"I'm Peggy Olson. I want to smoke some marijuana"

April 13, 2019 3:17 PM

"The work is $10. The lie is extra" (S05 E4)
"It's Toasted" (S01 E1)
The Jaguar pitch (S05E11)
In Greek, Nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound” (S01 E13)
"When I say I want the moon, I expect the moon" (S03 E9)
"who cares?" (S01 E12)
The seven defining pitches of Mad Men
posted by growabrain (29 comments total)

The Carousel pitch still makes me cry like a Crane. The painful element of "nostalgia" is one of our deepest truths.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:36 PM on April 13, 2019 [13 favorites]

I had forgotten the utter joy of seeing Peggy Olsen feel herself. By god that is satisfying like nothing else.
posted by minervous at 3:40 PM on April 13, 2019 [14 favorites]

Ahhhh, Peggy.
posted by praemunire at 4:40 PM on April 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

I rewatched the whole series last Fall, having it on as background while I worked. It was really good but truly, Peggy has some of the best moments and the best lines. Her and Sally.
posted by amanda at 5:02 PM on April 13, 2019 [4 favorites]

I still cry watching the Hershey speech and I think about it (and a lonely little kid somewhere) every time I see a Hershey bar. (I also loved the “My Way” scene: “What if there was a place you could go where there was no TV? And you could break bread, and whoever you were sitting with was family?”)

No show has even come close to replacing this one in my mind and heart. I still sit around with friends and family talking about it for hours.
posted by sallybrown at 5:07 PM on April 13, 2019 [9 favorites]

“What if there was a place you could go where there was no TV? And you could break bread, and whoever you were sitting with was family?”)

That one seemed to me like the natural successor to "Take it, break it, share it, love it." Peggy can find Holy Communion in a Popsicle and at Burger Chef because she knows it's what people are looking for.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:23 PM on April 13, 2019 [12 favorites]

One of the most magical elements of that magical series is that they nailed each of these pitches, for real. I didn't like "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (I am an outlier, I know) nor the first episode of the new "Twilight Zone" because the comedy routines that are central to each show aren't that funny. Writing, directing, acting each of those "Mad Men" pitches so they feel compelling to us, the actual viewers IRL, is a truly incredible accomplishment.
posted by PhineasGage at 5:51 PM on April 13, 2019 [20 favorites]

"And you never say thank you!"

"Thats what the money is for!"
posted by Chrysostom at 7:28 PM on April 13, 2019 [12 favorites]

"One never knows how loyalty is born"

Stellar fucking writing and performances in this show.
posted by lalochezia at 7:33 PM on April 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

Mad Men, 30 Rock, and Archer all take place in the same universe.
posted by The Whelk at 7:56 PM on April 13, 2019 [13 favorites]

Man, that jaguar slogan is a little too on the nose for the other scene.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:17 PM on April 13, 2019

"And you never say thank you!"

"Thats what the money is for!"

No young person should be allowed to go into Biglaw or finance without watching "The Suitcase."
posted by praemunire at 10:18 PM on April 13, 2019 [7 favorites]

It is quite a feat to show how the magic trick works and for the magic trick to then still work.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:12 PM on April 13, 2019 [9 favorites]

I'm a big fan of this exchange from S3E13 ("Shut The Door. Have A Seat"):

Roger: Peggy, can you get me some coffee?
Peggy: No.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:36 AM on April 14, 2019 [19 favorites]

(Artists drew my daughter Adora in various Mad Men scenes through the years: The wheel, as Peggy and as Sally Draper)
posted by growabrain at 1:45 AM on April 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

Adore. this. show. Thanks for posting and reminding me how much!!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:30 AM on April 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

Man, that jaguar slogan is a little too on the nose for the other scene.

That was, of course, the point. While it could have been made more subtly, it ripped me apart the first time I saw it, and it destroyed me just now.

That's some good writing, perfectly acted.
posted by mikelieman at 3:54 AM on April 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

What people will do to each other, or for each other, and what they will do to themselves, or for themselves. The boardroom pitches and the writer's room riffing in Mad Men were always filtered or veiled or heightened versions of the bids and pleas they made in their homes, or to themselves when they were alone.
posted by Caxton1476 at 6:06 AM on April 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

Oh my god I just had a powerful reaction to seeing the words "Who cares?" as the visceral memory of watching that episode build to that moment, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how they could fix it -- and then it turned out it didn't even need fixing. Jesus, that was a great moment of comedy/drama/gilded catharsis. I can't think of any moment in entertainment that changes how the audience views everything, big and small, about it.
posted by tzikeh at 8:12 AM on April 14, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've gotten into collecting pins in a small way, and have quite a number by now. This is easily my favorite.
posted by rewil at 11:47 AM on April 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

I've been in that room many times over the course of my career, and I can tell you that this episode absolutely nailed that wordless moment when you know the small talk is over and it's time to begin the big presentation. It took seven seasons, but Peggy finally got her "Carousel.".
posted by How the runs scored at 12:30 PM on April 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

It took seven seasons, but Peggy finally got her "Carousel."

I still loved her bean ballet idea.
posted by sallybrown at 12:39 PM on April 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

I still loved her bean ballet idea.

Me the hell too! I was gobsmacked when they didn't like it on the show.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:57 PM on April 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

My beloved aunt worked in advertising in the sixties and seventies, and it's the measure of the truth of Mad Men's depiction of that world that she refuses to watch the show. The misogyny is still too painful.
posted by goofyfoot at 11:53 PM on April 14, 2019 [5 favorites]

My father had a close friend who worked for CBS in the 1960s (i.e. on the other side of the desk from the ad agencies) - he always said "Mad Men" was a documentary.
posted by PhineasGage at 7:00 AM on April 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

"Bert, you know how important I am to this company, you *were* me."

"I was different than you, Mr. Crane, in every way."
posted by Chrysostom at 4:09 PM on April 15, 2019 [2 favorites]

The misogyny is still too painful.

On my re-watch I had to contend with the idea that part of my enjoyment of it the first time around was that it felt sort of antiquated and sassy (and yes, horrible, but full-faceted). The second time? Post-Weinstein, I had to sit with the idea that we are still there. It's better. Some things are great! But dammit if there's not plenty, plenty, of that bullshit still going around.
posted by amanda at 12:01 PM on April 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

My mother, while not in advertising, was an office worker in the 1960s-70s, and she said that the level of misogyny and sexual harassment in the show was waaay toned down compared to the real thing.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:04 PM on April 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

The writing for Mad Men was so tight and rich. Great reminder.
posted by a halcyon day at 3:14 PM on April 19, 2019