S4E9 – The Beautiful Girls

Mad Men Men

We're podcasters, not astronauts, so give us some slack if we don't shoot for new heights with "The Beautiful Girls." A Mad Men episode with ample hijinks and comedy mixed with dramatic workplace sexism and Don Draper constantly disappointing the women in his life. Because, well, this is Mad Men. And the Mad Men "Men" never know what's going on...

In case this is your first time digging into our podcast, we recap Mad Men from the perspective of a first-time watcher, someone who only watched the show once while it was airing, and a superfan who watches excessively instead of having a functional social life.

Discussion Points:

• What is "The Beautiful Girls" truly saying about sexism underneath it all?
• Does this episode feel too much like a redux of previous Mad Men episodes?
• What drives Joan and Roger and to do what they do after getting mugged?
• Can we give it up for Ms. Blankenship, Queen of Perversions, first of her name and protecter of the realm, an astronaut if there ever was one?
• Is Sally really Don's weak spot?
• Speaking of spots, why did Don put Faye on one?
• Why does Faye struggle to connect with Sally?
• Is this the springtime of Peggy's youth?

Extra credits:

Matthew Weiner created Mad Men, which aired on AMC from 2007 to 2015. Michael Uppendahl directed “The Beautiful Girls” and Matthew Weiner co-wrote the script with Dahvi Waller. The show stars Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Robert Morse, and many more. Our intro music is “Mad Men Men” by Tom Davidson, which is an original remix of the show’s opening theme “A Beautiful Mine” by RJD2. Podcast illustration is by Jon Negroni. Our podcast hosts include Jon Negroni (Podcast Editor of InBetweenDrafts), Will Ashton (cohost of the Cinemaholics podcast), and Michael Overhulse (a guy who’s addicted to working at startups).

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