I agree. I think it sets up some Peggy vs Don competing for future accounts.

During the scene where they are in the theater I just kept waiting for Peggy to reach over and give Don a handy. Kinda of a "Thanks for everything Don, allow me to jerk you off while we watch this movie together"

There's no better account-as-character-metaphor.

Did anyone else think Megan's earring during her screentest look like a little hanged man?

this site pandagon does a video recap/analysis each week that is pretty good (from an explicitly feminist perspective, fwiw)

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/c...en-the-phantom

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/43821946" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

their take on the screentest is that a) Don see's that she is not a natural talent and b) he sees her expressions in the abstract and realizes that what he fell for originally was in part an act...

i also agree that Don isn't just going to return to his swinging ways, but their relationship has fundamentally changed and is going to fall apart, imo...no clue where Don goes from there

Yeah, the more I think on it (after my third full re-watch) the more I get convinced that Don is gonna' sleep with that woman at the bar. I think that analysis from The Orange Couch is correct when it asserts that Don is accepting the bad parts of himself. Too bad the show had to use that dentist scene to get him there; I think that might just be the worst scene in Mad Men history. Talk about overdoing it.

Yeah, that was pretty apparent. Virginia Slims was a Phillip Morris brand that rolled out in 1968; this season took place in 1966.

Could we simply skip forward 18 months or so to Peggy slamming the Phillip Morris account? Surely they won't be so pedantic as to have her come back to SCDP as a partner with Phillip Morris in tow (as discussed earlier, I just don't like the arc).

I'd have to re-watch the screen test to see how I feel about Don's take. My first blush was that he saw that A) She doesn't have the chops to pull this off but that B) She does still have the beauty and grace that he saw in her in the first place.

I'm decidedly pro-Don and am always trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. My hope is that he's seen the writing on the walls with Meghan's acting career but has had a moment of clarity with their relationship so he's doing the 'good husband' thing in getting her the gig.

But I can't lie - him walking away from the set with his shoulders set back and the strut clear for the world to see was just awesome. He was right back where he was when he was just busting skulls at Sterling Cooper; in his element and in command.

Virginia is for lovers.

http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/upl...n5-doghump.jpg

and the worst line: "i'll hang around.."

groan

I don't think there is any question that the Don and Megan relationship is pretty much done. The scene with him walking away from the set is just to powerful of a metaphor to think anything else. This whole season, Don has never figured out the "right" thing to do with any of the women in his life. It seems he is going to fully embrace Don Draper, the good and more important, the bad and see where that takes him.

The orange couch talked about the parallel scene to the Megan reel from the first season. I had forgotten how powerful it was.

http://youtu.be/suRDUFpsHus

embeding disabled

Yeah, virgina slims was the first thing I said to my wife.

just not too sure where they are going with Peggy. Like I've said before, she's a big part of the show for me.

Maybe I missed something, but what was the significance of Don seeing / interacting with Adam?

in that clip he says "in greek nostalgia means the pain from an old wound" (sufix -algia = pain)

which connects to Pete last night talking about the wound that never heals...to a woman whose memories are continually erased and for whom there is no material be nostalgic about...

crazy how true this show is to its own motifs

Rewatched this afternoon, and HOLY SHIT:

Megan's friend who she back-stabbed for the part ("I'd ask you who I have to sleep with, but I don't think you'd like it) and the blonde who approached Don in the bar at the end...

Same person?

Searching for screencaps...

I wondered that too.