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The Klowner posted:Ironically, the kind of people who think "nothing happens" in this show could probably tolerate 5 extra episodes of goku charging a spirit bomb that will definitely maybe possibly kill Frieza this time, surely People have complaining about that for two decades now. In fact it’s was such a big meme even people who didn’t watch the show knew it was a thing. Like yeah they tolerated it but no one liked it. Hell they released a recut series that drastically cut that poo poo it was so hated
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Mar 8, 2021 00:23
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Don spends 5 episodes mixing an Old Fashioned so good that it makes him smile for 15 seconds
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Mar 8, 2021 00:31
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hell, I’d watch it
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Mar 8, 2021 00:38
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I like that Gene is both objectively a miserable rear end in a top hat and also 100% clocks Don Draper from moment one.
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Mar 8, 2021 03:00
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GoutPatrol posted:I know salted ice cream is "a thing" now, but watching an old man with a table salt shaker throwing it on was very gross to me. My favorite vanilla ice cream topping has been sea salt and olive oil for over 20 years now. The salt is wonderful.
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Mar 8, 2021 04:11
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JethroMcB posted:Truly a hell of a performance from Sarah Drew depicting Kitty's dawning realization about why Sal hasn't been "tending" to her. She's always good when she shows up, but here she has to do almost all the heavy lifting with just her expressions. Seriously. I didn't think a facial expression could precisely nail the emotion of, "you're realizing in this moment that your husband of many years is stone-cold gay." She has to look supportive, and force a smile as he explains the Patio pitch, while holding back tears of shock and grief at her obviously doomed marriage, and she can't say a word. Just some wizard-level acting from her in that moment.
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Mar 8, 2021 09:33
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Yeah, I think the entire episode was about naivety and it being ripped away. Sal's wife, Betty, even that Jai Halai guy all evidenced some sort of innocence, only for it be ripped away. Well, except if you're rich enough for that to not matter. Don's naivety is all about his job. He does believe in that mansion on the river, as mentioned by Connie last ep. This is what he built his life around, reaching the heights of American happiness through his work. And its always funny to see him bounce against his financial betters, who are as decripit and amoral as can be, and see him react to it. He believes in his work and its value, so its always a shock for him to see it treated as callously and indifferent as it can be at times. I think the speech he gave Peggy a couple episodes ago about not being an artist is a lesson he himself is still trying to learn, and he was trying to be benelovent in sharing it. Buck up soldier, there's gonna be a lot of flack ahead. Betty was built from birth for another era, and this entire series so far is her realizing that slowly. She can't just be naive. Life won't let her be that. And Gene is loving aware of it, and regretful, in a pretty realistic depiction of an all too true real life phenomenon, when an elderly parent feels regretful for not giving their kids the tools they need to have when they're gone. Maybe that is the basis of Gene's distaste for Don, though that bit about him "HAVING NO FAMILY" is loving hilarious and pointed. Gene gets the sense Don will not be enough for Betty, and being a good housewife is what he trained her to be. Some misguided antipathy towards his own choices, reflected to the nearest authority figure around.
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Mar 8, 2021 16:07
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Spoilers for S7: I think Gene's conversation with Betty about his upcoming death is really interesting to see when matched up with Betty's letter to Sally when she learns bout her diagnosis. She's aware and accepting of her fate, and is struggling on (that bit where she climbs the stairs slowly, probably the most heart breaking clip in the show's entirety). And Sally accepting it. Which goes to show that there is continuing character growth in the show, even if it has to happen thru death and generationally.
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Mar 8, 2021 16:10
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Beamed posted:I don't think I agree with this take, it feels a bit like armchair psychology to me. There are plenty of people in real life who act very similarly to Peggy's mother in these scenes, and it's not due to latent undiagnosed disorders (though everyone should go to therapy). Eh. I don't think there's anything wrong with armchair psychologizing fictional characters. There are pitfalls to it when it comes to real people, but it's often rewarding to reach a bit when interpreting fictional characters. The other thing is, I really don't want to put words in your mouth here, but it sounds like you're implying that Katherine Olson's response falls within a normal or healthy range of reactions. Is that right? I'm not sure if I'm getting your intended meaning from your second sentence. I think Katherine's reaction is so extreme that it's reasonable to call it pathological. She's not just upset or demanding. She's clearly trying to inflict as much emotional pain as she can on Peggy in a retaliatory attack. And it's also clear that both Peggy and Anita expected that. A pattern of deliberately trying to hurt your children when they displease you is really extreme and unhealthy. To the point that I think it makes sense to wonder, "Is there a personality disorder that fits this kind of behavior?", which in this case there is. I'd like to reiterate that I'd be a lot more reluctant to make and share this kind of interpretation about a real person. But in carefully constructed works of "literary" fiction, I assume that the authors are leaving us clues to all kinds of things.
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Mar 8, 2021 16:42
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Oh, one other thing I love from this episode is that part where Betty is eating the peach and the juice squirts out. It just looks so grotesque. It's gross every time. I could swear I read or saw something that that was unintentional, and they kept it. I think it's perfect, honestly. It feels right, even though it's hard to say exactly how it suits the moment. Something about nature itself, life itself, being difficult and shocking? Maybe that's it. But it really works with the emotional tenor of the scene. It's also interesting that Betty ends up eating the peach that was meant for Sally, while Sally grieves alone in the other room.
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Mar 8, 2021 16:47
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Yoshi Wins posted:I think Katherine's reaction is so extreme that it's reasonable to call it pathological. She's not just upset or demanding. She's clearly trying to inflict as much emotional pain as she can on Peggy in a retaliatory attack. I never considered the notion that she has a literal personality disorder, but she is intensely cruel to a degree I can't reconcile. The later scene where Peggy invites her over to announce she's moving in with Abe is cartoonishly mean. "That Jew's gonna use you for practice," "your dead dad would be as disappointed as I am," "you don't deserve the cake I brought," "get a cat and die alone!" I guess I accepted the notion that someone that self-righteously religious might be that crass and rude to her careerist daughter, but yeah, it's pretty inhumanly so. I guess you're supposed to assume the baby and adoption totally incinerated their relationship, but gently caress Katherine.
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Mar 8, 2021 21:11
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I'm going to need a gif or webm of Pete and Trudy's dance posted in the thread. Tia
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Mar 8, 2021 21:19
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The Klowner posted:I'm going to need a gif or webm of Pete and Trudy's dance posted in the thread. Tia it was posted before by... jerusalem? i think?
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Mar 8, 2021 21:31
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Yoshi Wins posted:Eh. I don't think there's anything wrong with armchair psychologizing fictional characters. There are pitfalls to it when it comes to real people, but it's often rewarding to reach a bit when interpreting fictional characters. I'm not claiming it's normal or healthy the typical senses of those words at all, and if you have anyone in your life like that, Thread, please  . I'm just not immediately willing to leap to there being a personality disorder that specifically explains this, unfortunately common, emotional manipulation and constant lashing out. I think you can probably make the case she has it, I just don't think the authors were 100% definitely depicting her as having it, vs. being a very hypocritically religious, judgemental, emotionally manipulative matriarch. I'm comfortable with interpreting it that way, just not taking the next step to authorial intent here. Does that make more sense?
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Mar 8, 2021 23:58
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I think it is worth keeping Peggy's mom in reserve for Don's second wife when we basically get to have an outsider's view of the Quiet Revolution. The transition from the Great Darkness into the modernity plays nicely with the Bush-Obama transition. Catholicism and modernity grind up against each other in Mad Men while Protestantism is mostly ignored.
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Mar 9, 2021 01:09
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what the gently caress
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Mar 9, 2021 02:07
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Peggy's mom is just the mom from Everybody Loves Raymond, but in a drama and not a comedy.
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Mar 9, 2021 02:08
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In my experience with conservative Catholic ethnic whites, especially of that generation, that behavior seemed extremely believable. The rapid switch from doting and loving to cruel and judgmental was commonplace. That isn’t to say it’s not pathological.
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Mar 9, 2021 02:09
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ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:In my experience with conservative Catholic ethnic whites, especially of that generation, that behavior seemed extremely believable. The rapid switch from doting and loving to cruel and judgmental was commonplace. That isn’t to say it’s not pathological. Yeah, this is not just a Sopranos/Mad Men thing, a "overbearing Catholic mom" is a thing in alot of media and real life.
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Mar 9, 2021 02:16
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sebmojo posted:it was posted before by... jerusalem? i think? ah gently caress you're right, it's in his post. Never mind
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Mar 9, 2021 02:38
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also I think the "overbearing catholic mom" archetype is common for a reason. Culture, including religion, does shape people's general attitudes but can also reinforce pre-existing pathologies, whether positive or negative
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Mar 9, 2021 02:49
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Beamed posted:I'm not claiming it's normal or healthy the typical senses of those words at all, and if you have anyone in your life like that, Thread, please Oh yeah. Authorial intent is always dicey. If you told me you're not comfortable with making any interpretations about authorial intent, I would respect that.
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Mar 9, 2021 02:53
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ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:In my experience with conservative Catholic ethnic whites, especially of that generation, that behavior seemed extremely believable. The rapid switch from doting and loving to cruel and judgmental was commonplace. That isn’t to say it’s not pathological. i mean it jived with my muslim background. religious people are hosed up.
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Mar 10, 2021 04:51
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imo this Bobby is the worst Bobby
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Mar 11, 2021 16:33
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A sub par bobby, a shameful bobby
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Mar 11, 2021 20:52
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Bobby should have been an unseen character like Maris Crane
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Mar 11, 2021 21:28
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I like Bobby, even though his sidelining seems more because they realized what an asset they had in Kiernan Shipka and could put all the Draper children drama onto her (As the middle child, though, Bobby's treatment is completely apropos.) Second Bobby still gets one of the best Bobby moments (His completely oblivious "I love sweet potatoes!" after Betty's attempt at force-feeding Sally causes a scene during the Francis family Thanksgiving.)Sash! posted:Bobby should have been an unseen character like Maris Crane I would, however, love to see this work from a logistics standpoint. JethroMcB fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Mar 11, 2021 |
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Mar 11, 2021 21:44
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The series should've ended like BSG where it pans up to show all the Bobbies watching the cast from a window across the street and then all look at each other and silently nod.
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Mar 11, 2021 22:32
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pentyne posted:The series should've ended like BSG where it pans up to show all the Bobbies watching the cast from a window across the street and then all look at each other and silently nod. There are many Bobbys. And they have a plan.
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Mar 12, 2021 02:43
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Wrong thread
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Mar 12, 2021 03:20
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In the case of Peggy's Mom, Peggy 1) had sex out of wedlock 2) became pregnant 3) told no one (the fact that she didn't know herself isn't really relevant here) and 4) abandoned the child. Even in the modern era, #4 would be a huge flashpoint even in the most secular of families. I feel that in most families #2 and #3 would be major points of contentions in most families. And no one wants their family members' sex lives thrust into their life, much less in the '60s when things like virginity were placed at a higher premium than today. Peggy's mom acts a lot less crazy than Pete's mom. Dealing with the fallout of 1-4 doesn't seem BPD to me -- we have no reason to think Peggy's mom falls into a "I hate you/I love you" cycle. It seems like they've always had a pretty contentious relationship and the pregnancy pushed it over the edge.
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Mar 12, 2021 03:35
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I do really like how Anita seems to have come around on Peggy, even to somewhat envy her and be a little thrilled at the thought of her sister going to live in Manhattan. It makes me wonder how much that confession basically acted to drain the poison out of her: getting the guilt about her anger/judgmental mindset out of her system. I mean, it was still a pretty lovely thing she knowingly did in making sure that Father Gil knew about Peggy's private business, but she does seem from this scene at least to have firmly put that mindset behind her now.
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Mar 12, 2021 05:05
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I think Father Gil is more the bad actor here. "Forgive me Father for I have sinned: I am a terrible mother *sobs*" is a pretty understandable reaction to processing that kind of a revelation. A well-meaning but inexperienced priest being a knob about it is real. There is a reason why like, half the saints are saints because they kept confession sacred. It's as much a message to the priesthood as the parishioners.
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Mar 12, 2021 05:43
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Jerusalem posted:I do really like how Anita seems to have come around on Peggy, even to somewhat envy her and be a little thrilled at the thought of her sister going to live in Manhattan. I think some of it has to do with the situation with her husband. In season 2 he wasn't working, and she clearly believed what his co-workers believed: that he was faking it or playing it up because he didn't want to go to work. He's presumably back at work by this point, since we don't see or hear about him lying around anymore. Anita's happiness is more dependent on another person than Peggy's is. If you're a housewife/mother from this era, and your husband sucks, your options are extremely limited. So I think in S2, Anita was very disappointed and frustrated with her domestic situation, but it has at least partially improved since then.
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Mar 12, 2021 07:17
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Season 3, Episode 5 - The Fog Written by Kater Gordon, Directed by Phil Abraham Gene Hofstadt posted:You're very important, and you have little to do. Don and Betty Draper find themselves in an unusual setting, summoned to the empty classroom of their daughter's school for a meeting with her teacher, Miss Farrell. She's the teacher who Don seemed enamored by near the end of episode 2, but this is a far cry from the idyllic setting of the Maypole Ceremony. Don takes a seat in one of the children's awkward little combination chair/desks, but Betty can't do the same, her pregnancy makes it impossible for her to squeeze into one. Miss Farrell is immediately apologetic, giving Betty her own chair to sit in. She does do, though she has to physically move it to get closer to Don, who has simply sat and watched - even been amused - by his wife's awkward predicament. The reason for the meeting is due to an altercation between Sally and another girl. Miss Farrell is pleased and surprised to see both mother AND father have attended the meeting, which especially stands in contract to the parents of the other girl, Becky Pierson: neither mother nor father have bothered (or can manage) to show up. It seems that Becky was taking too long drinking from the water fountain, and that Sally cracked a joke about her leaving some water for the fishes before slamming her face into the spigot and drawing blood. This kicked off a big fight of hair-pulling and scratching between the two (we get a single shot of a fearsome looking Sally wiping blood on her face and looking utterly unapologetic), and though the damage was superficial the fight itself is troubling. Betty is shocked and then relieved to hear that Becky - a heavyset girl - is often bullied by the other children but not usually Sally. That's the problem for Miss Farrell though, Sally isn't the type to harass or attack others, but she's recently developed some bad behavior that is troubling. Farrell assumed that it might have something to do with having a younger brother, and now having seen Betty thinks it might be the new baby coming, but are there any other recent changes in her life that might have caused her to lash out like this? Don and Betty share a pained look and Betty explains that her father died a week ago, before correcting herself as she realizes it was almost two weeks ago now. Miss Farrell is horrified, reaching out a comforting hand to Betty (who recoils subtly before controlling herself, this immediate display of emotion/empathy from a stranger is completely alien to her upbringing) and apologizing for adding to what is clearly a stressful time. This does explain some things though, Sally never mentioned anything about a death but she has seemed surprisingly interested in the recent assassination of Medgar Evers. This is news to Betty and Don, Sally hasn't spoken to them about death at all it seems... which isn't entirely surprising given the way she saw them reacting to Gene's death. But Farrell is surprised, though she tamps it down, when both Betty and Don seem confused by her question about whether Sally attended Gene's funeral... why would they subject her to a funeral? In their effort to protect her, they've simply failed to give her the closure she needed to deal with the aftermath of her grandfather's death. Betty, getting a little teary-eyed, excuses herself to use the bathroom, insisting to a mortified Farrell that she isn't the cause of this upset, the pregnancy just means her emotions are all over the place. Once left alone with Don, Farrell apologizes again before pointing out that there is a special kind of pain that comes from losing somebody close at this age. She asks if this is something Don can understand, her eyes darting off to the side and going somewhere far away as she seems to remember some loss she herself suffered around Sally's age. She's an entirely different type of person to most of the people in Don's social circle, even some of the freer-spirits he's encountered like Midge or Bobbie or Joy. She's open and expressive and empathetic, and maybe something in that is what prompts Don to open up just a tiny bit and offer her a tantalizing glimpse into his own usually locked down past, admitting that yes he does know what it is like to lose a family member at such a young age. Whatever moment might have been between them or elaboration that might have come is interrupted by Betty's return though, and Farrell apologizes again and insists that the aftermath of the fight and Sally's behavior really can be dealt with at some later point. Betty asks her to be sure, because she's close to having her baby and she wants everything to be normal when it arrives, which is an understandable mindset which also unfortunately speaks to part of the problem that caused Sally to lash out in the first place: when emotions are repressed or major issues aren't addressed and dealt with, they grow worse and worse, and simply sweeping them under the mat for the appearance of normalcy is simply kicking the can down the road to be dealt with - usually explosively - later on.   At Sterling Cooper, a very important meeting about VERY important things is taking place. Don arrives late to this meeting, not bothering to apologize when Lane chuckles that a little Don Draper is better than no Don Draper at all but simply joking that he'd like that in writing. He takes a seat and listens to the drastically important subject of this meeting.... Sal listed $82 worth of expenses on his Baltimore trip but Don only listed $70! He's literally gone through the expenses line by line, every tip and bill that Sal put down to see where the difference comes from, while a bewildered Sal points out that if he was fudging his expenses so he could pocket the difference he would have used a round number. Don can't believe they're bothering with this (literal!) nickel and dime bullshit, grumpily pointing out to Lane that he signed off on Sal's receipts, leaving it unsaid that this should be all the confirmation necessary that Sal is telling the truth. But when Lane then moves on to start complaining about how the Agency is using too many pencils and too much paper for a firm their size, Don has heard enough. With a similar lack of apology he simply stands up and walks out of the meeting, he is the Creative Director and he doesn't waste his time with this kind of bullshit. Lane however does, with all the relish of a middle manager gifted a little bit of power, he ignores the person he can't control - Don - and stresses to the others in the meeting that he's also heard a credenza has gone missing... and that's a conspiracy! In Paul Kinsey's office, Pete Campbell is running through a problematic account trying desperately to come up with a solution. Paul isn't being particularly helpful, the issue is that Admiral's television sales are flat, and Paul's only response is to remind that for whatever flaws there are in Communism, Marx was right in his analysis of the working of markets. Pete is hardly going to go to Admiral and tell them,"Don't worry, Marx says this type of thing is to be expected!", and he's really feeling the stress. He still firmly believes that somebody sabotaged his chances by cherry-picking the best accounts to give to Ken, so he can't afford to have any of his accounts have flat sales. Still, there is some positives: he notes that there are some specific areas that are showing growth in sales, and lists out a number of cities that Paul notes with amusement are all good Jazz cities. That gets Pete thinking though, jazz might as well be code for "Black", and maybe there is something to that: are "Negroes" buying Admiral television sets in great numbers? Harry Crane arrives in good humor, letting them know that Lois managed to get her scarf caught in the photocopier. Paul sighs, hoping that once Joan is gone he can get rid of Lois (they promised Lois a job outside of the switchboard room, and Joan probably greatly enjoys making Paul suffer by having to keep her), while Pete passes over his sales figures to Harry to ask him if he concurs with his reading. Harry briefly looks over them, acknowledging that it is possible to read them as Black sales outnumbering White sales by 2-to-1. Unfortunately for Pete, Ken chooses this moment to show up to also laugh about Lois' latest disaster. Riding high from recent successes (despite the Patio disaster and Pete's Jai Alai triumph) he brags about being gifted Mets tickets AND a watch from one of his Accounts, and asks Paul (the only other single man among them) if he'd like to join him for the game. Paul is immediately out the door, assuring Pete he needn't worry about Admiral since if they're happy, Sterling Cooper should be happy too. "THEY'RE NOT HAPPY!" Pete calls out in disbelief, which was the entire point of the meeting, but Paul has already moved on. In Don's office, he's dictating to Allison a letter to London Fog when Lane comes knocking on his door. With beautiful British passive-aggressiveness he's bought Don a copy of the minutes of the meeting since he had to "run off". Allison quietly makes her exit while Don can't help but offer his own little bit of passive-aggresiveness by pointing out printing out the minutes is ALSO a waste of paper. Lane counters that he'd need to print 1000 copies to keep up with Don's department, and Don can't take it anymore. Grumpily he points out that they use all this paper because they throw out bad ideas to replace them with good ones. Lane offers back that they waste the paper because they're using it to mop up spilled drinks after their afternoon naps. Don cannot believe he's been drawn into engaging with such an unbelievably boring argument about something he absolutely does not give the slightest poo poo about, but he's duty-bound to defend his department. After all, they're paid to be unproductive until they're not, it's those bursts of productivity that more than make-up for it, and PPL did after all buy them because they knew Sterling Cooper could do what needed to be done in America better than them. Lane's thinking though is that penny-pinching is fine because pennies make pounds and pounds make profits, but Don - pouring them both a drink - says he needs to be thinking about the morale of EVERYBODY in the Agency and not just his own. Going through expense reports isn't benefiting anybody, and if he REALLY wants the Agency to make money he needs to start working more closely with Bert Cooper and Harry Crane. Clients LOVE media, they don't mind throwing money at Creative if they can see something for it, and that will more than pay for all the paper and pencils used in the process. Lane has to admit he hasn't thought about it that way, but while he does appear to take on board Don's advice, there is still a gap between them. This is made clear by the fact he barely sips his drink before passing it back to Don (who downed his in one go), in many ways a symbolic gesture. Lane is willing to acknowledge the suggestions of others, but he is the type who makes changes gradually, if at all.   Pete is reviewing Admiral sales figures in his office when Hildy calls over the intercom to tell him his Uncle Herman is on the line. Alarmed, he picks up the phone, asking with concern if Aunt Alice is okay. The man on the other end is confused, who is this? Assuming his Uncle is having memory issues, Pete explains it's Dottie's boy and reminds Herman he was the one who called him, what's the issue? Except it's not Uncle Herman, it's Duck Phillips, and he pretended to be his uncle so as not to set off alarm bells... doesn't Pete remember his name is actually Herman? Simultaneously relieved and a little irritated, Pete explains that he actually does have an Uncle Herman who is 91-years-old, leaving it unsaid that hearing he was calling immediately set Pete's mind racing thinking the worst. Duck immediately apologizes, sitting in a good sized if generic looking office that lacks the flash of his old office at Sterling Cooper. The ducks are still on the wall though, and for the first time this season we learn what happened to the man who was meant to be the President of the new Sterling Cooper.... he's gone from the Agency. That much seemed most likely, he was either gone or being paid to sit at home (or tucked away in an abandoned/empty part of the building) given the lay of the land we've seen in season 3 so far. He ended up at Grey, where hopefully he hasn't become a "fifth wheel" like he once worried he would in an Agency like McCann. Presumably he was quietly let go (probably with a good severance package) by PPL the moment it became obvious they couldn't have him AND Don Draper. He seems to have recovered well enough, though who knows how much bitterness (or liquor) there might be in him still. But why is he calling? Because he wants to take Pete out for lunch, though he states this as a fact rather than a question, using the smooth charisma he once relied on as Head of Account Services. Pete is uncertain about this, but Duck reminds him of an undeniable fact: Duck always treated Pete well and supported him, he's not going to try and gently caress him over now. Pete doesn't exactly accept the offer but he does ask HOW they would arrange it, and Duck takes this as confirmation and tells him "my girl will call your girl", saying they'll use Clorox as a cover for their meeting. Pete hangs up and tries to go back to the Admiral paperwork, though he can't help but pause and consider, intrigued by what Duck might possibly want to talk about with him... or offer him.  Don arrives home where the phone is ringing and nobody seems to be around. He picks up and is surprised to hear it is Miss Farrell, who gives her full name of Suzanne Farrell. She's called to apologize again, confusing Don, what would she be apologizing for? After all, she was just doing her job calling in the parents to deal with an issue with their child. She doesn't so much sit down as collapse into her chair, she's holding a glass and appears to have been drinking, and she admits that she may have overreacted to the news about Gene because her own father died when she was 8 years old. She's worried that she upset Betty, and admits nervously that she fears she might be embarrassing herself because she tends to overreact to things. Don is thoroughly charmed, she's so.... open! He promises her that she has nothing to apologize for, but then gets distracted when he hears Betty calling out, and thanks Farrell for the call before hanging up. He walks out of the kitchen and finds Betty at the base of the stairs, where she informs him that it is time, they need to get to the hospital. Immediately all thoughts of Farrell are blown out of Don's mind, his usual air of total confidence/control disappearing as he gasps that he'll need to find his car keys. Amused, she reminds him he's holding them, and he quickly grabs his hat before returning to join her. As he does, she lets him know that Francine has the kids and asks who that was on the phone. He has a moment's hesitation, just a moment, and then tells her... it was nobody. A charitable reading is that he didn't want to have to think about/explain why she was calling or to remind her about Sally's fight. A less charitable reading is that he enjoys/is fascinated by Farrell and wants to keep her call a secret because maybe it can continue or become something more in his mind, and that would require keeping Betty in the dark. In either case, it's a sad fact that Don even in this deeply important moment in both their lives chooses to lie to his wife. At the hospital, an older nurse helps Betty into a wheelchair, personable but all business as she makes sure to remind Don he'll need to move his car if he left it in emergency parking. She explains that they'll first determine if this is a false alarm, and mistakes Betty saying this is her third time by asking if they've already sent her home before. Her third CHILD Betty explains, and the nurse takes in this knowledge as she takes the handles and then turns a smile to a worried Don and informs him that his job is now over, he can go sit in the solarium. Don doesn't object, of course, it's not expected or even desired in most cases for the husband to be present for the birth. So he stands and watches as Betty is wheeled away, and she turns to look back at him as she goes and there he is standing beaming confidence and love at her... till the moment a nurse passes across her field of vision, and in that brief moment Don has already left, not even waiting until she was out of sight before going. As they continue down the corridor, Betty spots a janitor mopping the floor just ahead. As he turns she gets a brief look at his face and it's Gene! Surprised, she calls out,"Daddy!" and is warned by the nurse she will have to be quiet soon as they'll be passing the nursery. She retakes the control, the janitor already behind her (and very carefully blocked so we never quite see his face against after we're not seeing him from her perspective). They stop at the nurse's station so Betty can fill out her paperwork, though the pen doesn't work so the nurse has to do this job too. She's amused to hear Betty ate pineapple today, and asks if her water has broken yet, though Betty insists her water never breaks. What Betty really wants to know is where is Dr. Aldrich? Her kindly old family doctor might not have been keen on helping her in regards to the abortion, but he certainly knows how to get a woman through a pregnancy, and he's a familiar face she's keen to see. In the solarium (it's night, so it's really just a waiting room), there are a couple of other waiting men sitting caught up in their own panic/concern/fears. Don is relaxed though, now that he has done his "job" he has control again, and simply sits and reads a magazine unconcerned, knowing there is nothing for him to do but wait to be told the birth is over. A television is on but none of the men are watching it, not that they would probably be particularly interested in what is on. After all, it's "only" coverage of the community mourning for the murdered Medgar Evers. A nurse enters and calls for Joseph Waddell, but another man responds, identifying himself as Dennis Hobart. Well built with shaven hair and wearing a dark suit/uniform, he's rough spoken even as he tries to control himself and ask politely if insistently for information on his wife Pamela. The nurse, different to Betty's but an old pro herself, calmly explains that she's fine but it is a breach birth and they've had to call in a specialist. Dennis is horrified, hearing the word "breach" and immediately believing the worst, demanding to know what is going on. She's surprised to hear nobody got his permission before proceeding, but also entirely unwilling to let him take out his fear on her, warning him not to raise his voice and then telling him that they need his permission before they can continue. Biting back his anger, Dennis takes a breath and tells her to do whatever needs to be done, and with that she's gone and he's left once again alone and feeling utterly powerless to do anything for his wife.   Dennis stands, unsure what to do now, unable to relax. Clearly he wants to talk to somebody, anybody. Don knows it, but Don also isn't particularly interested in being that person, so he simply continues to read his magazine. Dennis takes a seat but also the lead, speaking to Don himself, noting that he expected the waiting room to be different: a party atmosphere of expectant fathers all backslapping. He even went so far as to bring a bottle of scotch, and NOW Don is interested. He agrees that this isn't a party... but he'll be happy to help him drink that bottle! Dennis is surprised but pleased, pouring them both a drink into their paper cups and taking the opening to talk, relieved to have somebody to talk to even if it just means he has something to do other than sit and wait. He has been waiting all day, admitting that of all the things he thought this process would be, boring was NOT one of them. It got so bad that he even put in a call to his work, laughing at the notion that the prison wouldn't be able to operate without him. That explains the suit/uniform of course, he's a prison guard. That's a great icebreaker, but Don doesn't take the bait. Indeed he seems content to have taken this lonely man's drink and then continue to ignore him and read his magazine. Finally though he takes pity, offering something back, admitting that his first birth was his daughter and it took a long time and all he can really recall is that he was quite worked up. Dennis is thrilled to discuss this, asking if the second was a boy which makes Don beam with pride to note that yes, he has a male heir. But when Dennis asks if he likes to throw the ball around with him, Don's face falls and he admits that he doesn't get to do it as often as he likes. He goes back to reading his magazine, and Dennis seems settled for the moment at least. As Don reads, he spots a full page advertisement he is intrigued by and reacts in perfect Don Draper fashion: he tears it completely out of the magazine, complete with page of the article on its other side, essentially rendering the magazine useless to anybody else purely for Don Draper's own convenience. Dennis notices the act but doesn't comment on it. Betty is standing in her hospital gown by the bed as the nurse draws the privacy curtains, explaining they'll be getting her into bed so they can make the preparatory procedures which she'll be familiar with from her previous experiences: she'll be shaved and given an enema to ensure no issues during the birth. Completely unaware of the processes their wives are all too familiar with, Don and Dennis have shared a few more drinks and gotten a little chummier, sitting only a couple of seats apart now and facing the same direction. Don notices that his watch has wound down and cracks a joke about time stopping, and Dennis admires the watch, admitting he'd like to have one of his own but it isn't something his line of work would allow. Don naturally responds to this by asking if it would really put him at risk of prisoners trying to steal it, and Dennis is delighted, declaring proudly that he KNEW Don would eventually want him to talk about working at the prison. The fact that Dennis was clearly fishing trying to get Don to respond this way doesn't matter to him, because now he has an excuse to just unload everything he's been wanting to share. He proclaims that EVERYBODY has a nightmare about being locked in Sing Sing, and Don - who to be fair committed some pretty out there fraud by taking over Don Draper's life and name - admits he has too. So what is it like? Well Dennis admits that it is odd to be so outnumbered and yet still have all the power, likening it to being like a king. A king whose subjects want to kill you, Don notes, and Dennis agrees this may be true but the point is that they don't: they know the guards have power, are dangerous, and have a badge which they respect.   Don is curious, how do the prisoners know the guards are dangerous. Dennis just shrugs (maybe it's unfair but I suspect he has "demonstrated" how dangerous he can be) and smiles before admitting that not all the prisoners are terrifying monsters. Sure there are death row inmates, but there are also guys who seem perfectly normal and even play on the baseball team... hell, the Sing Sing team played the Yankees back in 1929! Don is amused by that, noting that everybody would have played in stripes, which gets a big laugh from Dennis. Dennis admits that he hears some crazy things at the prison and this leads to a lot of jokes, but he has to be careful that he leaves all that at work and never brings it home. That will be more important than ever once he has a kid, and he notes that sometimes he looks at the criminals under his control - some of the worst America has to offer - and considers that all of them started out as babies themselves. They all had parents, and he suspects that every single one of them would blame their mothers and fathers for them being in prison now. "That's a bullshit excuse," complains Don, who of course filters everything through his own experience and believes that because he started with nothing and made a success of himself, nobody else has an excuse. I mean, nobody else had their CO get turned into hamburger by an explosion in Korea enabling them to steal their identity and start over an entirely new life, but they still should have pulled themselves up by the bootstraps! Dennis of course agrees, he himself is clearly somebody from a tough background. He certainly seems to have come from the working class, and he has a job that is considered very necessary but also not necessarily particularly skilled (at least not in the 1960s), but he has made a solid life for himself. He is married, he has a good job with a pension, he's got a kid coming. He gets to see the worst of humanity, and though he clearly holds at least some of them in some degree of contempt (he refers to them as "animals"), he also seems determined not to ever allow himself (or his kid) to end up like any of them. Betty is having less of a good time, as the nurse struggles to get the needle into her arm, complaining that Betty has "little veins". Betty, struggling with labor pains, asks if she needs somebody else to do it, but the nurse assures her that she has it in now and the medication will soon kick in and put her into a "twilight sleep". Putting aside the merits or otherwise of putting a pregnant woman into a drug induced haze while giving birth, it is worth noting that... well, this "twilight sleep" stuff was utter bullshit. The idea was that it numbed or removed pain while allowing women to remain conscious enough to participate in the birthing process. The truth was a little more horrifying, in that it simply produced an amnesiac state whereby the mother didn't remember the pain she had continued to feel all through the process. Many mothers recovered the memory of the trauma later in life, and the drug mixture also often caused the mother to suffer hallucinations in their drugged state. As the drugs start to take hold, Betty asks where Dr. Aldrich is, and is alarmed to hear from the nurse that he's out at Mama Leone's enjoying an anniversary meal with his wife. Does that mean he's been drinking? She doesn't want him being drunk during the birth and possibly wrecking her bladder like happened to her Aunt Emma! She's even more alarmed when the nurse explains that this means Dr. Aldrich will NOT be the attending physician, instead it will be the hospital's own obstetrician Dr. Mendelowitz. She tries to sit up in bed, insisting she doesn't want any other doctor, but the nurse pushes her back into the bed, warning her that she's at 5 centimeters dilation and that's halfway between the Hebrides and other mountain ranges they're studying in chapter 12  Betty is bewildered, the drugs kicking in and causing her to see and hear things that make no sense, the nurse straight up rhyming like a Dr. Suess book now. Betty, falling into a stupor, complains that the Hebrides are islands, words that make zero sense to the nurse, though she's probably entirely used to such bizarre utterances in these situations. Betty drifts into a pleasant dream/fantasy, she's no longer pregnant and walking happily down the perfect and deserted suburban street she calls home. The sun is shining, her hair is meticulous and she has a lovely, form-fitting dress to show off. As she walks, she's delighted to see a caterpillar dangling from a silk thread ahead of her. She lets it come to rest in the palm of her hand, staring at it fascinated before closing up her hand. Does she identify with the caterpillar herself? Is it symbolic of the child in her womb that is about to emerge and become something entirely new? Or is she just really loving whacked out of her gourd on morphine and scopolamine and her brain is just triggering pure nonsense?  While Betty is tripping balls, Don and Dennis have more than warmed up to each other, their jackets off as they ram either side of a cigarette machine to help the candy-striper get out a packet of cigarettes that got stuck in there when they tried to buy a pack. They thank her for her help and she leaves, Dennis following her slight form admiringly and asking Don how old he thinks she is, 16? Don, unlike Carlton and apparently now Dennis, truly and legitimately has zero interest in teenage girls and just dismissively blows the question of. Dennis doesn't press it, instead turning his thoughts back to his wife. He admits to Don that it kills him that she's in there and he can't do anything to help her. He worries for her, fears what he will do and how he will go on if anything happens to her... and even more concerning, fears what will happen if she dies and the child lives. How could he love a child that killed his wife? He gets emotional as he speaks, drunk enough to be willing to expose his emotions and fears to this stranger. Don is a little taken aback, but offers a companionable clap on the shoulder (Dennis at least doesn't recoil the way Betty did from Farrell) and a piece of advice: our worst fears lie in anticipation. In other words, not being able to do anything but wait means Dennis has time to think of all the worst things that could happen. Most likely everything will absolutely be fine, and he just has to accept the fact there is nothing he can do for now but to wait. In the delivery room, Betty is fully in the grip of the drugs now, furiously trying to fight off the nurse trying to keep her in place and demanding to know where Don is. The nurse tries to explain he's in the waiting room and the doctor tells her not to bother, Betty is hallucinating and yelling and reacting to people who aren't there and can't hear anything they say. "The hell I can't!" complains Betty, who can absolutely see and hear them just fine, insisting on Don's presence again. She refuses to accept that he's in the waiting room, angrily snapping that he's never where he is supposed to be before demanding to know if the nurse has "been" with him. The nurse has seen and heard a lot in her time, but this drugged up admission by a wife of her husband's obvious infidelities still warranted a pained expression of empathy. Betty has moved on already though, too physically exhausted to try and fight her way clear now, instead laying back and moaning that she doesn't understand why they're doing this to her... she's just a housewife! "I don't want to be here," she manages weakly, though there is nothing that can be done about that now. Don IS in the waiting room, tiredly watching the television, Dennis sleeping (passed out?) on the couch along the side of the wall. The other nurse steps in and wakes Dennis, letting him know that his wife has given birth to a baby boy and both are resting now. Dennis is immediately awake, sitting up, excited, asking to see his wife. He can't though, she lost a lot of blood during the birth and needed a transfusion. This instantly has him thinking the worst again but she assures him that she's fine but needs her rest in the recovery room. He can see his boy though, he's in the nursery already just down the corridor. He thanks her and starts collecting his things as the nurse leaves, Don congratulating him. He thanks him and says he is sure that Don's baby will be "good" too, before pausing and stressing that he KNOWS they will. He approaches Don and tells him something he KNOWS to be true... that Don is a good man. "Believe me, I'm an expert," he insists, Don struggling to hold a smile because he certainly doesn't believe that himself regardless of Dennis' so-called expertise. Dennis takes a moment to really let it sink in: he has a son now. This is it, the chance for a fresh start, and he means to take it. He doesn't know who is "up there" he admits as he looks to the heavens, so he's going to make this pledge to Don instead: he is going to try harder, he is going to be a better man. Don takes this in, but that isn't enough for Dennis, he wants Don to acknowledge he heard him, because that will somehow make it real, it will give power and meaning to this statement. So Don acknowledges, and Dennis leaves with a smile, ready for the first day of the rest of his life. Don is left alone, waiting for the next day of the ongoing confusion of his own. In the delivery room, Betty is simultaneously in agony and in a state of weary resignation. She simply lies in the bed, moaning that she can't push, she can't do any of it, she just can't. The nurse is adamant though, either she pushes or they pull, but one way or the other the baby is coming out. But Betty isn't there anymore to answer, she's wandering the corridors of the hospital now, in her gown but seemingly invisible, people passing her by without acknowledging her. She's searching for something, moving in a daze but with purpose, passing from one corridor to another, her gown replaced by a maternity dress as the hospital corridors seamlessly become the kitchen of her home. Inside, the janitor from earlier is mopping. She calls out to her father, and the janitor pauses for a moment and turns a face hidden by shadows to look at her, claiming he doesn't know who she is. She approaches, insisting she is Elizabeth and he DOES know her. He takes a moment and then turns around, and there he is, Gene Hofstadt beaming with a mischievous smile and admitting that yes it's true, he does know her. But what is he doing here? He admits he had to go away and timidly she asks doesn't he miss her? Of course he does, he promises, continuing to mop, resulting only in the spread of blood on the floor, warning her that nobody knows he's snuck in and he isn't supposed to be here. She eyes the blood and asks if it means she is dying, and he shrugs and says her mother would know better, calling out to Ruthie to tell her. Betty turns and there she is, her mother standing at the table where a bloodied Black man - presumably Medgar Evers? - is sitting. Ruthie snaps at her daughter to close her mouth before she catches flies. Immediately regressed to a child, Betty does as she is told before admitting what she has feared to tell her mother.... she left her lunch pail on the schoolbus! Oh yeah, and she's having a baby. Ruthie frowns, looking down at the bloody Evers and warning Betty that this is what happens to people who speak up, and she should be happy with what she has. Or in other words, she has to accept her lot in life, be just a housewife who raises the children and keeps the house tidy. To accept that Don is a more than flawed and unfaithful husband and she just has to deal with it. Gene, in complete contrast to his real self, smiles and agrees that she should enjoy just being a housecat: important with very little to do. Time passes, the sun rising and falling, shadows of blinds moving back and forth across the wall. Finally the "twilight sleep" fades and Betty finally comes back fully to herself.... in bed holding her baby. The birth has come and gone, the rest and recovery, the presentation of the baby... all memories completely absent from her mind thanks to the drugs, or at least deeply tucked down alongside a bunch of trauma and hallucinations. But she looks at the baby, at first seemingly surprised to see it but then really taking in a look and remarking quietly how beautiful she is. "It's a boy," corrects a voice. It's Don, and he's not a hallucination. Her first response is, of course, concern and a tacit apology for HIS appearance, remarking with dismay that he looks terrible. He smiles in response and sits on the bed, asking how SHE is doing, and she fusses that she needs to put on her face. He promise her that she looks beautiful, and she looks down again at her beautiful baby boy and whispers,"Gene." Don isn't sure what she means, and so she explains, the baby will be called Eugene. He lets that sit for a second, absorbing the idea of naming his new son after a man he didn't particularly care for, then diplomatically offers that she doesn't need to make that decision yet. "Gene," though, she insists, convinced now that she's said it that it is the right choice. There have been a lot of things in her life she has been uncertain of, but this is not one of them.  
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 14, 2021 10:08
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With his "job" done, Don returns to work the next day in triumph. Every woman on the floor is beaming with joy at the new proud papa, offering their congratulations and enjoying his beaming smile. Allison collects his hat and asks if he got any sleep and he admits he did not and that he doesn't expect to get any for the next six months. She laughs at that and they enter the office, where he finds piles of gifts everywhere. She apologizes for the mess, admitting she wasn't sure where to put them all, then answers his private line and reports that it is Mr. Sterling.... does he want to take the call? He doesn't, not really, but he does anyway. Allison leaves and he braces himself a moment before taking Roger off hold, and immediately gets greeted with a "Dada" from the (charitably) middle-aged man-child enjoying an ice-cream sundae in his office. He asks if Betty performed like a champ and Don, who spent the entire time in the waiting room and had no inside knowledge, agrees she did. Roger asks what the new baby's initials will be so Jane can "put them on the back of her yacht or something" and Don, who was told in no uncertain terms that the child was called Eugene, simply replies that the baby doesn't have a name yet. With the pleasantries out of the way though, it's down to business. The Art Department has been sitting idle in his absence, no work has been signed off on because nobody will proceed without her permission. Don is agitated, for one thing he's only been gone half-a-day (a slight under-exaggeration, and Roger's joke - while a little lovely - is true, Betty had the baby, not him) and anyway what was Roger doing checking in on the Art Department in the first place? He wasn't, it was Lane of course, taking the opportunity during Don's absence to see how the mice played while the cat was away. It's short-sighted, needlessly confrontational and very likely to be a massive blow to morale knowing this penny pincher is slinking about looking for things to complain about... it seems Lane really didn't take on board Don's advice at all. With a sigh, Don says he'll get it sorted out, Roger offering a friendly(ish) warning that he needs to watch out for Lane, because he's a "tick". It's not a particularly nice thing to say, but it may be accurate. Lane really does seem to be that middle-management type: not quite enough authority to dictate terms to the higher ups but eager to stick his nose into everybody else's business and fidget and screw around with them for the sake of what HE considers efficiency... no matter what the cost. Meanwhile Duck Phillips is making good on his promise, he's arranged that lunch with the target of his headhunting..... Peggy Olson. She sips her drink and thanks him for the offer, pointing out that nobody at Sterling Cooper ever takes her out for lunch, and complimenting his turtleneck because today Duck Phillips is dressed casual-cool, and probably spent a long time doing so. Pete Campbell arrives for his meeting with "Clorox" and is shocked to see Peggy there, as is she when she spots him. Duck though is delighted that his plan is working so smoothly, greeting Pete and promising him he knows what he is doing when Pete demands to know what she is doing there. Pete complains he doesn't, but gets distracted when Duck asks him to join them for a nosh. It's Jewish slang for a snack, and the fact that Duck is casually using a term like that after a couple of months working for Grey (founded by two Jewish men) has him intrigued/suspicious: is it Duck just trying to fit in, or has he assimilated so easily into the company already? Which would also mean they easily accept newcomers... like him if he went to work there? Or maybe he's just casually anti-Semitic and doesn't like hearing Duck use the term! He joins Peggy at the table, where she promises that she didn't know Pete was coming until she arrived. They forget all about that though when Duck declares that he only recently came to a realization: that they've been having a secret relationship. They're horrified, he knows!?! Well... kind of. It turns out he's right in the wrong way, he took the Freddy Rumsen situation as a carefully organized plan between the two of them to help move Peggy up in the ranks and made the assumption that they were a couple. Peggy is quick to insist this wasn't how things happened (because it wasn't!) but when Duck congratulates them on their focus, drive and planning skills Pete decides to bask in the credit of something that didn't actually happen (yes he wanted to get a raise out of throwing Freddy under a bus, but Peggy's own benefit wasn't something he put any thought into). Poor Duck, forever thinking he's got things figured out and almost always missing the point. As a result of this imagined union, Duck wants to take the opportunity to headhunt them both, he wants Pete in Accounts and Peggy in Creative over at Grey, promising them both they will be showered with money and awards, be given the chance to showcase their ideas, and be treated with the respect they deserve. He calls it the Promised Land, because like the chameleon he has to be as an Accounts Services man, he has REALLY embraced being part of Grey. Pete immediately dismisses the idea, he still thinks his best chance of success is becoming sole Head of Accounts at a relatively small Agency (with a big backer in PPL) like Sterling Cooper, and he doesn't particularly care if Peggy takes the offer. Peggy for her part just wants to know if it HAS to be a package deal? Can she take the offer even if (especially if!) Pete doesn't? Duck pointedly doesn't answer that question, instead focusing on the half of this "couple" who is against the idea. He warns Pete that Sterling Cooper is never going to appreciate or endorse his ideas, which are creative and risky. When Pete stands to leave, he tells him that a man in his position should be having lunches and fielding offers like this from bigger firms at least twice a week... which also implies heavily that there is something wrong that Duck is the first and only person to do this so far. Pete though won't be moved, not now, he did come along so he was willing to hear Duck out despite his (unwarranted) distaste for him, but he was offended by Peggy being invited along to. So if Duck wants to woo him, he can buy him and him alone lunch. He leaves, and Peggy sees that as a sign to go too. Now that Pete has made his position clear though, Duck turns his attention to Peggy and somewhat to her earlier question. Why would she go? He's still willing to talk about his offer to her, and he thinks she should consider it. Calmly sipping his coffee (is he a teetotaler again or just being more careful about controlling when he drinks?), he notes that now is HER time: she's young, free, has no mortgage or family (husband) to tie to her down. She can go anywhere and do anything. For somebody like Peggy so used to being treated as a second class citizen due to her gender, it's an exciting prospect.   Pete returns to Sterling Cooper and rides the elevator up to the 23rd floor. As the car moves up through the floors, he notices Hollis.... oh God. Oh no. Please Pete no. Don't do it Pete. "Let me ask you something, Hollis. What type of TV do you have?" he asks. God loving dammit, Pete. Hollis has an RCA, a black and white one though he can't recall specifically why he got it, just to watch TV with he guesses. Pete pushes for more though, why an RCA specifically? Hollis doesn't know that either, the best he can offer is that he didn't really see any difference between the brands. Pete nods, considering that, while Hollis stops the elevator at the 16th floor to let the two other passengers off. It was a somewhat awkward conversation but not as bad as it might have been, and now they can continue the final few floo- "A lot of Negroes prefer Admiral," Pete declares,"I've done research." Pete.  Biting his tongue, Hollis simply reiterates that HE has an RCA, but Pete wants to know more, do his friends own Admirals? Keeping his composure with a heroic effort, Hollis states that he can't really say, and maybe blessedly that will be it, because they're almost at the 23rd floor. Pete hits the emergency stop button. Oh my sweet gentle Jesus no. Pete insists, he wants to have an honest conversation between the two of them about this. Horrified in addition to being utterly confused, Hollis says he doesn't want to get into any trouble, and Pete promises him that this'll just be between them, Hollis an- "Mr. Campbell" interrupts Hollis quickly, not letting Pete get out his first name. He's not stupid, those two words are designed to very quickly reminds Pete about the (grossly unfair) power dynamic between them: Hollis doesn't get the luxury of calling him by his first name, even if Pete says he can. That will only lead to resentment, probably from Pete himself, and it'll be Hollis who eats poo poo because of it. Proving the point, Pete gets offended by this! "Do you think I'm a bigot?" he demands, insisting he just wants to know why he bought his TV. Cornered, Hollis offers the best answer he can: he isn't even entirely sure himself why he bought a TV, he doesn't even watch it. That does intrigue Pete, why not? Walking as fine a line as he can, Hollis notes there are probably more important things to worry about (like Medgar Evers being assassinated outside his own home), and then has to suffer through the indignity of Pete lecturing him about thinking too narrowly. After all, the idea is that everybody will be able to own their own home, car and TV... that's the American Dream! Hollis glowers but holds his temper, it's a fine thing that Pete is saying on the surface that also happily ignores (or is safely shielded from by privilege) the miserable reality for so many Americans, particularly Black Americans. Instead, Hollis just starts the elevator up again, making it about as clear as possible that this conversation is over. Pete seems to get the message, he's certainly gone off track from his original point. He turns to face the door again, but not before adding quietly an exhortation/excuse for forcing the conversation on Hollis in the first place, it's his job. "Every job has its ups and downs," responds Hollis, a quip of sorts, and as they finally (blessedly) arrive at the 23rd floor, Pete gets in one final line that actually somehow DOES make things better. He doesn't watch anything on television? Even baseball? He doesn't believe that! Hollis can't help but laugh, and the two share a smile before Pete departs. Sure, Hollis also knows it would pay to accept the olive branch or laugh dutifully at a joke like this, but the reaction seemed spontaneous and genuine enough. If anything, it was as close to an acknowledgement as he'll get that Pete realizes he took things too far and accepts that HE is to blame for the conversation getting uncomfortable.   Don brings Sally and Bobby to the hospital to see Betty and the baby (he probably hasn't told them he's called Eugene), though they aren't able to see her in her room. Instead they stand outside with Don, waving happily as Betty looks out the window while holding Gene, beaming down with the maternal glow of a new mother at them. Except that the longer she stands there smiling, the more it looks like she is forcing the smile, the more it looks like she is trying to feel happy because she knows she should but can't quite get there. Not that Don or the kids see that, all they see is the loving wife/mother and the new son/brother, what a happy day! That evening, Don fries up a mess of a meal that is probably also abso-loving-lutely delicious. He's in his pajamas and robes, and a sleepy Sally joins him in the kitchen wearing her own pajamas, saying she was woken from her sleep by the smell... what's he cooking? A snack, he tells her, probably because there is no name for this unholy mash-up he's got going on, but he does offer her some if she'd like, which of course she does even if she had no idea he could cook (Mommy is much better at it, he promises her). He pulls an egg out and holds it up to the light, a habit he probably picked up as a child working on the farm, and Sally is pleased to instruct him on what Miss Farrell taught them when they did a farm visit: the eggs from the supermarket won't ever have any chicks in them. He is happy to let her "educate" him on this (and also addling) as he finishes up the meal. But after delivering these facts, she takes the usual wild tangent that so often come up in child conversations, asking if the baby is going to live in Grandpa Gene's room? Don makes the point that it isn't Grandpa Gene's room, it's the baby's room (and again, it's "the baby", not Eugene or Gene). This logic is pretty sound for Sally's young mind, she takes this in and then nods as if now everything makes sense, before another question occurs to her... wasn't the baby meant to be a girl? Don agrees that this is what they thought, but also he thought SHE was going to be a boy and it didn't turn out that way. Smiling down at his daughter, he points out that not all surprises are bad, and of course that makes her extremely happy. Dishing up her meal, he sits down beside her to eat and assures her that everything is going to be okay. She nods, this is what Miss Farrell told her too. Apparently she took it upon herself to offer Sally some minor counseling after learning the cause of Sally's recent bad behavior. Don is fine with that, agreeing that if Miss Farrell said it then it must be true. With that, father and daughter sit and eat in silence at the counter, enjoying some quiet alone time together that they will by necessity be a rare thing in the coming months. For Sally it's a thrill, getting to be up late with her father who is paying complete and total attention to her and only her. For Don it's nice to take the time to actually be a dad, and to feel like he's offering his child something more than just a house to live in and the money to pay for what she needs, that he may be helping her through a tough time. In other words, like Dennis maybe he is taking the chance to be better. Speaking of Dennis, the next day Don brings flowers to the hospital for Betty and passes Dennis wheeling Pamela down the hospital corridor. Don is pleased to see him and gives him a nod and a smile, but when Dennis sees him his initial smile suddenly drops into a blank face, and he lowers his head and doesn't speak or acknowledge him, just keeps going. Don's face falls as they continue on in different directions, confused by the coldness. Why did Dennis react this way? Is he feeling embarrassed about how openly he exposed his emotions to Don - a complete stranger - during a vulnerable time? Is Don a reminder of his vow to be better.... in which case, has he already broken it? They were only ever ships passing in the night though, even if it was on a momentous day for them both. Don moves on, which is something he's very good at. Pete and Harry prepare to present their new ideas to Admiral, though the meeting starts on a more informal note as they all take great pleasure in discussing (and exaggerating) Burt Peterson's undignified exit from Sterling Cooper. Talk soon turns to business though, as Pete lets them in on his incredible findings: they are outperforming in "Negro markets". Except... Admiral already knew that. This takes the wind somewhat out of Pete's sails, he never quite expected that anybody else would have noticed the incredibly obvious sales trends that practically jumped out of the pages at him. Still, things might not be going ENTIRELY according to his script but if they already know this stuff then surely they'll see the value in what he wants to push next. He shows them copies of Ebony and Jet Magazine, as well as local Black newspapers, explaining that the ad rates in these publications is drastically lower than in White magazines and newspapers. If they were to set aside some of the advertising budget from the lower performing White areas and redirect them into these over-performing Black areas, there is a pre-existing market already primed to buy their brand. In fact, a 5% increase in Detroit alone would outshine a %2 increase in ALL their White markets. So what does this mean for advertising in White publications? Does he expect them to pay Sterling Cooper for two lots of ads now? Not at all says Pete, excited, they can still just make the one ad, they'll just target it to both White AND Black audiences... in short, Pete is arguing for integration. "Isn't that illegal?" asks one of the Admiral Executives, catching Pete by surprise again, of course it's not illegal. But to his utter astonishment they shut him down. They're not interested in pursuing Black customers, they don't care how much money it might make them. After all, maybe Black people are buying Admirals because they know that they're so liked by White people! A statement that makes zero sense given the sales figures that they themselves admitted they were fully aware of. This is where Pete Campbell of all people somehow finds himself on the right side of history. It's not that Pete is what you would call woke, or that he has higher minded ideals about integration and Civil Rights. It just never occurred to him that any business WOULDN'T jump at the chance to make an enormous amount of extra money from a new and largely uncatered to customer base. He was expecting Admiral to leap at this chance, and to shower him with praise, after all he's telling them how to sell more of their product AND pay less in the process. He doesn't care that they're Black any more than he'd care if the market research showed more Jewish people or more women or more Asians or whoever or whatever was eager to buy Admiral. He might be full of all kinds of biases and be utterly tone deaf to the actual reality of being a minority in America... but he's also a guy who knows that money is money no matter who is spending it. And what does he get for bringing Admiral this (to his mind) brilliant idea? Shut down with open hostility and disgust.   Don is napping on his couch when Allison buzzes through to let him know that Miss Olson is here to see him. He tells her to let her in, and sits up as Peggy enters with a gift of her own, acknowledging that the new baby probably doesn't need new clothes but she wants Don to keep it anyway, because as the youngest child she knew what it was like to never have anything new. She admits that nobody told her they were all chipping on a gift for the baby so she really had to make sure she got him something. Sitting down after confirming he really is back at work (he was napping, after all), she explains that she has come to him to discuss her pay. Or rather, the lack of it. She works hard and she doesn't feel what she makes reflects that. Her own secretary doesn't respect her because she only makes $71 dollar more than her a week. She doesn't accept Don's joke about getting a cheaper secretary, complaining she does just as much work as Paul Kinsey and often better, but he gets paid more than her. She reminds him that the Equal Pay Act so recently signed into law guarantees that women who do the same work as men should be paid equally (1963 eh? Well I'm sure in 2021 that's just a matter of course now!) and that is what she wants. Don though simply states it isn't a good time, nut it's not a good time for Peggy either, she's living in the city and that is expensive. Don won't be argued around though, complaining (accurately, to be fair) that right now he's having to fight for every paperclip Creative is using. All he can offer her is to pour them both a drink, an offer that at least acknowledges her in his eyes as a peer. But the days when this simple gesture would wow her are gone. Instead, she ponders the baby boots on her present and quietly notes that having a baby for the third time must be old hat for him by now. He watches her as she lightly taps at the boots, one of the few people in the world who know about her own pregnancy. He returns and gives her the drink, promising her that she'll be fine. That's a lovely sentiment but it isn't a pay-rise, and with a faraway look in her eyes she admits that when she looks at him she thinks to herself that she wants everything that he has. "You have everything, and so much of it," she exclaims, and after a moment he admits that this is probably true. But what does she want him to sat> Brought back to reality by this question, she points out that she could not have been clearer in telling him what she wants: a pay-rise, money that equals - if not the worth of the actual work she puts in - at least what the likes of Paul Kinsey are paid. But that he can't give her, reminding her about the wholesale gutting of Sterling Cooper that has been happening over the last six months. Seeing she will get nothing, she stands to leave, but pauses at the door to ask him one last question, what is this IS her time? She never mentions Duck or the lunch meeting, but it must be at the forefront of her mind: somebody from a bigger Agency actively courting her and telling her it is her time, vs. the boss she credits for her start telling her over and over again that it's not the time. She leaves the office, in a bit of a daze as she considers seriously what her future might be. As she leaves, she's spotted by Pete Campbell who is already in a bad mood after the Admiral fiasco. He demands to know where she's going and sarcastically she tells him the ladies room, asking if he wants to join her. He's in no mood for her smart talk though, he wants to know if she told Don about Duck and his offer. That's none of his business she complains, but he begs to differ, especially since if they know Grey is after her they'll be more likely to try to entice her to say, but he's practically redundant already thanks to his job-share with Ken. Peggy, still upset about the way the meeting went, won't indulge in his pity party, reminding him he has relationships with all his clients which give him plenty of leverage. She isn't going to answer his questions about whether Don knows about Duck's offer, and she isn't going to take his problems or paranoia into account, because what she does is HER decision. "Your decisions affect me," he snaps back, and of course he's talking about far more than this job offer: always present between them is the knowledge that she had his baby and gave it away and he will never know it or see it or have it in his life.   Speaking of decisions being made, Betty has made a pretty big one. She's probably not even thinking about it as an issue at all, after all she already spoke to Don about it and made her feelings clear, and he raised no objections (or didn't verbalize them at least). So onto the birth certificate goes the name Eugene Scott Draper, and just like that the baby is officially, legally Eugene. Pete is summoned to Bert Cooper's office, where he finds Cooper, Roger and Lane all waiting with stern looks on their faces. It might almost be a relief for him that they're wanting to read him the riot act over.... Admiral. They don't know about Duck, not yet at least, but they're furious that he offended a client by bringing them an out there marketing strategy he didn't pass through anybody else (he IS the Co-head of Accounts, you know!). Once again, Pete proves to be tone deaf in just the right way to be progressive. When Cooper snaps that Admiral has no interest in being a "colored" television company, Pete offers back the rather unassailable logic that... they already are. It makes no sense to him why they are resisting this, there is money to be made! He sarcastically remarks that what would he know though, he's only in advertising, and on that front at least Cooper can school him. Because if he's in advertising he should also know that clients HATE being involved in sensitive issues. Roger adds his own wisdom, declaring that he will express it in Account terms.... does Pete have any idea how many "hand-jobs" Roger is going to have to give now to get Admiral back to being okay with Sterling Cooper? Pete tries to defend himself, sales were flat and he has to try SOMETHING, so is he going to be taken off the account or not? Hell, Roger declares, he's going to have to tell Admiral they had him killed just to fix this mess! After all, another bit of wisdom in the "business" of advertising is that more often than not a client relationship comes down entirely to whether or not they personally like somebody. It is Lane of all people who comes to the rescue, smiling and asking sweetly if they're done with the requisite flogging yet? Roger's vicious, fire-blooded temper is suddenly gone, he sags as he admits that it's never as fun as you think it will be, and he takes a seat. Now that the screaming is out of the way, Lane notes that Pete does actually have a point in that there IS money to be made in "the Negro market". Not in Admiral, that much is obvious... but there may be other clients who can be successfully pitched the idea of expanding out into a growing marketplace. Cooper is surprised, and Lane admits that he may be a stranger in a strange land as a recent British transplant to America, but even he can sense that there is something in the air, some movement or push for changing coming in... there is something going on. Cooper considers this, then nods and agrees that maybe there is something to be looked into here. For maybe a second, Pete might have had the faintest burgeoning of hope. His ideas are being considered and approved at the highest level of the firm! Duck Phillips was wrong, there is a place for his creative and risky ideas being appreciated after all! And then it all gets dashed, as Cooper realizes he's still there and dismisses him indifferently. Pete now suffers the indignity of having been lambasted for his ideas before having to hear them get pursued further by OTHER people who also tell him to gently caress off while they do it. Maybe Duck Phillips was right after all, maybe staying at Sterling Cooper ISN'T the right idea for him? Don drives Betty home, opening the door of the car for her and little Gene, helping her out and collecting her suitcase. Betty watches him, beaming happily right up to the second his back is turned and she can allow her face the briefest of collapses before putting on the smile again as he turns around. They enter the home, Don calling out to the kids who race to see her, Bobby hugging her tight causing her to warn him to be careful of the baby. Francine collects Gene out of her hands for the moment and Sally presents her with some flowers it looks like she picked out of the garden before giving her a hug as well and telling her she missed her. They enter the living room and take a seat on the couch, Francine excitedly talking about how much food has been stocked up in the fridge, presumably from neighbors/friends and well-wishers. Bobby introduces himself to his new little brother, gently stroking his head as Don warns him to remember to be careful. Francine asks Betty how the birth way and she smiles sweetly, saying that Francine knows... it was all a fog. Francine is concerned that she has made a mistake by not asking Carla to stay on longer to help out, but Betty knows she has asked enough of Carla already keeping her away from her family to look after the kids while she was in hospital, so she'll manage fine for now. Don offers to get Betty something to eat and she automatically goes to raise to do that herself, but he insists she stay, telling the kids to come with him as she gets to enjoy being catered too for a change. Left alone, she watches Francine holding Gene and checks on him as he lets out a little blub of discontent, then shares another winning smile with her friend, all aglow with motherly love. That evening, the sound of Gene's crying goes unnoticed by Don despite sleeping closer to the door. He claimed he would be getting little sleep for the next six months, but he seems to be sleeping just fine now. Betty doesn't have that luxury. She wakes and slowly exits the bed, clambering down the hallway towards what was recently her father's guestroom and now houses the crib of his namesake. She pauses for a moment in the hallway as the crying continues. She stands there for a few moments, seems to brace herself, and then continues on into the room. She knows exactly how she should be feeling at this time, knows exactly the emotions and instincts that should be kicking in. It feels like she is going through the motions though, trying her best to make things work the way they are supposed to. When she was on the delivery table, she kept crying,"I can't, I can't!" but the baby was coming no matter what. When Peggy looked at the baby booties she said third time must be old hat, but for Betty third time seems to be far more troublesome than that. Her hallucination of her mother told her to be quiet and accept her lot, the hallucination of her father likened her to a housecat: beloved and credited with importance but ultimately just a pet forever trapped in the home to uncritically project out simple and uncomplicated love. When Betty Draper walks into little Gene's room, it looks for all the world that she's still in that fog.  Episode Index
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Mar 14, 2021 10:08
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Pete Campbell is the kind of guy who simply doesn't see Color, unless it's Green. (Between this and Roger's Derby Day party, I think it's clear that Pete doesn't harbor any racial animus beyond the obliviousness a wealthy white guy in the 60's would carry. He still deals in stereotypes and, as seen in the elevator scene, absolutely does not understand the power dynamics at play with race - but that same scene demonstrates his assumption that social mobility is normalized throughout America. He doesn't understand it, never experienced it himself, but he knows for a fact that it's possible!)Jerusalem posted:Betty drifts into a pleasant dream/fantasy, she's no longer pregnant and walking happily down the perfect and deserted suburban street she calls home. The sun is shining, her hair is meticulous and she has a lovely, form-fitting dress to show off. As she walks, she's delighted to see a caterpillar dangling from a silk thread ahead of her. She lets it come to rest in the palm of her hand, staring at it fascinated before closing up her hand. Does she identify with the caterpillar herself? Is it symbolic of the child in her womb that is about to emerge and become something entirely new? Or is she just really loving whacked out of her gourd on morphine and scopolamine and her brain is just triggering pure nonsense? I love the entire sequence - the shock cut to her post-birth, sweaty and disoriented and as far as possible from the Betty Draper we've seen up to this point, is an incredible capstone - but the walk down the street contains January Jones' Big drat Acting Moment of the series for me, and it's actually very small. A unique, larval creature presents itself to her - then she wraps her fist around it, and just for a split second her eyes go wide as saucers and she revels in her power over another living being, thrilled by it. In that one look, you understand how Betty Draper views motherhood, and it's purely about control.
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Mar 14, 2021 11:39
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JethroMcB posted:In that one look, you understand how Betty Draper views motherhood, and it's purely about control. I hadn't considered that, but it plays well with the way Ruthie treats her in the flashback too. She always talked about how much she misses her mother and it is clear the lessons Ruthie taught her about beauty at all costs sunk in DEEEEEEP, but while she's delighted to see her father in her dream she just completely regresses and seems intimidated and guilty when confronted by a mother who immediately tells her to keep her mouth shut, stand up straight and learn not to speak up or make a fuss.
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Mar 14, 2021 11:52
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So drat weird to have Yeardley Smith just be a cameo here.
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Mar 14, 2021 12:07
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gently caress, I knew I recognized her but I kept thinking I was just mistaking her for looking vaguely like Kitty from That 70s Show 
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Mar 14, 2021 12:14
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