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Mad Men 3x11 Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2025-10-16 22:42:02
Edited:
2025-11-29 22:53:03
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Files

Mad Men 3x11

________________________ patreon - https://www.patreon.com/LMreactions twitter - https://twitter.com/LMreaction tv time - lola - skysstillblue, milena - oneofthe100

Comments

Scott

Ut oh, here it is...and who are you supposed to be?

Jude’s IFs

I love how the crumbling of Camelot (a reference to the end of the Kennedy administration) is occurring at the same time that Don’s fabricated life with his wife is crumbling too

Wesley White

“And who are you supposed to be?”

cheech

You weren’t.

Jude’s IFs

I love the juxtaposition between Annabelle and Joan. Both women left him for other men and with Annabelle he wants nothing to do with her. But with Joan he still cares deeply for her and there’s no resentment there, even though I don’t think they would be happy in a romantic pairing again I do think Joan is the only woman Roger holds a deeper connection with than just sex

Haye Zeus

I don’t remember much about this show. Rewatching it has made me realize how much I have forgotten. Like I don’t remember the teacher at all. I totally forgot about her. But the confrontation between Betty and Don is seared into my memory. Don looking so scared while Betty is intimidating him. It is so well done. John Hamm is amazing throughout the entire thing. So good.

Chidi.

Bruh

Chidi.

I'm glad the ladies have embraced Roger to an extent and realised he's pure comedy gold. Hamm's performance in this episode was nominated for an Emmy - he ended up losing to Bryan Cranston as Walter White.

Scott

I love the meta of how Matthew Weiner probably knew that folks were expecting a Whitecaps-style shouting match when Betty finally confronted Don, and instead it was anything but. That's how you properly subvert expectations.

Taya

It makes sense to assume during this confrontation Don would try to lie his ass off and gaslight Betty as as he always does, but the way his face and shoulders fall, and his hand just slumps on the desk, you can see the fight drain out of him immediately. He is a completely broken shell of a man and the most vulnerable (and honest) we've ever seen him. At the same time, I'm so proud of Betty here. She is fierce and determined, self-assured, intimidating and fully prepared to tear down whatever excuses or lies Don tries to tell her. Such a huge contrast to when she confronted Don about cheating in season 2. She now has the upper hand. And there's no screaming or throwing things or loud theatrics needed! She stays calm, classy, and even empathetic throughout. "People change their names, Betts. You did." "I did. I took your name." Such an incredible scene. The weight of it is so heavy, the silence in between the dialogue is suffocating. It feels so serious you don't dare speak until it's over. Also I agree, Greg deserves violence.

cheech

100%. I remember really looking forward to it. Everything finally blowing up in dons face marathon ep. Instant classic etc. but i can’t even imagine it now. It’s just so much better having it be about his past than just affairs. There’s nothing to yell about.

Stephen Calvird

Man we're so close to what I'd say is the greatest episode of the entire series. Close the door, have a seat.

Kendall Roy 🇧🇷

I love that episode, but personally I don't think it's the greatest. There's one from S4, S6, and S7 that are above it for me but the one you mentioned is definitely in the top 5.

Taya

I would not point that out, at least not the specific episode, it can be considered a spoiler because it gives them certain expectations. That said, it's SO hard to pick, there are about ten episodes that could be considered the greatest or my favorite on a given day. And none of them have happened yet!!

cheech

There’s so much greatness coming so soon it makes me smile just thinking about all the reactions. I have no fav eps just large chunks of the show I treasure lol

Taya

I agree, it's true that Roger acted like a sleazeball in season 1 and could've treated Joan with a little more respect, but I think we're seeing now that he truly does care for her as a person and that they have an undeniable connection and are actually good together (even if just as friends and not romantically).

Kara

Annabelle broke Roger's heart at ~20 years old. It's that young love heartbreak that stays with you, they probably told each other they were gonna be together forever and then she marries some straight-laced business match, probably because her Dad thought Roger was a joke at the time. I'm not sure Joan ever really broke Roger's heart like that, they seemed to end fairly amicably. But it's a good contrast regardless, and then Jane factors in too.

Kara

Yeeeaaaaah. This may be the best reaction yet + a brilliant episode of capital-T Television. When you were wondering when the confrontation was gonna happen last episode all of us were like, ya wont have to wait til the finale! 💀 Lola's broken-down cackling like the Joker when we cut to a Roger scene with no pause killed me, we're right there with you. So good. It's funny Milena says she imagined the version of the confrontation that was a Sopranos scene. I watched Sopranos after watching Mad Men and while I think the show is amazing + important, I often found myself thinking "I would have preferred the Mad Men version of this without mafia violence + chaotic escalation". I think that's why I ultimately rank Mad Men above Sopranos and Breaking Bad (I love both), also probably why I prefer Better Call Saul to Breaking Bad. The type of conflict and confrontation and fallout Mad Men does is just more attuned to my personal taste. I love Betty's line about Don not understanding money. It's wild how much she just had to intuit about Don's history based off his actions and mannerisms. We've seen Don give away huge sums of money, lose money in silly situations. He really feels like a dirt poor kid who accidentally got rich and has no idea what you're supposed to do. You expect Don to run away or deny + gaslight like he has before but he doesn't, he's caught by the 1 person in the world he wanted to be caught by the least. 100% agree with Lola's comparison to the horse meat plot... "It's a label on a can. And it will be true because it promises the quality of the product that's inside." I think this is both true + something Don fundamentally must believe in order to function as a human being. Huge agree with both your takes here, spot-on analysis imo. As someone who read Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway as a kid, finding out Roger was bopping around pre-war Paris getting into fights and falling in love is soooo funny to me, it fits so well. They absolutely read those novels and then moved to Paris to chase that excitement... rich american kids cosplaying bohemians in Europe, like 1930s influencers. And the implication that Roger had his heart broken so came home and joined his dad's company ("time to take myself seriously, get a real job" etc), it fits so well and explains so much. Bonus Thoughts: Don immediately forgetting Suzanne in the car is always funny, how long would you wait? I might wait an hour 😭 I love Don's casual "I've eaten [horse meat]" and Roger's look of surprise, I bet he mentally files away any rare personal fact Don shares. On the commentary they mention centering "the vase" in earlier episodes, knowing it was destined to be cracked against Greg's stupid head, now that's a character arc!

Michael M

Can we not hype specific, future episodes and let them just watch the show? It blows my mind that people don't realize these are spoiler comments.

JBK405

It's a Big episode all the way through, but I know I was waiting for that vase moment specifically. It's so viscerally satisfying to finally see Joan just SMACK him once. For me, the reason that Roger and Joan's relationship seemed more "real" than all of Roger's other flings or marriages is that Joan had a very pragmatic and rational opinion of what their relationship was. She didn't want Roger to leave his wife for her, and she knew that if he did then eventually he'd be cheating on her with the next beautiful woman that came by. She was content with what they had while she looked for a Real Relationship elsewhere. She didn't expect more from him, so he could never let her down or disappoint her. One of those amazingly subtle things that I didn't notice until somebody else pointed it out to me, is that Don fumbles his cigarette when he and Betty start talking. He FUMBLES HIS CIGARETTE. Don's been smoking like a chimney the entire series, he's smoked even when he's drunk or traumatized or dealing with Serious Events, but here he is SO overwhelmed that he can't even do that normally anymore. It's a tiny moment that shows just how HEAVILY this hit him. I definitely feel sympathy for Don here -- we all do -- but the show is crafted well enough to never try and turn that sympathy into endorsement. Regarding divorce, I mentioned this in a comment on an earlier episode, at this time New York did not allow "no fault" divorce. You need to prove that at least one party broke the rules. Adultery (as the lawyer mentioned), or abandonment, or something else so one of them can be pointed to and say "THEY ended the marriage". Even spousal abuse wasn't grounds for divorce yet (I think it's 1966 when "cruelty" became legal grounds). This means Betty can't just go to court and say "We're not in love anymore", she needs to either have specific proof or get Don to agree to admit and take the blame.

Julien

@Stephen: Comments like these are so irritating. Quit setting expectations for reactors. What gets me it how fucking trite this sort of comment is. We ALL know and love the major episodes of any series, so literally what's the point of articulating something that's blindingly obvious to ALL of us? Did you think you were the first to feel to this way? That a classic episode is a classic? Like, what do you get from saying this?

Zosko1

Been waiting for this episode since you started the show. Good times are ahead

Kendall Roy 🇧🇷

@Michael M I agree that specifying episodes isn't the right thing to do, but I don't see a problem with talking non-specifically or about seasons in general. Lola in HH already knew the most hyped arc and in The Wire they already knew the expectations for season 4, and it didn't interfere with the ending at all. The trick is really to not mention names.

Veya

Oh, based on what weiner has said about both shows and older network television in general he almost certainly knew that's what people were expecting. Even when it comes to both marriages, they're basically inverted: carmela knew tony too well and betty didn't know don at all. Tbh i also don't think january jones has the range and intensity to pull off what edie falco did (just based on everything i've seen her in), but i don't think it was necessary anyways, given that there was already some overlap between the two marriages (in terms of being both about the past and the affairs) and it doesn't seem to fit the show.

liminal rinds

yay... and yes to all of it. the crushing quiet sorrow that swept over you both is such a perfect example of how affecting this show is. the understated humanity of it all, and not the sopranos version, is why this show is such art. sopranos might be good tv, even genre-building tv, but mad men is art. so glad you're feeling the characters so deeply, and clearly. there are a few other shows that are of this caliber and subtleness, but that convo and those recommendations are for another day. today is special... thanks for the reactions.

Veya

It's funny, i had the opposite experience when it came to both types of confrontations portrayed. I watched mad men prior to the sopranos as well (at least the first few seasons as it wasn't finished airing at the time) but the realism and rawness of the latter hit harder, especially since it was stuff i've seen in my own household. And i always felt mad men's was a little too quiet and subdued with the situation being more extraordinary (i mean don's backstory in general is less ordinary). But as i've re-watched the show and read stuff in true crime where things like this do happen (i mean lol there are people who find out their spouses are serial killers) i've come to appreciate it more even if it doesn't top whitecaps.

Chidi.

@Julien - That's a little harsh. Stephen didn't actually name the episode he had in mind and I'm not certain which episode he's even referring to.

Chidi.

Yeah, saying an episode is amazing or the "greatest" isn't a spoiler. Mad Men is a great show full of amazing episodes.

Chidi.

i remembered the teacher; for some reason Don touching grass when he sees her for the first time always stuck with me.

Kara

Yeah, I imagine other people feel the same. It's ultimately a different world - WASP-flavored suburbia in the 60s versus Italian American Mafia in the 00s. I grew up in a working class English home too so I relate more to the calm mask breaking than jersey wall-punching. +1 on your true crime thing, I think that's often used as a sleight against victims, "why didn't you scream? why didn't you punch him in the head and break down crying?" emotions and reactions are often quiet and internal.

Mike

I'll get a few of the obvious things out of the way: First of all, that ending is note-perfect. Greg joining the army in 1963 is an all-time dipshit move by an all-time dipshit. Roger's "You weren't" is just incredible and devastating. And man, Jon Hamm is one of the best to ever do it. But what stuck out the most to me watching this time was how the "Don comes clean" sequence isn't a fight, or even an argument, really. What it actually feels like -- and this intersects with dipshit-in-chief saying that psychiatry isn't "real medicine" -- is therapy. Don is saying all of this stuff out loud for (probably) the very first time. Adam killed himself because of me. I was shocked that you would ever love me. And Betty, to her credit, is *present* for the conversation, and even supportive at times. Not that she doesn't have plenty of reasons to feel betrayed by this revelation, but it pretty quickly becomes obvious to her that this isn't a "Don has a fake identity" thing -- it's a "Don is broken, broken man" thing. And she gives him enough of what he needs to feel safe unburdening himself like that. Phew. I said it already, but I'll say it again: Jon Hamm is one of the best to ever do it. Obviously, one of the best episodes of the Mad Men and in tv history. (What's great is that the next two, ten, twenty, etc. are also great. Sometimes even *this* great. Sometimes even better, if you can believe it.)

Mike

Roger's "You weren't" is such a Hemingway moment. "Oh Roger, we could have had such a damned good time together." Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?

Mike

@Chidi. his comment specifically does name the episode though? Anyway I'm just checking in to balance the scales and say that *my* personal favourite episode is in Season 5. There, now they can look forward to every season.

Mike

Hamm going up against Cranston for all those years was just cruel. This was the third straight year that he lost to him. (And it will happen again in Season 6.) At least Cranston was worthy alternative. How Jeff Daniels walked away with an Emmy vs. Hamm's S5 finale performance is... tough to understand.

Veya

Ah I'm guessing it stems from the stiff upper lip thing? My family are chinese immigrants that moved to the states, so it's pretty far from italian american mafia. The arguments weren't even in english. That's what struck me about how universal that episode was, and the general way they sniped at each other throughout the series was spot on. I'm actually not too sure how common quiet emotions and reactions are in the states but i guess varies too much depending on the area.

Nyeisha Melvina Clark

Love this episode. Don, the King of Gaslighting and Avoiding deep discussions being forced to finally be honest about his past is literally the best thing ever. I will always wish that we got a little more Adam but I loved how we got to see Don get teared up over his passing. Definitely one of Roger's best episodes for sure and he and Joan have the best chemistry of the entire series in my honest opinion.

Michael M

@Chidi He literally names the episode by its title

Julmor

I feel like I should hate Roger. He’s an entitled, privileged, irresponsible nepo baby. But at the same time, he’s so completely self-aware about all these things that it kind of becomes endearing. And even though his misogynistic behavior towards women is deeply off-putting, it pales in comparison to most of the other male characters on the show.

Mark M

Great reaction and commentary. This episode really hit me emotionally rewatching it before the reactions. I connect to Don more now than I did when I was younger. The weight of years of baggage, the difficulty opening up and feelings of being unlovable, holding others at a distance. It can be hard to overcome. I can definitely see the similarities between this episode and Sopranos 'Whitecaps' too. Both feel very attuned to their characters and the kind of relationship they have. Couples breaking down = good tv. Better Call Saul too.

TylerNorCal

Man what an episode, the weight that is lifted when Don finally reveals his story to Betty is so heavy and emotional for Don himself and us as the viewers. Such a great performance by Jon Hamm in that scene.

Chidi.

And his effortless charm goes a long way.

Kara

@Veya: yeah. A lot of UK people are repressed and its very "keep calm carry on, stiff upper lip" yeah. Not to say there isnt explosive loud domestic conflict, there is, but the stereotype is English people won't yell at each other, they'll just have simmering passive aggressive resentment.

bondbond53

Your last sentence – now I imagine that vase being pointed at like in the 1st episode of Ouran High School Host Club before it gets broken. That's a reference for my anime aficionados.

bondbond53

Well I definetely think their reaction to certain HunterxHunter episodes was spoiled and more subdued because of expectations placed by viewers so I would really really love for people to stop hinting at episode they can't wait for

bondbond53

Hot take: Jon Hamm deserved to win some of those Emmys even if Cranston's Walter White was industry-defining

Chris B

To your point about therapy, Betty telling her lawyer only after saying it out loud does it "feel real". Good stuff

Eric Viola

"I was surprised that you ever loved me". I think this line speaks to why Don never felt like he could risk telling Betty about his true identity. He couldn't believe this woman, who embodies what he considered to be the perfect wife, would ever consider loving him. Any shift in her perception of him as anything other than Don Draper probably made him feel that he'd lose her. I don't think he was wrong to think that either.

cheech

The way they hit you with the ep title reveal/who are you supposed to be/Oliver song all in 90 seconds. nuance and subtlety is great but sometimes you should just go for it. 10/10

LtotheoG

”and who are you supposed to be” Don Draper has no response

JJ

The difference is Betty had proof this time. She’s *seen* the evidence. With the cheating, she was going off of her intuition and the word of Jimmy Barrett.

T0ast

maybe me favorite final shot/line of any madmen episode

Patrick

‘You weren’t’ Ice cold.

Sebastian

Exactly. Being caught off guard when an episode turns out to be a series highlight is more fun than going in expecting it to be mind blowing, then going "yeah that was pretty good".

John Mokyr

Great reaction. I'd forgotten exactly how Don's admission to Betty worked out, but it was absolutely heart-breaking. And I think you really hit the nail on the head about Roger and Joan's relationship and their chemistry. Though, I will say wasn't super keen on the condoning of domestic violence, but I guess that was in jest.

Kara

greg is a rapist. it's fine to enjoy him being hit with a vase, it's not a typical 'domestic violence' situation. if it were me I might actually kill him and go to jail 🤷‍♀️

Chidi.

@michael M & @Mike - You're right. I didn't remember the name of the episode. I take your point but he didn't give any narrative information away so it's not truly a spoiler. It's just his subjective opinion.