"Mad Men" on AMC (US) - (Spoilers Within)

[Tomasso]

I think they are just setting things up for season.

Yep, several new characters and story lines were introduced.

 

[3PcSuit]

Who's that girl and What's That Song?

Despite two attempts to watch it after speeding through PA for the 11PM rerun, I missed the first half of the episode "Flight 1" at both 11PM and 1AM showtimes.

Much better than the first episode of season two. Does anyone know the artist and song title of the song playing in the Oriental Restaurant? I thought that scene was brilliant.

And what that girl's phone number is?

 

[3PcSuit]

Found out on the AMC website for myself. . .

It's by Kyu Sakamoto: "Sukiyaki" or "Japanese Love Song" for those who don't speak Japanese. Apparantly they played it a year too early for it to have been playing in America in the episode, unless the restaurant owners smuggled it over.

Maybe they did it because Kyu died in a plane crash himself in 1985. Also of interest: the guy that played Pete's father actually died in real life in January of '08 in an avalanche!

 

[A.R. McVintage]

See, I get the exact opposite impression. I think Draper represents change, moving into a new time. The two guys in the elevator representing the old ways, objectification and repression of women. It's Don reading beatnik poetry by Frank O'Hara and giving a women a job as a junior copywriter (gasp!), to the shock and bewilderment of the other men in the office. Like we discussed earlier, these are well written and complicated characters.

I think you're reading it wrongly. There's two types of forward change going on: forward change for the better (Don) and forward change for the worse (two men not having any regard for the woman). Their jack-assery isn't "old-school" thought; Don and Roger would talk about the same things with the guys in a barber shop, they just know better than to talk about it in front of random women. It's talk for a setting that's where "boys will be boys." The young guys are showing how the future is changing for the worse by not having the propriety to know where that type of blatant sex talk is appropriate and where it isn't.

At the same time, the show is saying there are some "old school" values (such as respecting random women) that really were the better thing and that our modern "anything goes" attitude is not an improvement in that regard.

 

[scotrace]

Found out on the AMC website for myself. . .

It's by Kyu Sakamoto: "Sukiyaki" or "Japanese Love Song" for those who don't speak Japanese. Apparantly they played it a year too early for it to have been playing in America in the episode, unless the restaurant owners smuggled it over.

Maybe they did it because Kyu died in a plane crash himself in 1985. Also of interest: the guy that played Pete's father actually died in real life in January of '08 in an avalanche!

It's a great song. But I don't think it can be translated that way. The record company tried to find a Japanese word that most Americans would recognize, and went with that one, which has no relation to the song at all.
It was released in Japan as "Ue O Muite Aruko" (I Look Up When I Walk). Google for the translated lyrics (be sure to ask for the Kyu version). The words are quite lovely.

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Remembering those happy spring days
But tonight I'm all alone

I look up when I walk, counting the stars with tearful eyes
Remembering those happy summer days
But tonight I'm all alone

 

[LondonLuke]

When is it coming out in the UK? The first series was excellent!

 

[flat-top]

Now THIS was a great episode.

 

[Treesaaw]

The first episode I watched was the season 2 opener this past weekend and now I'm hooked! I definitely need to get the DVDs and catch up.

 

[flat-top]

The first episode I watched was the season 2 opener this past weekend and now I'm hooked! I definitely need to get the DVDs and catch up.

Yes you need to! Season one was exceptional!

 

[Bingles]

Does anyone else watch to see if there are any historical inaccuracies in shows/movies like this? I was wondering if they would show a scene taking place in a Catholic Church before the changes of Vatican II. I still attend the "old" Liturgy, and have studied it quite a bit. The five minutes they showed of the Mass... they got wrong. Ha Ha!

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

My beau and I were talking about this last night, and I think I figured something out. We think the reason why Don is being the good husband, coming home very night and all that, is because Betty found him out somehow, in regards to his catting around.(Or at least made a good educated guess, especially since Francine found out Carlton cheated on her.) If you remember in season one, Betty figured out that Don had been talking to her therapist, and then the next time she went she said something to the effect of "I wish my husband was faithful to me". I just bet that the doctor relayed that information to Don and it shook Don up, hence the good husband behavior. Also, about 2 years have elapsed in the timeline and now that Don is getting older, maybe the appeal of having affairs has waned.

I think the scene in the elevator showed that Don is straddling that new/old behavior line-he is of both worlds, and comfortable in neither. He is not Roger's generation and he's not Pete's generation-he is smack dab in the middle. He knows what society says is right, and tries to keep up with it, but he knows that change is coming and I think it scares him, because he doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Seeing Roger having his heart attack last year probably gave him a shock, thinking about his own mortality.

And I wanted to cry for poor, messed-up Pete Campbell when he went into Don's office when he found out his father was on that plane. The man has nobody to unload on in his personal life, and he idolizes Don, who can't stand him. No wonder he is so screwed up. It's too bad that Don couldn't thaw enough to provide a shoulder, but I know that just wasn't what men did back then.

I like Betty less and less because she is SO frosty! I do love her clothes. They really have her dressed so correctly. And Joan...love her and hate her. She just doesn't want anyone to be happy if she's not happy. But I would kill for that figure!

I LOVE this show so much. Even if it was set in the now, the writing is just so good I would love it anyway.

 

[A.R. McVintage]

Does anyone else watch to see if there are any historical inaccuracies in shows/movies like this? I was wondering if they would show a scene taking place in a Catholic Church before the changes of Vatican II. I still attend the "old" Liturgy, and have studied it quite a bit. The five minutes they showed of the Mass... they got wrong. Ha Ha!

What was wrong with it?

 

[Bingles]

What was wrong with it?

They were at the part where the priest recites the "Domine non sum dignus".. "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but say the word and my soul shall be healed." He is supposed to say it three times.. not FIVE, and then turn to the congregation and recite the "Ecce agnus Dei.." "Behold the lamb of God...". That part was omitted all together.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

If you remember in season one, Betty figured out that Don had been talking to her therapist, and then the next time she went she said something to the effect of "I wish my husband was faithful to me." I just bet that the doctor relayed that information to Don and it shook Don up, hence the good husband behavior. Also, about 2 years have elapsed in the timeline and now that Don is getting older, maybe the appeal of having affairs has waned.

I don't think it's so much that Betty knows he's been unfaithful. It was common and somewhat to be expected - the neighborhood divorcee, neighbors and co-workers splitting up due to outside daliances. Remember, too, that in Indian Summer (the Labor Day weekend episode), Don had to go through the ordeal of covering up when Roger had his massive heart attack during a drunken fling with an actress in the office. Witnessing that first hand - both the attack itself and seeing how it affected Roger, Mona and their daughter in the hospital - probably had a huge impact on him, and made him think about how it would affect Betty and his children. He's also got the guilt and grief associated with being, to a degree, somewhat responsible for his younger brother's suicide.

Also, both Midge and Rachel had moved on. He probably wasn't "in the market" for a new mistress or affair with all that was going on or had gone on the the recent past. And on Valentine's Day at the hotel (episode 1 of season 2), um...let's say apparently for the first time, there was a failure to launch.

 

[A.R. McVintage]

Betty knows. It was revealed last season.

 

[flat-top]

Betty knows. It was revealed last season.

We know she was suspicious. And after finding out Don was talking to her shrink, don't you think she was just saying that stuff to him to put it out there, with no real proof? If it got back to Don (which of course was her intent), that could be the point when he stopped cheating.
But what do I know?! I love the show!

 

[scotrace]

Don's drinking seems to have increased. They all drink an impossible amount all day long, but he is really hitting the sauce. My bet is this season he is headed for a meltdown.

 

[3PcSuit]

Does anyone else watch to see if there are any historical inaccuracies in shows/movies like this? I was wondering if they would show a scene taking place in a Catholic Church before the changes of Vatican II. I still attend the "old" Liturgy, and have studied it quite a bit. The five minutes they showed of the Mass... they got wrong. Ha Ha!

As a Catholic myself, albeit one who isn't actually fluent in Latin (took two years though), what'd they get wrong?

The turned-around altar, the ladies praying on rosaries because they didn't understand what the hell all the words meant, the communion rail, all seemed spot-on to me.

It wouldn't be surprising though if they got parts of it out-of-order. Remember, the editor rearranges scenes out of shoot and script order. I'm sure the show's editor isn't fluent in Latin, and probably not a Catholic either Most likely a spanish-fluent scientologist

Also, weren't there three diffferent types of mass? You've probably only been to high-mass, whereas this was, IIRC, a weekday evening mass, so I'm sure it would have been different.

 

[3PcSuit]

They were at the part where the priest recites the "Domine non sum dignus".. "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but say the word and my soul shall be healed." He is supposed to say it three times.. not FIVE, and then turn to the congregation and recite the "Ecce agnus Dei.." "Behold the lamb of God...". That part was omitted all together.

Yeah, that's definitely not the writers getting it wrong, it's the sound guys and the editor(s) dropping the ball and being careless in cutting from the dialogue in one shot to another. They probalby edited-out "Ecce agnus Dei" from the selects from filming.

Remember, it's commonplace for the shooting ratio to be 15- or 20:1 from every minute shot to every minute actually in the episode. Add to that the fact that they're down to a 48-minute hour with commercials, and you'll understand why cutting dialogue and filmed material is a necessary evil of this business. . .

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I missed the last ten -15 minutes of this past episode on Sunday (fell asleep LOL). What did I miss? Can some kind soul fill me in?