I haven't even cried yet

Mad Men - "Flight 1"

A few remarks on episode 2 of season 2:

• Vincent Kartheiser does a fine job as Pete on a weekly basis but in this he was amazing: enter this as your Emmy submission amazing. He was strangely vulnerable, lovable and appealing.
• Peggy is a funny one. Sometimes I’m not sure if she is supposed to be as inscrutable as she is. With an actor like Jon Hamm you can read his face and expressions and get an idea of what he may be thinking but Elisabeth Moss is often unreadable. She is either incredibly subtle or a bit wooden. I can’t make up my mind.
• I fear Don is not long for faithfulness. His relationship with Betty is brittle. I give him credit for trying but I really don’t think he likes her.
• Betty has little patience with her children but I thought she was spot on about her son being a little liar and lack of respect (what would she make of many modern parents’ relationships with their children?). The subtext of her remark regarding she knows what little boys are like wasn’t lost on Don - which does make me think he is only being faithful because he knows that she knows. I though her snippiness in the kitchen was also justified after all it was Don who hinted that Francine’s husband was unhappy. She does seem awfully privileged but that doesn’t mean she isn’t unhappy within the parameters of her life.
• It is useful to keep in mind that Mad Men is a narrow view of the sixties. However, a limited view is a useful way to focus on specific issues.
• Christina Hendricks was worried about coming across as racist in her remarks to Sheila and to Paul but I think she would have been as unpleasant to anyone. Furthermore, Paul is a creep and a phoney (a great Orson Welles look-alike mind you) who made a move on Peggy after he bought her a sandwich back thirteen episodes ago.
• On a shallow note, Alison Brie (what a great name, not as fab as January Jones but still great) is a lovely looking woman.