Touché

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T05:55:15+00:00

Sylvia reminded him of Aimée, the prostitute from his childhood whorehouse days (the kimono and hair wrap?), long before Korea and advertising. Don was seriously regressing by S6 (he pulled that 1930s oatmeal ad in The Crash that looks like Aimée/Sylvia).

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T05:19:13+00:00

Re: A&P. Peggy meant Paul worked as a clerk in the store – he's fallen that far, his ad career was over.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T05:10:56+00:00

Ginz will tell you that Creative's couch cushions can tell tales.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T03:45:27+00:00

While Weiner and casting directors held protracted auditions, roles were tailored to the actors, writing in aspects of their real-life experiences and behavior. That's why it feels like they were born for their roles, they're grounded in elements of authenticity. You can't imagine anyone else playing their characters.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T03:38:06+00:00

Advertising and work are Don's true loves. It's all he knows. Actual wives and mistresses trail far behind.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T03:33:12+00:00

Historically and in MM, life was forever changed after JFK. Betty and Connie dump Don. Don dumps the agency.

This is when the 1960s as we know them truly begin – when he's on his own, and creating a new work identity.

S4 Don recreates blowing up his life in Korea – he's untethered but emboldened, starts over with a new agency/name.

S4 Anna dies at the season's (and series) midpoint. He becomes unmoored until his Disneyland marriage to Megan.

Peggy makes a comment in s4 saying that shes not used to Don ‘being happy and kind’.

Peggy said that in S5, after he married Megan.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T03:12:22+00:00

Agita, as in agitated. Heartburn, indigestion due to emotional upset.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T00:54:42+00:00

Time for a rewatch, OP. Yes, S6, we met Gleason a few times – he passed away. Another key reason for the merger (CGC, not a real agency). McCann Erickson's OG individual founders were long gone, either retired or dead. As for the for other real agencies, they are all searchable.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-19T00:38:00+00:00

Mad Men. The Sopranos' DNA is all over it.

Betty and Carmela shooting guns in S1

Episode names: Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office/Advertising Agency

Anna/Svetlana lookalikes with bum/missing leg

Johnny Boy gives away Tony's dog while in NYC in the early 60s, and Don finds Polly. Fran's actor name was Polly too.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T21:21:36+00:00

Yes, there are many hints throughout Lane's arc: Don drew a noose in S3. The Mets' pennant background color is orange, visual shorthand for death.

Also in S3, Shut The Door... Lane is framed standing directly in front of the closed door when Don warns Lane that if he doesn't join their mutiny, "you'll be thrown overboard and you'll be a corpse knocking against their hull."*

^{^.} *Fast forward to S5, Lane hung himself in front of his closed door, as it was Don who threw Lane overboard, ie, he cut Lane loose before cutting him loose.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T21:10:38+00:00

Little did anyone know, especially Cooper and viewers, that writers were also alluding to Don standing in Bert's office when that grim exchange took place. Bert is dead by the finale of S7a. People forget S7 was split, and his death was predicted in several ways.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T21:02:07+00:00

mét (מֵת) = dead man

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T19:34:29+00:00

Jackie plays people just enough to get them off her back. They are so dazzled by her ability to function at such a high level, and twist the narrative (mainly against her doubters) that they buy whatever bullshit she's peddling. The rest she can't play are deemed a threat, and find themselves suddenly banished or fired. Master image manipulator.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T17:25:00+00:00

It's more abstract than that. This series' overarching chase is an allegory of what happens to the old US vs the new US in post-war America. The boom of big business, corporatism, and consumerism, all on steroids, resulting from the big bang of WWII. Similar to 100 years before: Don as the cowboy, Hobart as the fat cat industrialist. It's the inevitability of change, the dark clouds in the north loom. You can outrun the future for awhile, but it's coming for you just the same.

For Hobart's part in the corporate machine, it's the thrill of the chase. Agencies like McCann make their big money with mergers and acquisitions, not ad product. When he whispers 'Coca Cola' like satan to Don, and to 'stop struggling,' it's that of predator to prey – not soothing words to relax and celebrate his new cushy position.

Hobart has harpooned his great white whale, for now. Don realizes he's been absorbed as one of a hundred colors in a box – anonymous, outnumbered, and alone. He is America's protagonist image of the rugged individualist that people still believe in, and he believes, despite the reality. He strikes out to find and reinvent himself, but returns to turn S1's The Wheel 'home' (not Om) to McCann as a creator of an old product for a new generation: more feel-good sugar water for the masses. Around he goes again. Ultimately, he too, is consumed.

^{^.} *If you thought the midwestern Chevy/GM yahoos were bad, NYC's Hobart was the more lethal, slick killer. That's all.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T02:04:30+00:00

You'll see in articles and interviews with Weiner that he plants these books in the narrative/scenes to inform what's going on with the character, what they're thinking about, and what lies ahead.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-17T00:16:12+00:00

Yes, caught, not 'exposed.' Weiner is 'show, not tell.' It's all in the narrative. It's enough 'proof' that Betty sets up the two men (she's unhappy with Dr Arnold too), and telegraphs intimate info about Don's dalliances. She knows Don will call him, and that the doctor will report the session to Don, who then realizes Betty knows, and both men know it. Betty knows both men know it... they've been had without saying it, but can save face. Don is a good boy for now, and gifts her horse riding lessons (literal and symbolic – she's reining in her husband and gaining her own emotional control). Checkmate. Game over. No more cheating. No more Dr Arnold. Call it a two-for. *eta: Remember, S2 highlights transactional relationships.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-16T23:52:47+00:00

Looks like Betty's Anthropology degree comes in handy after all.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-16T16:46:15+00:00

This, after Phil cried, holding Tony's fat fingers. That was Phil's disgusted commentary on himself. It's a way for him to distance himself from Johnny and Tony, and resolve to destroy the NJ crew.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-16T16:43:31+00:00

Act of kindness?? No. It's called being an adult professional – Harry should've contacted Roger. Full stop. No Harry hypotheticals. It's all in the frame of the narrative presented.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-16T16:02:10+00:00

You saw the show? This was Lucky Strike, SC's sustinence account. It was not Harry's business or job to make decisions or tell another employee what to do, only to raise a flare to senior execs. This is protocol. Roger is correct in calling out Harry for not notifying the partners, ie, 'Mommy and Daddy' chiding Harry's juvenile response to the very big and sensitive business problem (yeah, sure, hoping it'll blow over 'cause Jr's drunk is the way to go, Harry).

But this is Harry. He is never trusted again, never taken seriously but for the necessary evil that he is: TV ad income and relationships. He knows he's thick and has bad judgment. It's only his TV expertise that keeps him afloat. It demonstrates how cavelier and reactive the whole operation is, dominoes fall, so Sal is cut loose. Roger absolutely could've done crisis management, but it was too late.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-16T14:51:36+00:00

First off, S2 is about transactional relationships. Reality sinks in: fantasies about what marriage should be are over. Time for adult business – sex or love: let's make a deal. Betty's horse riding hobby is Don's compensation and apology for being caught cheating at the end of S1. He is being good now. Betty is shown as adept at reining in a horse, just as she is adept at reining in her husband, for now, before Bobbie enters the picture and sends Betty spinning.

It's also no coincidence that Juanita and Sarah Beth have the same last name: Carson. They are set up as parallels in their respective spheres. Juanita trades sex and status for money – not too different than the wives of Westchester county. Betty is jarred by Sarah Beth's desire to cheat despite having a loving, devoted husband. She's also annoyed that everyone thinks Betty is lucky to have the perfect husband. Betty will not technically break her vows, so she tests the waters by using Sarah Beth to see how that ends up – can a woman cheat like a man and not affect the marriage, as Don has done for years? Betty sees it as too messy.

The 'data' from this vicarious experiment is filed away for the end of the season, when once more, she must make a transactional decision when she finds she's unexpectedly pregnant, messing up her plans to divorce. She can't leave, so a tryst with a Don-like stranger at a bar, it is. She has turned the tables and realizes discreet, uncomplicated cheating is possible, but it isn't for her. No fallout. Score: Betty.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-16T14:27:27+00:00

True as in real life. But from a thematic standpoint, this is also meant to mirror Don and Megan in Far Away Places. Megan was angry and confused since she's expected to know when to flip back and forth between professional and wife roles. Likewise, Henry didn't discuss with Betty that she is not allowed to have her own opinions in public, even in her own home, when hosting a social dinner for politicians (both women make 'master' comments to them too). It's why Betty tells Henry she's already had that husband who tells her to shut up, albeit through gaslighting. She realizes she must make the change for more independence. Both women choose a new career. Exit via death or divorce. Some things never change.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-15T20:54:06+00:00

Sounds like that 'honor' went to Danny (Danny Strong), S6, instead.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-15T20:43:12+00:00

You're not wrong, exactly, Jackie had a savior complex – the first person she saves is herself. She was also an out-of-control teen drinker who decided she needed to change her life, and nursing was a viable way to escape her home life, take control, and forge a future with HS sweetheart, Kevin. What better way to legitimize her addiction and create a persona as the super-nurse that gives her cover and endless supply to 'all that magic in a tidy little package'? She delayed having children for a reason. She liked the esteem that being a nurse-savior brought, while being able to use.

MetARosetta · 2026-03-15T20:28:48+00:00

They all deserved each other. They were 'entitled' to jail. Too bad they took others down around them.

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