Maybe it's a simple matter of casting. Duck is not unattractive, but I don't think that he's anyone's idea of sexy, and neither is Peggy. Not only do they not have chemistry with one another, gifted an actress as Elizabeth Moss is, I can't see her having chemistry with anyone. Sorry to say that the Duck and Peggy scenes always leave me with a strong feeling of ick.

But ugly people get to have sex, too. And they're only Hollywood-ugly, which is pretty damn attractive in the real world.

I'm talking about chemistry, not beauty.

A lot of the "couples chemistry" is "off" in "Mad Men":

Joan and Dr. Greg

Roger and Jane.

Quite frankly, Don and Betty (Doesn't Don seem to make more sense with pretty much every other woman he was with? Doesn't Betty probably need a "properly credentialed" man of old-wealth means? Henry is closer, but even HE seems to have rough-hewn roots that are wrong for her.)

The show is about, among other things, the nature of coupling and the nature of marriage. We certainly know that in real life, sometimes very wrong matches get married. Sometimes they surprise us and "make it," but just as often they get divorced and everybody hopes for a better match for the couple with other people.

Among the fits that feel right:

Roger and Joan

Roger and Mona

Pete and Trudy

Pete and Peggy

Funny thing, though. "Mad Men" is thriving by giving us all the WRONG matches, for the most part, right now.

I actually think Duck and Peggy are a good fit character wise. She likes him not for the looks, but because he is a confident man who appreciates what she wants men to notice, her talent. Everyone thinks its icky (even her roommate) but I actually think the joke is on us, because they are very well matched together. They are both office first confident types who only seem to get together every once in a while when they want to, which is what they both only seem to be capable of.

Every tryst Peggy has attempted or gotten into, that I can think of, she has done with her career in mind. She even offered herself to Don when she was his secretary. She hooked up with a guy in a bar because she thought she was missing out on how people her age enjoyed life. She approached it like research. She even hid a pregnancy and had her baby adopted after her tryst with Pete, in order to preserve her career. Maybe the thing to focus on isn't chemistry, but motivation.

I think we're suppose to feel icky about it because it is icky. Both seem ambivalent about it. Duck always has an agenda, and I think it will surface at a later date (most likely it is to screw Don over). Pegs is looking for praise, affection, and for someone to want her.

The actor Mark Moses is doing a great job of getting across a certain type of physical undesirability. In real life he might be quite attractive. He lumbers, and the shot of the grey boxer shorts was especially unappealing. He is successful now but seems to wear his past failures. He is older, lost all boyish charm, but has not become distinguished like Roger or Henry. Peggy is too young and attractive for him so it seems icky.

I must admit I don't quite concur with the seemingly canonical notions that a) Peggy is God's Gift to the Business World and b) Elisabeth Moss is God's Gift to Acting.

I don't dislike the character or the actress -- I just don't see what's so especially special about them.

I've always nursed a theory that the symbolic importance of the Peggy character (especially to feminists, PUMAs, etc.) spills over into assumptions about the character's talent and about the actress.

Moss is considerably more attractive than Peggy.

I must disagree, and say the Duck/Peggy hook-up makes perfect sense. But each one has a different reason for the affair.

Duck's motivation is simple. He is a middle aged man after some young tail. He chooses a Peggy type over a Joan Type, because he can feel more in control and virile with the less attractive Peggy. He can feel like he is showing her the ways of amor. His line about giving her a go around like she has never had, tells me he thinks he is schooling the girl.

Of course Peggy has diferent motivations all together. To get some insight into Peggy, you have to drop back much earlier, when she tells her mother she is geting an apartment in Manhatten. Mom reveals she is affraid she will become "one of those girls", and Peggy quickly comes back with "I am one of those girls".

Peggy is not looking for a husband. She sees the affair with Duck as an exciting career intrigue. She is sleeping with the enemy, playing both sides of the fence.She is doing what the guys do. Fucking for fun and profit. She does what Sal was unwilling to do.

>I must admit I don't quite concur with the seemingly canonical notions that a) Peggy is God's Gift to the Business World and b) Elisabeth Moss is God's Gift to Acting.<

As the youngsters say on the internet -

A) THIS and

B) THIS

When Roger made his remark about all the women in the office walking around with dumb looks on their faces - to Peggy! - the first thing I thought of was - she is the one with the dumbest look on her face - all the time!

From Season #1 Episode #1 - she and that character have annoyed me.

She is a bridge and tunnel girl from Brooklyn, trying to work and fuck her way to life on the upper east side. She has to figure out everything through trial and error, but she does figure it out.

As far as Ms Moss' acting ability, you can never judge that from one role.