Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer

Incelshok Na posted:

I'm really conflicted about the Don-as-serial-killer line they dropped. You can still see a lot of it in S4. It would have been a . . . very different show. Dextermania was a part of the zeitgeist in weird ways because it was such a mediocre show.

There’s no way this was ever going to be a real thing.

My favourite finale theory that never happened was (Jerusalem, this is ok to read because it’s not actually related to anything in the show, but I spoiled it JUUUUST in case) that Don was going to turn out to be D. B. Cooper, the man in 1971 who hijacked an aircraft, stole $200k, parachuted out, and was never found.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

General Probe
Dec 28, 2004
Has this been done before?
Soiled Meat
I know this was brought up earlier in the thread but it still cracks me up that Allison Brie was on this and Community and has Abed hit on her in while he pretends to be Don.

Gaius Marius
Oct 9, 2012

Escobarbarian posted:

There’s no way this was ever going to be a real thing.

My favourite finale theory that never happened was (Jerusalem, this is ok to read because it’s not actually related to anything in the show, but I spoiled it JUUUUST in case) that Don was going to turn out to be D. B. Cooper, the man in 1971 who hijacked an aircraft, stole $200k, parachuted out, and was never found.

It became very obvious they were never gonna do it, but I wanted it so bad. Just end the whole series on dick walking up and buying a plane ticket.

KellHound
Jul 23, 2007

I commend my soul to any god that can find it.

Xealot posted:

This makes as much sense as anything. It never fully gelled with me why Trudy was so interested in Pete in the first place...even early on, she's portrayed as extremely savvy, so I can't imagine she was ever some naive debutante who was starry-eyed about a Dyckman looking her way. But I could see her having this more cynical take, looking at Pete's family as a means to an end.

Yeah. Pete's family is a means to an end, also Pete isn't slick. He is someone she can maneuver. He is easier to read then some of his old money peers. Which is where her cynicism lies. Her naivete is in well... being surprised by how everything turned out.

Edit: Also gonna add Trudy being cynical makes her an excellent foil for Betty. They have the same goal of the picture perfect family. But Betty is completely naive about it and goes for Don who superficial matches all those things. Trudy knows it's more about appearances. And it shows in how both women eventually confront their husbands about failing to hold up their end of the perfect picture. Both get told they can't know or prove anything about the cheating. Betty backs down a bit. Because if there is no cheating she would be the one breaking things. Trudy tells Pete she basically doesn't care that she doesn't have proof, the fact that the image is broken is what matters to her. She knew that image was fake, but wanted the image.

KellHound fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Oct 19, 2020

Solkanar512
Dec 28, 2006

by the sex ghost

KellHound posted:

Yeah. Pete's family is a means to an end, also Pete isn't slick. He is someone she can maneuver. He is easier to read then some of his old money peers. Which is where is cynicism lies. Her naivete is in well... being surprised by how everything turned out.

Christ, what a miserable existence.

KellHound
Jul 23, 2007

I commend my soul to any god that can find it.

Solkanar512 posted:

Christ, what a miserable existence.

And pretty on par with all the other characters in Mad Men.

The Klowner
Apr 20, 2019

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Incelshok Na posted:

I'm really conflicted about the Don-as-serial-killer line they dropped. You can still see a lot of it in S4. It would have been a . . . very different show. Dextermania was a part of the zeitgeist in weird ways because it was such a mediocre show.

I've never heard that before. my first reaction is that it sounds incredibly loving stupid on paper.

Gaius Marius
Oct 9, 2012

The Klowner posted:

I've never heard that before. my first reaction is that it sounds incredibly loving stupid on paper.

I'm pretty sure they're joking.

The Klowner
Apr 20, 2019

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Gaius Marius posted:

I'm pretty sure they're joking.

in my defense, there are crazier fan theories out there. And anything can happen in the writer's room.

Xealot
Nov 25, 2002

Showdown in the Galaxy Era.

Solkanar512 posted:

Christ, what a miserable existence.

Seriously, sounds awful. Something that comes up a lot in Peggy/Joan conflicts is the opposing ways they grapple with feminine expectation. Much like Trudy, Joan always tries to maneuver within the bounds of patriarchal rules to get things she wants - passive-aggressive manipulation, coddling male egos, etc. - and it's so goddamn exhausting. Joan gets her own picture-perfect marriage to an utter piece of poo poo for her trouble, as well, and it's so profoundly not worth it. It really sucks.

S1 Peggy is so wide-eyed, but god drat do I love her character later on. The plot where Joey in the art dept keeps harassing Joan is so good on this point. Joan's plan is some 4D chess to crumble Joey's prospects from within the company. Peggy's plan is to tell him directly, "pack your poo poo. You're done." I get Joan's argument, that this makes Joan look like a secretary and makes Peggy look like a humorless bitch, but goddamn do I think Peggy was still right. Pull some poo poo like Joey pulls, and you get fired. The esteem of his male coworkers shouldn't matter at all, and it's one of the first points in the show where society felt contemporary.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Incelshok Na posted:

Sal is like bacon: just entirely wonderful. I watched the show when it came out and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed him.

Hobo Code really, really sold me on him as a character. His behavior with his mother and with the art department guys as well as Lois goes a long way towards showing how much he presents a particular appearance/demeanor for survival's sake, which makes that genuine moment where he tells Elliot,"I know what I want" really, really stand out incredibly strongly.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Incelshok Na posted:

I'm really conflicted about the Don-as-serial-killer line they dropped. You can still see a lot of it in S4. It would have been a . . . very different show. Dextermania was a part of the zeitgeist in weird ways because it was such a mediocre show.

what what what?!??! where did you get this.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Jerusalem posted:

Hobo Code really, really sold me on him as a character. His behavior with his mother and with the art department guys as well as Lois goes a long way towards showing how much he presents a particular appearance/demeanor for survival's sake, which makes that genuine moment where he tells Elliot,"I know what I want" really, really stand out incredibly strongly.

I can see why you bounced on him a little in the pilot, but I think that the treatment of his closetedness there is part of the greater over the top "take a look gang, it's the SIXTIES" stuff that early season 1 is guilty of that they tap the brakes on fairly quickly; he definitely becomes a stronger character, yeah.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Shageletic posted:

what what what?!??! where did you get this.

mcbain.gif

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

sebmojo posted:

mcbain.gif

if there's a joke i don't get it, so i guess i deserve that?

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Shageletic posted:

if there's a joke i don't get it, so i guess i deserve that?

i think it's just a riff on drama series propensity to get increasingly far out with their story developments. Cf the wire, which had a serial killer plotline in s5.

Yoshi Wins
Jul 14, 2013

Xealot posted:


S1 Peggy is so wide-eyed, but god drat do I love her character later on. The plot where Joey in the art dept keeps harassing Joan is so good on this point. Joan's plan is some 4D chess to crumble Joey's prospects from within the company. Peggy's plan is to tell him directly, "pack your poo poo. You're done." I get Joan's argument, that this makes Joan look like a secretary and makes Peggy look like a humorless bitch, but goddamn do I think Peggy was still right. Pull some poo poo like Joey pulls, and you get fired. The esteem of his male coworkers shouldn't matter at all, and it's one of the first points in the show where society felt contemporary.

I've always completely agreed with your take in the spoiler. Joey pulls some poo poo, Peggy fires him, and he is GONE. Peggy's coworkers may say she's a humorless bitch... but probably not to her face. And anyway, Joan isn't right about that either. Peggy gets along well with dudes in creative in the latter half of the show. It's pretty clear she's not humorless. She just doesn't care that much if people don't like her.

But Joan was just trying to recapture some dignity. Throwing some powerful shade at Peggy was all she had left at that point. And Peggy should have talked to Joan first before firing Joey, if only as a courtesy.

lurker2006
Jul 30, 2019

Yoshi Wins posted:

I've always completely agreed with your take in the spoiler. Joey pulls some poo poo, Peggy fires him, and he is GONE. Peggy's coworkers may say she's a humorless bitch... but probably not to her face. And anyway, Joan isn't right about that either. Peggy gets along well with dudes in creative in the latter half of the show. It's pretty clear she's not humorless. She just doesn't care that much if people don't like her.

But Joan was just trying to recapture some dignity. Throwing some powerful shade at Peggy was all she had left at that point. And Peggy should have talked to Joan first before firing Joey, if only as a courtesy.


A pretty odorous opinion but she did kind of come off like that a lot of the time, or if not humorless just kind of a dork. To make a larger point I don't think the show ever really properly demonstrated her spark for creative, at least not enough to justify the amount of time she's treated like an advertising prodigy. I compare her to other women like Joan, Megan, Faye, Don's other mistresses, and even Betty as much as she had devolved into the house wife role, and Peggy seems uncultured and dull, overshadowed by any personality she's in the room with. Maybe that's the point, an average girl like her has such a leg up because she was able to get a foot into the man's world and out of the secretary straight jacket.

lurker2006 fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Oct 21, 2020

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Cannot more disagree about that

by the middle section of the show Peggy had a velvet smooth presentation style that shrewdly played on the psychology of the client in the room. It wasnt Don's alpha domineering thing, it was a more gentle, yet insistent pitching style that absolutely showed why she was so valued.

Incelshok Na
Jul 2, 2020

by Hand Knit
A big part of sexism is that attractive women can't be smart. Unattractive women aren't automatically smart but since they aren't intimidating they are allowed to be smart. Not as smart as men, of course, but in a "dog playing a piano" kinda way.

Oppressive systems allow for the lower castes to have one thing they are good at as a stress relief. That or they can be a paragon. Joan fits this model, where she is seen as being good at everything and allowed a lot of power in a male-dominated space as long as she codes it in a purely feminine way.

KellHound
Jul 23, 2007

I commend my soul to any god that can find it.

lurker2006 posted:

A pretty oderous opinion but she did kind of come off like that a lot of the time, or if not humorless just kind of a dork. To make a larger point I don't think the show ever really properly demonstrated her spark for creative, at least not enough to justify the amount of time she's treated like an advertising prodigy. I compare her to other women like Joan, Megan, Faye, Don's other mistresses, and even Betty as much as she had devolved into the house wife role, and Peggy seems uncultured and dull, overshadowed by any personality she's in the room with. Maybe that's the point, an average girl like her has such a leg up because she was able to get a foot into the man's world and out of the secretary straight jacket.

I disagree. I think when her and Paul compete and Paul forgets his idea, and him forgetting his idea sparks her imagination, when she does the virgin mary popcycle ad, her changing the hard days night ad on the spot, and her going with the actor rocking out to headphones all show she has a creative flexibility others lack until Ginsberg shows up. Which is why Ginsberg is the closest to threatening Peggy's position.

I also think, part of it is Peggy's age which you might forget as the show goes on because Elizabeth Moss is older than Peggy. Like Ted says during the merger that Peggy isn't even 30 but is in a highish potion. A lot of the guys working with her at the begining are older than her and by the middle the guys under her are the same age as her.

Side note: In the commentary of the episode where Paul and Peggy compete, the guy who plays Paul asked for guidence on how to say his "oh my god" reaction to Peggy immediately coming up with an idea based on his lack of an idea. The director told him "That's when he realized he's bad at his job"

KellHound fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Oct 20, 2020

Xealot
Nov 25, 2002

Showdown in the Galaxy Era.

I also think the show does a good job of showing, not just telling that Peggy is talented. I echo what Shageletic said: she doesn't emulate Don's style, but she has her own that projects a real and convincing emotionality. What I think she's best at, though, is deconstructing her own creative before the pitch happens. She's analytical and self-aware, and constantly asks if the idea is actually good or if the target consumer will resonate with it. It's not a genius prodigy thing, it's an intense shrewdness and perfectionism that other copywriters don't have. Ted Chaugh says as much, "I look at your book, and I see someone who writes as if every product is for them."

This is best exemplified with the Burger Chef pitch. They had a whole strategy, backed with research, everything was ready to go...but it didn't feel right. And she tortured herself until she sorted out why. Don couldn't fix it, because his intuition wasn't the one setting off an alarm. The pitch was great in the end because Peggy cut through to the core of what the messaging was supposed to be. Because she's excellent at her job.

Gaius Marius
Oct 9, 2012

I'll have to see where I stand once I get there on rewatch but I feel like Peggy never got her own Hershey or carousel moment. I think they wanted burger chef to be that, but for whatever reason it just never hit me as hard.

it's been a minute but on the Trudy Pete coupling, I'm gonna hard disagree on Trudy manipulating pete into the marriage for her own social gratification. That likely is part of it, but I'm pretty sure she actually likes the dude. If you strip out the grimy pimp parts of his character the two have quite a bit in common, when JFK gets shot they both grieve together, and when pete isn't feeling insecure they seem to get along swell. unfortunately pete is drat near always insecure

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

I mean look at this clip, and tell me she's not good at her job

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4LHb89pAlA&ab_channel=rcmiv

e: or this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIIB_YTzxNc&ab_channel=--

Shageletic fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Oct 21, 2020

Gaius Marius
Oct 9, 2012

I'll try and remember to post what I think of the pitch once I get there, but I prefer to watch it with full context

However seeing the first few seconds of the clip made me shudder at the horrible decline in fashion I'll be seeing in the sixth and seventh seasons. Jesus the seventies were a mistake.

Incelshok Na
Jul 2, 2020

by Hand Knit

Trudy just thinks men need to be coddled. Again, it's part of the overall theme of women finding power in unexpected places. Trudy is a domestic mirror of Joan in the way that Bets is a domestic mirror of Peggy.

I agree they genuinely like each other. They have similar backgrounds, class interests and they are both people who have one foot firmly planted in the past and another in the future and they don't really know how to navigate the rocking because there is a lot of tectonic friction between the past and the future.

Forktoss
Feb 13, 2012

I'm OK, you're so-so

The video's blocked for me but I'm guessing this is the Heinz Ketchup pitch. I have to say that always falls a bit flat for me for whatever reason. It's the first time Don and Peggy directly compete with each other, and Peggy even wins, but somehow it doesn't feel big enough. Maybe it's because we see much more of the preparation and build-up towards Don's pitch before Ted and Peggy swoop in out of the blue. (Which is probably the point and you're supposed to feel deflated by it, but that emotional beat works for Don's story at that point more than Peggy's.) She has plenty of other great and well-earned moments though, Burger Chef for one (I mean she even steals her neighbour's kid for that pitch).

KellHound
Jul 23, 2007

I commend my soul to any god that can find it.

Forktoss posted:

The video's blocked for me but I'm guessing this is the Heinz Ketchup pitch. I have to say that always falls a bit flat for me for whatever reason. It's the first time Don and Peggy directly compete with each other, and Peggy even wins, but somehow it doesn't feel big enough. Maybe it's because we see much more of the preparation and build-up towards Don's pitch before Ted and Peggy swoop in out of the blue. (Which is probably the point and you're supposed to feel deflated by it, but that emotional beat works for Don's story at that point more than Peggy's.) She has plenty of other great and well-earned moments though, Burger Chef for one (I mean she even steals her neighbour's kid for that pitch).

Peggy doesn't win that pitch. A big 3rd company does. It's partly why Ted agrees to the merger. Companies keep pitting the tiny companies against each other to see their ideas and then give it to a bigger company

Forktoss
Feb 13, 2012

I'm OK, you're so-so

KellHound posted:

Peggy doesn't win that pitch. A big 3rd company does. It's partly why Ted agrees to the merger. Companies keep pitting the tiny companies against each other to see their ideas and then give it to a bigger company

That's Chevrolet, not Heinz, isn't it?

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
This thread makes me want to continue my Mad Men rewatch SO MUCH but I also wanna wait until Jerusalem is up to where I was (finished s2) and then watch along with the reviews but ugh it’s so good

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Forktoss posted:

The video's blocked for me but I'm guessing this is the Heinz Ketchup pitch. I have to say that always falls a bit flat for me for whatever reason. It's the first time Don and Peggy directly compete with each other, and Peggy even wins, but somehow it doesn't feel big enough. Maybe it's because we see much more of the preparation and build-up towards Don's pitch before Ted and Peggy swoop in out of the blue. (Which is probably the point and you're supposed to feel deflated by it, but that emotional beat works for Don's story at that point more than Peggy's.) She has plenty of other great and well-earned moments though, Burger Chef for one (I mean she even steals her neighbour's kid for that pitch).

Its the Heinz pitch.The way I saw it, Draper's pitch was better. But more importantly, Peggy's is more like what the client WANTED.

The client deflates Don's pitch asking about where the bottle is, and Peggy comes in with a pitch with it as its center, right on cue, also mirroring Heinz desire to beat its then biggest rival, catsup.

Don's pitch is light-years ahead, evincing a modern and brilliant approach that is at least 3 decades too soon (Heinz actually used his pitch in a campaign in 2017, giving credit to Mad Men writing staff for the idea). But Peggy gives people what they want at the time.

And in business, the latter tends to win out.

Of course the bigger firm won just based on its size, which is even more how these things shake out.

E: to extend it further, Don challenged his clients with his confident and status shaking ideas.

Peggy shrewdly played on their psychology, being whoever and whatever they wanted her to be.

E2: but they both heavily played on nostalgia. Which makes sense they're mentor/mentee.

Its a dated approach that gets swamped by an ironic/meta approach to advertising in recent times. I can imagine a 60 year old Peggy in the 90s being at a loss what the culture accepts as advertising.

Shageletic fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Oct 21, 2020

Yoshi Wins
Jul 14, 2013

Peggy and Don are both very good, but Peggy doesn’t craft as much of a genius persona. There’s a sexist attitude in our society that genius is a male trait. Women are often seen as highly competent but rarely brilliant. This is because men, even more so in Don’s era, are given permission or even encouragement to be assertive and bold, whereas women are expected to go along, not make waves, etc.

Peggy’s more workmanlike approach may reflect the fact that society would not reward her for pulling the kind of alpha move Don pulled in the Belle Jolie pitch. When Rachel Menken gets assertive with Don in their first business meeting, he says he won’t be spoken to that way by a woman and storms out. I imagine the Belle Jolie guy would have had a similar reaction, even though it was a woman who came up with the idea for how they should change their advertising strategy.

Don works hard to project that he is a genius. Peggy doesn’t really do that. She kind of just does the work, and her workplace persona is closer to the “real” Peggy than Don’s persona is to the “real” Don. This is part of why she is happier than Don. Don is successful at crafting and projecting his genius persona, but this just further adds to his intense isolation.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Season 1, Episode 9 - Shoot
Written by Chris Provenzano & Matthew Weiner, Directed by Paul Feig

Roger Sterling posted:

Why entertain the prospect of failure?

On a lovely, sunny day in suburban paradise, Betty is pruning the ivy as Sally and Bobby play in the front yard with Sally's dog Polly. Next door, standing by the meticulously groomed hedge, their neighbor - an older man called Mr. Brestwood - opens a coop and a number of pigeons go flying out through the air. Sally is entranced to see the birds, crying out for her mommy to look, hand on her chest as she stares in wonder at the birds. Betty finds the whole thing a pleasant distraction too, and shares a friendly wave with Mr. Brestwood who smiles serenely at his birds as well.

From a beautiful suburban day to a sophisticated Manhattan evening, Betty and Don attend a performance of Fiorello!. During intermission, a bored Don smokes as he waits for Betty to return from the bathroom. He's spotted and greeted by another man, Jim Hobart, the head of ad agency McCann Erickson. They shake hands and Hobart informs him that his agency ended up picking up the Israeli tourist account that had come to Sterling Cooper looking for "sophistication". Apparently they weren't overly impressed by a pitch that came down to,"Your young people are really attractive."

Don doesn't seem all that cut up about losing the account, but he is a little unsettled when Hobart tells him that Don himself has been the subject of discussion between powerful people behind closed doors. Hobart has been speaking with Jim Jordan from BBDO and "Frank" from Y&R at their Athletic Club where they are all members.

Hobart assures him he should take this as a compliment, highlighting the "Jesus over Rio" campaign that Don spearheaded as one of the best he has ever seen. The reason that Sterling Cooper didn't get the Israeli campaign, he promises, is down to the size of the firm rather than any quality that Don himself is lacking. Which is also why he's interested in giving Don a chance to prove that: at McCann Erickson if Don was Creative Director he'd have 500 people working for him, and that's at their New York offices alone.

Don is charming but non-committal, joking that the only thing he's after at the moment is an excuse to get out of the rest of the show. Hobart's wife Adele arrives and they're introduced, which she openly tells Don only happens if they're somebody from advertising her husband is interested in. Betty arrives too and Adele takes the chance to invite Don to take her to the bar to get drinks for their spouses. This leaves Betty and Jim alone, where their small-talk leads to a flattered Betty self-deprecatingly admitting she used to model years earlier before she met Don.

To her great surprise, this proves to be more than small-talk. Hobart considers her face, likens her to Grace Kelly and then hands her his card after telling her that a "European" face like hers could be exactly what a company like Coca-Cola might be looking for during its current international advertising campaign. She tries to laugh this all off as a silly joke, but Hobart appears to be serious, telling her to seriously consider it. The lights dim and a chime sounds to indicate intermission will soon be ending, and Don and Adele return with drinks. Hobart makes a resigned effort to ask his wife if maybe they can skip the second half which she waves off with a smile (he knew he had no chance), and then the Hobarts and the Drapers go their separate ways... for now.



After the show as they drive home, Betty asks why Don avoided going out to dinner with the Hobarts afterwards. She can see his point when he notes that Jim Hobart is the type who only ever talks about business, because he simply has nothing else to talk about. She was flattered that he gave her his card though, which at first Don mistakes as him trying to convince her to convince him to go to work at McCann Erickson. He gives an evil little grin when she explains he wanted to talk to her about modeling, which gives her a giggle as she insists that he wasn't trying to hit on her, he seemed to genuinely think she might be a fit for a Coca-Cola campaign... does HE think she wouldn't be?

Recognizing a landmine when he sees one, Don assures her that she isn't wrong for anything. But as pleasant as the evening was (even if he didn't like Fiorello!) and as gently teasing as their interaction has been, he closes down when she asks if he intends to leave Sterling Cooper and go to work for Hobart instead. Her face falls but she doesn't press the issue: Don told she she wasn't wrong for anything, but he clearly thinks it is wrong or inappropriate to tell his wife what he's thinking about a career change that would have enormous implications on not just his future but hers and their children's as well.

The next morning, Betty and Francine chat over coffee about the night before. Betty admits that Fiorello! has probably soured Don on taking her out to any Broadway shows for at least another six months, but the subject of Jim Hobart comes up. She gets a kick out of telling Francine that Don suspected Hobart was trying to "sleep" with either her or him and Don wasn't keen on either. But she can't help but speak wistfully of the offer to go and do modeling work, especially when unbidden Francine mentions that Carlton often likens Betty to Grace Kelly as well.

Francine drinks in hungrily Betty's stories of being a model, a past she knew nothing about and which excites her immensely... and Betty too, as she remembers the exhilarating, terrifying but ESPECIALLY freeing experience of being a model. She was even a muse for awhile for an Italian fashion designer named Giovanni who was obsessed with Americans (he wanted to be called Johnny) and gifted her a number of dresses. She kept all of them and of course they all still fit, and she models them to a gaping Francine who can't quite believe that Giovanni did all this for her... and their relationship was REALLY only platonic? It's an eye-opener for her and a treasured memory dusted off and reexamined for Betty, the memory of a time in her life where she was the center of attention and her life was full of energy and excitement.

Don arrives at his office, handing off his coat and hat to Peggy so she can turn around and reach out the less than half a foot between him and his coat-rack to put them up for him. He has to meet Salvatore later to look over artwork for the Menken account that Sal himself clearly isn't happy with, but first there is an intriguing development to deal with: a package left on his desk marked personal and confidential. He opens it up, and is surprised to find inside a set of towels... and a membership card in his name to the New York Athletic Club, with a personal welcoming note from Jim Hobart.

Immediately Don asks Betty to give him a personal line, not wanting anybody to know he's contacting another agency. The fact his call is able to be patched through immediately at McCann Erickson to Jim Hobart says a lot too, especially as he's in the middle of a meeting: this is a serious pitch, Hobart WANTS Don and he isn't going to take any chances to let him slip through his fingers. Like Giovanni with Betty, he wants to shower Don with gifts. Unlike with Giovanni though, Hobart's intentions are clearly to "bed" Don.

He makes no attempt to hide this fact either, straight up telling Don the gift wasn't a gesture but an overture, and admitting that he made a significant effort to "accidentally" bump into him at Fiorello! the previous evening. Now he wants to arrange a private meeting at the Algonquin, so they can thrash out details and make it official: he wants Don working for McCann Erickson. Don though isn't so easily wooed, though he doesn't flat out reject Jim, just says he isn't quite ready to wave the flag... yet. Hobart admits he would prefer to do this face-to-face, but he's the one pursuing Don so he capitulates, though not before first quietly dismissing the other people from his office (they leave without a word) so he can get down to brass tacks.

The fact is, Sterling Cooper is a "mom and pop" operation. It's fine but it's not McCann Erickson, it's not an international company that services gigantic companies like Pan-Am, Coca-Cola or Esso (better known nowadays as ExxonMobil). They'd be willing to offer Don a 3-year-contract at 35k a year, and that's without all the massive bonuses that come with the job like travel, expense accounts, an international lifestyle and membership/access to power and privilege. He suspects - though Don won't confirm - that Sterling Cooper probably aren't paying Don any more than 30k a year. That's still a pretty hefty salary for 1960, but it's probably near the top of what he can expect, while 35 at McCann Erickson is probably only the beginning.

In any case, Hobart has indulged Don enough now, he really prefers not to discuss these matters over the phone, and he hangs up. It isn't rude, it's a signal: if Don wants to talk further about this, he'll need to do it in person. And that will means showing a more active interest than his current passive polite reception: Hobart is an ad-man, he's pitched, and now Don has to indicate whether he's buying or not.



Betty attends a therapy session with Dr. Wayne, where she considers the brazenness of Jim Hobart giving her his card "right in front of Don", a line she immediately regrets and qualifies by explaining she told Don about it afterwards. She talks again about her past as a model, though unlike the fun romp through yesteryear with Francine it's not a sad wistfulness as she recalls this exciting time in her life.

She actually met Don that way: she was wearing a Russian blue fox coat and he was a copywriter for the fur company, and he saw that she was reluctant to give the coat back after modeling with it. He asked her out on a date and while she found his confidence appealing (him being tall, well-built and handsome probably helped too!) she of course turned him down. Just like Jim Hobart though, Don knew how to make a sale, so 3 weeks later that coat arrived at her apartment along with another request for a date. She took him up on it, worked 2 or 3 more jobs as a model and then got engaged.

"And then I got pregnant," she states blankly, her face falling. She explains how it made all the sense in the world to move out of the excitement, bright lights and energy of Manhattan to Ossining so they could raise the kids. "Suddenly... I felt so old," the 28-year-old woman mumbles, and for once Dr. Wayne shows interest, asking her to speak more about this. This of course turns Betty's mind, as it so often does, to her mother.

Without really realizing it, she complains about how her mother was so obsessed with looks and weight, was forever on at her to not get fat and to watch her weight... but then when Betty DID slim down and was good-looking enough to become a model, her mother hated that too. She hated that she was living in Manhattan, ignored the massive amounts of money that Betty could potentially make, she even went so far as to call her own daughter a prostitute.

"You're angry at your mother."

This isn't a question from Dr. Wayne, it's a statement. It shocks Betty, who sits bolt upright, aghast at the suggestion and offended at the sudden shift in their doctor/patient dynamic. Wayne doesn't qualify or argue or mollify though, he simply repeats the statement,"You are angry at your mother," and then points out that she's sitting up, leaving it unsaid that she demonstrated just how emotionally charged she is about her mother.

Betty lets out a steam of invective, aimed at him but really just a chance to vent her fury at a number of other people/things in her life. She accuses him of never listening to her, never actually listening to what she has to say, and now he's actively trying to provoke her. Dr. Wayne, who clearly follows the non-directive mindset that you let the patient talk and talk and only interject to try and get them to talk more and reach their own breakthroughs, asks her to tell him more about why she thinks that.

Fed up, she lowers herself back onto the couch, lights up a cigarette, and retreats into the usual polite revisionist platitudes she reserves for her mother. She simply wanted her daughter to be beautiful so she could find a man and marry, and Betty understands that mindset. She does at least admit that while she misses her mother now, it is both bad and good that she is gone. Safely away from the taboo of criticizing her mother, Betty does however ponder... what next? She got the man, she got the family, she got the nice house in the suburbs... but now what? She's 28-years-old, does she just spend the next 50+ years sitting around the house smoking and waiting to die? Unspoken is that her mother did this very thing, but Betty doesn't mind verbalizing something else: she doesn't actually care WHY Jim Hobart gave her his card. She doesn't care if it was genuine, out of desire to sweeten the pot for Don, or even if he actually is trying to get into her pants. She just likes that SHE was offered even the idea of being able to do something else with her life.



Speaking of wives who do more though, the "dream team" that Sterling Cooper has put together to try and help the Nixon Campaign team are having a thoroughly unpleasant experience. Uneasily, they watch Jackie Kennedy's Spanish Language Campaign ad, where John Kennedy's beautiful wife talks calmly, smoothly in Spanish to a gigantic group of voters on behalf of her husband. She's reaching an audience that the men in the room have no idea how to reach themselves, hell, half of them can't pick up any more of that Spanish than "viva Kennedy" right at the end.

With the viewing over, they discuss the pros and cons of the commercial. Pete and Salvatore think it will backfire: Pete because of her "finishing school" voice that he thinks will make her unlikable, while Salvatore thinks women will be jealous of her fairy-tale life and reminded of more successful sisters. Don, while he doesn't particularly care about the Spanish vote, is worried that they might be backing a losing ticket AND doing so out of pocket. Pete is surprised and a little offended by that, their job is to do what their client wants after all... and besides, Nixon has an 8-point lead over Kennedy. Don doesn't think that's quite the insurmountable lead that Pete does, and reminds him clients come and go and it is sometimes best to rid them of "unrealistic expectations".

It doesn't matter though, Cooper and Sterling are pushing this and their job is to do what Cooper and Sterling say. Harry notes he was told to focus on the Undecided States, to find a way to reach voters there rather than buttressing Nixon States or fighting a losing battle in Kennedy States. He identifies Texas, New Jersey and Illinois as the best candidates, and Paul can't help but point out that this is a wonderful thing to say but it's quite another to do.

At home that evening, Betty is in her nightgown reading a magazine when she is surprised by Don's arrival. She explains she called the office and got no response, so assumed he was staying in the city, and Don admits that since "the girl" (Peggy) got a little extra work she's been distracted. Betty immediately pulls out some bread to make him a sandwich at least, and he notices a full ham in the fridge that looks quite delicious. It's still raw though, she didn't think he'd be home for dinner so she didn't finish cooking it, so it'll just be a sandwich tonight.

As she brings the food to the table though, she admits that she came to a realization today: she misses modeling. He's surprised by this, she always told him how much she hated the grind of it all, and she admits time has made her view it more favorably. He asks if this is purely because of Jim Hobart, both a playful tease but also a quick check to see if the man wooing him has caused an issue for his wife. She agrees that maybe it was Hobart's offer that got this ball rolling... but does that really matter? She misses being "that girl", and would it really be so bad for her to work a few days here and there and bring in a little extra money? Especially since she's already getting Ethel in to look after the kids some afternoons fairly regularly anyway.

Don, to his credit, despite a few minor objections, actually listens to his wife. He clearly isn't particularly keen on the idea for a variety of reasons, not least of which is a fear that Betty is an unknowing pawn in Jim Hobart's game. But he lets her talk and make her reasons, and he correctly guesses that this is something she has already decided she wants to do it and arguing against it would benefit neither of them.

Betty is delighted of course, her man is listening to her and valuing her opinion (or at least giving the impression he is), unlike Dr. Wayne who doesn't listen and provokes arguments. It's not exactly 1:1 but in effect the opposite is more true, for all his faults Wayne is following a process he thinks will get Betty to deal with deeper set psychological issues. For all Don knows when to say exactly the right thing, it's more often than not tied up in his own selfish desires, even if he genuinely thinks those are for Betty's benefit as well. All she knows right now though is that her husband, her perfect husband, has happily accepted her desire for more from life.



The next day, Peggy is working on correspondence when she knocks over a stamp from her desk. Bending over to pick it up, she hears a tearing sound, and to her great embarrassment realizes she has torn the side of her skirt open.

In the break room, Joan is surprised to hear Marge and Lois admit that the switchboard is boring, after an hour you basically stop hearing the voices of the people talking and lose all interest in picking up gossipy tidbits. Peggy comes in with her sweater tied around her waist and Marge and Lois make a quick exit, sharing knowing looks: everybody knows what a sweater around the waist means. Joan does too, approaching Peggy and asking if she needs to go home.

Belatedly, Peggy realizes they think she's having a heavy period day and explains she tore her skirt, too big a rip to repair with needle and thread. Joan is bemused but has a solution, she has a spare outfit she can lend Peggy for the rest of the day, especially since that sweater is "helping your silhouette", a not particularly kind jab about the fact Peggy has put on a little bit of weight recently.

Don is sitting in his office when a peculiar thing happens: Roger Sterling comes wading in through the door lugging a brand new set of golf clubs wrapped in a red ribbon. Don jokes they're not dressed for a round, and Roger gets straight to the point: what is Jim Hobart offering him to leave Sterling Cooper? Don is impressed at first, Roger must surely have his finger on the pulse to have discovered this. Roger doesn't mind admitting the truth though, he saw the clubs being carried down the hallway and thought they were for him, only to discover they were for Don and were sent by Jim Hobart.

Don can't help but laugh at Roger revealing he only discovered by dumb luck his Creative Director was being poached, it's an honesty he appreciates. But it also indicates that Hobart has stopped being coy and is now being entirely open about his approach, which further puts pressure on Don himself to either poo poo or get off the pot by meeting to discuss terms.

Sterling asks what is on offer, he knows it can't possibly be just money because Don knows they'd be open to upping his salary. Don admits the offer is purely "bigger", essentially they're telling him the world will be his oyster, he'll have access to clients like Pan-Am (it pays to remember that Pan-Am was once THE air-carrier in America and arguably the world that simply don't come to Sterling Cooper. Roger corrects him on that though, it is Big Talent that tempts Big Clients, not Big Agencies. He says if Don is interested in clients like Pan-Am, Sterling Cooper can make an effort to bring them in, but warns him it isn't as glamorous as he might think.

Earlier, Hobart told Don that you either leave the farm leagues to join the Yankees or you live the rest of your life wondering,"What if?". Roger has a different perspective. He considered leaving the agency once himself, of going out to work for bigger companies... and he decided against it. There is something to be said for a small agency, one where you aren't beholden to shareholders (you can't fire clients, for one thing!) and you know everybody (that matters) by name.

"Do you want to start over?" Roger asks, not knowing that this has a double-meaning for Don who HAS started completely over at least once before in his life. He admits that he hasn't yet made up his mind if he intends to go or not, and assures Roger that this is purely a business decision and nothing to take personally. Roger isn't quite so sure though, and may be pondering whether that business with his drunken pass at Betty might not have been resolved by his own humiliation in front of the GOP and Cooper.



Hobart's overture is common knowledge now though, and the talk of the junior account executives who are simultaneously jealous and impressed. Sitting around an open desk setup near the secretarial pool, they discuss the size of McCann Erickson and ponder what they must be offering Don who is already on an eye-watering (to them) 30k a year. Pete grumbles that Don isn't worth 10 times what he is, mind probably racing with the thought of what he could do with that kind of salary: he could pay off the mortgage and repay his father-in-law in less than 5 years rather than 20-25, he could go out without having to rely on the expense account, his father might actually treat him with some respect etc.

As they talk up Don's positives and negatives (they often don't understand what Don says, but they know that the clients absolutely do), they notice Peggy walking by. She's wearing one of Joan's dresses which doesn't fit particularly well and she clearly isn't comfortable in. She adjusts it nervously as she passes Pete, and without fear of being overheard or any degree of civility at all they openly mock her weight gain. Paul, who tried and failed to make a move on her, admits that he "considered" her once but has since moved on, and they call her the type that slims down before starting work and then gets fat as soon as she's comfortable.

Ken Cosgrove at the very least points out that her writing for Belle Jolie was well-received, but also has no qualms about mocking her physical appearance, straight up calling her a "piece of fruit that went real bad real fast." Joan warned Peggy earlier that being the new girl gave her allure to the males in the office but that she "wasn't much" and now we're seeing the even nastier side of their already misogynistic attitude. When they all wanted to gently caress her, it was lewd comments and even outright requests for sex - now that she's settled in, put on a little weight, and no longer "new" they're just critically dissecting her appearance with zero regard for her as a person.

Pete doesn't really take part, but not because he's in any way a better person (far from it!): the two had a connection and have had sex twice, but it's all gone sour and he'd rather not reflect on that anymore. He simply says that nobody thinks about somebody like Peggy at all, and with any luck she'll go with Don when he joins McCann Erickson. Finding the subject matter uncomfortable, he asks Harry to come with him to his office to help him with some work that needs doing. Paul is delighted by this, assuming that Pete is fired up to get his work done because he's jealous of Don's success.

Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Oct 23, 2020

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Burning with embarrassment, Betty Draper sits in a line of far younger models who are dressed far more casually than her. She's dressed up, a big billowy dress that looks more like something you would wear to a party for a small but well-regarded advertising firm than to a modeling audition. The other women are in pants or modern dresses that show lots of leg, and Betty has never felt more out of place.

Jim Hobart arrives with a younger man in tow, greeting Betty happily as she nervously admits to overdoing her outfit and admits that being out of the business a few years has put her behind the times. The other man is Ronnie Gittridge, the art director for Coca-Cola (and Jim's brother-in-law) and he happily tells her not to be concerned, he's overwhelmed by her style. Both he and Jim quickly put her at ease, friendly and accommodating, promising her the photo-shoot is nothing to be intimidated by, sharing a comfortable repartee where Ronnie laughs that Jim tries to make everybody else's job seem simpler than it is so his own looks harder.

There is one serious moment though, where Jim reminds her that this is purely a tryout, and they are not guaranteeing her the job. She seems almost relieved that he's said this though, smiling winningly and assuring him that she has modeled before and she knows the score, she's just happy for the shot. Ronnie takes her away, gushing more about the dress, and despite her earlier embarrassment it's about the most perfect return to the modeling world she could have ever dreamed of.

In Pete's office, he and Harry are trying to do their work but have hit a brick wall, one that they've hit before. It's the Secor Laxative account, and it's dull as dishwater and about as far from the sexy international world of McCann Erickson as you can imagine. The angle they're pushing is moving Secor out of print and radio ads and into television, but that is about as far as they've gotten. Pete complains he doesn't even get the benefit of humor out of the situation, the laxative people "have no sense of humor about their product", which indicates he's made some poor taste jokes that they didn't particularly appreciate.

Harry sighs that he only joined college to avoid being drafted, and now he finds himself working with a laxative company. That does get them both talking about college though, they were of course both in Fraternities, and it was the most fun and free time of both their lives. Pete tells a story of the time their mascot, a stray dalmatian named Mamie, died and they came up with the idea to get a permit and throw a grand parade funeral in her honor... so they could interrupt with a rival Frat's beauty parade with a local girl's school happening at the same time and make the girls run away crying.

Apparently they ran out of inkwells to dip their pigtails into?

Harry laughs with glee at the story of a pledge pulling the dead dog in a radio flyer down Main Street, with police barricades up and 30 Frat brothers walking the streets behind it in her honor. But as he laughs, Pete makes a connection between the story and their current situation and realizes he might have the solution to two of their problems.

Currently Nixon and Kennedy are in an arms race for TV advertising in the Undecided States... but what if THEY buy up all the non-Nixon time-slots for Secor Laxatives? Harry is confused, Nixon is selling laxatives now? No, Pete quickly corrects him, THEY are selling laxatives, Nixon is selling Nixon... and Kennedy can't sell himself because all the ads times are bought up.



That evening Don is laid out on the couch as the television tells him about the cleaning power of Lysol. The phone rings and Betty takes the call, then walks into the lounge with a giant smile on her face: the phone call was for her, and that itself is probably enough to make her feel engaged with the world again, but even better than that... she got the job. She is going to be the girl with the Coca-Cola, a couple of days of photo-shoots followed by some testing... she stops herself with a smile, noting that Don already knows how all this works.

Don does, but he also knows (sometimes) how Betty works too. So he smiles and he is happy for her, and he promises her not to worry about trying to explain how she won't let this overtake her time as a wife and mother because he's not going to ruin this moment for her. Joining him at the couch, she admits that she knows that he really doesn't like her going back to work but she suspects some part of him is proud of her as well. What goes unsaid is her deep appreciation for the fact he didn't "forbid" her even taking the chance, and the two kiss, each happy that the other is willing to put in the effort for the other.

She asks him to come upstairs with her and he says no, telling her he wants to do it right there. She agrees, the excitement getting to them both: in a way, she has managed to roll back the clock to that earlier, more exciting time in her life. This is probably closer to how they were when they were first together and couldn't keep their hands off of each other, and a bed was just one of many, many options when it came to finding places to have sex.

So it comes to pass that Betty gets to leave the house, to go into Manhattan and relive the days of her youth. Ethel - an older woman - comes in to watch the children as promised, though she soon dozes off on the couch with her needlepoint in her lap, while Sally and Bobby race around the house with Polly, giggling and having a great old time but largely unsupervised.

Betty, meanwhile, is surrounded by a fake family to play the perfect mother. It is ironic that she gets her excitement from faking being the thing she already is in real life, she even has the perfect husband, plus two children (son AND daughter of course) and even the family dog. But of course in real life you don't have perfect make-up, meticulous wardrobe, a devoted hairdresser, creative people racing around, gorgeous lighting and an Art Director devoted to making sure everything is perfect.

The only thing that seems off to her is that the bottles of coke she is holding in her hand are already open (this predates screwtop lids, of course). Ronnie sternly remarks that they wouldn't want life to look difficult... then breaks into a huge grin that of course makes her laugh too. That helps make her more relaxed and makes her smile look more naturally, and the flashbulbs pop as photo after photo are taken of this one perfect moment of family bliss to convince people around the world to drink coca-cola. All centred around a woman who keeps butting heads with the fact that even a perfect life like hers is full of difficulty.



Speaking of which... the kids. With Ethel asleep, they've headed outside to enjoy a sunny day, and are happy to see their neighbor again out with his pigeons. He's calling them back to the coop, and Sally and Bobby watch as the birds fly in low... too low. Polly, unrestrained because why not, it's their yard, suddenly lurches forward and acts on instinct. Leaping into the air in what is frankly a rather comically bad bit of CGI, she grabs one of the pigeons in her mouth. Mr. Brestwood is horrified and pulls the bird away from Polly who races away, completely unaware she's done anything wrong.

Sally is mortified though, even moreso when Mr. Brestwood - until now so kindly and friendly - holds the luckily still living bird in his hands, turns and glares at them, and acidly informs the two tiny children that he will shoot Polly if he sees her in "my yard" again. It wasn't his yard at all, of course, but Sally is too traumatized to consider anything like that, and probably too young to make the distinction anyway. Instead she grabs a confused but upset Bobby and hauls him back inside, chased by a happy Polly who thinks they're all still playing.

That evening the kids are quiet at the dinner table but Betty is too on a high to really notice. Don comes home and for a nice change, the conversation is all about Betty and HER day. Unaware of the pigeon incident, she tells Don that the kids had a nice day then gets to talking about the experience, all while her husband not only pays attention to her but seems to enjoy hearing what she has to say. He of course knows Ronnie Gittridge himself, and that helps her feel even more like a peer since they now both have work experience with the same people. He even says he'd be happy to help her fill out her paperwork so she can get paid. All in all it has been a perfect day for her, and she continues to be blissfully unaware of Sally's distress (Bobby, of course, has already forgotten all about it and is just happily gobbling up his dinner).

The truth comes out at night though. Betty and Don lay wrapped up in bed sleeping peacefully when Sally walks in crying, waking them up. She had a bad dream, so they bring her into the bed to lie between them and feel safer. They ask her about the dream, and are both surprised when she weeps that she doesn't want anybody to shoot Polly. Betty assures her that would never happen, and are shocked when she tells them that their kindly old neighbor Mr. Brestwood threatened to do so. It all comes spilling out, the story about Polly and the bird, and at first they think it was part of the dream until she tells them it happened earlier in the day.

Betty takes Sally back to bed, calms her down and gets her to sleep. She returns where Don is still awake, finishing a cigarette, contemplating what to do about the neighbor who threatened to shoot his daughter's dog. He wants to go over and talk to him about it now and get the full story, but Betty is the cooler head and points out it's 2am and this is just going to make everything worse: she will go and talk to him tomorrow. Wanting to take out his irritation on somebody, he notes maybe Ethel should do it, putting the blame on her for not supervising the children properly.

Betty correctly points out that the kids play unsupervised in the yard when she's home looking after them too, and they obviously didn't tell Ethel what happened and she thinks they probably wouldn't have told her if she'd been home either. She's already arranged for them to be at Francine's for the next shoot day anyway, and then this Coca-Cola job is over and they won't have to worry until the next one about her not being around.

Having mollified her man, Betty cuddles up to him again and says something rather disturbing. Having critiqued (and then quickly defended) her own mother with Dr. Wayne about her focus on beauty and looks, Betty remarks to Don how cute Sally's big tears looked, and tells him she really wants to get a picture of her crying one day. Don seems to find this idea cute, despite the fact the tears weren't over some silly childish thing they'll look back on and laugh about one day, but due to a threat of murdering her pet. It does make me wonder just how much both he AND Betty tend to view the world through a media lens, both as a result of their own deep exposure to advertising/modeling but also just the general media saturation explosion they experienced growing up in the 20th Century.



Don holds a meeting with Pete, Harry and Paul in his office, minuted by Peggy, to discuss the Lucky Strike lawsuit. With transparent intent, they all take turns praising the strength of Don's "It's toasted" advertising campaign, even Pete who after some hesitation admits that it was pretty good. Of course they want to praise him, for their own future it will pay to have somebody who thinks well of them working over at McCann Erickson.

They have bigger concerns than trying to get on Don's good side though, because suddenly Bertram Cooper and Roger Sterling come bursting into the office demanding to know who is responsible for making a significant commitment to airing as yet unproduced Secor Laxative ads. Don is completely taken off-guard, he knew nothing about this. Cooper has no doubt of that, he was speaking to the Junior Executives, because the buys went though Bob Wilkins in Media who of course took it directly to Cooper himself - Don would never have handled it in that way.

Paul, Harry and Pete sit like deer in headlights - Pete especially looks terrified, he already thinks that both Cooper and Sterling want him gone. Harry finally mans up and admits he was the one who made the orders, and Cooper was surprised, this was his idea? Harry keeps looking desperately towards a silent Pete, not wanting to finger him but silently begging him to speak up himself. To his credit, Pete actually does, finally working up the gumption to admit he bears "some" of the responsibility, even though the entire thing was actually his idea.

Don asks what actually has happened, and almost in awe Cooper explains that in Illinois almost every available ad block is now packed with laxative commercials... and then Sterling adds with a little smirk,"And a little bit of Nixon." Only now do Harry and Pete grasp what is happening, and Pete must be cursing himself a little for only taking some of the "blame". Because both Cooper and Sterling are over-the-moon, Kennedy's made-for-television face is going to be nowhere to be seen, they'll have to make do with radio buys, and his accent will NOT go over well in Illinois. "I didn't think you had it in you... and I mean that," Sterling offers Harry and Pete both, a backhanded compliment that is at least a compliment. Cooper is more effusive, declaring it inspired, and both Harry and Pete stammer out thanks to the two owners of the firm who have just come directly down from on high to praise them.

With them both gone, even Don offers them congratulations - unlike Pete, he didn't hesitate. He was surprised by the idea, but it was a good idea. Pete, of course, can't leave well enough alone and smugly declares that Peggy needs to minute that. Standing up, adjusting his suit, full of confidence after this ego-boost, he states more than asks if they're done here... and Don calmly and authoritatively tells him,"No." Now Pete has to sit back down, the wind taken out of his sails a little... but only a little.

The meeting done, they retreat to Pete's office where they take celebratory drinks and roar with laughter at what they thought would be a disaster turning into a roaring success. Because it was a success, neither Harry nor Pete have any trouble admitting that Pete almost let Harry eat all the blame, in fact they seem delighted by the fact because it just makes for a better story.

Hildy enters the office with a bottle sent over by Freddy Rumsen to congratulate them on their little coup. They're very impressed, the bottle wasn't even opened, which by Freddy Rumsen standards is a minor miracle. Pete tells Hildy to join them for a drink to celebrate, it's an order in fact. Hildy, a professional, has offered her congratulations to Pete and Harry on their success but leaves it at that, politely declining the drink due to having to visit her parents after work. Pete insists though, and suddenly the atmosphere in the room has soured.

The others sit in uncomfortable silence as Pete puts on what he thinks is his charming face and tells her she shouldn't be such a "sourpuss" and she is in fact very beautiful... he loves to watch her walk. She simply stares at him with disapproval, declares she should go ("You should" Paul quietly agrees) and walks away. Once she's gone though, the others - feeling a little safer now that the immediate threat of their jackass friend getting handsy with yet another woman who doesn't want it is over - burst out laughing, turning this more into a joke about Pete striking out rather than being a creep. Pete laughs along with them, as far as he is concerned the joke is on Hildy for not appreciating his "compliment".



Peggy brings Don another private and confidential mail, this time Jim Hobart wants this gift to be for Don's eyes only. Alongside another note telling him to call are pictures from Betty's photo-shoot for Coca-Cola. Don stares at them, his beautiful wife glowing with happiness as she sits center-frame. The message is clear to Don at least: this is another bonus for signing, not only will they pay him more and give him access to bigger clients and more resources, but there's a career for his wife in it too.

He leaves his office and walks past Pete's, whose peers are roaring with laughter inside, thrilling to a creative and out-there gamble paying off, the type of thing that would probably never happen at McCann Erickson. He walks to Sterling's office, asks if he is inside, then enters. Inside, Roger is pleased to see him and pours him a drink, admitting that he's starting to wonder if maybe Pete Campbell isn't going to end up climbing the ranks in spite of his own distaste for him.... hell, maybe Don can take Roger with him to McCann Erickson?

Don smiles at the joke, but he's serious with his reply: he's not leaving. Roger is pleased of course, though there is still a small amount of haggling: he was prepared to go as high as 40k to keep him but of course immediately agrees when Don pretends that he said 45k. It's steep, almost $400,000 in 2020 terms, but it's worth it to keep a Creative Director who attracts quality clients and keeps delivering successful pitch after successful pitch.

With that out of the way, Roger says he knows it wasn't just about money, but he isn't going to be a little girl and ask what made him change his mind... leaving it hanging so that Don can, of course, tell him why he changed his mind. Don admits that he likes the way Roger does business (the odd drunken groping of his wife aside), but he does have one extra condition: he doesn't want a contract. Roger is surprised by this, 45k AND no security isn't just risky for Don but for him too - what is to stop him leaving a year from now and going to McCann Erickson or BDDO or Y&R using that 45k as a baseline for salary negotiation? Don assures him that if he leaves Sterling Cooper... it will NOT be to do more advertising.

That catches Roger off-guard. Not advertising? What else is there in life? For one thing, the chance to live life instead of writing about it. He disagrees with Roger's assessment that men like him would want to die in the middle of a pitch, saying he's done that before (and almost at the cost of his career with Lucky Strikes) and he wants to do something else.

He finishes his drink, leaves Roger's office, and heads straight back to his own, openly telling Peggy to put through a call to Jim Hobart at McCann Erickson - no private lines, no confidential e-mails, he's going to be completely out in the open now. Hobart of course takes the call without hesitation, he's an easy man to reach when he's actively interested in being reached. He talks up how great Betty's photos are and Don agrees... but he's not coming to McCann Erickson.

Hobart reveals a rather surprising turn on my earlier read on the situation: yes he may have given Betty the photo-shoot to entice Don... but he thought that was what Don wanted. He assumed that Don had sent Betty over as a response to Hobart's overture, which is why they gave her the royal treatment. The sad part is, Betty shot well and the photos do look good, but the entire thing only existed as part of a secondary effort to secure Don as an employee.

Don agrees his decision to stay at Sterling Cooper wasn't entirely about money (though he's sure as hell not turning down a 15k salary bump), but partly a reaction to Hobart's own efforts. He doesn't disagree with the idea that you leave no stone unturned when trying to find a way to get what you want... but he also doesn't consider Hobart's move with these photos to be the type of Big League move that he kept being told McCann Erickson was all about. Hobart isn't offended, saying his goodbyes and probably putting it out of his mind as soon as he has hung up. He made his play and it didn't work out: he'll find other talent to hire, he just wanted Don and was willing to go far to get him, but his entire business wasn't relying on it.



Joan sashays into the break room and sees Peggy making tea, and quietly asks for the gossip on what is going on with Mr. Draper. Peggy tells her even if she knew she wouldn't tell her, and Joan is impressed, it's a step up since the debacle where Peggy needlessly told her about Don's mistress. Taking the opportunity though, Peggy does give Joan back her dress, which she had dry-cleaned for her after wearing it.

Joan suggests she keep it and have it taken in, but Peggy declines. So Joan casts her eye to the tea and claims it is the right idea. Peggy is confused, so Joan explains: she is falling prey to a situation that many new girls find themselves in. This just confuses Peggy more, she's not new anyway. That IS the problem, Joan tries to clarify, if she wants to "do well" here she's going about it in the wrong way. Now Joan is the one to be baffled when Peggy points out that she is the first girl to be able to do any writing here since the war. Wait.. she actually WANTS to write? Joan had assumed Peggy was just doing that to get close to Paul? In any case, she knows that Peggy has been considered for an account... but only because the wife saw her and judged her to be no threat physically.

It's time for the subtleties to end, enraged at Joan's smug half-insults, knowing that she's been dancing around calling her fat, Peggy snaps at her that she's hardly a stick herself. Joan takes pride in that though, she never worries about what men think of her because she knows she carries her weight well, while Peggy is hiding an attractive girl behind "too much lunch". Really pissed now, Peggy decides to give Joan some of her own acid tongue treatment, telling her just what men do think of her: she's looking for a husband and she's "fun"... and not in that order.

This confrontation has been coming for a long time, the longer Peggy has been there the less she has had to shelter under Joan's wing and the more she has come to resent her snide comments and little jabs. But as they go at it now, Peggy comes at last to a realization that both horrifies her and also makes her desperately pity Joan: she is trying to help.

All this time, she's thought of Joan as mean-spirited, gossipy and sometimes outright cruel. It never occurred to her until this moment that Joan thinks she is helping the likes of Peggy. That she sadly has assumed that all women only want to be attractive (or are only wanted for their attractiveness) and that their end goal is to entice a man and marry him and nothing more. The same trap that Betty Draper found herself in.

Joan agrees she is trying to help her, leaving unsaid that she can't grasp why Peggy seems to be fighting her on this. All venom and anger drained from her, Peggy just offers a kind smile and tells Joan she's going home, and walks away from the battle she thought was inevitable.

Betty meanwhile is unaware her own escape from the tediousness of a perfect life is almost over. She sits through another photo-shoot, this time dressed up more glamorously as she and her perfect husband/boyfriend sit enjoying a refreshing Coca-Cola together on a park bench. The photos done, Ronnie comes over and asks how she enjoyed it, and then informs her he has good news and bad news, and of course she immediately focuses on the bad.

Doing his brother-in-law's dirty work for him, Ronnie makes up bullshit reasons for why there'll be no more work for her: Coca-Cola is moving their international work to London, and they've decided to go with an Audrey Hepburn type rather than a Grace Kelly type. The good news though is that she can take two amazing sets of photos and use them to start up her modeling book again and find more work. She nods, keeping her smile and thanks Ronnie for how much fun the shoots were, and he even promises her she can keep the hairstyle and the dress. That last line is too much for her though, it must bring back memories of the coat that she couldn't keep that Don ended up getting for her, and that on top of the crushing disappointment sees her face fall as she struggles to hold back tears.

Ronnie of course doesn't want her to cry, not just because it looks bad professionally but because, well... this is kind of bullshit on Jim's part and he is the one having to deliver the bad news. He assures her that this is nothing to do with her, and the sad fact is that he's right. Yes she only got the part because of Don in the first place, but her being let go isn't an indictment of her job as a model: she did fine and looked good, it's just that now there is no further side-benefit to them they're done with her.

So she stands and fights back tears as an assistant comes by and with business like efficiency removes her jewellery, each piece taken away bringing her closer to returning to that empty life waiting for death while the world moves on without her.



After work drinks at Sterling Cooper are going well, with people pondering whether to just keep drinking at work or to head down to MacDougal Street. Peggy walks by, casting a quick look Pete's way before keeping going. Ken notices her and says it's good she went home, it probably wasn't "going to happen for her tonight". Paul, who of course tried and failed with her once more, laughs that it depends on how drunk you get, getting a laugh from everybody including Pete. But then Ken makes one joke too many, saying his brother who works at the stock exchange calls girls like Peggy a lobster, because "all the meat's in the tail."

As the others laugh and talk turns to whether Harry and Pete will get a bonus for their Secor/Nixon initiative, Pete stands up, turns around... and punches Ken right in the face. The two struggle, get pulled apart, slam back together and roll over a desk as they continue to scuffle. In the foreground, Don and Roger come together, completely ignoring the fight going on behind them as they discuss whether Roger can drop Don off at the train station: it's just boys being boys stuff letting off some steam!

Pete and Ken end up on the floor and are separated for good. Ken, who has no idea what caused Pete to snap, demands to know why he sucker-punched him. Paul doesn't care about that though, grabbing both men around the shoulders and pulling them to either side of him. Much larger than both, he's also extremely out of shape and panting roughly, and explains to them that they both just had a fight that he was NOT involved in... which means he has to make it look like he's talking sense into them or he stands NO chance of getting lucky with any of the office girls tonight. They don't particularly care about that, but it helps break the tension and is as good an excuse as any to shake hands and pretend whatever problem they had got resolved.

Peggy wasn't there to see it happen of course, but it's still an eye-opener. Of all people in the world, it was Pete Campbell who - without saying it was the reason why - stood up in her defense. After his mistreatment of her, ignoring of her, crude hitting on Hildy and his complicity in the fat jokes made about her... the fact that it was Pete Campbell who showed even the slightest glimmer of chivalry is quite something.

Don returns home where Betty has laid out dinner and wine just for the two of them. She's put the children to bed after they spent the whole day running around and fell asleep in front of the television. Happy at the meal but steeling himself for trouble, he asks how the photo-shoot went, and is surprised and a little uneasy when she tells him McCann Erickson told her they had a string of possibilities in place for her.

Quickly he realizes however exactly what is going on, she's selling a pitch and he knows he HAS to buy. You see, SHE has decided that SHE doesn't want to work anymore. She doesn't like being in Manhattan alone, she doesn't like him coming home to a dinner whipped together at the last minute, and in any case she's not a teenager anymore, she isn't going to run around the city with her book trying to get jobs.

Playing his part, feeling free to pitch himself because he knows the score, Don assures her that if she WANTS to continue modeling she can, because his job is to make sure she's happy. She promises him she is, and gestures to their home, asking who couldn't be with all he's provided. She can't/won't, of course, tell him that she fears sitting alone in a perfect home growing old with nothing to do (Dr. Wayne will tell him that, of course, unknown to her), because then she'd seem ungrateful which is not the case. She loves Don, she loves all he has provided, and she feels miserable/guilty that she isn't happy with all she has and does want more than what everybody tells her she SHOULD be happy with.

Don's attempt to make her feel better by telling her that HER job is the most important in the world: to look after their two little people, doesn't make her feel any better, though she lets herself laugh when he admits that maybe she's not the BEST mother in the world and only in the top 500. But he's serious when he tells her he wishes he'd had a mother like her, sweet and kind and filled with love like an angel. They eat their meal, and he compliments her on how good something "whipped up" can be. She agrees it does taste good, and takes some pleasure in this achievement. But as they eat, for just the tiniest moment you see her face fall again, see the tears threaten to come again before she hides them away behind a mask of happiness.

Her mother would be proud. In an episode all about women as assets, we've seen once again the disparate and sometimes maddening ways in which women were expected to navigate the world of 1960. Jackie Kennedy would of course become the Princess of "Camelot", but it would mask a miserable and often tumultuous private life between her and her "perfect" husband. Betty Draper lives a perfect life that she finds empty and meaningless, which in turn makes her feel guilty. Peggy takes great pride in her accomplishment as a copywriter, but is reduced to the purely physical by both the men at her work and her own peers. Joan puts all her self-worth and the worth of other women down to their ability to physically stimulate men, and never even considers for a second that a woman might want to be successful and work in her own right. Even Hildy, professional and highly competent, has to suffer the indignity of standing and taking the sexual harassment of her boss who chides her for not smiling more instead of complimenting her for her efficiency.

The next morning, Betty prepares breakfast for the children as they race to the table and tell daddy to have a good day at work. She kisses him goodbye, telling him she's taking them to the community pool to see it get filled up, which he agrees sounds like fun (certainly more fun than a glamorous photo-shoot at an International Advertisting Agency!). He heads out the door and she brings the children their meals, trying to adjust Sally's hair which makes her daughter complain that she's trying to eat. She smiles and drinks her coffee, a happy and contented mother.

Later she empties out the laundry, and hears thumping from upstairs. She calls up to them to be careful and not jump off the bed, and they call back a happy,"OKAY!" in response. This makes her smile, and she goes back to the laundry, a happy and contented mother.

1pm and she sits alone in the house smoking, waiting as time marches by inexorably. A familiar noise catches her attention and she heads outside the house, still in her nightgown. Outside in the sun, in the perfect street outside her perfect house, she watches Mr. Brestwood's pigeons flying through the blue, blue sky.

She watches, then she lifts Bobby's BB Gun and, cigarette dangling from her mouth, opens fire and reloads again and again. Mr. Brestwood calls out in shock, demanding to know what the hell she's doing. She doesn't answer, but she's doing exactly what he threatened to do to Polly: shooting his pets for coming into HER yard. She pays him no mind, just keeps shooting, helping to pass the time. A happy and contented mother.



Episode Index

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Welp it finally happened, after the last 8 episodes maxxed out at like 45k characters, I ended up going overboard on this one. If these things are getting way too verbose, let me know, and I'll try to be a bit more efficient with my wordcount. I tend to - and greatly enjoy - rambling on about a point :sweatdrop:

Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Oct 21, 2020

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


It's been a while since I watched this show, and man, I forgot what a scumbag Ken could be. For some reason I remembered him as the decent one.

Yoshi Wins
Jul 14, 2013

Ken is easygoing and affable, so it’s easy to like him, but the morally corrosive effects of privilege are still pretty noticeable in him.

We also see Ken throughout the entire run of the show, so he’s 10 years older by the end. Not to say he’s perfect in season 7. He’s not, but he’s certainly more mature.

Regarding this episode, I have a tough time rewatching season 1 because the level of assholeishness is at its peak in season 1, and Joan’s behavior in this episode is a good example of how cruel she is in this season. She doesn’t just say mean things to Peggy. She knew that bright red outfit would draw attention to the weight Peggy had put on. She must have. She’s far too skilled at presenting herself to fail to realize how Peggy will look in that outfit. It’s not a generous gesture. It’s Mean Girls-esque bullying. She is punishing Peggy for stepping outside her role and upsetting the system. Joan is thriving in that system, and keeping it running smoothly is part of her job as office manager.

Pete is a jackass in this episode (unsurprisingly!), but we see that he is not 100% useless. His idea to shut Kennedy out of the Illinois ad market is clever. But it’s satisfying to see him miss out on some of the credit by letting Harry “take the blame” at first.

awesmoe
Nov 30, 2005

Pillbug

Jerusalem posted:

Welp it finally happened, after the last 8 episodes maxxed out at like 45k characters, I ended up going overboard on this one. If these things are getting way too verbose, let me know, and I'll try to be a bit more efficient with my wordcount. I tend to - and greatly enjoy - rambling on about a point :sweatdrop:
never stop rambling

pentyne
Nov 7, 2012

Ainsley McTree posted:

It's been a while since I watched this show, and man, I forgot what a scumbag Ken could be. For some reason I remembered him as the decent one.

S1 Ken is like the frattiest of frat boys of privilege. Even Pete seems tame compared to the stuff he gets up to. Ken is like the jock and Pete is the legacy who no one really likes but everyone is nice to.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


awesmoe posted:

never stop rambling

Yeah I think everyone following this thread has opted in to reading long posts. Write what's in your heart!

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply