The last episode of season 1 providing one the most touching endings ever on television. Recall, in the final minutes of the final episode Don gets home before Betty and the kids depart for her father's house. Don had a look of happiness and appreciation on his face-- a look which resembled that of Dick Whitman at Ann's house. I remember being so moved by the warmth and love of this ending; however, many of you may also recall the actual ending.

Don was only dreaming. He actually gets home and finds that Betty and the kids were already gone. Don is left alone for the holiday without his family.

I am expecting another emotional ending which compares to that of season 1. I question whether this ending will be the same, with Don all alone, or possibly with Don walking into the Draper House and greeted with open arms and a few tears of joy.

Don--
I have been so stunned, shocked and surprised by the last two episodes that I don't have any idea how Season 2 will end. I hope James will put in his 2 cents here before Sunday because he was right on about the mystery woman from the car dealership. He must have a crystal ball to match Anna Draper's tarot deck! (just messing with you, James)

Looking further ahead I'm curious how fellow MadMen viewers (can we refer to ourselves as Maddicts here or is that a name best left to the AMC board?) plan to cope in the long off-season. Maybe, for starters, we can come up with a clever name to call our little group? We've got quite a few former and current ad people here: copywriters, art buyers, political spin makers, etc, so finding a catchy name should be easy.

I'm definitely going to see Revolutionary Road and The Day the Earth Stood Still (for a Jon Hamm fix)when they hit the theaters and I'm going to read "meditations in an emergency" for the first time. Hopefully interesting discussions will continue here at the Lounge as we speculate on Season 3.

Peggy –

Thanks for the kind words – I’ll have to use butter on my ears to get my swollen head through the door.

On Sunday we had guests over to our home and I pulled up the site and read your comments aloud about working in an agency in the 70s with the red walls and Champaign.  Everyone smiled and Aaaaahhhed. 

Don –

Thanks so much for creating and hosting this site.  The AMC site has more bells and whistles but the comments are 800 + with people burping out one or three sentences.  No one is having a conversation.

Bummed MM is coming to a close. It’s much more superior to the Sopranos. Because it’s on basic cable [TV 14] it can’t always go to the ‘violence well’ to shock every episode.  The Sopranos formula was trick you into liking the characters, wham! random act of violence, trick you to liking them again with a build up to violence (repeat).

MM is like a really good glass of wine – there’s a delayed after taste.  Hours or days latter some metaphor, symbolism or clue just clicks and you go “hummmm that’s good.”   

The Don is now reborn, sins washed away in the Pacific..  He’s reborn, but as who?.  From the hint of being “two persons and loved” via the Popsicle campaign I guess he will go back to Betty with the cliffhanger of “I have something to tell you” and try to be Dick and Don.  Episode 3 will fast forward another 2 or maybe 3 years and Betty will be onboard with Don’s identity but it will be her turn to sow some oats.  1964+.   I hope, and based on the show success, it will be around long enough to take us into 1969 when the Draper daughter at 16 will blow town like pops and head to San Francisco.

One of the best movies about the youth counter culture and the generational war of the 60s is finally out on DVD “Wild in the Streets.”   The movie freaked me out as a kid seeing it on TV.  It’s a political parody where 15 year olds get the vote and send everyone over 35 to camps and drug them with LSD.   http://www.geocities.com/ ...

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I think the other posters are right about poor Joan / used and abused like the Kennedy women.  If she’s not driven off a dike bridge and left to drown, she’ll OD like Marylyn, or slit her wrists in the bathtub.  (gruesome)  She still seemed utterly shell shocked after the rape when she spoke with Peggy.  She watched Peggy go into her new office ,with all that wood paneling, leaping over Red  having used her brain rather than sex appeal.  I think Jan will be rubbed in her face before Joan checks out.

Peggy will be flattered that Pete finds her his equal and succumbs to an advance and we’ll all yell “EEEuuuuuooo Don’t!” at our TVs.  This might be the set up to Pete finding out about his son.

For the future of the site.  It will be a long time until season 3.  Maybe the site could evolve into a “movie” book club.  I’m always recording classic movies on AMC I should/always wanted to watch.  I would love to share and hear other peoples’ perspectives on clasic film.

I hope they don't jump ahead in season 3. I felt we were cheated out of a whole year with these characters when season 2 opened in 1962.

Everyone seems to be reading so much symbolism into everything in the show. I'd also like to point out that in the Sopranos, made by the same producers, there were many little story arcs that never went anywhere and were left behind and forgotten. It made it impossible to predict where things were going. I think things such as the Jet-Setters may be such a dead end. It seems important at the time, but ultimately ends up as just a random occurrance in Dons life.

I too hope Season 3 begins where Season 2 left off and that we do not advance in years. I forsee Don going back to Betty.  As to what kind of man Don will be since his "rebirth", time will tell. Don has lived such a life of lies and secrets, he may find it impossible to go forward with his new found baptisim.  I will be greatly disapointed if Joan commits suicide.  She adds so much to the show.

I don't see Joan saying "goodbye cruel world".  I think her character has a capacity to endure.  She survived the break-up with Roger, who I believe she truly loved, even after that "piece of @ss" speech he gave her. 

I think  Joan's character is about compromising - often I believe she knows what she wants but resigns herself to settling for less.  It's a coping mechanism for her.  Although she made the "why work?" comment, she enjoyed reviewing the scripts for Harry and was truly hurt and angered when she was replaced and the significance of her accomplishments minimized.  Perhaps the difference between her and Peggy in this respect is generational.  Peggy would have asserted herself to try and recover where Joan compromised.

Odd as it may sound, I think Bobby Barrett had something to do with Peggy's growth in the counsel she gave her about not advancing until she dealt with Don (and by extension, other men) as an equal.  Although I don't see it happening, given their respective characters, it would be nice to see Peggy use her new status at SC to give Joan a hand up in season 3.

Mneeley-

I agree that OVER analyzing symbolism isn’t the correct way to digest the show.  As Freud said “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

But the creators of this show have got to great lengths to create sub-text that can only be fully appreciated by recognizing the symbolism that is sometimes heavy handed like Joan holding a bird cage or something more subtle as with “Alice in Wonderland” relating to Don’s experience with the Jet Setters.

For a show that is unmatched for its historical presentation, in wardrobe, set and dialogue nothing is said or done by chance or as a time filler. 

I agree that The Jet Setter (who I love) may have been just been passing through Don’s life or visa versa and have no bearing on future episodes.  But contained within that episode were juicy bits of symbolism and imagery to convey the “second story.”

If you get a chance buy/rent the DVDs or the AMC web site and you’ll hear Weiner deconstruct what they are trying to convey with images and symbols that either goes along with the surface story or runs as a stark contrast.

If there wasn’t symbolism or hidden imagery this would just be a very attractive looking soap opera set in the early 60s. 

Can we please have a heated personal disagreement on this?  I will kick it off – you’re a doo doo head and you just don’t get it.

Hey  - we'll have none of that doo doo head stuff around here, mister!

Here we resolve differences the Don Draper (Archibald Whitman) way, with a resounding shot to the jaw...

nah-nah-nah-nah-nah -- you boys are both onion heads and I'm gonna peel away all your layers to find the symbolism of your existence until I get to the very core or the nothingness ---

I'm so relieved to see we can joke around here.

What's cool about MadMen is that it can be viewed and appreciated on many levels. No one has to delve into symbolism to enjoy the show. I happen to be one of those who enjoys exploring the symbolism, camera angles and wow I could write an essay just on the camera perspectives that were used in Epi 12, scene jumps, use of music, color, etc. So when I start going off on irrelavent tangents just ignore me or politely tell me to shut it.

I like sites that have a diversity of opinion where posters agree to respectfully disagree. We all bring our unique perspectives to the show. MadMen is like a mosaic or a jigsaw puzzle and each of us brings to the site a different piece.  We put our various pieces together here and end up with a more enjoyable experience and, if we have an open mind, a refreshing new perspective.

Great comments Peggy.

I know some people who love Mad Men simple because they can watch it as a soap opera.  But look a little closer, think a little harder and you will see so much more.

It is a rare piece of popular entertainment that can achieve both mass popularity while being intellectually stimulating at the same time.