» 2-12: "The Mountain King" 2008.10.19 (recap) Options

[musicalactress]

I think they had carnal knowledge when he was a young lad, maybe even resulting in a child he doesn't know about and that may explain her "Really?" remark. I agree that Alice is a lesbian and quite comfortable with that as her station in life allows her to be.

I believe Alice's quip was more a direct jab at Roger's young new lover than any child. As she said earlier, Bertram should let Roger live out his dream of "dying in the arms of a 20 year old"

Also, I think it was fairly explicit in Alice's earlier lunch conversation with Bertram that she had a female companion for some time. I agree that her access to money and social status would have made it easier for her to be live comfortably in that manner.

[gertitout]

For a show called "The Mountain King," there was a serious lack of mountains.

I think the music the piano student was playing is titled "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

This, and I also thought it was a reference to Jesus. The transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain. There was an awful lot of religious imagery in this episode, not the least of which Don's baptism in the final moments. And the Jesus Popsicles, obviously.

[snowwhite99917]

This was another good episode. So many things to tie up before the last episode. At least we learned who the mysterious person was and I believe a lot of people thought it was the "blonde woman" from the flashback. How cool that they are friends and that Don has been taking care of her/sending her money.
I think it should be in the contract to have Jon Hamm shirtless at least once during every episode!
Didn't the partners vote for a counter-offer on the business??

Poor Joan. I wasn't ready for that. She was RAPED. No means NO even back in 1962-63. How she just stopped fighting and turned her head. Great acting by Christina. and Wow, just after it was over Greg was smoking a cigarette and Joan re-appeared and pretended it didn't happen....sounds like a familiar pattern.

Pete is still an a-hole/jerk. Love that Peggy is getting more confidence and scored a new office.
I cannot wait how this season ends and what potential cliff-hangers there'll be.

[alynch]

Does anyone remember when Mad Men was mostly lighthearted and fun?

Honestly, no I don't. I don't remember any point in the show's two seasons where it wasn't a dark character drama. It may have moments of levity scattered here and there, but it's always been a serious show.

[yesyesyall]

Why is CouchBaron saying it was "borderline rape" in the recaplet?

[Scaramanga]

I had a hard time swallowing the first Mrs. Mary sue Draper. Sure, maybe her real husband was kind of a dick, but she sure got over his death in a hurry, just in time to play angel, muse, and mother to Don and say all the right things, being the completely accepting and unflappable Perfect Woman. Oh, but she's got a limp - isn't that endearing? It keeps her from being TOO perfect (not). Oh, she GETS him! She UNDERSTANDS him! Somebody get me a bucket. What's the white equivalent of the "magical black mammy?"

This post has been edited by Scaramanga: Oct 20, 2008 @ 9:24 am.

[NannerGrrl]

Couch Baron: Joan's fiancé is having trouble with her proficiency in bed, and when she brings him into SC, he borderline rapes her on the floor of Don's office.

Awwww. Borderline? Color me disappointed.

[SereneBeing]

I actually agreed with Pete most of this episode, and I usually am not a big fan of his. Setting up a meeting for adoption and just expecting him to show up and then cutting off an account unless he agrees to it are pretty despicable acts.

No more despicable than Pete TAKING the account in the first place on pretty much the same grounds. Pete KNEW what his in-laws' expectations were (grandkids) and went along with it willingly. So, in my mind, Pete can't cry foul now that he's choosing to actively renege on the deal.

Hildy's emotional gushing to Pete was just too much for him (and extremely funny especially after her words to Harry at his baby shower - she's obviously got a bad case of baby lust)

That was hilarious to me—Hildy is never better than borderline hostile toward Pete, and here she was gushing over him. He didn't know what to do!

See, I thought THAT had more to do with his reaction toward Trudy and the idea of adoption than anything else. It was almost like Pete decided that if "common" Hildy thought it was a wonderful thing, then maybe his mother was right and adoption really wasn't the thing for "people like him."

[selkie]

Good for Peggy getting that office. Roger telling her he thought it was "cute" that she had the balls to ask for it -- wow. Peggy's pretty shrewd - she knows how to work it.

It made me think of Mary Tyler Moore, and Lou's famous exchange exchange with Mary.

Lou: You know what? You've got spunk.
Mary: Well, yes…
Lou: I hate spunk.

[mortisimo]

I'm not sure if the scene with the hot-rods was in the past or the show's present, I believe it was the past, but it was obvious that Don was fascinated by the idea of reinventing the old and ordinary cars into something new and exciting. When he talked about the color, something he had never seen before, I got chills. I believe that was the impetus for his own re-invention, and logically leads to the idea that he would get into an industry that lives on the mantra "New & Improved" while selling the same old stuff.

Hot-Rod Don. Very well done.

[Scaramanga]

If I'd been in Pete's shoes, I'd have been even more pissed off. His wife hauls off and starts adoption proceedings without him, KNOWING he's against the idea, then sics Daddy on him when she doesn't get her way.

Ao, if Bobby's only 5 now, he was 3 when he drew that picture of George Washington for school? What kind of nursery school did he go to, anyway?

And Don's keeping Betty in style and Anna in modest comfort, and he can still afford to drop a couple thou on Midge? He should give Roger his accountant's card.

I'm half expecting to see Groovy Father Gill saying, "Take it, break it, share it, love it" next Sunday at Communion.

I choose to believe that Chauncey caught that turkey.

[ricecake]

Why is CouchBaron saying it was "borderline rape" in the recaplet?

My question exactly! If that's "borderline rape", I'd hate to see what the real thing looks like.

Poor Joanie was wrestled to the floor, held down and raped -- after she asked him to stop several times. I'm kind of grossed out to see that classified as "borderline" here.

[itsjfitz]

Ao, if Bobby's only 5 now, he was 3 when he drew that picture of George Washington for school?

Didn't that happen this season? I thought Betty said at the card party that his Kindergarten teacher brought it to her attention. The card party took place during one of the early episodes of this season, making it 62, not last season's 1960.

[Pepper Mostly]

Did any of the figures on the Tarot cards carry a suitcase??

No, but the final card was the eight of wands, which indicates a satisfying conclusion to previous efforts, everything coming together. It could also mean news, usually good, relating to finding out the hidden truth. Don's tarot spread was really interesting to me, I read tarot quite a lot back in the day. He also had cards that relate to indecision and doing a balancing act, (two of pentacles, also indicating things on the material plane, not the spirit), extreme emotional distress, (five of cups, loss, regret, despair, inability to see what remains, believing that everything's going wrong, unable to see a way out,) and lack of moral center (five of swords, selfishness, dishonor, lack of integrity). The world may be at his fingertips, but he has to face judgment, and wasn't the wheel of fortune one of his cards? The wheel has to turn before things conclude in a way he hopes it will.

No more despicable than Pete TAKING the account in the first place on pretty much the same grounds. Pete KNEW what his in-laws' expectations were (grandkids) and went along with it willingly. So, in my mind, Pete can't cry foul now that he's choosing to actively renege on the deal.

I agree. I'm usually on Pete's side, I think there's a good guy in there who's begging to be let out. But his behavior was horrible. He was happy to let his father in law advance his career with the Clearsil account. He was shitty to Trudy. She never knows from one day to the next if he's going to want to adopt or not. Throwing the food out the window was just as much an act of hostility and contol as Joan's doctor's despicable assault. I didn't think Trudy "ran to daddy" so much as her father, knowing she was unhappy, tried to intervene in his ham handed way. Pete was a jerk.

Go, Peggy! I love her beyond all reason.

[lz1982]

I'm half expecting to see Groovy Father Gill saying, "Take it, break it, share it, love it" next Sunday at Communion.

LOLOL

I thought the Hot Rod scene was in the present; Don/Dick seemed "older" somehow. But I could be wrong. It's clear that his real interests seem to be in mechanical things--cars, fixing the chair--but he's almost been forced into this other life that doesn't suit him.