As Mad Men drew its riveting second season to a close, the world as these characters knew it was coming to an end — both inside and outside of Sterling Cooper. The fears and uncertainties caused by the Cuban missile crisis gave rise to folks getting their lives in order, either by correcting the wrongs of their pasts, growing into the adult they have been pretending to be or confessing a secret and releasing the hidden burden they have been carrying. As death loomed, so did the promise of new life. As confession healed, it also tormented. As power was attained, it was also lost. And the man we've known as Don Draper has accepted that he and Dick Whitman are two sides of the same coin, realizing that his hope (and the hope for the rest of these characters) to see tomorrow rests on finding that comfortable middle ground between the two extremes.
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"I always felt we met so both our lives could be better."
No matter how much of a loner Don Draper is in the boardroom, the statement above (and the woman who spoke it) just might explain why it is that, in the two seasons we've known Don, he's always seeking some sort of extra connection. Before fully immersing himself into Don Draper's life, Dick Whitman had a special partnership with the real Don's wife, Anna, and thought he had found something similar in Betty. But of course, he's jumped from woman to woman since then, looking for a partnership that does make both lives better. In this episode, Don reconnects with Anna (and the world), while Betty, Bert Cooper, Pete and Joan all make (or break) their own special partnerships.
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Throughout this season, Don Draper has told a number of characters to "move forward," forgetting the past and making the most of the future. But in this episode, old habits died hard for both Don and his Sterling Cooper rival Duck Phillips. Similarly, Roger Sterling was up to his old tricks (though to be fair, he never really gave them up) and Peggy again found herself falling for the wrong man. All the while, Don is miles away from the action, both at the office and his business trip, indulging in what can only be described as Mad Men's most surreal plot to date. And luckily, he left his "baggage" behind.
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There was no passing down of money in this episode, but the two most child-like characters in the ensemble did gain some wisdom and maybe even a little maturity. Don Draper took a backseat to the self-discoveries of his wife Betty and colleague Pete Campbell, as each took strides to becoming their own person, even more defiantly than they have in the past. But while the realizations may be crystal-clear, the reality is as murky as always, as represented by actual children such as Pete's illegitimate baby with Peggy and neighborhood hair collector Glen Bishop.
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Its your life Youve gotta move forward Thats Don Drapers MO and in this episode also his drunken advice to Roger Sterling And it wasnt very long ago we saw Don giving similar advice to Peggy For better or worse Peggy took the advice to heart and is now nearly as emotionless as Don For proof look no further than the elevator ride to the office where the topic of conversation was the apparent suicide of Marilyn Monroe Hollis was the only one who could muster any real sensitivity to the situation while Peggy and Don as he agreed with fascination at how much of an ad man Peggy has really become was just thankful Playtex didnt go for the JackieMarilyn ad from a few weeks back Some people just hide in plain sight Hollis said Thats a little unsubtle for Matt Weiner but the clich is never proven truer than by the men and women of Sterling CooperBut Peggy shares something else with Don Draper a sympathy for others mistakes When a drunken Freddy Ru
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Don Drapers fa231ade has been cracking all season but in this episode it was dealt its final blow Of course for the fa231ade to truly go away Don must confess and give into the fact that his entire life is built on a series of lies which he is clearly still unable to do But then it seems Peggy and Joan are similarly afflicted each unwilling to openly confess their true thoughts and feelings at the risk of blowing their covers Joan is the unlikeliest suspect but comes to her realization at the hands of Harry Crane who is bungling his job as the head of television most recently by letting an ad for a Maytag product know as The Amazing Agitator run during a movie of the week about Communist agitators So Miss Holloway sets to work reading network scripts and liaising between both the clients and the networks And with that little taste of the world she reminded Peggy a couple episodes back she never wanted any part of shes hookedWe see more of her mysterious fi
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People buy things to realize their aspirations So says Bertram Cooper and so does Don Draper In this case Don buys a 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville a flashy modern 6500 dream car that the salesman says is for people who have arrived But Mr Draper wasnt so easily convinced at first as the salesman also suggested that Don would be as comfortable in his new Caddy as he is in his own skin Cue a flashback and a whole new mystery We see Don roughly 10 years earlier also selling cars mdash albeit used ones no wonder he gets so many clients to sign the dotted line for Sterling Cooper with fluffier hair and a much less strained demeanor That demeanor quickly faded into something more familiar when she bluntly states Youre not Don Draper Once Don remembers how uncomfortable he is with himself again in present day he passes on the test drive of the Cadillac and heads back to the office There he and his two creative boy wonders Mr Smith and Mr Smith he
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After last weeks blockbuster episode I suppose I was expecting a slower outing to reset things just a bit While it was definitely slower and more moody there was still plenty to love from the get-go which featured a visual representation of the dichotomy of women the episode would later present in a Playtex idea meeting Joan and Betty were getting dressed in sexy lingerie while Peggy pulls on her pantyhose The dichotomy Paul Kinsey says is the difference between Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy He wins Don over with the idea by pointing out the different types of women around the office while wonderfully noting that Marilyn is really a Joan Poor Peggy who was not invited out to the bar where this idea was hatched not only gets left behind on the account but also insulted when she asks what kind of woman she is Gertrude Stein Ken Cosgrove replies to a laugh Don rescues the moment saying shes more of an Irene Dunne but Peggy is still left out of Kinseys clas
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In tonights jam-packed episode seriously did anyone else feel like there were a bajillion scenes Don said I dont feel a thing How true despite Bobbies beliefs that he is a decent man behind his many flaws Like I said it was one packed hour so hold on tightWe opened with Pete and his wife Trudy visiting a fertility specialist for some guidance after trying unsuccessfully to conceive for 18 months As easy as it is to hate Pete he was delightfully fun to watch in this scene cracking jokes about seeing the nurse for semen analysis Whenever shes free and his complete over-compensation about his manhood prompting the doc to remind him that fertility has nothing to do with manliness More intriguing was how once he was given the chance to open up he seemed to think he was on the psychiatrists couch rather than seeing a fertility specialist He ran down his list of problems with the world reflected on his fathers passing and naturally showed disdain for the
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Man did they pack tonights episode full Its tough to know where to begin but since the shows writers began and ended this episode at church it seems a logical place to start Over the course of three Sundays Passion Palm and Easter Peggy and her family become increasingly familiar with visiting priest Father Gill a guesting Colin Hanks who is looking more like his old man every day whom they invite over for supper after mass While he wows them with tales of his trips to Rome funnily belittling his time at the Vatican Its one thing but then you realize youre in Italy he also learns more about Peggy and her work courtesy of her mother After giving Peggy a lift to the subway Father Gill asks Peggy for some pointers for his Palm-Sunday sermon which she eventually obliged by telling him to be prepared Im covered in the content department and speak colloquially the sermon is the only part of Mass in English and sometimes its hard to tellOf cours
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Tonights episode like many in the first season didnt quite keep the pace set in the preceding episode but it still offered plenty to love Though it was a little jarring to see virtually none of Peggy and no sign at all of Pete No the night belonged to Don Betty and Harry Crane Thats right corporate ladder-climber Harry found himself in a sticky situation when he opened coworker Ken Cosgroves paycheck by accident After learning that he makes a full 100 less a week than Ken Harry began to question his worth and his role at Sterling Cooper After being scolded by Sal for sharing this depressing news with his expectant wife a situation Sal understands now that we know hes now married as pointed out by an observant poster on this blog last week who noticed the wedding band I missed Harry put Sals pep talk to use While considering his options Harry ran across a friend at CBS who had a controversial show about abortion that had just lost its sponsors Harry
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I have to say that I was more than a little let down by the lack of plot advancement in the first episode of the season but this episode was chock full of awesomeness again reminding me why this is my favorite show So lets dig inThe show opened with a party being thrown at Paul Kinseys apartment in New Jersey Most of the boys from the office were there as was Peggy who proudly tells a partygoer that she works with the stuffed shirts not for them Paul showed off his home and lifestyle in Montclair though some of his coworkers noticed a typewriter he stole from the office While Paul bragged about his fancy rare liquor to Joan the pair was interrupted by Pauls girlfriend Sheila a black cashier at the local supermarket In her usual cutting way Joan made light of her work and said that when she and Paul were together the last thing shed have taken him for was open-minded OuchThe party featured plenty of potential hook-ups such as Ken making his move wit
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Hey guys Im Adam Bryant and I will be watching and recapping Mad Men with you this season I know were a week behind so Ive jotted down some quick thoughts on the first episode but will be more thorough with the remaining episodes of the season As for the season premiere Im sure many of you were like me hungry for resolutions to some of last seasons cliff-hangers Namely Peggys baby Alas weve jumped to Valentines Day 1962 Peggy is back down to her pre-birth figure and shes not hiding any baby bottles in her desk drawer While the guys in the office do hint that Peggy perhaps did have a child they suggest it was Dons no less Pete Campbell the babys unknowing father squashes the conversation reminding them that they had agreed her time off was spent at fat campDespite the cracks that keep coming Peggy has become comfortable in her new role as junior copywriter Sure she still plays secretary to most of the boys in the meetings but she is quick to scold
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