If Serena is sad, I am sad. Gossip Girl time!

Now, please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that, as a poor person, the character that I am supposed to relate to on this show is Dan Humphrey. Dan is a poor person like me, he thinks rich people and all their ways are crazy and immoral and funny and weird. He makes fun of them under his breath and doesn't need all of their trappings to be a soulful artist dude who knows who he is. He lives in a funky loft in Brooklyn and wears clothes from like, Urban Outfitters or something. He is my conduit into the world of Gossip Girl. He is me. I am him. And yet, I HATE HIM SO MUCH!!

Yes, yes I know, he's cute. Also he is a writer who has apparently been published in the New Yorker. He got to intern with Jay McInerney for goodness sake! (and by the way, I did not mention this in my review of episode 1, but, WHAT? I mean I love this show as much as the next person, but there was really no reason that Jay McInerney should have guested. I am sure he had something better to do.) Also he has very good comic timing and a dry wit. However, I hate him still.

Why must you toy with my emotions show?! I knew Dan and Serena were going to break up, I wasn't planning their wedding or anything, but come on! That was barely two episodes. And Serena's hair looked so pretty! And she was so sweet when she said "I forgive you for Georgina". And then Dan had to go and say "I forgive you too, BUT..." But what jerkface?! But...maybe if I didn't judge almost everything about you, you may have felt that you could be more honest with me about NOT killing a dude and NOT having a threesome sex-tape? Yeah, MAYBE. How can he break my poor little Serena's heart? Because she's rich and beautiful and nice and once in a while throws her name around to get shit done?! Seriously, that guy is a judgmental douche. Ladies, do not let a douche try to change you. You throw your name around and wear fabulous clothes and be rich if that is who you are! I can only like Dan when he is being nice to Serena, and not being self-righteous and judgy and sucky. It is so obvious this guy is the spawn of Rufus.

On to better things. Chuck is impotent because of his love for Blair?! Why yes he is. But things seem to be working fine when she's around! Just evilSEXY all over the place tonight! Of course it helped that Marcus actually called Keira Knightley a tart and Blair a delicate flower. (Guys, no woman wants to hear that. Really.) I mean how can any lady control herself with the likes of Chuck snaking around and being all, well sorry to say it again, but, evilsexy! I actually did feel for Marcus though, and for Blair, because it's no fun to want the thing that's bad for you when the thing that's good for you is ripe for the taking. And she knows that Chuck would throw her away as soon as he got her, because, really, dude is effed up. I mean, a Japanese stewardess?

Speaking of older lady loving (they are in high school, people), I really hate Catherine. At least I'm supposed to though, so good on you, show. I don't even know how I feel about the Nate/Catherine/Vanessa icky icky love triangle though. Vanessa is one of those people that I don't really like unless she is in my preferred coupling, no, not with Rufus, though they still had a lot of scenes together in this episode, but Vate, or Nanessa, or whatever you would like to name them. It was pretty sweet when she gave up on her relationship with Nate so that evilnonsexy Catherine wouldn't send Nate's cokehead dad to jail! That's sweet, right?! Also, she forgave him for being a manwhore, and that takes guts. Vanessa, you are on my like list now! Let's stay on there. I don't want to see that damn video camera anymore, and cut it with the Rufus time. Rufus brings everyone down. (He did look hot on his "date" though. I can't lie.)


Oh and shocker of shockers, Jenny impressed Eleanor Waldorf! (Didn't that design totally look like something Blair would wear?! With a headband?!) She is just sooo talented! And honest! Umm, sorry Jenny, still not rooting for you. The best part was when you got fired.


Next week...Serena is mean to Dan! YES YES YES! Maybe if someone takes him down a peg, I can like him again.

XOXO!

I Knew I Would Leave You, With Babies and Everything: Mad Men, Season 2, Episode 8, A Night to Remember

And I wondered if Don Draper truly believed his own lies. He does believe it, and with such conviction that he can look at his wronged wife with bewilderment when she accuses him of an affair they both know has happened. The denial seemed so sincere, that if I hadn't seen him with Bobbie with my own eyes, I would have believed him. And I thought Betty would. As she stood there in front of her husband, begging him to confess and give their marriage a chance, I thought that he would have her convinced. But Betty "knows what kind man" Don is, and she didn't back down for a second. Even after her exhaustive search for some proof to confront him with came up with nothing, Betty knew that he was lying. Not even Don's declaration of love for her and the children could make up for the fact that he cannot tell the truth. It isn't that he won't stop lying, it is that he literally cannot. He is so invested in his own persona that he is actually almost filled with confusion when he is confronted with proof of who he really is. With both Betty and Jimmy, Don gave almost no signal that he was lying. Because first and foremost, he is lying to himself.

I found it so maddening to watch Don lie straight to Betty's face again and again when it was so clear that the jig was up, and she knew. It would have been such a relief for both of them to hear him admit his sins and maybe even apologize for them. Instead he just flailed wildly, using the old deny, deny, deny trick. He is completely pathological at this point. It was difficult to watch Betty, first in that lovely party dress that got messier and messier, and then stripped down completely, wet hair, white robe, no make-up. Showing herself without all of the falsities that make up her persona as the perfect wife. Even then, Don could not give any of that honesty back to her. It just killed me to see him squander his chance to make things right with her. Both of the confrontation scenes were painful, and you could feel that afterwards, things were not going to be the same for either of them.

I also loved the dinner party scenes leading up to the confrontations. Roger was in them for one, and any John Slattery I can get, I will take. The "Duck, Crab. Crab, Duck" intro was great. One thing I really enjoy is the spectre of Duck hanging around like the ghost of Christmas future. Showing up late and alone, remembering his ex-wife's distaste for "odd numbers. If Don couldn't see that he is on his way to being a divorced, lonely alcoholic if he doesn't switch course, maybe the phone call not to come home brought that into focus a bit more.

Peggy was also given a chance to confess that she could not bring herself to take. I liked how Father Gill wanted to connect with her on a personal and a professional level, and I could be imagining it, but I think I see just a little chemistry there! Maybe it's his resemblance to Pete. I think Father Gill is very representative of the cultural shift that is going on around our characters. He represents the fact that even in the most traditional places, change is coming. When he takes his vestments off at the end to play guitar, he is just a man "who has lived life" as he tells Peggy, instead of some otherworldly holy person. I am not sure if Peggy is as pathological as Don, but she seems to be modeling her life after his if nothing else. But unlike Don, you could see just a crack in her facade. She wanted to say something, to tell him something. You could see just a slight struggle in her face. The scene in the tub was heartbreaking, as Peggy realizes that the she is paying a steep price for her secrets. Maybe not just the chance to connect with God as Father Gill warns her, but the chance to have any kind of meaningful human contact at all.

The whole episode was riveting, but for some reason the story that really got to me was Joan's. Just a little taste of what it would be like to be more than someone whose job it is "to walk around and let people look at you all day" was enough for her to realize that she could be more than just a pretty girl. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to be able to realize. As the scene in her apartment shows us, Joan had neither the skill nor the desire to become a housewife, and the man she is marrying does not seem to have any idea who she is (or what she does). Before I remembered what show I was watching, I thought for a split second that she would be hired to help Harry out in the television department! She seemed to really enjoy what she was doing and the clients (of course) loved her. I couldn't help but wonder if Roger had any idea that she would be good at/ enjoy this kind of work. Probably neither he nor Harry think of any woman as someone who can do any "real" work. Peggy is a bigger exception than we might realize, and in the same vein, so is Don. He recognized her work and talent, something Harry was too oblivious (and lazy!) to do.

As usual this show surprised me this week! I wasn't so sure that Jimmy's revelation was going to go anywhere with Betty, and I certainly did not expect the "Don't come home" call (neither did Don!). The first season was about creating and maintaining one's persona, and this one seems to be about the gradual and devastating destruction of those careful lies. I can't wait to see how Don handles the possible demise of his marriage, one of the biggest pieces to the "Don Draper" he wants to be.

"Oh my effing God!" Gossip Girl, Episode 2

"Oh my effing God!" was Blair's awesome reaction discovering that Nate and Catherine (who is also Marcus', the LORD's, stepmother, the DUCHESS) are sleeping together. Then she quickly recovers herself, and uses it to her advantage, because she rules.

There were more than a few awesome lines in this episode, including Nate's "If the best case scenario is me becoming Blair's father in law, I think it's time to move on" and Dan's "She actually calls him 'the Lord'?" Everything Chuck said was awesome, in case you were wondering.

There was so much craziness with Blair trying to make sure Marcus stayed with her and Chuck trying to get rid of Marcus that the Gossip Girl herself had her mind blown, so you know that it was good.

Chuck was all over the place being evilsexy as usual, but he was also being nicesexy too, trying to save his BFF Nate from ending up the in poor house.

Three things were angering me in this episode, and they were as follows.

1. Dan. Oh. My. God. You slept with Serena's evil ex-best friend just a few months ago, and if she's willing to look past that just say "thank you" and start making out. You do not need any more "alone time", Downer Dan. Seriously.

2. Nate. Oh poor Nate, everyone cares about him and wants to give him millions of dollars to help him. Hey Nate, maybe if you just keep repeating "I'll handle it" over and over again you'll think of something. No? Didn't work? I guess you'll just have to become a manwhore for Duchess then.

3. Rufus. Are he and Vanessa going to have an affair or something? Why are they in every scene together? Also, how could he contemplate for even a second going on another tour and abandoning his children in the exact same way that their horrible mother did? Good thing his kids aren't math whizzes or something, because I'll bet seeing Dan's calculator and Jenny's multiplication tables instead of all their "creative" crap wouldn't have reminded him that he actually liked them at all. "Oh I guess I can stand to be around my kids, since they do all this creative stuff like me! As long as they continue to be like me, I will continue to love them." You really suck Rufus.

Next week. SO MUCH evilsexy from Chuck! The Gods must be pleased with us.

XOXO!

Fringe- Pilot: Blinded by the Pacey?

Apparently, people are feeling a little underwhelmed by the "Fringe" pilot, but I definitely enjoyed it, so what do other people know? Just because someone actually gets paid to write about television does not mean they are smarter than me! Does it?
Coming to this having never watched a J.J. Abrams show (I know! What? Who am I?!), I had zero expectations beyond a desire to look at Joshua Jackson for an hour and a half. So that expectation was met, and he was cute and funny and sweet (which seems unfair to other human males, but whatever) throughout the entire show.




Also, Pacey (I mean Peter, sorry) and his dad are totally awesome together! The Mad Scientist dad is actually insane, which is fun, and his son's reactions to him are great. Also, cute. (I don't like this show for all the wrong reasons, really!)

Besides all of that, there was also genuine suspense, an interesting mystery, and an fairly unexpected twist! Also, it is set in Boston and it looks like at least some it was actually filmed there! I mean what do these people want anyway? However, there were a few things that, in hindsight, I can admit were kind of lame:


-The moment, I mean the very moment that Olivia told John "I'm not very good at this. At least I wasn't. Before you. I wanted to say I love you back.", I was thinking "Oh, okay this guy is dead. No way is he making it to the end of the episode. Of course, I was right on that.


-I didn't love the main lady (Olivia). Especially when people were supposed to be annoying her (Peter/Pacey, her jerky boss, her incredulous FBI friend, etc.) and they were just far more interesting and sympathetic.

-The moment, I mean the very moment the bad guy told Olivia "Someone from your office threatened me!" I knew that it wasn't Incredulous Friend or Jerky Boss and that it was definitely John. Which made me feel better because I thought I had been wrong about him dying when they saved him from the skin eating disease, but I wasn't, because obviously Olivia was going to kill his ass in a horrible car crash.

So, in the end I am interested in seeing how the whole larger mystery (evil overlord corporations with way more technology than the U.S. government!) plays out and I am also interested in keeping Joshua Jackson on my television, so I would definitely urge others to watch. It didn't blow me away, but I liked it. It's kind of X-Files + Numbers + Alias + Lost = pretty damn good actually!


Also, just look... and he's a genius people! A genius!!

9021-ok...Family Night!

I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed this episode, and considering the fact that there was no Tabitha and no Brenda, that's saying a lot!

Here are some things I liked about it...

1. It was totally like O.G. 90210 (always assume I am talking about seasons 1-4 of 90210 here, before it became an insane soap opera and everyone was a drug addict or killing their rapist or something) in a few ways.

-The parents were being totally Jim and Cindy, wanting their dorky "Family Night" on a Friday. I cannot wait to be a parent so I can do that kind of crap to my kids!

-The kids were all annoyed with their dorky (yet incredibly hot) Mid-Western parents, but were shown that the L.A. parents are completely horrible and their parents are the greatest people ever.

-It had a heartwarming montage at the end and the whole thing was kind of geeky and sweet, which I cannot resist.

2. It had some Silver focus. Jessica Stroup is still my favorite teen cast member. She's funny, has good reactions even when she's in the background, and is definitely the most dynamic non-adult presence so far.

3. Jackie Taylor! You drunk bitch, you are back! Fab.

4. Dixon + Silver= Love? I like it.

5. I liked all the Kelly stuff. I really liked her in beginning of Beverly Hills 90210, but sometimes I can only remember how awful and annoyingly-sainted she was at the end of the series, so I think I hate her. I actually like her, and that Jennie Garth is pretty adorable with the hot teacher. The end with her, Silver and Sam eating ice cream in bed was too damn cute! (Dylan had better not be that kid's father! I just don't see Brandon abandoning his child like that though. That's totally a Dylan move.)

6. Ethan was...better. I mean he was not hot or brooding or Dylan-y at all, but he also did not seem devlopmentally delayed and he and Annie were kind of cute together, and I know that Annie isn't bringing much to the table, so I'll have to credit Ethan on that one. He's almost...likeable.

7. Dixon was really good in that scene where he explains to Silver about his foster homes. I am really starting to warm up to him as well.


Here are some things that don't bode well...

1. OMG Annie! Stop pulling all those weird faces! Are you having a stroke?

2. Without those faces, I would have absolutely nothing to say about Annie. That's not good.

3. Are Annie and Silver starving to death? Seriously?

4. Ty. Next! Who cares? Not me.

5. So, when the actress playing Naomi wants to convey that she is upset, angry or sad, she has decided to bug out her eyes, suck her cheeks and and flare her nostrils. Okay. Interesting acting choice.

6. NO TABITHA!
7. NO BRENDA!

Other Thoughts:

I don't really see someone who is supposed to be as cool as Ethan (and those other random lacrosse dudes) hanging out with Dixon and Navid on a regular basis. I guess they were really impressed with that stupid pig prank.

Naomi did not take the "my parent's marriage is a sham" thing very well. Wonder how she'll react when we finally get to meet big brother?! I'll bet nostril-flaring will be involved!

Who is this mysterious "him" who is Sam's father?! When Kelly said "We had a lot of history in high school" the first person I thought of was Steve! The kid is pretty blonde. That would actually be a great twist, if only we could forget about his Asian wife and baby.

Looks like there is going to be a lot of Tabitha AND Brenda in the next couple of episodes, so that's more than enough reason to keep watching for me!

It’s Just a Life Story, So There’s No Climax: Mad Men, Season 2 Episode 7, The Gold Violin

A slight disclaimer here, there is something wrong with my DVR right now, so everyone was kind of a pixelated blurface on this episode. There are a lot great subtle performances in this show, so I probably did miss something. Damn you Charter Cable! Stephanie was right! You do suck!

Anyway I was very excited to see Sal's almost-dalliance with the lipstick company guy in the previouslies. Since this season has him married, I knew we would have to revisit that eventually. As usual, the way it was revisited was much more nuanced than I was originally expecting. Watching Sal drool over Ken and his "beautiful" writing in front of his wife was difficult, but not exactly the kind of embarrassment I expected when that dinner date was made. I also liked the way that Sal's relationship with his wife was portrayed. (Ken's ideal apparently!) He really does seem to love her, and he seemed genuinely sorry for leaving her out and making her feel invisible. But that doesn't change the fact that she is invisible when Ken is around. The last scene with them watching TV together made me wonder how much longer their "domestic bliss" can last. As Sal lit his cigarette with Ken's lighter, you could see him struggling with how to continue to keep the truth just below the surface.

Everyone was lying and many people were getting caught this episode. From Jane's lies to get out of trouble with Joan "They made me do it!" to Cooper reminding Don that he knows his ultimate truth "I think you would agree that I know a little bit about you..." This episode was about thinking you have everything under control and then realizing that you really don't. Sal, Jane, Don and even Joan discover this throughout the episode. They all have carefully crafted persona's whose opposites are almost visible right under the skin. Happily married (straight) man, good girl, faithful husband, powerful woman. These are all the things they want to be, but they cannot help from being gay, or mischievous, or a cad, or vulnerable. Almost everyone on this show is a shadow in some way of Don, a man with a secret. Some secrets are practically harmless (I snuck into the bosses office, I'm losing my power are work) and some are explosive (I'm gay and it's 1962, I had a child out of wedlock) but they all seem to mirror Don's in some way. "I am not who I say I am."

Don and Betty (my faves) begin this episode happy and in love, and end it vomiting, which is never the trajectory that one is aiming for. The new car, the happy family picnic, all of that is "Don Draper's", what he imagines "Don Draper" deserves. He cannot buy the car at first because it reminds him (in a tantalizing little flashback) of being less, and of being caught (which we will no doubt find out more about.). Being on the car lot reminds him that he is not Don Draper, and then with a quick meeting Cooper reminds him that he is. He is great at his job, he does impress clients, and he does deserve that Caddy! The pretty wife, the happy life, the beautiful car, all of that is his. For a moment. Don is constantly on the precipice of deciding that who he was doesn't matter, and that who he is is what counts. But something always pulls him back, and in this episode it wasn't just the reminder of Dick Whitman, but the reminder of the other Don Draper, the one who isn't a family man, or a good person, the one who doesn't deserve happiness because he makes other people miserable.

Poor Betty, all flattered by Jimmy and excited for the party, just to be set up for a big fall. Even though it seems he wanted them there for his own reasons of sabotage, I found the usually horrid Jimmy kind of sympathetic here, if only because the actor conveyed a man truly hurt by his wife's philandering. The way he brought Betty in so conspiratorially, like she knows, like she should know, like she isn't squeezing her eyes as tight as she can so as not to see the truth of her marriage, was cruel yet also somewhat generous towards her. He was assuming she was not blind, and therefore could see that her husband was cheating on her. This was the big moment of the episode, but it was almost understated. There was no big confrontation, Betty just got up, professing disbelief and dislike and it was over. Jimmy's dressing down of Don was similar. Don just looked at him with true confusion, as if it was completely impossible that Jimmy was actually right. Don and Betty are desperately trying to keep the shine on their life together, especially in front of someone who is trying to so hard to show them that they are down in dirt with everyone else.

In the end of course, the only thing that cuts the uncomfortable between silence is Betty vomiting in her lap inside of Don's brand new Coup-De ville. Life is a lot messier than they want it to be.

Other Thoughts-

Jane Vs. Joan is on! Joan can play it smarter, but Jane can play it dirtier.

You know I love me some Roger! He played "Joan fires Jane" so perfectly. Any way it goes, he gets the attention of one of them (we all know Roger loves Joan's bad attention!) and now he has it from them both!

Peggy was looking good, not like "a little girl" at all.

I almost didn't miss Pete.

And Cooper's painting, that everyone wants to see as art, but he can only see as commerce. Perfect for an advertising executive.

90210, a primer.

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um, SQUEE! Gossip Girl is back!

Now, you can't really delve into Gossip Girl the way you can some other, more thematically meaty shows (most of the time), so I won't be covering it in the same way I would Mad Men or Doctor Who, but that does not mean that it is not awesome. Because it is. So if you are not watching it, you totally should be. There are beautiful people, ridiculous clothes, hilarious witticisms, and most importantly, there is Chuck Bass. If you are just tuning in Chuck Bass = evil, sexy, evilsexy, funny, erudite, a snappy dresser and probably smarter than you. Definitely smarter than anyone else on this show. Here is a list of the things to love about last night's episode, "Summer, Kind of Wonderful"

1. Episode name. What?! Really? Yes. Definitely.
2. CHUCK BASS! Are you getting it yet?
3. Blair's new (sort of fake) boyfriend is a fake Ivy Leaguer, but a real LORD from England.
4. Dan and Serena got back together. Now, I know this cannot last, because I am not an idiot, but it was sweet and I liked it anyway. Their breakup last season was kind of insane, and I was hoping it wouldn't stick, so I am happy now. I can understand why some people might see Dan as a judgemental jerk and Serena as a sad-sack with no self-esteem, but I just find them adorable together, so common sense be damned! Besides, I like that Serena is genuinely nice, and Blake Lively's hair is so pretty. Also, they date in real life, and I love that.
5. The clothes. Some times I really wish I was rich.
6. I am going to believe that they weren't at just any Hamptons White/Vitamin Water Party, but that they were at P. Diddy's White Party, which is awesome.
7. Chuck and Blair! Now not even I, the biggest Pollyanna about these things ever, can wish for these two to fall in love and have some sort of functional relationship. That would be crazy, but in a boring way. We have Dan and Serena for that. I love them as enemies who are completely in love with each other, and as people who totally hate the person they are completely in love with. They are almost too evilsexy to be too close without combusting. They rule.
8. Eric. He is getting cuter by the minute! Also, I have to give him props for deciding that Jenny wasn't a total piece of trash. I'm just not there yet man.
9. Grandma + Dan= Love! Seriously, they had some chemistry.
10. Blair and Serena. BFF's! They are great together.

Let's be honest here, no show is perfect. There were a few things I did not like last night, and I'm about to tell you about it in list form.
1. Jenny. So after a year of being (pretty much) a heinous bitch 24/7, I am supposed to cheer her on (Yay Jenny, teach that awful fashion lady a lesson! How could she not want to wear your home-sewn dress to an exclusive party in the Hamptons?! Who wouldn't want to do that!?) as she makes her way in the world of fashion? Also, just because she told Eric she was using him for his connections, it doesn't really make it any better. Good thing for her he's been recently outed in front of everyone they know and now no one likes him! The desperate band together! (I'm not even going to put a picture of her on here, and not just because the CW photo sight is a pain in the ass.)
2.This is related...Tinsley Mortimer. I mean I get it, she's like a real life version of these people blah blah, but um, no. I don't want to see her. Have a less annoying person help Jenny teach her lessons to awful fashion ladies.
3. Nate and Old Lady. I know, she's not old! Madchen Amick (Great name, by the way.) is not yet 40, but it is still gross for her to be sleeping with a kid in high school. (This does go against my previous Grandma + Dan position, but they are just cute together. I don't want them to do it or anything!) I really liked Nate with Vanessa, I would be open to Nate and Serena, even with awful Jenny I kind of liked him, but I am just not interested in this torrid affair. I kind of love Nate, but he and Celia did not move me last night. I am with Serena on this one.
4. Rufus. No Lily should always = No Rufus. I do not need to see him have boring conversations with his children over the phone whilst on tour opening for the Breeders. Teens of America, do you even know who the Breeders are? Still love Rufus and Lily together though.

So. Don't hate me, but I have to do it...

XOXO. You know you love me.

Here She Comes In Her Palanquin...Mad Men, Season 2, Episode 6, Maidenform

It is his daughter's adoring gaze that undoes Don in this episode, twice in fact. First when he is called upon at the country club to stand as a war hero (which he knows he is not), and again when she promises to be quiet and not talk for him. Since he had just told his mistress not to talk, Sally's promise gives Don a little insight into who he is to her, versus the unpleasant glimpse into how Bobbie and other mistresses see him. He doesn't feel deserving of Sally's admiration as her hero-daddy, but he doesn't want to see himself as the man-whore that Bobbie reflects either. This episode reminds us that Don doesn't know who he is at all, and that is mostly just reflecting how other people see him right back to them.

He is the woman in the Playtex ad, he wants to be the Madonna at home with his wife and children, Whore to his mistresses and an intriguing mix of both to his co-workers and clients. Don has so carefully managed his persona that he is genuinely shocked to find out that his mistresses have talked about him. He sees himself as so in control of every situation that even the people he is reckless with should know not to mention it. Bobbie sees herself in Don, and the fact that he is so repulsed by that shows that deep down he sees it too. Last week, he was pleased with her when she reflected some qualities that he admired in himself (toughness, good business sense, the desire to make herself into who she wants to be), but now he does not want to see himself as a user and himbo, a male Bobbie.

Both of those moments with Sally, when her pretty face looked up at him with all the love and admiration in the world, made Don act as though he was having a panic attack each time. It is more than just knowing that he doesn't deserve to be admired, and even more than the fear that his daughter will find out who he really is and lose that respect for him. It is the fact that he doesn't know what his true self looks like that makes the idea of it being exposed so terrifying. His secrets are leaking out all over the place, and there are reminders of his lies everywhere he looks. Don is a man whose entire existence depends on his ability to keep it together at all times. He is beginning to realize that there are so many elements he cannot control, and he is starting to lose that control himself.

I liked how this episode started with the women getting ready in the mirrors, how at odds that was with Paul's idea that "Women only see themselves through men's eyes." I was surprised to see Peggy doll herself up, take Joan's advice to "start dressing like a woman" and Bobbie's advice to "stop trying to be a man". Of course I don't like to see her perched on a clients lap like a stripper, but at the same time, it shows she is willing to do whatever it takes to be successful at Sterling-Cooper. I liked it because truly, she had to show up there to force them to include her, but I hated it because she was hanging on that old man's lap! Kind of gross. It was a different time I guess.

Oh Duck. The Duck storyline killed me, and not just because of poor Chauncey's fate. (Maybe Pete found him? Maybe?) His indifferent children, his failure with Playtex, his fall of the wagon, the reaction to his ex-wife's impending marriage, all of it was incredibly well played by Mark Moses. He seemed like such a defeated man trying to keep his head above water. I'm glad that he made his peace with Don (just a tiny glimpse of Roger, sadness, telling Don to make nice with him.) but the rest of his story was very sad. I like that they are going a different way with this Duck story, because my prediction that he and Pete would unite against Don does not seem to be in the cards. That story would have been more typical way to go, and I should have known that Mad Men would do something atypical with the character.

Hmm, what did I forget?

Oh, Don=Not nice to Betty
and Pete=Jerk.

Also, I loved Hamm's subtle reactions to Bobbie revealing her children to him. His face definitely read "Holy crap, how old is this lady!" when she mentioned her daughter at Sarah Lawrence. I also think Don was turned off to the idea of Bobbie as a mother in a different way than Arthur was to the idea of Betty as a mother. Arthur thought it made Betty seem old, tied down and common, clashing with his idea of a fragile beauty on a horse. For Don, it was the idea that Bobbie could be someone's mother and also be the crass woman that she is. He didn't want to think about her children seeing just the mother side of her, when this other side existed. It mirrored his feelings about his how is own children see him versus how others do, versus of course, how Don sees himself. (When he can bear to look.)

So Glad to Meet You: Mad Men Season 2, Episode 5, The New Girl

Peggy is our new girl and this episode finally sheds some light on how she got from denying her pregnancy and her baby in a mental hospital back to moving up the ladder at Sterling-Cooper. Now I'd read a few predictions that Don must have had something to do with Peggy being able to have a three month leave from work, but I have to admit that when she walked into that Police station to bail him out, I was surprised! Watching Don struggle with who he could call made me a little sad for him, because he shows his real face to so few people, there's almost no one he can call when he needs help. But in walked Peggy, ready to pay his bail, shelter his mistress and forget the whole thing happened. Bobbie kept asking Peggy why she was doing all this, but even before they showed the flashback, the answer was clear. Don knew her biggest secret and kept it, so she would have no problem keeping his.


The flashback was an incredible piece of acting from Jon Hamm. Those intense eyes looking down at his protege, fully aware that she is at a crossroads. "Peggy listen to me. Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened." In the last episode, I thought that show and it's writers were pushing Peggy as another Don, but now we know that it is actually Don who has created Peggy in his own image. He knows that you can build a life on lies, and he pushes his every problem so far out of his view that it no longer exists for him on the surface. And it isn't that he is unaware that the lying and fakery make him unhappy and unfeeling, it's that he knows that without it his life would be much much worse. He understands that Peggy giving up her child will scar her, but he is sure that the life she wants will be worth that scar, as it was for him.


His attraction to Bobbie makes more sense here as well, with her line "This is America, pick a job and become the person who does it." Even when standing next to Rachel, one of the only people Don felt comfortable with, Bobbie still compares favorably. She is a woman who crawled her way to the top and became who she needed to be to get there. Don is not unfamiliar with that idea. He is attracted to women who defy society, who have the strength to become what they want. Bobbie may be a bit obnoxious, but she uses what she has at her disposal to become successful, and that is something Don respects.



I liked the dynamic between Bobbie and Peggy, and I think Bobbie became a bit of the audience-proxy in those scenes, which also made her a bit more likeable. She wanted to know what Peggy was getting out of helping Don after their drunken car accident. What makes Peggy tick? It is a question that has a complicated answer, for sure. I also liked Bobbie giving Peggy a bit of advice. She can't be Don, because she's not a man. And maybe she can't exactly be Bobbie either, but she can use some tricks from both of them. I don't know if I can see Peggy using her femininity as a weapon in business, but I liked it when she called Don by his first name without even the tiniest stumble. Peggy does want "that corner office" and she is learning that being great at her job, even being an incredibly loyal employee aren't going to do it alone. I can't wait to see Peggy demand a little respect from her co-workers, as well as from her boss.

One interesting (possible) revelation that we learn in another of Peggy's flashbacks is that "the little one" may not be her child! Peggy's sister Anita was hugely pregnant when Peggy gave birth, and we have only seen one little boy around the house! I am not sure what that means for Pete and Peggy's little one, but it is something that I was really surprised by. I also thinks it casts Anita's confession from last week in a different light. I saw her as resentful that Peggy had cast off her child on her without any acknowledgement, but if her child is not in the picture, it makes Anita seem a little more nasty and bitter. So where is Peggy's baby? Given up for adoption? Could Anita's baby have died and she took Peggy's for a replacement? Could Peggy's baby have died? I am sure this information will be meted out slowly over the season.

Pete's storyline fell by the wayside for me, as it just reinforced things that we already know. Pete is fertile, Pete and his wife do not have a good relationship, and Pete is a jerk. I like Vincent Kartheiser a lot, but next to the main storyline, Pete's problems just didn't pull me in the way they have before.


For "B" plots, I liked the "Joan's engaged" storyline much better, mostly because of that great scene with Roger. (My love for Roger is already well documented!)
Christina Hendricks and John Slattery were great together, giving each other those sly little smiles during their talk about marriage. It reminded us that Roger could never be happy with one woman, not even Joan, and that he doesn't think anyone else with half a brain could be happy with just one person either. Joan is great, and I hope Roger's prediction that her marriage would mean the end of her career at Sterling-Cooper is wrong. I have a feeling that he may be right in his assumption that marriage isn't going to make her happy, and make actually make her feel restrained and yearning for freedom as it does him. On a shallow note, I am not loving Joan's hair this season! I thought it looked much prettier and less wig-like throughout Season 1.

The final scene brought us back to the Draper home, the dark heart of this show. After sharing the news of his high blood pressure with Betty (as a lie to make his drunk driving accident more palatable), she denies him salt to keep him healthy. Don gave her the same kind of look her gave her in "The Benefactor" when she got his watch engraved. Love tempered with guilt, and the feeling that all the forgetting he does makes him forget some really important things (not just Peggy's money!), the fact that he does love his family and they love him.

Awful Feels Softer: Mad Men Season 2, Episode 4,Three Sundays

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen this episode, you can find a recap here: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/three_sundays.php

This is the episode where we learn that Don's facade may be cracking, and Peggy just might have him beat when it comes to emotional disconnection and compartmentalizing!

Peggy spends two of the three Sundays with her family, meeting a nice young priest (Colin Hanks) and using her advertising savvy to help him write a punchy sermon. We are definitely supposed to see that Peggy has a real talent when it comes to advertising, much in the same way that Don does. She knows when to play the tough broad, and when to be the sweet little girl "researching china patterns" and the like.

With the priest, she does seem to take some pains to let him know she isn't the devout worshiper that her mother and sister are, and he seems to enjoy talking to someone who isn't a complete sycophant. When her sister hears that Peggy helped him, she is visibly annoyed. I have to say, I wasn't sure about how to read the confession scene between the sister and the young priest. She may have gone there for the specific purpose of souring the pleasant relationship between he and her sister, but I can definitely understand her anger towards Peggy. There does seem to be some jealousy that Peggy gets to live her cosmopolitan lifestyle and "do whatever she wants", but I also feel like she had a point. There have been very few scenes this season where you would ever guess that Peggy had had a child, including times when her child was present.

When Father Gill gives her the Easter Egg "for the little one", he seems to be feeling exactly as I do about Peggy. He may have thought that he liked her, but knowing how she completely ignores her child makes him realize could never look at her in the same way again. With all of the parallels with Peggy and Don, I wonder if her knowing that her secret isn't exactly safe will change her cold and calculating ways. Last season, when Don found out that his secret was not as earth shattering as he feared it was, he began to realize the price he'd paid to keep it wasn't worth it. For, Peggy it seems, giving up a child she never even wanted was well worth it, as her career is advancing and her talent is being noticed. Right now, she is seems to be paying almost no emotional price it. It will be interesting to see how having her secret discovered by even one person will change her.

As usual, it was Don and Betty who were the most compelling for me in this episode. They were pretty cute together in the early scenes, cuddling in bed and dancing in the living room. But issues with Bobby (who Mommy does not seem to like!) come between them rather quickly. They each take the opposite sides than you might expect from the outside. Betty seems to truly believe that hitting Bobby is the only answer for his naughty ways, and pushes Don into action. After throwing Bobby's toy at the wall and having a shoving match with Betty, Don confides in both Bobby and Betty about his abusive father. It is nice to see Don attempting to form the kind of real connection he has been missing with his family. (Even as he succumbs to the questionable charms of Bobbie Barrett again.) However, there were more than a few scenes where I just found Betty to be horrid, so sometimes I am with Don in wishing he had a smarter, better, more understanding wife! (Not that I am trying to excuse his cheating or general sexist attitude, it's just with quotes like "Do you think you'd be the man you are today if your father didn't hit you?!" she comes off as more clueless and mean-spirited than ever!) Betty and Don continue to navigate their relationship, and it seems like they are both just discovering that the person they married is (sometimes literally) not the person each of them thought.

Over in work-land, Duck's contact with American Airlines is fired, so Pete's willingness to whore out his own father's death is for nought. Duck doesn't get the dressing down that we (and Don) might have hoped for, but he does show himself to be a bit nice than we might have thought a few times during the day. But before they learn that bit of disappointing news, everyone at Sterling-Cooper comes in on a Sunday, and it is fun to see the casual fashion they are sporting. We hear a little jealousy from Joan about Peggy "making more than any of us" and get to see Sally in her father's office for the first time, making comments about Joan's breasts and getting drunk on some one's rye! I don't think Betty would like that if she knew!

We get a glimpse of my beloved Roger, paying for it with a pretty escort that Pete and Ken brought in for a client (lovely). Both he and Don seem to be paying for sex one way or another, as Don's dalliances with Bobbie seem to be power plays on both parts. Roger does mention his health, so maybe he is just making sure he can still keep up with the ladies once he goes after them! We also see him with his family (his wife his played by his real-life wife, Talia Balsam, who was also once married to George Clooney. Lucky girl, I have to say!) which I liked. His daughter is engaged and resisting a big wedding, and his poor wife goes on and on about the beauty of her wedding day in heartbreaking little monologue that the daughter seems to be pretty sure is all BS. And of course we get his quote on his love of the chase " "Don't you love the chase? Sometimes it doesn't work out. Those are the stakes. But when it does work out, it's like having that first cigarette." He was talking about advertising, but oh, his poor wife.

So many thwarted goals, so many unmet expectations. A much better episode than the preceding one, and some tantalizing previews for next week!

I No Longer Hear the Music: Mad Men, Season 2, Episode 3, The Benefactor

SPOILER ALERT- If you haven't seen this episode yet, you can find a recap here:
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/the_benefactor.php#more

The word that came to my mind while watching this episode of Mad Men was fragmented. I think it could apply to the episode itself, which was the weakest of this season so far, but it can also apply to the characters minds and lives. We see another side of both Don and Betty this week. They both seem unsatisfied and uncomfortable in their own skins, reaching outward to figure out what it is that is going on inside.

After being a bit harsh for the first couple of episodes, Betty seems a little softer this week. Though when she asks Don, "Is this kind of dinner where I don't talk, or the kind where I talk?", she betrayed a bit of that edge in her voice. But after she charmed Jimmy at dinner, her tears in the car seemed to be about both what she said they were- happy tears at the way she and her husband worked together- as well as an unspoken acknowledgment that what her admirer sees inside her is true...she is profoundly sad.
That scene in the stables by the way was awkward and hard to watch for me. Arthur telling Betty he could see the sadness in her seemed a bit too obvious, but it may be that his character is a bit lame, not that the scene was. I am still not sure if it was purposeful, but that was definitely one of the most stiff, mannered scenes I have seen on this show.

There was also a change in Don in the first two episodes of the season, and though he is not back to his old stone self just yet, we did see him sliding into some old habits. He is called upon to fix it when the talent, Jimmy Barrett (based on Jerry Lewis or Don Rickles perhaps?) offends the clients he is working for. He ends up sleeping with talent's wife/manager, and after his conquest, he seems more potent in every way. Jon Hamm did a great job in the scene where he comes home after his encounter with Bobbi Barrett, washing his hands and mouth before he can even look at Betty. Also, he really conveyed such guilt when she gave him his watch that she had monogrammed for him.

At a dinner arranged to coax an apology out of Jimmy, Don shows who's boss when he grabs Bobbi by the hair, sticks his hand up her skirt, and with what can only be called sexy menace, hisses to her make her husband say sorry or "I'll ruin him". He means it, and she knows it. It is an interesting little turn for Don, who seems to have tired of being Betty's good little husband and Roger's clean-up man already.

Don and Betty seem to be circling around each other, trying to figure out how to bring back something they have lost. Both of them are trying on different personas, and seem to be struggling with how to make one another happy, but even more so, how to find happiness for themselves.

The other story lines seem to be set-ups for something in the future-Harry takes a risk and becomes "Head of Television", Lois gets fired and Joan takes her place temporarily, Betty rebuffs the advances of Arthur, but her hand shaking returns. No Peggy or Pete this week, but the previews promise to remedy that. This episode was certainly still more compelling than 90% of what is on TV, but it just didn't feel as together to me as most hours of Mad Men do. Hopefully the magic will be back next week!

One more thought:
The controversy over the The Defender's episode portrayed here was real, like the crash of AA Flight 1 last week. An advertiser did end up sponsoring the abortion themed show at the last minute, and it turned out positively for all involved. I love the period details of the show and how they use these smaller moments in history to illuminate the characters and the times.

Turn and Face the Strain: Mad Men Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2, For Those Who Think Young, Flight 1

SPOILER ALERT-If you haven't seen these episodes, and you want to read this anyway, you can find some recaps here: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/flight_1.php
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/for_those_who_think_young.php

So what has changed, and what has stayed the same? At first, there doesn't seem to be much change from 1960 to 1962. Sterling-Cooper is still the same boys club, Peggy is still busting her ass and not being looked at as anywhere near equal to the men, Don and Betty are still miserable and Pete is still a slimeball. But in both of these episodes, you can see that though the changes in the characters may seem subtle on the surface, they are in fact radical.

Jon Hamm is a great actor, and I think that he has done a terrific job projecting the changes in Don Draper's personality just slightly. In the first season his face looked as if it was almost carved out of stone, an almost inhuman facade of coolness. This season, after the indignities of being exposed to his boss as a fraud and learning that his brother committed suicide because of his rejection, he holds himself just a little differently. He's feeling his age, and feeling the weight of losing Rachel and so many other things he has wanted. His face is a little softer, his eyes a little haunted and wanting. It is just subtle enough that you completely buy that his wife and co-workers have no idea.

Betty, on the other hand is changing in a way that Don can see. She is much more assertive, whether ordering room service or telling Don her opinions. Her strange interest in her friend's life as a high class call girl in the first episode makes her desire to be wanted palpable. In "Flight 1", it is clear that she has become hard, abrasive and even a little mean. Living with Don and his inability to express emotion, being cheated on, taken for granted and ignored have taken their toll on the once sweet Betty. January Jones does a great job portraying someone who is constantly trying to keep up her happy act, but cannot help letting the mask slip once in awhile. In both episodes she is particularly critical of her children, which is of course ironic as one of the main reasons Don married her is that he believed she would be a sweet and loving mother. So they are still miserable, but for slightly different reasons!

Peggy's most obvious change is on the outside, as she has lost all of that extra (baby) weight she was carrying last season. Now she is of course carrying this weight metaphorically, and she seems to be reminding herself that her career is worth it. In "For Those Who Think Young", her pain just barely registers when Pete asks her if she ever wants children (already had yours, bucko!), and when she is forced to hold her child in "Flight 1", you can see there may not be a maternal bone in her body.

Pete is still Pete, but I have to admit, that after he found out his father had perished in the American Airlines plane crash in "Flight 1", I actually felt a bit of sympathy for him. He didn't know how to react to the death of someone he didn't particularly like and he was supposed to love. His flailing leads him to Don's office of all places, where Don does his best to comfort him in his own Don-like robot man way. "Go home. That's what people do." Pete is looking for a new Daddy ASAP, and a nicer one preferably. But business leads Don to bite his head off a few scenes later and Pete ends up looking to Duck, who had distastefully asked him to help land American Airlines as a client. Though he initially refuses to help him, after Don's rejection of him sends him straight into Duck's phony emotional comfort and to pimping out his father's death to get a client. I think Duck and Pete are going to end up being formidable business foes for Don, possibly even making Don wish he had given Pete the job instead of hiring Duck.

I have to mention the Paul/Joan altercation here!

Joans reaction to Paul having an African-American girlfriend was

mean but rather on point about Paul and his pseudo-bohemian ways. I have to say though, it made me glad to be a 21st century gal when I saw that all it took to humiliate Joan was for the office

to learn that she was over 30. (And still single! gasp!)

The gender politics on this show are mind boggling, though

unfortunately not as far fetched as it should be. Women

are still shamed for being single when they reach a certain age today,but at least it wouldn't qualify as someone's darkest secret!

I also must mention how happy I was to see Roger out and about in episode 2! John Slattery is so great as the almost-lovable rouge, I was really hoping he would make it to the other side of his heart attack in decent health. He certainly hasn't slowed down his drinking or smoking much!

I am really interested to see some of threads we were introduced to in these two episodes play out over this season. Peggy's mother, sister and baby, Betty's transformation from fragile victim to subtle victimizer (and back to to victim again? If she keeps acting as though she'd be willing to trade, ahem, "favors" for car parts then that might just happen.). Don struggling with his age, his wife, his identity and his work. Pete and Duck aligning against Don. Joan's vulnerabilities starting to show and all of the intrigue at Sterling-Cooper. I am excited to see what's coming next!