Joan's mistake was not personally escorting her of the building

Hey, it worked for her. No one forced Roger (or anyone else) to marry her. Hell, even his financial advisor told him flat out you don’t marry them. Wise words!

“This is an office that hinges on professional decorum”
(smash cut to Freddie Rumsen zipping his pants up & down to the tune of Mozart)

She could be a good wife in short bursts. "Is he going bald?" came out at the perfect time after Pete's put down of Roger at Don's party.

Roger is so cool and so quick-witted, sometimes it's easy to forget how vapid and shallow he really is.

Every single character that appears on this show is well thought out.

"it's gonna be very expensive" - "I know" they're always aware of the nature of their relationship 😅

I loved this arc: it gave us Joan v Jane, a different secretary path, Roger on acid, and two people who got what they wanted.

Thats probably 98% of her entire screentime

"Why don't you sing like that?"
"Why don't you look like him?"
5:00  😂

Miss Holloway is going through a rough time.... She's engaged you know?
😂😂😂

This is one of those situations where Jane would make a fine mistress, but marrying her was a stupid idea.

0:36 great commentary from Joan.  She found a way to give her a compliment, while laying down the law.

"She's going through a rough time. She's engaged, you know."

That look of complete death Joan gives Jane after Jane tells her that Roger essentially overruled her on Jane's firing is just phenomenal.  My only disappointment is the author here didn't include Jane's look of absolute terror in the scene before Joan approaches her desk to find out why she is still there after being fired.

9:36 "It's going to be very expensive"

love how she gets her game face back on 💰

I love how over the top Jane's outfits get after she marries Roger, you can tell she was having a blast with his money 😂

Peyton List was great in this role and she really is gorgeous, especially the morning after the LSD scene with her hair down 8:44 wow!

"It's going te be very expensive" "I know"... Roger taking this surprisingly well. When your dad earned most of it for you, its easy to be cavalier about it.

The acid scene is heartbreaking.

a self-serving story each of them told themselves.

There are actually two different fantasies, one for Roger and one for Jane.

Roger’s fantasy

Roger’s story to himself was:

“If I marry a beautiful young woman, I’ll be young again.”

“I can restart my life without changing who I am.”

“Money and charm can freeze time.”

Jane isn’t really a person in this fantasy — she’s a symbol:

Proof he still has sexual power

Proof he’s not obsolete

Proof he beat aging

So the fantasy is:

Youth can be bought, and the past can be escaped.

When Jane gets unhappy, ambitious, or independent, she breaks the fantasy — because she reminds him he’s still old, still stuck, still himself.

Jane’s fantasy

Jane’s story to herself was:

“If I marry rich, I’ll be free.”

“Luxury will solve my unhappiness.”

“This glamorous life will give me identity and purpose.”

Her fantasy is:

Money will replace meaning.

She imagines:

Endless excitement

Status as fulfillment

Being admired instead of used

What she actually gets:

Boredom

Loneliness

No role in the world

A husband who doesn’t see her inner life

When that becomes clear, her fantasy collapses.

The shared fantasy

Together, they’re living this:

He pretends he’s young again

She pretends she’s fulfilled

They both pretend the age gap and power gap don’t matter

The marriage only works as long as:

Jane stays decorative and grateful

Roger stays amused and dominant

The moment either of them wants something real — love, growth, meaning, equality — the fantasy can’t survive.

In one line

The “fantasy” is:

That you can build a real, lasting marriage out of money, youth, and denial — without emotional intimacy or shared values.

And Mad Men shows, very deliberately, that you can’t.