MovieChat Forums > Mad Men (2007) Discussion > The lawn mower scene... (Spoilers)

The lawn mower scene... (Spoilers)

posted a year ago by [deleted]
4 replies | jump to latest

The scene from "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency" where Lois massacres the British executive's foot with the lawn mower is one of the best-directed moments in TV history.

Every little detail of the scene is so meticulously thought out and brilliantly executed: the way the atmosphere changes from casual to chaotic in a few seconds, people looking shocked or about to vomit, the tragic irony that nobody knows what to do except Joan, who has just been thrown a farewell party and is about to leave the company, and Pete being the one who catches Peggy when she faints. Not only is the scene itself very well done, but all the incidents that precede it slowly and quietly build up a sense of impending doom leading up to that bloody accident: the male employees talking indifferently about the violence of the war in Vietnam, Joan and Peggy being interrupted by the noise just as they have finally been able to admit their mutual respect for each other, and Lois having been so incompetent and unprofessional so many times in the past that the moment you see her jump on that lawn mower machine you know something bad is going to happen.

[–] FeeCJ (133) a year ago

Yes! Only Mad Men could pull off that scene. It's why it was probably so iconic. They just went places time after that time that nobody in TV had ever visited before. And you had the combo of the actual combat veterans in the room (like Don and Freddy, though I don't remember if he was still at the agency then.)

Always remembered one of the best Freddy moments. Don called all the folks into his office in a kind of "look at what ad agencies are producing now!" lesson, and he was holding up a page from the NY Times that was blank, except for the theretofore unknown photo of a little Volkswagen Beetle up in the corner.

Nobody says anything, but Freddy squints up at it and says, "Last time I saw one of those, I was throwing a hand grenade into it."

[–] mikethemartian (6777) a year ago

When that episode first aired someone posted on the IMDB discussion group that British blood was spilled on the 4th of July.

[–] FeeCJ (133) 10 months ago

I miss the old IMDB message boards. In the early days, it was an amazing place to trade insights and background information people brought to the table. Dare I say, this early idea of boards was "civilized." Ha.

Mad Men had to be one of the better boards of all time then, an example that quip about the British blood being spilled!

The first MM comments that were a hint about where social media was beginning to take young people, was a threat in which some young female viewers said they would not watch this "disgusting show!" because of the way women were treated by the men and company and why was this even allowed on TV? "This needs to be banned!" (This was the first season time period.

The other classic, entirely predictable "I'm not watching this disgusting show," came from the threads complaining that the show's cast was unacceptably white and not diverse. This might actually be amusing even now, except that of course the modern Georgian-era costume dramas regularly have half of their cast of artistocratic nobles being played by African-American or Afro-Caribbean actors.

So joke's on me.

That was the time when an oldie like me realized for the first time, really, that young people in spite of the internet and accessibility to information, were not being taught nor exposed to any kind of history or social context before "today," so every historic scene has to conform to 21st century standards of behavior and language or it's some kind of unacceptable racist or prejudiced expression.

It kind of shocked me at that time, because that was not the case with previous generations, who seem to realize "things were different in the past" and Mad Men was highlighting that as a purposeful part of the script and story to show how people lived then and interacted--which is what the drama was about! And that the drama is a window on a different time and place.

I despair....ha.

[–] GolfnGuitars (2938) 5 months ago

I recently re-watched this episode and agree with what you wrote. Of all of the great lines that Roger had, his one-liner after that incident may have been my favorite! 😀