Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Filehaus
Recent
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Mad Men 4x03 Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2025-11-02 23:32:53
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content

well happy new year i guess

Files

Previews only

mad men 403

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

Comments

Julmor

It’s honestly kinda horrifying how common Anna’s medical situation was in the 1960s. Back then, cancer was basically a death sentence, and “medical paternalism” was the norm — the general belief was that doctors knew best what patients could handle. This only really changed in the late 60s and 70s when things like "medical ethics" and "patients rights" became a much bigger deal. By then, there was also better treatments for cancer.

Nina

Don: "I'm not gonna give advice" Don 10 seconds later: "anyway wanna hire some sex workers?"

Taya

I don't think Joan & Greg are necessarily having problems conceiving yet. They are just starting. She went to the doctor to get checked out and get confirmation that everything looks good. I like that the show included the scene with Greg tending to her wound. It's important to remind the audience that even a horrible person is not horrible 100% of the time, and can still be kind and tender. People are multi-faceted. I think this may be the side of Greg that Joan initially fell in love with. (It's funny though that she immediately demanded he take her to the hospital, like she had no faith in his skills as a doctor. This may be the first time she's seen him in action and realized that he's not completely inept.)

Erik D

Surprised you didn't recognize Finn (Meadow's boyfriend) from The Sopranos as the comedian.

bondbond53

In a very weird way, technically Don should be happy that the last of his connection to Dick gets to go away. Just thinking about how desperate he was to get rid of Adam and how much he's tried to establish himself as Don Draper definitely would have us think that. But as you girls have expressed as well, Anna is Don's comfort space and she creates the environment in which he can, at least on a subconscious level, somewhat accept his past and his identity as Dick. It's so sad that this happens just as he loosens up a bit and considers even introducing Anna to his kids. Now he's back to square one and everything around him seems to reinforce his insecurities even more.

Jamie

I just caught up on Bocchi and was going to post this on this MM ep before I watched Bocchi ep 3 - kismet! There are many National songs that I identify with Don. I think his character and Matt’s writing persona have a lot in common (the "tall, baritone, confident-but-insecure, drunk, white collar, sad dad living in New York" of it all). Someone make a Depressed Don edit to Cardinal Song, stat. Anyway, all that to say that the California parts of MM (specifically this ep) remind me of Lemonworld. < / 3

JBK405

Anna's situation was sadly VERY common in the early- and mid-20th century. "Informed consent" wasn't the societal or legal norm at the time, so if the prognosis was bad the doctors would frequently tell a patient's family instead of the patient. Sometimes the rationale was "let them live without the shadow hanging over them", sometimes it was "sick people have impaired judgement and can't make their own decisions". Needless to say this was usually HORRIBLE for the actual patient. Like we see quite often over the course of the show, Don is actually on the right side of this debate when he is horrified at the truth being kept from Anna. He has to be persuaded and argued to go along with it. But like we also see throughout the series, his principles aren't quite strong enough to get him to do the right thing after all. That was Caity Lotz as Anna's niece. You're correct that she was in the Arrowverse as Sara Lance, although my first exposure to her was in the MTV show "Death Valley". Great show, tragically cut short at only a single season. I said the same thing in an earlier comment (I think season two?), but I think the reason Don is SO relaxed and different when he's "Dick" in California is because he can NEVER stop acting in New York. He's got to be Don 100% of the time. Even when he's alone, he's still living the role. So it is ALWAYS weighing on his shoulders. But out here he can finally let it go. When he sits on a couch and drinks a beer he is JUST sitting on a couch drinking a beer, instead of pretending to be Don Draper sitting on a couch drinking a beer.

Taya
>>192437841

How is it possible to keep it from patients all the way to their deaths? I imagine eventually they're gonna be like "Hey I've been feeling terrible, something's really wrong, take me to the hospital?" At that point do the doctors just keep them so drugged up they don't know what's going on?

Kev

Ubj...

Chidi.
>>192431938

Thank you. I recognised him but didn't know from where.

Jamie
>>192434015

Fuck it, a Don-coded National playlist before I go to bed. Cover Art provided by this very episode: https://i.imgur.com/MWFQejA.jpeg Cardinal Song Slipping Husband Cherry Tree Baby We’ll Be Fine All The Wine Mr. November Lemonworld Slipped I Should Live in Salt (Adam) Demons Don’t Swallow the Cap Graceless I’ll Still Destroy You So Far So Fast (Anna) Send For Me (Anna) Weird Goodbyes Turn Off The House Boohoohoo.

Alex Bernier

I don't think i can be trusted with the ability to comment here. It's hard to comment about their Joan predictions without giving spoilers. Even that sentence is borderline 😅

Joseph G.

Anna is like the loving mother figure Don never got to have while also being his only trusted confidant. Hearing "I know everything about you, and I still love you" from the sole person he can truly be himself around, knowing she's dying from cancer, is just so devastatingly brutal...

JJ

I mean… Betty *did* leave Don once she found out. She found out the truth and then left him in the very next episode. So while Lola is right, Don’s POV isn’t necessarily wrong. What he thought would happen… happened. And it isn’t just about “Dick Whitman” being unlovable, it’s about previously being a different person entirely. I said it a couple episodes back, but finding out your husband or then boyfriend is actually somebody else and illegally took another identity was *never* going to be an easy pill to swallow. Regardless of when it happened in the relationship timeline.

JJ
>>192433849

Don wanted Adam to go away to protect his new life, but by “go away” he did not want him to die… I disagree that Don should “technically” be happy that someone he cares about is dying. Anna poses no threat to his life as Don. Betty also now knows. And if you recall, Don ended up trying to call Adam… Kind of wild to even equate the two.

LtotheoG

:(

Kev
>>192447652

If you watched this video you would know they read these comments.

Kara
>>192452340

I think you really need to tell them in the first few months so they can make an informed choice about whether to commit. Otherwise you need to commit to never ever telling them (obviously ethically bad) including not keeping a box filled with evidence in your home. Betty was right when she said "I could have had a locksmith in here any time", many other partners would have cracked open that desk the moment they suspected infidelity.

Kara
>>192431932

Now I don't have to say it yippee! Greg was kind of charming when bandaging Joan's cut. You can absolutely see why she fell for the handsome, charming young doctor. Though I guess it makes it even more devestating when he's an asshole.

Kara
>>192430843

I commented elsewhere but there are a few major publications in the tail end of the 60s through the 70s that really changed the nature of end-of-life care. The "Hospice Care" movement begins in the 60s, dignity in death, informed consent, confronting mortality and "the 5 stages of grief" are all in the mix + platformed by mainstream media by the end of the decade. It's fascinating stuff.

Kara

"Alright Gentlemen, shall we begin 1965?" Great ep, great reaction. I don't have too much to add, I was right there with y'all emotionally. Mad Men is so funny cuz it emotionally devastates you then you wiggle the mouse and see there's still 20 mins left 💀 I love Lane. "We're not homosexuals, we're divorced". It's nice to see Don hanging out with a male peer who isn't Roger, even if it's under depressing circumstances. Lane and Joan's first instinct after the flower incident is to berate/fire the secretary, so funny to me. Anna, Stephanie, the sister are all so richly drawn, you understand the family dynamic. Anna is the cool aunt we all wished we had. I completely agree - it's sad that Don doesn't just stay in Cali and become California Don. Of course, the magic would probably wear off if it was his real life + not a vacation, he'd get bored, he'd get in his own head. Maybe he would commit the same sins, I don't know. But it hurts every time you see Don leave the warm hued beaches of California to return to grey cold New York. Stephanie calls him a "self-made man" and it's true, he made himself, but he also built his own prison + constantly returns to it when the most content we ever saw him was looking at cool cars + bringing anna groceries on a warm california afternoon. Sigh. Bonus Thoughts: Taya and the girls both said it but Greg is actually likeable for a minute here, which just makes the reality for Joan more tragic. Don can't help but do "don draper charm" its like a switch he can't turn off. It's discussed better below but informed medical consent, modern hospice care, and a general embracing of dying patients become big topics through the 60s and 70s.

Kev

What was up with the subtitles in the first version they watched? They are like 1-2 seconds ahead. Looks like they also got annoyed by it and switched after the car scene, lol. But the second version is also the subtitles that feel the need to tell you the character's whole backstory before their dialogue...

Biberius Caldius Mero

Very insightful discussion as always! But I'm sorry I know it's childish, but the discussion about dick, loving dick, praising dick and even chopping off dick made me laugh a little.

Kev
>>192471383

"Nobody praised the dick" and "The pleasant parts of dick" were also funny

Mark M

Love this episode. "I know everything about you, and I still love you". Such a beautiful sentiment. I love Don and Lane drowning their sorrows too. Just a really good episode from start to finish.

Taya
>>192468861

The site I use to stream the show sometimes has mismatched subtitles. They might be using the same site or a similar one. It looks like they switched to Netflix halfway through.

Father of the Year

I absolutely love the structure of this episode. Borderline top 10 episode of the show for me.

Sebastian
>>192507025

It's like two completely different episodes grafted together. And somehow it really works.

Chidi.

Superb episode, one of the best in the so far. My memory is fuzzy, I thought this episode occurred later in the show. Anyway.... poor Don, his one true anchor has now departed.