Mad Men! Very late starter. Enthralled ...

[PerditaProvokesEnmity]

Until last weekend I'd only watched about half of one random episode. It has completely taken over my nights and days. I'm coming to the end of Season 4 and the real world's going to seem strange and unfamiliar by the end of Season 7.

Anyone else? Or, if no one wants to play, was there ever a particularly engaged thread I can seek out in the archives?

Or, to put it another way - why wouldn't a man marry his secretary? Absolute paradigm of the perfect little wife.

I could discuss Mad Men all day! Have you got to 'The Suitcase' yet? It's the best drama episode in the world ever IMHO.

I have! It was completely wonderful - really felt like the episode one had been waiting for. (I saw a review that echoed your statement - though I'd argue its position has now been superseded by the school episode of I May Destroy You.)

Just finished the opening episodes of Season 5 - Don's birthday party, and the equal opportunities recruitment advert. Stupendous.

I'm glad Don has remarried - totally sick of seeing him lean into yet another rapid unzipping with yet another random female.

It's one of my favourite TV shows ever. Its gorgeous to look at, unfolds so slowly, has so much to say about loneliness and identity and alienation. I agree that 'The Suitcase' is a brilliant episode. Enjoy!

It’s so, so good. I watched it a while ago now so can’t remember more than random scenes and overall story.

But the Jaguar pitch and Carousel pitch stand out in my mind. He was so good in them.

Series 5 is incredible! No spoilers, but there is so much in it. I had to take a pause at the end and haven't moved onto 6 yet...

I absolutely love mad men, and lose myself for a couple of weeks letting it completely take over my world, about once a year

I completely missed it when it was on, but I'm so glad I did as it meant I could binge watch the entire thing.

I love how you can love and dislike all the characters at the same time. The complex personalities in them all is what's so intriguing.

I feel so sorry for Betty and her life being the little wife left at home with the kids and how she copes/not copes with it, but I also can't stand her aswell.

Shoot is my favourite Betty episode.

Yes Shoot is brilliant.

OP if you fancy reading some in depth discussions of each episode the comment threads after the Guardian 'Notes from the Breakroom' articles are a great read.

Ah, thanks Valency! I did have a quick look at one of the early episode blogs there, but omitted the comments.

OMG S5 Episode 4, Mystery Date is just extraordinary! And ... I don't know if Michaela Coel has mentioned Mad Men in any of her recent interviews? Intermittently this week I've perceived connections between the two shows - but this episode ... Perhaps it's an iconic thing that every ambitious post-MM show used - the dream/imaginary sequence of the murdered aggressor under the bed?

Peggy inviting Dawn home - that was fascinating.

Bit conflicted about the whole Henry thing. He's pretty enough, but I'm finding it hard to believe in the vast mausoleum of a house - who would ever choose such a place to bring up children? And his appalling mother is a step too far.

I've never been able to believe in Joan and Greg; they had no chemistry at all - whereas she and Roger seemed perfectly suited. (I love Roger, he's so petulant, and bad, but so appealing.)

Was Betty's weight gain prosthetics? It didn't look natural - whereas I assumed Peggy's in S1 was real.

Whatever - it's all magnificent.

Yes it was prosthetics to cover up that January Jones was pregnant. I found it a bit strange! Although I think the storyline fits with Betty's character.

This has encouraged me to try again with Mad Men. I watched maybe two episodes and I couldn't stand the slow pace and stilted dialogue. My main problem was with the extreme sexism, were they suggesting that the secretaries had to be available for sex as well as typing? I didn't get that. It also seemed to drag on and on about an advert for cigarettes with no conclusion and I found Don Draper so creepy. Should I try again?

I watched the first episode, didn't rate it like you, then years later caught a few episodes of season 4 and was hooked. So I would recommend giving it another go! The sexism is an ongoing theme. It's a slow burner but the more you get to know the characters the more engrossed you become.

My main problem was with the extreme sexism,

It's ... challenging to watch, isn't it? Somehow (even) more difficult in an office than in any portrayal of domestic life from past decades. (A million MN threads would suggest that domestic life has scarcely changed at all from the 1960s for women in heterosexual relationships.)

I did spend the first several episodes apoplectic. Then began to enjoy the various ways the women navigated their way around the misogyny.

But I was there! Not in the US - England in the 70s, let's say. It was completely unremarkable for both men and women, phoning a company with enquiry or complaint, to ask to speak to a man. And I remember a discussion on the Radio 4 Today programme about women having their "bottoms" pinched on the tube. The presenter Brian Redhead (ask your grandmother) was incredulous that women minded so much ...

The sexism is extreme, so are the episodes where older guy does minstrel entertainment, they talk about Jewish people, the guy loses a foot and can’t work, and the gay man is dismissed when client tries it on.

Advertising is generally more sexist even now, it would have been bad back then.

I'm coming to the end of Season 4 and the real world's going to seem strange and unfamiliar by the end of Season 7.

Yes. Only 10 years pass during the series but it seems like they've gone from one age to another, and given the huge social changes of the decade, they kind of have. In series one, they're still socially and culturally in the 1950s, whereas by season 7 they're at the dawn of the troubled 1970s. A different world. Whereas when you look back at 10 years ago now, it really doesn't seem so different (pandemic aside obviously!) When I see TV from the noughties, I often don't realise it's 10 or 15 years ago until I notice the clunky phones and computers.

Mad Men is a great show though. I also came to it late and wondered what took me so long. Lucky you to have so much of it to look forward to.

I'm going to have to write O M G !!! again, with added emphasis.

Series 5, Episode 11, The Other Woman.

Now ... I've lived an awful long time - and seen some things. And watched more streamed TV in the last four/five months than in the past decade. Lately involving rape, false accusations of rape amongst school pupils, brutal DV, extreme emotional torture ... Episode 11 of Mad Men contains one of the most shocking transactions I've ever witnessed.

And yet. A partnership. Five percent. I'm so torn between "Is this what women have to do?" and "My God, look what she got in exchange."

Fucking awesome TV.

That is an amazing episode. I think it's also the one where Peggy hands in her notice? I love the final moment when the music kicks in as she gets into the lift. In fact the closing music is generally my favourite bit of every episode. It's always so well chosen and so meaningful.

I actually didn't like the Joan 'sleeping with sleazy man in return for partnership' storyline. I found it highly implausible and in-your-face, not really in keeping with the rest of the series. It just didn't ring true to me.

IcedPurple if it had come out of nowhere I would have found it ridiculous. But after 60 odd episodes (!) learning exactly how disrespectful these men are of these women ...

Yes, it's the one where Peggy gets a new job. And yes, like all the very best shows, the music is a huge part of the appeal.

And, sometimes, even though it's set in the US not the Home Counties, I gasp at how familiar the wallpaper is and think of my parents' excitement and joy at decorating the new house we moved into sometime over that decade.

if it had come out of nowhere I would have found it ridiculous. But after 60 odd episodes (!) learning exactly how disrespectful these men are of these women ...

Disrespectful is one thing. Conditioning a major business deal on spending one single night with a certain woman... that just didn't ring true for me. I thought the plot line was laboured and stretched plausibility in a way that was out of character for the series.

Ha! Speaking of laboured - what on Earth happened with Season 6? The first three episodes are terrible. It's like the writers lost the will to live. The only sparky bits are with Peggy at her new firm - and I'm prepared to bet every ounce of my blood that she'll be back at Drapers' Beans & Pantyhose Inc by the end of this series, or the next.

I'll persevere - presumably it picks up for the final Season?

My main regret is Don Dead Behind The Eyes Draper. Such a strange vacuum at the centre of the story. No doubt his ... affliction could be given a different name in each of the succeeding decades - sex addiction, attachment disorder, whatever. It's beyond boring and must surely have seemed more than a little repetitive for the actor.

Ha! Speaking of laboured - what on Earth happened with Season 6?

Definitely the weakest season. Way too much Megan. I found myself thinking that the superb 'Are you alone?' scene at the end of the 5th series should have been the finale of the whole thing. But I guess they wanted Don to see out the decade and it does get better, so don't give up!

No doubt his ... affliction could be given a different name in each of the succeeding decades - sex addiction, attachment disorder, whatever,

Don is lots of things but I don't think he's a sex addict. He turns down women quite frequently. I think in all of his longer term affairs he's looking for something but never finds it. I don't think it's just about the sex.

Also totally disagree that his character is boring. I think Don Draper is one of the greatest TV characters ever. One of the themes of Mad Men is that people fundamentally don't change, and I think Don's character arc bears that out. I find it a refreshing change from the usual TV dramas, where characters have some magic moment which changes them forever. In real life, that rarely happens. We see Don moving from the conservative late 1950s to the wacky 1970, although so much happens to him, deep down he's the same guy, making the same mistakes and falling into the same patterns of behaviour. Same is true for most of us I think.

It is without a doubt the most beautiful thing I have ever watched. Perfect in every way. I cried after the final episode as the thought of not watching another episode featuring characters I grew to love was beyond sad.

It has picked up considerably at S6, Ep5!

Epic.

What I really liked is how close the characters are various attributes in a creative agency.

Pete Campbell is brilliant as accounts. DD is as a CD would be.

Where Don lets down the researcher woman for Megan, is perfectly done.