episode. I hadn't really thought before about why Don called her, of all people. Not because she owes him one, but because she can be trusted to be discreet; nobody else at the office would be, and he has no real friends outside of work.
I love the structure of this: first of all we see Bobbie question Peggy as to why Don called her. As the audience we know more about the Peggy/Don relationship than she does. We know she can be discreet and thorough - but we don't know why she would be motivated to help so willingly. Then the flashback of Don meeting Peggy in the nursing home tell us.
posted by rongorongo at 10:59 PM on August 17, 2019
I love the structure of this: first of all we see Bobbie question Peggy as to why Don called her. As the audience we know more about the Peggy/Don relationship than she does. We know she can be discreet and thorough - but we don't know why she would be motivated to help so willingly. Then the flashback of Don meeting Peggy in the nursing home tell us.
posted by rongorongo at 10:59 PM on August 17, 2019
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posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:43 AM on July 30, 2014 [3 favorites]