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Mad men had some really good tips on negotiating salary. If your boss doesn't know how much you get paid you loving lie. Tell home 300 a week and you ain't taking less than 350 for your services. Half the problems with people getting underpaid could be solved by people actually asking for what their worth.
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Oct 31, 2020 07:32
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Season 1, Episode 12 - Nixon vs. Kennedy Written by Lisa Albert and Andre & Maria Jacquemetton, Directed by Alan Taylor Dick Whitman posted:I just wanted to leave. It's 4pm on November the 8th, 1960, and America has gone to the polls to select a new President. In Bertram Cooper's office, another man is making a campaign for selection: Herman "Dick" Phillips. Don Draper has brought him to meet Cooper, he's a front-runner for the position as new Head of Account Services, and though this is explicitly to be Don's choice as a reward for becoming a new partner, he's not foolish enough to not run the candidate past the senior man first. At first all seems to go well: Duck is charming and not one to take offense, putting everybody at ease and being everybody's friend. He's also got an impressive resume, he's been working for Y&R in London AND landed American Airlines as a client while he was over there. Cooper is even impressed that he makes no effort to hide the fact he would require significant money invested in order to achieve the same results at Sterling Cooper. But when Cooper asks him to state who he voted for, Don winces as Duck gets too clever for his own good by hedging his bets and openly stating either answer could potentially cost him so he'll go with the safe answer of Nixon. Cooper doesn't get any less polite, but his genuine smile turns into a forced one he holds for the barest socially acceptable length of time before openly frowning as he tuts, unimpressed,"That's nice to see." Don reads the room and with a big smile leads a confused Duck out of the room, the candidate realizing too late he may have just cost himself a well-paying job in "the power center of the Universe: New York" with his vacillation.   As Don leads Duck to the elevators all charms and smiles while Duck is trying to run the percentages in his head and figure out if (or where) he hosed up, they're watched by the other account executives. They're torn between their desire to see the top brass leave for the day and curiosity about Duck Phillips. On the one hand, once Cooper and Draper have left they can start an Election Night party where whether Nixon wins or loses they have an in to try and get lucky with the female staff. On the other hand, Duck is a likely contender to earn a high ranking role in the company and they want to gossip. He was killer in London until he apparently "disintegrated" over an affair with a woman at the British museum, leading to his divorce and living out of a hotel. Pete is unimpressed, but the others see the sense: Duck clearly has tremendous value but given his damaged reputation they can get him for a bargain... if Cooper has the sense to trust Don's judgement. Pete doesn't trust Don's judgement though, and decides to do something about it. He marches to Don's door, but suffers the ignominy of being halted by an offended Peggy who asks him if she can help him. When he stops, confused, she repeats the question and then makes a point of calling Don on the intercom to inform him that "Mr. Campbell" would like to see him. It's a rather humiliating moment for Pete, who somehow considers himself above having to run through the proper decorum for meeting with a senior in the firm. Peggy, of course, is just doing her job even if she must take some satisfaction from giving Pete this reminder: people can't just walk up and barrel through the door unannounced, even if she does want to move up from secretary she still intends to do her job properly. Inside Don's office, Pete at first tries to be chummy with Don, making the mistake of talking to him like an equal which Don - a freshly made Partner on top of being Creative Director of the firm - can't help but take offense to. Pete reminds him that Duck burned out in London, so Don reminds HIM that Duck bought in an account at Y&R that was worth 7 million dollars in billable hours. Pete tries to downplay this and Duck himself, pointing out he's not bringing the American Airlines account with him. What he really wants, which he finally just comes out and says, is that he wants the job as Head of Account Services. He talks up his accomplishments, pointing out that top clients trust him and come to him when they need things, they invite him to Christenings and ask for medical referrals. He doesn't think Don has been taking him seriously as a candidate, and he wants that to change, after all there are plenty of guys younger than him at bigger firms with higher job rankings than him, and if he'd chosen to he could have left Sterling Cooper multiple times over the last 2.5 years of his employment. Surprisingly, Don isn't entirely unkind in his response. He openly agrees that Pete IS good at his job, and makes the rather enormous (but unnoticed by Pete) admission that Cooper (the Senior Partner!) loves him. But he wants him to understand that even if he has emulated himself on Roger Sterling, this is a Don Draper decision, and as things stand there will continue to be somebody senior over him. When Pete demands to know why, Don simply chooses not to answer, which in itself is an answer AND a warning: he is the Creative Director, he is a partner, he does not have to explain himself to an Account Executive who works FOR him. Even now Pete, who has spent most of his life believing himself to just be superior to others by pure dint of birth, tries to treat Don like a peer rather than a Boss. He asks if Cooper signed off on "what's-his-name", and again Don gives him a none-too-subtle reminder that it's really none of his business, offering a sarcastic,"I'll keep you posted" that signals the end of the conversation.   Not long after Don leaves for the day, shadowed to the door of the lobby by Harry who eagerly talks up how big Nixon's lead is and how he'll see him tomorrow at the big victory party. Don politely agrees and leaves, watched by Harry who waits for him to disappear into an elevator before declaring with glee he is gone. With Cooper attended a "smoker" at the Waldorf, Roger convalescing at home and Don leaving for the day, all the top brass are gone and the executives and secretaries are free to party. Stashed booze from all their offices are quickly gathered and piled up in a table, everybody roaring with delight when a TV wheeled into the room announces that early returns show an almost certain victory for Nixon: John F. Kennedy's odds are 22-1! They all knock back drinks quickly and frequently, and in almost no time at all discover that... they're almost all out of booze already. All the liquor stores are closed, which means the party is almost sure to fizzle out (and thus their chances of getting laid), and the only possible life preserver is a no-go since Peggy is still working at her desk and they know they stand no chance of convincing her to let them raid Don's copiously stacked liquor cabinet. Joan Holloway to the rescue! Realizing she can't get a refill and spotting a meaningful look from Ken Cosgrove, she agrees that she COULD let them have access to the supply closet that she has a key for... but only if they promise it won't be "the sack of Rome". What's in a supply closet of a Madison Avenue advertising firm in 1960? Dog biscuits, Creme de Menthe and a shitload of rum, of course! Soon it's near enough to the sack of Rome, as a water cooler is filled with Creme de Menthe and staff freely fill up paper-cups to knock back drinks. At the Draper residence, Sally is fiddling with the television knob while Betty reads a magazine and sips wine, and both are surprised when Don comes walking through the door. Sally rushes into his arms, Don scooping her up and asking why she is still up. Betty gave her permission to watch the election results, and of course she's full of questions that Betty successfully diverted her into asking her father about, not expecting him to come home and actually have to answer them. She wants to know what the electoral collage is, and he laughs this isn't an appropriate conversation for children. He passes Sally to Betty who asks if he'd like something to eat, she'd assumed he'd be staying at the office to watch the returns so didn't make him any dinner. He's not all that hungry though, saying he'll just pour himself a drink and offering to get her one too, but she points out her wine. As she carries their daughter away, Betty's own face falls from happiness at Don being home, almost as if she was actually looking forward to a night on the couch drinking wine while Sally watched the election results. Don seems to notice the lack of sincerity in her reaction too, frowning after her as she goes. In the office, the drinking is intensifying as Kennedy seems to be somehow closing the lead on Nixon. A secretary named Allison is passing by when Ken spots her, grins, then tells her she better run. She's confused and then exhilarated as he downs his drink and suddenly lunges for her, chasing her squealing across the room as the others let loose roars of appreciation. He quickly catches her and brings her down right in front of Peggy and Marge, who are standing quietly aside from the others near Don's desk drinking with far less abandon than the others. There were cries of,"WHITE!" and,"PINK!" as Ken chased Allison, and the reason why becomes clear. This is apparently a game common enough that everybody at the party knew immediate what was happening, Ken has caught her and will now discover what color her panties are, either by her telling him or just looking himself. Allison, still laughing, tries to stop him as he lifts her dress and gets a brief view of blue panties. Leaping back to his feet, he offers a "gentlemanly" arm to escort her back to her desk, which she takes happily as they walk away... and Paul brings down another secretary in a pursuit of his own. Marge sighs that she once thought she would find a husband among this group of overgrown adolescents, but immediately regrets her words when Peggy - uncomfortable with all the horseplay - says she's going to go home. That will leave Marge with nobody to talk to, and she gasps at Peggy to stay, promising it will be fun. She has no luck though, Peggy has made up her mind and is going home. Somebody else not taking part in the party is Pete Campbell. He was invited but had to spend the evening with the in-laws instead, and now at home he indulges in his most recent obsession: the package he took from Don Draper's office. Sitting in his pajamas on the couch, he looks sullenly at the photos that were collected inside, all raising more questions that he'd ever had before. Along with a set of dog-tags bearing the name of Dick Whitman are photo after photo after photo of Dick Whitman, sometimes with his family, mostly with his little brother Adam. And the man in the photos - Dick Whitman, a man Pete Campbell had never heard of before a few weeks ago - is quite clearly the man he knows as Donald Draper. As he looks though, a light in the bedroom comes on and Trudy walks out, demanding to know what is going on. Quickly, guiltily, he packs the box up and closes the lid, trying to insist it is nothing when she wants to know what is inside. Finally she admits that their housekeeper found it on top of his closet, and that she didn't want to look inside because her father had a box like that she found as a child and made the mistake of looking in. But when Pete still won't tell her what is in it, instead demanding to know if she did look inside, she finally admits without outright saying it that she knows what is inside, and it's not pornography, snapping at him that,"It's not yours!" Pete admits that he got the package by mistake (at first, he then explicitly chose to steal it) and Trudy jumps on that, telling him to return it and thus put it behind him. She thinks his actions are peculiar (she's right) and she clearly doesn't want to consider it, instead choosing denial and assuming everything has been solved now, and happily tells him to come to bed so they can continue on with the farce of pretending they have a happy marriage.   Ken and Allison emerge laughing from an office, Ken calling Kinsey a liar since he couldn't find the absinthe he claimed was in his office. Paul takes it in good humor at first, asking who gave them permission to be in his office, letting Ken get in his little digs about only finding Mad magazine... until Ken then whips out something else he did find: an unfinished play that Paul has been working on called "Death is my Client." Paul is horrified, like so many others at the firm he has had an unfinished piece of writing gathering dust in his drawer, and like many others he got a fire lit under his rear end by the discovery that Ken Cosgrove is an actual published author. But to have something as intimate as his unfinished work exposed in this manner, especially by Ken, is more than he can handle. He lunges after a laughing Ken who is reading out the hackneyed sounding description of the main character. In any other show, you'd expect this to lead to a fight, or humiliation, or somebody getting ostracized. But it's a party, everybody is drunk and having a good time, and they're a bunch of creatives who enjoy telling stories. So instead in a quick cut from the initial exposure, Paul has gone from humiliated and angry to a commanding director as the drunken office workers decide to put on an impromptu play! Joan and Salvatore play the leads, reading directly from the pages (Joan has to pass her script to Hildy playing a supporting role in the background) while Paul eagerly works on the blocking and helps Salvatore with his character motivation. It's incredibly endearing and even oddly supportive, as all the other workers have set up in the audience to enjoy the show, giving Paul the audience he so fervently dreamed of as he wrote. Sal has even read enough of the script that he's a little upset he has to play Tolefson, he wanted to be Galt! But he delivers his lines, posing bravely all the while, and when he and Joan read the stage direction calling for a kiss, he happily follows through. He kisses her passionately, the crowd cheering with delight, before Sal pulls away to drink in the applause and attention, liking that more than the kiss itself. Joan - does she suspect his sexuality, I wonder? - seems amused at letting him have his moment... and more than aware that Kinsey was very focused on Tolefson - an obvious stand-in for himself - getting to kiss her. The night continues, the Creme de Menthe stocks diminish, and some very drunk people dance gleefully until Ken quiets them so they can listen to an important announcement: Richard Nixon has won Ohio! They roar in celebration, and Harry finds himself so caught up in the moment that he grabs Hildy and plants a kiss on her. It's a "fun" kiss, nothing passionate, but then they find themselves staring at each other... and then kiss again, and this time there's nothing fun about it. It's deep and passionate, the usually reserved Hildy letting herself go completely, Harry near devouring her.... and then reality sets in and they pull away in horror at what they've just done. "I'm really tipsy..." Hildy stammers, while the (happily!) married Harry stumbles away, mind racing with the enormity of what he's just done.   Harry retreats to his office, collecting his things, probably intending to head home before he does anything stupid. But then Hildy enters his office, intending to apologize, and he tries to apologize to her instead, and looking deep into each other's eyes (Harry has removed his glasses, and she is seeing them properly for the first time) they find themselves kissing again. Backing up, they close the door, and this time there is no pulling away. The party winds down, the booze is nearly all gone and exhausted workers who haven't managed to hook up lay sleeping, passed out or just too tired to move. Only Paul is still watching the television, listening as Lyndon Johnson praises the Democratic Campaign and insists they're still hopeful of a win. Joan, who drank but not to the point she lost control - Joan is ALWAYS in control -wanders by and asks what is going on, and Paul assures her it will work out for Nixon: California is still being counted and he'll win that for sure, and be named the winner by morning. She turns off the TV and kicks off her heels, initially refusing to sit next to Paul till he laughs that she probably can't in the dress she's wearing. So she settles down beside him, where there is an intriguing glimpse into an unseen past between them. Paul asks what he did wrong and she tells him he has a big mouth, and after an initial attempt to protest he agrees he does. Did they have a one-night stand? Did he ruin or overplay a close moment between them? Whatever the case, if there was something between them or even the chance of something, Joan made the decision it was over and he knows it. He asks if she at least enjoyed the play and she openly tells him no, making him laugh and consider the fact he likes her more the meaner she gets. She admits that she's fully aware of this, and doesn't apologize for mockingly calling him Orson Welles, because she knows he was secretly pleased at the comparison. Standing, he offers her his hand, and for a moment she thinks he thinks he can get her to have sex, until he says he just wanted to dance. Getting her up to her bare feet, they dance a quiet cha-cha together (was there one-off/close brush at the party to celebrate Peggy's Belle Jolie pitch? Where the cha-cha became the Twist?), the last two standing in a night of excess. The morning after the night before, Harry Crane wakes in his office with Hily lying topless on top of him, fast asleep. For anybody else it would be a pleasant experience, for a now sober Harry it's a reminder that this was not a dream, he really did cheat on his wife. Waking her, at first she's content to lie snuggled against him until realization sets in and she quickly sits up, covering herself up. He looks around frantically for his glasses and she finds them on the floor, one of the handles broken. Concentrating on this at least being something he can fix, he begins taping them up. Hildy, embarrassed not only by the one-night stand but also the depth of feeling that belies the drunken nature of their hook-up, quietly tells him she hopes she didn't step on them, then assures him that he needn't worry about her, she knows it meant nothing... or perhaps that is more for his benefit, to tell him he is safe to consider it as nothing. Harry though, for all that, you know, he did just cheat on his wife, at least has the self-awareness to actually feel guilty about it. That puts him at least a step above many others in the office, including Pete Campbell. Dressed if still messy, Hildy slips out the door, makes sure nobody is around, then quickly retreats out of the office. Not long after she's gone, Allison also makes an appearance from another office, presumably Ken, though she looks far happier about her one-night stand. Less happy is Peggy, who comes home after a good night's sleep to find the office a disaster zone. The TV has been overturned, empty alcohol bottles are everywhere, and unshaven men and hungover looking women are everywhere trying to make it through what is going to be a long day. Her amusement at all this disappears when she catches an odd whiff near her office, and discovers somebody vomited a copious amount of Creme de Menthe into the trashcan by her desk. She carries it into the break-room, where Ken, Paul and Sal are grimacing as they swallow their hangover cures. She places the trashcan into the sink and they, of course, complain about the smell, leading her to acidly inquire if the smell offends them. But to further add to the insult to her person, she spots that the staff lockers on the other side of the break-room have been broken into, including her own. One of her shirts has been stolen (Salvatore sarcastically agrees that HE stole her blouse) but also $3 of her "mad money", and she demands to know who did it. Paul, feeling the after-effects of a long night of drinking, says he'll give her $3 to shut up, and she snaps back that they're animals and she's going to report this to building security. They're not alarmed, after all they're three white, middle-aged males and it's 1960, why should they fear consequences to their actions?   Somebody who does want to know about consequences is Don Draper. He enters Cooper's office where the senior partner is getting a massage, recovering from spending a night in a smoke-filled room at the Waldorf with a bunch of high ranking New York Republicans. Kinsey was wrong, it was no clearer by morning, three different newspapers have told Don three different results and he figures that Cooper of all people will have some inside scoop. Cooper does, the story going around is that Mayor Daley did a favor for Joe Kennedy and got JFK the votes of a number of deceased voters which basically put him over the edge. Don notes that the gap between Nixon and Kennedy should never have been close enough for something like that to make a difference, but Cooper disagrees: it is ALWAYS that close. The good news for them is that Kennedy apparently being willing to buy an election probably means he'll have no problem working with corporations and ensuring everything essentially remains the same as it has during Eisenhower's Presidency. Nixon meanwhile will avoid being associated with a lengthy recount that leaves the country without a new President, relying on his enormous count in the popular vote to ensure he can stand again at some point in the future. None of it really surprises Don, though it is unusual to hear it spoken of so blatantly. After Cooper and Sterling spent a lot of their own money (unsuccessfully) courting the Nixon Campaign because they feared a Kennedy Administration, to hear him say that actually President Kennedy will continue to let them do as they please is still unexpected. He notes none of this really seems fair, which amuses Cooper greatly, pretending that a naive statement like that from Don is surely just a well-timed joke. Don doesn't push the matter, just leaves having been given a lesson on the way the rich and influential get to have their own way no matter what. Speaking of which... here comes Pete Campbell! Carrying Don's package in one hand, he makes a beeline for Don's office where he's once again halted by Peggy demanding to know where he thinks he's going. This time Pete isn't going to stand for... being asked to follow office protocol! Instead he turns and glares at her, then informs her coldly that from now on she should be careful about how she speaks to him. Without even knocking he enters Don's office. Don, reading one of the papers telling him conflicting accounts of the election, turns to stare and Pete hands him the package, saying he got it by mistake. Don offers a perfunctory thanks and tries to go back to his paper, sighing when Pete asks if he has reconsidered his qualifications for Head of Account Services. Don, of course, has not. He has no problem with telling Pete that, making it clear the conversation is over. So Pete heads for the door and closes it... while he's still in the room. Don sighs and tells him to spit out whatever it is he has to say, but he was absolutely not expecting what comes next:  That alone would be enough to get his attention, the fact Pete then tells him his real name is Dick Whitman adds an extra level of danger, but worse still is when Pete reveals that he didn't stop at just the information he found in the package. He's also reached out to a buddy he has in the Department of Defense (because of course he does) and learned that Dick Whitman supposed died in 1950. He couldn't find any more information on Donald Draper... except that he would be 43-years-old in 1960, and Don is in his mid-30s. To his credit, in spite of his great secret being sniffed out by the worst person possible, Don doesn't panic. Instead he blinks, puts down his paper and does the only thing he can do: he scoffs. Pretending to be amused, he declares Pete's little story is very elaborate, but Pete isn't going to be shaken off. Don makes a living convincing people to buy what he's selling, but Pete isn't having it, not today. Because he clearly thinks he has Don over a barrel, and he isn't going to relent on his advantage at all. You can tell a lot about somebody from the way they act in a position of strength. Pete, for all he has earned some level of pity for being imprisoned by his own family name, demonstrates just why so many people seem to dislike him on a personal level regardless of his talents. With Peggy, he reveled in his position to warn her to kowtow to him or suffer the consequences. Now with Don, thinking he has the maddeningly smug Creative Director caught at last, he oozes his trademark brand of slimy charm as he tries to be "subtle" as he thrills to INSTRUCTING Don to "consider" his qualifications for Head of Account Services, in the hopes that this information will be "forgotten", and the likes of Cooper won't ever have to learn of it and potentially cost Don his entire career. Don isn't gonna buy something he doesn't want, and he's sure as hell not dumb enough to think bending now will be a one-off deal. Running the mental arithmetic in his head even as his face remains as impassive and composed as ever, he decides to confront Pete head on. Standing up, he approaches the smaller man who unconsciously stumbles back a step, arms slipping out of his pockets as if he expects to have to ward off bows. Instead Don just smirks, like this is all a joke, and reminds Pete he forgot to add "or else", pointing out that if he thinks he has information powerful enough to force somebody to do what he wants, what does he think that person ALSO might do to keep that information secret? Pete though never considers (at least consciously) the idea that Don might react with violence. This is the natural order and he feels he's putting things to right at last: he's better bred than Don and has always considered himself superior in spite of there being nothing to give him that impression. Because he's a Dyckman Campbell, one of New York's ruling families, and he deserves and even somehow believes he has earned a superior position, and to have control over the more qualified, better liked and infinitely more valuable to the firm Don Draper. So he tells (not asks) Don to consider it, and smugly leaves the office secure in the knowledge that all is finally right with the world at last. With him gone, Don blinks rapidly, his poker face dropping as 1000 thoughts race for prominence in his mind: paranoia, fear, terror, confusion, anger, guilt all stumbling over each other for his attention. Instead of wallowing, he takes action, racing to the package he's ignored till now, ripping it open to see what was inside and try to figure out just how much Pete could possibly know. What he finds sinks any hopes he had of being able to talk his way out of this. Not only are his dog tags in there along with all those unmistakable photos, but there are postcards and letters too, whether from or to him in his Dick Whitman days, establishing beyond all shadow of a doubt that the two men are the same. Hunching over the desk, he's unwillingly brought back to an earlier point in his life, and our first real look at Dick Whitman's time in the Korean War.
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Nov 3, 2020 09:58
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1950 in Korea, a truck driven by a black sergeant pulls up outside a tent. The sergeant instructs Whitman to get out, and a confused and slightly frightened Dick Whitman emerges, betraying none of the usual composed sophistication of Don Draper in 1960. Another man is waiting, a lieutenant, who is outraged that he's been delivered ONE man when he was expecting 20. This will turn a weekend assignment into a month, but he's clearly also used to the army loving him over, as is the Sergeant who simply shrugs and says he's not the one to yell at about this. The sergeant leaves in the truck, the lieutenant returns to his tent, and Private Whitman has to chase after the latter now that he's been dumped by the former. Inside his tent, he's instructed to be "at ease" but also informed this is an officer's tent so he'll need to bunk down in one next door: this comes as no surprise to Dick Whitman, all his life he's known that he has to do as his superiors tell him. He doesn't know why he's here, what he's supposed to do, or generally what is going on, and the lieutenant's answers don't exactly illuminate the matter. The rest of the unit had already gone before the lieutenant arrived, moving to the front 5 miles away, and now the locals have stopped showing up which is a very bad sign. But the lieutenant has a job to do, he's an engineer and he's been tasked with leading the digging of four fighting positions on all sides of what is supposed to become a field hospital. So he's here to supervise, and Dick Whitman is here to do the actual digging. Still, this is the army and one of the few times that somebody of a higher social standing like the lieutenant might feel free to just converse with somebody like Whitman. So he asks why he's in Korea, is he poor? He laughs to hear Whitman admit he volunteered, saying he himself only ended up there due to college (I'm muddied on my history here, I think college deferments to avoid the draft only came into effect in 1951?) but now he's close to the end of 4 years of service and will soon be a civilian again. Now all he has to do is rely on Private Whitman's skill with a rifle to keep him alive these last several months and he's free. So what did make Whitman volunteer, he wonders? Was he inspired by a movie? He asks this without bothering to hide that he is looking down on Whitman, an uneducated country hick who CHOSE to be in Korea. Whitman, unsure with his words and struggling to articulate his feelings, can only offer that he simply felt an overwhelming desire to "leave". The lieutenant laughs at that, surely Whitman is regretting that now?   In 1960, Don Draper - everything that Dick Whitman wasn't - jams the package into a drawer, frantically lights a cigarette and considers making a phonecall, then thinks better of it. He knows what he has to do. Soon, Rachel Menken recieves a buzz over the intercom from her secretary that Don Draper is here to see her. She tells her to hold her calls, Don enters and... is immediately kissing her, sweating and breathless. She's pleased to see him and enjoys his panting exhortation that she come away with him, thinking he means a quick weekend (on a Wednesday) holiday somewhere. She's a little confused by him assuring her he has money, reminding him that SHE has money too... but she's also got a store to run. Too late she realizes that Don hasn't popped around to be playful, he's in a near panic. She asks what is wrong, and when he tells her "something" happened she assumes the worst: has something more happened to Roger Sterling? Don has to force himself to think, to put himself back into the mindset of somebody who doesn't know the enormous upheaval he has just gone through. To put it simply, he wants to leave and never come back. He wants to be with her but he doesn't want to be "here" anymore, so the simplest solution is for the two of them to leave together... isn't that what SHE wants too? But he wants it all on his own terms, with no explanation, just a sweaty intrusion into her office and a demand she upend her entire life to come away with him without explanation. What started as a happy romantic interlude with a jokey offer for a quick vacation away has become something more serious, and as Rachel's rational mind takes over she finds herself becoming more put off by Don's proposal. Stopping to light a cigarette, she comes to an inevitable conclusion: this isn't how she thought it would be, and she's not going to try and pretend otherwise to keep the illusion alive. So while she might have once found his declaration they can start over new like Adam and Eve somewhere charming, not she finds it immature, asking him if he's a 15-year-old? He wants to be together? They can be together here, and she's revolted when he snaps there is "nothing" here, reminding him that he has two children. Almost as if they were an afterthought (sadly, they probably were) he mumbles that he'll provide for them, but that just strikes her as even more pathetic: he hasn't thought this mad plan through at all, and it's not romantic, it's just sad. Clutching her stomach, feeling physically nauseous to go with her emotional turmoil, she accurately pegs him as using her as a prop in his attempt to escape something. He denies this, insisting that all he wants is to be with her. But where that might have once sent her heart fluttering, now it just turns her stomach. He wants to abandon his children and leave them to grow up without a father even though he knows exactly how that felt himself? He claims that she knows more about him than anyone but when she points out he won't even tell her what happened to cause this sudden attempt to flee, he can't bring himself to tell her. He's horrified when she comes to another inevitable conclusion: theirs wasn't some great love affair, it was just a cheap dalliance, leaving unspoken in her use of the past tense that it is also over. He tries to appeal to her, but she won't have it, glaring at him with tears in her eyes before snarling at him something he's clearly felt deeply about himself for some time... that he's a coward. He can't answer that, or argue against it, or trying to pitch to her or sell her on believing different... because he believes it himself. She tells him to leave, and he quietly does as he's told, knowing that whatever they might have had together has been destroyed now. He couldn't make Midge race off to Paris with him, he couldn't make Rachel abandon her life for Mexico or California, there was something lacking in him that they either saw or felt, something he has long suspected about himself. Returning to the firm in a daze, he enters his room and lets out his frustration when he finds Peggy sitting on the couch in HIS office. That is until he realizes she has been sobbing quietly away in here to remain unseen by the rest of the floor. She frantically apologizes, saying she didn't know he was coming back before breaking down crying again. Off his game, off-balance even further by her emotional reaction, he pours them both a drink while grumbling about there being no semblance of privacy, really more frustrated by Pete's discovery and his own failure with Rachel. He's further confused when she says she was crying because one of the elevator operators, Sonny, and a janitor whose name she didn't know were fired. She explains it is because SHE is to blame... insofar as when she complained to building security about the break-room lockers being broken into, they decided to just fire a couple of black guys and call it a day. Neither was here at the party the previous night, they're just the victims of spoiled, privileged people getting to do whatever they want. Peggy, fighting tears again, says that she simply doesn't understand: she tries to do her job and she is hated for it, and good people get punished while bad people do whatever they want and get away with it... it just isn't fair. Don can only stare, hearing his own innermost thoughts echoed back at him by his secretary. He has her finish her drink then passes his glass to her so she can take both away to be cleaned. Once she's gone he considers her words, her lamenting of the immunity from consequence of the elite, and he makes his own decision on what to do about it.   Marching to Pete's office, he finds him sitting alone in the dark. Pete leaps to his feet, all smiles as he assumes that Don has come to bend the knee, to acknowledge the hold Pete has over him and give him exactly what he wants. Instead Don tells him he has been considering Pete's deep lack of character, so Pete quickly closes the door to throw on some more of that sickly charm, that smug friendliness he thinks others don't see through. He "sympathizes" with Don, claims he isn't enjoying the situation any more than Don is but this is just the way things "have" to be. Don though shuts that right off by declaring that he's hiring Duck Phillips. Pete freezes for a moment, then smirks and reminds Don he doesn't want him to take this to Cooper... but Don simply sneers back and declares he won't be doing anything, because he hasn't thought any of this through. Does he really think he can just march up to Cooper's office, dump a giant turd like this on his desk, and expect approval or a reward? Does he think he'll get a promotion for trying to blackmail a partner? For a moment Pete's face falls, but then he steels himself, still willing to believe that Don won't risk the exposure, and admits that even in a worst case scenario... Don Draper won't be working at Sterling Cooper anymore. He doesn't have to say it, it's plain on his face, even that would be victory enough for him. He despises Don, despises that he is liked and valued and respected in a way that Pete believes should be reserved for himself. He also clearly on some level refuses to believe that Don won't back down, after all like Peggy said, some people get to just do whatever they want and never suffer consequences, and Pete thinks he is one of those people. So Don takes the decision out of his hands. With purpose he leaves Pete's office, and a horrified Pete realizes where he is going and chases after him. He grabs his shoulder, promising him that this isn't a movie where Don is the hero walking away from a guy with a gun he knows won't shoot him... Pete will have no problem pulling the trigger. Don just keeps on walking though, even after Pete asks if he's really willing to destroy his own life just to keep Pete from being Head of Account Services. So Pete lurches after him and stops him in the corridor, finally just blurting out exactly what has been burning him ever since he first started working for Don Draper. "Why can't you just give me what I want?" That's the crux of the matter. Pete believes himself superior, but more than anything he can't understand why Don doesn't do what everybody else has done all his life and just let him have whatever he wants. He snaps that he deserves the promotion, that he's EARNED it. Now it's Don's turn to blurt out his own feelings. WHY does Pete deserve it? Because his parents are rich? He hasn't earned ANYTHING in his life, he's been handed everything. Pete is beside himself, why is Don not capitulating? Pete actually has the audacity to complain that HE is offering Don a way out of this mess. But Don simply stares at him, overcome with a calmness of purpose now that he has committed to seeing this through come what may. He continues towards Cooper's office, followed a moment later by Pete, neither of them noticing or caring that Kennedy can be seen silently talking on the television screen behind them. Don removes his shoes, Pete racing to keep up, removing his own shoes, determined to follow Don through to the end and call what he is sure is a bluff. They both enter the office, Cooper looking over a file and joking that if they've come to drown their sorrows over Nixon's loss, he's not much of a drinker. Don hesitates for just a second then fixes his resolve and makes his statement: Duck Phillips will be the new Head of Account Services. Cooper was unimpressed by Phillips' answer to his politics question, but he's no fool: like the other account executives said, he can see the value in picking up a killer like Duck for a bargain price due to his recent issues. So he beams happily and fully endorses Don's pick just as he promised he would... but then notices both men are sticking around, and Pete Campbell is there too. Now Pete has to fix his resolve, it is his own moment of truth. He's come this far though, so with a quick preamble about having learned all this by accident but feeling it is his duty to share it for the good of the firm, he lets it all out. Don Draper's real name is Dick Whitman, who was reported killed in Korea a decade earlier. He believes this Whitman, who is standing in the room with them now under an assumed name, is a deserter or worse. Cooper stares in shock, turns to look at Don who is struggling to keep a calm face as he lights a cigarette. For once, Cooper doesn't complain about the cigarette, simply standing and rounding the table, pausing to take a hard look at the man he so recently made partner. Then he turns to a waiting, expectant Campbell and asks him the most important question in the world in light of these revelations.... "Who cares?"   All season, the mystery of Don Draper's past has hung over the episodes, slowly being revealed piece by piece. And the entire time, despite our lack of knowledge of who Dick Whitman was, what the reasons behind his change of identity and how he went from poorly educated country hick to sophisticated Manhattan advertising executive etc, one thing has remained constant: we've been watching Donald Draper. What name he was born under, what he did before Manhattan, his family and upbringing etc, they all informed the man he became, but the man he became is who the show is about. Cooper's question essentially lays out the same argument, without reducing the entire mystery to a shaggy dog story. Who cares? Even if Campbell's "imagined" story was true, what would it matter? The Japanese have a saying,"A man is the room he's in," and in this room, they're looking at Don Draper. In other words, he doesn't give a poo poo about Don's past, because whatever it might have been, the Don he knows today is a valued member of the firm who makes him a SHITLOAD of money. As he points out, there are plenty of great men in America who did far worse than take a fake name and nobody cares about their backgrounds either. He advises (instructs would be a better word) Pete to forget all about this, even IF it was true. Over and over again, he hammers home to Pete that even though he doesn't care, he also is making a point to not accept it as true. Rather than worrying about who Don is, he should be doing his job and concentrating on bring in new accounts. Shocked, his entire glorious plan he's laid out in his head upended, Pete makes a hurried exit from the office, his assurance that Don would fold or that Cooper would side with him obliterated and now replaced by the fear of what the consequences would be.... something that, as Betty noted, he rarely has to consider. It seems there could be consequences too. Left alone together, Cooper doesn't query Don for the truth or ask him questions, he simply makes a statement: Don can fire Pete if he wants to. The one man who prevented Campbell from being fired earlier in the season is no longer protecting him... apart from one careful suggestion: it might pay to keep Pete closer. After all, one never knows where loyalty might be born, suggesting that now Pete knows how things stand, he might be willing or feel obligated to hitch his wagon to Don's star in the hopes of keeping his career alive. Don, who can't quite believe things went his way, especially after the ignominy earlier in the season of being told Pete was essentially unfireable, makes his own exit from the office. He has faced down death and survived, after being called out by Rachel for his cowardice, after hearing Peggy weepingly echo his own frustrations, he refused to accept that the Petes of this world always win... and somehow he turned out to be right. His mind is drawn once again to 1950. Whitman digs away at the firing positions when he hears a whistling sound and sees the Lieutenant racing towards him, shouting at him to get down. The artillery hits nearby, and both men cower in the hole Whitman was digging. Bullets kick up the dirt near them, but the lieutenant warns him to keep his head and not fire at anybody who isn't firing at him first. More artillery drops and Whitman bellows out in fear and confusion, don't the North Koreans know this is a hospital? Just as suddenly as it started, it stops. They lie together in the hole for a moment and then the lieutenant starts to laugh, standing up and pulling out a cigarette, enjoying being alive for at least another day. Whitman staggers up too, looking around more fearfully, asking if they'll be back. The lieutenant admits he doesn't know, but he does know that not firing back was the right choice, it helps prevent continued aggression. As Whitman is lighting up his own cigarette, the lieutenant notices something and points to Whitman's pants leg, telling him he pissed himself. Dick is confused, looking down and surprised to see there is indeed a wet patch there, he was so caught up in the moment he fails to even notice he'd done it. He reaches down to brush at it, and drops his lighter in the process... right into the trail of fuel that has leaked into the pit after a stray bullet hit a barrel. Both men quickly rush away in different directions from the lit fuel, but the lieutenant's path takes him closer to the source, causing the barrel to explode and taking the others piled up with it along for the ride. Whitman himself, rushing away from the barrel, is lifted into the air and flung forward by the force, and everything goes white.  He comes to in a hospital, far nicer and more permanent than the one he was supposed to be building. Fractured memories come back back to him, of waking after the explosion bruised and bloody but still alive. Of crawling to the remains of the lieutenant, who survived nearly 4 years in Korea only to be killed in a complete freak accident. Of, whether intentionally or purely out of concussed confusion, removing his own dog tags and swapping them with the almost unrecognizable corpse's. As he remembers all this, he's addressed by a doctor and Colonel, who has come to present him with the purple heart for injuries sustained in the line of duty. Or rather, to present them to the man they think he is: Lieutenant Donald Draper, because of course that was the Lieutenant's name. He lies in the bed, his silence and confusion explained away as symptoms of the "mild" concussion he suffered. They inform him he'll be going back to the United States to spend his last 80 days of service as an Army Reserve... the war is over. For Dick Whitman it had only just started, but for the man who is now known as Don Draper, they're over and they're over heroically. In fact they even intend for him to escort "Private Whitman" back to his hometown, considering it would mean something for the last man who knew him in the chain of command to perform this duty. "Don" simply lays there and lets this all process as they move to the next bed to present the next purple heart to the next wounded soldier. How much was intended isn't clear, though the actions would seem odd to randomly perform even for a concussed man. Did he see extent of the real Draper's injuries and have the plan come to him fully formed? Was there even a plan at all beyond,"I can pretend to be somebody I'm not?" Whether intentional or not, Dick Whitman's wish has come true: he really, truly, 100% finally gets "to leave". And so, not long after, Dick Whitman finds himself returning home to the little town of Sunbury in Pennsylvania. It is a place he so longed to escape he went to war, and now he has come back... but disguised, bringing home his own "corpse" to effectively end the life of the man he once was for good. The coffin is removed and the Chaplin traveling with him tells him they've arrived, but when he spots "those two sorry people" waiting in their Sunday Best alongside his kid brother Adam outside, he knows he can't go. Not just because they'd reveal him, but because he can't bear to see any of them again, especially Adam who was the only one of the three he truly loved. He tells the Chaplin to go without him, and mistaking his emotional state for guilt over bringing their loved one back dead, the Chaplin agrees to go alone. So instead, Whitman watches as the coffin is carried out, only to be spotted by Adam who turns his head and catches sight of his beloved brother staring back at him. Uncle Mack, with surprising gentleness, tells Adam that his brother Dick is actually in the coffin before them now, and Abigail sharply puts a stop to his insistence that he saw him on the train. As Adam is sulking, confused as to why nobody believes him, Dick is distracted by a young woman who asks if he knew the man in the coffin. "A little" he admits, a truthful statement since Dick Whitman clearly knew little about himself beyond wanting to escape Sunbury. She assures him he has his whole life ahead of him and should forget the boy in the box, words whose meaning she doesn't fully grasp the significance of. Running a hand over his, she tells him to let her buy a soldier a drink and sashays down the length of the car. Adam breaks away from Uncle Mack to chase the now departing train, calling out to his brother who stares back at him... then makes his decision. Dick Whitman turns away from his brother, and Don Draper follows the woman. In 1960, Don Draper leaves another train and walks into the beautiful suburban home he has made for a wife and children he was more than willing to abandon earlier that day. He enters the lounge and finds Betty asleep on the couch, having fallen asleep watching coverage of aftermath of the election. And it is the aftermath, it's all over now. Richard Nixon is addressing his disbelieving, anguished supporters, forced to put on a brave and happy face as he congratulates Senator Kennedy on his victory. Don stands and watches, a self-made man who Don openly admitted reminds him of himself forced to give up the greatest political prize in the land because a rich kid who has been given everything all his life decided he wanted to be President instead. I've said before that Don has more than a little John F. Kennedy in him, but it isn't himself he thinks of when he considers JFK, it's the likes of Pete Campbell. Right now, he looks at Nixon and perhaps sees the inevitability of his own future. Today he refused to play ball like Nixon did to salvage a possible future run at the Presidency. Today he stared down the inevitable and won out... but will it cost him in the long run? How often can he hold back the likes of Pete Campbell from just being given what they want purely because of who they are. And when he can no longer stop them, what will he do? He didn't want to be Dick Whitman, and he found an unexpected opportunity to change that. But could he do it again? He was never truly comfortable as Dick Whitman, but he has embraced being Don Draper wholeheartedly.  If he can't be that... who is he? Episode Index Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 10:01 on Nov 3, 2020 |
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Nov 3, 2020 09:58
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I've been wanting to do a re-watch of Mad Men for a long time; finally decided to do it this past month. I'm glad this thread exists and will prob keep an eye on it; just gonna admit right-off the bat that discussing the actual show at-large is more interesting to me than a blind-watch. I think it'd be useful to do an "essential episodes" list at some point when all is said and done. Something more like a watch-order than a "best-of". Mad Men is a very good show, don't get me wrong...but I feel as if the slower pace and subtle emotions of the show could cause newcomers to lose interest. MoaM fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Nov 3, 2020 |
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Nov 3, 2020 10:28
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Jerusalem posted:
Not everyone! Remember when Pete asked his father for money? His father said no, wouldn't tell him why, and became angry when Pete brought up that his father had recently given Pete's brother some money that he needed. Pete is clearly unloved by his father, at the very least. His mother didn't seem a beacon of affection in that scene either. But also in that scene, Pete's father emphasizes that it is a great privilege for Pete to bear the family name. Then he belittles Pete at length over his choice of profession. It's pretty clear from Pete's reaction that he's heard this type of thing before. It seems like Pete grew up getting two messages: 1. By birthright, you're a prince. 2. As an individual, you're unworthy. You're garbage. Don has some pretty obvious differences from Pete's father. Most importantly, he didn't come from a privileged background. He had to work and display merit to get where he is. But his demeanor with subordinates at work is reminiscent of how Pete's father is with Pete. He is cold, demanding, and authoritative. Pete feels Don's rejections on a personal level. It ties in to his issues with his father. Of course, I agree with you about all the privilege elements in play in this episode. But I also think that there's a personal side. Pete has powerful unresolved resentment towards his unloving parents, and when he feels like he's not being loved or appreciated, he has a tantrum. "LOVE ME, YOU loving ASSHOLES!" It's a terrible strategy, but he really has no idea how to make people like him. Perhaps he should try not being a prick all the time. On a separate note, I think the episode aims to convey that Don intentionally fooled the army as a desertion tactic. They did a lot to establish that he was very scared about being in Korea, and Rachel calls him a coward in this episode, and it's written all over his face that he believes she's right. And, as you note, it would be weird even for a person with a concussion to peel the dog tags off of their CO's charred remains to wear them. What do you make of the fact that he's brave sometimes (hiring Duck despite Pete's threats and boldly criticizing Belle Jolie for their close-mindedness to Peggy's new approach) and a coward at other times? Is his level of bravery context-dependent? Or perhaps dependent on his mood?
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Nov 3, 2020 12:20
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Yoshi Wins posted:Don has some pretty obvious differences from Pete's father. Most importantly, he didn't come from a privileged background. He had to work and display merit to get where he is. But his demeanor with subordinates at work is reminiscent of how Pete's father is with Pete. He is cold, demanding, and authoritative. Pete feels Don's rejections on a personal level. It ties in to his issues with his father.
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Nov 3, 2020 13:06
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Yoshi Wins posted:What do you make of the fact that he's brave sometimes (hiring Duck despite Pete's threats and boldly criticizing Belle Jolie for their close-mindedness to Peggy's new approach) and a coward at other times? Is his level of bravery context-dependent? Or perhaps dependent on his mood? It's fun that both Don and Pete (well, I mean... and everybody else too, I guess!) are products of their childhood/upbringing. Don presents the image of a powerful, masculine figure. He's a brave war hero, a leader of men. But really at heart he's a scared little boy, and his first instinct is always to want to run away. I think his bravery when it comes to confronting Pete's blackmail attempt is born out of him being smart enough to know he'd have never been out from under if he'd capitulated, and being more scared of that fate than running the risk of exposure. That it worked out for him was a thrill, but he's not an Adrenalin junkie, he is left utterly shaken by the experience and can barely walk out of Cooper's office. He knows he got out by the skin of his teeth. Pete, as you say, has the bulk of his insecurities born out of his father's contempt towards him. While Don's status as a self-made man quietly ignores the fact that the foundation of his success is a lie, Pete wholeheartedly embraces the "truth" that he is somehow better than everybody by right of birth, while simultaneously believing with all his heart that he's also earned everything he wants and more. He both accepts and rejects his father's mindset, but I think his antagonism towards Don isn't quite so much born out of using Don as a stand-in for his father as it is seeing Don as a "nobody" who isn't from the right families, isn't super-rich (he's very well off, but not what Pete would consider as having enough money to offset not being part of the old school families) and yet somehow is in a position of authority and power over PETER DYCKMAN CAMPBELL!?! No no, that simply cannot be! Man, I am endlessly fascinated by Pete. He's such a slimeball piece of poo poo and easily hate-able, but not in a way that I don't want to see him or get upset when he appears in a scene. On the contrary, it usually means things are gonna get super interesting.
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Nov 3, 2020 13:10
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Cool, I'll distract myself from one election with another. It's lined up so perfectly, almost like... it was planned from the start 
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Nov 3, 2020 14:55
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"Mr. Campbell...who cares?" is such a great moment. TV dramas, even in this dawning era of prestige TV, had set certain expectations for audiences, one of those being that a character holding a secret is sitting on a ticking timebomb that will, inevitably, bring ruin to them and have unimaginable fallout. Don has been cagey and apprehensive about his past all season; this big, kind of strange narrative hook in what's otherwise a pretty subdued show about a business and the interpersonal relationships of its employees. Pete Campbell, the closest thing we have to an antagonist, going to Cooper, a man we know little about but who commands immense respect within this world, with this revelatory information (in what we know to be the penultimate episode of the season) leads the viewer to believe that this is going to be explosive. And then...nothing. Cooper doesn't flinch. Don Draper is Don Draper, as far as Sterling Cooper is concerned. That's not to say that this secret will suddenly stop haunting Don - far from it - but it's not going to change anything about his circumstances. Pete's made his big play and Don didn't get fired, or whacked, or exiled. It's a moment to gently remind the audience "This is not that kind of show." Jerusalem posted:Man, I am endlessly fascinated by Pete. He's such a slimeball piece of poo poo and easily hate-able, but not in a way that I don't want to see him or get upset when he appears in a scene. On the contrary, it usually means things are gonna get super interesting. You are in for so, so many treats.
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Nov 3, 2020 16:02
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JethroMcB posted:"Mr. Campbell...who cares?" is such a great moment. It really, really is. Unbelievably satisfying, and extremely Sopranos-esque as far as brilliant anticlimaxes go.
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Nov 3, 2020 17:15
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Cooper is a ruthless bastard with horrible politics but he’s somehow hard not to love anyway. Robert Morse is such an appealing actor.
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Nov 3, 2020 18:22
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Escobarbarian posted:It really, really is. Unbelievably satisfying, and extremely Sopranos-esque as far as brilliant anticlimaxes go. Great insight into Burt as well - everything to him is purely down to cost-benefit and risk-reward. You can see him running the numbers in his head when Pete tells him about Don/Dick, and realizing that whether or not the accusation is true, if the firm (ie, Burt and Roger) can maintain their plausible deniability, the person known as Don Draper can continue printing money for Sterling Cooper, without any real risk to the firm itself.
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Nov 3, 2020 18:32
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JethroMcB posted:with this revelatory information (in what we know to be the penultimate episode of the season) leads the viewer to believe that this is going to be explosive. lurker2006 fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Nov 3, 2020 |
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Nov 3, 2020 20:29
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lurker2006 posted:When Pete showed his intention of revealing it to Cooper I immediately had the impression that it would be dismissed out of hand, it's not like Don lied about any credentials, you don't sever a money maker for what is essentially having a pen name. Don didn't even get hired, he just walked in and said he was.
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Nov 3, 2020 20:51
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Gaius Marius posted:Don didn't even get hired, he just walked in and said he was. In Traveler terms, he got a double six on his Carouse roll I don't know why I used a 1980s sci fi rpg analogy i'm sorry
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Nov 3, 2020 20:55
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lurker2006 posted:When Pete showed his intention of revealing it to Cooper I immediately had the impression that it would be dismissed out of hand, it's not like Don lied about any credentials, you don't sever a money maker for what is essentially having a pen name. Maybe it was more of an anticlimax in 2005 when american audiences might have assumed businessmen in the good old days had principles besides "make money"
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Nov 3, 2020 23:16
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The Klowner posted:Maybe it was more of an anticlimax in 2005 when american audiences might have assumed businessmen in the good old days had principles besides "make money" The way Bert presented it he made it pretty clear all powerful people have blood on their hands, who's going to care about a little thing like a name "assuming it were true" ? It was more a lesson to Pete about learning how fast your privilege will run out the moment you're trying to go up against peers and the people who are highly valued. Pete's only option was...report Don to the police, the FBI? Anything he did would make him persona non grata in the industry unless a small firm was looking for some blue blood legacy to dust off and present to their clients as their token "elite" and even then he'll just be forever denied the higher rungs on the ladder of prestige because no one wants him for his talent.
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Nov 3, 2020 23:26
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It's probably worth saying a business run by any other person and pete's plan mighta gone another way. But he happens to work for a japanophile, dedicated Randinite who fully buys into the whole gospel of selfishness.
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Nov 3, 2020 23:41
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Gaius Marius posted:It's probably worth saying a business run by any other person and pete's plan mighta gone another way. But he happens to work for a japanophile, dedicated Randinite who fully buys into the whole gospel of selfishness. I don't remember the whole plotline off the top of my head, but the issue does come back around when Pete tries to sign a defense contractor (I think?) that starts running background checks.
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Nov 4, 2020 02:05
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potee posted:I don't remember the whole plotline off the top of my head, but the issue does come back around when Pete tries to sign a defense contractor (I think?) that starts running background checks. North American Aviation. Everyone working on that one had to have clearance, because Pete was chasing literal nuclear weapons PR or something crazy Cold War like that. Almost no other client would even care that Don isn't who he says he is, if they found out. The DoD, thought is going to have Serious Problem with it, if North American had a guy that sounds like he was a character on the Americans show up.
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Nov 4, 2020 02:56
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potee posted:I don't remember the whole plotline off the top of my head, but the issue does come back around when Pete tries to sign a defense contractor (I think?) that starts running background checks. Yeah I didn't wanna start dropping black bars to make jerusalem think something was up. but it comes up when pete has to kill the north american air contract, but more interesting it comes up when they agree to suspend don as partner. he's looks like he's spoiling for a fight and cooper comes up and says "don don't you think there's a lot of thinks I know about you" or something like that. absolutely chilling he's been keeping that in lock for half a decade. bert copper is nothing if not a savvy business man
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Nov 4, 2020 02:59
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Gaius Marius posted:Yeah I didn't wanna start dropping black bars to make jerusalem think something was up. but it comes up when pete has to kill the north american air contract, but more interesting it comes up when they agree to suspend don as partner. That's completely wrong. Don refuses to sign the 3 year employee commitment contract that Hilton wants in S3. Cooper approaches Don in his office alone after one of Don's disappearing binges with the contract and basically tells him he has to sign saying "Would you say I know something about you Don?" and then saying "After all, who's really signing this contract anyways" with a smile on his face.
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Nov 4, 2020 03:07
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pentyne posted:That's completely wrong. gently caress, does it not come up at all at the end of season six? I knew I shouldn'tve paused my rewatch, but I don't wanna see lane die again.
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Nov 4, 2020 03:12
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pentyne posted:Don refuses to sign the 3 year employee commitment contract that Hilton wants in S3. Cooper approaches Don in his office alone after one of Don's disappearing binges with the contract and basically tells him he has to sign saying "Would you say I know something about you Don?" and then saying "After all, who's really signing this contract anyways" with a smile on his face. This is important to note just because Cooper is drawing two lines here - you can't just disappear on us without consequences, and I know exactly who you are. Very heavy stuff
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Nov 4, 2020 03:21
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Beamed posted:This is important to note just because Cooper is drawing two lines here - you can't just disappear on us without consequences, and I know exactly who you are. Very heavy stuff "Who cares?" and "Wouldn't you say I know something about you, Don?" are two of his best lines in the show. Bert is an evil bastard and I absolutely love it.
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Nov 4, 2020 03:53
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I never think of Bert being evil. He simply is, like a hurricane. A hurricane that hates shoes.
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Nov 4, 2020 04:26
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Sash! posted:I never think of Bert being evil. He simply is, like a hurricane. A hurricane that hates shoes. I always think of his scene in "Three Sundays," stepping on Sally's gum in his socks and immediately turning on the first secretary he sees smacking her lips - "YOU! Chewing your CUD..." He dismisses her before Duck swoops in with a napkin - thanks for getting Bert off the floor while they're working; just lose the gum, and go back to your desk. "He won't remember firing you."
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Nov 4, 2020 04:33
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bert's honestly got one of the saddest stories in the show. no balls, no family, and no real relationships we see. he dies with only his housekeeper as company. at least he got to see the moon landing.
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Nov 4, 2020 04:50
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I agree, Mad Men IS a cool show!
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Nov 4, 2020 08:18
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Mad Men numbers among shows I have watched.
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Nov 4, 2020 08:23
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I'm cool with a moratorium on spoilers. They did that in the Babylon 5 blind watch thread and had to regularly probate people trying to be cute by dropping hints though.
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Nov 4, 2020 08:26
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Yoshi Wins posted:
I actually love the fact that Don intentionally did it, because it is the one lie, above all else, that he keeps to himself. Every time it becomes known - Betty, Anna, Megan, the final Legion Hall - it never comes out that he switched the dog tags himself.
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Nov 4, 2020 08:36
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I think we need to be able to have spoiler chat. Mad Men is a giant tapestry where the pen someone uses in season 2 can change how we interpret their feelings in a scene in season 7 (fake example, but you get the idea). Everything connects to everything else, so sometimes people will think of a good point about a later episode or season, and it would be hard to remember to bring it up later, because there are so many good points to make.
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Nov 4, 2020 15:15
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Yeah, plus it’ll be cool for Jerusalem to read through the thread once he’s done!
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Nov 4, 2020 15:53
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It's gonna be really sad in the next episode when Russia drops the atomic bomb and the timeline diverges and the show just becomes another post apocalyptic survival story
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Nov 4, 2020 16:53
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Guys y'know if you wanna start a mad men spoiler thread you can just do it. It's not against the law. Jerusalem has already said he doesn't mind the black bars so I don't see why we shouldn't have one thread that's semi active instead of two threads getting two posts a week.
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Nov 4, 2020 16:57
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B5 thread is explicitly a maximum clean zone spoiler free thread, because it's a great show to experience that way. I don't think mad men leans on its plot developments in the same way, and there are lots of interesting interplays between themes that we should be able to discuss. Also I don't think jerusalem minds.
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Nov 4, 2020 20:13
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Yeah, Mad Men isn't Lost. Although you can spoil later developments, it isn't a show built around those kinds of plot mechanics. Like, I remember seeing episode descriptions for it that just say, "Don has a serious conversation with Betty." There's no episode where Roger and Bert get Red Wedding'ed in a Lucky Strike meeting. Negan doesn't murder Pete Campbell with a baseball bat in the season finale. I can think of maybe 3 or 4 "spoilers" for this show, and they're honestly things you could predict that don't make it any less interesting to watch.
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Nov 4, 2020 21:21
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There's still some things we need to be sure to spoil like when the [spoilers]chip n dip[/spoilers] comes back into play in the season six finale. I was blown away. It's when I knew weiner was a master of his craft.
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Nov 4, 2020 21:25
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 22:39 |
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Gaius Marius posted:There's still some things we need to be sure to spoil like when the [spoilers]chip n dip[/spoilers] comes back into play in the season six finale. I was blown away. It's when I knew weiner was a master of his craft. the Red Mowing
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Nov 4, 2020 21:58
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