"I want to work. I want to build something of my own."We got a phone call at 11:02 last night from someone who wanted to eagerly discuss the incredible episode we both just saw. "Did you think it would turn out this way?" she asked. "Not exactly," we said. "But it's like they gave every one of our favorite characters their best-case scenario."
Last night's episode wasn't just a culmination of the entire season; it was a culmination of the entire series to this point. Leave it to the creators of this show. Two weeks before the season finale they gave us an episode as shocking as any season finale and now for the actual season finale, they give us an episode that feels like a coda to the whole series. Every action taken by every character made complete and total sense for that character based on their experiences. Every story felt like it had naturally flowed to this place. They could have just titled the episode "Of Course." It was an incredibly satisfying payoff wherein each character got to have a character-defining scene and various relationships were re-defined and re-affirmed while others were ended.
When things are ending, it gives license to truth and much truth was spoken this episode. The series could be easily dismissed as endless scenes of subtext piled upon subtext, but last night's episode was all text, all the time.
"Young men love risk because they can't imagine the consequences."
"And you old men love building golden tombs and sealing the rest of us in with you."
"I wanna see what you look like with your tail between your legs."
"You sold your birthright so you could marry that trollop!"
"You're not good at relationships because you don't value them."
"I don't want to make a career out of being there so you can kick me when you fail."
Suddenly, everything's out on the table and nobody is holding back. And even though the events could have played out in a doom-laden catastrophic manner, it all felt like a breath of fresh air. At the end, every character was exactly where they were supposed to be.
As the title of the episode indicated, the show was literally composed of scenes of people shutting the door and having a seat and yet great drama was wrung out of these remarkably repetitive scenes over and over again. They've spent the last three seasons setting these characters up (and in some cases, knocking them down) to get to this point. This episode was all about playing all the riffs on the relationships they've spent three years constructing to get to this moment. Like Peggy's "Really?" to the news that Pete brought Clearasil on as a client. Two syllables that address the history of the two characters and also implied a highly functioning partnership on the part of the Campbells. In fact, to our intense delight, Trudy looks to have become a fairly prominent character in the new status quo, but we'll get to that in a minute.
You're going to have to forgive a little bit of fragmentation in this post. We're just gonna spew and hope it wraps itself up in the end somehow.
The episode opens with Don waking up coughing in Gene's/Baby Gene's/I Don't Love You Anymore's room. Contrast that with the Don of just 3 episodes ago in a tuxedo accepting an award. We said back then that it felt like Don was heading toward a downfall and he certainly rarely looked as beaten down as he does here.
Betty, on the other hand, is moving forward, jaw set. "Maybe you should see a doctor. A good one," says Don to the news that Betty's consulted a divorce lawyer, desperately trying to regain control in the old Don Draper manner. "Because I'd have to be sick to want out of this?" she shoots back. It's not gonna work anymore, Don.
To be honest,
we just wanted to see the Draper marriage end. We really hope there isn't a planned reconciliation for these two characters in season 4. It's done and we'll repeat what we said about them during season 2: "The Draper family seems irrevocably broken and we can't help thinking that everyone involved would be better off if they just all went their separate ways." And we said that BEFORE she threw him out of the house the first time. It's been three full seasons of misery in Ossining. A good marriage might have survived the year that they had, but they clearly never had a good marriage.In other news, Connie calls Don in for another meeting and drops a bomb on him, which gives him license to speak the truth and call Connie out on his games and bullshit. "You called me son. I get it, Connie." But Connie unwittingly throws down a gauntlet to Don: Are you the type of man who whines about his fate or does something about it? Don chooses option B because taking charge of his career is the only thing he has left in the face of his disintegrating home life.
Just like in last season's finale, when every character had to come face to face with the end of something (although last year's Cuban Missile Crisis-inspired "end of civilization" was a little bit more dire), the status quo got upended and all bets were off. As Don appealed first to Bert and then with Bert to Roger, he had the zeal of a man with a mission and the desperation to go around with hat in hand (literally) to convince others to climb on board.
Roger, like Pete and Peggy and Betty this episode, wants his pound of flesh from Don and before he can even think of throwing in with him, he had to get a few things off his chest, not the least of which was his brutally honest assessment that Don doesn't value relationships in any form. A hobo down to his soul. It's interesting to note that for all Don's attempt at privacy, the people around him have known him long enough and been at the mercy of his demons enough that they all tend to know him pretty well, much to his chagrin. This episode was in many ways a chance for many of the characters to tell Don exactly what they think of him.
We loved the scene where the four future partners of Sterling Cooper Draper Price sit down in Don's office and discover to their delight that they can actually get out of this untenable situation. It only made us wish we could have seen more of the business drama this season because they really shine when they focus on it. "Well, gentlemen. I suppose you're fired." Lane is awesome. Have we said that enough? We're really looking forward to seeing more of him next season and wondering how his bitchy wife is going to take to her permanent residence in New York.
Two things of note here:
The first: The lack of technology, the fact that you could only set this story in this particular time period, when a message to London won't even be read for 3 days, is what allows the entire caper to be successfully pulled off. We appreciate that from the writers because the show works best when they really make good use of that specific brief period of time to set stories in motion. That short window when the business world was operating globally but didn't have the technology that would come along in a short while to facilitate it.
It's also notable that Don gives an emphatic "No" to the idea of Connie as a client for the newly formed firm. While it's true that Connie had ended things and Don gave him a little mouth on the way out, Don could conceivably have pitched him on the merits of SCD&P. That he chose not to is evidence of his need for control in this moment. He had the energy of a newly formed evangelical. He had found his purpose and he didn't have time for idiosyncratic clients who like to play head games.
So Don and Roger are off to see Pouting Pete. Don finally said to Pete everything Pete needed to hear from him, and the beauty of it was that all of it was absolutely true. A complete validation for the character.
Can we just take a moment here to once again declare our love for Trudy Campbell, setting out the chip and dip and wearing a kicky little dress for company? Her perky little, "I'm going to change the sheets," was treat enough, but her tense, eavesdropping-inspired "Peter, may I speak to you for a moment?" had us rolling. Best line of the night. Once again, we see the total teamwork in the
Campbell marriage as Pete tells her to get the rolodex out from under the bed, where he threw it (a great throwaway line illustrating Pete's childishness) and pose as his secretary in order to set up a meeting with a client. At the end of the episode, we see Trudy breezing into the new "office" with lunch for everyone and we realize, she is in a new position to become the alpha wife in this scenario. Don, Roger, Lane and Bert do not have willing partners to play the hostess and the arm candy as a firm like this would definitely require. Her willingness to be a partner to her husband could be a great asset not only to the Campbells, but to the newly formed company.Roger and Don still don't love each other, but they're back to sitting in a bar together, something we haven't seen them do all season. They each seem to have realized the other's worth and they've reached enough of a detente that it can survive Roger blurting out Betty's rumored infidelity to him. Our mouths dropped when he said the name of Henry Francis to Don. A great scene and a plot twist we didn't see coming.
Again, revelations and endings lead to spoken truths. After calling her a "spoiled main line brat," Don says to Betty, "You never forgave me." "Forgave what?" she spits out. "That I've never been enough?" And if these truths weren't enough, when Don calls her the very worst name Don Draper could ever call someone, "whore," they've reached the point of no return. The marriage effectively ends at that moment. And didn't we all want it to? We don't hate either character or blame either character for the demise of the marriage; we just want it to be over. They're more miserable than they've ever been (and that's really saying something) and it's time to just rip off the band-aid and get it over with. So they do.
"Is it because I lost your cufflinks?" asks Bobby at the news. It's a heartbreaking line that reveals beautifully what goes on in the head of a child when divorce becomes real to them. "You made him stay in Gene's room and it's scary in there!" accused Sally. Children processing adult events in child-like terms. It was a tear-your-heart out scene, beautifully written and perfectly acted by all four of them. But even this didn't change our minds about the divorce. As painful as it was for the kids, they'd only have a lifetime of tense and uncomfortable scenes ahead of them if they tried to keep the family together.
The ending of the primary relationship in Don's life has him running around trying to shore up all the secondary relationships and none were better than the scenes where he tries to keep Peggy from leaving him. But she's no more likely to fall for the old Don Draper moves than Betty is. "Beg me?" she says when it's her turn to collect her pound of flesh, "You didn't even ask me."
Later, in her adorably messy new apartment (in the DVD bonus commentaries for season 2, Matthew Weiner gleefully mentions the fact that Peggy is a bit of a slob as one of his favorite character bits several times) Don laid it all out to her. We watched this scene three times and each time we thought, "Why does Don look so good here?" It wasn't just the beautiful lighting. On the third viewing we finally figured it out. It's because Don is looking up at Peggy, who's in a superior position. A pleading Don with his hat literally in his hands, the sun streaming through the windows and lighting his face up like a joyous convert, is a completely human and vulnerable Don. A far cry from the swaggering Don who shoved his hands up the skirts of women to get them to do his bidding. And then something else occurred to us. This scene is a romance. There isn't a chance in hell of Peggy and Don ever having a literal romantic relationship (or of even wanting one) but this scene is nevertheless a declaration of love, a grand gesture in the face of a breakup. "I will spend the rest of my life trying to hire you." It's literally one of the most romantic things Don has ever said. That's as firm a declaration of love and need as Don has ever uttered. And Peggy, because how could she not? Completely accepted it. She is finally where she needed to be: her worth is known and valued.
After that, it's just a matter of setting events into motion. With the addition of one last-minute, yet nonetheless major player.When Roger stood up and said he was making a phone call we knew our Joannie was on her way back. "Joan. What a good idea," says Don appreciatively, and we could NOT agree more. From that point on, we just sat back with huge grins on our faces and watched it all unfold.
"Peggy, can you get me some coffee?"
"No."
Okay, no. THAT was the best line of the night. Of the SERIES. The old ways are OVER. We said this about Don after Betty found out the truth about him, but now it applies to all of them: they could literally go anywhere they want to with these new core characters. The possibilities for what season 4 could even be about are so wide open that we're not even going to attempt to make predictions.
Joan. We just can't say how happy we are regarding Joan's role in this turn of events. "Furnished?" she asks Don, at his request for a new apartment, followed by the most incredibly discreet "I'm sorry," as she folds the paper and files it away in her robot brain. SCD&P didn't feel like a real possibility until she came on board and we can't wait to see where this takes her.
With a newfound control exerted over his life and his immediate goals met and immediate future wide open, Don ends what needs to end. "I'm not gonna fight you," he says to Betty and for a moment she looks a little hurt to hear that he won't. But it's really over. "You will always be their father." That's as final as final gets and Don knows it.
So Betty is off to Reno with Henry and little Gene while Carla sits in the den in Ossining with poor Sally and Bobby. It would be easy to vilify Betty for running off with another man and leaving her two children weeks before Christmas but that's as much an admonishment against the draconian divorce laws of the times as it is a strike against her. We guess she could have waited until after the holidays but why? Why leave the family in limbo? For good or for ill, she's fallen for someone else and wants to get her family out of an untenable situation. Is she going to find happiness with Henry? Who knows? Sure, there are some warning signs there, but say what you will about him, the guy follows through. She's got a better chance with Henry than she ever did with Don.
And Don is living in the city- where he belongs? After all, Don always was attracted to either the cosmopolitan (Rachel and Bobbie) or the bohemian (Midge and Suzanne). His mistake was taking the educated, world traveling, Italian-speaking model he fell in love with and trying to turn her into a suburban housewife. We suspect Don's immediate focus is his career at the moment and another relationship is not on his agenda right now but you never can tell with this show and a divorced Don doesn't necessarily mean he's suddenly conquered his impulse control issues when it comes to women. Although really, anything is possible right now with these characters and that suddenly makes the show feel more energized. For once, all of these characters are out in front of change instead of unprepared for it or worse, passive to it, like they usually are. The future really is wide open to them.
[Pictures courtesy of amctv.com]
Post a Comment
11/10/09, 2:23 PM
Amy Sez
I agree with AnnRR and Margaret...back then that is the way parents treated their kids. My Mom actually used the phrase "children should be seen not heard" TO US. Cant judge the past with todays eyes. Same goes for everyone who says Betty is depressed. Depressed is a word that gets thrown around too much. Its possible to be unhappy, unfulfilled, confused, pissed off or any or all of the above.
11/10/09, 2:28 PM
Toodles: I am not EHR, but I agreed with her post wholeheartedly, and found both of yours to be oddly dictatorial. Who are you to determine who is 'right' and 'wrong' in their perception of a staged drama?
Pete's actions with the au pair were drunken, unwelcome, and qualify as rape under the modern definition. Our perceptions of that behavior can be manifold, but none are 'right' or 'wrong'.
Do you honestly think it's appropriate for you to terminate a discussion with the dismissive phrase like 'end of story'? You have many insightful and valid comments on this blog, so I was surprised by the sudden switch of tone.
DDB
11/10/09, 2:42 PM
I just had a thought. Anyone think Betty was astute enough to take Don's running away money? Don probably wouldn't fight it because of what she knows about him, and anyway he's been left off the alimony/child support hook. But she'd be far less dependent on Henry than Henry believes. Well, depending on how much money there was, of course. I get the feeling every time he had a bonus it went right in the drawer, with Betty always left in the dark about the windfall. Could be quite a tidy amount.
11/10/09, 4:47 PM
Mary Ellen, I was thinking that too.
11/10/09, 6:06 PM
Betty came from money and both her parents recently dies. I'm presuming there is an inheritance there.
11/10/09, 6:06 PM
Anonymous
11/10/09 2:07 AM
"Because there are people out there who buy things, people like you and me. Then something happened... something terrible. And the way that they saw themselves... is gone. And nobody understands that. But you do. And that's very valuable."
What is Don talking about here when he says this to Peggy? I didn't understand.
Anon,
Don was alluding to the fact that Peggy's pregnancy and how she had to change (her perception of) her self after that "terrible thing" happened and move on. Just as he did by assuming a new identity. She has the ability to move forward without clinging to the past. Kinda like him (or so he thinks). [That's also the reason why he thought of her as an extension of himself.] She was the one who knew right away that the Aqua Net campaign would have to be changed. He needs that kind of forward thinking - the ability to see new things coming and adjust accordingly. Like Pete.
Hope that makes more sense now.
11/10/09, 6:37 PM
EHR and DDB:
I apologize. I didn't mean to be or sound dictatorial. Seriously.
Take care,
Abbey
11/10/09, 7:16 PM
Hmm, maybe Duck returns to Sterling Cooper (the old agency, not SCD&P of course) next season. Could be an interesting twist.
11/10/09, 7:33 PM
I was a child of that generation, probably the same age as Baby Gene. My mother was much the same, remote, as was my father. When my own son was born, she was astounded that I played with him, getting down on the floor and interacting with him.
I am old enough to understand that it must have been frustrating for her to have lived that kind of life, as she was an intelligent, active woman.
But attributing Betty with Borderline personality disorder. I'm a psychiatrist and geez, that diagnosis makes me mad. Typical that it was attributed to someone's husband. BPD has always traditionally assigned to women who refuse to live within the expectations of the men in their lives. Ridiculous.
11/10/09, 8:31 PM
Betty Draper is a terrible mother but January Jones is an incredible actress
Interestingly, Matthew Weiner was interviewed on Australian TV last week and said this about casting JJ -
"it's a malleable art form, and if it doesn't work, you can also take the story a different way. You know, neither John nor January have children and John's a former school teacher and he's great with kids and January is good with some kids and not with other kids. All this personal chemistry of people playing their children, it starts to become part of the story"
11/10/09, 8:35 PM
and the link to the interview -
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2736002.htm
11/10/09, 9:24 PM
Your assessment of the most romantic thing Don's ever uttered was dead on. I couldn't help but sigh and nod as he was telling Peggy how valuable she is in the big scheme of things (and in all the little ways as well).
And Joan, she just takes the cake.
I can't wait for next season.
11/10/09, 9:30 PM
toodles, no hard feelings. I don't get to tell you what you should think either.
11/10/09, 9:32 PM
EHR: that made me giggle... Thanks
11/10/09, 9:39 PM
I love you guys very much.
11/10/09, 9:41 PM
The scene with Betty and Henry on the plane makes quite the bookend complement to the opening scene of this season when Sal and Don were flying out?
And Don, or Dick, the name really isn't relevant because in every scene the real man facing his own truths and embracing them fully, vindicating those who were witness and deserving of his honest appeals, is what made him so dashing -- he didn't retreat into himself once. He didn't have anything to lose -- he could have run as he was always so prone to act or seem to act in the past, but he fought back, dug his heels in, and brought everyone together as best he could as the father he loved and lost (but thank god really because archie was an ass) never could do.
11/10/09, 10:56 PM
To me an important part of the episode was the way the whole thing was a juxtaposition of Don's work life and home life. Both were falling apart and he saved one and not the other. I think it was a choice -- everything he said to all the principals could have been said to Betty and altogether would have made a convincing argument to stay together.
"I want to build something."
"I value my relationship with you."
"You saw this coming, I didn't. I need you to keep me looking forward."
"I've taken you for granted. I think it's because I saw you as an extension of myself. You're not."
These lines work together as an argument to give it another try. But he used them on his work family instead of his wife. He's always used what happened in his personal life as inspiration for his work, after all.
Basically, in this episode Don finally Committed himself to something and it wasn't his marriage. And honestly, I think he made the better choice. I think he will get more joy and satisfaction there.
Lily
11/10/09, 11:26 PM
But what about the chilllldrennnnnn?
11/10/09, 11:40 PM
AMAZING EPISODE. You wonderful people have said it ALL.
I'm just chiming in to talk about what it was like to grow up in the 1960's. My parents - themselves born during the depression - were very much of the school that (1) children were something you *had* to have or why be married at all, (2) that children were expected to act as "well-mannered mini-adults", (3) your child rearing-abilities were judged on how well your children acted like grown ups, and (4) your children's wants are not relevant. You provide for their needs. In fact, I learned early that expressing my needs was a selfish act. I was not alone - many of my friends raised at the same time had similar experiences. We're all in therapy - LOL.
11/11/09, 12:36 AM
loved the kicky background music in the key scenes; actually seemed like a counterpoint to the actions of the characters. the cadence, the pacing of it all was awesome.
maybe a hollow body gibson, great sound, and loved the hammond organ when it showed up. sounded like music you'd hear in a '60s caper movie or new wave adventure set in some fab city.
what a great thing, after all this doom and gloom this season, to get such an exhilarating finale! the mood of the season has been so dark, i was thinking the last episode would be just more darkness. so this was such a fun surprise and i feel grateful to the creator of the show for handling it this way.
unbelievable ensemble acting, great lines, great details, really a gift to the fans.
i've never been much into business and really got to see how wonderful and sexy it can be to make something big happen.
speaking of sexy, there was something incredibly romantic about the don/peggy interlude when he comes to her place to plead his case. it was even more sexy that their relationship is not at all about sex. yet there is so much respect and deep feeling there. it's a really vital and important connection they share, and it was riveting to watch.
i guess i am one of the few people who is all about betty and henry together. i think they are perfect for each other and wish them well. january jones' acting has been great; betty seems much more calm and centered, though sad, now that she's made up her mind. besides, i think henry is betty's deus ex machina and was a good way to write her transition without spending too much time on it. their love at first sight thing is convenient that way. but to me it seems real, i do buy it.
and i love seeing don in the city. i feel for the kids but depressed betty was not a good mom so there you go. i hope he gets them a lot.
11/11/09, 12:47 AM
One bit of continuity: When she went to see the divorce attorney, Betty wore that fabulous suit that she wore in S1 when she visited the psychiatrist to let him know about Don's infidelity. I guess it's her power suit.
11/11/09, 2:02 AM
Oh, my god! When Roger said he had to make a call, I almost wet myself!
I think this was the most exciting episode of the series!
11/11/09, 2:05 AM
Matt Weiner not sure about Ken, Paul and Sal--excellent interview
11/11/09, 4:56 AM
I was just thinking that the opening credits, with the office dissolving and the figure falling from the top of the building through the ads, etc., will now take on a different or additional connotation. We could all see Draper's life dissolving around him and watched as he fell deeper into the abyss (some feared suicide), but who imagined that the office, building and SC itself would also dissolve away and rise from the ashes like a phoenix?
11/11/09, 10:13 AM
Re: Women's fitness in the 60s
I remember very clearly my mom in early/mid 60s watching the Jack LaLane exercise program every morning -- albeit at the kitchen table with coffee and a cigarette, but she WATCHED it! ;-)
11/11/09, 10:58 AM
par3182 & bornfamous - THANKS for the links to the interviews!
11/11/09, 10:59 AM
Re Jack LaLanne: My mom and grandma called him a "health nut." I never saw either of them [or anyone else] exercising, though Mom went on some extreme diets.
11/11/09, 11:48 AM
Sooo....what would one have seen on the Jack LaLanne fitness show?
11/11/09, 12:16 PM
>Leela
>Sooo....what would one have seen on >the Jack LaLanne fitness show?
Easy enough to fond out:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jack+lalanne+1963&search_type=&aq=f
11/11/09, 12:21 PM
I used to watch Jack LaLanne every morning before school, and then Captain Kangaroo. I like this one. "Don't try this--get your husband to try this one." LOL
11/11/09, 12:22 PM
Trudy taking care of her little boy Pete in his jammies after ditching school -- it makes me so tired. Loved the chip 'n' dip, though...
Favorite moment: Lane dismissing that toady secretary of his.
Hurray for Joan. Could love be in the air for Joan and Don? I've always wondered. She would leave soldier boy in a minute for a man who knows what she's worth.
And Don -- I though for about two minutes when his secrets came out to Betty that he might start living an honest, real life, but he retreated. Maybe now he'll start over and do it better.
Betty is doing what most women then did, looking for a "good provider" to take care of her and the kids. In her mind, I believe she thinks she's doing the right thing by everyone. Henry is the unknown, but it doesn't look good from here. Guilty admission: I had to wonder what it would feel like to be swept off my feet by a guy who offered to take care of me and my teenagers, and it sounded pretty damn great! In a sense, women who give it all for material support ARE whores, and I've thought the same of some women I know who stay in loveless marriages just for the money.
What a Christmas for Bobby and Sally, not to mention Carla! Sad, sad, sad. We may not see it next season, but my hope is that Don comes through and gives those kids a wonderful, magical New York Christmas.
Sal, where are you? Please don't end up dead in a park somewhere. We need you back, Mister!
11/11/09, 3:23 PM
Did anyone else notice the dog?
Betty is going to be gone until sometime in February. The kids are going to have Christmas with Carla!? And the solution to their emotional state is to get them a dog!
These two are going to make a therapist in the 80's buckets of money.
11/11/09, 3:33 PM
>Did anyone else notice the dog?
Don got Sally the dog for her Birthday. He went out to pick up the cake and did not return until the following day (days?) with the dog.
11/11/09, 4:24 PM
Dude, they've had that dog since 1960.
11/11/09, 5:49 PM
I have so many mixed feelings about Betty. Having been a stay at home mom (and now a working mom), I know how isolating and lonely it can feel. However, that doesn't make me like Betty. I feel bad that she married the wrong person, had kids very young and didn't have choices but she's also so unlikeable. She's so cold and has no personality. It's hard to say what she was like before everything happened but I can't imagine she was ever an extremely loving, warm person. I hated it when Francine realized Carleton was cheating and went to Betty and she couldn't even be there for her. I think right when she said she didn't know what to say to Francine, that's when their friendship officially ended. I hate Betty and Don together and I hated him when he was with her. I would like to see him in a happy relationship and hoping he will be nicer and more faithful to someone that he loves and is warm. I really loved him and Rachel together. She's been my favorite of all the "other women" - charming, funny, independent, called don on his crap. Loved her.
11/11/09, 8:38 PM
In answer to MadManfan who said, "I tried to find a photo of a top U.S. tennis player from the '60s to compare with, say, the Williams sisters as far as arm and shoulder musculature."
Here's a photo of Billie Jean King, who was in her prime in the 60s and started the Women's Tennis Association:
http://www.sports-photos.com/catalog/images/BillieJeanKingCLR.tif.jpg
11/12/09, 1:15 PM
Did you see Joan's pen pendant? I knew she was back then. For good. Seriously, I thought that the writers were gonna Shannon Rutherford Joan (I'm still pissed about that). Instead, the writers seemed to have realized what an asset Joan is, just like everyone at SCD&P. I was a little shocked though when they Boone Carlyle'd Ken Cosgrove and Paul Kinsey. But who gives a shit about Boone?
11/12/09, 1:58 PM
What does everyone think that Joan meant when she said as an aside, "Greg's gonna kill me." ?
Do you think it was just because she was gone all day Sunday? Or cuz she's back at SC(D&P)? I assume she was still working weekdays at the dress shop since her hubby was still a poor resident -- at least until he leaves for the army. -- At least, he was still working in the hospital on November 23rd when Roger called Joan after the wedding. (I figured he'd be leaving for the army after Christmas.)
Anyway, just another small point to discuss.
(I'm going to hate it when this last Mad Men post gets pushed off the first page....so sad.)
11/12/09, 2:25 PM
Don's real mother had him out of wedlock and he was raised by another family. Peggy gave her child up. I think that perhaps Don sees a bit of of his mother's situation with Peggy and feels a great deal of compassion towards her.
11/12/09, 7:13 PM
Am I the only person who actually felt bad for the (real life) 1,100 employees of McCann-Erickson who had to wake up Monday, November 9th, and go to work, after being trashed mercilessly on Mad Men the night before ?!? Oh, my God -- what a demoralizing situation ! And what a fantastic episode! For the folks who are agonizing over the legalities of client stealing and raiding/trashing the Sterling Cooper offices -- you can't bring a 2009 mentality to a 1963 scenario. Of course, advertising contracts have adamant no-compete clauses (certainly since the 1970s), and of course, today no one could do what the characters did without getting arrested -- but for cryin' out loud, 1963 was a whole different animal. And as seriously as we all take this show ... it's TV ... after all. I was hoping they'd go so far as to remove the stainless steel Sterling Cooper letters on the office wall. No one mentioned how fabulous it was when Don bent down to lock the door and Roger told him not to bother. Priceless! My only complaint is the length of time between seasons ... it would be great if AMC ran re-runs. Are you listening, TV executives ? There are so many predictions to make about the future seasons and where the show is going ... and I could do that all night, but I will spare you all ... except to reiterate that Betty is in for a rude awakening, since we know that Rockefeller's political career goes nowhere ... which means Henry Francis might be out of a job. Betty needs something emotionally fulfilling to do and she'll never find it as a trophy wife. Right now, she's a completely self-absorbed narcissist. The way she treated her father was frightening. The kids border on abused -- unfortunately, treating them like chattel was par for the course in 1963. I know -- I was there. I was eight in December of 1963. When I watched The Flintstones, the sponsor was Winston cigarettes: Did someone mention Pete and his ideas about marketing to teens, and blacks? Do you know how revolutionary his ideas are? Didn't happen back then. Actually, it didn't happen until modern history. There's a difference between selling product and actually designing/marketing product for teens/kids. I almost fainted the first time I saw a Pottery Barn Teens catalogue: I thought, when did teenagers start designing their own bedrooms? It was a revelation !! Guys, your commentary and this blog is awesome. Keep 'em coming ...
11/13/09, 1:24 AM
OMG. Best episode ever.
11/13/09, 10:05 AM
Ah, nostalgia... The Flintstones wasn't even considered a children's show. It was on in primetime. Many of the plots were about strictly adult concerns, like Wilma feuding with Betty over whose husband got the promotion.
11/13/09, 10:43 AM
Betty doesn't remind me of Grace Kelly; she reminds me of Eve Marie Saint. I was watching the film EXODUS (1960) and Saint reminded me of Betty in every way: cold yet there's a warmth that wants to come out but isn't sure how. Plus, the outfits she wore, how she carried herself were very Betty...
11/13/09, 9:34 PM
Anon, I think it was great foreshadowing the way Joan murmured that Greg was gonna kill her; one of the big things he was so proud of when he announced he was joining the army was that his wife was not gonna have to work anymore. So there will be a conflict with that and we all know what a jerk Greg is. I liked the almost imperceptible way Roger reacted to Joan's comment. I am sure he is seeing red flags all over that marriage already.
Sam, I was a kid back then too and had a Betty mom. It was rough. Mothers could be distant with their kids but when they were really depressed, watch out. I had to laugh at your comment about a teen catalog for furnishing your room. My room felt and looked like a hotel room; I wasn't even allowed to put a poster on the wall and my mom routinely entered without knocking. When we sold the house, the realtor told my mom it was so clean it looked as though no one had ever lived there. She loved that.
I can't hate Betty, though. Without adequate birth control or a welcome mat in the workplace, a lot of women her age felt really trapped. Things are about to change as the 60s roll on, though.
I love the way the Don and Peggy characters are written as foils for each other. They both came from a place that doesn't get them, they both suffered and had to invent themselves in a way, they both know instinctively how to read people and react to situations and can understand the average consumer and the currents of the times, eg this assassination and how it has shaken things up. It was nice to see Don's character open up to each person who was key to his success and so whip up this beautiful souffle in the Hotel Pierre.
11/13/09, 11:21 PM
I had a different take on Don's comment about "people like you and me buy things" etc. I actually thought the (latest) terrible thing he was talking about at least in part was the Kennedy assassination. He meant Peggy understands how events change people and what their business needs to do to respond. And I do think he was referring to her ability, in a way, to coldly analyze a situation and move ahead.
11/13/09, 11:50 PM
I thought the flashback sequences were interesting for a couple of things. His father made a risky move in breaking up the cooperative. Don was about to make a similar risky move that could make or break him. Don's father didn't follow through though. In the end he dies but not before he symbolically passes the bottle, ie alcholism, to Don. (Remember young Dick taking a swig of moonshine?) Seconds later his father is dead. The next scene is back to the present and Don has a drink in his hand. I think it foreshadows more problems with alcohol. Don already almost died in an alcohol-related car accident.
Dons father says to his wife "I'll drive it (ie his crop) to Chicago tonight." He goes out to the barn to get the auto of the day, a horse, and gets killed in the process. It was in effect a drunk driving accident.
11/14/09, 3:48 AM
I thought it was a bit fanciful to imagine someone driving a horse into 1930s Chicago. True, it wasn't like the Eisenhower Expressway had been built, but it was a major city decades after mass-produced cars started being built; you have to admit some dude, no matter how rural, riding his horse into the nation's second largest city at that point would look a little off.
11/14/09, 4:04 PM
Anonymous 11/13/09 11:21 - I agree with you that Don was talking to Peggy about the Kennedy assassination, "something terrible happens that changes the way you see yourself" (I paraphrase), but because of the flashbacks in the episode, he could have been talking about other life-changing moments of his own - the death of his father, the end of his marriage....Whatever it it was meant to represent, it was a brilliant scene.
As a child of the '60's, I, too, can chime in a bit on how kids were raised. Thinking back as an adult with an adult's perspective, it's clear that children were regarded as second class citizens with a household, if they were regarded at all. Having children was expected, enjoying them was neither here nor there.
Ah, Jack LaLane. I so clearly remember his show and how he was often ridiculed for his belief in exercise. That's why I always thought it was a bit of an anachronism that Suzanne ran. Hardly anyone ran in the '60's and certainly not woman. The time Don came upon her while she was on a run she was wearing a college sweatshirt suggesting, I thought, she might have run on her college's track team...although the odds of there having been a woman's track team on the 60's is remote. (I became a runner in the late 70's and was considered rather odd for doing so. It turns out I have some natural ability for the sport and I regret that, while today my high school is churning out the best women runners in the state, at the time I was there there wasn't even a woman's track team. Maybe colleges were different.)
I think Sal is gone for good. These writers are too clever.
And a romance between Don and Peggy? Oh, please, no. That would be awful. Peggy's too wise now, but more to the point, these two relate to each other on such a different level and it would be completely out of place.
11/14/09, 4:11 PM
BTW, if you go to AMC's Mad Men site and click on "Cast & Characters" they've already changed the name of the ageny they work for and the characters' titles.
11/14/09, 6:39 PM
I agree with Anonymous: " ...he was talking about at least in part was the Kennedy assassination." That event wasn't something that was shrugged off in a few weeks; it changed the outlook of an entire generation - and of course, we didn't even know we had RFK and MLK assassinations ahead of us. The times they were a-changin. Kids were often viewed as just temporary intruders in their parents' lives, and the more money parents had, the easier it was to mix a pitcher of daiquiris and turn child-raising over to household help and summer camps. The individual who said Sally will be at Woodstock was exactly right.
11/14/09, 11:48 PM
Here's what people into the Sally-as-60s-flowerchild scenario aren't looking at: the timeline. She's 8 years old and it's 1963. Woodstock is only 6 years away, which would make her all of 14. I suppose it's within the realm of possiblity that a very disturbed 14-year-old runaway might have made her way to Woodstock, but it's unlikely. She's not even graduating from high school until '72 or '73.
Which brings up another point: it's absolutely wonderful to have an in-depth show about the 1960s with a multitude of characters but that contains, as of yet, no early Baby Boomers (those born in the late 40s, let's say) at all. It's an entierly different perspective on a decade mostly -- until now-- thought of in chliched terms, through the eyes of one demographic.
11/15/09, 1:38 AM
Anonymous, you're spot on there. As a "Sally" myself (I graduated high school in 1973), my experience of the '60s was pretty much entirely through television, as vivid as that was, from Kennedy's election through Woodstock. Well, except for the music, of course, which did really penetrate. But at the age 14 at the end of the decade, I both felt very drawn towards what was going on while still also filtering events through my parents' eyes. By the time I did get to college, the world had changed, but the "revolution" was very much in retreat. My high school yearbooks tell the tale. The cover of the one from my freshman year, 1970, has a black hand clasping a white hand with a peace sign on top; the one from my senior year, 1973, was full of the antics of the senior '50s nostalgia band. (The following year "Happy Days" would become a hit TV show.) Our teachers tried gamely to radicalize us, but it was done. In the '70s I ended up hanging around people who were several years older than me and never got into the disco era. I ended up marrying someone who had been at Woodstock. But while I was absolutely aware of the '60s and formed by them (and may actually remember them better!), I certainly wasn't a participant. And you're absolutely right. As much therapy as is probably in Sally's future, I don't see things so bad for her that she'll be a 14-year old runaway. She'll watch Woodstock on TV, longingly.
11/15/09, 12:37 PM
Your timelines are correct. Sally won't be *physically* at Woodstock but by the time she's 18 or 19, she'll be much farther away, leaving her parents resentful that she's so ungrateful for the "advantages" their money provided and completely baffled that she wants little to do with them or their ways of life. Not to worry. There will be plenty of avenues for her rebellious self-expression: booze, drugs, communes, cults, promiscuity - and an increasing supply of self-help books.
11/15/09, 3:05 PM
Speaking of timelines that DON'T quite work -- Don described to Betty having "run away" to join the army, and I was certainly under the impression that he had "run away" to escape a rotten home life and poverty. But the timeline of the Korean War, 1950-53, means that Don would have to have been in his mid-twenties at the youngest, kind of old for "running away." And surely a man of his smarts and talents had more options than the army at that point in his life for escaping coal country. After all, he never really did advance based on Lt. Draper's credentials - Draper had been an engineer. I guess we can figure he adopted Draper's age along with his identity, but then it's not particularly believable that he is REALLY closer to 30. Or we can figure he joined the army several years before the Korean War. But wasn't he depicted as a private at the time of Draper's death? Anyway, minor quibble. I'm happy to let the past be fudged and let it go at that, given the great attention to detail for the "present."
11/15/09, 4:36 PM
I agree. He should have been a WWII veteran. It works for his age, it's more plausible that it would have been unavoidable he participated in it, and it also works for the scale and chaos of that war, and the ability for a mistake of that magnitude to go unnoticed.
11/16/09, 2:01 PM
Great write-up! I adored this episode.
A combo of three small details is giving me a sense of forboding about the (lack of) ending of Don and Betty's marriage, which I agree, should end. 1. The fact that Roger was able to name Henry Francis as Betty's paramour. (GOSSIP) 2. The mention by Henry in the attorney's office that the mayor's office can't handle a scandal and 3. Henry telling Betty that he will take care of her and the kids and not to take any of Don's money.
I think all of those were foreshadowing events that Henry will either lose his position OR be forced to choose between the position and Betty to avoid scandal. Can anyone imagine Betty really bucking societal norms OR living a life without money? I think she'll end up going back to Don and be in an even weaker position than before, both unable to complain about his infidelity due to her own and in having failed at her attempt to leave.
11/16/09, 2:07 PM
Oh, and do you think they'll bring back Sal? I'm really hoping so!
11/16/09, 4:04 PM
What a great episode! I really hope that SCD&P hires Sal next season. And I really hope that somehow, he and Betty get a scene together where they can have a conversation in Italian. She could turn up her nose at his rustic accent and he would bristle at her snobby textbook diction.
Also, I noticed that the Don-Peggy relationship parallels the Connie-Don relationship: a mentor who sees himself in his protege and expects way too much. Lots of father-figure over-compensation going on there.
My favorite part, though: when Don figures out how to get out of his professional bind, he lights up like a slot machine at Binion's. He's finally doing what he's always wanted to do and has been preparing to do all his life - walk away from a bad situation and re-assert his freedom on his own terms.
11/16/09, 5:45 PM
Thank you for all of this season's posts. Fabulous show, fabulous blog! But it's "Main Line bitch" with a capital M, capital L, dahlings. ;-)
P.S. Hope they bring Sal back in next season, too. Joan/Peggy/Sal would be an unbeatable team.
11/16/09, 6:25 PM
I liked the Monday morning reactions to those left at SC.
11/16/09, 7:21 PM
OK, so I'm very late weighing in, but I was out of town and avoided all spoilers (including this incredible blog) until I could watch the finale.
Most of my observations, exaltations, and exclamations have been covered, but here are my thoughts:
Once Trudy “let go” of becoming a mother, she became a true partner to Pete. Well, at first I thought she was mothering him as well, but that seems to have matured into something more. Maybe Betty would have been a more supportive “corporate wife” if she had never had children. Maybe…
Then again, Betty is one spoiled brat who is dying for a supportive, loving father figure, hence the romance with Henry. Ick!
Someone made a lengthy note about the color red, but I think omitted that Trudy was wearing a very stylish red dress when Don and Roger dropped by to talk with Pete. Seemed clear to me that they knew he wasn’t sick. Loved the comment in the bar that, “the weasel was going to leave us.” (that’s what I remember them saying…)
I too yearned for Sal’s return, but then remembered it was the Lucky Strike/American Tobacco guy who had him fired. Roger is not going to offend a $23…I mean $24 million dollar account/client!
Joan is the poster child for all of us firey, passionate, and dare I say brilliant red heads. LOVE HER! Of course she knew where to find everything and had called the movers before she even arrived. I also caught her subtle “I’m sorry” reply to Don’s request for a furnished apartment. I still remember the scene in the hospital post mower incident – Don and Joan have such great, friendly chemistry. I also loved the chemistry between Joan and Roger as they were reviewing the list: “It’s clear as day – correspondence.” Nothing too flirtatious, but certainly warm and friendly. Why did she say Greg would kill her or be upset with her?
I also loved Don’s final gaze on the new Team at the end of the show. I gave me the warm fuzzies to see him so warmly and proudly look out on the happy group eating and talking. He is building something – a family of colleagues who want to do good work.
I think I’m going to need a support group to continue talking about Mad Men until the show returns. Any takers?
11/20/09, 6:24 PM
Anon, you said:
"I thought it was a bit fanciful to imagine someone driving a horse into 1930s Chicago. True, it wasn't like the Eisenhower Expressway had been built, but it was a major city decades after mass-produced cars started being built; you have to admit some dude, no matter how rural, riding his horse into the nation's second largest city at that point would look a little off."
I agree it seems a little ridiculous but I don't know how else to interpret Dick's father going out to the barn and trying to a harness a team of horses right after saying he'd "drive it to Chicago tonight". Also, he was drunk and angry so he wasn't making any sense. Also, we know they were very poor so may not have had a truck or car. Anyone else have an opinion?
12/26/09, 3:44 AM
I know this is a very late response (Mad Men withdrawal has set in big time for me), but my mother was born in Philadelphia (a very similar city to Chicago in terms of size and landscape, but likely even more urban than Chicago at the time) in 1952. She vividly remembers various salesmen who would come to my grandparents' home--ice man, milk man, etc--some still "driving" horses and carts. This would have been the late 1950s, so I think it's quite plausible that Archie Whitman in the 1930s would have taken his horse into Chicago. If it had been for a family outing, then perhaps it would have been far-fetched, but given that his trip was a commercial venture, perhaps not.
12/29/09, 8:52 AM
I FINALLY had the chance to read this and have to say that you are the best thing out there. Smart, very perceptive and funny. I always get more from an episode by reading your pieces.
One thought about next season....I wonder if Trudy possibly morphing into an alpha female will include her pushing Pete even harder than in the past to maneuver for a better position within the structure of the new firm. Could be fun.
12/29/09, 10:58 PM
I am in withdrawl...so going back and watching from the beginning again. sure would be nice if there were blog posts for the first season, since you always crystalize the episodes so well. please?
1/20/10, 4:06 AM
OOOH it was so good. One comment and I must be off to bed...
What I found most interesting/surprising/heartwarming about this turn of events is that Don Draper, the man who literally built his life around running away from his past is now building a new life by doing exactly the opposite. Not only is he staying put, he is basically assembling a family around himself--what's more, a family of people who know him better than anybody else (Roger, Bert, & Peter knew about his secret identity WELL before his real family did)--a group of people who may even know him better than himself.
Draper's not just getting a company, he's getting friends! A commenter was absolutely right in saying that with most shows the best you can possibly hope for out of a season finale is something so shocking that you feel like you HAVE to watch the next season to find out what happened. But with Mad Men, everything's more or less resolved but we are left with an overwhelming desire to watch next season simply because it's so damn good. It's exciting for an entirely different reason. I for one can't wait.
-E
7/23/10, 1:16 AM
I feel so confused. I finally caught up in time for the new season.
Obviously its time for the relationship to be over. I get it.
But its upsetting. I remember Betty begging Don in the first season to let her be a meaningful part of her life, telling him how much she wanted him. And Don saying what a good mother Betty was, telling Anna how much he loved her. Flash forward to Betty saying she doesn't love him anymore (is that really true) and Don saying two of the most horrible things-- the kids would be better off without her and that she is a whore (so typical).
And the saddest part-- how much fight Don has at work, how little fight he has in the workplace. He says, I'm not going to fight you. And all I think is, and you never did. He never really fought his family falling apart.
But I always loved Trudy and never understood your severe dislike, so I'm happy for her and Pete. And I am thrilled for Joan and Peggy. And its interesting to see Roger becoming more and more human.
Anyway, thanks for the postings. Thanks for your perspective.
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