Maybe Walking Dead just sucks?

Word. Walking Dead's problems had nothing to do with fancy makeup and affects and everything to do with godawful writing.

The slower than molasses pace caused by the budget had an effect on the writing.

Or, and this is just spitballing here, zombies are as played out as pirates and ninjas at this point.

Mad Men Season 5 Debuts With Two-Hour Premiere on Sunday, March 25

Holy shit 2 hour premiere? Awesome.

'Mad Men' Season 5 Promo: Roger Is Back (VIDEO)
The title is a little misleading. The video shows nothing new.

Keck's Exclusives: Mad Men Smooch

SEASON PREMIERE TONIGHT

♪♪♪Zoobie-zoobie-zooooooo!♪♪♪

I think Megan's dance was hot. And I mean that in a totally-straight-girl/not-in-a-gay-way way. But it was hot. What is wrong with you, Don?

Didn't marrying Megan cure his midlife crisis? Is it the return of "le ennui"?

A. Sally may not have hit puberty, but her voice sure did.

B. If there was any doubt Joan had a boy, it was explicitly cleared up right away.

C. Pete is still a whiny, little prick but he is right most of the time.

D. I still can't figure out Megan's role or purpose.

E. Is this the third incarnation of Bobby Draper?

E. The real show begins next week, right?

5 seasons, 4 Bobby's. Bobby number three is busy reading books on once upon a time.

If that's a knock on the episode, I disagree 100%

It's not a knock on the episode, I liked it. I'm very glad the show is back. I saw it as mostly table setting for major plot developments to come.

I'm looking forward to Richard and Pete dropping the gloves. It's bound to happen, right? They fight on a rooftop or a subway platform, and it's a one-punch KO with Peter either flying off the roof or falling onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. Then he can be buried in that sweet royal-blue suit of his!

I fully believe Pete would destroy Roger. For one, he wouldn't be three sheets to the wind and there's the obvious age advantage. Roger can't even handle a tall flight of stairs anymore.

I respect the hell out of Pete. He whines, but he's right about fucking everything. Roger's turned into a real shit. I wouldn't be surprised if a major storyline this year is him getting forced out, and it's fucking deserved. HE'S USELESS.

Oh, and every time Pete sneers in disgust whenever people make racial comments? I love it. He really isn't all that bad a guy, you'd be a bitter prick to if you got as abused as he does, for basically being right and not wanting to drink and fuck off at every opportunity.

I'm not completely ignoring his flaws, but if you asked me if I rather have Pete, or basically anyone else at Sterling Cooper at my company with the exceptions being Don or Peggy, I would choose Pete every single time.

And Lane should be much more progressive. I thought last season showed he was the most progressive of the bunch, except for maybe Pete, but then he's afraid to leave a wallet with the cabbie?

I wouldn't be surprised if a major storyline this year is this.

WWDD

Well there's a big difference between wanting to fuck one and trusting them with a wallet.

I understand your point, but it was well beyond that, he wanted to take her out to dinner with his father.

I think that had more to do with him trying to get out from under the repressive relationship he has with his father. As we see, it didn't work. Not yet, anyways. My take on Lane; he has established some independence for himself. He's living in the States far away from strict British culture where he's judged by what class he's in. He's happy he has the chance to live the life that he wants. As the sixties really begins to swing, I think he'll take more advantage of it than Don will. That's my .02 cents, anyway.

We can all agree that Harry Crane is the worst character ever, correct?

Depends, hes a horrible person, he's a great character for the show. He's actually quite realistic.

Yeah he's a good character for the show, but he portrays a loathsome human.

Agreed, he's the worst. Well, I don't entirely blame him, he was doomed from the beginning. He's pretty much a regular dude but is surrounded by dons, Rogers and Petes. Over the course of the show you've seen him start out as this little nervous nothing, who was then essentially forced into joining the new company so he realized he had some worth and he tries to blend in to this essentially awful culture that he really doesn't belong in. Last episode was them showing us he's essentially trying to do his best don and roger impersonation, which is incredibly off putting because that's not him.

He's a product of his surroundings. I feel the same way about Pete as I've said before. Pete gets shit on and it's turned him into a creep, difference is don recognizes it now

Harry Crane: the worst.

But he's such a cool guy! Don draper was hangin' out with hime back stage, he gets stoned with the Stones after pickin' up a 14 yr old chick, then puts down 20 White Castle sliders right in the parking lot!

Did they really have to take a shot at Romney? Enough with putting politics everywhere for fuck's sakes...

In their defense, you do know that Betty's husband works for the Governor right? Politics are kind of his job.

Actually screw it, where were you when they spent half a season on the Nixon/Kennedy elections and Sterling and Cooper were spewing their republican political views all over the place while putting Kennedy through the ringer. It's not like this show hasn't tackled politics before as the big players are all connected.

Maybe people need to be less sensitive about it as opposed to trying to make everything a talking point on 24 hour news networks. Do you actually watch the show or did you hear about the "jab" on the news?

I used to watch it, but i didn't like it much for it has been a while since. I know it deals with politics, but the timing of it all is really a far fetched coincidence, i think.

Anyway, everytime I start to root for Pete he pulls some shit like this. Roger is a useless moron, but cutting him out and then insulting him in front of the company is such a...well Pete move.

Does anyone actually like Betty? I mean the character. I hate when so much time is spent on her.

Betty is the best, man.

I still think that Pete's uppance shall come. Being a retaliatory prick is satisfying in the short term, but has a habit of biting you in the end.

It doesn't deal with politics. It deals with peoples lives that political issues can have an impact on--like so many other things that impact our lives. Politics is just one aspect. But guess what...even waaaay back then, people had differing views on politics. And in the context of the show, it makes sense for Henry to refer to Romney as an "idiot" or to treat him dismissively. He's potential competition for the GOP nomination in the next (in this case, 1968) presidential election, against Nelson Rockefeller. Rockefeller is who Henry Francis actually works for. To get upset over this is ridiculous. That's putting the "jerk" in knee-jerk reaction.

Weird. Weird, weird episode. Did Don really 'kill' his lust for women?

I am really, really glad that Joan got rid of that miserable husband of her's. I wish she'd also told him the baby wasn't his on the way out but, you can't have everything.

Peggy shaking down Roger might be one of my favorite TV scenes ever.

I doubt it. I think he was wrestling some demons that he knows are just waiting to come back. Just as everything with this show, nothing is as it seems.

If you want to look into the symbolism of the scene, you don't shove the dead body under the bed and then leave a foot hanging out waiting for your wife to come home.

At the end of last season and the beginning of this season has been painting a picture of just how unhappy don truly is. He doesn't love her, it was an impulse decision. He left the foot hanging out because he wants to get caught so he has an out.

Also, the show did a good job of never saying when they had their trist. I'm not entirely convinced "his wife" wasn't his current wife. (I doubt this, but the dialogue was purposefully vague)

As for the new guy, he's the young blood coming up in the company, as is don and Peggy. Roger couldn't be anymore old blood and they are beating us over the head with that fact. Don is pretty much dancing that line of old blood. That scene with the pitch and the new guy, that was MUCH more than an over eager goofy new guy. That m sure of.

Sure he banged his dream slut girl, acknowledging the desire...but he KILLED her too in fear of losing his wife. I think that confirms his affection/intentions with his wife...as well as his insecurity about being too old for her. Which for me is the primary emotion he feels. Remember....Megan won him over when one of the kids spilled a drink and she reacted calmly and with love...something no other woman in his life ever did before. This was a significant moment for him. She is the perfect woman.

That he didn't shove his victim completely under the bed may suggest that he cannot bury his past no matter how hard he tries. And THAT is just the plain truth. And bless her....his wife verbally forgave him for that. She may not be insecure in her ability to keep her man.

I agree that Roger is obsolete. But the kid's story was how talented he is...yes. But also how he needs to learn the business. He made his dark pitch at a bad time and it didn't advance the company. Not a threat to the existing talent, just an obstacle to business at hand.

They're showing him the ropes. I don't see him as a threat to anyone except Peggy. And she'll be fine until he shows he can read women better than she.

I like that Joan called out hubby for the rape. Now we need her back in the loop....shooting Roger further down the abyss of uselessness.

Ya know, it's amazing how this show makes Pete such a miserable human beng and then you want to cry with him on the elevator.

I'm intrigued to see where this goes because it seemed as though they were building Pete up but this was quite the fall. Imasculted by a younger man, looked down upon by don, don fixes the sink Pete thought he fixed, Pete gets the shit kicked out of him and then just crying in an elevator saying he has nothing.

I mean, he put himself into all these situations, but hell, he seemed to go through the ringer out of left field tonight.

Lane is also kind of a shit heel so I can't say I was pulling for him either...

How is Lane a shitheel? Lane tries to bring in new business, and Pete shits all over him for his trouble. The other partners know Lane isn't a "business guy", but they were nice about it.

Attaboy, Lane...Atta BOY

Lane is a spineless weasel. From the shit to his father to his extramarital affairs. I love the hypocrisy the show has towards the latter subject. Lane does it and it's actually celebrated. We're meant to feel bad for him because his father gives him a beat down. Then he creepily stalks a married woman all from a photo in a wallet, and then kisses Joan and its not treated half as badly as Pete cheating on Trudy with a stripper?

Lane is also pretty judgmental for someone who we know fucks around and drinks just as much as the rest of them.

None of these people are good people, with very few exceptions. Hell, even Joan who is looked at as a hero was having a very long affair with a married man, and then, ya know, had that mans baby while her husband was off to war.

Pete gets knocked down everywhere outside the office, so I think he was trying to hang on to the one place where he still feels important. And then when he takes it over the edge, he pays for it. I feel bad for him, but this has been building in the office. The way he treats Roger and all that.

And I don't think anything Lane does is meant to be celebrated. He's an asshole just like the rest of them. He's just a more conservative asshole.

If you want to be angry with anyone, how about Don looking down on all of them when he's the biggest culprit of them all in the past?

And you can't tell me that the fight scene wasn't amazing. Roger lighting a cigarette, Don closing the blinds. Brilliant.

Also, when Pete is with the hooker and she's going through the role playing options. Man, that was great. What an episode.

Oh it was a great episode, and the fight scene was amazing. I think sometimes people confuse my reactions as being against the show or something. I'm just one of the few who wasn't sitting there cheering "GET EM LANE!!!" I laughed at Roger's line and lighting the cigarette but I didn't agree with Don at all. He says to Pete "what was I supposed to do" Well, you could've talked the situation down, as opposed to drawing the blinds and watching two grown men beat on each other. The only decent man/woman in the whole office is fucking Cooper.

I'm just catching up. DID HE ACTUALLY KILL HER!

EDIT: Wait shes gone. What the fuck happened. Damn...

IS THIS A QUESTION! DOES ANYONE KNOW!

It was a fever dream, man.

Cooper is a racist/sexist old asshole. So, yeah, there's that.

That fight scene was awesome. Id be pissed if I were Lane too.

Also Pete calling Don out on judging him? Fantastic.

EDIT: The ending too. The dripping noises during the movie when Pete sees that he lost that high school chick. Damn.

Maybe I'm forgetting some major key points here, but I've never pictured Cooper as anything other than an eccentric whose smarter than he lets on. Cooper more often than not is the voice of reason. We've actually seen him fight racism when Sterling was against going after Honda simply because it was a Japanese company.

The only thing of any kind of sexual nature I ever remember Bert being a part of was the rumors he had a love affair with Don's old secretary that died at her desk, and apparently he has no testicles so we've never seen him womanizing like the rest of them.

I'm more than willing to admit I'm forgetting some key line or something, but if actually in that office during the fight instead of watching a tv show, I can guarantee you my response would be more along the lines of Bert's than anyone else in that office.