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Mad Men 7x09 Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2026-04-08 23:20:40
Edited:
2026-05-25 22:49:50
Imported:
2026-09
Tags:

Content

i need to apologize for what your ears are about to hear (or not hear) we somehow lost the audio of this episode so i had to use the audio from the camera, the review at least is not painful

Files

Mad Men 7x09

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

Comments

Marzer

Pretty good episode to have shitty audio

Eric Viola

Roger in this ep is like that "Accidentally became important at work and it's ruining my life" meme

Ryan Buchanan

I totally agree -- the tone left a sour taste in my mouth too. It felt like a regression for Megan that didn't align with her character.

Erik D

I think that's the point, with the new decade, she's no longer vibrant, but cynical and exhausted.

Jude’s IFs

I felt it made sense. Don (like he did with his previous wife) leaves the women around him very bitter. He throws money at things and isn’t invested in the relationship. Megan put all her hopes and dreams on him because she was young and he showed her he never cared that much for her compared to himself

Jason

You never have problems with the audio on your cartoon videos.

Juanma88

Yes, I've always felt this is a weird episode. I personally like the Diana storyline (a lot of people don't) , I think she makes sense for Don at that point in his life, but they just needed one extra episode to develop her character and their relationship a bit more. I think the problem with this episode are not the stories and scenes themselves, but the disconnection with the previous episodes. For example, it makes sense that Megan is angry at Don, she is still a very young woman and she doesn't need to be the bigger person (and she is also affected by what happened with Harry and then her parents situation). But the previous episodes didn't lead us properly to this situation. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that Matthew Weiner wanted to have more episodes for Megan, but they couldn't make it for contractual reasons.

Eric Viola

I don't see Don giving her that money as him being the bigger man. That's how Don deals with any problem he faces in his life - he throws money at it. It's his cowardly way of absolving or resolving any issues he has rather than confronting them. He did it with Adam, with Suzanne's brother, with Midge, with Peggy, tried to do it with Rachel. Everything Megan said to him in this episode is true. She wasted her youth, lost her career for him and he cut her off emotionally. The only way he knows to make up for the harm he's caused her is with money.

Felipe Battisti

A thing the girls didn't discussed or maybe didn't noted in previous episodes is the fact that the show hints a lot that Megan isn't a very good actress, in many ways she really just got her job because of Don helping with that AD. This is important here because that's just it, she is throwing this frustrations at Don ( he deserves some of that ), it's kinda petty of her, but also fairly understandable.

Sid

This was back in season 5 but it was mentioned or at least heavily implied that Marie's husband was cheating with his grad student.

DNice

The scene with Megan and Don reminds me of what Megan's father once told her, critiquing her choice to marry Don: "you've skipped the struggle and went right to the end". Like others have said, Don is just throwing money at another problem, blindly. What he doesn't see is how the money is just an extension of their failed marriage; both being with Don and this money have and will cripple Megan from finding her own path, just like what Roger did to Jane.

Jude’s IFs

So while some things feel disjointed I don’t think the show is trying to make us think badly about Megan. Yes she’s acting a bit immature but she’s in her 20s. This is her marriage dissolving, she doesn’t have a good example of a marriage with her parents and so she doesn’t handle it well. What Don does here by giving her the money feels like what he does when he writes that letter for his ex secretary that he slept with — it feels like a slap in the face. Don can’t express himself and truly give a heartfelt apology and tell them how he feels. These women want emotional connection, something real. Like Don once said to Peggy “that’s what the money is for” that’s how he shows his gratitude and it feels disrespectful to the woman who gave up so much for him to end up with crushed dreams and a broke heart

Isaac

Yeah, you like that, Jason? 🤪

Juanma88

I agree with everything, except for 1 millions dollars really being a slap in the face for Megan.

Eric Viola

I don't think the Pima Ryan storyline was meant to make Peggy feel jealous of Stan. It was a playful way of showing both of their insecurities at work. It felt like Stan was in a rut at work and seeking Pima's approval was a way to assuage that. Peggy rejecting Pima after initially showing respect for her as an artist in advertising was a moment of growth that we may not have seen from her earlier in the series. I think it was also a way to show that Stan was not that attached to Elaine.

Mike

I think that's a little unfair to Don. What separated Megan from a lot of his previous romances was that she went into it with her eyes wide open. She was young and a little naive, but to say Don wasted her youth when *she* initiated the relationship, *she* decided to quit advertising and become and actress... I think it's OK to not take sides here. We know they had a toxic marriage, and Don obviously had a lot of responsibility for that, but they are both three-dimensional characters with plenty of flaws. At the end of this episode, she's a 30yo with almost $10M (adjusted to 2026) in her pocket, heading home to her canyon-view home in LA. She's going to be OK.

Eric Viola

She's going to be fine, but this is the first time where she gets to decide what she gets to do. The last 5 years she's had a lot of her life decided for her (her career, where she lived) or spent a lot of it trying to keep the attention of her partner who was turned off for most of it.

Mike

Hmm... maybe the weakest episode of the series? It's kind of fascinating to look at The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, who all split their "final season" into two truncated parts, and how (imo) they alll stumbled out of the blocks a bit for the last batch of episodes. The Sopranos started off Season 6B with "Sopranos Home Movies" (an all-timer) then got bogged down in Tony's gambling arc. Breaking Bad kind of spun its wheels with the post-Leaves of Grass story beats... And now Mad Men is doing this Diana stuff, which I agree is a pretty flat. Gurer'f n ybg bs gurzngvp erfbanapr gb Qba'f fgbel bs pbhefr, rfcrpvnyyl jura jr trg gb Enpvar, ohg gur fgbel vgfrys vf abg rknpgyl pbzcryyvat... A highlight: I love Julia Ormond's performance as Marie. So great to see her again. We always had the impression in her previous episodes that she knew more the world than Megan. It's nice to get this extra layer of characterization where she's screwing up her own life (and disappointing her kids) a bit. Another highlight: Pete in golf attire.

Jeff

sopranos and breaking bad had great starts to the second half of their final seasons. it was not like mad men, especially since the beginning of 7b feels like 7a didn't even happen.

Jude’s IFs

Obviously it does help a lot. Like she won’t have to worry about money ever again. It’s much better to cry on a million bucks. But I do think it also hurts her that this is ultimately his response to all he did to her

Taya

This episode feels a little sloppy by usual MM standards, but I disagree re: Megan. I don't think the writers were trying to make her look bad or undeserving of Don's money. Breakups are difficult, emotions are all over the place, and just because they ended their previous phone call cordially doesn't mean there isn't lingering bitterness. She just caught her mom cheating with Roger, Harry just tried to Harvey Weinstein her and I think as a result her emotions are heightened and she's acutely feeling the weight of her situation and how her career has tanked... and she feels it's all Don's fault (which it mostly is). He did ruin her life. And she took the money because of course, who wouldn't? (I wish all breakups ended with being handed a million dollar check tbh lol...) And like others have already said, Don writing the check isn't being a bigger man, it's tossing money at problems because he doesn't want to deal with them emotionally. Megan is NOT Jane, all she ever truly wanted from the beginning was an honest, loving, emotionally available husband. I think the writers counted on the viewers taking their entire history into account, and wanted to show how Don has turned this happy vibrant young woman into a bitter, angry one. They were not trying to ruin her character or retroactively turn her into a gold digger or something.

Taya

@Jude G, I think she was hoping for an argument, a shouting match, ANYTHING from Don emotionally. That would've made her feel better, like Don actually cares and feels strong emotions about the situation. Instead he just tossed money at her to make her go away. No acknowledgement of what they had, the years they spent together, no apologies or admitting his mistakes, or even blaming her and telling her she hurt him... Nothing at all.

Mike

I figured some people would disagree, on either/both of BB & The Sopranos, which is fair enough. Of the three, I think Breaking Bad definitely has the strongest start to Final Season: Part 2 (and I admittedly haven't watched the series in several years) but look at those episodes that end Season 5A -- Dead Freight through Gliding Over All is an *incredible* run -- and of course the back half of 5B speaks for itself. I think the show took some time to get back up to speed after the mid-season break. I guess my point is that all three shows were masters of their 13-episode format in preceding seasons, and that changing up the formula for the final season(s) was kind of an odd, self-inflicted* obstacle to delivering the best endings possible. (*I know it wasn't a creatively-motivated decision in all of their cases.) I think all three series nailed their endings though, so I guess it works out in the end.

Jude’s IFs

Definitely. Any emotion even fury would have been better for her than what he gave. He was entirely detached and that probably hurts her more than anything because she’s falling apart while Don always lands on his feet and is already looking forward, not back

Taya

It was our beloved Henry who said "There is no fresh start. Lives carry on!'

Mike

They've been living mostly-separated for almost 2 years at this point and her career has floundered. The breakup in this episode is final but it's mostly symbolic. The marriage was already over and she was already independent again. I think Megan has a lot of resentment that Don gets to treat this like a speed bump that money can solve while she head back to LA to a life that money *can't* solve.

Scott

I wonder if LM's awareness of toxic fandoms, especially regarding female characters, influenced their views on Megan's scenes a bit. Nothing Megan did in this episode was unjustified, nothing she told Don was untruthful, she suffered multiple humiliations that weren't her fault, and she wasn't planning on going after any of Don's big money. Nothing in this episode screamed "gold digger", and yet those are the words Lola uses in her review. She's clearly thinking about how other viewers might interpret the scenes.

Taya

Exactly. And it is true that some viewers think this way (just browse the MM subreddit, ugh) but I like to think the majority don't

Scott

yeah, the r/madmen subreddit is frustrating because most of the posts are fine, but then you'll have a "anybody else not like Faye?" post hit the front page outta nowhere lol

Josip

Tf did Megan do to deserve all that money? Shes young, she had a job, she threw it away to become an "actress", she could easily work like everyone else on the show

Kara

It's easy to say "You don't owe me anything" on the phone during a tearful, amicable goodbye. It's a lot harder when your life is falling apart, you've been negotiating a difficult divorce for months, your family is at each other's throats, your career is in a rut and its basically all because Don convinced a naive 25yo you into marrying him for 5 years. It's a realistic treatment of a complicated 30yo woman at probably the lowest point we've seen her. I don't think the show is absolving Don as much as you think; It sounds crazy to say but a million dollars in 1970 money won't even help; it will guarantee you a permanently comfortable life free from monetary stress, but it can't buy back 5 of the most important years of your life, as a young woman, as a growing actress. She would trade that million dollars away for a thriving acting career (and maybe she will!). All Don can do is throw money at the problem and he makes it a ludicrous amount because he can afford it and he knows that's all he can do. There's a reason the show doesn't make Megan say thank you or absolve him of his crimes in any way, or make Don ask for or expect anything after giving the money (like when Roger bought Jane an apartment). What did Betty say in the 7A Finale, when asked about Don? "I'm starting to think of him as an old, bad boyfriend. Someone a teenage anthropologist would marry." When Don sees Betty this episode, she's not looking back at Don conflicted; she seems content with her family, with her new college degree, with Henry. Don is a part of her life through the kids, but she's being genuine; he is like an old boyfriend to her now. She has grown. It's actually Don who looks back, missing... something. We can't see Megan get to Betty's point because it's only been some months, but the show included these scenes for a reason: We, the audience, know that Megan will be okay. Not now, not soon. But one day she'll wake up and think of Don as just an old bad boyfriend; someone a naive 20-something secretary would marry. And she'll be a million dollars richer, at least. I'm glad the show did this, rather than end off on one perfect phone call. When embracing Don, Diana describes a twinge in her chest and he says, wistfully: "A pain?" What did Don say in the Carousel pitch? "Nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone". Don thinks Diana is feeling this because Don is deeply nostalgic, constantly craving some perfect imaginary past that he helped invent. But Diana is describing something else, something that Don feels but doesn't want to admit or perhaps isn't even conscious of. The pain we see bubble up, in the Hershey's pitch, in his lowest most honest moments. Don tries to go "round and around, and back home again, to a place where he knows he is loved" again and again, and Diana is the latest version of that. But unlike literally everyone else he's tried this with, Diana is under no illusions. She lost one daughter and abandoned another and doesn't want to forget it. She moved to a city where she could be anonymous and trapped herself in a little hell of her own making. It reminds me a lot of Severance (iykyk). This conflict between Don and Diana is important (they even have similar names). Diana is very intentionally written and a good addition to the show. Bonus Thoughts: It was fun watching Lola being an early Harry hater knowing this is where he ends up, doing gross weinstein casting couch abuse. Disgusting man. Pete stocks are at an all time high. Don scene with Henry was really nice, time erodes sharp cliffs into nice walkable sand. Pete asks "What if you never get past the beginning again?" and Don just tells him "Watch the road"... Don's solace is that no matter what happens you can always run away and start over... but what if Pete's right? What if you can never get past the beginning? And what if you "only enjoy the beginnings of things"?

Kara

Sopranos 6B is the worst slog in all 'prestige' television.

Kara

The actress playing Megan (Jessica Pare) is a better actress than Megan is supposed to be, which creates this cognitive disconnect because Pare is so great in her scenes, but her soap opera acting is like... soapy and hammy. I think an element of the story is that its really really really hard to make it as an actress, even moreso in LA in 1960s without being hugely conventionally attractive for whatever the fashion is - Jessica Pare is beautiful and stunning in any era, but 60s movie stars had a look about them, and Megan looks a bit like a sort of [extremely uncharitable read] less talented Audrey Hepburn type.

Sebastian

This is unnecessarily petty, but as someone who couldn't give less of a shit about anime, I find calling them "your cartoon videos" pretty funny.

Eric Viola

That may be why he was drawn to her initially - but that's not why he's attracted to her after he learns more about her. He's attracted to her because she (like him) is a damaged, self-loathing, secluded person with a past she's running from. Don genuinely wanting to commit to being someone to her shows his own yearning of wanting to fix himself. Her rejecting him makes this feeling even stronger.

Biberius Caldius Mero

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Biberius Caldius Mero

I don't know what this episode was trying to tell me about Stan (or Peggy). Does anybody have an idea how to understand his scenes here?

My Toasty Toast

I think after the last episode he was in he’s now “adequate Henry”

My Toasty Toast

The script writer this episode probably had an ex-wife named Megan

Taya

I forgive him.

Mike

Her marriage with Don absolutely torpedoed Megan’s personal life for the past five years, but I think the idea that he hampered her professional career is pretty ridiculous. She was a secretary when they met, not a “growing actress”. Now she’s a financially independent, living in Hollywood, and has tv credits on her CV. (And that’s eliding that Don also promoted her to copy writer — another career she could have capably run with — before she quit to focus on acting,) I don’t want to be so cynical as to say that Megan got what she bargained for, because she didn’t anticipate that her marriage with Don would be so toxic, but lots of people have bad relationships (marriages or otherwise) in their 20s and don’t come out of it looking half as good as Megan. All you have to do is look at Diana for comparison.

Kara

The two are linked. He pressured her into quitting her job then abandoned her and gave her no emotional support, letting her flounder for years. Maybe she would have never made it anyway (probably, statistically), but he deleted her confidence. You can't unravel the two - being a shitty husband and a shitty friend and making her miserable and depressed and self conscious, feeling trapped and alone, negatively impacted her career the same way Don's career was negatively impacted by the events of S6 in his personal life. And all the time he was depriving her of being with someone who fully supported her and gave her what she needed, which would have helped.

Juanma88

It's not about Rachel, it's about his mother...

John Mokyr

Hang on, he didn't pressure her into quitting her job. She explicitly says that she'd wanted to leave to pursue acting opportunities out West but had not done so because she though Don would want to stay in NY. In other words, it would have been her preference to leave anyway, and she's clearly excited about the idea when he first proposes it.

Kara

Perhaps "he pressured her" is the wrong phrase, but he said things that made her quit her job under false pretenses in a way where she feels pressured to do it. He told her that they would be together and be happy in LA. She's excited by the idea because she's miserable living in NYC with him. She breaks down crying when he says "We were happy there [in California]". This is pressure, she thinks it's going to be great, that they'll be living together and happily married and she'll be supported in her career. She feels she *has* to do this, to save her marriage, to save her life, to save/fix him. Something can be 'exciting' and you can also feel pressured to have to do it, like there's no other option. "We should move to LA together so you can have a great career" is a very different offer than "I need to get out of NYC and our marriage is fucked and we can be happy again in LA, I have to do this to live". She only quits her job because she thinks they'll be together in LA.

JBK405

Y'know I hate to break it to you, but I think there was a problem with the audio for your recording.... I don't think this is the BEST episode of the series, but I also don't think it's the WORST episode. I think everything here leads logically from what came before, even if it could have been done better. I think the episode is more kind to Megan than you think it is. She's not portrayed as demanding a huge cash settlement from Don, and she's not shown as being vindictive or hateful (Since it's her mother who stole all of his furniture out of pure pettiness). Her venting at Don when they're face-to-face is portrayed as her being hurt and angry, not mean or greedy. The show doesn't say she's "another Jane" (And I'll also say that not even Jane was "Jane" like Roger was saying). Does she come across looking GREAT? No. But she does come across looking human and vulnerable, and I was in her corner 100% when matching her against Don here. Stan is just...sad. I lost respect for him when he slept with Pima Ryan because there's no extenuating circumstances that I could PRETEND justified him cheating on his girlfriend. There's nothing. I could twist the scenario into a pretzel trying to justify it and come up empty. It's one of those basic human failures that makes him smaller in my mind. I do like how Don's relationship with his family is closer to healthy now. It's still not healthy yet, but it's CLOSER. He can talk civilly to Betty and Henry, and that's not nothing. Three years ago I couldn't imagine him having this pleasant of a conversation in Henry's kitchen.

windyMelon

I didn’t see it as a redemption for Don so much. To me, it felt more like Don just wanted to be done with it. Partly because he was tired and didn’t want to go through the whole process again, but also because if he was going to start something new with Diana he wanted a clean slate However, I completely agree that gaslighting Megan’s character this episode left a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily though, I think any person who’s seen this episode has probably seen the series up to this point and would understand what she’s gone through and that’s not who she is Even though I disliked the whole fling with Diana, it makes sense to me when you consider that Don’s standard process is to move onto somebody new. He hasn’t learned yet that it’s not the right move, and that he needs to take time to heal himself first. However, I think the fling with Diana maybe helped teach him that lesson

John Puljung

What exactly did Megan give up for Don? How did he ruin her life? She’s walking away from this a millionaire actress. Was Don a good husband? Certainly not. However, if not for him, whose money afforded her the opportunity to live comfortably while going on auditions, she would have been waiting tables, or working as a secretary. She was the one to make the first overture.