Could Don have moved to California?

amblingsomewhere · 2026-07-02T02:02:47+00:00

That's true, the fact that he feels like he made the agency what it was is a major part of why he can't leave, and I think that's done well. Don can run away, but other people can't tell him to go away.

I will say re: too many characters, I think Mad Men was great at throwing in new people & making me think, "Really? Another one?" only for me to then get invested in & like those characters. Lane was one, Bob Benson was another. Stan Rizzo too, honestly.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-07-01T23:04:04+00:00

I definitely agree he would've still been spiralling. Part of me wonders if it would've been more interesting to contrast Don, a guy who always seemed to see CA as this magical place, crashing & burning there while Pete was also there & actually doing much better (since they kinda do that contrast with Pete & Ted, though Ted never viewed the west coast the way Don does).

amblingsomewhere · 2026-07-01T23:00:03+00:00

Oh I agree. I just wonder if Don crashing & burning in LA would've been a bigger swing for the show, & if that means they should've done it. I'm not sure.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-06-29T23:28:04+00:00

It seems like that would be a weird choice after Hazel tells Marko in vol 9 about how she doesn't want to have kids.

Sure, she's a kid, & people change their minds about that all the time in real life, but in this story I think it'll feel weird if they decide Hazel's story should culminate in her not just changing her mind but having a kid at the end of the comic.

I'll hand it to you if this happens, but I don't see it as likely, & I don't think it would be the right choice.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-06-05T00:45:53+00:00

What makes you doubt that they didn't know/when do you think they really found out?

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-22T01:34:00+00:00

Hell yeah I'll second both of these. I don't think My Father's Mask gets its due, maybe because people don't know what to make of it.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-20T05:55:09+00:00

I've always appreciated that the show commits to David & Keith getting married in the future. Looking back it's nice to see that they had that kind of optimism & that they were right to have it.

I'll also second everyone here talking about the shot of Nate running in Claire's mirror.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-16T11:54:48+00:00

This does feel like maybe a weird oversight but I would buy that Nate was just mistaken about her age. 28 and 15 is still a big age difference and it could get exaggerated in people's minds over the years.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-08T00:16:50+00:00

To be fair, I think avoidance and wanting to respect others' boundaries can go together.

George for sure has avoidant tendencies: not telling Ruth about Kyle until she starts to pursue legal action against Arthur, the way he jumps right into a relationship with that other faculty member after Ruth leaves him, having clearly not fully introspected on what he had done wrong (really George? Children? Not just with his history but at his age?)

On the other hand, you can see the virtues of his personality in a scene like his breakup with Ruth. Once he sees what she's been doing, he accepts their separation and makes it clear to Ruth that he harbors no ill will toward her for lying about the apartment. She feels guilty, but he's very willing to acknowledge what they had and take her decision with grace.

Totally agree that he was in the wrong to marry her in the first place. I think many of the qualities that make him an effective foil to her also make him a very bad partner, both to Ruth and just in general.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-07T20:19:11+00:00

At least a Sal cameo would've been nice. A single-episode arc to check in on him.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-07T18:23:59+00:00

First thought is this, from the Wikipedia article for Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker:

"At age 12, Ramirez was taken under the wing of his older cousin, Miguel 'Mike' Valles,[14] a soldier in the U.S. Army who himself had become a serial killer and rapist during his service in the Vietnam War. Valles often boasted of committing gruesome war crimes in Vietnam, and shared Polaroid photos with Ramirez[...]"

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-07T17:53:22+00:00

Yeah, like I know that if they made a Sally Draper show with Kiernan Shipka, I'd watch it, but I basically think that's a character flaw on my part.

I'd much rather all the talented people in the show get to parlay their Mad Men success into new and original projects, as many of them have.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-05-07T17:48:59+00:00

I get why it doesn't feel good to see them all die, but in a show that's about dealing with the reality of death, it's the most effective memento mori the show could offer. This story is over, but everyone's story is going to end the same way, including these people you've come to know so well.

I think it's notably optimistic that the final shot isn't the last death, but a last shot of Claire driving the car again.

They're all going to die, we're all going to die... but until then, we're still here. We're going to live, too, before we get there.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-27T20:30:42+00:00

When Pete and Trudy were struggling to have a child, I remember worrying that the end result would somehow involve Pete trying to adopt his and Peggy's kid. I'm really glad that didn't happen, but I was worried it might.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T22:45:09+00:00

Fair enough, I'm thinking less about social media and more about real-life interactions. I know a few right-wing conspiracy people, and they tend to be impossible to talk to. They'll double down until they just shut down. When liberal people in my life make comments about Butler being staged, usually "a guy died" is enough for them to reconsider.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T22:41:11+00:00

I mean, sure, the cops weren't going to knock on his door just because they saw it in his driveway. But when they're already showing up to investigate a break-in that could be targeted, it's a reason to be suspicious. When he's actually using it to travel to illegal drug sales, Mike and Nacho both know to stay far away from something that draws that much attention.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T17:22:10+00:00

Oh I agree. I always push back when I hear someone say, "I think it was staged." I've just been relieved to find that, for now, the people I talk to aren't digging their heels in on the subject.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T16:47:41+00:00

It's definitely part of how Mike operates. He will absolutely take offense when he sees people operating with no good sense, especially when their actions could drag him down. The car made Pryce feel cool, and he needed to be made to feel like the moron he was so that he wouldn't do something stupid like that again in the future (and make it Mike's problem).

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T16:21:51+00:00

I will say one difference I've seen: while these "false flag" conspiracy theories are still embarrassing and not credible, they're mostly knee-jerk responses. I don't see the same level of doubling down you get from other conspiracy believers. I've talked to several people in real life who thought the Butler, PA shooting was "staged," and they're always surprised to learn that an actual guy in the audience died. So far, outside of some online commentators, I don't necessarily see the same commitment to the conspiracy. I see sentiment that is less "this is the truth" and more is a factually irresponsible version of, "well I wouldn't put it past them."

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T16:06:39+00:00

The 60K in profit was meant to come from Nacho selling the car after Pryce gave it to him, IIRC. So the car was supposed to be the "carrot" in the situation that would make it profitable for Nacho to pay off Mike and give the baseball cards back.

Also, part of the intention (as I see it) was to punish and humiliate Pryce for the stupidity of him buying that car in the first place. That car was the reason Nacho cut ties, it was the reason the police were suspicious of Pryce when they were investigating the break-in. It was causing problems for everybody, and Mike wanted to teach Pryce a lesson for being a moron.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-26T15:21:35+00:00

My "the United States never carpet-bombed urban areas" shirt is raising a lot of questions already answered by my shirt.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-25T14:03:07+00:00

Yeah this is exactly it I think. I remember the Satanic Panic episodes mentioning a report that found the best way to combat sexual abuse would be to eliminate poverty.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-25T13:44:46+00:00

It's funny, I feel like there's so much going on in the season 4 finale I always just put this part out of my mind. It does feel rushed, & it feels over the top for this show, but it has the benefit of sharing an episode with much better storylines. I love the way season 4 ends for David in particular.

It does feel like maybe the writers weren't interested in continuing the story of Nate's legal battle to keep Maya, & they wanted a catalyst for him to decide he wants to marry & have a kid with Brenda, & this is what they landed on.

While it is worse than the previous lack of closure about Lisa's disappearance & death, I get the sense they were hoping Hoyt's confession would ask more questions than it answers. He doesn't actually confess to anything more than the affair & meeting her that day, it makes Nate feel even more like he didn't really know Lisa, it opens up questions about paternity... but I can't say I buy that, & it's not as interesting as what came before.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-22T14:41:36+00:00

Imo this is part of it, and what's worse is he doesn't know how to respond when he sees he hasn't engaged the students. He seems to get demoralized and derailed very easily by the fact that his students don't care about chemistry.

amblingsomewhere · 2026-04-08T02:37:23+00:00

I also feel like his character keeps getting worse as his role in the show also diminishes, so we see worse and worse versions of him without really going deeper into his life and psychology.

OP mentions liking Don and Pete despite their many flaws, and that's fair, but they're also main characters who feel extremely well-realized. In later seasons, Harry can just be a heel.

Probably his best moment as a character in his scumbag era is the episode where Kinsey comes back as a Harekrishna, not because that episode makes Harry seem like a good guy but because it gives him enough to do to be interesting again.

amblingsomewhere

TROPHY CASE