What This Is Mad Men is back sometime in March. By then, it will have been off the air for 17 months. Since it has been such a long time since any of us have watched Mad Men, especially the earlier episodes, I am starting at square one - "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", the very first episode, and continuing at a pace that ensures I will finish rewatching season four just before season five premieres.
That's 52 episodes over about 110 days (we don't know the precise premiere date yet), or one episode every two days.
I encourage you guys to watch along with me, whether it's your first time through the series or your second or your tenth (I don't think it'll be anyone's tenth).
(Rough) Schedule 11/26 - 12/2: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Ladies' Room, Marriage of Figaro 12/3 - 12/9: New Amsterdam, 5G, Babylon 12/10 - 12/16: Red in the Face, The Hobo Code, Shoot 12/17 - 12/23: Long Weekend, Indian Summer, Nixon vs. Kennedy, The Wheel
(End Season 1, Christmas break)
12/26 - 1/1: For Those Who Think Young, Flight 1, The Benefactor, Three Sundays 1/2 - 1/8: The New Girl, Maidenform, The Gold Violin, A Night to Remember, Six Month Leave 1/9 - 1/15: The Inheritance, The Jet Set, The Mountain King, Meditations in an Emergency
(End Season 2, MLK Day, beginning of new semester for most)
1/16 - 1/22: Out of Town, Love Among the Ruins, My Old Kentucky Home, The Arrangements 1/23 - 1/29: The Fog, Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency, Seven Twenty Three, Souvenir 1/30 - 2/5: Wee Small Hours, The Color Blue, The Gypsy and the Hobo 2/6 - 2/12: The Grown Ups, Shut the Door.Have a Seat (End Season 3), Public Relations
2/13 - 2/19: Christmas Comes But Once a Year, The Good News, The Rejected 2/20 - 2/26: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Waldorf Stories, The Suitcase 2/27 - 3/4: The Summer Man, The Beautiful Girls, Hands and Knees 3/5 - 3/11: Chinese Wall, Blowing Smoke, Tomorrowland
(End Season 4, my birthday, beginning of spring break for many)
3/??: Season 5 premieres.
The above schedule is based solely on my finals/winter break/etc schedule, so it is lighter when I have more pressing obligations. Feel free to watch ahead of me if that suits you, but please, hold your notes on any given episode until I get there.
My "writeups" will be mostly bullet points, and may refer to episodes ahead, so if you are a newbie, beware. If it turns out there are some of you watching along who are first-timers, I'll include a "newbie warning" before points that discuss things you haven't seen yet.
Also, I'd appreciate it if someone can help me make sure this doesn't purge!
I think I've seen the first three series three times each, so I'm not too bothered about those. Especially given that they kinda constitute a completed "act one" for Mad Men. If this topic is still around when you get to season four I'll join you for that, though.
I'm currently watching it for the first time, so I think I'll be following along (and thanks in advance for the newbie warnings). I just finished The Benefactor.
I have to say I agree with junk. For a show that seemingly does very little per episode, it still holds my attention the whole way through. This show is a lot more subtle than most. It doesn't beat you over the head with the points it's trying to make, meaning you occasionally have to reflect on what you just watched to figure out the meaning.
The first thing that strikes me is that there is an intertitle explaining the origins of the term "Mad Men". I completely forgot that existed. First shot of Don is from behind, which is a clever bit of stage direction. The black busboy is great - "That's a sad story." "It's a tragedy." The first woman we meet is Midge, though I'm not sure we ever actually hear her addressed by name. She and Don have an interesting relationship, underscored by the usage of Don Cherry's "Band of Gold" early in the episode. She's also the benefactor of the most perfectly positioned bedsheet ever.
At Sterling Cooper, we meet Ken, Paul and Harry first, clowning around in the elevator in front of new girl Peggy. We learn that Pete, who we meet in the next scene, is having his bachelor party that night, less than a week before the wedding (which seems a little close). When we meet Pete, he is looking forward to marriage, though the photo he has in his hands looks nothing like Alison Brie. We learn that Sterling Cooper has two big items of business on the docket - rehabbing the image of Lucky Strike Cigarettes, and snaring fairly large fish Menken's Department Store. Maggie Siff, who is probably now most famous for Sons of Anarchy, plays Rachel Menken, the elegant proprietor of the store, whose presence completely throws off the entirety of the Sterling Cooper team assigned to her account. "Oops"
Don rectifies the situation by taking her out for drinks and saves the account, at least for the time being. The entire scene between Jon Hamm and Maggie Siff is perfectly shot and acted - "I'm living like there's no tomorrow...because there isn't one," is such a brilliant line to punctuate a brilliant monologue. Don also has a decidedly "House" moment with the Lucky Strike folks - you can say whatever you want, he realizes. "It's toasted" becomes their slogan, even though every tobacco company toasts their product.
The last scene takes a number of these disparate parts - Don's relationship with Midge, his date with Rachel, his scenes with groom-to-be Pete and ties them all together. We get Don, on the train, then driving his fairly gaudy car through some suburb, and into a driveway of a lovely little white Cape. He walks up to the door, opens it, puts down his things, and goes upstairs to give wife, and then his kids, each a goodnight kiss.
Stray Observations *When Joan is introducing Peggy to the office (another great scene - very Sorkinlike), they stop into the "nerve center": the switchboard. One of the switchboard operators was Kristen Schaal, who I can only identify by her voice. *I never realized how obviously gay Sal is from the very beginning. Cases in point: "So we're supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite? That's ridiculous," and also, at the strip club with those floozies - "I love this place. It's hot, loud, and full of men," to which Sal replies "I know what you mean." *Music: "Band of Gold" by Don Cherry (first song after the credits); "On the Street Where You Live" by Vic Damone (closing credits)
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"Occulams razor says you are scum" - masterplum
The episode opens with Don and Roger out to dinner with their wives. We learn that Don's wife's name is Betty, Roger's wife is Mona. There's a key line in here, as the two couples discuss their childhoods... well, Roger and the wives do - Don doesn't. "Didn't have to go to a psychologist, like some people's kids," Roger intones. The wives take a trip to the titular room. Betty's hands freeze up; Mona, in a very motherly fashion, does her makeup for her. They head home, Betty feels a bit under the weather - "too much lobster and vodka gimlets", she's sure. Don crashes pretty quickly. Betty, as she crawls into bed next to him, mutters "who's in there", which I felt rang a bit hollow.
The next day, we meet the other man whose name is on the building - Bert Cooper, played wonderfully by Robert Morse. He is concerned about some business or another, discusses it with Roger and Don, then walks away - barefoot. We learn that the office has a pool going to see who can bed Peggy first; no one but Pete - who is on his honeymoon in Niagara Falls - and Peggy know what happened as the last episode ended.
Meanwhile, Betty is talking to her pregnant best friend, Francine, who many of you probably still call Cutthroat B**** from Anne Dudek's time on House, about the divorcee who has moved in down the street. Her name's Helen Bishop, and she has a 9 year old boy, Glen, and a two year old girl(?). Later on, Betty is driving with Sally and Bobby when her hands freeze up again. She crashes the car, but no one is hurt, thankfully.
We flash to Don, who is banging Midge again. Midge has bought a TV, despite recently monologuing against the evils of television. After Don gives her some grief about it, she walks over to it, unplugs it, and throws it out the window. "Better?" she asks. Don hesitates. "Yes."
Newbie Spoilers in this paragraph
Smash cut to Betty being a good housewife, putting dinner on the table and taking care of the kids as Don gets home. Beautiful bit of editing, that. Showing the juxtaposition between the impulsiveness of Midge and the standardness of Betty is exceptionally smart, and Don's role in each scene both underscores what we already know about him and foreshadows a great deal about how Don and Betty's relationship will evolve and, eventually, devolve.
End Newbie Spoilers
The next day at the office, the Sterling Cooper guys are stymied by a campaign for Right Guard. They have the infamous, and successful Volkswagen "Lemon" ad at their side. Don, in another great bit of juxtaposition, subconsciously projects his issues with Betty - who has asked to see a psychiatrist, because her hand troubles seem to be anxiety related - onto the iffy Right Guard ads his team has come up with. During lunch, Paul gives Peggy the grand tour of Sterling Cooper's facilities, which is pitch perfect, down to the Twilight Zone reference, a show which he desperately hopes won't be canceled.
Late in the day, Roger and Don discuss creating an ad campaign for Nixon's candidacy against Kennedy. Don asks Roger what women want. "Who cares," Roger replies. Don continues, bringing up the quote from dinner about Margaret's visits with a psychologist. "I'm sure you must be mistaken about that," Roger stonewalls. He relents, and the two show some disdain for psychology. "We live in troubling times," Roger comments. "We do? Who could not be happy with all this?" Don asks. "Psychiatry is just this year's candy pink stove," Roger assures him. "It's just more happiness."
Peggy tries to leave work early - she's not feeling well - but Joan stops her. Peggy's work was not particularly good, for some reason. I'm not sure, but I think Peggy is already pregnant. As "I Can Dream, Can't I" plays, we get a montage of men passing by Peggy, giving her looks. She ducks off to the bathroom, only to find another secretary crying.
End Newbie Spoilers
Betty sees her shrink, and tells him a fair deal; at the same time, Don is back in Midge's bed. The next scene, Don and Betty are at dinner, and they dance around the psychologist a bit. They joke about people giving Bell "noms de phone", and there is a shot of Don and Betty's hands intertwined, and the lack of a ring on Don's finger is conspicuous again. The Drapers get home from their dinner date, and Don sends Betty up to bed. He steps into the study and dials the phone. Betty's psychiatrist picks up. "I think you're doing the right thing..." he begins as the scene fades to the credits, and The Cardigans' "The Great Divide", which opens with the lyrics "There's a monster growing in our heads".
Stray Observations *There is a squinty guy who works at Sterling Cooper that I have no recollection of. *The curses in this show are spectacularly well placed. *Also completely forgot that Don calls Betty "Birdie" *11... 12... 98... 99... 100." Music: "I Can Dream, Cant I" by The Andrews Sisters; "The Great Divide" by The Cardigans
Editor's Note: The VW Lemon ad is in this episode, not last episode. Context is still more or less the same.
Marriage of Figaro (1x03)
The episode opens with Don on the train, heading into the city. A man approaches him, calling him Dick Whitman. Says he's an old Army buddy who now works out of Waltham, Mass. Don looks at him confusedly, and humors him when he says he'll give him a call.
At the office, Pete has returned from his honeymoon. The guys give him some due ribbing; every woman in the office is very cavalier to greet him. "It's the ring. It's like catnip!" Harry tells him. Pete and the guys reach Pete's office, which he opens after greeting his secretary, Hildy. To his surprise, the office is filled with Chinese immigrants and their chickens. "CLOSE THE DOOR!" one of them yells as he eats his breakfast.
Don reaches his office shortly thereafter, and is joined by Sal, Paul and Harry to talk about Secor Laxatives, a campaign they are "stuck" on, as Paul jokes. "We can be funny," Sal says. Like the Volkswagen people." They begin talking about the VW Lemon ad; Roger joins them - "I want the Chinamen out by noon," he announces. "I'm still waiting for my shirts," Don deadpans.
Pete confronts Peggy about their tryst and explains that he's married now. Peggy gets that there needs to be discretion, but Pete babies her through the conversation. He enters the meeting in Don's office and says he has taken the Chinese out of the building, but is pretty sure he's going to have to take them out again in an hour. *Rimshot*. The discussion about the VW ad continues, with Don noting that it doesn't matter whether or not it's a good ad because "we've been talking about this for 15 minutes. And this is Playboy," he adds, just as Sal flips open the centerfold. The group disperses, Pete and Don have an awkward conversation about married life. "I was raised that men don't wear jewelry," Don says as his cufflink falls out.
Meanwhile, the secretary pool is buzzing about Lady Chatterly's Lover, which Peggy winds up with, against Joan's better judgement. "Don't read it on the train, it'll attract the wrong element," one of the other secretaries warns.
We cut to Harry Crane telling a hilarious and sexist joke that ends mere seconds before Rachel Menken struts into the conference room. Close call, Harry. As Don's cufflink falls onto the table and skitters across toward Rachel, a British gentleman from research tells Rachel about all her competition, but no one in the room has had the sense to actually visit her store. Pete, Ken and Harry try to play it off when called out, but Don readily admits that none of them have ever been to Menken's, and agrees to fix that himself that afternoon. As they exit the conference room, Rachel tells Don "Something about the way you talk always restores my confidence." "I have a deep voice," Don replies.
Don gets the grand tour of Menken's after work, from Rachel herself. They wind up on the roof, with the security dogs. They share a passionate kiss, but Don breaks it off. "Listen... I'm married," he tells her. "I guess I didn't ask 'cause I didn't want to know," Rachel responds with palpable sadness. She quickly distances herself, leaving Don alone on the roof while she goes to tend to business.
The next day is Saturday, and it is the day of Sally's birthday party. Don builds her a playhouse. Betty and Francine talk about Helen, who often goes for long walks. Walks that seem inexplicable to the ladies. "Where the hell is she going?" Francine wonders. Later at the party, the wives are gossiping in the kitchen, mostly about their husbands and Helen, who shows up with Glen and a present wrapped in Christmas paper. The wives view Helen as abnormal and vaguely threatening. The contrast between how we view Helen - independent, ahead of her time - and how the wives view her is great.
We get to know Helen a great deal through her conversations with the rest of the ladies. Francine's husband, Carlton, makes a pass at her, the last stages of which Don captures on his video camera. We see much of the next few minutes through Don's viewfinder, set against "The Marriage of Figaro". The kids running through the house, the interactions between some of the adults. The little boy with Polio. The guys, separate from everything, drinking. Don and Helen share a moment on the deck as they smoke cigarettes, which Betty deftly interrupts by asking Don to go get the cake. Don departs, gets the cake, but instead of returning, simply drives off. Betty and the wives worry. One of the husbands has the temerity to address the entirety of the adults with "There's not going to be a cake. Am I the only know who knows that? Don Draper, you are a first class heel, and I salute you." Fortunately, Helen saves the day with a frozen Sara Lee cake.
We cut to Don, some hours later, in his rather hideous Buick(?), smoking a cigarette, staring off into the nothingness. The next shot, Betty hears him in the other room with the kids. He brought home a dog for Sally as a birthday present. She names it Polly. The scene fades to black as Bobby Vinton's "PS, I Love You" begins to play, a not-so-subtle dig at Don's post script of a birthday gift to his daughter.
Stray Observations *"He could be Batman for all we know." *Francine and Carlton's kid breaks a vase or something akin; another father smacks him as Carlton walks up. Then the two men make Francine clean it.
Newbie Spoiler *Returning viewers, what do you think of Rachel Menken? Is she the closest Don has come to the perfect woman for him? End Newbie Spoiler
Music: "PS, I Love You" by Bobby Vinton; "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart
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(11:27:20 PM) Cokes: brewing beer tomorrow woo (11:43:44 PM) Luster: OMG, Cokes is going to make moonshine.
hey cokes, any way you can do this without 'future' spoilers? i'm watching through my first time on 1x05 or 1x06 going real slow but i'm enjoying the writeups and might try to keep pace if that makes any sense in my sched. would love to follow the topic at that pace.
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I'm always serious. Otherwise, no one will take me seriously.
So I pretty much marathon-ed this series since I last posted here.
I'm not a huge fan of the show. It drags it's feet too much for my liking. At first it was fun learning about Don Draper's history tidbit by tidbit. But after that dead horse was beaten, the show became a re-run of itself. The same thing over and over but a new holiday or historic event to make it seem fresh. Very few things of importance happen in an episode.
The show has redeeming qualities. It has sparse smarmy humor, a great historical recollection and rendition, an stand out anti-hero lead role, and it even touches on the formation of racial and women equalities.
But every episode drags with the same formula. Some type of affair, some historical background, some new account being bought, some woman being harassed, and way too much drinking. Got old for me. It's a well written soap opera lacking in action.
I made it to the end of Season 3. Though things do seem to be getting a fresh start, I don't think I'll continue to watch.
From: Pianist | #024 hey cokes, any way you can do this without 'future' spoilers? i'm watching through my first time on 1x05 or 1x06 going real slow but i'm enjoying the writeups and might try to keep pace if that makes any sense in my sched. would love to follow the topic at that pace.
I'll try to keep them to a minimum, but it shouldn't be that hard to skip over them!
(we need built in spoiler tags)
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http://img.imgcake.com/pyramidjpgyg.jpg CRYING. Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon
yeah, only just now noticed the 'newbie spoiler' sections, cool
CherryCokes posted... The wives view Helen as abnormal and vaguely threatening. The contrast between how we view Helen - independent, ahead of her time - and how the wives view her is great.
wouldn't necessarily agree that everyone who views will see helen as ahead of her time - but i would agree that the scope of mad men's intended audience would definitely skew toward sharing this view. cool note.
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I'm always serious. Otherwise, no one will take me seriously.
The episode opens in Pete's office, a Bob Newhart record on the turntable. The boys are having a good laugh before lunch when Trudy shows up to surprise her new husband. Don happens by, is introduced to Trudy, which leads to this subtly hilarious exchange.
D: "I think we're almost as happy to have him as you are." T: "I don't think that's possible!" D: "Perhaps you're right."
Love it. Trudy and Pete go apartment hunting. Trudy found a great place, but on Pete's $75/week (!?) salary, the down payment would be a year's work. There seems to be an implication that either his or her parents, or both, will help them out, but Pete seems to shrug away from this.
At the office, SC has another meeting with Rachel Menken. It's not one of great consequence, but it does show her in a new light. She's very curt, she's fond of Paul's work, to the point of almost ignoring Don. She's also dressed in all black, which isn't explained in any way - I wonder if it's a thematic choice to symbolize the end of her relationship with Don, or if Maggie Siff just looked really good in that outfit.
Later, at the Draper residence, Betty is reading bedtime stories to Sally and Bobby, because Don's not home yet. Next, she walks Polly. As she passes a house, she finds a man banging on the door to a house. He asks Betty if he can use the Drapers' phone - his ex-wife locked him out. Betty declines, and heads on her way. Later, at the Draper residence, Betty is visited by Helen Bishop. I t was her ex-husband. She apologizes for him. Talks about how people view her - she's very perceptive. Betty tries to deflect and deny, but does a poor job of dodging the issue.
We cut to Pete, visiting his parents. They're very clearly wealthy. They're also very clearly dysfunctional; father and son do not get along, mother undercuts dad to try and fix things, instead makes things worse. His father is an exceptional dick of a man, who drops a few unduly mean lines in the scene, like "We gave you your name, and look what you've done with it," and "I don't understand what you do... Wining and whoring, no job for a white man." Despite these barbs, Pete works up the courage to ask them for help on the down payment of their place in the city. His father's response is simple and clear: "No."
Later, at Sterling Cooper, Bethlehem Steel is in for a meeting. Don shows some very nice work, featuring various cities' most famous buildings. "New York, brought to you by Bethlehem Steel", "Chicago, brought to you by Bethlehem Steel". The Bethlehem Steel rep isn't having it, says he's heading back to Pennsylvania. Pete tries to keep him in NYC an extra day, with tickets to the just-premiered "Bye Bye Birdie" - turns out he doesn't really like birds. Pete and Don clash over Pete's attempts to work on the creative side of things, rather than the business side - there are "more failed artists" at Sterling Cooper "than the Third Reich", he says.
At the Draper home, Betty gets a phone call from Helen, who asks her to watch her kids so she can volunteer for the Kennedy campaign. Betty hesitantly agrees. She puts Bobby and Sally to bed and heads over to Helen's house. She snoops around in Helens bathroom before sitting down to take care of business. Just after she has herself situated, Helen's 9 year old, Glen, barges in, and just stares at Betty while she yells at him. Later, Betty explains that what he did was wrong. "Your hair is beautiful, you look like a princess. Can I have some?" he asks. Betty is confused. "Of your hair," he continues. She resists. "Just a piece, you won't even miss it," he tells her. For some reason, perhaps to try to placate him, she relents, and cuts a small lock of hair and gives it to him. Later, Helen comes home, with a JFK pamphlet for Betty, who says nothing of the strange events. She goes home. Don fell asleep writing copy in bed.
Trudy and Pete go out to dinner with Trudy's parents. After hearing about the apartment Trudy found, Tom offers to help them out. "Pete, this is an investment for me, in you," he explains, but it's clear Pete resents it, as he tries to politely refuse the help. After dinner, Pete heads off to take care of some work. It turns out that Mr. Bethlehem Steel stayed in town, and he likes the ladies. Pete pitches an idea to him - "Bethlehem Steel, the backbone of America", that gets no traction, thanks to the presence of a couple of lovely young women.
The next day, Bethlehem Steel comes back into SC for one last meeting. Walter loves the "Backbone of America" idea. Pete is unrelentingly smug. Then Don fires him. Smug Pete becomes distraught Pete. Roger and Don are summoned to Bert Cooper's very Asian office. They take off their shoes before entering. Cooper steps on Campbell's firing, citing the power of Pete's mother's family, which happens to be one of the oldest in New York.
Don and Roger return to Pete's office, where Roger flips the script. He says that both he and Bert Cooper wanted Pete gone, but Don stepped in and insisted that Pete get a second chance. Pete is ecstatic. "I won't let you down, Don," he says. "Jesus, Campbell. Never say that!" Sterling replies.
At the Campbells' new apartment, Pete, Trudy, and Trudy's parents meet one of the neighbors, Mrs Lyman. "Tell Mrs. Lyman the story about your great great aunt getting in a fight with the British soldier and the Hessian," Trudy insists. "You tell it dear, you do it so much better," Pete replies wistfully. As Trudy begins the story, Pete wanders over to the window and stares out on the city as Ella Fitzgerald's "Manhattan" plays, and the episode fades out.
Stray Observations Trudy in a nightgown. Yes please. Music: Ella Fitzgerald - Manhattan
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"Occulams razor says you are scum" - masterplum
The episode opens with Don and Betty coming in the door from an industry event at which Sterling Cooper and Don both won awards. There's even going to be a photo in one of the local papers.They fall asleep in their clothes, and wake up the next morning, hungover. Not only that, but it's 8am, and it's a weekday. "S***," Betty mutters. Seriously folks, pay attention for the curses in this show - they're punctual and percussive and perfectly placed.
In the city, we learn that Ken Cosgrove (Detective Cole Phelps, to some of you) has had a short story published in Atlantic Monthly. He also has two completed novels at home, which Paul Kinsey says, genuinely, "don't even sound stupid!". Despite that, he, Pete and Harry are all both stunned and jealous of Ken's success as he hands out copies of the magazine around the office.
Don's first notable meeting is about Citigroup. They discuss a new account, for the discerning man. "Men need accounts beyond their family," he says. "Call it... an 'executive account.'" They table the discussion and break for lunch. Midge calls Don and has a fairly steamy conversation in which she convinces him to cut out for a while and come over. Unbeknownst to Don, Peggy overhears a good deal of this, as she had tried to place a call on the line he was on.
Don visits Midge for an afternoon delight, but afterwards, there are the first signs of cracks in this relationship, when Don chastises her for the phone call. "I'm sorry your life is in a million pieces," she says. "I like being your medicine."
At the Campbell residence, Pete and Trudy are discussing Ken's story. Turns out Pete has a story of his own, and that Trudy's "first" is in the publishing business. Pete wants her to see if he can pull some strings. She hesitantly agrees.
The next day, the principal parties of Sterling Cooper are in a meeting, discussing all the various matters of business. Peggy interrupts. Someone by the name of Adam Whitman is here to see Don. Don calmly rushes to the front desk. "It's you. It's really you. Dick," Adam says, awestruck. Don plays dumb. Adam says he is Don's brother. He saw the photo in the paper and knew it was his brother Dick. Don dummies up at first, then relents, and agrees to meet him at a diner.
"What do you want from me?" is the first thing out of Don's mouth. His brother explains how he thought Dick was dead, about how lonely his life was after Dick disappeared. He's clearly got some serious abandonment issues. "Why did you leave me?" he asks. "I couldn't go back there," Don replies. Adam rambles on a bit about how he knew it was his brother in the paper. "Donald Draper! What kinda name is that?" he asks. "What difference does that matter? People change their names. What happened to... her?" "Mom?" "She wasn't my mother. She never let me forget that." "She's gone. Stomach cancer." "Good."
Meanwhile, in a Manhattan publishing office... Trudy's old flame didn't enjoy Pete's story, though Trudy doesn't seem to pick up on that fact at all. He's more interested in making a pass at her. He misses her. He wants her. He says he can keep a secret. She turns him down.
While Don is at lunch with Adam, Betty arrives at the office with the kids in tow. They have an appointment for a family portrait that afternoon. Peggy freaks out, thinking that Don is late to return from lunch because he is off with Midge. Peggy has so little grace under pressure; she runs right to Joan, who has it in spades. Joan calms her down, bails her out. Peggy just has to keep them entertained.
Back at the diner, Adam and Don continue to talk. "I'm not mad at you. I just wanna know. I mean, look at you... Who is Donald Draper?" he asks. Adams questions turn a bit too personal for Don's liking. "I don't understand. I just want to be part of your life," Adam tells him. "Adam, that's not going to happen. I'm going to walk out the door and that's it. I'm not buying you lunch, because this never happened," he answers. He strides out and returns to the office.
Betty and Peggy are talking about Peggy's life, the blind dates, work, and so forth. I'm curious - what is the age difference between the two of them, anyway? It can't be more than a 4 or 5 years, right? At any rate, Don returns before things get too much more awkward between the two, and the Drapers head off to have their portrait taken.
Liberty Capital comes in for a meeting the next day. Don lets Paul take lead on the presentation, as the "executive account" idea was his conception, although the name was Don's creation. "Liberty for the libertine," he calls it, as he explains how it works. The man from Liberty Capital chuckles. "A portion of our customers are already, I believe, doing this. There's just no name for it, and, we had no way to charge them." He loves the idea. When Don returns to his office, he has an envelope from his brother, with photos from their childhood. He thumbs through them pointedly.
In the secretary pool, we hear Ken telling the ladies the exact same summary of his two novels that he told the boys earlier that week. Paul walks in, compliments his story, takes the issue of the Atlantic Monthly from Ken's hands, saying that he doesn't have a copy to give to his girlfriend. He rips out the story, and jams the remainder of the issue into Ken's coat pocket, all while the ladies giggle. Ouch.
That night, at the Campbell residence, Trudy gives Pete some good news over dinner - her ex will publish Pete's story. The bad news? It'll be published in Boy's Life, which Pete does not take kindly to. "Boy's life... Probably next to some ad for exploding cigars..." he laments. "I could have gotten you in the New Yorker, or Encyclopedia Brittanica, if I wanted to," Trudy replies, implying that Charlie would have done anything if she had stepped outside her marriage, even just the once. "So, why didn't you?" Pete asks, coldly.
At the Draper home, Betty and Don discuss their summer plans, which consist of Betty and the kids visiting her parents' summer home on Cape May in August. Don will still be working of course, and Betty laments that they won't see enough of him. Though she does approve of Peggy. "I like her. A woman can't just not remark on her husband's secretary," she explains. Don is in a funk. He says he might have to go back to the office for something.
In his study, he burns the photos Adam mailed him. He calls Adam, gets his address, says he'll be there in 25 minutes. He unlocks a drawer in his desk, and opens a briefcase. He stares into each for a long moment, but we never see what he does. The next shot is of the same briefcase, in Don's hand, as he walks down a dingy hallway in Adam's apartment building. He approaches Apt 5G, and bangs on the door. "I have a life, and it only goes one direction - forward," Don explains. He dumps the suitcase on the table. $5000. "Make your own life," he tells Adam. Then he leaves, and we get almost the exact same shot as we got when Don arrived. Centered low, on the briefcase, now empty, as Don walks away. Really neat symmetry there.
Don gets home, and Betty is still up. "Crisis averted?" she asks. "The papers are on my desk," he says. "I want to talk to you about something, and I don't want you to get upset," Betty says. "I won't," Don assures her. She then asks him if they can afford a summer home of their own. Don says they're not flush; it'll have to wait until next year.
"Good," Betty answers, relieved. "Because I really like seeing my dad."
Stray Observations *"Don was late." "Carlton's always late." This is a great bit of shading in the periphery of the Draper's home life. It's been implied a couple of times that Carlton is a womanizer, while the audience knows firsthand that Don is, and that that is why Don is often late. Amazing how two sentences, comprised of a few words each, can give us such strong character detail about three of the show's characters.
It's hard to get into the commentary without recapping as well. I've been trying to hit less summary points, but as time progresses, I'll want to refer back to some of them, I'm sure, when I'm discussing overarching themes and so on. These are building block episodes in a lot of ways
"Babylon" is perhaps the first watershed episode of Mad Men. The title is evocative - Babylon, the first metropolis, the first city of the world. The original idyllic city. It's not only reflective of New York, but of Don's life, and of Israel, all of which play key roles in this show and this episode in particular. It's thematically rich, and finally lets the viewer inside the mind, and past of Don Draper, and it does so immediately.
The episode opens on Mother's Day. Don is making Betty breakfast in bed. As he begins to ascend the stairs, he missteps, and crashes to the floor, likely sustaining a concussion in the process. His fall triggers a repressed memory of his childhood, to the day Adam Whitman was born. We see that he was resistant to Adam from the very beginning - "He's not my brother," Dick tells his stepmother, who bristles at the comment. Don comes to, and sees Betty and the kids standing at the top of the stairs, concernedly looking down on him.
*Newbie Spoilers* Note the cinematography of this scene. There are two enduring images that result from Don's fall. The first is the shot of Don, lying dazed on his back amidst the ruins of the breakfast tray. The normally unflappable Don Draper is shell-shocked, which, as we returning vets know, recurs as the show progresses. The second is the image of Betty and the kids, staring at Don as he lays there. Sally is the first to react, yelling a palpably concerned "Daddy!", before Betty is even in the frame. The whole shot is framed by the staircase itself. It's probably not intended as foreshadowing, but in retrospect it reads that way. This is Don's first moment of weakness in what should be his domain - his home. It certainly won't be the last. *End Newbie Spoilers*
Despite the less than ideal start to the day, the Drapers have a lovely Mother's Day, which is capped off by Don and Betty at perhaps their most romantic. Betty's "want" monologue may very well be January Jones' finest moment on this show. I also think that this scene may be the very zenith of Don and Betty's marriage. They look so happy, so fulfilled.
The next day, Sterling Cooper has a meeting with the Israeli Tourism board, who wish to make Haifa the Rome of the Middle East. They know Americans have a strange affinity for Israel, and they want to turn that into a thriving tourist economy in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Israel as a whole. They give Don a copy of Leon Uris' Exodus, which is a few months away from seeing its film adaptation - starring Paul Newman, no less - hit the big screens. The gentile SC crew comes out of the meeting cautiously enthused, but also flummoxed.
As they exit the meeting, runs into his wife and daughter, Mona and Margaret, who are in town to get Margaret a haircut. As Joan approaches with Don, Mona comments that they make a "handsome couple" (she's right). Joan doesn't "go for handsome," she says. Joan sets up Margaret at a posh salon, and the scene ends. It cuts to Roger, sitting on a bed, wearing his shirt, socks, and shorts, and he is griping about Mona. As the shot closes in through the doorway, it pans to the left, revealing Joan getting dressed in the doorway of the bathroom. She and Roger get intimate - again - and Sterling comments that she doesn't "know how unhappy I was before I met you - I was thinking of leaving my wife."
At the office, the Israeli contract is still confounding our Madison avenue gentlemen, so Don gives Rachel Menken a call. "It's for business," he assures her in what is certainly a half-truth.
That night, we hear about Betty's first kiss - a Jewish boy named David Rosenberg. The next day at the office, Freddy Rumsen - drinking a screwdriver for breakfast - along with Sal and Ken, try to figure out Belle Jolie lipstick. They mock the flamboyant names of the colors "Passionflower Peach," "Tropical Boudoir Red", "Ethel Rosenberg Pink," Sal says. "Wear it to the chair," Freddy jokes. "Let's throw it to the chickens."
The secretary pool gets to try out Belle Jolie lipsticks in a brainstorming session in the research room, while the office's gentlemen sit on the other side of a two-way mirror, mocking the ugly ones and admiring the attractive ones - especially Joan. All the ladies go absolutely bonkers over the dozens of lipsticks. All except Peggy that is, who looks around like she is in a room with creatures from another planet.
At Don's lunch with Rachel, they talk about Israel, which Rachel correctly guesses is because Don doesn't know any other Jews. Don spills his drink on his tie. "You're usually so put together," Rachel comments. I wonder which way this is intended to read to the viewer - is he on edge because he's around her again? I think that's probably the intention, but I'm not sure. Could be work, could be subtle foreshadowing. Could be a combination of things. She calls him out on his bulls*** - he doesn't know a thing about foreign affairs. She explains that Jews have lived in exile for centuries. "Israel is more an idea than a place," she says. Don wonders if it is a utopia for the Jewish people. As the scene concludes, Rachel comments that "they taught us at Barnard about that word... Utopia. The Greeks has two meanings for it. One is yu-toe-pos, meaning 'the good place', and 'oo-toe-pos', meaning 'the place that can never be.'" I don't think I need to expound much on the various ways this particular moment resonates through what we have already seen, not to mention what comes in the episodes and seasons following.
Back at the office, the brainstorming is wrapping up. Freddy asks Peggy to hand him the wastepaper basket of kissed tissues so they can count the shades. "Here's your basket of kisses," she says cheerily. After a moment of him being dumbstruck, Peggy assures Freddy that she thought of that herself. She didn't get her color, she tells him. "Why didn't you choose another one?" he asks, to which she replies "I'm very particular... I don't think anyone wants to be one of one hundred colors in a box." Next thing we know, Peggy has been asked to write copy for Belle Jolie - on her own time, and for no additional pay. But it's an opportunity.
Rachel (who we find out is 28 years old) calls her sister, talks about a man. She wants him, wants to ignore him. She's clearly very conflicted. Her sister tries to discern whether or not their father would approve (he wouldn't - Don's not Jewish, is married), but Rachel rebuffs her. "Why do you always have to be so cynical?" her sister asks. "Because... Sometimes things come. Good things, but there's no future in them," Rachel responds, her eyes slightly watery.
Meanwhile, Don is visiting Midge. Their beginning throes of passion are interrupted by Roy, a "gentleman" caller. They head down to an artspace in Greenwich Village to see a friend of Midge perform. They discuss theater, while a man reads a police log on stage. "I bet Don can tell you first hand, Broadway is the birthplace of mediocrity," Roy comments. "Well, maybe it's born there, but I think it may be conceived right here," Don retorts. Roy asks what Don does for work - "I blow up bridges," he answers dryly. Midge tells Roy the truth. "How do you sleep at night?" Roy chides. "On a bed made of money... If you had a job, what would you do?" Don just rakes this guy over the coals - it feels to me like the first and only time Don has had the upper hand the entire episode, which spans several days. Roy and Midge's friend comes on, and performs the traditional song "Babylon" as the credits roll.
Stray Observations *"This is Urine, from Israeli Tourism." "It's pronounced "Yurim.'" *Love the symmetry between Betty's Rosenberg and the infamous Rosenbergs. *"It was like watching a dog playing the piano." *First mention of the Waldorf Astoria happens at the table in Greenwich Village. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but I hope it is. *Music - "Babylon" - Traditional. Though I think this particular arrangement is anachronistic - it sounds like Don McLean's version, which came out the same year as American Pie - 1971.