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 90 days (we don't know the precise premiere date yet), or one episode every 1.75 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).
(Super Rough) Schedule 11/26 - 12/2: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Ladies' Room, Marriage of Figaro 12/3 - 12/9: New Amsterdam, 5G, Babylon 12/27 - 1/4: Red in the Face, The Hobo Code, Shoot, Long Weekend, Indian Summer, Nixon vs. Kennedy, The Wheel (End Season 1)
1/5 - 1/15: For Those Who Think Young, Flight 1, The Benefactor, Three Sundays, The New Girl, Maidenform, The Gold Violin, A Night to Remember, Six Month Leave, 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.
Feel free to watch ahead of me if that suits you, but please, hold your notes on any given episode until I get there.
Writeups may include things that could spoil newbies. In instances like that, I will do my very best to include a "NEWBIE SPOILER" before the offending section
Also, I'd appreciate it if someone can help me make sure this doesn't purge!
I will now repost my writeups from episodes 1-6 of Season 1.
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)
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
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
--
"Occulams razor says you are scum" - masterplum
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.
[continued]
--
"Occulams razor says you are scum" - masterplum
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 - pregnant, ready-to-pop Francine
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
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.
[continued]
--
"Occulams razor says you are scum" - masterplum
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
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.
[continued]
--
Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive
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.
--
Cokes as The Green Lantern, by fr0q http://img.imgcake.com/greencokespngsa.png
"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.
--
(11:27:20 PM) Cokes: brewing beer tomorrow woo (11:43:44 PM) Luster: OMG, Cokes is going to make moonshine.
I think, generally speaking, my M.O. is going to be to end my day with a watch, rather than a writeup. So if I watch two, I'll go watch, writeup, watch, bed. Or what have you.
--
http://img.imgcake.com/pyramidjpgyg.jpg CRYING. Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon
"Red in the Face" is an episode that doesn't move many pieces around, but instead takes a long, hard look at the emotions behind many of the main characters. We get deep looks at Roger and Betty in the A-story, and in the very brief B-plot, we get our best look yet at how the mind of Pete Campbell works.
The episode opens with Don placing a call to Betty's psychiatrist, Dr. Wayne. She seems "consumed with petty jealousies" and "overwhelmed with everyday activities," he says. "Basically, we're dealing with the emotions of a child here." Betty's anxiety issues are likely caused, at least in part, by her mother's recent passing.
Don, and the rest of the Sterling Cooper team, are all focused on the Nixon campaign, whose representatives will be coming in later in the week. No one's really sure how to approach the whole thing. At the close of the business day, Roger tries to whisk Joan away for the evening. Joan has plans, however, and Roger gets Don instead. They go out for a drink, and Roger subtly invites himself to the Drapers' for dinner. Don goes to the phone booth to call Betty and let her know, and the scene smash cuts to home, where Betty is half-dressed, Sally is doing gymnastics in the hall, and Bobby is raising hell. "That better not be daddy saying he's going to be late," Betty mutters. Nope. The only thing worse - unexpected company.
We cut to the dinner itself. The steak intended for Betty sits in front of Roger, while she eats a salad. "I'm a vegetarian sometimes," she says, trying her best to be cheerful. Roger, several drinks in, doesn't notice what her face tells the viewers - she's kinda pissed. Roger regales them with stories throughout dinner, about his youth, and the war. When Don mentions that he swam in a quarry as a kid, Roger makes a surprisingly astute observation:
"By the way you drop your Gs every once in a while, I always thought you were raised on a farm. Someplace with a swimmin' hole."
Don not so smoothly dodges this by getting more alcohol for everyone. Some time later - many cigarettes and many drinks later - they have dessert, while Roger tells a story of his time in the South Pacific. They run out of booze, and Sterling implores Don to take a look in his golf bag for one last night cap. Don obliges, and while he's in the garage, Roger makes a pass at Betty. Don reenters and senses something is amiss, which he later correctly guesses as Roger's womanizing ways.
The next day, Roger tries to apologize, in perhaps the most indirect and awkward way. "When a man gets to the point that his name's on the building, he can get a sense of entitlement," he says, and offers Don a replacement bottle of scotch for his golf bag.
At lunch, Pete attempts return a hideous chip and dip that he and Trudy somehow got two of. He gets store credit, and uses it to buy himself a rifle. A rifle which he comes back to work with, and points at various girls in the steno pool. He later gets crushed by Trudy for his inconsiderate exchange.
After lunch, the SC guys have a discussion about the Nixon campaign, to try to figure out their plan of action for tomorrow's meeting with his campaign coordinators. "It's going to be Kennedy," Bert Cooper insists as they try to figure out who Nixon's opponent will be. "He doesn't even wear a hat..."
"You know who else doesn't wear a hat? Elvis. That's what we're dealing with," Pete responds. The "adults" in the room look at him like he has seven heads and ignore his comments, which of course are exceptionally insightful, given the cult of personality that Kennedy had.
Stray Observations *"I'm drinking my milk right now!" Roger tells his wife, as he makes a White Russian. *"It's like they hit 30 and someone puts out a light." *That chip and dip has gotta be the ugliest home good I've ever seen. *After hearing Pete's hunting fantasy, Peggy gets a cherry danish with her ham sandwich. Newbie Spoilers Is she already pregnant? I'm still not sure. I think she is. *"Drinking milk... I never liked it... I hate cows." Don's drunken comment at lunch may seem like a nice bit of flair to close the scene, but as you might remember, Don has a very clear hatred of his upbringing on the farm, and this is really the most direct he ever addresses it, at least in my recollection. We'll see going forward if I'm right. End Newbie Spoilers *Music: Botch-A-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina) by Rosemary Clooney. "Baciami" means "kiss me" in Italian, fyi.
Newbie Spoilers It's worth noting the attitudes of everyone in this episode about Kennedy - most of the older people at Sterling Cooper are not fond of him. We don't get a lot of sense of how the younger guys - Pete, Paul, Ken, etc - feel about him, but it's ambivalent at best, I think. In a scene that comes up shortly, Betty tells Francine that she doesn't like Kennedy, which slightly surprises Francine. Later in the series, of course, Kennedy is assassinated, and many of these same people, Betty especially, take it very hard. End Newbie Spoilers
The next day, as Pete is heading into the office with the rifle he can't keep at home, Don heads to the elevator. "Hollis, let me ask you something..." he says to the attendant, as he starts peeling off bills.
At the market, Betty runs into Helen, who confronts her about the incident with Glen - she found Betty's hair in his "treasure box". Betty petulantly slaps her. Later, Francine swings by the Draper residence to see if it's true, and if Betty's alright. They have a long talk after Francine notes that people think Betty is so "sweet and perfect" about what it is to be a woman. Francine asks what Dr. Wayne thinks. "I'm pretty sure Dr. Wayne tried to look down my neckline the other day," she says. "He sits behind me... And as far as I'm concerned, as long as men look at me that way, I'm earning my keep... And then every once and a while, I think 'No, this is something else, I don't want my husband to see this."
Meanwhile, at lunch, Don and Roger are eating oysters and drinking martini after martini. Don is on the Roger Sterling diet, he says. They talk about Desi and Lucy's second divorce. "What makes a man marry the same woman twice?" Roger wonders. "I think in this case it was the lure of orange hair," Don responds. "I like redheads," Roger says. "Their mouths are like a drop of strawberry jelly in a glass of milk." It's no secret to us, or to Don, that he's talking about Miss Holloway, who was the first of four women he made a pass at in this episode. I also think it's his failure there that drives the rest of the episode. He has no luck with her, so he makes eyes at the ladies at the bar. They're only interested in Don, so he makes a pass at Betty.
They finish the lunch to end all lunches, and head back to the office. When they arrive, Hollis tells them that the elevator is out of service. Don notes that if they wait, they'll be even later for the Nixon meeting than they would be if they took the stairs. So up they go. Don stops on 8 and lights up a smoke. They keep going. Roger is clearly laboring much more than Don is - he's literally "red in the face" by the 17th floor. By the 20th floor, Roger goes down. He pretends to have lost his tie clip, sends Don ahead. Don gets up to 23, where Sterling Cooper is located, briefly fixes his hair, and walks in to find the Nixon people in the foyer, with Bert Cooper. Moments later, Roger walks in and promptly vomits at their feet.
"Oysters. 23 floors. Elevator out."
Don walks towards the camera, away from Roger and smiles.
From: CherryCokes | #019 Newbie Spoilers Is she already pregnant? I'm still not sure. I think she is.
I think she was from the first episode from Pete. There should be about nine months from the premiere to the season finale. I think the next time that they fool around is too late for her to have gotten pregnant from that.
End Newbie Spoilers
--
My Japanese alter-ego. Hey all this is Bartz btw.
From: KingButz | #020 I think she was from the first episode from Pete. There should be about nine months from the premiere to the season finale. I think the next time that they fool around is too late for her to have gotten pregnant from that.
Having already watched the next episode, in which that takes place, I've been leaning towards the same point of view. There's one line that seals it, I think. More on that later.
Mad Men is a glacially paced show framed in an era of immediate resonant change. Much of this is accomplished by the usage of the workplace as the central focus - even though advertising is a fairly glamorous profession, ultimately, almost everything they do is immediate and shortly made irrelevant. As the newbies will hear in a few episodes, "the day you sign a client is the day you start losing them." What makes "The Hobo Code", and Mad Men in general, so great is how the writers and producers (okay, Matthew Weiner) are able to accent the big business with the minutiae of so many of their characters' lives.
"The Hobo Code" opens in the lobby of Sterling Cooper. Pete and Peggy are both in early. Peggy is in early because her Belle Jolie copy is being presented today; Pete is presumably in early to have some time to himself, away from both his coworkers and Trudy, who he says is sometimes "just another stranger". His second-guessing of his marriage leads to he and Peggy going at it in his office. "Your skirt's to tight," he tells her. "Just pull it up," she gasps.
Some time later, once the business day has started, Don is summoned to Bert Cooper's office. He walks in expecting both Sterling and Cooper, but gets only Bert, who presents him with a bonus for $2500. He goes on to ask Don if he has read Atlas Shrugged.
"Have you read her? Rand? Atlas Shrugged. That's the one... When you hit 40, you realize you've met or seen every kind of person there is, and I know what kind you are, because I believe we are alike... By that, I mean you are a productive and reasonable man, and completely self-interested. It's strength. We are different. Unsentimental about all the people who depend on our hard work. Take a dollar-ninety-nine out of that twenty-five hundred and by yourself a copy." In one paragraph, Cooper sums up both himself and Don Draper in as eloquent a fashion as is possible, and he is certainly correct. And yet, is he, really? How much of what made Bert Cooper such a success is in Don? Is there the prudence, the judiciousness there? Or will that only come with age?
The Belle Jolie copy is a rousing success. "Mark Your Man," the campaign reads, with wonderful art from Sal. One of Belle Jolie's representatives is gay, and he and Sal have a very subtle conversation with some very strong implications. Following the success of the Belle Jolie meeting, Peggy and the girls organize a party at Chumley's. The junior execs all go, of course. Don scoots out of work early to go see Midge, Roger and Bert head home early for their own reasons, and Sal heads to the bar of the hotel that the gentleman from Belle Jolie is staying at, eschewing the advances of one of the switchboard operators to do so.
And that's all the time we spend in the Sterling Cooper office.
Don arrives at MIdge's to find her, Roy and a number of their bohemian friends getting ready to smoke up. He tries to whisk Midge away to Paris with his $2500, but she has a special evening planned - "We're going to get high and listen to Miles," she explains. "That's your plan?" Don questions. Still, he takes off his coat and partakes. After a while, someone asks how he feels. "I feel like Dorothy and everything just turned to color..." he muses. Roy still doesn't like him, but he might be softening a bit - "The words...man you are good with the words."
While in the bathroom, the quality marijuana apparently helps Don recall some of his childhood, which we see in a FLASHBACK.
[continued]
--
Cokes as The Green Lantern, by fr0q http://img.imgcake.com/greencokespngsa.png
We see little Dick Whitman and his family, out in the yard doing their chores. A hobo ambles up to the gate, looking for work. Don's father declines, but his stepmother, Abigail, relents and the hobo is grateful. They feed him, and give him a place in the barn to sleep, and promise to pay him a quarter (I think it's a quarter) for the next day's work. In the barn that night, the "gentleman of the rails" has a conversation with young Dick. "If Death was coming anyplace, it's here, kid. Creepin' around every corner." He makes Dick an honorary hobo, and teaches him the titular code, which consists of symbols that hobos write or carve in front of houses to signify the helpfulness of the owners. "Watch out for the mean dog", "tell a sad story", "good food", "dishonest man". "Don't be scared, kid. You ain't a man yet."
The next day, the hobo does his work, and Dick's father refuses to pay him. The hobo simply leaves, and Dick runs out to the front gate. Sweeping away the weeds, he sees that the symbol for "dishonest man" is faintly carved into the front fencepost. We flashback to the present. Don comes to the realization that Midge and Roy are in love. He gives her the check for $2500, tells her to get a car, and he leaves, though not without some unkind words to Midge's boho friends. When Don arrives home, he awakes the sleeping Bobby, and tells him to ask any question - "Why do lightning bugs light up?". Don tells him he doesn't know, but says that he will never lie to Bobby. It is a stark moment of earnestness from Don that we really only see when he is drunk or high, at least to this point in the series.
At the hotel bar, Eli and Sal are having a long, flirtatious conversation. Eli implicitly invites Sal up to his room, ostensibly to see the breathtaking view of New York City. He asks what Sal is afraid of. The answer never truly comes, but it's written all over Sal's face - everything. He can't be that brazen, not in his own city. Being outed is a risk he simply cannot take - it could ruin his livelihood, or worse.
Meanwhile, the entirety of the office is out celebrating Peggy's success. They are drinking and dancing. Peggy and Freddy are cutting a rug, as are Paul and Joan, among others. They twist! And boy, does Joan know how to twist. Peggy twists her way over to Pete, who is sitting, sullen. "Dance with me," she tells him. "I don't like you like this," he responds, all but ruining her evening. She is clearly stunned, as she should be. Her relationship with Pete Campbell is bizarre and fragile and incomprehensible, even sometimes to the viewers. She comes into work early the next morning, but Pete isn't there.
Stray Observations *Music: "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, Miles Davis' "Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio)" *Note the dance pairings! *"The universe is indifferent" "Man... why'd you have to say that?"
From: CherryCokes | #024 Peggy twists her way over to Pete, who is sitting, sullen. "Dance with me," she tells him. "I don't like you like this," he responds, all but ruining her evening. She is clearly stunned, as she should be.
I have never been able to figure out exactly what he means there. Do you think that he wanted her to be as miserable as he was?
--
My Japanese alter-ego. Hey all this is Bartz btw.
I'm of the opinion that he isn't attracted to her when she's happy. It seems sort of like schadenfreude to me in that he's only attracted to her when she's miserable
"Shoot", perhaps more so than any episode yet, is centralized on the women of the show. There is a particular focus on Betty, but to varying degrees, Joan, Peggy, Sally and, through stock footage, Jackie Kennedy, are featured as touchstones. The matters of perception, both of self and of others, and physical worth are always at play in the world of Mad Men, but "Shoot" is really the first episode to dive into the subject headlong.
The episode opens with Betty in the yard, gardening. The kids are playing. The neighbor lets out a whole bunch of pigeons. This seems like a non-sequitor, especially for Mad Men, but we'll come back to it.
Later, at the Opera, Don runs into Jim Hobart, from McCann Erickson. They got the Israeli tourism contract. He makes an attempt to recruit Don to join M.E, but has little success. When his wife, Adele, and Don go to get drinks, he tries to use Betty as leverage - "Anybody ever tell you you're a dead ringer for Grace Kelly?" he asks her. "They used to," Betty responds tiredly. He tells her to come in for a Coca-Cola ad campaign. After the opera, Don and Betty head home rather than go to dinner with Jim and Adele. "Am I that wrong for Coca-Cola?" Betty asks. "You're not wrong for anything," Don tells her.
The next day, Betty tells Francine about the exchange. "Don said the man was trying to sleep with one of us, and he's not comfortable with either," she says. Meanwhile, at Sterling Cooper, Hobart's courtship of Don continues - a membership to New York Athletic Club, complete with towel. Over the phone, Hobart offers Don 3 years at $35K - 5,000 more than he makes at SC.
Betty visits Dr. Wayne. She reveals that Don was a young copy writer for a fur company when they met. She was modeling the fur, and as models do, she had to give the fur back when the shoot was done. Don made a move then, but she didn't bite. A few days later, the fur arrived at her door. Such a smooth operator, that Don Draper. We also learn that, though her mother instilled a strong sense of style over substance, and the importance of personal appearance, she hated the fact that her daughter was a model, and compared it to prostitution. Dr. Wayne tells Betty that old trope - "You're angry at your mother," which arouses perhaps the strongest emotional response we ever really see from Betty - one of outright indignation.
Jackie Kennedy is shown on TV, for the first time in the series, doing a Spanish-language campaign ad, something that was unheard of until the Kennedy campaign.
At the office, Peggy is experiencing some... difficulties. Her skirt rips at the waist, which she dutifully tries to cover by tying a sweater around her midsection. That fails, and Joan lends her an outlandish outfit, and chastises her - "You're hiding a very pretty girl with too much lunch." The boys around the office view her as a piece of fruit going bad in a hurry. Ken says she's like a lobster - "All the meat's in the tail", which causes Pete to clock him right in the face. As mentioned above, I think Pete is only drawn to Peggy when she's at her lowest points. When she's riding tall, he wants nothing to do with her. I'm not sure why, though - is it a power thing?
[continued]
--
Cokes as The Green Lantern, by fr0q http://img.imgcake.com/greencokespngsa.png
Roger gets wind of the moves Hobart has been putting on Don, and tries to make sure he keeps his biggest asset in house. Don tells him he hasn't made up his mind yet. "I'm taking this very personally," Roger tells him. "Why? It's business," Don replies. "Is it?" Roger questions as he leaves. Clearly Roger senses the rift that has developed since he made that drunken pass at Betty, but also recognizes that it is small and reparable. Or at least he hopes it is. Don eventually leverages Roger into $45K a year, no contract, assuring him that "If I ever leave this place, it will not be for more advertising."
Newbie Spoilers That's an interesting statement Don makes. More immediately, it foreshadows and highlights his unrelenting disdain for complacency, stillness. Long term, it foreshadows his... extensive time in Los Angeles, both in season 2 and later in season 4. I'm not sure if it relates to how season 3 ends, but it's an interesting connection to draw End Newbie Spoilers
The kids are playing in the yard. Polly is with them. The neighbor lets out his pigeons. Polly kills one of them. Neighbor is pissed.
The only story we get from the Juniors is that they are stuck trying to deal with Secor laxatives and commercial airtime for Nixon. Kennedy and Nixon have been matching commercial for commercial in all the swing states. Pete and Harry have an idea, though - they'll buy up all the available airtime for Secor laxatives. It's a gamble, and when Roger and Bert Cooper confront them on it, they think they've lost, until Cooper tells them it was a stroke of genius. "They'll have to put [Kennedy's] pretty face on the radio!"
Betty goes out for, and unsurprisingly gets, the Coca-Cola job at McCann Erickson. Hobart is effusive in his praise - he even lets her keep the outfit - and Betty loves being a model again. Eventually, once Don has made his decision to stay at Sterling Cooper, he lets Hobart / McCann know that he won't be joining them, and as such, Betty is cut loose from the Coca-Cola campaign. "It has nothing to do with you," Jim tells her. It's a half-truth that probably hurts as much as the whole truth. At home, she frames her dismissal under her own terms, citing her desire to be with the kids. Don tells her it's her decision, comforts her. "I would've given anything to have had a mother like you - beautiful and kind, filled with love, like an angel."
The next morning, Betty is sitting in the kitchen, patiently smoking a cigarette. She goes to the closet, grabs an item off the high shelf, and walks outside. Cigarette hanging out of her mouth, she lifts a rifle to her shoulder and takes aim at the neighbor's pigeons as they fly off, ignorant to his protestations.
Stray Observations *Lucky Strike sales are up! *I love the inversion of "The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them" line. Don uses it on Pete when he is informed about Dr Scholl's leaving, but when Don hears it from Roger, he asks Roger if he really believes it.
--
"Occulams razor says you are scum" - masterplum
the ongoing tension between pete and don is a great subplot (if you can even call it that), and this episode featured a great moment of don s***ting on pete's parade
no mention of the final act of the joan/peggy storyline in this episode, where peggy finally gets the guts to tell off joan? thought that was one of the more female-empowering moments of an episode devoted to the show's women
--
I'm always serious. Otherwise, no one will take me seriously.
From: Pianist | #033 no mention of the final act of the joan/peggy storyline in this episode, where peggy finally gets the guts to tell off joan? thought that was one of the more female-empowering moments of an episode devoted to the show's women
I omitted it for a reason~!
--
Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive
It's Labor Day. Grandpa Gene is at the Drapers' with his new ladyfriend, Gloria. Betty doesn't like her. Shocker. They are heading down to... Cape May, I think, for holiday weekend. Don is too busy with work to go, which is kinda sad.
At Sterling Cooper, the guys are watching campaign ads for Kennedy and Nixon. Kennedy's is a musical spot, catchy and upbeat. Nixon's ad is dour and hard to watch. Pete wonders if people have found any useful dirt on Kennedy. "He's a womanizer," Don says. "That's not going to hurt him. Women find out about that, it'll push him over the top." Don also wonders why Nixon needs to attack Kennedy when there is a story to tell - Kennedy is "nouveau riche", and "bought his way into Harvard", Nixon is a self-made man, the "Abe Lincoln of California" who was VP of the country six years after getting out of the navy. "Kennedy, I see a silver spoon. Nixon... I see myself," Don says, subconsciously revealing a bit of his past to his coworkers.
"When you run an ad that's critical, you have a shot at the people who are on the fence," Roger explains. "Whether the Nixon campaign wants it or not, we have to produce a spot that aims a Howitzer at Kennedy's balls."
Abe and Rachel Menken come in to hammer out the last details of the Menken redesign. Tea room on the ground floor. Abe is skeptical about spending 30% of his ground floor to the restaurant business. Don assures him that they'll have a line on the first day. He also compares the needs of his customers to Rachel's needs as a woman -- whether this is intentional or not, I'm not sure. The pair of asides at the end of the scene - one between Don and Rachel and one between Rachel and her father - make me lean slightly towards it being intentional. I'd say it started out as a simple description of Menken's customers, and halfway through, Don realized that what he was saying applied to Rachel as well.
Joan gets a visit from her roommate, Carol, who got fired from her job. Joan agrees to go out with her, taking a rain check for yet another of Roger's overtures. Don asks Roger to come out with him that night. "Give me tonight. You owe me that. I can use you as bait. There's a casting call at four o'clock. Double-sided aluminum. If Freddy Rumsen's brain works the way I think it does - slow and obvious - I think we should go down to casting and see who's on the couch. Remember, Don - when God closes a door, he opens a dress." They head on down to casting and they find exactly what Roger suspected - twins. And other guys hitting on them. Paul and Sal flirting with one pair, Ken hitting on another, all unsuccessfully. Roger flouts his authority, picks a pair - Eleanor and Mirabel. He picks them as the new faces of double-sided aluminum, invites them to his office for a drink. Roger works his magic, and before we know it, he is riding Mirabel around the office in her lingerie. Then they get down to business. Then he has a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Joan and Carol are getting ready to go out with a pair of gentlemen. Carol confesses that she loves Joan, effectively coming out to her longtime friend. "Just think of me as a boy," she pleads, but Joan expertly dismisses, and they head out. Their callers are dull as dishwater - one is a linguistics professor who's middle-aged, the other something so boring that it's not worth remembering. Joan takes the professor to her room, while Carol lets the boring guy do "whatever [he] want[s]" to her.
At the hospital, Roger looks like death. "All these years, I thought it'd be the ulcer," he says. "I did everything they told me. Drank the cream, ate the butter. Got hit with a coronary... I've been living the last 20 years like I'm on shore leave. What the hell's that about?" He's clearly fearful that he might die. He is more candid than we ever see him, especially once Mona arrives. Mona looks so vivacious next to him. He doesn't want Margaret to see him like this, but Mona insists. What we get is a scene in which the Sterling family is at its most unified. It's one of the toughest scenes this show has had, but it's also one of the strongest emotional notes the show hits, especially in the first season.
Joan is summonsed to the office in the middle of the night by Bert Cooper. They have to send out a telegram, immediately, to all the clients, assuring them that this medical setback won't affect business. As Cooper dictates, Joan types, and cries silently, undoubtedly feeling the pressure of guilt - if she had been with him, would this have happened?
At the hospital, Pete and Don are in the waiting room. On the TV, they see an attack ad set up by Kennedy's campaign against Nixon, featuring footage of then-president Dwight D Eiesenhower saying that he could not recollect a single decision Nixon made as his VP. Ouch. Don leaves.
He shows up, tired and probably a bit drunk, at Rachel's place. She is in her bedclothes, but awake - she got the telegram. She is concerned for both Don and Roger. "You can tell me, I'm not moving the account," she assures him. "He's gray and weak... His skin looks like paper," Don laments. He feels helpless. They kiss, but Rachel pushes back. "What do you want to do this for? You have a wife. You should go to her," she insists. "Jesus Rachel, this is it. This is all there is. I feel like it's slipping through my fingers like a handful of sand. This is it. This is all there is," he says. "This is just an excuse for bad behavior," she says. "You don't really believe that," he says, and they kiss again. They finally, finally f***. The post-coitus scene of Don, his head resting on Rachel's chest as she smokes a cigarette is brilliantly composed... and then Don tells her his life story. His mother was a prostitute who died during childbirth, his father a drunk who was kicked in the face by a horse. He was raised by his father's wife and her second husband. "I was raised by those two... people," he says, eyes closed. He looks to be on the verge of tears. Rachel holds him, and kisses his head.
Stray Observations *The Dr. Scholl's bit from the last S.O. section should have been written for this episode. Gotta take neater notes. *Love the lingering shot of Harry, after the campaign ads meeting. Great foreshadowing for his future. *"Don't waste your youth on age." *We don't spend a whole lot of time with Pete or Peggy this episode, but the one scene they have, in the office, where they trade verbal jabs at each other (with Peggy ostensibly winning), is a great great character moment for the two of them.
--
http://img.imgcake.com/pyramidjpgyg.jpg CRYING. Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon
on the 'don't waste your youth on age' moment - i find it awesome that cooper, who seems so eccentric, has a really good idea of what the f*** is going on in his office.
--
I'm always serious. Otherwise, no one will take me seriously.
Like the Hey Arnold! episode "Heat", in which a heat wave drives everyone to the brink of madness, "Indian Summer" concerns itself with what unreasonable, and unseasonable, heat can do people. It's not just the physical heat, either. While the heat generated by the weather plays a considerable role in the episode, so too does the heat between two people. It's a big episode in the series. Truly a turning point, and the first episode where this show makes the viewer feel the heat, that "I need this," heat.
Adam Whitman mails Don Draper a package and hangs himself.
Cut to Sterling Cooper. Peggy is at her desk, working diligently. Then the camera zooms out and boy, is she fat. Really fat. Coincidentally, the guys are taking a contract for a weight loss device called the "passive exercise regime" - a terrible name, they all agree. Doesn't mean they know how to write for it, though. One of the guys suggests they give it to Peggy to work on. "She's obviously losing some kind of battle," Sal comments. They give it to her, she asks if she's allowed to change the name. Don gives her the OK.
At home, Peggy is trying to figure out the ins and outs of the device when her roommate comes in, asking for her half of the phone bill - a phone that Peggy doesn't use. Her roommate doesn't care, since Peggy ate the saltines, the velveeta, the liverwurst... Peggy relents, roommate goes away. She closes the door, steps into the device, lays down, and turns it on. Turns out the thing is more of a marital aid than a wait loss aid.
While Betty is at home, going to sleep alone, Don spends the night blissfully in bed with Rachel. She confesses that she can't control her mind, that she keeps thinking about them together.
The next morning, Don and Peggy's paths cross in the office. Don is putting on one of many backup shirts from his desk drawer. Peggy comes in with the work on the P.E.R. She not-so-nimbly dances around what the contraption actually does. "It's hard to put into words," she tells her boss. "Then you have failed," he tells her. "It vibrates... and that coincides with how you wear it... It's probably unrelated to weight loss." Don tells her to work on it, now that she has a distinct idea of what benefit the product offers. "Think about it deeply... then forget it, and an idea will... jump up in your face."
At the Draper residence, the doorbell rings. Betty answers it, and finds it's a door-to-door air conditioner salesman. He craftily works his way inside, asking for a glass of water. I think the viewer is supposed to think that he's up to no good, but he actually seems quite genuine. He begins to convince Betty that the heat is worthy of making a spur of the moment decision - or two. He takes measurements in the dining room, and she invites him upstairs for what everyone assumes will be her first strike back at Don's infidelity. Halfway up the stairs, however, she second guesses herself, and sends him on his way.
At work, Don gets a visit in his office from Bert Cooper. Lucky Strike is freaking out over Roger's health scare. Lee Garner Sr will be coming in tomorrow for a meeting, because Cooper bluffed and they called it. "I need you to draw focus from our guest of honor," Bert tells Don.
In a small scene, Rachel is out to eat with her sister, who probes her about the man she is seeing. "He's married, but I don't think he's happy," she says. She admits that she feels very close to him. Meanwhile, we see Don climbing into bed with Betty at home, where he lays happily, until she mentions the salesman. Then, he lays there not so happily.
Roger comes into work the next morning, for an hour. "I shall be both dog and pony," he says cheerfully. In his office, where Joan touches up his face - "We don't need Miami beach," Don says. - he is a different man. He is somber, aware that he has returned to the proverbial scene of the crime. He's even reverent towards Joanie. "I missed you. You know that right?... I want to tell you something, because you're very dear to me, and I hope you understand it comes straight from the damaged, damaged heart. You are the finest piece of ass I've ever had, and I don't care who knows it. I'm so glad I got to roam those hillsides... I've had a lot of time to think about the things I've done, and have been sorry about. And being with you is not one of them." She weeps.
Roger heads into the meeting. He cracks a bottle of Coke, grabs a slab of pastrami, and sits down. Lights up a smoke. Three years minimum before the Surgeon General can do anything as regards legislating against cigarettes. As he stands up to give a toast to New Yorkers, he has another coronary episode. Mona is rightly rips***. Bert tries to make sure Lucky Strike'll stay. Lee Garner says they like Don, but SC needs to make sure he knows that they do too.
Everyone else in company is manning the lifeboats, thinking Roger is done for, even if he survives. Sal has updated and sent out his resume. Harry astutely notes that Don'll be made partner, the boys debate over it a bit, but eventually let it go - whatever happens happens.
Peggy is out on a blind date. She does her very best to end it as quickly as she can - drinking, smoking, talking about the city. She wants to alienate him as quickly as possible. "So, you drive a truck," she says dismissively of his work. He drives for Lays potato chips. "We have a potato chip account - Utz," she responds, more or less running him over. Everything he brings up, she brings back around to work. "Advertising doesn't work on me," he says. Sure it doesn't, I think. "It's just a lot of people screaming at you from the walls and the TV." Peggy doesn't even lift her head to meet his gaze. "Advertising is good, people never think it works." Eventually, she gets up and walks out.
At the Draper home, Don gives a quick call to Dr. Wayne. Don criticizes him for "taking a woman with a bad case of nerves and [making] her weaker, not stronger." Ouch.
Peggy has to make her pitch for "The Rejuvenator" to Don, Freddy and the boys. "Isn't it nice to feel that way whenever you want?" she posits. It's not a perfect pitch, but for a first time, it's good. When the guys realize what "The Rejuvenator" does, they start joking about another man's wife, who is apparently a fine young thing who rather enjoyed using the product when she was sent home with it. "Mitch's wife is very attractive," Freddy tells Peggy. "Oh... I don't know her..." Peggy blushes. Then Ken realizes that Freddy's wife had one and loved it, and Don has to break up an almost-fight because Freddy's a bit of a hothead, especially when he hasn't been drinking.
At home, Betty is doing the laundry when one of the machines goes a little off kilter. She goes into the laundry room to push it back into place, and the vibrating of the machine... ahem... "rejuvenates" her. She fantasizes about the door-to-door salesman while she gets off... until the machine stops, leaving her hot and bothered.
Back at Sterling Cooper, Peggy is angling for a raise. She wants $5 more per week, which would be a 15% increase. Before any dickering can take place, Cooper interrupts. He and Don go into Roger's office, and Don is made partner. "I'm not adding your name to the masthead, I'm restoring faith," Bert tell him. Don gets to name a new head of accounts services, and he can hire whoever he wants. Don makes sure he doesn't get a contract.
Pete immediately angles for the new head of accounts services. "I hope you're aware I'd love to throw my hat in the ring," he tells Don. "I am now," Don answers, presumably killing another little sliver of Pete's psyche. Peggy gets her raise, and a promotion to junior copywriter. "I'll speak to Miss Holloway about getting somebody on your desk while you tend to your assignment," Don tells her. "Can I tell her?" Peggy chippily asks. She and Don head home early - it's 4:30 - and the rest of the office carries on. Pete, who thinks Don is taking Roger's office, goes into Don's office and sits at the desk. The mailman drops off a package, assuming Pete is Mr. Draper. Pete leaves it, then comes back and takes it.
At home, Don tells his wife the great news. She starts to go in for the big, emotional kiss, but restrains herself, even though he clearly wants to have celebratory sex. "The heat's supposed to break tomorrow," she casually says. "It'll probably be snowing in two weeks," he replies.
Newbie Spoilers This is of course, more than just a small bit of foreshadowing. The heat will certainly break in the sense that Don will not want to sleep with Betty before long, and it also signifies a long-term forecast. Winter is coming, for New York, for the Drapers, and for Don. Better prepare. End Newbie Spoilers
Stray Observations *"Joan's been a b**** lately. Anyone else notice?" *How about those cravings Peggy's been having? Liverwurst? Blech. *Music: Julie London - Fly Me to the Moon