Long e-mail from your friends at Natter Cast (nattercast.blogspot.com) , feel free of course to edit or excerpt:

They’re ringing the Pete Death Bell pretty loudly. But I’m going dark side on my Pete prediction.

I agree that Pete along with Don, Joan, Roger and Peggy are Core Mad Men. You don’t kill Jean Grey by having her fall down a flight of stairs and you don’t have Pete swallow Sulu’s rifle over suburban boredom. Sorry, Sulu.

The look on Pete’s face watching the teen carnage in Signal 30 reminded me of his borderline pornographic animal murder fantasy in season one. And one of the secretaries this season mentioned how Charles Whitman (who was a topic of conversation at Pete’s dinner) kept telling people about his mental problems and no one would listen. Just like no one listens to Pete.

What I’m saying is that Pete Campbell is gonna hafta choke a bitch. And learning how to drive will enable this chokery. Serial killers need to have cars. I’m going with a Pete Campbell suicide following a murder spree and possible hostage situation.

That’s an outside call, I admit. But no one ever gives you credit for the safe calls. I’m also offering good odds that his last wish will be to be buried in his stereo. Or maybe next to Wilt Chamberlain.

On the Don/Megan adultery watch: I’m going with Megan cheating on Don. She’s the one who has walked into a new world, evidently transforming from Marlo Thomas to Catherine Deneuve while we were on hiatus. Don seems to be in a contented space and his eye is not wandering. Neither is hers, yet, but Little Miss Zoo Zoo Bisou is bound to start noticing men notice her now that she’s in full Feminine Mystique mode. It’ll also be much better dramatically to see Don be the one who has to worry about fidelity. Watching him treat Megan like he treated Betty will just be a retread.

On the alcohol content of vanilla, evidently only us old timers who grew up in the era of 8-bit video games and 2-bit family dramas recall when Alex Keaton’s uncle played by Tom Hanks terrorized the Keaton family with his actually completely charming and wacky alcoholism. TV alcoholism in the 80s didn’t involve profuse sweating, vomiting, slurred speech or random mood swings. Just excessive, boundary defying wackiness.

Available here on the YouTubes is a clip where Forrest Gump educates Marty McFly on the difference between Miller Time and Vanilla Time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHDQMRRu74s

Lobster bibs is totally a thing. If you are eating whole lobster, you gotta crack that shit open with a nutcracker and there’s no way to avoid a lobster juice shower. Somewhere along the line people figured out that just because you order lobster that doesn’t mean you’re interested in turning dinner into a Gallagher act, so they began pre-cracking the shells in the kitchen. But you can still find places that will give you the full bib experience if you’re into that kind of thing.

Spot on about Roger’s choice of comfort lady: total Joan clone. As something of a Joanspotter, I picked that up right away.

Here’s an outside call on Don’s statement about what he has with Megan vs what he had with Betty. Yes, Betty has more issues than TV Guide, and she might never have been the dynamo he would have wanted her to be, but it’s also possible that Don was referring to living openly and honestly with his wife. Remember that Pete knows that Don is Dick Whitman and so does Megan. Don may have meant that if he could have been as honest with Betty as he was with Megan his first marriage would have been worth saving. I’m not sure if Pete knows that Megan knows or vice versa, but I think there’s something to the idea that Don is a good source of advice on the importance of honesty and fidelity, having tried to live without either for so long.

On the Battle Royale between Lane and Peter, my take is that Lane was more put out by Peter’s claim that he (Lane) is of no use to the firm. That’s the thing that seemed to sting him the most, enough so that he brought it up with Joan. Though I guess confiding to Joan that people think you’re gay isn’t such a hot idea in the puttin’ on the moves department.

Pete and Lane were definitely following the Marquees of Queensbury Rules. It may look a bit silly, but consider that this is a question of honor and not a mugging. There’s no honor in going Tyson and there’s also no desire on either man’s part to do grievous bodily injury to the other. Winning a fight dirty is worse than not fighting at all when the issue is honor.

Kids in the Hall did a great send up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT0NQ4ra2x4

On Joan and Lane: I’m not so sure that Joan doesn’t return his affection. But she’s savvy enough to know that having an affair with one of the partners of the firm, who happens to be married, is not the best way to re-establish herself in the firm and that Lane is not in a position to be the kind of life partner she needs as a newly single mom. She’s been down this road of strung out promises with Roger and my guess is she’d much rather have Lane as an ally than turn him into another Roger. She knows now that Lane is her strongest friend in the firm and she seems to genuinely like him. Making this situation any more uncomfortable than need be would be gratuitous and self-defeating. I agree that there is more coming in the Joan/Lane story line. I’m putting even money on Lane breaking bad by season’s end and Joan ending up with a basement full of blue meth and burned cash. Metaphorically speaking.

Finally, there’s a couple of notes on how the ninth symphony plays into this week’s episode. The ninth symphony, especially the chorale in the fourth movement, was a huge innovation in the form of classical music and it parallels the musical innovations of the late 1960s. Some critics at the time were put off by the ninth, feeling that it broke too many rules. Second, the lyrics of the chorale are an almost Bobby McFarrin-like ode to joy. It’s even called the Ode to Joy. And the German word for joy is “freude,” as in “Sigmund Freud.”

So you’ve got Pete Campbell living in the suburbs listening to a piece of music that was the White Album of its day and whose primary lyric is “Freude” while staring at his coffin-sized stereo. Any bets that the next song he listens to on that thing will be Helter Skelter?

Anyway, great cast as always and keep it up!

-Jason

So glad my husband told me about your podcasts, none of my friends watch MM (I should really re-evaluate who I have as friends) and it’s great to have an outlet for discussion. I haven’t had the chance to listen to the last 15 minutes of this weeks podcast so I apologize if I steal any thunder.

Pete, Pete, Pete, you freak. Not to be all social-worker on him, but he fits the antisocial personality disorder perfectly. He is a budding sociopath. The narcasism, the “people don’t respect me” attitude, all fodder for a freak out of massive proportion.

First, who the hell keeps a gun at their office? Oh yeah, Pete “you should all fall to your knees and fuck me like I’m a king” Campbell does. I think the robot who pulls out the screw is Pete and that he’s going to bat shit crazy and take some people out. The foreshadowing of the serial rapist and then the comments about the sniper not so subtly allude to such a possibility. Not to mention that every drivers ed class had to to with carnage and mayhem, hint hint? At least I hope that Pete goes wack-a-doodle and uses the gun (please, just don’t shoot Don in the face) to justify all the gun talk. I am not sure I see Pete commiting suicide. That’s too selfless, like he would be doing the world a favor to not have to endure his hideous hair cut any longer. I think Pete has turned a corner into being the man we need to adore and realize his power and if we can’t well; meet my little friend. Perhaps I hope it will be Pete who is taken out in some way or another because I will have to be put on 15 minute watch if Roger off’s himself.

The Don/Pete parallel. Don definately sees himself in Pete, the old Don that is and I think it is helping push Don towards moral living. We rarely see the negative in ourselves until we see it in other people. It could also be self preservation because Don knows Pete’s one 18 year old girl dissing him away from a tower and his gun. I think this is also why Don said what he did to Pete in the cab, because Don sees himself in Pete and doesn’t want Trudy to become Betty. Perhaps also a nod to why Don lit up like Snookie’s tanning bed when Trudy brought out the baby. It was a nod to how happy Don was during that time of his life with Betty and the kids in the beginning and he doesn’t want Pete to become who he was.

Speaking of babies. I wonder if that will be the undoing of Don and Megan. He wants a baby, she doesn’t. Don is starting over, and while I do agree that he loves his children and enjoys being a family man I think he also sees that the other kids are “lost causes.” They have grown up under the old Don, why not try for another kid and see if we don’t screw it up as much by the new Don raising it.

Joan and Lane. Ew. I would hope Joan is not attracted to Lane and that her fondness to him is out of a father/daughter bond. She seems protective of him and he’s just a dirty old man who is miserable in all ways and is starving for attention, acceptance and acknowledgement. Not to mentin Joan is in love with Roger (and vice versa) and they will roll off into the sunset in a Lincoln someday. Now I will say that the only time Lane would ever be able to melt my panties was when he was beating the self-loving shit out of Pete Campbell. So unless Joan is into that as well, I think she will keep it above the waist with Lane.

Beth