tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post3407094533671297892..comments2024-03-19T05:50:19.572-04:00Comments on What's Alan Watching?: Mad Men: I don't want to be a DickAlan Sepinwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-6554393263448282192009-06-29T17:35:12.565-04:002009-06-29T17:35:12.565-04:00My theory… I believe Dick escaped from Nazi German...<i>My theory… I believe Dick escaped from Nazi Germany as a young Jewish boy. </i><br /><br />Re-reading in 2009 with 2 seasons of hindsight, it's pretty funny.TLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03618949223191406067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-29140189896864428842008-08-10T03:17:00.000-04:002008-08-10T03:17:00.000-04:00"My theory… I believe Dick escaped from Nazi Germa...<I>"My theory… I believe Dick escaped from Nazi Germany as a young Jewish boy. His family was sent to a Concentration Camp (he is 10 years old in 1940) and he makes it to the U.S. and somehow was "adopted" by Abigail, who had a very dark evil criminal life that she subjected Don to in a horrific way--possibly child pornography or child prostitution...she herself may have been a prostitute…Uncle Mac may have been someone that worked with her in the criminal world who took a liking to her and tried the best he could to at least treat Dick and Adam with some level of normalcy in what was obviously a very bad life. Adam was born around 1942 probably the result of a very brief affair of Abigail’s. They were raised as brothers to the outside but Abigail forcibly enslaved Dick into this very bad life perhaps in exchange for favors for herself. Whatever it was-expect something that will blow everyone away."</I><BR/><BR/><BR/>Huh?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-52128476466900847432007-09-02T16:51:00.000-04:002007-09-02T16:51:00.000-04:00draper is definitely a jew. and he is conflicted s...draper is definitely a jew. and he is conflicted suddenly with the growing need to 'come out', though he knows doing so might cost him everything.<BR/><BR/>we know adam and dick/don are half brothers (by the same father), but we know nothing yet of don's biological mother. remember, jews believe the blood is passed along the maternal line. if draper's mother was a jew, so is he.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-2340162268434686772007-08-22T23:43:00.000-04:002007-08-22T23:43:00.000-04:00My theory… I believe Dick escaped from Nazi German...My theory… I believe Dick escaped from Nazi Germany as a young Jewish boy. His family was sent to a Concentration Camp (he is 10 years old in 1940) and he makes it to the U.S. and somehow was "adopted" by Abigail, who had a very dark evil criminal life that she subjected Don to in a horrific way--possibly child pornography or child prostitution...she herself may have been a prostitute…Uncle Mac may have been someone that worked with her in the criminal world who took a liking to her and tried the best he could to at least treat Dick and Adam with some level of normalcy in what was obviously a very bad life. Adam was born around 1942 probably the result of a very brief affair of Abigail’s. They were raised as brothers to the outside but Abigail forcibly enslaved Dick into this very bad life perhaps in exchange for favors for herself. Whatever it was-expect something that will blow everyone away.<BR/><BR/>Cut to 1950...Dick is 20 and Adam is 8...Dick goes off to the service never to be heard from again. Fearful of what Dick may do as an adult, Abigail and Uncle Mac don’t try too hard to find him. During the Korean War, Dick assumes Don Draper's identity....perhaps he was his commanding officer that was killed. Remember Don's boss's reference to commanding officers in the military.<BR/><BR/>1954--Dick leaves the military with his new identity... He wants to have the life he dreamed of, possibly heard about from the real Don Draper...a world where his good lucks and creativity (probably developed from years alone) lead him to New York’s glamorous ad agencies and away from any part of his old Jewish persecuted life --first by the Nazis and then by criminal step parents that caused him to be a part of unthinkable acts. ...he is 24, and meets Betty meets who is 22 years old. They get married. have their daughter in 1955 and we cut to 1960 where Don now 30 meets his 18 year old brother Adam.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-45976342532791267002007-08-22T22:15:00.000-04:002007-08-22T22:15:00.000-04:00This thing about a veteran assuming the identity o...This thing about a veteran assuming the identity of a fallen comrade...are there well-known cases of this occurring in real life? Didn't this happen on the Simpsons years ago? (with Principal Skinner) To me it just doesn't seem like something one could get away with easily.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-91231419877165552732007-08-22T00:32:00.000-04:002007-08-22T00:32:00.000-04:00Not everyone makes the Christina Hendricks/Firefly...Not everyone makes the Christina Hendricks/Firefly connection immediately. I was a big fan of another show she did, "Kevin Hill". <BR/><BR/>If all of us thought that Don was going to shoot his brother, then we're not ALL crazy. They wanted us to think that.<BR/><BR/>My Don Draper theory is not terribly mysterious. I think he came from a dirt-poor family from the wrong side of the tracks and was abused by a relative. He took the identity of a dead Army buddy who had a good pedigree rather that work his way through college and try to get ahead the hard way.Dani In NChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15032707452740200776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-85235549817538573332007-08-18T19:46:00.000-04:002007-08-18T19:46:00.000-04:00Ahhh, Mrs. Reynolds.I wonder how successful this a...<I>Ahhh, Mrs. Reynolds.</I><BR/><BR/>I wonder how successful this actress feels about her level of success when people still refer to her by the name of her character from a two episode stint on a canceled show that didn't air a full season.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-81085425305883408202007-08-18T16:55:00.000-04:002007-08-18T16:55:00.000-04:00My pet theory is that Donald Draper was Dick Whitm...My pet theory is that Donald Draper was Dick Whitman's commanding officer in Korea, and Draper was KIA and Whitman assumed his identity. The Purple Heart "Don" took out of his desk say "Lt. Donald Draper." Given the spares details we got from Adam it seems highly unlike to me that Dick Whitman went to college, making it impossible, save for a battlefield commission, him to be an officer.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15519249174168249347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-32053283487105518462007-08-17T23:48:00.000-04:002007-08-17T23:48:00.000-04:00I'm enjoying the show, but I kind of think it's a ...I'm enjoying the show, but I kind of think it's a bit on the overambitious side.<BR/><BR/>Don has a secret past, is cheating on his wife, flirted with Rachel Menkin; Pete is a screw-up at work, is a lousy husband, has daddy issues, slept with Peggy; Betty is a typical housewife, has tremors in her hands, etc., etc., etc.<BR/><BR/>It's one thing for characters to be layered and multi-dimensional, but to me it feels like they're kind of piling things on and just putting in any idea as it comes to them. I mean, we're five episodes in and they've yet to acknowledge the vailed reference to one character's homosexuality. And Betty's hand issues haven't come up again at all after being a major plot point a few episodes ago. Personally, I wish they'd dial things back a bit and try juggling fewer balls at once.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-21098148567464570502007-08-17T11:55:00.000-04:002007-08-17T11:55:00.000-04:00At first I thought Don was going to shoot Adam as ...At first I thought Don was going to shoot Adam as well. It just had that feel of the first twenty minutes of a classic 'Columbo' episode. But that would have really narrowed the focus of the show, and I think Wiener has a wider scope in mind for looking at the era and the people who inhabit it.<BR/><BR/>But once I had that image in mind, I remembered that Columbo would have been still a cop in NYC in 1960 (although probably about to make the move to LA) and that he was a Korean vet as well.<BR/><BR/>One of those things that can only happen in fanfic now though.....Toby O'Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06999037844031101965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-10275238948565049352007-08-17T11:02:00.000-04:002007-08-17T11:02:00.000-04:00I thought Don was getting a gun for about a half-s...I thought Don was getting a gun for about a half-second, but it just didn't feel like the kind of thing this show would do. (Even five episodes in, I feel reasonably confident about the tone.) Don threatening to kill his own brother would seem a little melodramatic. <BR/><BR/>Also, Kenny got a fair bit of screen time in the pilot episode, as one of the indistinguishable gaggle that hung on all of Pete's stupid jokes.Alan Sepinwallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-57389308345733797602007-08-17T10:56:00.000-04:002007-08-17T10:56:00.000-04:00I too was convinced he was going to shoot him, but...I too was convinced he was going to shoot him, but more from the delivery of his line confirming that Adam's whole family - everyone who'd care to look for him - was dead. I was disappointed they didn't make that dark turn, or at least have Don pull the gun and be unable to do it before chickening out and paying Adam off, but I like dark.<BR/><BR/>I loved the B-story about Kenny and the boys, but since the writers hadn't really introduced us to <I>anyone</I> but Pete from the account side before last night, they were forced to promote a red shirt for an episode. After his delivery of the "you lost" line, though, I hope they can find him more screen time. And of course more screen time for Christina Hendricks...reading a phone book, or just filing her nails would suffice. Ahhh, Mrs. Reynolds.<BR/><BR/>When Adam showed up, I paused the Tivo for a minute to deliver my latest and greatest theory to the poor wife - who just wanted to watch in peace and then move on to <I>Burn Notice</I> for some tasty but empty calories - "Don Draper is Holly Golightly". The theory was full of holes within minutes since "Fred" is alive and kicking and there's no sweet old person back on the farm Don's trying to escape. I liked it for a minute, though.R.A. Porterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14851961356321735388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-79382491782340906352007-08-17T09:56:00.000-04:002007-08-17T09:56:00.000-04:00Re: age of Don's brother--Don served in Korea but ...Re: age of Don's brother--Don served in Korea but was in the military prior to that? (Ran away to enlist?)<BR/>That could account for the brother, age 8, seeing Don in uniform.<BR/>Brother was in room 5G, received five G's...thought for a minute there he might get shot (the Sopranos legacy) but maybe it was just cash locked in the desk with the purple heart.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com