'Mad Men' on AMC HD - Page 56

It was that high for the top earners but most of them got around it via loopholes, etc.

The UK, however, WILL get their money. Even now, the UK is notorious for demanding that its expats pay her majesty's government its fair share.

US expats are supposed to pay. However, the IRS is not as aggressive as the UK when it comes to tax collection.

Doesn't Anna Wood (Lakshmi) look (and act) like a young Juliet Lewis? I wondered if it was the same actress that was in "Chronicle" and it is.

That's when all our good cheap thowing stuff came from Japan -- instead of China as it does now.

w/o question; i thought the very same thing.

My take on that is more cynical than yours. I took Harry to be motivated not to help Paul, but rather to screw the girl who just demanded he stay away from Paul. Harry was put off at her whoring herself out just to send the message to leave Paul alone and by her audacity in demanding that he leave Paul alone. Thus, in that view, Harry "helps" Paul to leave the Krisnas and go to California solely out of spite towards the girl and her demand. Note that Harry encouraged Paul in his script writing and gave him false hope to pursue that as a career. No one actually wanting to help Paul would have encouraged him that way, especially given that Harry clearly thought the script was awful.

Harry's sending Paul off serves two of Harry's self interests: 1) it gets Paul out of his hair; and 2) it spites the girl and allows Harry to "win" in their post-sex dispute.

Your two views aren't mutually exclusive. I come down in the middle of the two. The only thing odd to me was his praising of the script, but then I thought maybe it was an "inside" joke on the television (modern) industry - he'll probably be hailed as a genius by the end of the series

Lofty space and social programs, as well as other public works projects cost a lot of money. Don't forget, Capital Gains were also near 60% at the time.

Even if no loopholes, isn't as if they will take 90,000 if you made 100,000 total.

The higher band/progressive rates would address each dollar/pound, over such and such amount.

I think this was definitely part of it, but I think Harry also wanted to pull Paul out of "that" world, and picked up from their encounters that Paul had zero confidence in himself and his abilities. Even though his Trek script was awful, it was a viable path back to "the real world" for Paul, and he wanted to help him as best as he could. I think Harry genuinely believed that the conversion was partly to blame for Paul's fall, and would much rather see Paul try (and fail) in Hollywood than become (what he perceives to be) a bum/religious nut.

I couldn't believe they showed her taking tissues from Harry's desk to clean herself afterwards. That's a bit realistic even for cable.

I took it that he was placing a full deposit on the car to assure the salesman that he would return it after the test drive, and was not purchasing it. Return car, get his check back.

Yeah, that was my take too. The $6,000 check Don gave the dealership was really just a security deposit so that he could take the car for a spin without one of the dealer's employees coming along. I thought he made it quite clear to the salesman that he wasn't committing to buying the car.

Yes, that's right. I was more referencing the casual way in which he plunked it down. And he's done that before.

And then to wave it around. I think I pushed my back into the couch in a reflexive attempt to distance myself.

I was just getting ready to mention that. When I first saw her I thought JL had done the Hollywood face-over with the not-very-common excellent results. But then after a few more seconds I saw it wasn't her.

He's not supporting Betty. She remarried. He's also no longer supporting Anna.


We don't know anything about their financial situations. Roger came from a rich family and may be getting huge dividend checks from blue chip stocks he inherited from his father. Don writing a check for a Jaguar shows how careless he is with his money.

People who buy lots of stuff are not necessarily wealthy.


Lane may have just started being the prudent, financially minded one out of necessity. We know from last season that it's important his family maintain appearances. Also the British economy was a disaster in the late 60's so it's possible investments he may have had were lost.


Pete was beaten up in front of his coworkers while they cheered. I admit I have never been punched in the face by a coworker during a meeting but if I had I wouldn't write it off as just a bad day. But then maybe Pete is an easy-going care-free forgiving man who never holds a grudge against anyone... oh wait, I was thinking of Ken.


Yeah, how's that going for him?


Well if I were beaten up in front of my coworkers while they stood idly by, I doubt Don Draper would cross my mind. I would be looking for someplace else to work and taking as many of my accounts with me as I could. On Mad Men, that incident is completely forgotten... it was four whole episodes ago and everything is back to normal!


In previous seasons there have been almost as many simultaneous story arcs but they were much better at getting all of them to progress in almost every episode. This season is too choppy. Even though the series is supposedly moving forward in time, a bunch of stuff happens in one story line and then the characters disappear for episodes. Then they return and we have to remember what was happening to them three episodes ago and figure out if that had anything to do with what's happening now. This could be front/back episode actor scheduling they're using to save money (actors can be contracted for a certain number of episodes in the beginning of a season and another number at the end of a season).

Even the Megan story is like this. She quit to return to acting, her burning passion. She took one acting class and now she's sitting in the apartment waiting for Don to come home like a good house wife? What?

It is only an hour-long show. They can't focus (or somethimes even touch) every storyline that is going on concurrently.

Yes, that can make things seem disjointed (or ignored) at times.

It is part of the limitations.

My biggest complaint about this episode was the failure to include a totally gratuitous shot of Joan stepping out of that XKE, preferably in slow motion.

Good point. Maybe it's for the better they didn't. It's probably the sexiest car ever made, and Joan's sexy body stepping out of it would have made my TV blow up in smoke.

Great episode. Joan is killing it this season. Good to see a candid scene with her and Don.

There has been a lot of discussion in this forum concerning how Don can afford this or that, with attempts to invent things that the writers haven't included in the show. There have been other attempts to explain the motivations of various actions, e.g., Pete's "donation" of $500 in the last episode.

So I'd like to suggest that it's interesting now and then to step away from speculating about the characters as if they were real people and remember that they are fictional entities living a fictional life in a world that writers concoct, all for the purpose of stimulating our emotions and fantasies.

I'm not suggesting that anyone here actually thinks Mad Men is nonfiction, but I think a useful metric for evaluating Mad Men and other fictional works when they stray from the expected realities of everyday life is something that Coleridge labeled "willing suspension of disbelief." Wikipedia has a concise explanation:

Suspension of disbelief or willing suspension of disbelief is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literary works of fiction. The phrase was coined in 1817 by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative.

People can't find legitimate reasons to criticize the show, so they have to resort to minute details that have no bearing on the writing whatsoever.

I agree on both counts and I would really hate to replace my still new plasma, so yeah, I'm glad they did not include that scene!

Finally caught up and saw the last two recent episodes. Both were great. I think Pete banging that married chick is at the top right now. Man, Don and that E-Type Jag! It's amazing how much Jon Hamm was MADE for this show! So classic! Once again poor Megan... lol Eat it Betty, ha!


LMAO! YEAH! Pretty sure!

Yeah, even the writers alluded to Hendricks' weight gain in a recent episode in which Joan's mother commented on her weight gain. No matter, Christina Hendricks is still incredibly sexy and remains about my favorite character in the show.

I remember having dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant here in San Francisco awhile back and the buxom hostess had on a vintage style tight dress. On of the waiters walked up to her and said, "who do you remind me of, let me think". Suddenly he exclaimed "I've got it! Christina Hendricks, Joan, from Mad Men!" I looked up and thought, "yeah, he's right!" Hard to concentrate on dinner that night.

+1 After "interacting" with a couple of Joanie body type women, its very difficult to give up on those very feminine curves.

Mercy.....

She's was what got me watching Mad Men although even if she wasn't I'd still be watching. While were talking about her I was a little surprised when Don admitted staying away from her and not even trying although, I don't think Joan really is his type. Too much woman for him. lol

When will AMC start rerunning this season from the beginning, anyone knows?

My guide doesn't go out far enough, and the AMC site doesn't help either. They also only give you episode name and make you go look up the season and episode number. D'oh!

The way that episode played out, with each of the most important women in Don's life "betraying" him, and how that culminated at the end with Peggy, was incredibly well done.

I'm going to hope this doesn't end with Megan stepping into her shoes, though. That would cheapen those final ten minutes immensely.