Line #32 YMMV/MadMen


1	----
2
3	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
4	** Is Betty a paranoid, spoiled, and selfish bully? Or is she a victim of the times and years of psychological abuse from her parents and Don? Quite possibly [[JerkassWoobie both at the same time]], but good luck getting two fans to agree.
5	** Was Megan leaving copywriting because it wasn't what she thought it would be, because of her Father's remarks, or was she faking her interest as part of a carefully planned seduction of Don?
6	* {{Anvilicious}}: [[http://www.salon.com/2012/10/10/camille_paglias_glittering_images/ Camille Paglia's beef with the first season of the show]]--namely, that it's tainted by the self-righteous wisdom of "hindsight":
7	--> "I was there! I lived through that period. ''Mad Men'' doesn’t capture one single thing about the décor, costumes, or sexual interaction [of TheSixties]. It is a total projection of contemporary snarky attitudes into the past. If you want to see what women were actually like in that period of sexual repression, just put in a DVD of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' and watch the phenomenal Creator/JanetLeigh as a secretary in a Phoenix office at the start. That is it!''
8	* ArcFatigue: Season 6 received some criticism because the story doesn't advance as evenly as the previous seasons, with most of the exposition being in "For Immediate Release" and the last three episodes. Some also found it had a few retread episodes like "A Tale of Two Cities."
9	* AwardSnub:
10	** Season 5 received 17 UsefulNotes/EmmyAward nominations, among the most the show's received in a single year, and walked away with 0 wins.
11	** By the end of its run, the show received a total of 37 acting nominations and only won once: Creator/JonHamm for Lead Actor in his very last eligible year. This is notable as the other 4-time winners of Best Drama Series,''Series/HillStreetBlues'', ''Series/LALaw'', and ''Series/TheWestWing'', all won acting Emmys several times.
12	** The show never won for Directing, as well, which was also practically unheard of for a show with that kind of Emmy attention.
13	** Among the few never to be nominated is Creator/VincentKartheiser as Pete, who many thought was deserving of consideration for his work in Season 5's "Signal 30".
14	** Despite the significant presence he was given in Season 6, Creator/JamesWolk was deemed ineligible to compete in the Guest Actor category when the producers/network failed to submit him on the nominating ballot.
15	** Finally [[AvertedTrope averted]] in 2015 when, for the final season, Creator/JonHamm won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. At long last, the losing streak for the show's actors came to an end.
16	*** Despite the win for Hamm, they managed to miss winning Best Drama Series over ''Series/GameOfThrones'', which, according to most, had what was probably their weakest season. They also lost out to Best Writing against ''Game of Thrones'' as well, which was considered to be one of the more criticized aspects of the season.
17	** After nominated for the first four seasons, Creator/JohnSlattery got snubbed for each remaining year of the show even though he continued to give an excellent performance.
18	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
19	** The iconic theme of course, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD12mZiFPtM A Beautiful Mine]].
20	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrJuq0fQyYk Don's girl-watching]] and strut to Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in "The Summer Man".
21	** Back in season one, "Babylon" ends with a gorgeous version of the 18th-century round "Waters of Babylon". %%Don [=McLean=] didn't write it; he just popularized it. Which is also why it's not an anachronism, as ''American Pie'' didn't come out until about a decade after the time when the episode was set.
22	** The entire score by David Carbonara can also qualify, particularly the three most notable pieces: "Lipstick," "The Men of Sterling Cooper," and "The Carousel."
23	** "Tomorrow Never Knows" playing over the final montage of "Lady Lazarus" does an effective job of conveying how it would have felt to hear the psychedelic song for the first time in 1966.
24	** "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks playing as [[spoiler:Peggy quits after one too many snubs by Don.]]
25	** Don walking off the set of Megan's commercial into darkness as the title song from the ''Film/JamesBond'' movie ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' sung by Nancy Sinatra plays.
26	** From "Time Zones", Don and Megan's first scene, set to the Spencer Davis Group's "I'm a Man".
27	** The usage of the lesser known song by the Zombies called "This Will Be Our Year" was a great capper to the episode "A Day's Work"
28	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
29	** Don himself. While he has been acclaimed as a well-realized and complex character, there's contention as to whether his deep character flaws affect the audience's ability to be invested in him. Many argue that his complexity makes him an interesting character you can be invested in even if you disagree with his decisions and find him to be a bad person, others find him so horrible that they simply can't care about what happens to him. Others complain that he [[IgnoredEpiphany keeps learning the same lessons over and over again.]] How justified he is in his decisions in a number of situations also tends to be a subject of debate.
30	** Betty, as evidenced by AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.
31	** Megan and her relationship with Don. A good deal of the fanbase wanted him to end up with Faye, and Megan's ambition, and particularly her desire for an acting career, make her out to be a strong independent woman to some, a selfish talentless egomaniac to others.
32	** Bob Benson. The split generally comes between those who enjoyed his intelligent machinations and James Wolk's delectable performance as him, and those who thought he got too much screentime at the expense of the main characters for a payoff that was underwhelming, given how it showed that he was basically another Don Draper.
33	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "Waterloo" ends with Bert Cooper's surprise musical performance of "The Best Things in Life are Free". [[spoiler:The late Bert Cooper]]. ItMakesSenseInContext, [[spoiler:and is a rather well-done sendoff for Bert and tribute to Robert Morse's Broadway career, chiefly his leading role in ''Theatre/HowToSucceedInBusinessWithoutReallyTrying'']].
34	* BrokenBase: "The Other Woman" provoked some ''extreme'' reactions in the fandom.
35	** "The Crash" proved to be one of the series' more divisive episodes. Great episode conveying the casual drug use and influence of psychedelic motifs in the 1960s [[spoiler:and foreshadowing Don's ultimate collapse]], or poor episode attempting to be overly artistic and unorthodox without having enough substance to justify it? Some of those who dislike the episode also compare it unfavorably to Season 5's "Far Away Places", which already dealt with drug use in a way that got the show to experiment with its characters' mentalities, all the while advancing the storyline.
36	** "New Business" alienated some viewers, who found it relatively dull in its focus on Don and [[CreatorsPet Megan's]] divorce proceedings, occasionally interrupted by a relationship that Don formed with a waitress who had just been introduced in the previous episode. Along with the general annoyance that some people have with Megan, those who didn't like the episode noted that it was peculiar to give so much time to a new character, when there were only a handful of episodes left to deal with personal arcs of the other members of the main cast. The opposing viewpoint responded that the episode was okay enough in getting Megan out of the way so that the rest of the season could be spent focusing on those characters.
37	** Was Peggy and Stan getting together in the finale a well-earned satisfying conclusion that, while admittedly cheesy, was a great conclusion to show that Peggy can really have it all? Or was it an overly rushed conclusion that was too stereotypical and sexist because it seemed like giving her a man was what she needed all along?
38	* ContinuityLockOut: In addition to the character development, the gradual change of time from 1960 to 1970 really adds to the viewing experience.
39	* CreatorsPet: Glen. Played by the producer's son, he increasingly moves into this role as it becomes harder and harder to tell if he's supposed to be a CreepyChild or the kid just can't act.
40	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: In a [[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/feb/24/mad-men-account/ critical essay]] in ''The New York Review of Books'', writer Daniel Mendelsohn charges the show with doing this:
41	-->"As the camera glides over Joan’s gigantic bust and hourglass hips, as it languorously follows the swirls of cigarette smoke toward the ceiling, as the clinking of ice in the glass of someone’s midday Canadian Club is lovingly enhanced, you can’t help thinking that the creators of this show are indulging in a kind of dramatic having your cake and eating it, too: even as it invites us to be shocked by what it’s showing us (a scene people love to talk about is one in which a hugely pregnant Betty lights up a cigarette in a car), it keeps eroticizing what it’s showing us, too."
42	* DracoInLeatherPants: Don's many flaws are often overlooked due to this effect, even though the show itself does its best to illustrate the double standard.
43	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
44	** Miss Blankenship [[spoiler:dies a few episodes after she is introduced]] but seems to have won a lot of fans for being a [[DeadpanSnarker queen of one-liners]] [[spoiler: Roger says that's [[IWasQuiteALooker not all that she was queen of]].]] [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior The cantankerous old woman]] can even put Bert Cooper in his place and totally get away with it.
45	** Sally Draper has received much more screen time and character development then her brother Bobby.
46	** Rachel Menken appeared for only the first season, but was a very effective and memorable foil for Don.
47	** Sal was the most liked junior executive early on and a sympathetic portrayal of a gay man discovering his sexuality, and many discussions see fans wanting him back. The fact that he never returned is widely considered a major missed opportunity.
48	** Faye Miller gets a lot of love from the fan base, with many being upset that Don chose Megan over her, even if they understand why he did.
49	** Dawn and Shirley are this for a lot of fans. Being they're two best friends that serve as [[SnarkKnight the Daria and Jane]] of the agency and are the only African-American staffers on the show. Dawn's PluckyGirl storylines and Shirley's sass and [[MsFanservice short skirts]] don't hurt either.
50	** Trudy Campbell has always been popular with the fanbase, but her SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when she [[spoiler: kicks Pete Campbell out with a rousing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech]] pushed her into a bit of a twitter sensation.
51	** Some have found Meredith (epitome of DumbBlonde in this show) to become this following her assignment as Don's Secretary in Season 7. Her innocent naiveté complements Don's weariness quite well.
52	** Bob Benson (for those that [[BaseBreakingCharacter don't consider him]] TheScrappy) is this among quite a number of fans, due to his intelligent tendencies, his almost creepily optimistic nature, and the strength of James Wolk's performance. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpUWrl3-mc8 "NOT GREAT, BOB"]] [[MemeticMutation meme]] that emerged following the Season 6 finale probably helped ascend him to this position.
53	* FanNickname: "Dr. Rape" and "[[Series/GreysAnatomy Dr. McRapey]]" for Greg Harris, Joan's husband.
54	* FanPreferredCouple:
55	** Joan and Roger.
56	** From Season 4, Don and Faye.
57	** Peggy and Stan [[spoiler: who later become the OfficialCouple in the series finale]].
58	** Michael Ginsberg and Dawn Chambers, likely due to being [[RedOniBlueOni polar opposite in personality]] and that they were the tokens of the agency and hired at the same time. The premiere of Season 7A even threw in a ShipTease with Dawn acting slightly flirtatious with Ginsberg, though nothing came of it.
59	** Peggy and Don or Don and Joan. Sometimes [[TakeAThirdOption there is a threesome involved]] in fan fiction.
60	* FountainOfMemes: Due to his hilarious [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarking]], Roger is the most quotable character of the series, by far.
61	* GrowingTheBeard: Season two's improvement on the first is reflected in Paul Kinsey's new facial hair. Though his character starts to take a bit of a slide...
62	** The bigger focus on Creative and the development of it into a close and formidable team is reflected by Stan Rizzo growing the beard. Him, Peggy and Mike Ginsberg are creative powerhouses.
63	* HarsherInHindsight:
64	** [[spoiler:"I'll be here the rest of my life!" [[DrivenToSuicide Yes you will, Lane, yes you will...]]]]
65	** In Season 1, Joan is helping Peggy move to her new office as a result of her promotion, Joan makes some comments about how people who get what they want won't be happy, basically shaming Peggy for her non-domestic ambitions and for supposedly not caring about her looks the way Joan does. Joan even condescendingly says "I said 'Congratulations' didn't I?" Flash forward towards the end of Season 2: Joan is engaged (and was raped) by her fiancee while a perky Peggy gets a new office where she doesn't have to share with the Xerox machine, Peggy sincerely states she's happy they both got what they wanted while Joan represses any urge to tell Peggy how her relationship sucks.
66	** Season 1 had Betty commenting to Don that she never wanted to become "old and ugly", flash-forward 10 years later and at age 38, Beautiful Betty is [[spoiler: informed she has lung cancer and less than a year to live]].
67	** Season 6 has shown Betty thinking she has a tumor and dreaming about her death, later meeting an old friend dying from a terminal disease. Then in 7B, she is revealed to [[spoiler: have 6 months to a year left in her life after being diagnosed with lung cancer]].
68	** Don's drinking is even more uncomfortable after it was announced Jon Hamm went to rehab for alcoholism before Season 7B aired.
69	** Any time Betty is seen lighting up after [[spoiler: she's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in Season 7B.]]
70	** The casual sexism and harassment depicted on the show is even more uncomfortable after allegations that showrunner Matthew Weiner sexually harassed a writer on the show.
71	** More or less everything about Don's sexual behavior after it is revealed in "The Crash" that his first sexual experience was to be [[RapeAsBackstory raped by a prostitute when he was a teenager]]. And then he was beaten with a wooden spoon for it by his adoptive mother. It... explains a lot. There's also the fact that his mistress for most of season six, Sylvia Rosen, has a beauty mark in the same spot as the aforementioned prostitute.
72	** Every scene with Pete's hilariously senile mother in Season Six becomes this after [[spoiler:Manolo marries her and then murders her for her money.]]
73	** In "The Monolith", Ginsberg gets some good zingers at how the IBM machine is going to replace them all. [[spoiler:In "The Runaways", this gets a whole lot less funny when it's revealed Ginsburg wasn't joking and his paranoia over the machine leads to a psychotic breakdown.]]
74	** In "A Day's Work", Sally jokes about getting time off from school if her mother died when she attends a funeral for her roommate's mother. [[spoiler: In "The Milk And Honey Route", her mother Betty is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.]]
75	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Many ''Series/{{Angel}}'' fans had this reaction to Vincent Kartheiser's performance of Pete Campbell after seeing him play the [[TheScrappy dour, sulky]] Connor originally.
76	* HilariousInHindsight:
77	** Roger complaining in "The Color Blue" about how he 'found' Don. We learn in "Waldorf Stories" that he didn't think a thing of Don when they met - and at the very least only hired him because he was black-out drunk, and may not have actually hired him so much as Don just convinced him that he did and forgot about it.
78	** Sterling mentions getting drunk and trying on the suit of armor in Lane's office. Sounds like something his [[Film/IronMan son in another franchise]] would do...
79	** Megan reads an audition script for ''Series/DarkShadows'' and is soon ranting about how terrible it is. This episode, itself titled "Dark Shadows," happened to air on the very weekend that Tim Burton's film version of the classic soap opera was released, to weak reviews and an even weaker box office.
80	** Peggy's mother admonishes her for cohabitating with Abe, advising her to get a cat instead. In season 6, she breaks up with him and does just that.
81	** Stan once jokingly remarked that Abe is "too good looking for Peggy"; come the series finale and [[spoiler: he and Peggy start their romantic relationship]].
82	** Counts as HeartwarmingInHindsight: Megan tells Sally, when discussing Sally and Glen Bishop, that "A lot of great romances start out as friendships". It was a miss on [[PlatonicLifePartners Sally and Glens' part]], but it does describe the relationship of Megan's two friends [[spoiler: Peggy and Stan]].
83	** Kinsey growing a beard in season two becomes this after he writes a script for an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. (Wrong [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration show]], right franchise.)
84	** In ''Series/GLOW2017'', Harry has an affair with Trudy.
85	** After his role in ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', one wonders if Jared Harris has any worries about being typecast as characters who [[spoiler:hang themselves]].
86	* HoYay:
87	** Don and Roger, the epic bromance of the Sixties. They drink and womanize their way through the show, and while they may fight, they always make up. In season three, Bert Cooper stages an intervention for them when their fighting (over Roger's second marriage and Don's lack of respect for Roger) causes problems at Sterling-Cooper, and their reunion assists in [[spoiler: finalizing Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce]]. Don's conversation with Roger in "The Suitcase", with Roger begging Don to accompany him to dinner (albeit one with Freddy Rumsen and Cal Rutledge, neither of whom Don or Roger like) is even more HoYay-ish than usual:
88	--->'''Roger:''' I've still got your ticket.\
89	'''Don:''' It's an attractive offer.\
90	'''Roger:''' Look out your window, see me waving?\
91	'''Don:''' ''(smiling)'' Goodnight, sweetheart.
92	** Sal has a crush on Ken Cosgrove, which he attempts, all too subtly, to get across in "The Gold Violin." By remaining completely oblivious, Ken doesn't really do any more to dispel it than he does to encourage it, so at end of the episode it's still just hanging depressingly in the air.
93	** What about Don and Lane Pryce in The Good News (season 4, episode 3.) Lane is in the doghouse with his wife so Don takes him out for a nice dinner, they all get very drunk, act rather HoYay-ish to each other..their behaviour is even lampshaded by a comedian who sees them in the crowd and makes jokes about how they are a cute couple.
94	*** Which makes "Commisions and Fees" (Season 5, episode 12), where [[spoiler:Don demand's Lane's resignation for embezzling from the company, [[DrivenToSuicide followed by Lane committing suicide,]]]] all the more depressing.
95	** Joey receives some compliments from Harry Crane and immediately tells his buddies that he's being hit on by an old queen. This is more likely a manifestation of Joey's tremendous narcissism than a sign of any conscious attraction on Harry's part. (Subconscious could be another matter...)
96	* HollywoodHomely:
97	** Peggy. She even gets the idea that she isn't attractive, not helping are Joan's insults on her looks and fashion sense or when the guys make jokes about her being a "Gertrude Stein" as opposed to a "Jackie or [[Creator/MarilynMonroe Marilyn]]". Yet given that she's played by Creator/ElisabethMoss, it's been lampshaded on the show that the idea of her being unattractive is insane and can be attributed to the Men wrapping their heads around the idea that a woman can be beautiful and intellectual along with misogyny. Don ("You're an attractive girl Peggy" and once compared her to Creator/IreneDunne), a suspicious Bobbie ("You're so young and beautiful"), even Joan (admits she has darling ankles and laments her "hiding a very attractive girl under a lot of lunch"), Stan ("You have a nice ass"), and Mathis ("You know you're a catch right?") have commented on how pretty she is.
98	** Don's fling Diana in season 7B, she's less adorned in appearance than most of the women he's been with or the women on the show and is rather dour and isn't as beautifully lit yet his attraction was primarily based on the fact that her looks reminded him of Rachel Menken, who wasn't a slouch in the looks department.
99	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler: Don Draper is really Dick Whitman. He also created the "I'd Like to Buy The World A Coke" ad.]]
100	* JerkassWoobie: Plenty.
101	** Don. Both sides of the trope expand as the series goes on.
102	** Pete, due to his collapsing marriage to Trudy, general unhappiness, [[spoiler: and the death of his mother]].
103	** Peggy, as of the 7th season, due to her non-existent love life and facing disrespect from colleagues like Michael and dealing with Lou Avery.
104	** Roger's 1st wife, [[RichBitch Mo]][[GrandeDame na]], has been trope for a long time. 1st, she's unhappily married to Roger, she's devastated by his two heart attacks, he leaves her for Jane (after cheating on her for so long), and it is implied she drank away some of her pain when she was raising Margaret.
105	** Betty's brother William (who is a bit worse than Pete) can count as this: he grew up with the same parents as Betty and while it was awful how they raised her believe that she can only be some sort of TrophyWife they were very tough on him, with his Mother punishing him for reading a porno mag by posting the thing on his door for all to see, he has no clue how to raise his children well and can be more abusive than his sister, and as of Season 7B despite not being seen on the show since his father's death [[spoiler: his sister is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer]] and end the show with [[spoiler: no sibling]] or parents.
106	** AlphaBitch Joan: she was treated as a sex object by most of the men and it starts wearing her down, she was raped by her fiancee, humiliated by an ex, had a father who left her, and dealt with a corporation robbing her of her money and autonomy.
107	** Betty, as with Don, she has viewers both shaking their fists at her while wanting to console her.
108	* LateArrivalSpoiler: It's difficult to look up stuff about the series without finding out that Don and Betty get divorced, and that Megan becomes the new Mrs. Draper.
109	* LesYay: Joyce, the photo editor from LIFE magazine, seems to have a thing for Peggy and takes her to a beatnik party in the Village. She also seems to have a thing for Megan.
110	%%* LoveToHate: Pete Campbell.
111	* MemeticBadass: What Would Don Draper Do?
112	* MemeticMutation:
113	* "I feel sorry for you." "I don't think about you at all." [[labelnote:Explanation]]Michael and Don's iconic exchange in "[[Recap/MadMenS5E8DarkShadows Dark Shadows]]", which quickly became exploitable for cases of {{Unknown Rival}}s.[[/labelnote]]
114	** [[spoiler:Don's content grin]] in the series finale became a meme almost overnight.
115	** Several of Pete Campbell's lines have become this due to the sheer bombast in which Vincent Kartheiser delivers them.
116	*** "Hell's bells, Trudy!"
117	*** "Not great, Bob!"
118	*** "A thing like that."
119	*** "The King ordered it!"
120	* MisaimedFandom: Some viewers genuinely view the show as a depiction of "the good old days". Such viewers also tend to hate Betty Draper the most for being the character that rains on their parade by showing how "the good old days" could really wreck a person.
121	** Jon Hamm has spoken in interviews of how it amazes him when male fans talk about what a great guy Don is and even speak of wanting to live like him (not getting that the character is a wretched, selfish, self-destructive mess), and female fans speak of Don as being a guy they want to be with (when his horrible treatment of women is a key part of his character).
122	** Best summed up by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB7XRZ3VzQA this sketch]] on ''Series/{{MADtv}}'', with a couple of comedians acting like the characters and enjoying living it up like the "free" 1960s until it's pointed out how bad mentalities at that era were.
123	* {{Moe}}: Peggy and Trudy; even in their thirties, they still have rather youthful looks and wide eyes. Even without Beth Dawes, it makes one wonder if Pete has a type...
124	--> '''Don:''' (to Peggy) You're cute as hell.
125	--> '''Pete:''' (to Trudy) You're ageless.
126	* MoralEventHorizon:
127	** Any chance that the majority of the audience might have had to sympathize with Duck Phillips disappeared along with [[spoiler:his dog, Chauncey]].
128	** Also, Greg, Joan's fiance, crosses this line [[spoiler: when he rapes her.]]
129	** Pete finally crosses it late in Season 5 when [[spoiler:he tries to convince Joan to prostitute herself as a pure business decision.]] Bert, Roger and Lane's tacit acceptance seem to make it a MoralEventHorizon for SCDP itself since the agency's big account has a shadow, one that is pointed out by a few characters.
130	** Jim Hobart, after hearing about Joan's dissatisfaction about not being treated fairly, dismissively tells her that her partnership in SC&P doesn't matter, and that she will simply have to accept being harassed by her subordinates and co-workers, or she can take half of what she's entitled to. When she threatens a lawsuit, he pettily tells her "Good. I'd rather give [the money] to a lawyer."
131	* {{Narm}}: Ham-handed attempts to [[DeliberateValuesDissonance bring up how different the 1960s were]], like Don sarcastically talking about a magic machine that can copy documents in the pilot and Sally playing with a plastic bag in the third episode. Thankfully, these "Weren't the '60s wacky?" moments [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness fade as the first season goes on]].
132	* OneSceneWonder:
133	** Leonard, the group attendee with whom Don unexpectedly connects in the series finale (played by Evan Arnold).
134	** Lee Cabot, the woman Don has a conversation with on an airplane at the end of the Season 7A premiere (played by Creator/NeveCampbell).
135	* ReplacementScrappy: Stan Rizzo, at first. Though he replaced Sal Romano as the Art director, he was really the new [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Paul Kinsey]]. And he was ''even more of a douchebag.'' However, it eventually led to him getting RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.
136	* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
137	** Stan was pretty much just a sexist {{Jerkass}} foil to Peggy in season four, but in season five he turned into much-needed comic relief, and one of the firm's more honest and likable employees. He even sometimes acts as the OnlySaneMan when Peggy's MarriedToTheJob tendencies cause her to stress out too much and Ginsberg's... [[CloudCuckoolander being Ginsberg]].
138	** Betty is a textbook abusive, narcissistic mother for most of the series until Season 7B, where she demonstrates more self-insight. She goes back to school to study psychology and [[spoiler:is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.]] And before that, she had gained some fans for the way that she played off of Don in Season 6's "The Better Half".
139	* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/CaityLotz played Stephanie, the niece of the actual Don Draper, who ends up being the last of Don's possible love interests. She would go on to become a [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow legend.]]
140	* RonTheDeathEater:
141	** Gail Holloway, Joan's [[MyBelovedSmother annoying mom]], has a [[http://twitter.com/GailHolloway67 Twitter account]] that makes her seem rather malicious to her daughter, in contrast to her being interfering in her daughter's affairs with good intentions.
142	** As of the 6th and 7th season, Ted's wife Nan has a [[http://twitter.com/nanchaough Twitter account]] that makes her out to be a narrow-minded and vacuous suburban {{housewife}} and Christian [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalist]] who enjoys watching her soaps and dieting, cooking crappy casseroles, telling her sons that Sodomites wore bikinis, burning copies of ''Music/RubberSoul'', behaving cattily towards Peggy, being bigoted towards ESL speakers and Catholics, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and preventing her sons from watching Scooby Doo.]]
143	*** Considering Ted cheated on her with Peggy and [[spoiler: broke Peggy's heart by refusing a chance to leave his wife and be with her]], it also doubles as DieForOurShip.
144	* TheScrappy:
145	** Pete Campbell, initially. He undergoes major CharacterDevelopment, develops a conscience, is unexpectedly the guy at SC/SCDP who is most aware of the social change on the horizon, and eventually swallows his own pride. By the end of Season 3, he actually knows the meaning of love and of remorse. However, all of that character development doesn't make the moment in Season 5 when Lane Pryce kicks Pete's ass any less satisfying.
146	*** Though being the main salesperson of pimping Joan to hook Jaguar certainly didn't help his development.
147	** Greg Harris. He has yet to get out from under the shadow of his EstablishingCharacterMoment, and likely never will.
148	** Starting with season four (and to some as early as Season 3), Betty had become this for a lot of viewers due to her treatment of Sally, along with possible backlash from Creator/JanuaryJones' acting in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' along with the show itself, along with a degree of ValuesDissonance. It's not unusual to look at message boards and blogs and see comments like "I liked this episode a lot. Probably because Betty wasn't in it." ''The Huffington Post'' has even considered her one of the worst characters on TV (though the media itself is a bit more mixed). Changed in later seasons when Betty would be featured in less than half the season's episodes and Megan was getting the big sell.
149	** Bob Benson. Too much screentime indicates he's a MauveShirt but he's received almost no characterization. He's an undeveloped character on a show that goes into nuanced and detailed examinations of its characters and the payoff is nowhere in sight. YMMV on whether said payoff worked.
150	*** Except the payoff did occur in the last three episodes of Season 6 where he was revealed to [[spoiler: be gay, and that all of his references were made up. His background is basically that he's a younger (and gay) Don Draper]]
151	** Harry Crane, after he TookALevelInJerkass at some point in Season 5. Except for the episodes where he reunited with Paul Kinsey in Season 5 and warned Don his job was at stake in Season 7, most of his scenes in the latter few years have consisted of nothing but KickTheDog moments (particularly when Joan is involved). Making matters worse is we don't even get to see why he developed into such an asshole, he just suddenly has none of his previous sympathetic traits.
152	** Lou Avery. Between his sexism, racism, narcissism and his love of mediocrity, what's not to hate? It doesn't help that, unlike the other {{Jerkass}}es in the series, Lou has very little characterization outside of being another incompetent rival to Don. Even his sendoff, when he brags to Don about selling his cartoon to a Japanese animation studio, has Don reacting in a way that shows he couldn't care less.
153	** Diana the waitress: A plain, dour waitress that Don becomes obsessed with. While they have parallel, self destructive lives and tragic backstories, a multi-episode arc for her never really went anywhere and just seemed to irritate viewers.
154	** Glenn's not too well liked. His creepy tendencies towards Betty and Sally already didn't endear him, but the real tipping point is that he's played by the showrunner's son, who most viewers agree simply can't act. This has caused Glenn to develop a reputation as a CreatorsPet.
155	* SeasonalRot: Some fans have accused the later seasons of this, especially since Don married Megan.
156	** Season 5 got a lot of complaints for its extremely uneven tone and pacing, and for its focus on more melodramatic subplots, plus fan-favorite characters Don and Joan acting at times quite {{OOC}} without a compelling explanation. For some it seemed like the series was descending into the territory of high-gloss soap opera.
157	** Season 6 in particular seemed to suffer from this, with a number of odd episodes ("The Crash" standing out in particular) and a slower season-long plot that some accused of being too scattershot. Subverted in that there was much acclaim for the final few episodes of the season, with the finale ("In Care Of") earning particular acclaim.
158	* SignatureScene:
159	** Don's Kodak Carousel pitch in the season 1 finale.
160	** Peggy triumphantly heading to her new job in the final season while wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette.
161	** When Pete attempts to get Don fired by telling Bert about his past. Bert then calmly walks up the overly ambitious executive and completely shuts him down the words "Mr. Campbell, who cares?".
162	** Don and Peggy's explosive argument while working late at night, with both calling each other out for being ungrateful.
163	** The moment Don sees or hallucinates [[spoiler: a recently deceased Bert Cooper]] singing and dancing to "The Best Things In Life Are Free".
164	** The final scene of the series when [[spoiler: Don smiles contently and imagines the iconic "I'd like to buy the world a coke" ad.]]
165	* SpiritualSuccessor: To the fiction of [[Literature/TheStoriesOfJohnCheever John Cheever]]. Cheever wrote novels and stories that were very similar in style and theme to ''Mad Men''--lots of TheAlcoholic (both alcoholic businessmen and {{Lady Drunk}}s), suburban ennui, neglectful parents, rich but frustrated Manhattan businessmen, heartless seducers. Notably, Don and Betty Draper live in Ossining, New York, which is where John Cheever lived, and Cheever's usual suburban setting of "Shady Hill" was an expy of Ossining.
166	* {{Squick}}:
167	** The lawn mower scene, for those who don't find it BloodyHilarious.
168	** In "The Runaways", [[spoiler: Michael Ginsberg cuts off his nipple and gives it to Peggy]].
169	%%* StoicWoobie:
170	%%** Bobby Draper.
171	%%** Don't forget Trudy Campbell, whether she knows it or not.
172	* StrawmanHasAPoint:
173	** Don chastising Lane for his embezzlement and his anger at Lane's fairly weak defences for it makes less sense when one remembers Don scuttled a very valuable contract with North American Aviation to avoid having his past brought to light the previous season.
174	** In Season 2, Don is visibly displeased when Duck tries to bring on American Airlines and forces Sterling Cooper to dump Mohawk Airlines. While Don attempts to argue against it using customer loyalty, it's fairly clear he's opposed because he's not the main attraction.
175	* TakeThatScrappy:
176	** Harry became quite unpopular in the later seasons due to losing pretty much every remotely likable trait of his, but he's thankfully often on the receiving end of insults and misfortune to balance this out.
177	** Joan's scathing goodbye to her rapist husband Greg is widely agreed to be a long time coming.
178	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: An infamous cause with Sal. He was originally gonna appear again after his abrupt firing in Season 3, but plans changed and we never so much as heard about him afterwards. The fact that many less popular and developed characters would wind up appearing later on after parting ways with the company only makes this more noticeable.
179	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Since this is a show that essentially badmouths TheSixties, it can be rather difficult for some to find anyone to root for over the show's long run because of how miserable everyone is. None of the main characters are in happy relationships and almost all of them are unfaithful at one point or another. The female characters face the sexist tendencies of the time period while the male characters indulge in them and the main character, Don, never learns from his past behavior and keeps entering into an endless cycle of hurting those around him and himself.
180	%%* TrappedByMountainLions: The Hilton sub-plot of Season 3, Don's affair and his second trip to California in Season 6.
181	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: An [[http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/falling-mad-man-6648672 article]] in the magazine Esquire posits that the shows opening is reflective of those who jumped off the World Trade Center.
182	* TheWoobie: It's a testimony to the writing of the show that basically anybody but the British overlords can be Woobies. Few of them are pure Woobies though; the vast majority of the characters have both [[TheWoobie Woobie]] and {{Jerkass}} moments.
183	** Sally Draper, thanks to CharacterDevelopment; Pointing out the various things the adult Sally will have to discuss with her therapist has become a running gag in the fandom.
184	** Peggy Olson has been having her share of triumphs and tragedies even before she set foot in the elevators of Sterling Cooper: father died when she was young, she gets sexually harassed when she gets started in the agency, Pete behaves coldly towards her during her celebration, she starts gaining weight and censure from her colleagues, she goes into labor after being promoted and gets her baby taken away, her Mother guilt trips her over her choices and life, her sister spends a season trying to break her down, she has to fight to be just as respected as her male colleagues in the agency, she points out early that she tries hard for others but still gets squat, Don takes her for granted so many times, her relationships have ended when it was revealed her boyfriends didn't love her the way she did them, after a few episodes [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness where she]] [[WhatTheHellHero had]] TookALevelInJerkass it was revealed she had a close friendship with a little boy and has to hold back her tears when he mourns about having to move to Newark away from her, she almost got assaulted by Ginsberg and was given [[spoiler: his nipple]].
185	** Joan: [[AlphaBitch The Queen Bee Head Secretary]] had to see that Roger only cared for her in the physical sense, witnessed his heart attacks, was humiliated at work for committing the sin of being over 30 and single in 1962, she gets raped by her a fiance, she puts up with being disrespected by her rapist husband, she deals with young men making things hard for her and one sexually harassing her, she gets pregnant by Roger after they were both mugged and turns down the chance for an abortion, she's miserable after splitting with her husband after he reveals (once again) [[ItsAllAboutMe that he's concerned about #1]], she gets humiliated when she's served papers for divorce, she makes a deal where she has sex with an exec that demanded it just to land an account and as a shrewd move for her career, like Peggy she too learns that her male colleagues aren't ready to treat her as an equal, and she gets reminded so many times of how she's a single mother pushing 40 with an [[MyBelovedSmother smothering Mom]] in her apartment.
186	** Sal, especially in "Out of Town" and "Wee Small Hours," and his wife, Kitty.
187	** Don's secretary Allison, after he pretends their sexual tryst at his apartment after the office Christmas party didn't happen and continues on for days like that. She [[HeroicBSOD finally has enough]] and [[spoiler: throws a paperweight at his head and quits]].
188	** Anna Draper hits Woobie status in 4.03 when we find out [[spoiler: she has terminal cancer]].
189	** Lane Pryce. His superiors at PPL frequently take advantage of his inability to stand up for himself, he has an unhappy marriage, his father is still abusive (physically and emotionally) toward him in his forties, he isn't respected by most of the other partners despite being one of two people holding SCDP together, he falls in love with Joan but she's not interested in him (his obnoxious means of hitting on her don't help), and [[spoiler:after Don finds out about his embezzlement and forces him to resign, he commits suicide.]]
190	** Betty has become kind of a JerkassWoobie. When she's at her worst she looks like she's about to start bawling any second. She goes straight to plain old woobie status in Season 7B when [[spoiler:she's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer]].
191	** Michael Ginsberg, after we learn his backstory that he was born in a concentration camp and that the man viewers assumed was his father actually found him in a Swedish orphanage when he was five. It gets worse in Season 7 [[spoiler:when he shows signs of mental illness.]]
192	** Beth. It turns out that [[spoiler:her husband has had her subjected to electroshock therapy on many occasions. In "The Phantom" he brings her in for another session because she is depressed about him cheating on her. Worst of all, she actually thinks that this is for the best.]]
193	** Megan, as her marriage to Don becomes increasingly unhappy.
194	** Ken Cosgrove had his foot broken and was shot in the eye before he left the Chevy account and was chewed out for it, while he was still wearing the eyepatch. In the opening of Season 7B, he's fired by the firm's overseers from [=McCann=] Erikson, who didn't like the way that Cosgrove acted towards them, and Roger puts up absolutely no fight to save him.
195	** Dawn Chambers was the first black employee at SCDP, and even as late as season 7, she still exists at the mercy of her white co-workers. Nowhere was this more apparent than in "A Day's Work", where she was moved around the office twice in one day for petty reasons (Lou wanted her to lose her desk as punishment for something that was not her fault, while Bert thought that her new position near the front of the office would reflect poorly on the company), before finally getting promoted to office manager - which will force her to deal with even more of her co-workers' bullshit. She then seems to quit after the agency has been absorbed by [=McCann=] Erickson.
196	** Stan: he [[DrowningMySorrows dabbles in more drugs]] and meaningless sex after his cousin died in Vietnam, sees the Creative Department hacked apart in Season 7A and his friend/colleague Ginsberg fall apart, and onetime reveals to Peggy (before her own reveal) that he doesn't have the best memories and relationship with his mother.
197	** Julio. He's the son of one of Peggy's tenants and after an argument they have together, they turn out to have a close friendship where he comes over and watches tv with her or while she works (she even has treats ready for him); he mournfully says goodbye to her when he learned his Mother (whom he thinks doesn't love him) is moving them to Newark to be with family and for a job.

Context YMMV / MadMen