so weird there were certain characters that during the first season i couldn't stand and others i was rooting for, and with the second season i've definitely switched sides.

pete-for example i thought was a weasel but with the last few episodes i actually like pete and that one tear that fell from his face was sooo sad! and the girl inside me was sad that peggy dissed him.

joan-she totally comes off like a bitch but im starting to see that she is brutally honest. and totally trapped in the female sex pot role.  there is something that is so captivating about her.

betty-im so on the fence about her. i want to like her but theres something so malicious and calculating
about her. (love the red lips and nails!)

don-lost some of his "cool" since the first season. i guess he's showing some more of his human side.

Duck-kicks ass now that he's been drinking! stir the pot duck!!!!!! ha! except i was really turned off when he abandoned his dog.

Man, what a ride this season has been! I'm so sad that it's over. can't wait to witness next years evolution. and revolution.


i must say that im looking forward to a 60's style revival because theyre wardrobe is awesome!
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That's a good point about the arc of the Peter Campbell character.  After the Blackmail attempt in the first season where Bertram Cooper tells them, "who cares?" He subsequently tells Don, "Fire him if you want to, but one never knows how loyalty is earned."

weird now that i think about it, peggy and odn's roles totally switched from the first 2 seasons.
crazy! what i would give to pick the writers brains!!!!!!!
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It was interesting last night to see Don's reaction to Peggy's office. He seemed at once amused and amazed. I think he's enjoying seeing her rise, knowing that it's not all due him or any other single source.

i think that he relates most to peggy.  he's told her in a few episodes back that they the others wish they can feel/do what they do. and theyre both hiding some skeletons!
im so sad that we arent going to have anything to chat about till next summer!
this is one of the nicest chat sites i've belonged too!
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I flip-flopped on Betty.  I did not like Betty at all during Season 1.  However, this second season she became more human to me.  She is so sad and unhappy.  Her life is not what she thought it would be.  She feels so trapped in her role as wife and mother and sees no way out of it.    I get that she used to have "dreams" but she doesn't anymore. I believe that if she was NOT pregnant, she would not have taken Don back. The anonymous sex she had with the strange man at the bar was more I think to even the "playing field" with Don.  "Anything you can do I can do too!" Yet she can be mean, vindictive and manipulative. I truly believe that she is clinically depressed at a time when there were no "antidepressants" to relieve it.  She may get some Valium but we now know that does not help with clinical depression.  I do like Betty much more this season and my heart breaks for her.

I rooted for Duck all the way up to episode 12. 

I was impressed with his successful battle with alcohol and how he pushed for new younger blood at SC.    And it appears that Duck setting his dog loose gave a tizzy fit to crazed animal rights activist on the AMC blog who swore to never watch the show again.  I know for an absolute fact taht the dog is much better off with his new family.  (see my avatar pic to get the full know-it-allness of that statement)

I didn’t even mind Duck's power play with the merger it was a “win-win-win” BUT he used it as an opportunity for revenge.  He couldn’t hold off for five minutes to put Don under his shoe and grind grind.  And the slamming on the desk  made it clear he had been drinking right up to the meeting. 

I have mixed feelings about his treatment of Freddy -I hope that what was good for the goose isn’t going to happen to the Duck.  I am hoping he’ll still be around in season 3.

I love it when a show takes a nasty brat like Pete and makes me actually feel sorry for him and like him.  I like Peggy, but wow, she is a snip herself when she wants to be.    I too flip flop over Betty - she's like a real person who you both love and want to strangle at the same time.  I feel sorry for her in some ways and in other ways, I say GROW UP.

I've enjoyed watching Don/Dick evolve as well. Duck?  Well, I never really liked him, and I feel totally sorry for Freddy  and I LoVED how Don whopped Duck's tail the other night.  that was awesome.  don was so cool and duck was so...not!  LOL

I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for Duck.  I was interested to see what he would bring to SC when he was introduced at the end of Season One but did not really think he'd wind up butting heads with Don as much as he did.

He's too reptilian for me  - there's no warmth to the guy.  Yes, he becomes a pitiable figure when he ultimately loses his battle with the bottle, but pitiable and sympathetic are two different things.  I think his ambition will ultimately be his undoing - one risk too many.  It will be fired by the impairment of his sense of judgement ultimately brought on by his return to the bottle.  In the end,  he'll get a bad karma payoff for his unyielding insistence that Freddy be punished.

Or not - he could give up the bottle during the hiatus, come back clean and sober, realize he needs Don makes a better ally than an enemy and he, Don, Roger and Pete will knock of work early  and play bridge every Friday

Pete too became a pitiable figure in Ep. 13, but his seeming step toward maturity in warning Don about Duck's "confession" of the details of the coming merger took me by surprise and made me think perhaps there's something likable there after all.  Then again, perhaps it was a calculated move on Pete's part, covering his bets by playing both ends against the middle.  If Duck wins, Pete wins and if Don wins, Pete has at least solidified his standing with him. 

Pete's lack of self-awareness of how his actions are perceived reminds me of other other more one-dimensional characters (Eddie Haskel, Frank Burns) that you wind up "loving to hate".

A CORRECTION ON MY MOST RECENT POST I MEANT TO SAY DON AND BETTY'S ROLES HAVE SWITCHED!
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It was interesting last night to see Don's reaction to Peggy's office. He seemed at once amused and amazed. I think he's enjoying seeing her rise, knowing that it's not all due him or any other single sourc

I really had a problem with Pete during the entire first season, but had a complete change of heart in season 2. Now I am rooting for him.

I think your point about Joan is very insightful. She is definitely trapped in the rigidly defined 50's female role. One good example is when she is reading scripts for the "television department" and is finding real fulfillment through it and is very good at it. When that position is taken from her, her role doesnt allow her to protest or try to retain the position. She has to grin and bear it. Very sad. I wonder if Joan will break free from her position in life as the 60's progress...