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Season 3, Episode 2 - Love Among The Ruins Written by Cathryn Humphries & Matthew Weiner, Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter Roger Sterling posted:All I want to do is win. On a projector, Ann Margaret sings Bye Bye Birdie from the movie of the same name, watched in the conference room by a group of enraptured male executives and a mostly indifferent Peggy Olson. The projector is turned off and the men groan in protest, then get down to business. Pepsi is trying to market a new diet version called Patio to market towards women, and they want something that is essentially a frame-for-frame rip-off of Ann Margaret. All three men are excited for different reasons: Ken sees this as an in to getting an Account with Pepsi; Harry sees a chance to make a musical of his own (and be surrounded by pretty women); and Sal, perhaps a little stereotypically, just loves musicals in and of themselves. Peggy though is full of questions: are they just making a straight rip-off? Don't Pepsi realize that they're marketing towards men instead of women with this approach? Though she's gained a measure of respect and acceptance from her male colleagues over the last year or so, Peggy is still a woman in a male-dominated business in the early 1960s, and they largely dismiss or misunderstand her complaints. The worst of these comes from Harry, who mistakes her complaining that the ad should be aimed at "her" to happily and "helpfully" let her know that she isn't fat anymore. She takes a moment to absorb this, offers a mumbled,"Thanks," and then takes some pleasure in savaging Ann Margaret as a "25-year-old acting 14" before asking if they can at least make fun of the scenario? Ken, now Co-Head of Accounts and so a little more confident in pushing his own agenda, tells her not to be a prude, Ann Margaret is sexy and that it what the Client wants. She reminds him that clients don't always know what they want and need to be told so. His counter to that at least throws her somewhat of a bone: first they should land the client by giving them what they want, and THEN she can talk to them however she wants. So ends the meeting, with effectively their most senior (in rank) writer thoroughly unhappy while Art, Television and Accounts are all pleased as punch.   At the Draper Residence, Betty meanders around the kitchen in a half-daze looking for food, though she's still cognizant enough to scold Sally to put a chair away and remind Bobby to keep clear of the oven while he stirs a pot for her. Don enters the kitchen prepared to leave for work, but notices Betty staring at an empty box of Melba Toast and commenting that Carla must have eaten the last of it because Betty herself would have thrown out the box otherwise. She's tired, hungry and very pregnant and Don can at least do something about ONE of those things, admonishing her to eat some oatmeal even if only so the baby weighs something when it is born. He checks out the photographs on the kitchen counter, Betty wants to redecorate the house and is having trouble figuring out how, and suggests that Don take them to Tarrytown to do some shopping. Bobby and Sally immediately protest, the stores there "smell funny", but Don is right onboard with his wife (because he's not stupid and wants his wife to like him) and tells them they're going to all go and sit in an antique store and like it.... and then (because he's not stupid and wants his kids to like him) he'll take them to Carvel afterwards! He gives Betty a kiss and then is out the door, running late for work. Betty watches him go with a smile, then frowns at her children who are bunched up much to close to the oven again and - in perfect mom fashion - asks them what they're doing rather than tells them, wanting them to start figuring this poo poo out for themselves. Pete Campbell meanwhile is making his play for a big account to impress both the original partners and the new owners. Ken is pursuing Pepsi, but thanks to Bert Cooper's connections Pete is after Madison Square Garden, which wants to shift to a new venue currently held by Penn Station. His big gun in this meeting with the MSG people is Paul Kinsey, who so successfully managed the campaign to help get the Ravenswood nuclear power facility built without notable opposition or protest. Unfortunately for Pete, Paul has failed to mention something before this meeting: he's also deeply opposed to Madison Square Garden. He takes some pleasure in recounting the various opposition messages that have spread throughout the city, as well as the words of Ada Louise Huxtable, the New York Times' new (and first) Architecture Critic. Pete tries to get things back on track by cracking a joke (and reminding the Representatives of his own New York pedigree) about his great-great-grandfather turning his boat around if he knew how New York would one day be filled with "crybabies". This gets a laugh, but they soon get angry again when Paul, throwing aside even the pretence of professionalism, gets progressively angrier as he decries the short-sightedness of tearing down architectural wonders like Penn Station. Pete quickly attempts to spin this, assuring the leading representative - Edgar Raffit - that Paul is actually just working on finding an angle to better approach selling the Garden to New York. Raffit isn't interesting in hearing more of the protests and critiques he's already heard though, complaining that he's had enough of "beatniks" like Paul. New York, he insists, is the greatest city in the world and if Paul doesn't like that he can leave. This is legitimately, 100% the opposite of Paul's stance, of course. What Raffit means is,"if you don't like what I want to do to New York, gently caress off". He storms out and and the others follow, and a pissed off Pete makes the not unreasonable observation that Paul had no problem with putting a nuclear power plant on the East River but THIS is where he draws the line? Paul holds true to his values for once, indicating that maybe he has finally grown a backbone after all as he snaps about how the city has no memory and it is a mistake to do away with the great things of the past. That is until Pete sighs that he's going to have to tell Don about this, and suddenly Paul folds like a wet piece of paper, hurriedly assuring Pete that now that he's shown how much he cares the MSG people will trust him more when he helps them!!   When even Pete Campbell is disgusted by your lack of moral fortitude.... goddamn. With Carla presumably watching the kids, Betty has come into the city to meet with Don, greeted and walked to his office by Joan who is in awe of how well she has kept her figure despite her pregnancy, saying that only Wilma Flinstone pulled it off better. She can't help herself of course, bragging that Greg has warned her that come July 1st when he makes Chief Resident she had better "watch out". It's played for laughs, Joan makes it clear that she's amused at worst and eager at best for her own child, but given what we've seen of Greg in the past it is a little chilling to hear him "threatening" her with sex. As Betty is getting to Don's office though, Roger is entering Lane Pryce's, the Financial Officer having summoned he, Don and Cooper to see him and pass on some bad news: Campbell Soup's Great Britain branch is no longer a client of Putnam, Powell & Lowe. Cooper is astonished, not at this news but at the fact he was summoned to an office to hear it. He complains that if he had to walk to an office every time a client was lost he'd wear out the carpet, and leaves without asking to go or saying goodbye. Once the top man in the Agency, he's doing his best to come to terms with now being (voluntarily, he could easily resign) at somebody else's back and call, especially somebody like Pryce who somehow doesn't seem to understand the day-to-day operations of an Advertising Agency. Pryce doesn't call him back, simply explains to Don and Roger that the real issue isn't losing Campbell Soup in Great Britain but why they never even got a chance to get Campbell Soup in America? Roger, like Cooper no stranger to losing clients and also far too used to being in charge, isn't going to let the blame be dumped on them however, instead sarcastically asking if he should drag in Burt Peterson and fire him again? Don is amused, and also not willing to accept any blame when Pryce demands to know why there was never a meeting, reminding him that his job is to attend meetings, not set them. Frustrated now, Pryce snaps that everybody did their job perfectly if they wanted the end result to be failing to get a client. But Don and Roger aren't Hooker, they don't quake and immediately agree with their "superior" when called out. If anything, Roger simply ignores the accusation, pondering the suit of armor instead and asking if Pryce ever gets drunk and tries it on. Pryce is taken aback, unsure how to respond, and then over the intercom his secretary informs him that his wife has arrived and it shakes him from his mood. He agrees that there is no harm in losing a client so long as they get new business, and asks Don for five minutes. It seems that Betty is in the city because she and Don are going to dinner with Pryce and his wife, presumably beating Pete and Trudy to the punch. Don's secretary Allison - Joan finally found somebody to take the job, it seems - is excitedly trying out an old wives' tale to figure out the gender of Betty's baby, with Joan dangling a ring on a string over her pregnant belly. Roger and Don arrive and Allison quickly and efficiently moves straight into the office to collect Don's hat and coat, while Roger cheerfully greets an unimpressed Betty. She liked Roger in the past, she even tolerated the fact that he made a drunken pass at her, but divorcing Mona and marrying a 20-year-old? Yeah, she's not going to put up with that bullshit, even if Mona never told her that Don "agreed" Roger should leave his wife, his presence is just another unwelcome reminder of her own husband's infidelity. She and Don leave, and Roger is left in the awkward silence with an equally unimpressed Joan who eventually just leaves as well. After all, she slept with Roger but he didn't leave his wife for her and nor did she ever expect him to, believing that despite the infidelity he really did love Mona. As she goes, Roger offers a,"Good night Mrs. Harris" to her as she goes, the first specific confirmation that her own wedding has come and gone.   At dinner, Pryce's wife is thrilled to discover that the restaurant has the Chateau Lafite Rothschild '49 in their inventory, clearly having expected them to have a subpar wine collection as compared to London's restaurants. Betty, in a foul mood and certainly feeling every day of her third trimester, does her best to be her normal charming self, asking Mrs. Pryce - Rebecca - where they are living. They're in a furnished flat in Sutton Place, but while Lane is quick to talk up the size (3 bedrooms) and the spectacular view of the river, Rebecca can't help but point out through a forced smile that they are near the United Nations so "there's plenty of Africans". They ignore the quiet racism and join Lane in a toast to growing better with age, and Rebecca asks about schools in the area, Betty admitting that she's out of touch with the city. Without that line of conversation to fall back on, Rebecca settles for something that nobody can be out of touch with: how long have her and Don been together? They, of course, give different answers, with Don saying 10 years and Betty 9... does she count from marriage while he counts from when they started dating? Rebecca notes her and Lane have been together for 15 years (he is smart enough to let her speak about the marriage so he doesn't say the wrong thing like Don did), but only truly livens up when Betty asks if she misses London? "Oh God yes!" she declares rather too enthusiastically, before forcing that smile again and sardonically noting that what they've lost they have gained back... in insects. Feeling the awkwardness, Lane starts talking business, mentioning J. Walter Thompson opening an office in Caracas, but Don shuts that down by pointing out that the ladies probably aren't interested in this. Thankfully the meals arrive just then, giving them all something to concentrate on instead. There is none of the easygoing charm and back-and-forth that Don and Betty usually experience on business dinners, certainly nothing like they once had with Roger and Mona. Later that evening as Don drives them home, he admits that he didn't want to attend the dinner anymore than Betty did, while she acknowledges that the lovely dinner was just the cherry on top of the sundae of a rough day. When she offers nothing more, Don grunts at her to tell him what is bothering her now and NOT 3 seconds after he's finally dozed off in bed when they're home. Rolling down a window and lighting a cigarette (heavily pregnant, drinking wine and smoking cigarettes, it's the 60s all right), she explains that she has been having trouble getting her father on the phone, and finally spoke with her brother and got the bad news. Don asks if it was a stroke, but no it was a blow of a different sort: Gloria has left her father. Don shrugs that off, asking if she can blame Gloria for doing that, which irritates Betty: of COURSE she can blame her, she latched onto her father and then abandons him the moment things go bad? For Betty it's a double-edged sword, she didn't want Gloria in her father's life but she also didn't want her to leave him like this, plus it can't exactly be reassuring to her to hear her husband find nothing wrong with the idea of walking out of a relationship when things get tough. She's worried for her dad, and since she's in no condition to drive she thinks it would be a good idea for William to drive him to stay with them this weekend. Don of course is not happy to hear that, his weekends are when he gets to relax and instead it'll be a house full of a father-in-law he thinks is a son-of-a-bitch, nieces he thinks are a terror, and a brother-in-law he clearly dislikes. Betty insists it will be fine and they'll be gone by Saturday though, and now it is Don who is in a foul mood, asking why she even bothered to ask him since it's obvious she intends this to happen regardless. Betty's mood has improved though, she's been holding this in all day and now that it's out she feels better, now there is a plan of action and she feels like she's taking steps to help her father. So she ignores Don's sulking, instead pointing out that the baby is kicking and gesturing to him to put his hand on her belly to feel it. She will sleep well tonight, Don might be regretting not getting at least those 3 seconds of sleep before she woke him to dump this all on him once they were in bed instead. The next day, Roger is pouring himself a drink in his office (it's 5pm somewhere, right?) when his secretary buzzes him to let him know his family has arrived. He calls them in, and Margaret enters first, flinching before tolerating a greeting kiss from her dirtbag father who divorced her mother to marry somebody younger that his own daughter, and fought tooth and nail over giving Mona anything. She takes a seat, observing it is only 10:30am when he offers her a coffee "or....", though Margaret - keeping a civil face and tone - does ask for a Sherry. She also manages the tiniest of double-takes at the new additions to Roger's office, including the chiseled buttocks of a Greek statue only inches from where she sits. Margaret explains she asked her fiance Brooks to come late to spare him the embarrassment. Roger interprets this as Brooks being embarrassed that Roger is paying for the whole wedding, a wilful misinterpretation that allows him to both make Margaret uncomfortable AND remind her that her wedding is being financed entirely by him. Irritated by his smugness, and especially his admonishment that she is hurting Jane's feelings by not responding to her invitation to Dior, she asks if he REALLY wants her to say it out loud. Mona quickly intervenes, declaring that they've come up with a compromise where Roger and "June" host their own table at the wedding while Mona herself sits with the Hargroves. Roger isn't having any of that though, he gets "Siberia" while she gets to sit with the in-laws? Continuing to try and control the room, to dictate terms and refuse to accept any semblance of blame or guilt, Roger asks Margaret if she's worried about odd names and promises he can get Mona a date to fix that. He's surprised when Mona assures him she has her own date already, pondering openly what an old saddlebag like Bruce Pike would want with her. Finally Margaret has had enough and says "it" at last: she doesn't want Jane at her wedding. She forced herself to go to Jane's own wedding, in return she wants Jane nowhere near hers. Brooks arrives right at this moment, to both Margaret and Roger's relief. He greets Mona warmly with a kiss, then visibly holds back his disdain when Roger greets him and forces himself to shake his future father-in-law's hand and ask how he is. Roger says he isn't great, actually having the gall to play the victim even as he saunters around his office and acts like he hasn't got a single thing to feel bad about.   Brooks declines a drink and Roger happily declares he'll drink it for him, taking pleasure in reminding Mona they're not married anymore when she says his name with a warning tone over his drinking. Calmed somewhat by her fiance's arrival and not wanting to thrash out this messiness in front of him, Margaret looks at the assembled invitations and picks out the one she likes. Roger accepts it without a second thought, and as if the entire matter had been settled declares he will tell Jane the date to be prepared for. Yes, for Roger everything is fine and dandy, and the date of his daughter's wedding will be a great one, he's certain of it. Yes indeed, November 23rd, 1963 is sure to be a day to remember! In his office, Don knocks over his ashtray as he goes to rest his cigarette, quickly having to collect up the ash which of course is right when Allison buzzes him to let him know that Lane Pryce is there to see him. Cleaning up as quickly as he can, he tells her to send him in. Pryce enters in an unusually good mood, almost gliding through the door with a broad smile on his face as he informs Don how charming his wife is and how she lifted Rebecca's spirits. Don is quick to agree that the two seemed to hit it off, even though from what we saw they had an incredibly awkward and stilted dinner together. But after the bait comes the hook, Pryce wants Don to take Edgar Raffit out to lunch to help smooth over the trouble caused by "Peter and Paul". Don reminds Lane that Roger is the "lion tamer" of Sterling Cooper, and Pryce agrees that Roger will be there... but so will Don. He wants a full charm offensive, Raffit is the Vice President of Madison Square Garden and he desperately wants a Cyrano de Bergerac to make New York fall in love with his new sports venue, and Pryce sees Don as the man to do that. Don considers for a second, this has to be TODAY? Curious, Pryce asks if he has other plans and after a few moments hesitation Don agrees to do as requested (it didn't really feel like a "request"), telling him to have Campbell bring over the client folder. Satisfied, Pryce makes his exit, his own spirits seemingly lifted by having gotten Don and Roger both to do as told after yesterday being indifferent to his polite dressing down. The source of Don's hesitation has arrived at the Draper Residence: William and his wife Judy have brought their children and William and Betty's father Gene to the house for the weekend. Betty happily greets her father who looks well, standing tall and seemingly bright and fully cognizant of the world around him.... until Betty tells him she's prepared lunch and he pulls out a bag of steak sandwiches he insisted they stop and pick up to eat. Judy quietly lets Betty know that nobody else ate, while Gene goes around the table placing the sandwiches he purchased, chuckling as he notes he made sure to get Gloria a Chicken Parmesan. William, clearly fed up with this type of thing, grunts that they can mail it to her and then loudly, as if his father was stupid instead of just confused, yells over to him that Gloria went to Boca Raton and is never coming back. He rolls his eyes at Betty and tells her that their dad knows full well Gloria is gone and is just playing it up. Gene's face falls, struggling with the mixed emotions of the sudden memory, his son's disdain and the survival instinct to pretend he's fine. It's a sadly all too familiar look to anybody who has dealt with an elderly relative with dementia or other memory related issues, but for Betty it's still a fresh and raw nerve to be pressed on. Her mixed emotions aren't helped when Gloria is the one to approach Gene and remind him to take his medication with his meal. Even if Gene frowns and tries to pretend he didn't hear this reminder of his sickness, it's a reminder to Betty that this woman is the one who has been looking after HER father.  At Sterling Cooper, Peggy walks through the secretarial floor where she overhears Joan causing uproariously laughter from a group of visiting client representatives, all of whom are thoroughly charmed by her even when she pointedly lets them know that she is married. As Joan walks away to let Mr. Pryce know they've arrived, they all watch her go, unable to take their eyes off of her backside. Peggy watches this all, fascinated and as always filing it away for further consideration. Don is missing out on both Betty's home-made lunch and Gene's store-bought sandwiches for his lunch with Roger and Edgar Raffit. Don is there first, and when Roger arrives complaining about barely making it Don can't help but point out that he doesn't exactly have much else to do in a week other than attend these lunches. Roger is in the mood for complaining though, ordering a Gibson and then letting vent about how his family are bringing him to his knees. Yes, Roger legitimately still thinks of himself as the victim, he can't understand why his ex-wife and daughter are being so cold towards him and making life so difficult... don't they understand that everything would be easier if he just got his way all the time AND everybody had to love him for it!?! Don is not sympathetic, he may have cheated on his wife and almost lost his family... but he didn't, and he was glad about it. Roger gleefully gave up a 20+ year marriage and caused Don no end of grief in the process, and though they may still be amicable and even close in some matters on this Don feels no pity for him. That's okay though, Roger feels pity for himself enough for both of them, sulking that he's having a hard enough time "losing" his little girl to Brooks. With zero self-awareness, a complete absence of insight, he blames Mona for his troubles, claiming she is pouring poison in Margaret's ear (Mona was actually the one who suggested the compromise over Margaret wanting no Jane there at all). The only place he is truthful is when he admits to a stone-faced Don that he could give a crap about the wedding... he just wants to "win". Yes, he got millions of dollars, a 20-year-old new wife, a high-paying job that consists of going to lunch and drinking... and he still thinks he's the hero of this story being unfairly treated by a villainous ex-wife and ungrateful daughter. Happily for Don, Edgar Raffit arrives at this moment and the business can begin. Now Don and Roger are completely on the same page, welcoming Raffit and pushing past his reluctance to even take a seat. Roger butters him up, promises him they're here to help, acknowledging without apologizing for "one of our copywriters" making a mess (Roger likens it to Rietta Wallenda's death) and asking what they can do. When Raffit, seated now but still tense and wanting to move on, reminds Roger that THEY are supposed to tell him what to do, he smoothly passes the baton to Don, and Don of course runs with it. One of Paul's many mistakes is not knowing when to be tough and when to be conciliatory, a flaw that Don does not share. Rather than be apologetic or eager-to-please, Don cuts through the bullshit and reminds Raffit that the people who don't want Madison Square Garden to replace Penn Station... can't stop it. He dismisses Raffit complaining about the bad press, telling him that being concerned by public opinion shows a guilty conscience. Betraying a little too much of his own life philosophy, he notes that there is no point about feeling guilty for something that is going to happen anyway (like cheating on your wife?). The waiter arrives and Roger smoothly orders a couple of salads and has him leave the menus, a quiet show of confidence that Raffit is going to stick around to eat. Don continues weaving his spell, change is neither good nor bad, it simply is, and you can take the conversation in one of two ways: a tantrum over wanting things to remain the same, or a dance to celebrate something new. After getting in a little dig at Public Relations people understanding this but not being able to execute it, he puts it into as simple a term as he can: if you don't like the current conversation around Madison Square Garden and Penn Station... then change it. Now Raffit is trapped. Almost without thinking he picks up one of the menus, asking what that conversation will be. Don mines from his own life, talking about being in California where everything is new and clean and the people are filled with hope, while New York is in decay.... apart from Madison Square Garden, which is the beginning of a new city on a hill. "Just like that?" asks Raffit, clearly wanting (needing?) to believe, and Roger caps everything off by not agreeing but simply stating,"It's true, isn't it?" Spellbound, Raffit has to vent the last of his frustration out somewhere: he came to this meeting clearly fully intending to tell Sterling Cooper to gently caress off, and now has been converted, but he has to have at least a symbolic gesture of control. So he declares firmly that the "communist" can't be anywhere near his account, he won't have that. Don simply nods, unlike Roger with his family he knows how harmless it is to let somebody else think they have won, and he promises Raffit that he will handle the account personally.   And just like that, Don (and Roger, to be fair) have earned their keep and justified Pryce's directive to go and salvage the mess that Paul Kinsey made. Judy brings Gene into the living room to watch baseball, the kids quietly accepting that they lose their cartoons. He nestles onto the couch beside Sally, happy to be relaxing, unaware that while he is relegated off to the side with the children, the "adults" are in the next room to discuss his future. Betty is still hopeful, their father seems clear-headed and has a good appetite, and Judy agrees that he eats constantly. William bitterly cracks a joke about how he initially hoped he had eaten Gloria, and isn't having any of it when Betty demands to know how William didn't know for so long that she was gone. Testily he informs her that he visited several times and Gene lied to him but also refused to let him in. Finally, suspecting something was wrong, he let himself in and their dad went berserk at the truth no longer being able to be hidden. Judy, trying to play peacemaker, insists that the odd behavior and secrets were just a result of Gene being ashamed. Unfortunately for her, the clear closeness of her relationship with Betty's father is making Betty feel a mixture of guilt, jealousy and resentment, especially when William says Judy is the one who Gene responds to best. He's not above calling Judy out either though, not letting her get away with saying that he's mentally stable but just gets a little down in the dumps sometimes, insisting that he's often angry and frequently out of touch with reality. Sighing, whether because he knows how she'll react or because he doesn't really to suggest it either, he tells her that he's looked into a place called the Parker Home in New Brunswick, midway between his home and Betty's, and they could settle Gene into there. It's a fine place with everything he could want, plus doctors who can keep an eye on him. It is expensive, but rather than point out how rich Don is William says that he would finance it by selling his home. Betty, immediately suspicious, notes that this is very generous and manages to make it sound like an insult. She asks how Judy feels, and when Judy starts to remark that she knows she doesn't get a vote William quickly jumps in to note that this means Don doesn't either. This kicks them both off, as Betty accuses William of just wanting their father's home, straight up stating that his fondest wish is to go over there one day and find their father dying at the bottom of the stairs and using his dying words to gift the home to him. It is an atrocious thing to say, and a shocked Judy quickly gets up and leaves the room, wanting no part of this. William lets the cruel insult sit for a moment, and then acidly asks Betty what the alternative is if she won't accept this one. She doesn't have an alternative, just a unshakeable opinion that rest homes are for people who don't have families to look after them. William reminds her that he's a lonely old man who isn't well, and again her retort offers no solutions but does hammer him with guilt: he's a lonely old man who isn't well... who is his father. That evening Don returns home to a darkened house, the television left on to static. He spots a light on in the guest room and pops into the door, greeting his father-in-law who is sitting on the edge of the bed sarcastically thanking him for the "glitzy" accommodation. "You're an army man, Gene," responds Don,"Drop you socks and grab.... something...." Gene can't help but burst out laughing at this, a reminder that they both have an army past as well as enjoying Don realizing halfway through it wouldn't have been appropriate to finish off that particular saying. Don heads upstairs to the bedroom, noting how impressed he is that with a house this full she managed to get lights out and everybody in bed by 8:15pm. Betty doesn't greet him happily though but with a complaint, he should have hung up his coat up downstairs because now he's gonna get soot everywhere. Don takes a moment to consider his response, then wisely says nothing. He sits down on the edge of the bed and asks how Gene is, and she complains that her father isn't the problem... well he is, but it's causing a bigger problem with William. She explains that he wants to put Gene into an old folks' home, and isn't happy when Don admits that while it might not be pleasant it is the next logical step. Rather than argue the point though, she retreats to her previous accusation, that William is just pushing this because he wants the house to himself. She even claims that for all she knows Judy - kind, accommodating, and dedicated to helping Gene - is the one pushing him to do so. Raising noise and giggles from the kids causes Don to pull open the bedroom door and shout,"Cut it out!" which immediately snaps them into silence (they probably completely lost track of how noisy they were getting in their excitement at having cousins to stay), and then unknowingly echoes William by asking largely the same question he did earlier,"What does SHE want to do?" Instead of answering, she complains that he can't treat her this way given her pregnant condition (she says this while smoking and drinking wine right there in bed), and a weary Don realizes this is going to be a long talk and asks her if she wants anything from downstairs, preparing to take his coat back down. She tells him to just dump it on the chair though, the soot completely forgotten, wanting him to join her on the bed so she can vent out her frustrations. Wisely, he does as he is told. In Bobby and Sally's normal bedroom, William clambers up onto the top bunk, his wife Judy already in bed on the bottom one. For William of course the problem is Betty, just as he is the problem for her. He complains that she forgets that her and their father used to argue constantly, something she has completely forgotten now that she only has to see him a few times a year. He even takes the time to bitch about Don, pointing out that he has nobody from his own family attend the wedding, caught up on that fact much like Gene was when he ripped into Don on their visit to his home last season. Judy, like Don, wants to hear solutions or suggestions rather than sibling bitching, asking why they can't just move in with Gene and she'll take care of him. Betty was actually kinda right, Judy is pushing for them to have the house... in the sense that she wants them to move in so she can look after Gene and solve the current problem - she seems to be the only person actually thinking strictly about Gene's well-being first and foremost. William isn't having that though, he's 30-years-old an works for his father's business which is bad enough, to live with him would be intolerable and leave him feeling like a child. So a long night passes, probably with little sleep for either of the spouses of the Hofstadt children, while their father sleeps downstairs probably all too aware that on some level somebody is trying to decide HIS future without giving him a say in it... or maybe his condition has progressed far enough that he remains blissfully unaware?  
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Feb 17, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 13:35
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Free of all this domestic tension is Peggy Olson, who has hung out her underwear to dry on a clotheshorse in the kitchen before going to bed. She brushes her hair in the mirror, and looking at her reflection a combination of thoughts coalesce into a moment: Ann Margaret singing; Harry telling her she's not fat "anymore"; the men ogling Joan.... and she breaks into song. Allowing herself a girlish moment of fun, she mimics Ann Margaret herself, a 25-year-old pretending to be 14... and then stops straight, face blank for a moment before she goes back to brushing her hair. What is she thinking in this moment? Is she embarrassed to have gotten caught up in the moment like this? Upset that she doesn't match up to the fantasy ideal of Ann Margaret? Pissed off at herself for actually catering to that mindset in the first place? The reality of her single life in an apartment, underwear drip drying on a clotheshorse in the kitchen, is a far cry from the heady fantasy of exuberant youth on display in Bye Bye Birdie. The next morning at Sterling Cooper, Don holds a meeting with Pete, Paul and Harry on the Madison Square Garden account. Pete is excited, the Account was salvaged which is good for him even if he brought in the guy who almost tanked it, while Harry has already arranged a meeting with Raffit and his people to discuss television buys. Pete points out that Raffit has spoken a lot about radio... but also Kinsey. Don eyes up Paul, the "Radical" who Raffit commanded not be allowed on his Account. Don had promised he could leave everything to him, and he meant it, because he's going to take care of this now... by telling Paul that he's going to be working his rear end off on this Account but has to keep a low profile and make sure he's not seen by any of the MSG people at all. Paul simply nods, after he almost hosed everything up his morals and deep belief in a city's history have disappeared and he's going to keep his mouth shut and do the work. Allison buzzes in to let Don know that Mr. Pryce is there to see him, and Harry quickly opens the door for him, Pryce a little startled to realize Don was in the middle of a meeting. Harry can't help but tease and ask if they're going to be treated to some "new business" lunch, and Pryce allows a little smile before asking to speak to Don in private. He gives everyone else the nod and they quickly slip out of the room, Don asking Pryce if he can get him a drink. Pryce demurs, he has something he needs to let him know: they need to turn down Madison Square Garden. Don stands with a smile on his face, waiting for the punchline, waiting for the answering smile from Pryce and the laugh and the clap on the back... and it never comes. Pryce's excuses are nonsense, meaningless: there's a conflict, it'll be too expensive for too small an amount of billing; it'll take two years to complete etc. None of those make any sense: it's a one-of-a-kind sports stadium in New York City; it's a pipeline into the World's Fair; the connection to the Garden gives them ins into hotels, concerts, sports etc.... they could be looking at 30+ years of multiple business contracts coming out of this one initial account.... and they have to turn it down? All Pryce can offer back is that PPL isn't interested, and that he is sorry. Disgusted, Don reminds him that it was Pryce himself who told him (ordered him, essentially) to go out and get the account, and Don did just that. He did his job. Is Pryce saying that he told him to do that without checking with HIS boss first? Who is actually running Sterling Cooper? Pryce accepts this insult, accepting full responsibility for the debacle, but Don isn't done venting, which leads to a horrifying moment. Ranting about how this makes no sense, he demands to know what the hell PPL even bought Sterling Cooper for in the first place, and after several moments of quiet Pryce simply responds,"I don't know."   Don stares in stunned silence in response, because there is a TREMENDOUS amount to unpack from those three words, and it is hard to know where to start. "I don't know" is not the response of somebody in charge, not the words of a man who is master of his own fate. Pryce clearly has some standing, his wife's taste in wine alone indicates somebody from a well-off and cultured background, and yet here he is tucked away in the New York Office apparently ferrying messages back and forth to London. When he does make decisions or uses his authority, he appears to be used to being listened to... but also unsure how to deal with people who don't immediately kowtow to his will. He doesn't seem to be in the loop on important decisions: he wasn't privy to the interior workings that decided the purchase of Sterling Cooper, he doesn't know WHY Madison Square Garden was suddenly a no-go. Cooper was the one who got the intro to the Madison Square Garden people but Pryce himself obviously saw it as a potential windfall and took it upon himself to greenlight it... and he's now been shut down by somebody above him. What does that say? That he's been reprimanded for ideas above his station? That somebody better politically connected than him doesn't want to see him succeed? Who IS Lane Pryce? I would argue, based on what we've seen this episode and even a little of the last (Don's dismissal of his co-Heads of Accounts idea as "something he read in a management book")... that Lane Pryce is a middle-manager. A cultured one, sure, and one who is obviously paid extremely well... but a middle-manager nonetheless. He's somebody put in place to execute somebody else's will, somebody else's plans and strategies and directives. And in Sterling Cooper he is a terrible fit, because while he can deal with the likes of Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove and Harry Crane (and certainly Paul Kinsey) well enough, against the likes of Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Bert Cooper who are used to doing things their own way he is floundering.... and that can't last. He's supposed to be the final word, the man in charge, the man who says jump and everybody else says,"How high?" - he's too nice, too easily put off balance, too quick to capitulate or accept blame. Largely admirable qualities in a human being, it makes him chum at Sterling Cooper. If he isn't careful the likes of Roger and Cooper and even Don are going to walk all over him now that they know he isn't necessarily somebody with the authority to do anything about it: Roger and Don didn't want to go to that lunch but they did, but Pryce's triumph there was short-lived, because now Don at least knows that if he'd decided to refuse and go home to be with Betty and her family, it would have worked out fine. Pryce could be on track to be another Burt Peterson, in a position of authority but a subject of mockery and disdain for everybody in the office. Or maybe I'm reading far, far too much into three little words. But Don's reaction speaks volumes to me, he was looking to Pryce for answers and he didn't have any... and if he doesn't, then who the hell does? Quietly Don opens the door, a clear indication that the meeting is over, and one that Pryce doesn't dispute. He leaves, and Peggy is waiting outside by Allison's desk, asking to see him now. Frustrated, Don tells Allison to inform Pete that MSG is dead, then asks Peggy if this can wait... and unlike Pryce she doesn't meekly just go along but insists that no it absolutely cannot wait, and with a sigh he lets her in. She has Sal's storyboards, but he doesn't know what the Account is. She explains it is for Patio from Pepsi, and he cringes at the name, noting sarcastically that everybody wants a drink that sounds like a floor. He eyes up the storyboard, utterly bewildered by what he's seeing: shot after shot of a woman's face staring directly into a camera finished by a shot of her standing in front of a giant Patio can. Peggy explains it is from Bye Bye Birdie and is surprised when he says he hasn't seen it... he's seen everything! Soon they're in the conference room, watching Ann Margaret belting out her goodbyes directly into the camera. Don isn't enthralled like the other men were... but he is captured. Ann Margaret's beauty is undeniable, but it's more than that, it's her voice, the emotion, the belief that here is a woman who feels an uncomplicated, pure love for a man even in his absence. It doesn't hurt that the name is Bye Bye Birdie, the latter of course being his pet name for Betty. Her singing is a panacea that soothes him, especially in the wake of the disaster with Pryce just now. Peggy of course sees it differently, or perhaps only wants to see it differently to reject her mimicking Ann Margaret in the mirror, asking Don if he thinks Ann Margaret's voice is shrill. He doesn't comment on the voice, simply notes the purity of her throwing herself at the camera, how it "makes your heart hurt". So Peggy retreats into her earlier complaint, that the advertising is being pushed towards men rather than woman. Don is in a bad mood, he's just had it out with Pryce, lost a giant account, has troubles at home and now Peggy is pushing an agenda... but despite all that, he feels the need to explain, to educate or at least elucidate, possibly due entirely to the fact he knows Peggy is one of the few people who will understand or properly benefit from his teaching: this isn't about making women feel fat. They're chasing a mood, something that allows women to identify with the feeling the ad evokes, even if that is something as simple as being young, excited and desperate for a man. She can see his point, but what she can't get past is the same problem she has had from the start, one she is sadly uniquely placed in the Agency to understand even better than Don: they're still playing to a male fantasy rather than a female one. Don has had enough though, he doesn't have the energy to run a back-and-forth with her, especially a particularly low moment where he's arguably more disillusioned in his own career than she is in hers. Male fantasy or female fantasy, the simple fact is that when men want a woman, women want to be that woman. It's a cynical take, and one that bites a little too close to home for her considering her mirror performance. That thought fresh in her mind, she can't maintain eye contact as she complains that if this was a movie or play they were making they'd be embarrassed to be doing something so phony, but he cuts her right off there. They're NOT making a movie or a play, she is NOT an artist but a problem solver. It's a cruel thing to say, especially since he considers himself more artist than technician normally, but he's low right now and desperate to just go home. He does however offer one slight bit of kindness as he leaves the room: she doesn't need to try and make everything perfect every time... she can leave some of her tools in the toolbox.   As the working day ends, Peggy gets into a crowded elevator to head home, but not before one more person gets in as well... Roger Sterling. She has no reason to expect any interaction with him outside of the polite nothings you share with any other person in an elevator, and indeed at first he offers just that, asking if she is heading home. But then out of nowhere he starts to talk to her, utterly terrifying her since outside of her asking for Freddy's office they've never really interacted at all before, at least not since she stopped being a secretary. He notes that she is the only one "without that stupid look on your face", utterly perplexing her, then asks her what she would do to have her father at her wedding. "My father passed away," she manages to get out eventually, and Roger nods as if that has proved his point, noting that she's exactly right to agree with him that she would do ANYTHING to have her father at her wedding. With that the elevator reaches the bottom and Roger - living in his own world even when in the same enclosed space as other people, heads off satisfied that he's totally in the right and it is his daughter who is the bad person for being mad at him for divorcing her mother in favor of a woman younger than her... while Peggy has no goddamn idea what she was just a part of. Leaving the subway on her way home, she passes a busy bar. Looking in at all the gathered people, laughing and enjoy themselves, she goes against her natural instinct and enters. Moving through the crowd, she stops in the first gap she finds and actually greets a man openly herself rather than wait for anybody to speak to her. In response she gets a nod and nothing else, so she moves on, finding a tiny gap to stand at the bar. She tries again with the two men next to her, this time making a joke of it by saying it is so crowded she feels like she is on the subway. This gets a laugh, and one of the men - a young, skinny guy - notes her lack of drink and points it out. She smiles shyly and turns her head away, hoping he reads the signal as a desire for him to keep talking. Don arrives home and finds Gene playing solitaire at the kitchen table, while William is working a plunger on the sink, Judy is laying out the dishes on the table, and the kids are all watching television in the living room. He asks where Betty is and Sally says she's upstairs, but when he heads for the stairs he finds her coming down them in her coat, informing him she's going out for a bucket of chicken. No fool, he can tell something is wrong and asks her what it is, and she begins to break down, saying that she is a horrible daughter. He's quick to deny that, but he wants to know WHY she thinks that. It seems that William ended up taking Judy's advice after a long sleepless night after all, and now he's told Betty there are only two options: Gene goes into a home or they move into Gene's house and Judy becomes his nurse. Judy. The daughter-in-law. Taking care of Betty's father. While Betty stays in her own home doing nothing. Don, who has had an absolute poo poo of a day, listens to his tearful, pregnant wife talking about how her younger brother is laying down the law... and he's not loving having it. He bellows out for William, then tell Betty to wait a minute before getting the chicken. Walking back to the kitchen, he asks to speak to William for a minute and leads him into his study, William awkwardly leaving the plunger behind. Inside the study, William is all smiles and pointless small talk about the globe on Don's desk, before finally addressing the elephant in the room and trying to undercut any argument Don might make or hostility he might have by assuring him that they're all upset about this but it's the way things have to be. He even jokes that the lesson he has learned is to not get old, expecting... what? A shared moment between young(ish) men? A laugh and acknowledgement that some things have to be some ways? Don Draper spends every day convincing people to do what he wants them to do. Today he saw firsthand that the man supposedly in charge of him has no idea what is going on in the Agency. Today he "had" to be cruel to his best copywriter and puncture some of her romantic notions about the reality of her job. But one thing he is not going to do is let her wife's little brother have his way and make her sad, regardless of what he feels about it making sense to at least consider a rest home for Gene. So instead, he TELLS William what is going to happen. He doesn't make a pitch. He doesn't sell William on the idea. He TELLS him. William will support Gene financially, but Don will take Gene into his own home and let him live there to keep Betty happy. Gene's own home will remain untouched (again, to keep Betty happy), and that is that. William, trying to keep his cool but clearly deeply intimidated by Don (which Don has always known) tries to mumble out that he'll take it under consideration. But this isn't a debate. Don repeats himself, William is going to go outside and tell Betty and Judy that this is what William himself wants. The final "gently caress you" cherry on this poo poo sundae he is dishing up William is to sneer as he tells William that they are going to "pretend that you did the right thing on your own", a statement that of course is deeply ironic coming from Don Draper. That doesn't matter in this moment though. It doesn't matter whether Judy is genuine or has ulterior motives. It doesn't matter if William actually wants the house or hates his father or loves him or is out for money or anything else. What matters is that Don doesn't want his wife to be upset, and he doesn't want to put up with anybody trying to play him even if only by extension of his marriage to Betty. When William tries to snap back that Gene is HIS father, Don doesn't care, simply pointing out that William's father is in Don's home. A home he wants William out of tonight, AND he's going to leave the Lincoln behind so Gene can still get himself around. William is dazed by these extra conditions, forgetting momentarily his outrage as he points out he can't get home without the car, unknowingly acknowledging that he is going to do as he is told and go. Don tells him how to get to Penn Station so he can take the train home, noting that one leaves in two hours and thus adding even more time pressure on William to get out, leaving him no further time to think. All William can do now is try and salvage some dignity by pretending he hasn't just utterly capitulated to another man's will, sneering back that if Don wants Gene (he doesn't), he's got him (he does). Don doesn't care though, let him have his little empty gesture, Don is getting what he wants which is a happy wife and a mostly quiet home back.   Don leaves the study, sitting down at the table across from Gene and reading his newspaper, watching as William takes Judy and Betty aside and informs them on "his" decision. Judy looks stunned, while Betty immediately turns to look at her husband and father... but mostly at her husband, because she knows exactly whose idea this really was, and the love and gratitude radiates from her at knowing Don rode to her defense regardless of what the complicated extra reasons behind that decision were. The message given, all three join Don at the table to address Gene. He assumes it is about dinner, but Betty explains that William has something to say, letting him take the lead, gracious in victory because now she can afford to be. Gene's guard is immediately up when William starts talking about how they've been trying to figure out how to help him live, but he's caught by surprise when Betty explains she and Don want him to live with them. He promises her that he's not that blue, but she promises him that they're only talking about a vacation, a chance to get away and refresh himself. When he gets suspicious about "the animals running the zoo" William adds on that the house isn't being sold and he'll still have his car with him, and then Judy proves her worth yet again by approaching and rubbing his shoulder, easing him into the idea by noting he had been wanting to get out of town, and this way he also gets to spend time with the kids. He looks around at his gathered family, saying all the right things and offering him love and support, and he's more than cognizant enough to hate that he's come to a point in his life where this is needed. "I should've been the first to go," he says at last, shocking Betty who tells him not to say such things. William, already feeling emasculated by Don, can't take seeing his father (who he simultaneously loves, respects, despises and pities) reduced like this and quickly calls out to the girls to pack their things, saying they have to go. He strides out of the kitchen, leaving behind Judy who seems reluctant to leave Gene's side. Maybe there is some truth to Betty's suspicions of her, but on the face of it she does appear to be exactly what she seems to be: a very nice and devoted daughter-in-law who wants her father-in-law to be okay. Betty and the skinny young man have upgraded from the bar to a booth, where she drinks and he scoffs down a burger as they try to talk over the loud music. He is graduating from Brooklyn College soon, though he doesn't quite hear her over the din asking what he studies. He offers her some chips and laughs when she jokes about him biting her hand off, admitting that he needs to eat all the time, in fact his mom says he's still growing. She smiles and adjusts her fringe at that, even if she must be cringing to hear a young man she's trying to pick up in a bar talking about his mommy. Unknowingly answering her earlier question as he tries to change the subject, he explains he started in Pre-Law but switched to Engineering because there were more jobs... if they're going to be replaced by machines he might as well be the guy who makes them. She tries a joke of her own that he doesn't get about becoming a robot, so he asks if she's in school, and when she lights up and tells him she works at an ad agency in Manhattan he assumes she is a secretary. She lets that sit for a few moments, thinking about whether to correct him, and instead settles on telling him she works for a jerk, still pissed at Don for telling her something she must know he doesn't truly believe himself: that they're simply problem solving mechanics rather than artists. Her date's companions pop over to ask their friend if he has cab fare to cover his own trip home since they're leaving, confusing him as he reminds them that he lives nearby (I assume this was their attempt to slip him cash for a hotel as a solid? Or maybe they just wanted Betty to know it wouldn't be far to go if she did decide to go home with him?). Once they're gone, Betty decides to take the initiative, grabbing his burger from him and taking a bite herself. He's surprised and pleased, finding the sharing of the food arousing in and of itself. Not long after they're at his place around the corner, making out and petting like crazy. This time she isn't going to make her wannabe lover pitch his argument for letting him consummate, but she does have a condition... does he have a condom? He doesn't, of course, and when he tries to go back to kissing him she stops him, telling him that they can't, knowing all too well what can result from even a single encounter without protection. Thankfully he's not like Greg, when she says no he takes it seriously and stops immediately even though he clearly doesn't want to. Not sure how to proceed now they both know this can't go anywhere, he comments on how late it has gotten, either as a prod for her to leave or just to give her an excuse to go if she's uncomfortable staying. Instead she surprises him by pointing out that just because they can't have penetrative sex... doesn't mean there aren't OTHER things they could do instead. Almost immediately he's back on her again, and she reciprocates eagerly now that the boundaries have been definitively set. In bed, Betty is startled awake by the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and a siren in the far distance. She wakes Don when she hears a loud thump, asking if he heard it. He heads down the stairs, Betty following in his wake, and they're alarmed to see Gene in his pajamas at the kitchen sink, hurriedly pouring bottles of alcohol down the sink as he looks nervously out the window in the direction of the sirens. "The heat is on!" he whispers to Don when he calls him by name,"We gotta get rid of this stuff!" Don and Betty stare, perhaps for the first time realizing the enormity of their decision to take Gene in. The sound of the sirens triggered a time and place to him, he's back in prohibition days, dumping out illegal booze before the cops burst in and arrest them all. Who knows what sound might trigger what memory next time? Peggy wakes up in the fold-out bed she and Brooklyn College boy are sleeping in. Their "sex" done, he is dead to the world but she is wide awake and ready to go. Quietly she sits up and gets dressed, moving for the door only to find he has woken up and is staring at her. He asks if she's going and she explains she has to be at work in a few hours, and adorably he asks if she wants to get breakfast first, and she has to remind him that it's the middle of the night. He asks where she works again and she offers back Madison Avenue, which doesn't exactly narrow things down. Realizing he's not going to get any more out of her, he instead makes an offer: he hangs out at the bar regularly. Grasping his meaning immediately - if you want to do this again, I'm down... and maybe I'll have a condom next time! - she smiles and offers a little non-committal,"Oh... okay" that doesn't reject him but also promise nothing. She moves to the door, where she faces the nightmare scenario of it not opening no matter how she turns the lock, all while he's watching. He has to explain to her the trick to get it open. She manages to get through this and slips through the door and, presumably, out of his life forever. She needed this, a chance to see herself as desirable and to get what pleasure she could from the encounter, but now she's ready to move on and get back to normal. Her departing words to see him say a lot: "This was fun."   Don, Betty, Bobby and Gene attend Sally's schools Field Days for the Maypole Ceremony. A small boy struggles through a speech and then the teacher leads Sally's class through the dance. The parents are charmed, some filming, some clapping along, all of them enjoying seeing their children perform. But as they watch, Don finds his eyes drawn to the teacher, wearing flowers in her hair and dancing barefoot in the grass with the others. Lowering his drink to the ground, he lets his fingers trace over the same grass she dances on, staring at her, his daughter forgotten for the moment. He told Sal to "limit your exposure" and yet here he is now, fantasizing about a school teacher while sitting next to his pregnant wife, accompanied by his son and his father-in-law. Maybe he is thinking more of his other words, the ones to Edgar Raffit: that if something is going to happen, why feel guilty about it? The dance done, Sally races to her father to ask if he saw her dance, and he promises that he did and she was great (when he wasn't ogling her teacher). A voice calls out to them and Betty explains that Cindy's father wants to get their photo. So they all gather together, Gene included, and have their photo taken... for all the world the picture-perfect family. The weekend over, Don returns to work and spots Peggy typing away at her desk. She spots him looking at looks back, and he stares for a few seconds, perhaps considering what he said to her and regretting it, perhaps curious to see how she might react. She simply stares, not smiling but also not frowning, and he isn't quite sure how to react to that. He moves on, giving his coat and hat to Allison. Peggy does join him now, but not to confront him or debate him, she's carrying a folder and seems to have assumed that he was staring because he wanted to talk business, asking if he wants to talk about Pampers. He agrees and leads her into the office, and as she follows she has smallest little smug look on her face. Her "sex" with the college kid was fun enough and a stress relief, but perhaps more than that was the fact she was able to openly refer to her Boss as a jerk. Once he was Mr. Draper, then Don, now he's a jerk. Peggy has come to an understanding of sorts after Don "betrayed" her by telling her she (they?) weren't artists: he's nothing special. She respects him, his talent and ability and of course the fact that he appreciates her own (and of course the sheer gratitude for what he told her while she was in psychiatric care). But he's also not the be-all and end-all of existence. She doesn't have to look to him as a role model, think like he thinks, expect more from him than any other. He's... a man. Both in the sense of not being a God but also in his gender, and all the limitations that come with it alongside the benefits. Understanding that is much like a son or daughter who for the first time realizes their parents aren't omniscient but flawed human beings like the rest of us. Betty is seeing the worst of that in her father, but Peggy's father is dead and Don was perhaps the closest thing she had. But he's also just a man, and that's fine, because she knows how to deal with men AND do her job just fine. Don, on the other hand, seems slightly confused about Peggy's complete normalcy, the last thing he really expected. He's always known how to deal with people, as his control of Raffit and his domination of William demonstrated, but Peggy just keeps on surprising him. He still isn't entirely sure what to make of her.... just like Bryce couldn't answer the questions about PPL, when it comes to Peggy, Don may have to admit that he simply doesn't know.  Episode Index Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Feb 17, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 13:36
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poo poo yeah I can post this now: https://youtu.be/Pvo-4kCLAjM and the full Jon and January version: https://youtu.be/FV-IbKB5dlo
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Feb 16, 2021 13:51
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Oh man that's great, Pete taking Hildy's jacket was wonderful, but Elizabeth Moss was the best  In regards to the episode, I loving love how Pryce just seems to dance/float into Don's office to talk up how wonderful the awful, stilted and awkward dinner between them was, it seemed so weirdly out of place for how he normally acts in his scenes.
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Feb 16, 2021 14:04
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Escobarbarian posted:poo poo yeah I can post this now: Never seen this version. Fun to see the very stark differences between above and below the lines people.
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Feb 16, 2021 14:53
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Gene's admission that he should've died first is such a gutpunch moment of clarity. I've had grandparents who have shared that sentiment. It makes me believe that in his moments of clarity he does remember the things he does, which must be quite the assault on his pride.
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Feb 16, 2021 15:24
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Jerusalem posted:Oh man that's great, Pete taking Hildy's jacket was wonderful, but Elizabeth Moss was the best Harris did such an amazing job of playing a born and bred English gentlemen (in the social sense, not actual noble) dropped into the heart of modern America and just completely loving baffled at how to talk to all these people on a personal level. Everything beyond simple business conversations is beyond him because he came up in the English boarding school-Oxbridge system and people like Don, Roger, or even Pete(his American equivalent more or less) are completely beyond his ability to understand.
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Feb 16, 2021 15:33
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Catching up with the thread and read your S3E1 recap Jerusalem, so going off that, felt like making a post...about management I've only a glancing first person experience with it, but I love this show and there's a lot of good stuff about it relating to Mad Men. A lot of takes from people that do it professional approving of the show's take on it. In fact, its kinda surprising how much they think Mad Men gets it right regarding visimillitude, until I realized how each one used it as a jumping off point for their ultimate vision of proper management techniques. Reaching into the 20th Century, there had been a long tradition of popular management techniques using the language of science and progress to help businesses earn more money. Here's a little information it, and how it changes roughly when the show's timeline begins: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_management/management.html More human factors are emphasized, a turn towards the power of individuals to effect changes, mirroring sociology and other developments present at the time. Like we'll see later, capitalism has a habit of taking new cultural changes, and using it to change itself for its own benefit. A slight change in its DNA so that it could itself viable and keep itself expressing. So a renewed emphasis on the individual, and their ability to effect change. Smack dab when Don Draper is really making his mark. Don is a man built for sales. Handsome, in a carefully constructed way (I keep on thinking about this thing I heard Sarah Silverman say, that she had met John Hamm before he got the show, and didn't even think he was really good looking, he just seemed like a regular dude), based on the way he carries himself, his supreme confidence, his intelligence, and his general reticience. Don's a cypher, due to a combination of ambition, fear, and unrealized self actualization, and that makes him supremely good at business. There's a frankly amazing series of essays on the Office that views it thru the lens of management that I have to cite here (and its worth reading the whole series by the way), because I think its pretty illuminating regarding Don: "Of all organization men, the true executive is the one who remains most suspicious of The Organization. If there is one thing that characterizes him, it is a fierce desire to control his own destiny and, deep down, he resents yielding that control to The Organization, no matter how velvety its grip… he wants to dominate, not be dominated…Many people from the great reaches of middle management can become true believers in The Organization…But the most able are not vouchsafed this solace." https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ That is from a book written in the 1950s, that the author says perfectly describes how corporations work to the present day, and I am inclined to agree with. Taking the pretty well known Peter Principle, that people rise up in a business to their level of incompetence, the author, Whyte, adds another layer, saying that occurring is purposeful, and it is used to create a middle layer of "Organization Men" that can be jettisoned or manipulated according to the real masters, the executives actually running the companies. That's what's happening with Pete and Ken. Organization Men (the author of the article uses "Clueless" for them, lol, as more biting takes on management techniques occur past the 1960s) who might buy into idea of their business and working for its benefit, while all the real benefits accrue upwards. There is a way out for these types, become a necessarily exploitative executive. Or as Hugh Macleod later writes, a "Sociopath". Putting aside most of the other things that word suggests, its a handy way to focus on the utter dedication to one's own benefit that we tend to see in business organization in its most upper levels. As executives then exploit these clueless as much as they can, they then can decide to fire them, or even sell their company to make as much as money as possible, which inevitably tends to happen. Also its a funnier way to put it. Ken seems to not be clueless, but almost reach Don's level of awareness regarding his role (Don's suspicion and inabilty to buy into the illusion of corporate communality is ironically why he's so sought after by real sociopaths). Pete...not so much. Because of his easily visible gaping psychological needs, he is easily exploited to generate more revenues from sociopaths, and be happy to do so as long as he views the company as a paternal figure, instead of an exploitative one. The people most likely to be hosed by an organization are the ones that place the most trust and loyalty in it, instead of seeing it as a stepping stone, or something to be exploited in turn. Which is a pretty Marxist take as Karl was taking about workers only being able to offer their bodies were doomed to have those bodies broken in turn (I'm still reading Kapital, so you can definitely correct me there). In fact all of the above is just from reading random poo poo, its just some thoughts I had. Last thing, because I've written enough (tho I might return to this later), there is another layer below Sociopaths and Clueless. That's Losers. People who have no buy in to the idea of an organization, but are just there to get paid and leave. They know its bullshit, but also know their work is replaceable and their worth is diminutive. Their live is outside the office, and perhaps because of this, Hugh Macleod wrote, they are much more likely to be promoted to the sociopath level than the clueless, due their cynical view of the whole thing, instead of one more delusional. Maybe Ken's that. Dunno.
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Feb 16, 2021 17:01
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I think there's a lot going on with those shots of Don looking at Sally's teacher dancing in the grass in bare feet. There's no reason that Miss Farrell needs to be in bare feet. Even the children are wearing shoes. She's in bare feet because she wants to be. She just wants to enjoy the feeling of the grass on her feet. This is a stark contrast to how the parents present themselves. The men are all wearing suits... to watch their children dance around a maypole. It seems odd to a contemporary viewer for everyone to be so formal at a fun event for the kids. The WASPs of the 60s were uptight as hell. One reason that the show focuses on them is that they demonstrate how much our culture changed following the 60s. The trends were towards more openness, more authenticity, and less formality. Don and the other parents are of the "Silent" generation, and rarely expressed themselves, seeming very closed off and restricted compared to how later generations would be (starting with the Baby Boomers, but Gen X, Millenials, and Zoomers are also a lot more expressive and informal than the Silent generation). I think Don immediately picks up on Miss Farrell being a different kind of person than he's used to meeting based on her dancing around in bare feet just because she wants to. And I also think that he envies the way that she freely allows herself to enjoy the pleasant feeling of grass on her feet. When he reaches down and touches the grass, he may be thinking, "Why don't I just enjoy the feeling of the grass?" I disagree about Betty's reaction to finding out that Don decided Gene would be living with them. To me, her expression looks pained. Her brow knits and the corners of her mouth tug downwards. And there's a reaction shot of Don blinking several times in surprise. It looks like he didn't get the reaction he expected out of this gesture. I think you're right about Betty's guilt over feeling like an inferior caregiver compared to Judy. Betty knows she's "supposed to" be the one taking care of Gene. But it's just too much right now. She's about to bring a newborn into a marriage that's hanging on by a thread. She's trying to resolve this internal dilemma, and Don, who we know from season 1 sees Betty as this great caregiver, takes it upon himself to give her the opportunity to care for her ailing father. But if Betty wanted Gene to live with them, she would have said so in her one-on-one conversation with William. There would be no reason not to. The truth is, she doesn't feel like she can handle watching her father's sad decline when she's about to have her hands completely full with a newborn. Don doesn't fully grasp how tough and painful this will be for Betty. He never watched a relative grow old and die, the way Betty watched her mother die of cancer. So he makes a wrong assumption about how this will feel for Betty. I think Don's line to Lane, "you didn't check with your boss" is meant to apply to this storyline as well. Don thinks he's doing Betty a big favor, but what he really needed to do was have a comforting conversation with her. Tell her that it's OK that she's not in a good position to care for her father right now. It's true. Infants need an incredible amount of attention. But Don doesn't think to do this because talking about feelings is against his nature. It doesn't even occur to him to ask Betty, "Hey, how are you doing? What are you feeling right now?" Peggy is slowly getting over her PTSD. Paul's friend from early in season 2, who she kisses at Paul's party, was quite a bit more handsome than the kid from the bar, and he seemed like a better conversationalist too. But she only wanted to kiss him, and she went the entirety of season 2 without any other sexual contact at all. Sex has been too scary to be something she wants to do at all. I think this goofy kid was perfect for what she was looking for--a completely non-threatening, non-penetrative, one off sexual encounter. She's slowly building herself back up, telling herself, "It's OK. Sex can be good and doesn't have to lead to something terrible. I can do this." Peggy has been pretty good at piloting her emotional ship, and she's making steady progress towards eventually being able to have a normal sex life after the trauma of having Pete's baby.
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Feb 16, 2021 18:14
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God drat it I love Jared Harris. Every scene he's in is just a delight. He's my favorite—Escobarbarian posted:and the full Jon and January version: —friendship with Harris ended. Jon Hamm is my husbando now
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Feb 16, 2021 18:28
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Jerusalem posted:Peggy explains it is from Bye Bye Birdie and is surprised when he says he hasn't seen it... he's seen everything! I love the cut between these two scenes. Maybe there's something textual that makes this cut even better that I'm not aware of, but I really like the quick transition from grumpy, irritated Don to enchanted and soothed Don. It suggests a fun contrast to Don's cynical nature about media, which is prominently featured in the scenes that bookend his viewing of the song. As self-aware and cynical about culture as he is, despite knowing how he is being manipulated, even he allows himself to be taken in by a cute girl with a poppy tune.
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Feb 16, 2021 18:47
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I definitely got the vibe that Betty was super pleased with Dons decision vis-a-vis Gene. She might hate what’s happening to him, but she cares a lot, and it shows. I’m surprised you saw it as a pained expression! I agree with your take, Yoshi, on the Kindergarten teacher though. Don isn’t entirely fantasizing about her, he’s shocked and taken aback at how liberated she looks compared to him, who, as we know, is about as capable of being open as a sealed bank vault.
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Feb 16, 2021 20:13
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Alright, well, I've googled around and it seems like most people see that look as a look of love. It looks pretty pained to me!
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Feb 16, 2021 23:25
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2/3rds divorce rate comes from somewhere.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:33
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Yoshi Wins posted:Alright, well, I've googled around and it seems like most people see that look as a look of love. It looks pretty pained to me! I really like your take on it even if I personally read it as a grateful, loving look from her. It's a pretty interesting way to think about the situation, and even though I believe Betty is happy that Don stepped up for her like this I do think there is a lot to be said about the fact that Don's decision is largely built out of - as usual - self-interest. I love the look on his face in the kitchen later that night when he realizes that Gene's condition is a loss worse than he thought and seems to have realized what he has taken on for the short term benefit of telling William to gently caress off/making his pregnant wife happy/getting some peace and quiet. Yoshi Wins posted:I think Don immediately picks up on Miss Farrell being a different kind of person than he's used to meeting based on her dancing around in bare feet just because she wants to. And I also think that he envies the way that she freely allows herself to enjoy the pleasant feeling of grass on her feet. When he reaches down and touches the grass, he may be thinking, "Why don't I just enjoy the feeling of the grass?" Also really enjoy this way of thinking about it too. To be honest, I've gotten so used to the men of the time wearing suits that it didn't even really occur to me how deeply uncomfortable it must be to be sitting outside on a Spring day in such a tight, constricting, heavy material. Shageletic posted:Pete...not so much. Because of his easily visible gaping psychological needs, he is easily exploited to generate more revenues from sociopaths, and be happy to do so as long as he views the company as a paternal figure, instead of an exploitative one. The people most likely to be hosed by an organization are the ones that place the most trust and loyalty in it, instead of seeing it as a stepping stone, or something to be exploited in turn. Oh for sure, Pete is desperate to be loved and accepted and keeps looking for an exterior source, and though he's a weaselly little creep himself it's pretty heartbreaking to see how quickly he forgets about his issues when he gets even the slightest sign of approval or acceptance. Like he did in the first episode when he shows up in Don's office to complain and ends up reveling in being allowed to hang out with the "adults" who have acknowledged him and even praised him for being a "true Yankee" they can rely on.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:57
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Just watched the ep and I saw it as a loving look too. Also I had completely forgotten that Sally’s teacher is played by Abigail Spencer from Rectify and Timeless!
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Feb 17, 2021 01:07
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The Peggy mirror scene is tremendously sad, and I don't know exactly why. Like Jerusalem said, there's...so many potential reads on it, so much going on with the character in that moment. Something worthwhile to keep open in a browser tab: The Life Magazine Archives on Google Books. Very useful both to get a sense of what actual advertising of the era looked like (By '63 the industry has absorbed the lessons of the VW campaign and is moving towards bold images with a simple message,) and to check in on contemporary coverage of the events of the era - especially as the series becomes less generically 'It sure is 1960something!' and starts effectively timestamping every episode.
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Feb 17, 2021 01:40
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Escobarbarian posted:poo poo yeah I can post this now: I love this. It's easy to forget how goofy and comedic Jon Hamm can be, though he has excellent timing with his funny bits on Mad Men. The first time I saw him was a sort of wooden appearance on Gilmore Girls, and I never would have thought he could make me laugh.
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Feb 17, 2021 05:45
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I've resisted looking it up for fear of accidental spoilers, but I remember back when Mad Men was airing John Hamm did a comedy bit on a show like SNL or something that I believe was titled,"Don Draper's Guide to Dressing Well" and it basically consisted of a very confident John Hamm explaining that step 1 was being extremely attractive and looking good in evening wear, step 2 was being extremely attractive and looking good in casual wear, and step three was being extremely attractive and looking good in whatever you happened to be wearing. 
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Feb 17, 2021 06:22
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He's been on Comedy Bang Bang many times too, and held his own I think. (Again, possible spoilers.)
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Feb 17, 2021 06:27
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I remember the Hollywood Handbook with Jon Hamm was great. “maybe we re-do Veep. but, hold on, it’s called Beep. everybody in it is Cars.
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Feb 17, 2021 06:31
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNno63ZO2Lw E: holy poo poo it's Jake Peralta lol
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Feb 17, 2021 06:59
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pokeyman posted:He's been on Comedy Bang Bang many times too, and held his own I think. (Again, possible spoilers.) I agree he's been solid on CBB. That Sergio video is great. Though I'm torn on whether it's a curse or not.
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Feb 17, 2021 07:19
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Jerusalem posted:I've resisted looking it up for fear of accidental spoilers, but I remember back when Mad Men was airing John Hamm did a comedy bit on a show like SNL or something that I believe was titled,"Don Draper's Guide to Dressing Well" and it basically consisted of a very confident John Hamm explaining that step 1 was being extremely attractive and looking good in evening wear, step 2 was being extremely attractive and looking good in casual wear, and step three was being extremely attractive and looking good in whatever you happened to be wearing. It aired in 2008 and season 3 began airing in 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTTzw8_83vg
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Feb 17, 2021 19:48
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I'll also link the other mad men based skit from that episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm6hMe_XFGc
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Feb 17, 2021 19:57
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Hamm loves to be a goof, I think the biggest upshot of Mad Men's success for him was that he instantly had an easy in to do all the comedy he wanted (He was already friends with a lot of LA comedy types, but suddenly they could get Don Draper! to play against type in their movie or sketch or whatever.)The Klowner posted:I'll also link the other mad men based skit from that episode. drat, Forte's got almost nothing to do in this scene but he stuck that Pete Campbell voice. Also the "Don Draper Guide to Picking Up Women" is basically the "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace" TV Funhouse bit they did with Tom Brady ("Be HANDSOME. Be ATTRACTIVE. And DON'T be UNATTRACTIVE.") JethroMcB fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Feb 17, 2021 |
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Feb 17, 2021 21:13
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It’s really unbelievably stupid that Hamm never won an Emmy because they wanted to give Bryan Cranston loving 5 in a row or whatever.
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Feb 17, 2021 21:18
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Well, he did win one for the show's last season. After Breaking Bad was done, so... yeah. I think that's the only acting Emmy anyone on the show ever received. Maybe it would have cleaned up if they gave an Emmy for best ensemble.
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Feb 17, 2021 23:41
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I wasn’t aware he finally broke threw at the end. Breaking Bad basically swept everything for it’s entire run and it’s a terrible injustice.
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Feb 17, 2021 23:43
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Mad Men is definitely the superior show. I gotta admit that Cranston was really good though. None of the problems I had with Breaking Bad were on him.
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Feb 18, 2021 00:44
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Breaking Bad is one of those show we look back at years later and go “yeah it was good but why did it come to dominate pop culture for a short burst of time?” Whilst Mad Men ages like fine wine.
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Feb 18, 2021 03:29
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:Breaking Bad is one of those show we look back at years later and go “yeah it was good but why did it come to dominate pop culture for a short burst of time?” Whilst Mad Men ages like fine wine. I strongly disagree. Mad Men is way more a piece of its time, to its detriment. Breaking Bad is so good it actively makes me angry every time I watch it. Mad Men is nice. Breaking Bad also never really hit a doldrums period whereas at least two seasons of Mad Men could be easily excised. It's a real Sopranos situation where it just drops like a stone for a few seasons and spins its wheels. Breaking Bad was nonstop adrenaline throughout.
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Feb 18, 2021 05:22
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I liked both BB and MM a lot. I think if your show is gonna lose Emmy's or cultural cachet to another show, you would hope it's of breaking bad's caliber people talk about Snyder in the same breath as Scorsese. It could have been a lot cringier is what I'm saying
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Feb 18, 2021 05:50
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VinylonUnderground posted:I strongly disagree. Mad Men is way more a piece of its time, to its detriment. Breaking Bad is so good it actively makes me angry every time I watch it. Mad Men is nice. Breaking Bad also never really hit a doldrums period whereas at least two seasons of Mad Men could be easily excised. It's a real Sopranos situation where it just drops like a stone for a few seasons and spins its wheels. Breaking Bad was nonstop adrenaline throughout. Mad Men is also absolutely hilarious in a way that BrBa only hits with the pizza toss. Edit:I'd cut 90% of season two of Breaking bad before I cut a second of mad men
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Feb 18, 2021 05:56
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VinylonUnderground posted:Breaking Bad also never really hit a doldrums period whereas at least two seasons of Mad Men could be easily excised. It's a real Sopranos situation where it just drops like a stone for a few seasons and spins its wheels. Breaking Bad was nonstop adrenaline throughout. This is a bad opinion I disagree with. I thought Breaking Bad was the best show on TV while it aired, while loving Mad Men, but I am way more willing to revisit Mad Men than Breaking Bad. I think part of that was Breaking Bad's intensity also came in part from its weekly episodic releases - it made some of the tension in various arcs feel way more pressurizing.
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Feb 18, 2021 05:58
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If we're still doing Mad Men adjacent bits, I love this one from Community. It's made even better by Allison Brie being in it. https://youtu.be/VHwez1L1AHk
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Feb 18, 2021 06:35
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Breaking Bad is to Mad Men as The Shield is to The Wire.
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Feb 18, 2021 08:02
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Torquemada posted:Breaking Bad is to Mad Men as The Shield is to The Wire. I strongly prefer The Shield so that actually holds for me.
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Feb 18, 2021 08:04
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VinylonUnderground posted:I strongly prefer The Shield so that actually holds for me. legit chuckle xD
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Feb 19, 2021 00:17
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The shield is more fun and while I have a problem with its attempts at commentary it doesn’t have anything as bad as the Wires season 5
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Feb 19, 2021 00:57
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