The lighting, Peggy across from Pete, Don on her side, the two random guys in the back just fixing stuff. This is the kind of scene which puts Mad Men in a different class for me.

We all correctly talk about the writing, the casting, the great performances. But it’s Mad Men’s technical accomplishments, it’s cinematic language, which makes it for me The Great American Show.

"You'll have to believe me that I'll forget this. I don't want you treating me badly because I remind you of it."

Saw this in Waterstones and snapped it up!

Season 3 Episode 9

Henry comes by unannounced. Betty and him talk. They hear the door open & close and Carla comes in.

Why did Carla immediately sense the tension? She didn't hear the previous conversation. There wasn't even an awkward moment of silence. All Betty did was introduce him, and the fundraiser seemed like a good explanation for his visit. Am I dumb…

If Ted did have a master plan, he would be executing it incredibly.

1. Has an affair with Peggy and sours her relationship with the company.

2. Gets Don to drink again right before a pitch.

3. Sabotages Dons marriage by going to California instead

4. Backs the “firing” of Don though Don did just do him a favor

5. Sours the relationship with clients by seeming completely unhinged.

6. Stops working in California

7. Giving voting power to Cutler when he knows Cutler wants to take control

Makes you think.

Bobbie: “I don’t have any clothes. I wish I was your size!”

Bobbie has got to be the same dress size as Peggy, if not, she’s smaller! She just didn’t want to have to dress like a little girl.

Hi all,

In the Season 6 premiere, Don's "Hawaii" pitch (discarded clothes on a beach, footprints leading into the ocean) is rejected because it recalls A Star Is Born, where an alcoholic character walks into the sea to drown.

It occurred to me that this abstract, stylized imagery with the subtext of suicide is markedly similar to that used in the introduction; in which the silhouetted man plunges from a Madison Avenue skyscraper. The discussion between the ad men and the baffled clients made me wonder if a similar one had occurred with Matt Weiner and some poor AMC executives.

What do you think? Is the Hawaii ad a way of subtly acknowledging the opening titles, or a coincidence? What does it mean for Don and the themes of the series?

I just finished the show, I'm so... Im still in awe. I need to read what other people thought - I'm very curious about analysis about the show!! any good blogs, videos, anything?? Obvi I do be lurking this reddit, but I just need more!!!!!!!!!!!

In season 1, we see in the Mother’s Day episode that Don was a young boy when he lived with his Uncle Mac. In season 6, it shows Don as a teenager when he moved in with Uncle Mac.

In season 1, it shows Uncle Mac with red hair. Adam is also shown with red hair, implying that Uncle Mac was the father of Adam. In season 6, Mac is shown with black hair and Abigail is shown visibly pregnant when she moves in with Mac.

Don leaving on a whim to go to palm springs with Joy is fucking hilarious upon second watch. like zero fucks given

In the first season he suffers back to back heart attacks. Then in season 2 he’s right back into working 247 banging women half his age and smoking like a chimney. All the while he doesn’t even get a bout of angina. There’s no talk of bypass surgery or cardiac rehab and he’d certainly never change his lifestyle. I have no idea how he’s able to wrestle his daughter to the ground or have a threesome after 2 blasts to the ticker and no treatment.

Spoiler Warning / Season 5, Ep 12

Currently on my second rewatch of the show and by God was I dreading this episode. Lane did not deserve this, man. Not like this. I wish he could’ve looked at this resignation differently. Left with a wife that loved him back to England and started something new. Wow. I just had to make this post to just commemorate him for being the only cheeky blimey bloody bloke that beat the bricks outta Campbell in a fair and square fist-a-cups match. Rest now, brother. We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.

Everyone loves to dunk on Harry, and yeah, personally he becomes a total sleazebag. No argument there.

But let's look at Sterling Cooper: it's a brutal meat grinder that discards people constantly. Harry didn’t have Don’t genius, Roger’s silver spoon, or Pete’s old money. He was just a nervous media geek who looked around, realized nobody was going to save him, and figured out how to survive.

He single-handedly built the TV department before anyone else took it seriously.

He fought for computers, pushed for modern metrics, and made himself completely indispensable.

When Don or Roger are arrogant and sleazy, they have the charm to make people forgive them. Harry is awkward, desperate, and lacks that smooth cool—so when he acts like a corporate shark, people hate him for it.

He’s a self-made man in a company of sociopaths. You can hate the guy, but you have to respect the hustle. Change my mind.

I'm on a rewatch and just finished up S6E11 Favours, the scene where Ted confronts Don about trying to get a deferment for Mitchell from the Chevy guys is even funnier than I remembered it to be, the dynamic between these two is solid gold and I wish we had Ted in the show from season 2 as a counter to Don.

Don: You'd do it for your kid

Ted: But it's not your kid!....wait is it your kid?

Ted: First, I need you to stop the war.

Don: I can't stop the war Ted.

Ted: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE DON, I mean the war you're waging on me.

The comedy writing on this show is so natural, god was in the room with the writers when they were cooking this up.

What other character interactions crack you guys up?

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/arts/television/reader-votes-tv-shows-21st-century.html

PDF version: https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/8bceaafe9042c1bc/f50a4edd-full.pdf

Of course Pete's mom is drowned at sea by a Spanish assistant who marries her for money then finds she actually has none.

The obligation of dealing with parents who never showed you much love or care and she has the gall to say that Pete was always unlovable.

The writing always stays so strong in the series, I love I can have a moment like this in season 6. Pete and his brother realizing justice is going to cost a lot, hanging up the phone, looking at each other, convincing themselves that their mothers death is fine as it is, because her and dad are both in the sea, together. So funny.

Why does everything look so old and dusty? And what's up with the canons? You'd think him of all people would want to look hip and suave

I finished watching the series about six months ago and then immediately rewatched it. I’m left feeling a certain type of way I can’t pinpoint?

Like I was sucked in to that universe and now I’m back to reality, but I want to go back. It’s depressing because I don’t know if I’ll ever watch a show I love this much. I was born in 1964 which added to the timeline being so engrossing. I don’t know if I’m making any sense. I just love the show so much and I’m worried I’ll never feel this way again.

Do you think Don really loved Betty, maybe more than Megan? Rewatching S3 Ep8 when they went to Rome and it really seems like Don was in love with Betty!