How did Peggy not know she was pregnant all the way up until she went into labor? Is it a “people were ignorant in the 60’s thing” or was her giving up the baby like a flash-forward type thing? Or is it explained in Season Two (which I will watch as soon as my library gets the DVD)?
Ignorant.
And i also suspect a case of Not wanting to realize something.
It’s never fully explained, but the most commonly accepted fan explanation is that she chalked up the weight gain and loss of her period to the stress of her advancement at Sterling-Cooper. The deeper psychological issues are explored in season two.
It’s not really ignorance, so much as denial. Some women know perfectly well how pregnancy works, but they still aren’t psychologically prepared to accept that they’re pregnant. It still happens, but it was probably even more prevalent back then, when there was a bigger stigma attached to being unmarried and pregnant.
I guess what you guys are saying makes more sense, but it still bugs me as a weak part of an incredibly strong episode. She didn’t even look pregnant - if I recall correctly, she was rounder all over with no real set concentration in the lower belly region. I understand that the producers wouldn’t want to give it away, but still.
If Peggy was having some psychological issues and was unable to accept the fact that she was in fact pregnant, I wish they were more apparent prior to the episode or during it.
Why is it so important that WE know she’s pregnant before she did?
I’m not saying we had to know before Peggy did, I just think it totally comes out of left field when she doesn’t even have a baby bump, you know? It doesn’t make any sense, especially since Peggy had the baby after a full term (I don’t think there’s any evidence that says it was premature, unless it’s in season two, which I haven’t seen) and you can tell when a woman is nine months pregnant. Yes, fat people can look pregnant, but Peggy really wasnt even that fat.
Two separate issues, but lots of people go to term without anyone knowing they were pregnant.
In the episodes leading up to when she went into labor many people commented on her gaining weight. She probably knew that she was pregnant, but denied the whole thing.
I still think it came out of nowhere.
They start adding weight on Moss a lot earlier than you’d think, and the way they play it off as the stress of the job (and Pete being a dick) is incredibly well done. But Phil makes a good point – we don’t need to know before she did, and we don’t need to know if she knew. It works incredibly well. Again, I don’t want to spoil the second season for Patrick, but there’s a particular episode that speaks volumes about Peggy’s mental state before and after.
She did bone down on that dude, so I guess one shot was all it took.
This story, and how it affects Peggy’s life, continues to be one of the best aspects of the show. Many of the storylines of the show are slow builds so they take time to fully realize. I love that. And Elizabeth Moss does an amazing job throughout.
Too bad she’s a dirty, stinky Scientologist.
No matter the quibbles about the handling of Peggy’s pregnancy it was worth for the scene of Don and her at the hospital. One of Hamm’s best moments in the whole series.
I remember watching that season and every episode my girl and I would talk about how Peggy was gaining serious weight. This led to discussions of whether or not showrunners have to put their foot down and confront actresses about not keeping a consistent weight etc. It never for one second crossed my mind. I think my jaw fell through the fucking floor with that reveal. Lost is my show, but that kind of twist floats my boat.
It certainly wasn’t out of nowhere. We were just being kept in the dark.
When Peggy first started gaining weight after sleeping with Pete, I considered pregnancy a foregone conclusion, actually. I just assumed she was keeping it a secret. As Peggy’s weight gain just kept going without any reference to pregnancy (even in scenes in which she had no reason to hide anything), I thought I’d been wrong initially. There’s not a very compelling case to be made for her having known she was pregnant and consciously hiding it. My wife and I were watching specifically for signs that Peggy knows, and there just aren’t any. She’s in total denial.
Seriously, this is not unheard of, even among women who should notice the physical changes. You guys keep focusing on the weight gain, but that’s entirely external. The biggest giveaway for women during pregnancy isn’t the weight gain; if denial can make Peggy overlook missing her period for about nine months (as it does other women in real life), it can certainly account for weight gain.
She was also buried in fatty prosthetics for the last couple episodes. There was one in particular where they just weren’t too convincing. But yes, there are lots of stories about women not knowing they were carrying.
Yeah, I bought it completely. It’s a strong and dark creative choice for the show, and I really liked where they went with it in the second season.
What helped and this was probably due to the fashion of the day was that her pregency wasn’t made obvious. You didn’t see (And God I hate use of this word) a “bump” on her that would’ve made you say. “Yeah, she’s preggers.”
Quote:
| Originally Posted by DaveB View Post When Peggy first started gaining weight after sleeping with Pete, I considered pregnancy a foregone conclusion, actually. I just assumed she was keeping it a secret. As Peggy’s weight gain just kept going without any reference to pregnancy (even in scenes in which she had no reason to hide anything), I thought I’d been wrong initially. There’s not a very compelling case to be made for her having known she was pregnant and consciously hiding it. My wife and I were watching specifically for signs that Peggy knows, and there just aren’t any. She’s in total denial. Seriously, this is not unheard of, even among women who should notice the physical changes. You guys keep focusing on the weight gain, but that’s entirely external. The biggest giveaway for women during pregnancy isn’t the weight gain; if denial can make Peggy overlook missing her period for about nine months (as it does other women in real life), it can certainly account for weight gain. |
I think you’re totally right. If anything the weight gain might have helped her along in her denial as it was visual evidence to back up her thoughts of, “I’m just getting fat.” What I wonder is if the possibility of her being pregnant ever crossed her mind and she searched for a secondary explanation, or if it just never occurred to her.