Mad Men - "A Night to Remember" - 9/14/08

[TiVo'Brien]

Well, Betty's finally put her foot down and Don's in the dog house now, first sleeping on the couch, next in the Sterling Cooper breakroom. I can't imagine she'll ever be able to make his ex communication stick, though, considering how dependent she is on him - just like Carmela was in season 5 of The Sopranos. Eventually she'll have to give in since Don's holding all the cards.

Poor Joan, relieved of her new responsibilities just as she was budding. On top of that her husband wants her to be the typical stay-at-home housewife. That isn't going to last.

The Peggy and the priest storyline was okay. I want to give the priest a smack, though, the way he keeps pressing Peggy to confess.

The Heineken meeting followed by the dinner party incident was great writing. It showed Don's cynicism and lack of respect for the sophistication of the average housewife, even his own.

I loved Roger Sterling's introduction: "Duck, Crab. Crab, Duck." :p

[NinerK]

Well, Betty's finally put her foot down and Don's in the dog house now, first sleeping on the couch, next in the Sterling Cooper breakroom. I can't imagine she'll ever be able to make his ex communication stick, though, considering how dependent she is on him - just like Carmela was in season 5 of The Sopranos. Eventually she'll have to give in since Don's holding all the cards.

Poor Joan, relieved of her new responsibilities just as she was budding. On top of that her husband wants her to be the typical stay-at-home housewife. That isn't going to last.

The Peggy and the priest storyline was okay. I want to give the priest a smack, though, the way he keeps pressing Peggy to confess.

The Heineken meeting followed by the dinner party incident was great writing. It showed Don's cynicism and lack of respect for the sophistication of the average housewife, even his own.

I loved Roger Sterling's introduction: "Duck, Crab. Crab, Duck." :p


Thanks for starting this Tivo'Brien!

I thought the Joan storyline was an interesting juxtaposition. Early this season she told Peggy to "stop dressing like a schoolgirl" presumably to get ahead.

Flash forward and now Joan knows what it feels like. Would be kind of cool to see Joan and Peggy team up and shake things up at SC.

[Casual]

My favorite part of this show/season is seeing how much of an ass Sterling is to his employees. Last season I didn't notice it because they tended to focus just on his and Draper's friendship, but this season we get to see the interaction between him and the rest of his staff (and it aint pretty).

I was glad to see Peggy stick to her guns about Don. I kept expecting her to give in at any moment but she didn't. Good for her.

Oh, and Joan? Bwahahhahahhahaha! What goes around comes around!

[5thcrewman]

The Utz drove Betty nuts!

[Graymalkin]

Once again, Alan Sepinwall, TV critic for the Star-Ledger, analyzes the episode:

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/09/mad-men-night-to-remember-make-room-for.html

[TeighVaux]

Wow, folk Mass guitar playing priest, set the way back machine. Was that the Weavers I heard on top of Colin Hanks' singing?

I am confused on a few points-

1) Why did Betsy get so mad after the Utz commercial? She knew the dinner with the Utz'es and Barretts and Drapers was set up as a business dinner. She knew Jimmy apologized to Mrs. Utz, she was there when it happened. So it should not have been any news that Jimmy Barrett did a commercial for them.

2) Is it really a news bulletin to Bets that Don fools around? I thought that had already been established.

[NinerK]

My favorite part of this show/season is seeing how much of an ass Sterling is to his employees. Last season I didn't notice it because they tended to focus just on his and Draper's friendship, but this season we get to see the interaction between him and the rest of his staff (and it aint pretty).




Agreed; he waited for Joan to open the door in this episode.

[JLucPicard]

Wow, folk Mass guitar playing priest, set the way back machine. Was that the Weavers I heard on top of Colin Hanks' singing?

I am confused on a few points-

1) Why did Betsy get so mad after the Utz commercial? She knew the dinner with the Utz'es and Barretts and Drapers was set up as a business dinner. She knew Jimmy apologized to Mrs. Utz, she was there when it happened. So it should not have been any news that Jimmy Barrett did a commercial for them.

2) Is it really a news bulletin to Bets that Don fools around? I thought that had already been established.
1) I'm guessing that seeing the commercial just brought it all "in her face" again, so to speak. She wasn't upset by the commercial, but by what seeing the jerk in the commercial triggered.

2) I think it was established that there was a circle of females that were on to Don, but I really don't believe that Betty was anywhere near that circle. I believe she was clueless - MAYBE had suspicions, but I really don't think she knew anything for certain before Jimmy Barret told her.

[cheesesteak]

It definitely won't last but I'm glad Betts dropped the hammer on her dirtbag husband.

I felt bad for Joan but I kind of have a feeling that the new guy is going to be a bust.

I was hoping that Peggy would tell the "hip" priest to go suck an egg and mind his own business.

Does Sterling do anything?

[TiVo'Brien]

........Does Sterling do anything?You mean besides read the paper and flirt with the secretaries? :p

[TeighVaux]

Were they hinting that Joan is pregnant? Her fiance said something to the effect of some kind of food satisfying her cravings and looking for a house.

[lpamelaa]

Obviously, the priest is on a mission to get her to cleanse her soul. But, really? At work?? C'mon, he seems like a smart guy. Not a good place for a hard sell on confession.

[TeighVaux]

Obviously, the priest is on a mission to get her to cleanse her soul. But, really? At work?? C'mon, he seems like a smart guy. Not a good place for a hard sell on confession.

That didn't ring true to me. I am a Catholic, and I said in other posts, I remember that era.

I can't fathom a priest going to a woman's work place (even under the guise of volunteer work) and asking her to make a confession at work.

Also, as I recall in 1962, at the height of the baby boom, with so many Catholic families, and only two or three priests to overcrowded parishes, no way did priests have time to devote that much individual attention to any one parishoner or family. A priest making that many personal visits to one family's house? Doesn't ring true to me.

[TeighVaux]

I can't imagine she'll ever be able to make his ex communication stick, though, considering how dependent she is on him - just like Carmela was in season 5 of The Sopranos. Eventually she'll have to give in since Don's holding all the cards.



I think Betsy will let him back home once she does the math. In the first season, there was a divorcee single mom in the neighborhood whom Betsy befriended. She was having a hard time, having to work and needing babysitting etc.

I don't think Betsy would last long being a single mom.

[Bierboy]

...I was glad to see Peggy stick to her guns about Don. I kept expecting her to give in at any moment but she didn't. Good for her....

I think you mean Betty...

[DevdogAZ]

Wow, folk Mass guitar playing priest, set the way back machine. Was that the Weavers I heard on top of Colin Hanks' singing?

I am confused on a few points-

1) Why did Betsy get so mad after the Utz commercial? She knew the dinner with the Utz'es and Barretts and Drapers was set up as a business dinner. She knew Jimmy apologized to Mrs. Utz, she was there when it happened. So it should not have been any news that Jimmy Barrett did a commercial for them.

2) Is it really a news bulletin to Bets that Don fools around? I thought that had already been established.

1) I'm guessing that seeing the commercial just brought it all "in her face" again, so to speak. She wasn't upset by the commercial, but by what seeing the jerk in the commercial triggered.

2) I think it was established that there was a circle of females that were on to Don, but I really don't believe that Betty was anywhere near that circle. I believe she was clueless - MAYBE had suspicions, but I really don't think she knew anything for certain before Jimmy Barret told her.

I agree with Capt. Picard on both points. Betty wasn't surprised about Jimmy having done the commercial. Seeing him simply brought back the flood of emotions that caused her to hurl in the car in the previous episode.

As for her knowing that Don is a philanderer, I don't think she had any idea. In S1, there was a neighbor lady who found out her hubby had been cheating. Betty talked to Don about it and he acted surprised. That probably planted some seeds of suspicion, especially since the neighbor lady said something like, "I should have seen this coming, all those late nights in the city, etc." However, I'm pretty sure that Betty hasn't known for a certainty.

As for the Joan storyline, I thought it was interesting to see her finally get an assignment she enjoyed and that she was good at, only to have it wrenched away from her because she's a woman. Hopefully she'll use Peggy as a role model and fight for that position, although I'm not sure what the secretary pool would do without its mother hen.

[TeighVaux]

Guess the Chauncey story line is finished.

[5thcrewman]

Guess the Chauncey story line is finished.

Chauncey ran off to the Pine Barrens! ;)

[TeighVaux]

Chauncey ran off to the Pine Barrens! ;)

:) Well even Christopher and Paulie found their way back home from the Pine Barrens!

[brianric]

Also, as I recall in 1962, at the height of the baby boom, with so many Catholic families, and only two or three priests to overcrowded parishes, no way did priests have time to devote that much individual attention to any one parishoner or family. A priest making that many personal visits to one family's house? Doesn't ring true to me.
I don't know where you went to church, but growing up in Lawrence Massachusetts in the 1950ies to mid 1960ies there were plenty of Catholic Churches and priest. St Patrick I belive had six or seven priests. There were enough priest that the parish was able to send a priest up to summer camp in Raymond NH to say Sunday Mass for the Boy Scouts.

[Bierboy]

....There were enough priests that the parish was able to send a priest up to summer camp in Raymond NH to say Sunday Mass for the Boy Scouts.
Wow...I wouldn't touch that line with a 10-foot.....uh....whatever....:rolleyes:

[Bob Coxner]

:) Well even Christopher and Paulie found their way back home from the Pine Barrens!

The Russian didn't! At least as far as we know. Which is about as much as we know about Chauncy.

[TeighVaux]

I don't know where you went to church, but growing up in Lawrence Massachusetts in the 1950ies to mid 1960ies there were plenty of Catholic Churches and priest. St Patrick I belive had six or seven priests. There were enough priest that the parish was able to send a priest up to summer camp in Raymond NH to say Sunday Mass for the Boy Scouts.

I grew up in New England, in several suburbs in NH and MA. Also grew up for six years in a suburb of New Orleans. I remember the parishes being overcrowded. I never recall any priest getting personally involved with a family to the degree seen in the show. I remember Cathechism classes on double sessions with forty kids in a class. 400 kids getting First Communion.

[JLucPicard]

So am I the only one that thinks that father what's-his-name is taking a shine to Peggy for things more carnal than just her soul? Maybe I'm applying modern-day TV morals to a situation that clearly isn't that way, it's just not that clear to me that he isn't interested in less priestly things.

[dcehl]

I don't know if I can wait until the 28th! Arrrrrgh!

[TiVo'Brien]

So am I the only one that thinks that father what's-his-name is taking a shine to Peggy for things more carnal than just her soul? Maybe I'm applying modern-day TV morals to a situation that clearly isn't that way, it's just not that clear to me that he isn't interested in less priestly things.Early in the season it certainly seemed so, but once he found out about the kid, it seemed to me he remembered his vows.

[TiVo'Brien]

I don't know if I can wait until the 28th! Arrrrrgh!
Ugh! No new episode this week! :(

[Bierboy]

So am I the only one that thinks that father what's-his-name is taking a shine to Peggy for things more carnal than just her soul? Maybe I'm applying modern-day TV morals to a situation that clearly isn't that way, it's just not that clear to me that he isn't interested in less priestly things.

Nah...I still think Hanks' progeny is a dirty old/young man....despite the fact that Peggy had a child out of wedlock.

[TeighVaux]

I thought that the priest is mainly interested in Peggy because of her looks and youth. Doubt he would do that for any other parishioner, including her plain older sister that he doesn't pay much attention to.

[IJustLikeTivo]

So am I the only one that thinks that father what's-his-name is taking a shine to Peggy for things more carnal than just her soul? Maybe I'm applying modern-day TV morals to a situation that clearly isn't that way, it's just not that clear to me that he isn't interested in less priestly things.

No, I get that vibe too.

[DevdogAZ]

So am I the only one that thinks that father what's-his-name is taking a shine to Peggy for things more carnal than just her soul? Maybe I'm applying modern-day TV morals to a situation that clearly isn't that way, it's just not that clear to me that he isn't interested in less priestly things.
I had that thought originally, and it hasn't completely left yet. I'm just not sure what his motivations are. I wondered if when he found out Peggy is a slut, that made him more interested. :D

[TeighVaux]

The Russian didn't! At least as far as we know. Which is about as much as we know about Chauncy.

Oh yeah I forgot WHY Paulie and Christopher were at the Pine Barrens, to dispose of The Russian's body. Well I hope that no such fate awaits Chauncey. I am still hoping for an Incredible Journey ending where the hapless hound finds his way back to either Duck's ex wife's apartment or Duck's new apartment.

Won't hold my breath though, the producers probably only hired the dog for the day

[Bierboy]

....when he found out Peggy is a slut...

She's a slut?! Get outta town....

[brianric]

I grew up in New England, in several suburbs in NH and MA. Also grew up for six years in a suburb of New Orleans. I remember the parishes being overcrowded. I never recall any priest getting personally involved with a family to the degree seen in the show. I remember Cathechism classes on double sessions with forty kids in a class. 400 kids getting First Communion.
Parishies were overcrowed, but their were plenty of priest to staff the parishies. The grammar school were all nuns. There were no lay teachers back then.