Mad Men: The Monolith Rewatch
March 4, 2015 4:53 AM - Season 7, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Sterling Cooper & Partners prepares for a guest; Don contacts an old friend; Roger deals with problems at home; Peggy is underestimated.
This episode was really tough for me to watch the first time through, but this time, knowing that Don is about to make a comeback takes some of the edge.
One of the things Mad Men does so well is highlighted by this episode. Some seemingly minor things have huge reverberations in the plot. If Roger would have been in his office when Don wanted to pitch the computer business, Don might not have been burned so badly by Bert that he went on a Bender. If Cutler wouldn't have invested so much money into the computer, they might have been a better financial position to deal with Don.
posted by drezdn at 8:28 AM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
One of the things Mad Men does so well is highlighted by this episode. Some seemingly minor things have huge reverberations in the plot. If Roger would have been in his office when Don wanted to pitch the computer business, Don might not have been burned so badly by Bert that he went on a Bender. If Cutler wouldn't have invested so much money into the computer, they might have been a better financial position to deal with Don.
posted by drezdn at 8:28 AM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
This episode was really tough for me to watch the first time through
It was for me as well. However, I started to feel good about Don's future at the agency when he tacked Lane's Amazin' Mets pennant on the wall. It was a very hopeful sign. The 1969 Mets, after never having a winning season, went all the way to the World Series and beat the heavily favored Orioles. Plus, after Rumsen helped him out he showed up at the office ready to work. Typing tags for Burger Chef. It gave another glimmer of hope that maybe Don wouldn't implode and ruin things at work. Events may work against him but he wouldn't be the one responsible.
posted by cwest at 11:05 PM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
It was for me as well. However, I started to feel good about Don's future at the agency when he tacked Lane's Amazin' Mets pennant on the wall. It was a very hopeful sign. The 1969 Mets, after never having a winning season, went all the way to the World Series and beat the heavily favored Orioles. Plus, after Rumsen helped him out he showed up at the office ready to work. Typing tags for Burger Chef. It gave another glimmer of hope that maybe Don wouldn't implode and ruin things at work. Events may work against him but he wouldn't be the one responsible.
posted by cwest at 11:05 PM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Does anyone else find Meredith's behavior around Don hilarious?
posted by cwest at 11:08 PM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by cwest at 11:08 PM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Meredith is always hilarious.
posted by drezdn at 4:57 AM on March 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 4:57 AM on March 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
10 Films That Inspired Mad Men, According to Matthew Weiner (Vulture).
posted by cwest at 5:37 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by cwest at 5:37 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Final Mad Men Poster released. (larger version)
Mad Men tribute videos. Gary Oldman, Sarah Silverman, Norman Lear, among others. (AMC)
posted by cwest at 2:47 PM on March 6, 2015
Mad Men tribute videos. Gary Oldman, Sarah Silverman, Norman Lear, among others. (AMC)
posted by cwest at 2:47 PM on March 6, 2015
Reading the first watch thread, many people think that Don is referring to Lloyd the computer guy as the Devil. But I'm not so convinced - I think he's The Future.
The Future needs no sales pitch. You're going to get one whether you like it or not.
Also, annoyed with 'Marigold,' for justifying her abandoning her son with Roger's (and Mona's) abandoning her. She can't admit that it was a shitty thing for them to do, because then she has to admit it's a shitty thing for her to do....
I remember the creative lounge being used on the selling tour of SCDP and later SCDPCGC, the thing that made them better than the rest. Now it's an IBM.
Bert, take the easy play!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:05 PM on March 25, 2015
The Future needs no sales pitch. You're going to get one whether you like it or not.
Also, annoyed with 'Marigold,' for justifying her abandoning her son with Roger's (and Mona's) abandoning her. She can't admit that it was a shitty thing for them to do, because then she has to admit it's a shitty thing for her to do....
I remember the creative lounge being used on the selling tour of SCDP and later SCDPCGC, the thing that made them better than the rest. Now it's an IBM.
Bert, take the easy play!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:05 PM on March 25, 2015
One thing that jumped out at me on the re-watch was taking Ginsberg's "They're trying to erase us!" exclamation as a Holocaust reference.
posted by mikepop at 6:03 PM on March 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mikepop at 6:03 PM on March 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
The first shot of this episode is so well done.
I liked Don's line in response to the IBM guy's line, "this machine can count more stars in a day then you can count in a lifetime." "But what man laid in his back counting stars and thought about a number?"
Sums up the tension between creative and accounts perfectly.
posted by dry white toast at 7:45 PM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
I liked Don's line in response to the IBM guy's line, "this machine can count more stars in a day then you can count in a lifetime." "But what man laid in his back counting stars and thought about a number?"
Sums up the tension between creative and accounts perfectly.
posted by dry white toast at 7:45 PM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also, I found the tech guy building a business model around computers lasting longer than IBM leases them for compelling in light of our modern tension of planned obsolescence. Seems like that was always part of the deal.
posted by dry white toast at 7:51 PM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dry white toast at 7:51 PM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Margaret does, indeed, seem as happy as we'll ever see her as a hippy. Too bad about that kid, huh? But she and Roger staring through the planks of the barn and having a real talk is one of my favorite Mad Men scenes.
Don goes from pissed at Peggy for having power over him, to selling a dude who's there to install the IBM that he's special because he's there and asking questions, to getting floored by Bert, to getting contract-breachingly drunk, to having to take a lesson from Freddy Rumsen. It's a hard episode.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:34 PM on March 8, 2020
Don goes from pissed at Peggy for having power over him, to selling a dude who's there to install the IBM that he's special because he's there and asking questions, to getting floored by Bert, to getting contract-breachingly drunk, to having to take a lesson from Freddy Rumsen. It's a hard episode.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:34 PM on March 8, 2020
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posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:56 AM on March 4, 2015 [2 favorites]