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Mad Yourself A Man 212: The Mountain King, with Brent Flyberg (Patreon)

Published:
2025-06-09 00:30:02
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

The Mounting Kings

Matt & Vince are joined by comedian, co-host of the Oh Hell Yeah podcast, handsome devil, and producer of this podcast, Brent Flyberg. Listen as we discuss Mad Men season two episode twelve, “The Mountain King”

Fellas, is your nag wife always hounding you about your philanderous lifestyle? Have you tried bailing to Long Beach and getting free therapy and tarot readings from the widow of the man whose identity you stole to escape the Korean War?  Works for Don, but his dead commanding officer’s wife is the ultimate cool girl, and yours probably isn’t.

Back in New York, Pete throws a chicken off the balcony, Peggy earns her own office after nailing the popsicle account pitch, Joan tries a sex act considered obscene in 1962 (girl on top?!?!?) and Roger pushes for a merger with Putney Powell & Lowe so he can fund his divorce and keep his child bride happy. 

If you need to confess to disrespecting the Xerox machine, do it in a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. 

Email us at [email protected]; leave us a voicemail at 415-275-0030

Support the Pod: become a patron at patreon.com/Frotcast and get more bonus content than you could ever want. Sign up for the Pod Yourself a Shoutout tier to hear Vince give you a shout out on the show, like this week's shoutouts for The Chipmunk and JJ Abrams..

-Description by Brent Flyberg  

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Comments

dogwater

Im excited for next time I'm suckin on some tiddies, to whip out my conductor cap and hail all aboard the milk train.

pfinzent

Please release the uncensored cut so i can know what Vince said

Jarnold

Bill Yourself A Maher

Mr. Pie

Look to be fair Matt, I'm 30+ and apparently the only person my age who didn't know it was from a beer ad, so I'm just a caveman living under a rock I guess

The System

All three of you forgot Betty found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago?

Chachi uday

New rules, bill maher sucks all our dicks.

Paul Des Lauries

Apologies for the very SCHOOL essay that follows but I need to get this out lol. This is one of the most important Don episodes of the series and the episode that most refutes a straight cynical reading of the series finale. 2x12 and 7x14 share a remarkable amount of DNA, with the finale essentially being a conclusion to the threads directly introduced here. His conversation with Anna at end is critical, so we need to do a deep dive. “It’s an inkblot. You see what you want to see.” After briefly discussing the Frank O’Hara collection that bookends this season, Anna gives Don a tarot reading. This is his first encounter in the series with new age spirituality, the finale being its pinnacle. The cards reveal that he is the World and that the only thing keeping him from happiness is the belief that he is alone. Don is thoroughly skeptical, while Anna urges him towards hope. The episode ends on an ambiguous note: Maybe Don’s walking into the ocean to drown, or maybe it’s to be reborn. “That doesn’t look good.” “It is!” “It’s the end of the world.” “It’s the resurrection.” … “I can smell the ocean.” (The series, especially in season 6, pretty explicitly ties bodies of water with Don’s death wish. The Judgement tarot card, which Don fittingly sees as the end of the World(!), is depicted as a flood.) Anna’s ghost, that conversation, and really Don’s whole deal in California this episode are everywhere in the finale, from his clear suicidal ideation, to his escapist muscle car fantasy, to the subtle sounds of wind chimes in the background, to the final shot of Don framed by the Pacific while facing the sun. (“You’re definitely in a strange place. But here’s the Sun.”) Makes sense as Anna’s the reason Don accompanies Stephanie to that cliffside retreat, even if she’s never even referenced by the other characters. The conclusion is of course the famous Coke commercial titled “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke.” There’s the material reading of the ad: Don just goes back to shilling products, only now with new age platitudes. But there’s also a metaphorical, emotional read if we think about its significance as it relates to Anna. Because of the tarot reading, we understand that “the World” of the ad is Don and his connection to everyone in it. What about the Frank O’Hara poetry? Why does it show up so much this season and especially in this important conversation about Don? Some of his work is morose, like the stuff Don is drawn to. However, more of it is comedic and profane: Much closer to Anna’s personality. Arguably his most famous poem in that latter group is called “Having a Coke with You.” It’s about how something as mundane—even as vulgar—as having a Coke with someone you care for can be the most fulfilling experience imaginable. (O’Hara also penned a well-known manifesto called “Personism” in which he wrote that poetry “is… between two persons instead of two pages.” The Mad Men series finale is notably titled “Person to Person.” ) Coca-Cola is all over the final season, often as a harbinger of McCann, but not always. One of its most significant appearances comes a few episodes before the finale. Sally and Don are at a diner. She’s furious at him for his latest lies and is refusing to eat or drink. After they talk it out, she signals that she forgives him; not by bluntly saying “I forgive you,” but instead by asking him to order her a Coke. Their next scene ends with Sally telling Don that she loves him. For the first time it seems like he might actually believe it. In the pen(is)ultimate scene of the series, Don doesn’t speak at all. Instead, he listens to a man named Leonard (which many have noticed is an anagram of “Real Don” lol) give voice to every one of Don’s deepest fears and insecurities. Being unloved, unwanted, unremarkable, utterly isolated in cold darkness. Instead of running from his feelings as usual, Don hugs Leonard and breaks down in tears. He’s experiencing a genuine emotional connection—something he had thought impossible—with a complete stranger. In that moment, Don needs Leonard to know that he’s not alone, and by extension he is giving himself permission to know that as well. In this context, we could understand the final ad to mean “I’d like you to feel loved. Whoever you are, you are not alone.” That is earthshaking character development for Don, the man who once claimed love was made up by advertisers and who has spent the past 7 seasons tormented by self-destructive nihilism. Just because his outlet is vulgar doesn’t mean it’s not sincere. (A common theme of O’Hara’s work is love’s intrinsic vulgarity.) Is the finale *also* cynical? Yeah, absolutely. Don’s not making art, he’s peddling a junk food. He essentially sells his soul to McCann and corporate advertising, appropriating this rare moment of empathy and emotional honesty for capitalist slop. Nothing is sacred, everything is monetizable. Another recurring ghost, Bert Cooper, gave Don the advice “The best things in life are free” at the news of the McCann acquisition, advice that Don flatly rejects here. He is nothing if not American. Compare this to Joan, the other major focus character in the finale: She gets her arc-defining line for that season “I can’t just shut that part of myself off” in reference to her career drive, which helps illustrate Don’s ultimate inability to walk away from the industry or to stop being the man we know him to be. Still, Mad Men always defied easy characterization and categorization. “It means the only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are alone.” “What if that’s true?” “Then you can change.” “People don’t change.” “I think she stands for wisdom. As you live, you learn things.” Don will always be Don will always be Dick. But maybe he can exchange a little bit of his self-loathing and cynicism for some happiness. Maybe he can accept a little love. And for a man like him, maybe that’s enough. Or maybe it’s not. “It’s an inkblot. You see what you want to see.” God, I love this show.

Jen Ten

The period/bleeding foreshadowed Betty's pregnancy. Sometimes in early pregnancy, there is breakthrough bleeding or spotting. It probably came at an odd time, too.

Jen Ten

"Flyberg" is the best last name!