Mad Men Season One Question *Spoilers*

Ignorant.
And i also suspect a case of Not wanting to realize something.

It's never fully explained, but the most commonly accepted fan explanation is that she chalked up the weight gain and loss of her period to the stress of her advancement at Sterling-Cooper. The deeper psychological issues are explored in season two.

It's not really ignorance, so much as denial. Some women know perfectly well how pregnancy works, but they still aren't psychologically prepared to accept that they're pregnant. It still happens, but it was probably even more prevalent back then, when there was a bigger stigma attached to being unmarried and pregnant.

I guess what you guys are saying makes more sense, but it still bugs me as a weak part of an incredibly strong episode. She didn't even look pregnant - if I recall correctly, she was rounder all over with no real set concentration in the lower belly region. I understand that the producers wouldn't want to give it away, but still.

If Peggy was having some psychological issues and was unable to accept the fact that she was in fact pregnant, I wish they were more apparent prior to the episode or during it.

Why is it so important that WE know she's pregnant before she did?

I'm not saying we had to know before Peggy did, I just think it totally comes out of left field when she doesn't even have a baby bump, you know? It doesn't make any sense, especially since Peggy had the baby after a full term (I don't think there's any evidence that says it was premature, unless it's in season two, which I haven't seen) and you can tell when a woman is nine months pregnant. Yes, fat people can look pregnant, but Peggy really wasnt even that fat.

Two separate issues, but lots of people go to term without anyone knowing they were pregnant.

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/..._prom__de.html

In the episodes leading up to when she went into labor many people commented on her gaining weight. She probably knew that she was pregnant, but denied the whole thing.

I still think it came out of nowhere.

They start adding weight on Moss a lot earlier than you'd think, and the way they play it off as the stress of the job (and Pete being a dick) is incredibly well done. But Phil makes a good point -- we don't need to know before she did, and we don't need to know if she knew. It works incredibly well. Again, I don't want to spoil the second season for Patrick, but there's a particular episode that speaks volumes about Peggy's mental state before and after.

She did bone down on that dude, so I guess one shot was all it took.

This story, and how it affects Peggy's life, continues to be one of the best aspects of the show. Many of the storylines of the show are slow builds so they take time to fully realize. I love that. And Elizabeth Moss does an amazing job throughout.

Too bad she's a dirty, stinky Scientologist.

No matter the quibbles about the handling of Peggy's pregnancy it was worth for the scene of Don and her at the hospital. One of Hamm's best moments in the whole series.

I remember watching that season and every episode my girl and I would talk about how Peggy was gaining serious weight. This led to discussions of whether or not showrunners have to put their foot down and confront actresses about not keeping a consistent weight etc. It never for one second crossed my mind. I think my jaw fell through the fucking floor with that reveal. Lost is my show, but that kind of twist floats my boat.

It certainly wasn't out of nowhere. We were just being kept in the dark.

When Peggy first started gaining weight after sleeping with Pete, I considered pregnancy a foregone conclusion, actually. I just assumed she was keeping it a secret. As Peggy's weight gain just kept going without any reference to pregnancy (even in scenes in which she had no reason to hide anything), I thought I'd been wrong initially. There's not a very compelling case to be made for her having known she was pregnant and consciously hiding it. My wife and I were watching specifically for signs that Peggy knows, and there just aren't any. She's in total denial.

Seriously, this is not unheard of, even among women who should notice the physical changes. You guys keep focusing on the weight gain, but that's entirely external. The biggest giveaway for women during pregnancy isn't the weight gain; if denial can make Peggy overlook missing her period for about nine months (as it does other women in real life), it can certainly account for weight gain.

She was also buried in fatty prosthetics for the last couple episodes. There was one in particular where they just weren't too convincing. But yes, there are lots of stories about women not knowing they were carrying.

Yeah, I bought it completely. It's a strong and dark creative choice for the show, and I really liked where they went with it in the second season.

What helped and this was probably due to the fashion of the day was that her pregency wasn't made obvious. You didn't see (And God I hate use of this word) a "bump" on her that would've made you say. "Yeah, she's preggers."

I think you're totally right. If anything the weight gain might have helped her along in her denial as it was visual evidence to back up her thoughts of, "I'm just getting fat." What I wonder is if the possibility of her being pregnant ever crossed her mind and she searched for a secondary explanation, or if it just never occurred to her.

I watched a total of 3 episodes of the first season - one early on, and 2 more nearer the end. The moment I saw her when I turned the second episode on, I knew she was pregnant.

Oddly enough, I didn't think that and I'm serious.

That's because you watched the show in a way it wasn't intended. It was pretty incredible how her weight gain was very gradual and escalated. It's like if you put on twenty pounds, and the people you hang out with all the time don't notice, but if you see someone for the first time in a year they'll see the difference right away.

Oh wait, never mind. And the scene the guy invisotexted is the scene I was talking about in my last post. And I agree.

I know, that was my point. I was disagreeing with people who said it wasn't at all realistic.

This thread is making me feel so stupid.

Another thing that threw me personally off the pregnancy deal was that during a couple of episodes they made it a point to show Peggy grabbing snacks here and there. So I always thought that she was overeating due to being depressed/stressed and fully attributed the weight gain to this.

Yeah, that was another thing that threw me off my original assumption that she was pregnant. Of course, unusual cravings make perfect sense in the context of pregnancy, as well. The writers did a bang-up job of keeping us as in the dark as Peggy and her acquaintances seem to have been.

Not to spoil anything for those who haven't seen the second season yet, but there's a similar ambiguity surrounding the outcome of Peggy's pregnancy.

Here's another Mad Men question: why does everyone keep calling this the best show on TV? I've admitted that I've only watched about 3 eps, but I really don't get what the big deal is. Feel free to call this another "I have bad taste" admission if you like.

Because it's astoundingly well written. Because each character is at times sympathetic and unsympathetic. Because it can be genuinely shocking in the power of its scenes, but the kind of shocking that makes you want to watch them again. Because the setting allows it to be evocative of an earlier time as well as finding modern parallels. Because the female characters are fully drawn and realized in a way that others aren't. Because of the way it tells stories, with arcs, but with the best episodes being self-contained short stories that are only enhanced by the whole, is the a new -- maybe the next -- stage in long-form narrative. Because "who is Don Draper", and the way that question is explored, is one of the best mysteries in television right now. Because it's quotable and it's funny. Because it's got star making performances from pretty much everyone, but especially Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks. Because it makes you reconsider what you thought of Vincent Karthreiser as an actor. Because John Slattery tears into his role as Roger Sterling like a character actor who knows parts like this only come along once in a lifetime. Because of Sal. Because Jon Hamm is the best actor on television right now, a man who does more with silence than others do with whole monologues.

Because it's awesome.

That said (and I agree with it all), it has a cumulative power. The more you watch it, the more impressive it becomes, not because there's a marked improvement in quality, but because it builds and builds on concepts and characters introduced at the beginning. Give it more than three episodes and watch the series in order.

Yeah, the brilliance of the show is that most of the episodes work on their own, like "stand-alones" (although I would argue that a better way to describe the episodes are the equivalent to short stories), but that each episode also functions as part of a larger whole. You need to step back and look at the whole picture to get a much more powerful effect, but when you're in it, week to week, each episode is immensely satisfying. And the 'arcs' and 'mysteries' don't overwhelm the show like some have.

Rath covered it pretty damn well. The only thing I can add is that I wasn't "hooked" after 3 episodes, but I couldn't stop watching after the fifth or sixth. And by "couldn't stop watching", I mean I was watching on dvd, and DID NOT STOP watching the show until I got to the end. Cumulative power, indeed.

And Rath's love of the show undermines this statement a bit, but it's a show that resonates a LOT to mid-thirties (and older) males.

Fair enough. I was also severely underwhelmed by The Wire when I first gave it a chance by watching episode 4.

Then it wasn't an isolated incident and you are a real idiot about watching tv.

It cracks me up that someone had to be told this.

Stop hurting my feelings Tati. Knocking my TV watching ability is unacceptable.

I'm on the S1 finale and still trying to figure out what the big deal is. It's very well written and performed, but I watched the penultimate episode a month ago and haven't felt any burning need to finish the season.

I'm willing to chalk it up to "no taste", though, since I can't spot any real flaws in the show. It's just not a story that's grabbing me.

When does this show start up again? This amazing show...

Thank you, kind sir.

Yeah it is a confusing moment. But bare in mind, not all women who are nine months look like they will explode. This is combined with the dresses and loose clothing, so it's difficult to discern how far along she is.

As for the time passing. The show's pilot starts at March 1960 and we see the 1960 election towards the end by way of Nixon vs. Kennedy. Time does very much pass in this show.

You find yourself rooting for all sorts of horribleness throughout both seasons. Something might be wrong or selfish or amoral, but it's what the characters want, and it's a testament to the writing and especially the acting that we want it for them just because they do.

Season 2 is VERY good for Peggy's arc. Her interplay with Don is amazing.

Sure. I find I gravitate more to their personal lives and interpersonal connections than I do their jobs. I don't think I ever watched it with an "ugh, these MARKETING people!" disdain for them, but if I did I certainly stopped a long time ago. I'm really invested in the characters. I don't think their jobs inform every aspect of their lives the way it did on The Sopranos. Advertising doesn't equal Mafia in terms of dramatic heft on the show. For me, at least.

The Moment with Bobbie Barrett is probably the scene in the show that's the most reprehensible, and the fact that we "accept" it from Don and initially view it as a moment of triumph says a lot about the sympathy and investment you have in the characters. Especially when a similar moment happens to Joan, and you want to kill the person.

Y'all have me wanting to watch the show again. I think my favorite episodes might be the "Jet Set/Mountain King" two parter.

"Jet Set" was on last week, I think, so look for "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" this weekend.