Mad Men

Lithose_sl said:

Yeah, Pete's family is super fucked up. Also, the thing with Pete that really makes him insufferable for most in the office is that he isalmostalways right (In the office, not his personal life). He's always two steps ahead of everyone else, and always reading people much better than anyone else--I guess he's always had to in order to survive in his vulture family. But even this week, when Don was completely befuddled at Tom's idea of how they were "at war"--Pete called that well in advance, and Don didn't even see it was happening, he thought everything was smooth sailing.

But Pete's ultimate problem is that he KNOWS he's right, and he doesn't know how to be graceful about it. That's why he always gets punched in the face, lol.

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Having worked in sales at a Fortune 200 company, I saw guys like Pete all the time. They do one thing well, and that is sell. The rest of their lives are shambles. By the time these guys get to the end of their lives, they are alone, have kids that hate them, and are divorced several times over. But they still do financially well because they have the ability to get people to sign the bottom line. They've worked their way up to some sort of Executive sales position like Pete has. Some of the wealthiest salesmen are just douchebags in the rest of their lives. And since they suck at the rest of their lives, they just work more hours, because that's the one place where they do well. So it feeds on itself, the more they work, they more they make. Some of them work seven days a week and stay away from their families. The families don't care as long as they are getting their money. I've seen guys die in their office in their 80's.

Pete is the stereotypical douchenozzle Superstar Salesman. I've seen Pete a lot in real life.

Outside of being good with accounts and interacting in that fashion it seems like Pete has terrible interpersonal skills with other humans

He's very similar to Don in that way. I think that is why we always see him going to Don with shit, he thinks that he and Don have a special relationship because they are alike. I am not sure Don shares his sentiment.

It's always baffled me how Pete is good at accounts. Unlike Roger, who is often shown as having the ability to be a smooth talker with clients, Pete is pretty rarely shown being competent.

I think Pete thinks he is like Don. Don has the ability to bend people to his will and always seems to succeed. Pete is trying to follow in Don's footsteps by getting the NYC apartment, trying to have affairs and the like. But everytime he does something Don has done he just does it worse and it never works out for him. You think if Joan some how muscled Don out of the picture the way she did it to Pete Don would have let it slide? Pete brought it up and was essentially given a dog and pony show yelling at Joan and told to stop being a whiny bitch essentially despite having valid concerns.

It's always baffled me how Pete is good at accounts. Unlike Roger, who is often shown as having the ability to be a smooth talker with clients, Pete is pretty rarely shown being competent.

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I think it may be because Pete doesn't put himself in situations where he needs to be a smooth talker. He just strokes these higher ups egos and tells them exactly what they want to hear. That isn't really Roger's MO. I'm sure they're both good at the job but in different ways.

McCheese_sl said:

It's always baffled me how Pete is good at accounts. Unlike Roger, who is often shown as having the ability to be a smooth talker with clients, Pete is pretty rarely shown being competent.

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ive always wondered this as well. It's kind of a complaint I have about the show. We're supposed to sort of take it on faith that Pete is good without seeing it. The only thing they've ever showed is the line with Megan's father. Yet he's pushed out roger who is witty and entertaining. I wish they'd show more because you could see the contrast in Rogers style which is kind of the guy's guy appeal vs Pete who makes clients feel special(we assume)

I assume they don't know how to write those scenes without making them boring to watch. Like and entire episode of "And then Pete goes to lunch with this other guy and shamelessly kisses his ass. Back at the office, he gets on the phone and haggles over the price of a third page placement".

But yeah, it really seems like Pete has just been along for the ride from watching the show even though he's obviously important to the working of the business offscreen.

So it turns out Bob is a young gay Don. I like how Pete just lets it slide because of how he got burned trying to 'out' Don.

Maybe Pete should guest star on Suits and try to out Mike.

Pete is craftier than that, I think. Pete's really not letting it slide. He leveraged Bob so that he's now "off limits", so that Bob will keep his distance, and to help control his mother. And that even makes sense, Pete isn't relying on Bobs sense of honor. The agreement will stand, because WTF is Bob gonna do except for run away, which is what Bob wanted to do. Bob fucked up by telling him that Pete hired him -- probably why Pete played it that way. Pete knows Bob is probably a timebomb... but Pete is already looking for greener pastures. 3 months on Chevy and he writes his own job description with another firm. The gamble is, "how long does for bob to worm his way high enough that he can significantly embarrass the firm and cost them business"? Pete is betting he's out the door before anyone important figures out Bob's grift. Which if you think about it, is very similar to what Burt did with Don in S1. The reasons were different but the outcome was virtually the same.

Pete actually had some real character growth. He's finally making what he is work for him rather than work against him. Pete is a sour, unlovable, sneaky bastard -- but he is well bred.

Contrasted to Don who really continues to shrink. This episode was nothing but Don kicking cripples and burning bridges.

It was good to see creepy ass Glen again. And sallys smirk when she had Glen beat on his friend was priceless.

Sally is gonna trap that dumb motherfucker. She's gonna go to woodstock and get him all wigged out on drugs so bizzare they were never named and she's gonna rape the shit out of him.

Would be nice if one of the four child actors had an ounce of talent. That whole boarding school scene was just painful to watch.

Next week is the finale, but it seems like nothing is really built up. The Don vs Ted thing is not really that interesting. The only thing of potential interest is Sally spilling the beans.

I think Sally and Glen are actually decent. Glen is pretty one dimensional, but that's all that's required of the character. And boys at that age are pretty damn one dimensional IRL anyway. Sally does a good job of playing a not-terribly-interesting young teenager. And lets be real, teenagers really aren't all that interesting anyway. She's miles better at it than that son on the sopranos was. I've seen worse. And I don't mean on cable access. Successfully worse.

Iannis_sl said:

The gamble is, "how long does for bob to worm his way high enough that he can significantly embarrass the firm and cost them business"?

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For all we know, he is a Don: faked credentials but good at his job.