Mad Men s3.2

Mad Men Season 3, Episode 2
Love Among The Ruins
Sunday night on AMC

(my weekly segment about the Mad Men tv series because I love it so)




Episode Synopsis from TV Guide:
Betty's father pays a visit; the Drapers dine with the stuffy new British boss (Jared Harris) and his snobby wife; the firm contemplates whether to accede to an unusual request from a client; Roger takes charge of arranging a wedding; and Peggy's personal involvement in a campaign leaves her greatly affected.

Excerpts of interest from episode review by What's Alan Watching?:

Don may be a problem-solver some days, but in his heart he's an artist, and he just won't tolerate plagiarism of his words.

Patio was, indeed, the awful first name of Diet Pepsi, though it only lasted into 1964. I can only assume that the commercials featured a Chevy Chase type explaining that "It's a floor wax and a diet cola!"

My note: very unappealing to me, looks and sounds like a cleaning agent instead of a drink



Excerpt from interview with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner by Alan Sepinwall:

Alan: Let's start with the obvious one: Why did you decide to set (the new season) when you set it?

Matthew: I (liked) the drama behind Don coming to terms with who he is, as much as he did -- or at least making the decision that he didn't want to be alone -- and coming back and professing his love to her and saying, "I want this," many times, and her having this child and thinking this would fix their relationship. I really wanted to go back in there and say, okay, it's six months later, the British have taken over, and Betty is still pregnant. I wanted to deal with the fact that there is a hope that when the baby comes, everything will be okay. She made that decision by keeping the baby. She made the decision when she got the letter he wrote, which was really beautiful, but it was also an 'Oh, s--t' moment where she didn't know what to do. So the ball's in her court now, and I wanted to see him trying. So that's really what's going on. I wanted to hit the ground running with that all in place.

Read more of this interview on Matthew's thoughts on the third season.

My thoughts:

Betty: Her floral nightgown ensemble is beautiful. But her snappy attitude towards her kids paints her ugly. In fact the kids are always barked at by the parents in this show.

Peggy: Ooo, she gets put into her place...

Don bluntly tells her, "You're not an artist, Peggy. You solve problems. Leave some tools in your toolbox."

I have high hopes for Peggy though. You can see that she is a woman ahead of her times.

I must mention that the music for this show by David Carbonara is the pièce de résistance. The mood and ambiance of the scenes are captured so well.

Everything Austen sighting:

Rebecca Pryce is played by Embeth Davidtz who was...

Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park (1999)
Natasha in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Amusing quote:

Oh look, Princess Grace just swallowed a basketball. -Roger Sterling

*The illustrated image in this post above is #3.2 The Call to Adventure created by Dyna Moe.

If you haven't already check out my Mad Men and Jane Austen mashup giveaway - offer ends September 19, 2009.