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Skizzzer
Sep 27, 2011
I feel it really nails the long-form story and character development arcs that most shows are going for now but better. The payoffs are so good and rewarding and only available if you're already invested in the show. Rewatching the last season right now and there's too many examples - Freddy being the guy who saves Don from loving up his last chance at work, Sally's relationship with Don and going for the nerdy boy over the jock, ^ Bobby's relationship with Betty, how understandably bitter she is yet uncomprehending of why, Peggy and her tenant's boy :3:, etc. There's not any twists or shocks like Breaking Bad or anything, though, I agree.

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Max
Nov 30, 2002

robot roll call posted:

Lane's death was pretty shocking!

The great thing about that was that you knew it was coming. It was shocking how grim it was, especially when they showed it on screen.

algebra testes
Mar 5, 2011


Lipstick Apathy
"This is where I grew up" to me was a :tviv: moment.

That and the start of Season 7 where Don doesn't appear until halfway through the episode, but then you realise that he was actually giving the monologue at the start through Freddy was another.

Fetus Tree
Feb 2, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 2 years!
We derive our shock from our office lawn mower mishaps

CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



Also journalists getting shanked by homemade spears.

PriorMarcus
Oct 17, 2008

ASK ME ABOUT BEING ALLERGIC TO POSITIVITY

The popularity of Mad Men decreased as Don Draper's and the 1960's perceived coolness did as well. Plus the near two year gap didn't help.

It's a much better show than Breaking Bad though and routinely leaves me much more shocked than that show ever could. And I really like Breaking Bad.

Fetus Tree
Feb 2, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 2 years!
I also think Mad Men is better than Breaking Bad, but I think Breaking Bad is a pretty dumb and overrated show so :shrug:

These long gaps do suck balls, though.

Sash!
Mar 16, 2001


twistedmentat posted:

I have a theory that we've entered an era of TV where people watch shows for :tviv: moments and Mad Men doesn't have shocking character deaths, or huge major twists that make people go HOLY poo poo!

Pete probably has loads more relatives that can be killed in train derailments, bus explosions, helicopter crashes, slip on ice and fall into the bear pit at the zoo, and so on.

CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



Sash! posted:

Pete probably has loads more relatives that can be killed in train derailments, bus explosions, helicopter crashes, slip on ice and fall into the bear pit at the zoo, and so on.

The end of the series will be an Unbreakable-style montage of Pete causing all the major catastrophes of the 1960s. And it'll end with him saying. "You could say that I was... a mad man" :smug:

robot roll call
Mar 7, 2006

dance dance dance dance dance to the radio


CharlieFoxtrot posted:

The end of the series will be an Unbreakable-style montage of Pete causing all the major catastrophes of the 1960s. And it'll end with him saying. "You could say that I was... a mad man" :smug:

November 22, 1963. JFK has been shot. The gunman is at large. We zoom in to the window of the book depository where Pete Campell is holding a department store rifle, the barrel still smoking.

"Chip n' Dip, Mr. President."

stev
Jan 22, 2013

Please be excited.



robot roll call posted:

November 22, 1963. JFK has been shot. The gunman is at large. We zoom in to the window of the book depository where Pete Campell is holding a department store rifle, the barrel still smoking.

"Chip n' Dip, Mr. President."

MLK has just been shot. The camera pans around 180 degrees from his balcony to a window on the opposite side of the street, where Pete stands.

"I'm your king".

It was a shameful, shameful day.

Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius
You have to include chip n dip in that. He's the chip n dip killer.

Anne Frank Funk
Nov 4, 2008

The rifle has to be fired (in Pete's face).

Max
Nov 30, 2002

I really hope it never is.

GramCracker
Oct 8, 2005

beauty by stroll

robot roll call posted:

November 22, 1963. JFK has been shot. The gunman is at large. We zoom in to the window of the book depository where Pete Campell is holding a department store rifle, the barrel still smoking.

"Chip n' Dip, Mr. President."

This is too perfect for Weiner to NOT have as the ending.

oatgan
Jan 15, 2009

twistedmentat posted:

I have a theory that we've entered an era of TV where people watch shows for :tviv: moments and Mad Men doesn't have shocking character deaths, or huge major twists that make people go HOLY poo poo!

for me mad men doesn't have those shocking moments of depression and instead replaces them with great character moments that actually leave me hopeful for their future. It's really a feeling I prefer after a decade of soul crushing intensity in prestige dramas

Matinee
Sep 15, 2007

twistedmentat posted:

I have a theory that we've entered an era of TV where people watch shows for :tviv: moments and Mad Men doesn't have shocking character deaths, or huge major twists that make people go HOLY poo poo!

I thought the way they handled Joan sleeping with Herb the Scumbag Car Salesman was a :tviv: moment. The way Don tried to talk her out of it, followed by her going through it intercut with that incredible Draper pitch and then showing that Don had been too late all along was just gut-punch after gut-punch.

stev
Jan 22, 2013

Please be excited.



I'm sort of surprised that Don was so against the idea, given that he fired Sal for not doing the same thing (albeit with a much bigger client).

Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius

Steve2911 posted:

I'm sort of surprised that Don was so against the idea, given that he fired Sal for not doing the same thing (albeit with a much bigger client).

Maybe he had remorse from firing Sal.

timp
Sep 19, 2007

Everything is in my control
Lipstick Apathy

Steve2911 posted:

I'm sort of surprised that Don was so against the idea, given that he fired Sal for not doing the same thing (albeit with a much bigger client).

I'm sure it's a combination of gender poo poo and the fact that he likes Joan way more.

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

Cojawfee posted:

Maybe he had remorse from firing Sal.

I think it might be more than Don feels a sort of paternal responsibility to Joan, like he would for Peggy.

Miss Lonelyhearts
Mar 22, 2003


Don has loads of issues with women and sexuality, he learned and grew up in a whorehouse! One of the girls became his defacto mother and then slept with him, that is why he empathized w/ Joan. That situation is very different than his relationship w/ Peggy, Betty, or Megan, He knew what he was doing by trying to talk her out of it ... an excellent bit of storytelling. I love this show.

Miss Lonelyhearts fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Apr 1, 2015

Max
Nov 30, 2002

I'm looking forward to and will deeply miss the opaque trailers the coming episodes.

I kinda hope the finale's trailer is just a black screen or something.

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

Miss Lonelyhearts posted:

Don has loads of issues with women and sexuality, he learned and grew up in a whorehouse! One of the girls became his defacto mother and then slept with him, that is why he empathized w/ Joan. That situation is very different than his relationship w/ Peggy, Betty, or Megan, He knew what he was doing by trying to talk her out of it ... an excellent bit of storytelling. I love this show.

But it wasn't empathy so much as it was trying to protect her, which isn't a subservient role.

stev
Jan 22, 2013

Please be excited.



Max posted:

I'm looking forward to and will deeply miss the opaque trailers the coming episodes.

I kinda hope the finale's trailer is just a black screen or something.

Are there links to these trailers anywhere? YouTube's come up empty.

Also not sure if it's been mentioned but AV Club's been doing a week of Mad Men articles, and some of it's really great. Their essay on Don's character is a cracking read.

JethroMcB
Jan 23, 2004

We're normal now.
We love your family.

Steve2911 posted:

Are there links to these trailers anywhere? YouTube's come up empty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJDj2ZFR-kI

This is pretty typical - just a wonderful mish-mash of big dramatic line readings, single lines taken from the middle of conversations, and silent shots of characters in mundane situations.

feedmyleg
Dec 25, 2004

Steve2911 posted:

Are there links to these trailers anywhere? YouTube's come up empty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhBE6LfYQ8

aBagorn
Aug 26, 2004

Steve2911 posted:

Also not sure if it's been mentioned but AV Club's been doing a week of Mad Men articles, and some of it's really great. Their essay on Don's character is a cracking read.

:agreed:

They nailed Don's character to a T.

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Dancing Peasant
Jul 19, 2003

All this for stealing a piece of bread? :waycool:

And on that note, the new thread is up... see ya there:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3710867

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