I agree with you. It was a little dry. After the episode they had that short explanation that it was a foundation and was setting the direction for the entire season.

I read in an article that this episode was meant to show us how the characters have changed between Thanksgiving, 1960 and Valentine's Day, 1962. In the coming episodes, I'm sure we're going to be told how they got there. And in true Man Men fashion, there are more mysteries to be solved. Such as, who did Don send his copy of Meditations in an Emergency to in the end? Rachael? Where is she? Why were Don's office locks being changed at the beginning of the episode? At 36 (which is his actual age), Don is applying for life insurance. Why? Where is Peggy's baby? Paul is strangely distracted, and what's up with the beard?
Is it just me, or has there been a change between Roger and Don at the office? Is the copy machine foreshadowing secretary layoffs at Sterling Cooper? Did anyone notice that Sal appears to be married now? And Lois is Don's secretary (and in my opinion, looking a bit heavier than she did last season...hmmmm...). Of course, the men at Sterling Cooper (and where is Bert, btw?) are wildly jealous of Peggy, and there is a rumor about her and Don. However, they still respect Don, and as Ken said, he has a rope under his desk wrapped around Duck's neck. Foreshadowing there?
And Betty--well, she's certainly more empowered having beaten Don into submission. I think she's becoming bored. And I hate to go on, but Peggy, well, Joan's still showing her where she's stands (remember what Joan said last season--"think about the other girls, or they won't think of you"). After Joan scolds her for crying at work, Lois tells Joan she thinks the copy machine looks good in the hallway but will become messy. Joan agrees, and then the copy machine finds its new home in Peggy and Victor's office. Sweet payback. I understand where you're coming from with the nail-biting thing, but Mad Men has never been fast-paced in my opinion. I'm enjoying the little details myself, but I too can't wait for my questions to be answered.

I was disappointed beyond words. What happened to our edgy show? Did the writers get writers block and just throw down whatever crap they found laying around to get the show done? I waited weeks for this? A premiere is supposed to bring in new viewers wanting more, not bore them to death. If I saw this for the first time, I would never be tuning in again. At least with their first episode in Season1, you had a few jaws drop. Like the doctor who smoked in the office or Joan telling Peggy to evaluate herself. The best they could do in this episode is having Betty trying to look sexy with black grandma panties, black hose and white shoes. WTF?

I didn't realize it was set in 1962. Wonder why they skipped two years?

Thank goodness! I thought it was just me who didn't like this episode. I was enthralled with every episode last season and this one felt so disjointed and jumbled. It wasn't good at all in my opinion. Maybe they are leading up to some awesome flashback episodes but they better start soon because there are a lot of questions to be answered.

I even went back and watched it again to make sure I paid attention and I didn't like the second time. What's going on?

Some comments on some posts:

(1) at 36 you should absolutely have life insurance for you family - anyone who doesn't is stupid

(2) Last season Betty DID NOT "beat Don into submission". In the episode "The Wheel" Don came to his OWN conclusion that he had a good thing at home and when he went home Thanksgiving night Betty and the kids were already gone to her family and he regretted not going.

I loved the episode, but I am also coming from the standpoint of someone who has just watched the entire first season in less than 5 days so it just flowed for me. I also knew ahead of time that the episode was set 14 months in the future. That said, here's what I took away from the episode: Don is aware that Betty is on to his cheating and has been trying to clean up his act. He planned a big Valentine Date with his wife, came home for dinner, put their son to bed, and walked the dog. He is working hard to put the good guy facade out there even sticking up for the woman in the elevator. Inside he is miserable and couldn't even take pleasure in his wife dressed to kill on their date except when they were in the lobby and he knew they looked good to others. He is also still thinking about and wanting to be with someone else as we saw when he mailed the book. Betty on the other hand was a bit more in control telling Don what to watch on TV, ordering their dinner and wearing something to bed that doesn't come close to what she wore last year. She is keeping things from Don (the fan belt) and her friend ("We didn't have time to watch TV"). Peggy being one of the "boys" will continue to be a great storyline as she tries to find her place between her old position and her new. Joan keeping Peggy in her place and moving forward in her personal life while at the same time knowing all she has to do is snap and Roger will be hers again. There was Pete still trying to get ahead at work and doing his best to keep up his charade of a marriage. To top it all off, the episode's backdrop of the Jackie Kennedy tour, once again reminded us the show is not only about the ad business were things are packaged to look their best, but the people who run the business who try their best to package themselves as the perfect husband, wife, employee.....I know there was more, but I am sure this is running along

I too did not like the opening. I was bored when they kept showing Don's wife, who is VERY boring. I wanted to see Peggy with the baby! According to this new season, it is set 14-months ahead so Peggy's baby should be walking by now (Mom's correct me)?

No, I don't think Don is going to call that "party girl" because it seems he is trying to settle down with his family and he seems to be having a problem with ED (Valentines' night at the hotel).

I love this show and really hope it picks up.

I liked the episode as it showed the characters at a different point in their lives. Betty has lost her softness and once again the issues of eating and weight came up. She praises a young girl for skipping lunch to watch her weight, yet makes sure her husband eats. I'll bet in her family the boys were encouraged to clean their plates and take seconds, while the girls were criticized for eating too much. Don is being a good boy but it's an act. Francine said it best - better to be dull and know exactly where she stands. I think Jackie at the White House was used as a metaphor for a perfect-looking sham of a marriage. Of course Betty was drawn to it! I liked that Sal was drawn to it, too, far more than his girlfriend (Lois?).

Harry and his wife reconciled and are now expecting, which would be a horrible blow to a woman unable to conceive. (I have some personal experience there.) It had to be awful to be infertile then as technically the baby boom was still going on and there was little to be done about it.

Peggy obviously gave up her baby because she was taking time on her appearance in the morning. A mom leaving for work is lucky to remember to put on clothes lert alone perfume! Speaking of clothes, I was disappointed to see the old blue plaid dresss.

I like Joan's command of the office. The scene on the elevator confused me a bit. I'm also not sure who Don mailed the meditations to. My guess is Midge, partly because my local newspaper ran a picture of her and Don together in promoting Season Two.

I predict that in Ep. 2 Pete learns his father has died (the man who played his father was killed in a skiing accident) and that's the funeral they all go to. His brother will get all the loot because he has a real job and probably has kids, too.

If this were a daytime soap, Pete and Trudy would've adopted Pete and Peggy's baby.

I can understand how many of you found this first episode "boring" - having said that, I think, given that it is 14 months later, the writer's have allowed for plenty of room fo flashbacks (a la "Lost") which will most likely be more stimulating in fill i some blanks and then spawn some more fireworks on into 1962. The changes in the characters we saw last night were subtle but powerful, foreshadowing new dimensions in their personalities and in their worlds. Don't be too pessimistic - (hopefully) the best is yet to come!

I think Don got ED from seeing Betty in the black outfit. Come on....black grandma panties, white nylon holders, suntan nylons and white shoes...eeewww. Has Betty gone color blind with this atrocity of an outfit? There was nothing attractive about intimate apparel in those days. It was the invention of spandex that had men looking at Victoria Secret magazines. Then she stands there with legs apart and hands on her hips like she is getting ready to grab her rifle and start shooting. The military stance is not attractive for a woman wearing lingerie, Betty. I had nightmares over that outfit, make it stop!!

Boring Betty's so-called sexy attire. Many woman knew back then how to pull the look off with what they had (Marilyn, Mansfield, etc.)!

Betty is boring!

Haha, luvmadmen! I totally agree. And yes, lorantscan, I agree with you about the life insurance. I was meaning, why get life insurance now? Wouldn't he already have it? Don seemed pretty shocked about his b.p., and the nurse commented he was a 'big boy,' perhaps indicating that she thought he was slightly overweight (although he doesn't look it to me) and also that Don hadn't been to a doctor in ages if ever. Perhaps Weiner was just trying to give us a reason why Don was there, so we don't start speculating as to whether he has some mystery illness. As for my comment about Betty beating him into submission, I agree that Don has become a good boy out of choice. I think what I was trying to say was that Betty has become far more assertive than she was before. For instance, she takes the phone in the hotel, picks out what they'll both eat, and orders for both of them,all the while telling Don to leave Jackie Kennedy on the television. And Don doesn't appear to be fighting her. I couldn't see her doing that to Don in Season 1, so yes, I believe he has become quite submissive, to word it a bit differently. Hopefully, a glimmer of the old Don will come back. Sorry, but the show was more interesting when he was a liar and adulterer. I also thought the scene where Don sits with his son at the table was quite telling. Now the "boys" (Don and Bobby) are waiting for the "girls" (Betty and Sally) to come home instead of the other way around, and Betty seems to be as cool a liar as Don was in Season 1. Betty definitely needs to ditch those white shoes though. Didn't women stick to that "no white after labor day" rule religiously back then? Haha.

Another comment on Grandma Betty's lingerie: Did anyone notice that as soon as she made a big show of it, Don just walked up to her, mumbled "wow" and went to the bathroom and shut the door? Then Betty happily goes over to the bed and starts pulling back the covers. No surprise that there's no fireworks in the bedroom that night. Remember last season when Midge answered the door in panties and a sweater and they practically made love on the kitchen floor?
Despite the fact that I always thought Don was nuts for cheating on Betty, I feel sorry for them both. Like Weiner was saying, Betty has Don to herself now, but she doesn't have him the way she wants. Is their marriage better, worse, or the same? And Don, well, he's just not himself anymore.

I think when Peggy goes home next week...she will be greeted by her "little brother" maybe even have the name Pete. This was one of the ways those mistakes were dealt with during this time period..mothers raised their unwed daughter's child as their own. I had a friend like this and always wondered why her mom was so old. I also think that Betty is using the fact that her therapist is or was talking to Don and she is feeding him whatever she wants to tell him. Don is feeling guilty thus changing his ways...but hopefully this will change. He so much more fun. Thus why her strength. And I think it will be Betty, not Don that calls her friend the "party girl". She seemed really intrigued by the fact she made money on her looks. I think that's why she was toying the tow truck driver...seeing how much "money" her looks were worth.
Also what's with Roger? He was at death's door last season. Don was supposed to be VP to take his place. He sure looks healthy now.

I liked the first episode but here are my thoughts:
1.) "Grandma panties" on Betty: I was 9 years old in 1962, but I don't recall that women had "bikini" underwear back then. When did the bikini fashions get started?
2.) Don and ED: I figured that since his mother was a prostitute, and that Betty was attempting to look like one, maybe that turned him off (reminded him of his mother??). Midge had regular, full undies on in that sweater scene last season....he didn't seem to mind hers.
3.) Betty and the Mechanic: She was acting pretty creepy, and all I could think of was that she was inviting a rape. There she is,stranded on the road, and she's flirting with this guy?? Betty is still crazy, and I don't find her that boring. She's weird.
4.) The thing with Joan and the Xerox: it didn't hit me till I read anothe posting that it was payback to Peggy for yelling at Lois.
5.) Everybody loves Jackie (Kennedy). How true that was back then. It was more exciting to see Jackie than the President (and he knew it, too).

I didn't like the Season 2 opener either (to join the crowd). Hated the muddy, dark visuals, and everyone acting like they had a corset on their psyches (except for Peggy and Betty). All the men looked really depressed to me.

Maybe this was an opening to women becoming more self-determining, stronger, and bolder both in the workplace and at home (women's lib anyone?). Even Joan didn't act like the infatuated sex kitten/toy around Roger, like she did in 1960. There's wasn't a hint of that, and not just because she's moved on. The three main women characters acted neither intimidated by the men or impressed or needing them. Big change from two years ago.

I'd say everybody grew up, and the women changed toward the men quite alot for various reasons, but you can see their "power".

This eposode was a little slow, but we have to remember this is a character study that is revealed over time. We would really have been disappointed if all our questions had been answered in the first hour. We will all find out in good time: What happened to the baby? When did Sal get married? Who did Don send the book to? Where is Bert? When did Roger come back to work and when did he turn into a total wanker? Who is Joan's new boyfiend and when did they meet? When did Betty take up horeseback riding? Was this Don's first experience with ED?

I have to say everyone seemed very unhappy and uptight.

I'll keep watching and hope to get the answers to these questions, as well as some more good surprises!

egk719, I noticed the lack of "spark" in the hotel scene between Don and Betty, too. Talk about nonsexual, nonfeeling. Either they've reached a mundane point in their marriage or there's something else. I think Betty has been "punishing" Don in various ways over the last year for his infidelities.

Remember the last scene (for Don) was coming home to an empty house at Thanksgiving? He'd had that revelation about his family during "The Wheel" sales pitch, and then it was on to the empty house.

Don had lost Rachael, and found his family just about the same time Betty discovered his infidelities. Bad timing for both of them. He commits/she's pissed.

That's certainly true, JAMM54. I remember on the predictions thread, someone suggested Betty would have a day of shopping in the city and just happen to bump into Rachael at Menkin's. I still want that to happen. It would be a great way to bring her into this season.

No, no, no...leave Rachel gone, please! I'm not only mad she yelled at Don when Don needed her most, but she became disloyal to MM as she went on to court another series on TV. I don't like her as a character or an actress. I would hate for AMC to bring her back, make her a star and then she decides she is too good for the show. Takes me back to the days of Three's Company and Suzanne Summers. The show was never the same after they tried to replace Chrissy. Suzanne ruined it for everyone.

egk719, Ooff, that would be a pretty tense scene - Rachael and Betty meet? Betty might never recover from the comparison, because they are two such completely different women. It's not about their looks, Betty is probably more beautiful than Rachael, but Rachael was a very dynamic, soulful, philosophical business woman who knew herself pretty well, I felt. Other than the mistake of involving herself with a married man Don kept from her initially before he put the hook in, Rachael was unsentimental when it came to decisions. In the school of life, Rachael graduated high school.

Betty, in her life, is still in elementary school. Starting to learn who she is, what marriage is like, etc.

i watched again last night, "on demand". not disappointing at all to me. there's subtle shifts and more significant moments. one thing i noticed was a ring on sal's hand.

Posted this in another thread
The song of India:
“Innumerable are jewels in the caves of splendid India
Incalculable are pearls in its gentle seas
There is an enchanted stone in the middle of the warm ocean,
A wondrous Phoenix bird with the face of the handsome maiden sits on it
She sings sweet songs of paradise
And such is the majesty of her feathers that it makes the splendor of the deep pale
He who hears her song forgets all
Innumerable are jewels in the caves
Incalculable are pearls in the gentle seas
Of wondrous India”

The song of India, also known as the song of the Indian ambassador was such an exquisite musical choice it took my breath away! This enchanted melody awakened feelings of mystery and wonders to come. As Betty, Don’s elegant wife comes down from the regal stairway (very important detail), she is no longer a suburban housewife, but a magnificent bird of paradise, which makes men loose their minds.
Played again during the credits Song of India sets the mood of anticipation of things to come in the second season. Loved the episode!

Ah, so Sal's married! He paid more attention to the tv and his cake than to his adoring wife.

I agree with jamm and luv and the others about Betty's anti-sexy appearance and arms akimbo policeman stance, with the mismatch of black corset paired with flesh toned nylons and light colored shoes. Ultra Tacky!! I think she also took the fun out of it for Don by saying she wanted to have lots of kids with him, right before unveiling her "sexy" lingerie look. That's a real sexy thought to a guy like Don- "let's procreate on Valentine's Day!" Betty looks skinny when undressed. She does like to comment about weight. Watch and see, she will tell her little girl not to eat - did you notice how chubby the child looked in her ballet leotard? Betty's thinness looks girlish, not womanly - especially compared to the voluptuous bombshell, Joan. Betty is headed for trouble - her insatiable need for male attention will lead her places she should not go. Come to think of it, she did seem to like Roger's attention in the kitchen in Season 1, even though it made her uncomfortable, too.

I loved that scene in the kitchen with Betty and Roger. I wonder if Don would react the same way in this Season. I also agree with others posting that Sally is a bit pudgy, and Betty will probably start making her eat less. Betty did mention last season that she had a problem with weight when she was a little girl.

Betty's mother has such a strange hold on her, even in death. And it's more than just missing her--it's like Betty is still trying to satisfy her. I wish we'd been able to explore a little bit more of Betty's anger with her (remember when she got pissed at the therapist for bringing it up?). I wonder if her marriage to Don was soon after her mother called her a prostitute for modeling. Even years later, Betty seems deeply wounded by that statement.

Of course, she couldn't talk about something like that with Don. Remember on Mother's Day when Betty was talking about her mother, and Don made some comment about being too sentimental? Betty hesitantly responded, "I'm allowed to be sentimental on Mother's Day." For eff's sake, her mother had only been dead a few months. I'd be a wreck if I was her. If Betty can't even talk about her recently deceased mother on Mother's Day, no wonder she's a headcase.

This was revolting. Don "Da Man" acting like a complete pussy. Bring back the whoring, drinking and screwing over Petey Don. I think my life is more interesting than his has become. Disgusting. I was hoping for a threesome with Midge and Rachel and I get this crap. Unbelievable!!!

Dennis, I was hoping for a seal that barks my name, but here I am on the "Mad Men" forum. That's life, man.

I think that the fact that everyone had to wait so long for Season 2 may have something to do with the fact some think episode 1 was a let down. Plus the fact that the last episode in Season 1 was so utterly spectacular the "Carousel epi!) makes it hard for anything to live up to that standard! Let's all hope things will improve and trust M. Weiner and Co. to not let us down. I for one think he has a lot of unexpected little jolts for us coming up.