Aspies and Mad Men?

Post Reply New Topic

I am very worried this question will seem insulting. It is absolutely not my intention to offend anyone. Full disclosure: I am here because I am writing a story with an Aspie character and I want to understand and get it right.

One of my favorite tv shows is Mad Men. There is a lot of subtext in the show, and the dialogue doesn't always reflect what is actually happening between the characters.

So what do you think about the show? Do you like it? Find it frustrating?

I love it. It's my favourite show after The Wire. I don't understand why I'd find it frustrating, but I do find Don's Dick Whitman backstory very odd.
I don't know where that's going.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I've been trying to put my finger on why Don married Megan. What do you think?

Don's a guy who seems to adapt and take advantage of situations as they present themselves, this is what he does and he's quite successful as he seems to make the right choices for him, for the most part, in spite of how sketchy they sometimes seem to be.
From memory Don is seduced by Megan rather than being the one doing the seducing. I don't think he was particularly impressed or shocked by that, but once again, it's just something that has fallen into his lap as it were.
At the time, Betty fired the kids' nanny, and Don was grieving for Anna (artificial leg?) and used a trip to Disneyland as a cover for dealing with Anna's affairs. He invited Megan along to look after the kids. It's not love, I'm not even sure he knows what that is, it's just Don doing what Don does.

i think it's interesting that there is a healthy genre of intelligent tv shows ("The Killing" is another) which feature scripts written to make sense only if you've been following it pretty steadily since the start; at least this isn't dumbed down, but at the same time, it feels like tv-made-for-the-dvd-boxed-set, where you have to watch everything two or three times (or--as in my case--have your NT wife tell you what just happened in the scene you were watching--), & this requires a huge investment of time...

having said this, my other biggest complain is it's moving too fast into the future. i'd be happy if they stayed in 1966 (or even 1963) for the duration.

AMC shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Killing are absolutely the best things on TV as far as my wife and I are concerned.
The scene where Lane clocked Pete was great. And the scene where Don's original secretary, while drunkenly on a rider lawn mower, cuts off the foot of one of the British executives at an office party, and sprays his blood all over the cake, and the partiers, was absolutely morbidly hilarious.
The character I had hoped would return was Sal, the closeted gay art department director. His attempts to keep his sexuality a secret - even going to the extent of getting married - shows how gays were just one of the groups who were still on the outs back in the 60's.
I really like how the situation with black Americans is beginning to be explored, as Don's newest secretary, Dawn, is a civil rights activist.
And the episode where Roger Sterling takes LSD was absolutely hilarious!
I couldn't help but notice, Don has perceived his father-in-laws - Betty's late father, and now Megan's leftist professor father - as hating him. I can only think that this has something to do with his relationship with his own abusive, alcoholic father. Anyone have any ideas on this subject?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I'm a fan.

I love Breaking Bad - looking forward to the finale.
I was almost totally sold on Roger Sterling's LSD experience right up until the point he was watching a baseball game on the bathroom wall. I've done my fair share, that would have to be some serious acid.
I think Don's perceived his father-in-laws as hating him because he thinks they 'see through' him.

That may very well be true about him believing his fathers-in-law see though him.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I was following it for awhile a few years ago before my TV got stolen.

I love it, the way things like the subtext, wordless glances between characters etc. are handled is different in drama than in real life. If I ever feel like I've missed something or want to understand more I'll watch the "behind the episode" or read the AVClub review.
Though context for me, I'm a "tv person" like a less extreme version of community's Abed. So much of my speech and mannerisms is ripped that sometimes I come across as a cartoon person. I'm a very silly person.