Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

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  • Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

    So anyone see the 2 hour premier last night? It had a lot more humor than I thought it would, and was generally more upbeat. Definitely many storm clouds are approaching in regards to the conflict b/w characters -- Though, I felt there was something missing -- a gravity that is usually present in the show that seemed to be lacking for the premier.

    It was definitely well written, but what made Mad Men interesting is the dark underbelly American culture -- particularly embodied by Don. I'm not sure the "happy" Don Draper is very interesting, though I'm guessing that won't last.

    Glad to see them broaching the topic of the civil rights movement and by the looks of it, it'll be a prominent storyline with an African American woman joining SCDP.

    Any thoughts? What did you think of Megan?

  • #2
    Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

    I was excited about a black character being added and can't wait to see where that goes.

    Like you, I thought the episode was really light in tone -- which wasn't what I expected. I can't figure Megan out yet. I don't think they belong together -- she seems too frilvilous for his taste. Shockingly pretty, but too frivilous. Sally seems like more of an adult that Megan does. The thing about Don, imo, is that you need the characters that orbit him to have some degree of fear of him -- of his talent or anger or his wrath... Megan doesn't have any of that -- so I don't know where to put her in relation to him. She's like a free atom floating around.

    Loved Joan as usual -- what a great actress Hendricks is. Laughed when Pete sent Roger off to a non-existent 6 a.m. breakfast meeting to Queens or wherever.

    Where was Betty?

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    • #3
      Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

      Megan is a question mark for me as well. Either she's completely crazy or just really quirky.

      Though I will say that the two iconic scene's of last night's episode were her singing that Zooby Zooby Zoo song and her acting like a nut when she was cleaning in her lingerie in front of Don. That was insane. She was like "Sit over there!" "Stop looking at me!" "You're an old man!" and then Don just grabs her and they go to town. Like what the fvck? Who does that sh!t? It's like something out of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE.

      There was some weird power thing going on there -- Like Megan can't function at work or please Don so she has to get naked and tell him to fvck off. That was a brain-melter of a scene.

      Betty should have been present, I agree. I'd like to see her make Don miserable, just cause she does it so well.
      Last edited by omovie; 03-26-2012, 07:00 AM.

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      • #4
        Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

        What's interesting about Megan is that Don has always needed a bit of a sex kitten and that's definitely what she is.

        He may be "good" now because he has no reason to go be bad elsewhere.

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        • #5
          Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

          Originally posted by FilmTony View Post
          He may be "good" now because he has no reason to go be bad elsewhere.
          You'd think so, right? But - what's that saying -- "For every supermodel, there is a guy who is tired of fvcking her." That pretty much sums up Don sexual appetite.

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          • #6
            Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

            Originally posted by omovie View Post
            You'd think so, right? But - what's that saying -- "For every supermodel, there is a guy who is tired of fvcking her." That pretty much sums up Don sexual appetite.
            And I can't wait for it all to go downhill. There's no way they can keep this Don. Taking work casually, not fighting clients...he's been neutered.

            They'll explore it for a while but things will go downhill.

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            • #7
              Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

              Originally posted by omovie View Post
              That was insane. She was like "Sit over there!" "Stop looking at me!" "You're an old man!" and then Don just grabs her and they go to town. Like what the fvck? Who does that sh!t?
              I think you have to be Draper to pull that off. Also, she's young and stupid? I dunno....

              Agree with FilmTony that they are probably just using his "happiness" to give him an arc this season -- no way he stays that way. It'll make the upcoming episodes fun to watch -- watching it all unravel.

              One thing that confused me -- I thought Roger Sterling knew that Joan's baby was his. He didn't seem to last night. Did I miss something?

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              • #8
                Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                Originally posted by omovie View Post
                Megan is a question mark for me as well. Either she's completely crazy or just really quirky.

                Though I will say that the two iconic scene's of last night's episode were her singing that Zooby Zooby Zoo song and her acting like a nut when she was cleaning in her lingerie in front of Don. That was insane. She was like "Sit over there!" "Stop looking at me!" "You're an old man!" and then Don just grabs her and they go to town. Like what the fvck? Who does that sh!t? It's like something out of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE.

                There was some weird power thing going on there -- Like Megan can't function at work or please Don so she has to get naked and tell him to fvck off. That was a brain-melter of a scene.

                Betty should have been present, I agree. I'd like to see her make Don miserable, just cause she does it so well.
                Yeah that lingerie scene. I was on the fence over that one. One part of me was thinking I'm enjoying it ( ), another part of me thought that the way it was done was so obvious, too obvious for Mad Men in some ways. I think they could have built up to that scene in another episode. Because we really haven't much of the Megan-Don dynamic. The scene ended up being The Megan and Don Relationship For Dummies. I would have respected the scene a little more if I had been privy to more of Megan and Don and the dynamics of their relationship post-wedding.

                3.5 out of 5 stars for a Mad Men episode.
                #writinginaStarbucks #re-thinkingmyexistence #notanotherweaklogline #thinkingwhatwouldWilldo

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                • #9
                  Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                  I must be in the minority.

                  I just finished rewatching every episode of the first four seasons of Mad Men in the last month - and I would definitively say the season 5 premiere was the worst episode, by far, not even close.

                  Especially coming off some of the great stuff season 4 churned out, the opener was a downer. The quality of the writing was not even comparable to what I've come to expect.

                  It was really shoddy stuff, and scares me since Weiner wrote it - and too many times I've seen showrunners become complacent and forget fundamentals.

                  I thought the episode was a complete mess. Little to no conflict, what conflict existed was either trivial, contrived or recycled. The writing was so expository and on-the-nose, lacking all the subtlety and nuance that makes the show so great in the first place.

                  I'd give it 1 out of 5, and I don't think there's a single episode in the first four seasons I'd give less than 4 out of 5. It was a terrible effort, in my opinion.

                  Let's hope it was rust.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                    @thirdman23

                    I don't think it was really on-the-nose, but it was a bit contrived. I think they tried a bit too hard on trying to drive home the idea of, "see how much things have changed around here since we've been gone?"

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                    • #11
                      Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                      Originally posted by FilmTony View Post
                      @thirdman23

                      I don't think it was really on-the-nose, but it was a bit contrived. I think they tried a bit too hard on trying to drive home the idea of, "see how much things have changed around here since we've been gone?"
                      Fair enough. I may be being too hard on it, having just seen all the awesome season 4 episodes that preceded it.
                      Last edited by thirdman23; 04-02-2012, 04:46 AM.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                        Wow. January Jones. I'm guessing that wasn't CGI.

                        More power to her.
                        #writinginaStarbucks #re-thinkingmyexistence #notanotherweaklogline #thinkingwhatwouldWilldo

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                        • #13
                          Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                          Not CGI, but it sure looked like a fat suit.

                          Must have some pretty good makeup artists on hand. Blended pretty well.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                            Originally posted by ATB View Post
                            Not CGI, but it sure looked like a fat suit.

                            Must have some pretty good makeup artists on hand. Blended pretty well.
                            Definitely, great make-up.
                            #writinginaStarbucks #re-thinkingmyexistence #notanotherweaklogline #thinkingwhatwouldWilldo

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                            • #15
                              Re: Mad Men: Season 5 Premier

                              Well, that was approximately 8 million times better than the premiere.

                              Good to know it can return to form that easily. Nice episode. Much more focused and well-written.

                              I really think trying to tell so many stories and - unnecessarily - rehash where each character is in their lives in the season 4 opener handcuffed them. They've never bothered to do that with a season opener before, and I hope they don't try again.

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