Yeah, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” was pretty fucking good. Looks like I’m in it for the long haul thanks to Netflix Instant. Some initial thoughts:
-I’m guessing the series eases up on the blunt “Hey it’s the 60s!” stuff? Not that it wasn’t entertaining, mind you.
-I had been wondering for a while WHY the show had this title, so it was neat to get an upfront explanation. Thanks, show!
-I already liked Jon Hamm a good deal as an actor, but I can already see why people fell in love with him here first. Motherfucker’s magneticand charming out the ass.
-Christina Hendricks: Proof that you can be insanely hot AND an awesomely talented actress. I loved her no-bullshit attitude with Peggy.
-Oh, Vincent Kartheiser. Why are you so good at playing characters I want to punch in the face over and over again?
-Calling it now: Sal is totally gay.
-Ken’s played by the L.A. Noire guy, isn’t he? I knew I recognized him.
-Roger admitting he had to go to the mailroom to find a Jew was both awful and really funny. I foresee Roger becoming a potential favorite.
-Nice misdirection on which presidential candidate Roger wanted Don to do a campaign ad for.
-Why DID Peggy let Pete into her room at the end?
-Was Don being a married man supposed to be a twist? I unfortunately already know the whole thing about his identity, but the way that final scene was shot seemed to indicate the audience was supposed to be surprised he wasn’t single.
Just the way he said “I know what you mean” in response to that girl gushing about all the men in the club seemed like a big red flag. And, OK, he had a little bit of the “gay voice” going.
I don’t know if surprise is the best word for it, but remember, he goes to the greeting card painter and she definitely with her. You get the idea that he is a player about town, but not that he is a man with a wife and kids in the suburb. He asks the greeting card lady about getting married. So yeah, it is a shock.
Why Peggy did that? I don’t know really. Her arc in this series is one of the best around.
Roger and Pete just keep improving. I disliked Roger at first since I had a bad taste in my mouth seeing him in previous work -while I was in a bad mood-
Roger’s one of those assholes who I find just endlessly compulsively watchable. He really does steal any scene he’s in.
I’m 3/4 through season 4 (The Suitcase just happened…and fucking WRECKED ME). Pete continues to annoy me, but there’s this tiny, infinitesimal seed of grudging respect for him for handling his shit far as protecting his accounts is concerned. He still handles them like a bitch (love how he turned Roger storming out of the Honda meeting into “All About MEEE!!!”), but he doesn’t just whine about it like in seasons past.
Also, being this far, we dont get nearly as much of Peggy and Joan together as I would prefer throughout the series.
Also, to answer a future question, yes, it’s fine to hate Betty. A lot. As in, she’s still the most reprehensible person on the show. The young douchebags they’ve hired on in Season 4 dont even come close.
Is she at least written wellas a reprehensible person? Understand that I’m the type of guy who frowns on cheating in general, so that’s not going to be a point in Don’s favor.
Peggy & Joan as much as Don & Joan work better in smaller doses. In some way Peggy and Joan are distant for the different (?) paths they have taken while they have a bond for being females surrounded by jackals.
ABettys character is written just fine as a terrible person, but January Jones in particular is just a black hole of charisma. She plays it less as a repressed, self-aware, jilted 50s housewife, more like WASP-800, liquid snooty over metal endoskeleton.
I don’t want to say too much, but I will say that telling someone “it’s okay to hate” a character is kind of dumb. Just watch the show. You shouldn’t love or hate any of these characters as much as you should be observing the deft writing and character development. It’s not a soap opera. When it comes to Betty, pay particular attention to her in season one, and even season two, as I recall. She’s not remotely “hateful.” In fact, her story inspired a lot of sympathy from me. How she turns out is how she turns out, and there are no excuses for that, but, again, there’s no point in talking about stuff you’ve not gotten to, yet.
I don’t think she’s really pulled off the character very well since she’s become what she’s become, at least not with the level of nuance we’d expect from this show. But in the beginning I thought she was pretty great. That scene between her and Glen in the parking lot, for example? Her acting there made for one of the most heartbreaking moments in the show’s run.