http://newcritics.disqus.com/the best in web criticismenTue, 30 Sep 2008 23:12:47 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2771482Um, I'm sorry but Don Draper died in Korea. Dick Whitman swapped his dog tags with Don and assumed his identity. Remember when slime ball Preppy Pete tried to blackmail Don? He said Don looked much younger than his age.JamesSTue, 30 Sep 2008 23:12:47 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2771025He's a Jesuit, remember?<br>They're all straight percentage players, who know there's no such thing as an honest house game. <br>Except for Pascal's Wager.Steve ParadisTue, 30 Sep 2008 22:22:43 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2766601"Again, my memory is that people displayed JFK busts only after he was assassinated." Unless you are in Ireland :) Even 20 years ago during college travels I was astonished at the number of photographs of Kennedy that were hanging in average people's homes, and I had the feeling they were left over from the glory years, not the commemorative ones.MaPeelTue, 30 Sep 2008 21:10:51 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2753939Yes, Don served in Korea, not WW2, but he and Paul Newman are exactly the same age. Don was born in 1925, since at the beginning of season 2, he tells his doctor that he is 37, and it's 1962. Don would certainly have been old enough to serve in 1943-45, but somehow missed out and went to Korea instead. He's out of the service and married to Betty and living in Manhattan by 1953 (the year the Rosenbergs were executed, as Betty remembers at a party a few weeks ago). <br>John Hamm is surely great, but Bryan Cranston's performance in Breaking Bad was a tour de force.FigaroFigaroTue, 30 Sep 2008 13:57:10 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2753161I agree that the scenes of the secretaries crying over MM's death were stupefyingly stilted, and though people were shocked, I doubt that that kind of lachrymose grief over her death was that widespread in 1962. Also, my memory (well, I was eight) was that at the time it happened everyone was calling her death "accidental" not suicidal. One more nitpicking question: in the bar scene between Don and Roger, the shot pulls back from a bust of JFK. Again, my memory is that people displayed JFK busts only after he was assassinated. Am I wrong about this?joeangierTue, 30 Sep 2008 13:20:27 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2749965For a show with such a long incubation period, it's odd that it feels so much like they're making it up as they go along. Implausible and lurching and too heavy-handed with "significance" and facile irony. And, throw us a bone, people: the appeal of having to read into Don Draper's relentless silence is losing its swoon. Does Matt Weiner think real people weren't invented until the 70s?shirleyTue, 30 Sep 2008 09:26:23 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2738513Margaret is Roger and Mona's daughter, who IIRC is about to get married. Mona said that Roger would have to explain the proposed separation to her.<br><br>Does "Don Draper" have a college degree? We can probably assume Dick Whitman doesn't. It's a big social-class marker, and correlates somewhat with official/enlisted in the armed forces, so my first guess is that the real Draper went to college and Dick has had to fake it (probably easier in those days, particularly if Draper went to a large state school and doesn't have to play the do-you-know game with the private college grads he runs into). Anyway, that's part of Jane's problem with Don and with the rest of the office, I think -- Jane is a college grad in a pink-collar job and considers herself Don's social equal.davembMon, 29 Sep 2008 15:24:11 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2731767Don served in Korea, not WWII.Too-TickyMon, 29 Sep 2008 10:46:14 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722433Wait -- who's Margaret? I thought Dons sec's name was Jane?nickiSun, 28 Sep 2008 23:06:16 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722407I'm surprised they didn't stick Father Gill in that gambling dive--everybody else seemed to be there.James WolcottSun, 28 Sep 2008 23:04:14 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722398Yea. It's certainly not the seamless integration of storylines a la Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire, etc. How did this win Best Drama Series, and Deadwood was never nominated.MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 23:03:02 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722388I didn't even know Don's secretary's name. Did that all happen since Joan tried to fire her? Roger broke the bro code---maybe Neil Patrick Harris will make a guest appearance.MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 23:01:25 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722367The ending was like the ending of an unrelated episode....tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:59:34 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722336Pete should play a sub-lieutenant in that new Tom Cruise Nazi flick...tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:56:23 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722330I want a couch in my office--MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:55:51 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722315Peggy, talk salary NOW.MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:54:33 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722312Wow - Peggy gets the step.<br>The firings are a lot nicer than the promotions - which are insanely creepy.tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:54:24 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722295"If I stay with the clear liquor I know where I stand"--I love Roger.MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:51:24 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722268Until he's gone - and weirdly, the soul-deprived Don Draper does....tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:48:09 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722240Yea, but Roger doesn't care that much about Freddy--MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:46:14 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722219The foreshadowing of losing somebody you care about...the yang to Marilyn's yin.tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:42:57 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722200Boy, they just don't fire people the way they used to . . .MaPeelSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:41:00 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722182OK, who can sense the suicide?tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:38:40 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722171"Only drinks beer now" - good one.tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:38:00 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2008/09/28/echoes-of-a-movie-legend-in-the-world-of-mad-men/#comment-2722109Hey, she's coming out of it - look, she's at a ranch in Souther California. A trip was just what she needed!tomwatsonSun, 28 Sep 2008 22:30:22 -0000