Agreed! Betty is an evil mother, but I think second worse mother on TV right now is Linden on The Killing, seriously so bad. That was a smart move on Megan’s part when she talked Don down, she is so much smarter than Don these days.
Favorite scene was Don and Ginsberg in the elevator – Don’s statement was really interesting, “I don’t even think about you.” We all know that is a lie, he spent a whole weekend day trying to come up with something as good as Ginsberg.

I have started listening to almost all of your podcasts recently and find your MadMen Podcast to be the best. Keep it up!

Is the internet or the moon landing a greater achievement? Well…which would you miss more if it went away tomorrow?

-Jason from NatterCast

Thoughts on Christmas Waltz:

* Actually, there have been worse Star Trek episodes

* Interesting that Don used the phrase “great leap forward” to inspire the workers about the Jaguar contract. The Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) was a catastrophic social/economic reform plan implemented in Communist China. It resulted in tens of millions of death (five or six times the Holocaust by some estimates) and is considered a prime example of the excesses and abuses of national communism. While the figures may be exaggereated, surely everyone in the room would think of “great leap forward” along with “titanic” and “Hindenberg” as examples of hubris leading to disaster. Maybe everyone at SCDP should read the rest of Ozmandias…the boobs.

* And speaking of boobs, correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is the first time we’ve ever seen Joan and Don share a deep heart to heart? I agree with your thesis that Don, Joan, Peggy and Roger are the Core Mad Men, but it’s always seemed that the dynamic was Roger and Peggy dealing separately with Don and Joan. Don and Joan reminded me of a former Queen B and Big Man on Campus sharing a drink a few years after graduation. Both of them are seeing their best years in the rearview mirror, and they know it.

* Don should spend some time getting used to the idea of women throwing things. Something tells me it’s going to be a big part of his middle aged life.

Random notes:

* Notice the similarity between the staging of the dialogue between Don, Pete and Roger and the staging of the play that Don and Megan attend: minimalist background

* We see the theme of money as a short term solution: Joan refuses Roger’s child support, Paul says that money “solves today, not tomorrow” and Lane complicates his tax problems in the UK by committing forgery and embezzlement in the US. And $500 apparently buys a lot of guilt relief for Harry.

* Continuing the theme of “descent into the bowels of hell,” can anything top getting a Star Trek spec script pitch from your friend the Hare Krishna? Maybe a real estate seminar run by Scientologists?

-Jason from Natter Cast
nattercast.blogspot.com
and on the face books

One last one:

So we have a Star Trek reference on the show and then Megan in a red dress. Death sign?