(no subject)
I've been meaning to get in the habit of posting episode reactions (even if they're extremely shallow, like "there's something inexplicably hot about Don Draper mixing an old fashioned"), but my download usually finishes at around 7 AM, and once I've watched it I usually have the presence of mine to set a Roger Sterling quip as my facebook status before going back to bed. Suffice to say, this is the first season I've watched in real time (well, give or take 10 hours) and I've really been enjoying it. Some shows flow better viewed all at once, but I like having a week to let things sink in (and read up on some of the nuances I missed).
It's also kind of strange to be following a show that's so popular and highly regarded--I can read fannish reactions and acquire Pete Campbell gifs on LJ, learn the ins and outs of making an old fashioned on the Somethingawful forums, and then there are the actual newspaper articles about the show and its treatment of race, women, the '60s, and so forth. I feel spoiled. (Hahaha, when I was mainlining the episodes, I sort of assumed that whatever Mad Men fandom there was would be fixated--like me--on Don. Turns out people love Pete and Sal and Peggy and Harry Crane and Paul! And Joan, obviously. I'm glad it's not just a Cult of Don Draper, regardless of how willingly I'd join.)
Anyway, the show itself. The first couple episodes this season seemed kind of slow to me (Sal's bellhop encounter aside), and I think that's because I went into them expecting everything to revolve around Don. This season's focused more on Peggy, Sally, Sal--characters that are just now coming into their own. Which makes sense, since times are changing and the people who are most attuned to that are probably going to fare best. I love the way Peggy's evolved (stoned!Peggy was amazing, although so was I'm going to help myself to your hamburger!Peggy)--I liked her before, but she's now one of my favorite characters. And Sally's arc was introduced (and handled) so subtly that it was halfway over before I realized "Holy shit, they're developing Sally Draper as a character!" It's a testament to the quality of the show that it can allow all these characters to share the spotlight and develop them at a very deliberate pace.
More episode-specific thoughts next week, probably. I will say that I found Sally's classroom pretty cool--the cursive chart, the long division problem on the board, the old globe, the bulky desks. And it's nice to know kids were telling each other to "save some for the fish" in the '60s.