Responding To Your Mad Men Hot Takes 🔥

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:07]What is up everyone? Kino here back with another hot takes video. Today I'm going to be responding to your hot takes about Mad Men. Now, if you haven't seen it, I did an entire retrospective on the show, talked about all of the major characters and all the major themes that I wanted to cover. And I figured that since that's over with, we should go ahead and do a hot takes video about this series.

[00:00:30]I've previously done this for The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, all of the major shows that I cover. And I like to do these videos because it's a chance to respond directly to my community, your thoughts, your opinions about the show. Definitely thank you for everyone who submitted a hot take for this. I usually post about it in my community tab, so if you're not subscribed, definitely make sure you do that so you can be included in future videos.

[00:00:55]But without further ado, let's jump into your hot takes. Starting off the first one here we have from Marco Leggy 1875.

[00:01:04]Although this show is brilliant, Don's nearly supernatural ability to get women very often veers into feeling like wish fulfillment from the writers and dilutes a lot of the cultural criticism found in the show, especially around sexism.

[00:01:18]Sopranos falls victim to this as well and it keeps both shows from being perfect.

[00:01:23]This is a topic I've This is a hot take I've heard before from a lot of people that, you know, Don's a a good looking guy, he's very successful, but he has like a supernatural ability like this guy says to get women. Like there's common jokes about Don sleeps with three different women on the train ride home from work each day.

[00:01:40]Um and while I agree that it is probably exaggerated a little bit, although we should point out that, you know, it's not uncommon, especially nowadays, but even back in the '60s for people to have casual sex. That's That That wasn't unheard of even back then.

[00:01:56]Um I will point out that Don actually sleeps with a surprisingly few number of women if you actually go through and count it. Um, in fact, there's a great Tumblr called the women of Don Draper Tumblr where someone painted or drew all of the different women that he sleeps with over the course of the show. There's only about 24 women on here. Um, I'll post this a link it into the description.

[00:02:21]Um, but there might be a few others that weren't counted on there, but um, surprisingly not that many. Again, 25 probably sounds like a lot to normal people, but um, remember this is over the course of basically like a 10-year period over the show's lifespan.

[00:02:37]Um, and again, everyone talks about Don like he sleeps with a different woman every single episode. If you look at this list, most of them are also not like random hookups. Does he occasionally have a random hookup? Yes, but most of the time they are women that he's interacted with in some way. He has some sort of relationship with them.

[00:02:56]Yes, they obviously show attraction to him from the immediate get-go, but it's usually like he meets a woman, um, they talk for a little bit a couple episodes, and then he sleeps with them, and then he's in sort of an affair relationship.

[00:03:09]Kind of kind of like Tony Soprano, too.

[00:03:11]Again, it's funny that um, I I've heard people talk about that for Tony Soprano that he sleeps with a ton of women, and he does. Um, if you actually go through and look, he only had three goomahs over the course of the show, three major girlfriends. Again, and everyone would kind of off the top of their head be like, "Oh yeah, Tony had a ton of goomahs." No, it was only three. Um, so I think that um, sometimes our memory of what happens in the show can get exaggerated, uh, just like the show exaggerates, too. So, I don't disagree with this necessarily, but I think that um, it's probably a little bit overstated.

[00:03:44]Uh, next up we have from Nico Ellerbusch Films, "Shut the Door, Have a Seat" isn't even a top 20 episode in the show.

[00:03:53]Now, this is a hot take because uh if you ask most people, Shut the Door, Have a Seat is probably one of the top-rated episodes. In fact, I actually even have the list up here, and aside from The Suitcase, Shut the Door, Have a Seat is number two. The Suitcase is number one, the top-rated episode of all of Mad Men, and I definitely agree with The Suitcase, but I actually sort of agree with this one. I don't I don't think it's below the top 20. I think it's a really good episode, but I think Shut the Door, Have a Seat sort of has the same problem that um Pine Barrens in The Sopranos has a little bit. And again, I know I'm always jumping back to The Sopranos. That's my channel. That's what I have to talk about, but um where this episode is so plot-heavy, and people really enjoy the plot of the episode, then I think that they kind of over exaggerate like the emotional thematic character aspect of it. Or there are emotional character stuff that happens in this episode? Absolutely.

[00:04:49]You've got um the relationship between Don and Peggy, where Don admits that he needs her. You have his marriage with Betty falling apart. Uh you have Sally, you know, kind of talking to her dad about, you know, you promised you'd never leave. There's a lot of great emotion in this show um or in this episode, but I think that the thing that makes people really like this episode is the plot. Them leaving Sterling Cooper and starting their own agency as they're being bought out by the um Putnam, Powell, and Lowe. Uh I think that that's a very exciting, action-packed action {quote} {unquote}. It's all, you know, business stuff, but um I think it's very action-packed, and and people really enjoyed that back and forth aspect of it as they, you know, they they break into the office and steal all their uh clients back and stuff like that. So, I think that's what makes people really like this episode more than the character stuff. I think that there are episodes like The Suitcase that do the character moments a little bit better. Um The Carousel or The Wheel.

[00:05:45]Um you know, even you know, there's a bunch of episodes like that. I think that they the emotional resonance plays a little bit better in some of these other episodes. Again, Shut the Door, Have a Seat is still a great episode.

[00:05:56]There's a lot of great character stuff in there. I think it's definitely a top 10 episode. I wouldn't put it below in the top below the top 20.

[00:06:04]Um, but I definitely don't think it is the like number two spot. I think you can name some better episodes than this one. Uh, next up from Git Fiddell, we have Anna is lovable, likable, the most caring character in Mad Men, which also means she's boring as hell.

[00:06:20]Um, yeah, this is another one I kind of agree with. I think Anna is a very likable character, you know, she loves Don unconditionally.

[00:06:29]Their relationship's set up is a little bit weird, but um, you know, she's like a sister to him. Um, she's like the most positive, loving aspect of his life. Um, which also means that because she doesn't really have any flaws, she's not an interesting character. Um, Trudy kind of has the same problem in this show where Trudy does have some flaws you can talk about, but she's almost so likable that it's a little bit boring. It's like, come on, let's let's give this character a little bit more edge, which again, with Trudy, they do, uh, especially in the later seasons. Um, but Anna is just sort of more of like a prop in Don's, you know, storyline. He has this loving, stable relationship that, you know, we don't even talk about in season one. So, it's like, you know, where where is this coming from? Um, but again, great, likable character, not that interesting on her own. Like, an Anna solo episode would never work in the way that like a Peggy solo episode would work or a Betty solo episode.

[00:07:30]Like, she doesn't have any sort of uh, character, you know, storyline to grasp onto just cuz she's so content and happy and you know, all of that. She's just a very great person and so she doesn't fit in with the storylines about all these horrible people on Mad Men.

[00:07:47]So, um I definitely agree with this take, too. Uh next up from affirmation9385, "As good as Mad Men is, my second best show, I can't help but imagine if the show would have been bigger on HBO." Um bigger, possibly. You know, I think that being on AMC definitely helped them being their flagship show. I think it brought a lot of attention because it was like, "Oh, this is the first show from AMC. We got to pay attention to this." Um I will say I think that it would be a worse show on HBO, though. I think that funny enough we we brought up all the sex stuff earlier. I think that as gratuitous as that was to an extent, the benefit was that AMC being a network show couldn't show nudity and stuff like that. I think if they were on HBO, they would lean heavily into that. Knowing Matt Weiner and knowing what kind of a pervert he is, if you've ever seen him or listened to him on the behind-the-scenes uh you know, where they do commentary over the episode, all he talks about is the women's bodies. Um and I think he would have gone past the point of artistic integrity and been like, "Yeah, let's just show boobs all the time, you know?" I I think I think they would have leaned into that gratuitous aspect more and I think there is a kind of um subtlety that Mad Men has that is reinforced by the fact that we never see anyone naked that the the ratings forced them to not do that that kind of elevates Mad Men a little bit. It's not as gratuitous as a lot of HBO, you know, sexplanation is the term they call it on like Game of Thrones and stuff where it's like, "Anything that's going on here, we got to have a naked chick in the background." So, I'm sure some of you would have enjoyed that. I mean, I honestly would have enjoyed a little bit of it, too, but I think Mad Men is a little bit more artistic because of the fact that it was limited on AMC. So, I'm glad it ended it there. Also, I'm glad because, you know, it helped establish AMC as a network and we wouldn't have gotten all the great shows that we got without them. So, uh definitely I I it's better it landed on AMC. Next up from Frat Boy Fitness, Harry Crane was never likable and he was annoying and a douchebag even in season 1. Ken was also never a douchebag and always a good guy.

[00:09:56]He was just immature. Hard disagree on this one. This is not a hot take. I think this is a hot take or this is a take that most people have. I'm the one who has the hot take where I'm like, "No, Harry was the good one always. Ken was the douchebag from the beginning and they kind of just swapped it over time.

[00:10:15]I think if you look at Ken in the early seasons, he's one of the worst ones in of the group besides Pete. You know, he's like Pete, but he's actually kind of good-looking and tall, so people actually respond more positively to his insanely aggressive behavior.

[00:10:32]Um you know, there's that scene where he's pulling the secretary's I think it's Allison actually pulls her skirt up at the party. He has He goes after Peggy. I mean, I know they all do, but you know, he's he's very aggressive. Um he makes fun of Peggy being fat and then Pete punches him. Um I think he's a douchebag in the early seasons and I think Harry's the good one. Again, he tells his wife when he accidentally cheats on her when he's drunk. You could argue that like, "Okay, if Harry was always secretly a scumbag, he would have hid it and we would have had like a storyline of him dealing with hiding it and then like, you know, he he learns to accept it and that's why he becomes more even more of a scumbag later on." But, I really do believe that Harry was the good one and the fact that he became a Hollywood type, they had him assume this role as like the liaison to the TV networks in Hollywood, they made him a douchebag because they wanted to have like a com- it's like a commentary on like the network people that they hate. Again, guys like Matt Weiner hate the advertising guys for like television cuz they're like, "Oh, you know, censorship and they're you know, they're ruining our shows and all this stuff, forcing us to uh you know, cut what we want to write because it doesn't appeal to advertisers." So, I think it was more of a personal thing on behalf of the writers that they made Harry such a douchebag. I don't think it fits with the natural part of his progression. I know that's a hot take. I know a lot of you guys don't like Harry and you really like Ken. Um but what can I say? I think Ken's a douchebag. I think he was always kind of a douchebag and I think they made him they softened him up because they made him like a writer and therefore in their eyes like writers are like, "Oh, writers are sensitive.

[00:12:10]Television people are douchebags." So, >> [music] >> um I think that was more of a bias on behalf of the writers than an actual natural progression of the characters.

[00:12:19]Uh next up from e locker four, "This is my first watch of Mad Men, but so far I find Betty Draper to be far more annoying than Skyler White or Janice Soprano." This is another take that I don't think is that hot. Um I think a lot of people don't like Betty. I think a lot of you you actually pointed out like Skyler White and Janice and you know, peo- people talk about like the women of these dramas, the wife characters usually, um get a lot of flak. I think that of the wife characters, I like Betty one of she's like one of my favorite. Um do I think Carmela's probably a little bit better written overall? Yes.

[00:12:57]Um but I think Betty is one of the most fascinating women, fascinating hot like wife characters in all of these dramas.

[00:13:03]Much better character than Skyler White.

[00:13:05]I have I have my mixed opinions about Skyler.

[00:13:09]There's people who love Skyler, people who hate her. I'm kind of torn, but for opposite reasons of the people. Like the people who love Skyler and defend her, um I don't agree with them, but also the people who hate her, I don't really agree with them either. Betty I find fascinating. I think she's sympathetic.

[00:13:26]Um I think she's a very very interesting commentary on like the housewife character archetype that they're trying to critique in this show that that's, you know, been the establishment in the '60s and even before then.

[00:13:40]I think she's that that scene where she's shooting the pigeons and stuff with a BB gun I think is absolutely badass.

[00:13:47]So I will say I disagree with this. I think Betty is one of my favorite female leads in all of these television dramas.

[00:13:56]Next up STSTST981 says, "They made Don a little too OP.

[00:14:03]Like I get everyone complains about how incels online idolize him and didn't watch the show because he's actually sad and flawed character, but they still wrote him far too nicely. He's good-looking, sleeps with every woman, is rich by the end of the show, and magically good at his job, too. He's also written to be sad in a cool stoic way. Even with his problems, he still basically wins at life." I sort of agree with this take and sort of don't agree with it. I think that I don't know if he's overpowered.

[00:14:32]That's again a weird way to talk about a character-focused drama. This is not like an anime, you know, type thing, but I do agree with you that he is written in a very idealized way. You're supposed to idolize Don. I think people You talked about this a little bit, the perception that people have that like, "Oh, there's people who just idolize Don." It's like, "Yeah, he's he did no wrong." And that's not true, but on the other side, again, kind of bringing it back to something like Skyler White in Breaking Bad, you weren't not supposed to like completely hate the main characters. People say that all the time about someone like Walter White. They're they're like, "You're supposed to hate Walter White." No, you're not. You're supposed to be fascinated by him. You're supposed to be engaged with his storyline. If you genuinely hated the character, there'd be no reason to watch this show. We actually don't really watch shows about pure unadulterated we hate them characters unless it's like a documentary or something about like OJ Simpson or a serial killer or someone like you are meant to find them the the main character you're even if they're a villain or a anti-hero like a lot of these shows are you are meant to sympathize with them in some way and we we are meant to sympathize with Don in a lot of ways.

[00:15:46]Yes, is his um money and status kind of a facade that highlights the hypocrisies of capitalism and our modern society and consumerism and all that stuff?

[00:15:56]Absolutely. But you are supposed to be engaged with. Again, I talked a little bit before about uh shut the door have a seat. That whole episode works because you're like, "Ooh, is the business going to you know, are they going to get out of their contract and be able to start their own firm?" Again, if you were just supposed to look at the show and be like, "Advertising's bad. I hate advertising. I hate consumerism. I hate rich people." You wouldn't care whether their firm got established you know, going into season 4. So, you are supposed to be engaged with the the businessy fun um advertising side of the storyline and Don being written in this way is part of that. He is written in a cool stoic way where even when he's like failing, he's like good-looking and awesome. And yes, that is social commentary on the way we perceive people if they're good-looking. I get that, but it's also like you are supposed to just enjoy that he's handsome, you know, it's television. They don't cast just straight ugly people as lead roles, you know. Um everyone even says about like Tony Soprano. They're like, "Oh, you know, he's a fat balding guy."

[00:17:01]He's also really tall, really strong.

[00:17:03]He's a good James Gandolfini was a great-looking guy um even when he gained weight. So, part of it it part of that wish fulfillment aspect of Don is intentional and part of it's just like media is wish fulfillment. Media is inherently wish fulfillment and they're going to write it that way to an extent. So agree with you a little bit but I also think you're missing the the forest for the trees. And that's it for this video.

[00:17:28]Thank you guys so much for listening. I had a great time responding to your hot takes. We'll do this again I'm sure for another show in the future but until then stay tuned for more videos coming soon.