It’s ok Don, Mad Men Men doesn’t have a budget for a commercial, either. That’s right, this week we’re getting into ‘The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,’ the fifth episode of Season 4. And we don’t need a “gift” from you the listeners, as you just being our listeners is plenty gift enough. Just don’t invite us to any sleepovers anytime soon.
In case this is your first time digging into our podcast, we recap Mad Men from the perspective of a first-time watcher, someone who only watched the show once while it was airing, and a superfan who watches excessively instead of having a functional social life.
Discussion Points:
- What does “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” say about shame and cultural differences?
- How do you feel about Sally’s new therapist and how therapy in general is portrayed in the show?
- Do you enjoy CGC as a “nemesis” agency to SCDP?
- What happened to Kurt and Smitty, ultimately?
- Is Pete fully right about Roger’s attempt to blow up the Honda account?
- Should Betty just stick with a child therapist…
- How are you feeling about Season 4 so far?
Extra credits for “The Chrysanthemum and The Sword”
Matthew Weiner created Mad Men, which aired on AMC from 2007 to 2015. Lesli Linka Glatter directed “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” and Erin Levy wrote the script. The show stars Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Robert Morse, and many more. Our intro music is “Mad Men Men” by Tom Davidson, which is an original remix of the show’s opening theme “A Beautiful Mine” by RJD2. Podcast illustration is by Jon Negroni. Our podcast hosts include Jon Negroni (Podcast Editor of InBetweenDrafts), Will Ashton (cohost of the Cinemaholics podcast), and Michael Overhulse (a guy who’s addicted to working at startups).
We’ll be back soon to discuss Season 4 Episode 6, titled “Waldorf Stories.” Subscribe to Mad Men Men on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever else podcasts are, ahem, advertised. You can find our conversations about the first season on our podcast feed, as we are now on a new website.
Jon is one of the co-founders of InBetweenDrafts. He hosts the podcasts Thank God for Movies, Mad Men Men, Rookie Pirate Radio, and Fantasy Writing for Barbarians. He doesn’t sleep, essentially.
