Mad Men: The Strategy Rewatch

March 11, 2015 3:06 AM - Season 7, Episode 6

Peggy collects research for a pitch; Pete receives an invitation to an exclusive club; Joan is eager to spend time with her friend.

First watch post

posted by Sweetie Darling (6 comments total)

Peter really needs to find someone that loves New York City as much as he does.
posted by drezdn at 4:40 AM on March 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh! I suggested the rewatch! So that's roughly 8 eps per month? A small commitment, surely.
posted by tracicle at 10:57 AM on May 22, 2014 [+] [!]

Burger Chef. Burger Chef. Burger Chef.

Damnit. A burger did not appear on my desk. But there's a hotdog food truck in the parking lot (our first food truck in six years here!).

Orange and white burger wrappings reminding me of yesteryear: Not WhatABurger (and in my time, the boxes and cups were not striped, that is a retro-look they're using now to call back to when they used to use it). I can't think of the name. It might be more the interior seating and the sparse "clean" look of the place to show gleaming efficiency.

I know Dairy Queens in my area had actual restaurants but they used "stock" white and red check or hexed paper goods. It must have been a small regional thing somewhere I visited because it was always associated with "vacation" for me. But not Howard Johnson's either. I've never been to one.

Series ending prediction from the earlier thread still stands:

I'm still voting for Harry going out the window, and Ginsberg pushes him out with Roger's help, Pete rounds the corner from chasing him while holding his .22.

As for exit song, I was thinking about Cat's in the Cradle instead of my earlier Tainted Love but it's not only not quite right, it's also from 1974. So I'll go with 2525.

On to the rewatchinating! I've been rewatching along but .... life.

Malibu Betty picked out Tammy's Barbie; Pete pawned the chore of selecting and possibly* wrapping a gift off on to her!

Pete is trying very hard to undercut Lou and prop Don back up (over Peggy, again). Peggy's still doubting herself trying to get Don in there.

Bob is sure adamant about not ever having been arrested. Maybe as Bob, he has not, at least not in this city. He's been trying to be on the straight and narrow (not sure if the pun is intended but there it is) here, in New York, as Bob.

It's awesome watching Don finally walking with Peggy through the process (Mom backed over the dog, pretty damn dark, Peggy). And Don looks so vulnerable when she puts her head on his shoulder, just before he kisses her atop her head so paternally.

I just noticed the pull out at the end of the show, the framing of the team in a more local Burger Chef, interior and exterior, showing head-on that it's got the silhouette of a house ... a clean well lighted place. Peggy is sitting there with her "family".

Bookends the episode nicely.

At the opening Peggy is in turmoil, in Pennsylvania or Ohio, polling moms pulling out of the restaurant, an the view of Burger Chef is reflected in the station wagon window and we're looking up at Peggy in a dark parking lot with a back drop of the diagonal, out of focus Burger Chef building. Peggy's "families" pull away, leaving her behind to keep working with Mathis.

Other bookends - Don cleaning up the apartment for Megan, and as she's leaving, she's leaving a mess behind for him to bring along himself to California to her. Pete eating without Malibu Betty, and at the end of the episode, Don assures Pete they'll be done in time for his next dinner with Malibu Betty - except that it's been cancelled.

*I know nothing of gift wrapping back in the day, but I expect the store that carried it would have a wrapping service available.
posted by tilde at 10:12 AM on March 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Peggy and Don dancing would have been a great way to end the series.
posted by cwest at 5:54 AM on March 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Chevy taking the great creative and bouncing was the entire reason they formed SCDPCGC in the first place!

Seeing the kids that were born earlier in the series as children is staggering.

Don eyes up and smiling looks like a WPA mural.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:35 PM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

I've rewatched this episode twice, I think, since the first airing, and now it's official: the "My Way" scene will never not make me cry.
posted by donajo at 3:35 PM on April 2, 2015 [4 favorites]

I just rewatched this episode, because of this 2019 list Of the best TV episodes of the last decade. Don & Peggy’s dance, as well as the final scene, are indeed wonderful. I haven’t thought about the series now for a few years, it aged a bit, but these highlights were indeed great.
posted by growabrain at 11:10 AM on December 4, 2019