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I just realized that I crossed another wire in my head and misremembered another character; I could have sworn, full-on mandela effect style, that the "cure for the common breakfast" guy was Mathis, but it seems I'm mistaken and have forgotten about the existence of yet another character from this show
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Jun 29, 2021 16:06
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Haha. I never drew a connection between Mathis and Danny, but there is some similarity. Mathis is a little more competent, but not tremendously so, and honestly, they're both OK dudes. Not assholes. (Even though Mathis's last scene is a temper tantrum.)
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Jun 29, 2021 16:46
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It also made Jerusalem's description of him pretty funny, I was like "go easy on the guy, i don't remember him looking that middle-aged"
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Jun 29, 2021 17:15
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I love the scene where Pete confronts Lane. The physicality and the blocking really sells the conflict—note how the 180 line is nearly crossed when Lane grabs Pete, and the left side of the frame which Kartheiser occupied in the beginning with his whole body is now taken up by Harris's face in close up. Harris uses the visual real estate to great effect—he sells the hell out of Lane's desperation to placate Pete. And I was just thinking how it's notable that this is a rare instance of Lane being canny and persuasive. He's previously been shown to be quite blunt—he was pretty brazen with his intentions when he pitted Ken and Pete against each other in S3, for example. Now, it's possible Lane's just manipulating Pete but it seems kind of out of character? It might also be the case that Lane isn't lying and really does admire Pete (especially in comparison to Roger), though I can't imagine there's much to admire on a personal level. I've never really decided one way or the other.
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Jun 29, 2021 22:35
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I think he does admire Pete in a professional capacity. Because Pete is the one working the hardest to make this company be successful. And he did say in the New Years drinking with Don outing that Pete has been the friendliest to him.
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Jun 29, 2021 23:16
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Yeah, his "fondness" is probably mostly built on admiration/relief that there is another partner who seems utterly driven to improve the company's finances, but I do feel it is genuine.
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Jun 30, 2021 01:27
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Lane and Pete are both kind of awkward, neither really being a "people person", and both feel more comfortable at the office than anywhere else. Lane may feel that they're somewhat simpatico because of this. Pete doesn't see it that way because he is sort of a solipsist. (Maybe that's being kind to him. Maybe I should just say he's too much of an rear end in a top hat.)
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Jun 30, 2021 01:44
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They're also both of the upper class and hate being so. And both feel trapped in their relationships. I could very much see an ending for pete similar to Lane's if things had played out a bit diffrent. Think of how much they focus on the Gun Pete got in earlier seasons
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Jun 30, 2021 01:47
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Gaius Marius posted:They're also both of the upper class and hate being so. And both feel trapped in their relationships. I could very much see an ending for pete similar to Lane's if things had played out a bit diffrent. Think of how much they focus on the Gun Pete got in earlier seasons "That's for weak people," as he says. I mean, under dire enough circumstances, who knows what Pete would be capable of doing, but I think he's entirely too narcissistic to kill himself. Lane was overwhelmed by shame over his actions, blamed himself for what he did to his career and his family, but Pete seems like a perpetual victim. Every hardship he faces is someone else's fault, it's always something awful that happened TO him. I feel like he'd use that gun on someone else way before he thought of turning it on himself.
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Jun 30, 2021 02:05
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quote:The thing is, that's not ALL his work, no he has other ads in there as well, and they've very good ones. The problem is... they're not his. Volkswagen, Marlboro, Maidenform, he's just gone ahead and included a bunch of ads he tore out of magazines, explaining that they're there to inspire him.... surely they tear things out of magazines all the time!?! Happy little callback to S1E3 "Marriage of Figaro" Jerusalem posted:He's even less impressed by them referencing the same Volkswagen ad he was focused on in his magazine, grunting that he hates the ad and he hates the car.
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Jun 30, 2021 06:30
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Look at babby beardless Kinsey 
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Jun 30, 2021 10:19
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KellHound posted:I think he does admire Pete in a professional capacity. Because Pete is the one working the hardest to make this company be successful. And he did say in the New Years drinking with Don outing that Pete has been the friendliest to him. Which is a hell of a contrast when in a later season he calls him a "grimy little pimp" and beats the crap out of him.
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Jun 30, 2021 12:56
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Cat Army
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For people who've seen the entire run, what do you think of Peggy's and Stan's relationship possibility when you first watched this? I had no idea they would get together, since they seemed to have a brother sister vibe with a healthy dose of misogyny on Stan's part, so the finale came as a huge surprise. It did make sense that Peggy would choose someone she works with. And after watching the episode, at least Stan didn't say she got the job because she slept with Don, which is a rare thing for a male character on this show. I dunno. e: lol, I mean Peggy commented on Stan's boner. Ok, so not so brother/sisterly.
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Jun 30, 2021 17:32
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I was more surprised by how long they waited for that to happen. I might be jaded from too much television, but their dynamic practically had “gonna hook up, but a lot of will they/will they not” written all over it
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Jun 30, 2021 18:44
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Shageletic posted:For people who've seen the entire run, what do you think of Peggy's and Stan's relationship possibility when you first watched this? I had no idea they would get together, since they seemed to have a brother sister vibe with a healthy dose of misogyny on Stan's part, so the finale came as a huge surprise. It did make sense that Peggy would choose someone she works with. And after watching the episode, at least Stan didn't say she got the job because she slept with Don, which is a rare thing for a male character on this show. I dunno. I wasn't all that surprised, after that episode I figured it was only a matter of time. Stan fits her a hell of a lot better than the dweeb she was dating, or the hippie guy. It's a bit tv cliche but after that episode they felt like they were vibing on the same level. Xealot posted:"That's for weak people," as he says. I mean, under dire enough circumstances, who knows what Pete would be capable of doing, but I think he's entirely too narcissistic to kill himself. Lane was overwhelmed by shame over his actions, blamed himself for what he did to his career and his family, but Pete seems like a perpetual victim. Every hardship he faces is someone else's fault, it's always something awful that happened TO him. I feel like he'd use that gun on someone else way before he thought of turning it on himself. That's fair. I do think that if Pete had lost his job around when his relationship with Trudy was at it's worse then he might have done it. I don't think we can take his actual words as gospel, Lane probably would've thought about the same but probably not voiced it. But sometimes everything just happens all at once and you can't see a way out. That's what kills me the most. Don not only would've helped him if Lane had asked, but Don was trying to give him legitimate advice.
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Jun 30, 2021 18:50
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Shageletic posted:For people who've seen the entire run, Somehow I never saw them ending up together, and it definitely came as a surprise to me on first viewing - even with the context and seasons of buildup, the development of them finally deciding to go for it in the finale is very rapid and pat - but on my recent rewatch it was obvious they're made for one another. I think originally I just viewed their routine late night phone calls as a way to keep Peggy in the loop on what's happening at SCDP for the period after she left the office.
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Jun 30, 2021 19:01
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yeah it's a little jarring to watch Stan's intro episode knowing where he ends up with Peggy. I think that's kind of the beauty of the show though, you get to see a lot of genuine growth between these characters over the years that makes it hard to predict their trajectory. For example, it's interesting to compare his character arc with Joey's--dude gets all this initial screentime that makes him seem outwardly like a "better" person than Stan at first glance, he gets along with Peggy just fine at the outset, but then the Joan conflict just immediately tanks him seemingly out of nowhere. But then, it isn't really out of nowhere, because if you actually pay attention they don't have a great working relationship the whole season leading up to that episode. I definitely hated Stan the first time he shows up but I think the ensuing years/losing his cousin in the war really work to humble his character. I still think their getting together was a bit rushed and could have used more foreshadowing than just frequent late night calls/that one time they kiss while he's on speed but 
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Jun 30, 2021 19:49
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Blood Nightmaster posted:yeah it's a little jarring to watch Stan's intro episode knowing where he ends up with Peggy. I think that's kind of the beauty of the show though, you get to see a lot of genuine growth between these characters over the years that makes it hard to predict their trajectory. For example, it's interesting to compare his character arc with Joey's--dude gets all this initial screentime that makes him seem outwardly like a "better" person than Stan at first glance, he gets along with Peggy just fine at the outset, but then the Joan conflict just immediately tanks him seemingly out of nowhere. But then, it isn't really out of nowhere, because if you actually pay attention they don't have a great working relationship the whole season leading up to that episode. The totally inept way the show gets them together is my biggest complaint about the finale, but they absolutely make sense as a couple. He's definitely a douche upon his introduction, but per Gaius Marius' point upthread, that's solid enemies-to-lovers romcom poo poo. What I think works about them is that one of Peggy's biggest emotional needs is to be seen for her talent and skill, for the "sacrifices" she made for her career to be validated. Relationships with guys who value her for her femininity or her motherhood potential or whatever fall flat because she is at odds with those things. The way to really flatter Peggy is to compliment her work, which Don or Ken do platonically and which Ted or Stan do...not platonically. The broad brushes of that idea are at play in the finale - Stan respects her so much, he'd follow her anywhere. Her talent is WHY he loves her, not an obstacle in the way of domestic bliss. I just wish they showed this in a less meandering and strange way. My pitch would've been for Peggy to actually take Joan up on her offer. On one hand, because Peggy and Joan's disagreement over how best to operate as independent women was a central tension of the show, and them becoming partners would've been a fantastic resolution to that. But on the other, they could've collapsed Stan's love confession into that: Peggy isn't sure if Joan's offer is worth the risk. Stan convinces her it is because he sees how loving talented she is...there's no way she'll fail because it's her. Which is the final act romantic one-liner Peggy's always wanted to hear.
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Jun 30, 2021 20:23
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I was not all that surprised. The late night phone calls seemed like more than just an "ex co-worker still friends" kind of thing. Off the subject, I really felt bad for Peggy when, after all her hard work and getting hired away to be Copy Chief, she ends up right back at SCDP, essentially working for Don and everyone again.
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Jun 30, 2021 21:02
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MightyJoe36 posted:I was not all that surprised. The late night phone calls seemed like more than just an "ex co-worker still friends" kind of thing. Yeah, I didn't see them together until the late night calls, and then I assumed it immediately. I feel like Stan is different in seasons 6 and 7. He's a more empathetic communicator. The conclusion of their story in the finale is very rushed, but Peggy has a line that rings true for them: "You always make everything OK." I hated that stupid merger plot point in season 6. It's the kind of stupid forced bullshit that other shows do.
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Jun 30, 2021 21:17
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Yoshi Wins posted:Yeah, I didn't see them together until the late night calls, and then I assumed it immediately. I feel like Stan is different in seasons 6 and 7. He's a more empathetic communicator. The conclusion of their story in the finale is very rushed, but Peggy has a line that rings true for them: "You always make everything OK." Same. As soon as she was calling him at night after leaving SCDP, I knew they would end up together. She doesn't keep in touch with anyone else from work when they don't work together. She doesn't keep in touch with anyone else, even Dr Faye whom she claims to look up to and want to keep in touch with because of her desire for a woman she sees as goals. Stan is something special. Stan realizing she hadn't slept with Don in his first episode is I think a hint of that. And I think actually think Abe's short story that was supposed to flatter Peggy but is actually super insulting (since it ya know compares her to a war criminal) is a clear sign that they are doomed. KellHound fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Jun 30, 2021 |
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Jun 30, 2021 22:53
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Season 4, Episode 7 - The Suitcase Written by Matthew Weiner, Directed by Jennifer Getzinger Don Draper posted:I know it's going to be bad. Harry Crane is doling out presents... kinda. He has tickets to Loew's theater for the Closed Circuit screening of a boxing match between Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay, and while he's passing out freebies to some, he expects Stan, Joey and Danny to pay out $10 each for theirs. Still a good price, but also... well.... it's not free! Danny is the only one who complains about this, pointing out that Harry would have got them as comps thanks to his media connections. "You're such a Jew," chuckles Harry, getting a laugh from everybody around, with Danny not being outraged but simply offering a retort that actually it is HARRY who is the Jew for trying to make $30 from something he got for nothing. This gets another laugh, just a bunch of fine fellows cracking anti-semitic jokes on a Tuesday morning in 1965, the fact there is no (active) malice in it perhaps making it all the more horrific. Talk, of course, turns to betting. Ken is convinced that Sonny Liston will win the rematch handily (Clay won an upset 7th round victory the year before), claiming that Clay is scared and had an elevated heartrate before the last fight (which he won!). Pete, not quite self-aware, complains that this means nothing since he gets that all the time! But Ken is convinced Liston can win, he's got the size advantage AND he's never been knocked out (the previous fight ended when Liston - for disputed reasons - did not answer the bell to come out for the 7th round). Danny points out that Liston is also old, but Ken insists that just means he is experienced. Don arrives and collects a ticket from Harry (another freebie), and they ask if he wants to make a bet through Stan's bookie (and barber!), Stan pointing out that he thinks Clay would be a hell of an adman. Don agrees, peels off $100.... and puts a bet on Liston. He agrees enthusiastically to Harry asking if he'll join them all at the Palm before the fight and then orders the Samsonite Team to join him in his office before walking away. That just leaves Harry and Pete, the former quickly reminding the latter to lie to Jennifer if she asks and say that Harry DID pay for the tickets, the hallmark of any healthy marriage. Not a single one of them referred to Cassius Clay as Muhammed Ali once that entire time, by the way. That's not at all unusual for the time: Ali's announcement that he had joined the "Black Muslims" and changed his name after the first fight enraged a LOT of people almost as much as seeing a confident black man speaking his mind on television did. Don enters his office, followed by Miss Blankenship, instructing her to book a reservation for himself and Roger for pre-fight drinks anywhere BUT The Palm. Miss Blankenship, wacky ol' crazy ol' slightly kooky ol' Miss Blankenship, grumps that she doesn't see the fuss... if she wanted to see two negroes fight she'd throw a dollar bill out the window. Yeah it's.... it's 1965. Team Samsonite enters: Peggy, Stan, Joey and Danny. Peggy "cheerfully" reminds Don they were supposed to have this meeting at 9am and it's now 11:15. Don's response is straightforward and to the point: he's late, they're not.... so good work from them so far! With that very blatant non-apology out of the way he orders them to show them what they've got, like they're wasting HIS time, and they jump right into it. He sits behind the desk, sips a cold coffee (Miss Blankenship probably left it there over 2 hours ago) and Stan launches excitedly into his description of the pitch, acted out by the others. It's two no-name football players (Stan and Danny) in a white void holding American Tourister and Skyway suitcases, struggling to get past the sexy girl (Peggy) holding a Samsonite as she defends Joe Namath (Joey). Namath declares that he carries Samsonite wherever he goes for protection, at which point Peggy knocks the other two down and explains the clothes in their suitcases will go flying everywhere. Joey declares,"Samsonite: It's tough!" before wrapping an arm around "sexy girl" and walking away with her..... and they're done. Boy are they. Don hates it. Endorsements are lazy, Joe Namath hasn't played a single televised game yet (yeah he's sure to be swallowed up by history!) and even if women think he's very handsome (which Peggy clearly does) it doesn't matter since women don't buy suitcases. Peggy blurts out before thinking that Dr. Faye says women DO buy suitcases (of course they do, whether for themselves, the family or more likely their husbands), and now Don's good humor over being called out for being late is gone. Coldly he "asks" the others to leave them, and uncomfortably they all beat a quick retreat to leave Peggy to face the brunt of Don's anger. None of them make any move to stand in solidarity, and in fact Stan waves her a happy little goodbye before he does! Left alone, Don decides to express his anger through biting sarcasm, declaring how glad he is that Peggy finds SCDP to be an environment where she is "free to fail". Peggy isn't just going to stand and take the hits though, reminding Don that he was the one who wanted to go with Danny's idea(!) in the first place. He agrees to that happily, Danny's idea was actually good: Nobody is tougher than Samsonite.... the problem is in THEIR execution of that idea. A little sullenly, trying to be professional but obviously irritated about Don showing up 2 hours late and making GBS threads all over an idea he told them to run with, she asks what he wants them to do instead then, something funny? Funny is fine, he agrees, but only if it is intentionally so and not the sad effort they just put on in front of him. Swallowing her anger at the insult, she nods, turns on her heel and leaves to go think up an entirely new campaign idea out of nowhere to replace the days/weeks of work they've just watched get poo poo on.   Returning to her office, Peggy finds an unexpected but pleasant surprise waiting for her: a white box with a ribbon is sitting on her desk with a card. Beaming happily, she picks up the card and reads it, then puts through a call to the sender: Herman "Duck" Phillips. He's sitting in a dark apartment, a glass of scotch beside him, papers everywhere, looking disheveled and mildly alarmed at life in general when the phone rings. Answering, he's all the smooth confidence of his time as the Head of Account Services at Sterling Cooper when he hears her on the other end expressing happy surprise that he remembered her birthday. Pleased, he asks if she opened the present and she takes satisfaction in doing so right then, finding a box of business cards.... in her name, listing her as the Creative Director of Phillips-Olson Advertising. Oh God, Duck, no..... Jumping to his feet, he declares that he is finally doing something he should have done years ago. He admits the company would probably need a third partner but the main thing he wants is her: he wants to form an agency that specializes in women's products. Peggy stares at the card, and one might expect her to be recoiling in horror or dripping with pity for the older man she engaged in a comparatively brief affair with... but she's.... excited? A wide smile has crossed her face, and she's feeling a surge of excitement at the prospect, the fantasy, and yes even the vote of confidence in HER abilities. Duck trips over his words in his excitement (and the booze, the booze helps!) to tell her that he's in high-level talks with the people at Tampax, reminding her that they hold a 50% share of the market.... and he feels that would be enough to get them off the ground, that and his European connections plus that "queer" at Belle Jolie who has been barking up his tree. Yeah it's.... it's 1965. He loudly mimics a train hoot as he knocks back his drink, the clink of the ice and the sound of the liquid going down his throat surely audible to hear so close to the receiver. But while she is thrilled by the offer and excited at the prospect, she's also Peggy Olson, and she wants the full picture.... starting with the number she called, where is he? He's at his office at home he explains, and this surprises her, he ALREADY told Grey he was leaving to start his own Agency? Well.... not quite! He admits he doesn't work for Grey anymore but that he should have left a long time ago, before spiking things even harder by assuring her the departure was "mutual", something you usually only say when you got your rear end fired and want to pretend you were going to quit any second now! "Duck... did you lose your job?" she asks, and it all starts falling apart. Duck tries to keep selling his idea, at turns aggressive and self-pitying as he pleads with Peggy as he grasps things aren't going the way he planned them in his head. He admits he was inspired by what Don did starting SCDP but complains it is difficult to get a credit line - Don and the others started day one with 30+ million in billings - and when Peggy asks what he DOES have he bitches that he spent money on those business cards he sent her! Keeping her cool, she thanks him for those but says while she is flattered she also doesn't know how serious he is being, because she suspects he has been drinking. He insists he hasn't, putting his near empty glass down as he says it, even though he already drank right next to the receiver earlier. When she points out she heard about what happened to him at the Clios, he gets pathetic, begging to see her, admitting he's a mess, exclaiming she is the only thing that has made him feel good about himself over the last couple of years. He wants to see her tonight, he NEEDS to see her tonight, and when she informs him she has plans with Mark he complains bitterly that he is "another one" (Irish?) before desperately begging her again. As he moans that he needs her, there is a knock at Peggy's locked door, Stan laughing from the other side for her to get her hands out of her panties. She unlocks the door, telling Duck perfunctorily that she has to go and hanging up, the last thing Duck is likely to hear being Stan hooting,"Have you been farting in here?". In his sad little apartment, Duck sits scowling and knocks back the last of his drink, spilling ice all over his shirt and causing him to leap up as if he the ice was thrown at him rather than due to him being a drunken mess.   Mad Men presents: The Duality of Man. Stan, Danny and Joey (still with the football) are in her office now, Stan informing her they're all going to lunch. She lets them know what they've already gathered, that Don hated their pitch. Stan agrees he hates it too... now. He doesn't mind admitting that while they were working on it he thought it was good, but grasped as they ran through the pitch itself how badly the execution was coming off. So now they're gonna go to lunch, and it is actually kind of sweet, because beyond Joey saying they'll let her "talk" during lunch (i.e, actually work on the new idea) or even acknowledging it is her birthday... they all wanted her to join them in the first place. Peggy and Stan butted heads and still have obvious problems, and Stan seemed to take pleasure in HER taking the hit for the team from Don earlier... but he also seemingly now sees her as part of the work group. It clearly didn't even occur to him to go to lunch without grabbing her first. In that sense, they are alike to the old Pete, Ken, Harry and Paul group at Sterling Cooper... hell, they even have their own little Paul in Danny! Don returns to his office where, with her usual tact and subtlety, Miss Blankenship informs him that he got a call on his direct line while he was in the toilet. The call came from a Stephanie in California, no last name, and said it was urgent. She offers to place the call but Don, after a moment of letting the message sink in, says he's got it and heads into his office. He must feel like he's walking underwater as he approaches his desk and takes a seat. Stephanie would only call and leave a message like that for one reason: Anna is dead or dying. He picks up the phone and stares at the photo of he and Anna in younger, happier days.... and then hangs up the phone and puts the message in his pocket. He can't make the call without a stiff drink first, and as he pours one he's far from upset to have Roger Sterling burst into the room declaring their night is ruined. ANYTHING for a distraction, please. He hands Roger a drink and promises him he's "fixed" things by finding out where the "kids" are going and arranging for them to go anywhere else instead. But Roger explains it isn't kids but alcoholics causing the problem: Freddy is bringing Cal Rutledge from Pond's to join them for dinner AND the fight, which means a dry night, which is apparently a thought Roger can't even begin to contemplate... going several hours WITHOUT booze? Which is why he's come with up with a plan... they just get loving blasted BEFORE dinner since they won't be able to drink afterwards! That fine line separating them from Duck Phillips gets a little finer every day. Bemoaning how Freddy and Cal tell "funny" stories before crying (the "funny" part will be the acknowledgement of horrible, self-destructive things they did, presumably), Roger sighs that his night is ruined before it has even begun, especially since he has $300 on Liston to lose but it HAS to be via KO, and how likely is THAT to happen!?! He can't get rid of them though, and all Roger's doom and gloom suddenly becomes startled horror when Don muses that maybe he should flag the evening and just stay here and work on Samsonite? Quickly, he reminds Don that Samsonite isn't for another two weeks, he can spare the evening. Don though has made up his mind, any interest in the fight drained from him before Roger's proclamation by the "news" about Anna. He assures Roger he would be bad company before handing him his ticket. "That never bothered me before," sulks Roger, trudging out of Don's office like a pouting child, stopping to cast him one last sullen look before going to the horror of spending an evening with an old, close friend. But with Roger gone, Don finds himself alone with his thoughts, the last place he wants to be. He takes out the message from Stephanie and looks it over again, pondering, trying to work up the courage to make what may be the most difficult call of his entire life. Even more than the time he called Betty to agree to the divorce, because at least then he had the energy of the Sterling Cooper heist to keep him going. Now he has... nothing. The call will only confirm the one thing he wants least and fears most in the world. Later in the day in the Creative Lounge, things aren't being particularly creative. Betty - wearing a cheap paper crown in honor of her birthday - is going over her notes while Stan fetches beers and a bored Joey openly contemplates stabbing Danny in the neck with a pen. A James Bond style pen, he muses, and Peggy - desperate for ANYTHING - considers the idea that James Bond travels... maybe he need a Samsonite! All the others can offer however is that James Bond met a pretty girl underwater, and she realizes they're creatively spent for the day, or that their minds are more on the Liston/Clay rematch tonight than a Samsonite pitch in two weeks. So she tells them they'll call it a day, and they start to collect up their things to leave... at which point Joan knocks imperiously on the window of her office looking into the Creative Lounge to get their attention. Peggy has already gone when she enters the Lounge, telling them she doesn't appreciate looking through her window at a garbage dump. Joey, a little too smugly, points out that though he may be paid less than most (Danny too?) he is still not a janitor, and walks out of the office. Stan and Danny are a little brighter than that, collecting up their empty bottles. Joan gives them a sweet, if still imperious, thank you and makes her exit. In the bathroom, both Peggy and Megan are checking on their make-up in the mirrors, and Megan asks what her plans for her birthday are. She's delighted to hear Mark is taking Peggy out to dinner, noting with open admiration that at 26-years-old Peggy really seems to have everything going for her. But as Megan leaves, Trudy Campbell arrives, spotting Peggy and wishing her a happy birthday too. Peggy is all smiles, asking how the heavily pregnant Trudy is doing, even sharing in a joke about having a baby kicking you probably not being too different to living with Pete. Trudy is also open and warm with her, complimenting her on her wit and remarking she always suspected she would have that trait. Only one of them knows the other is a rival (of sorts) but both seem entirely secure in their own positions... until Peggy holds the door open for Trudy to exit and Trudy can't help but stop to assure Peggy with utterly unintended condescension that 26 is STILL very young!   Perhaps without this encounter Peggy would have been more on-guard when Megan told her Don was looking for her, but in a quasi-daze after her encounter with the woman who has the EVERYTHING she (bafflingly) wanted with Pete, Peggy doesn't see the warning signs. She passes Harry, Ken and Pete (who seems understandably freaked to realize his wife and former lover were in the bathroom together) and makes for Don's office. She's spotted by Stan, Danny and Joey who can't believe she's foolish enough to accept a last minute call to see the boss JUST before the workday is done. Not wanting to get caught in the same web, they beat a hasty retreat for the elevators to get out of the office. Peggy arrives in Don's doorway, but before they can speak Miss Blankenship is loudly offering to make the call to California if he can't, reminding him there is a time difference. Don acknowledges the time difference but points out it is the other way to what she is thinking, and that he can make the call himself. She leaves, and Peggy quietly asks why he doesn't have Joan replace her. Don immediately shoots down that idea, simply noting that Joan knew EXACTLY what Don needed and made sure he got it. He doesn't say what that is but it is pretty clear, not only a secretary he is (highly unlikely!) to sleep with, but a kind of punishment for wrecking the perfectly good one he had. Anyway, with that out of the way... what does she have on Samsonite. She promises him they'll have something in the morning (knowing that he is NEVER on time and they can thrash out something) but Don - desperate for any diversion from calling Stephanie - "jokes" that the suspense is killing him and he wants to know NOW. He's also openly drinking as well, though to be fair this isn't entirely unusual for him at any time of the day. She points out that she was just on her way out of the building, but he insists, with that all too friendly "I'm being reasonable" thing that unreasonable bosses do when they want to make you do something beyond your job. So she trudges over to Stan's office, starts to remove her coat and then thinks better of it: do NOT give him the impression you're not 0.1 of a second away from leaving to do something else! She collects the bare scraps of ideas they were able to generate throughout the day and brings them to his desk, putting the folder down so he can leaf through the ideas. One was an explorer searching for the mythical element Samsonite. Another was dropping a Samsonite briefcase off the Eiffel Tower to show how strong it is. Another is playing on "Samson" by literally just showing a drawing of Samson shattering the pillars with his mighty strength... Samsonite: Strong Like Samson! Don is.... not impressed. The mythical element isn't Samsonite, it's bullshit. They can't pretend the briefcase wouldn't break from an Eiffel Tower fall because the Government won't let them openly lie in advertising anymore. The Samson one is... nothing. It is, of course, a day's musing as they rejig from a failed idea. Don knows this, he knows how the Creative Process works - he once put it to Lane that Creatives have the freedom to do nothing exactly so they can do SOMETHING when they have to - but, that's not what this is is about. This is Don hunting about for distractions, trying to avoid the call to Stephanie which will make Anna's probable death a reality. So his internal pain is lashed out in external blame (GO TO THERAPY, DON!) as he complains bitterly that he GAVE Peggy more responsibility and she hasn't done anything with it. Peggy is quick to point out they did plenty of work, just not any he liked. Don's grumpy retort is that he wouldn't care if it was 10 seconds worth of work if it was something he liked (to be fair, he's demonstrated this in the past), and then starts bitching about how he knows she has plans but he isn't going to allow her to call him from a bar with ideas (which, to be unfair, he literally showed up drunk to the Life Cereal pitch!), no no they're going to get this very important and vital "You're just going to change it anyway," she sneers under her breath as she leaves, and he roars,"EXCUSE ME!?!" at her like he's scolding his own daughter, but she ignores him. Instead she returns to Stan's office, and THIS time she removes her coat, because she knows now she isn't getting away until she helps settle whatever bee he has his in his bonnet... but not before she makes a call to Mark. He takes the call at the restaurant, and she doesn't need to elaborate who when she apologizes for getting drawn into "his" web: even if she hasn't told him explicitly, he's seen firsthand how selfish and inconsiderate Don Draper can be. His first question is a sensible one: is she going to be late as in late, or late as in he should go ahead and cancel the meal now? She promises it should only be 15 minutes, given she knows how much he is looking forward to going to the Liston/Clay fight, having to explain that he's not going to Maine but will be watching it in a theater on Closed Circuit, since they were given tickets. That gets Mark's interest, why aren't THEY going to to fight then? "Because you're taking me to a romantic dinner on my birthday" she beams, assuring him it will be 15 minutes at most. So he hangs up, and exclaims she will be late, at which point the camera reveals... yep, he's got Peggy's mother, sister, brother-in-law and another woman all there for the dinner too. Does Peggy know? Or is that a surprise? Because if the latter.... oof. In any case, none of them are overly surprised that Peggy has ended up working late, and while Katherine proclaims she works too hard she obviously beams with pride as she says it, like it is a badge of honor: of course HER good girl Peggy works too hard! Gerry has never been accused of the same, but he does appear to have finally gotten over his back problems, and is all too eager to take advantage of Mark paying for the dinner by ordering the Oysters of Hercules... and just as quick to proclaim to his mother-in-law that it would be rude of him to pay for his own meal and undermine Mark's manhood!   Back at SCDP, the braintrust of Don and Peggy is proving far from the usual fruitful creative endeavor normally expected. Mostly because Don is distracted, grumpy, and mostly looking to focus his anger/despair elsewhere rather than actually think about what seems unthinkable. Meanwhile Peggy is giving it the old College try, but she's also in a bad mood and not really getting the stimulating interplay that normally comes from these interactions between the two. He wordlessly rejects her ideas about having an elephant step on the suitcase or an airplane slowly ride over one, instead asking her something that has nothing to do with Samsonite... does she like Cassius Clay? All Peggy, not a boxing fan, can really offer there is that he is very handsome (he is). Don disagrees, but Peggy points out that HE isn't supposed to, remembering that her mother's interest in Nat King Cole upset her father so much that he threw all the records out. But Don isn't done complaining, proclaiming that Clay has a big mouth (he does, but so do LOTS of white athletes, I wonder why Clay having one is such a problem, hmmmmmm?) and that he can't be "the Greatest" (he was) if he has to say it. And then he FINALLY says the name that Clay has been going by for months by this point, though utterly dripping with contempt: Muhammad Ali. Peggy hasn't hosed up her romantic birthday dinner to stay around talking poo poo about Muhammad Ali though, and asks what Don thinks of her airplane idea. Don's reply is to laud Sonny Liston for going about his business methodically, insisting that Clay will dance and talk but then get tired and get KOed (just like didn't happen in the first fight!)... and then finally deigns to answer Peggy's question, saying that putting a suitcase under an airplane wheel will make people think about accidents, which they don't want. He has his own idea at last, they can showcase three "classes" of suitcase: Featherweight, middleweight and heavyweight. He even has a (very good!) tagline for it: For whatever class you're in. Peggy responds to this like she would respond to any pitch, asking for more detail beyond the good tag (she probably wanted to do the same with Danny's "Samsonite is tough!" tag): how do they show this on television? What's the story? Don is surprised, she doesn't like it? Quickly she assures him she loves it, realizing belatedly that this is her way out, she can agree and then come in tomorrow morning and thrash out an idea with Stan and see if the magic flows, and if not they still have two weeks to get the pitch together. She's aided in her bid to escape by Don's direct line suddenly ringing. Horror creeps over Don's face, knowing that it MUST be Stephanie, and the news MUST be bad. Spotting that Don isn't going to answer, she approaches the phone herself and Don tries to blow it off as meaningless, simply telling her to let it ring. She says she'll say he isn't in, answers, and then declares to Roger Sterling on the other end that Don isn't in. As soon as Don hears it is Roger, he leaps at the distraction of a person he already turned down an evening with. He picks up the other phone as Peggy is explaining to Roger that yeah she just randomly picks up other people's ringing phones all the time! Roger of course knows that Don is probably ducking calls and has no plans to go, threatening to say bad words for Peggy's sensibilities until Don saves them all by chuckling down the line that Roger's reason for calling must be good. Roger, sitting in a phonebooth, makes no bones about it: he is BEGGING Don to come join them. He's been sneaking out to a nearby bar to the restaurant he, Freddy and Cal are dining at, knocking back drinks to keep sane (and constantly half-drunk). He complains about how self-righteous the recovering alcoholics are, pointing out that HE has never pissed his pants and certainly never killed anybody with a motorboat like Cal Rutledge (!), before declaring that what gets you over trauma caused by drinking like that is.... more drinking! Don admits that Roger's offer to come watch the fight after all is tempting, and Peggy standing at his desk must have a moment of shocked realization: Don already canceled his own plans, he is in for the long haul tonight! This is only made worse when Don ends the call with Roger, hears the phone ringing from Peggy's office and tells her to go answer it because he'll wait... in other words, their extra work session isn't over. She answers the phone and it's Mark of course, reminding her she said 15 minutes nearly an hour ago. She apologizes again, asking if he at least ate, and it quickly becomes obvious that he did NOT tell her that the family was coming, as he insists again and again that she show up and turns down her suggestion to go wait at her apartment for him. "I'll make it worth your while," she offers, her efforts to hold off sex long since abandoned before the New Year, and that's the final straw, he has to explain why he's turning THAT down.... her entire family is at the restaurant for a surprise party... and her roommate too! The only way she can make it worse now if by not showing up at all. Horrified, she apologizes more sincerely, promising she will be right there, and hangs up. "Finally," he sighs, while his girlfriend's family sit uncomfortably, having found themselves in the middle of relationship-drama instead of the fun festive atmosphere they were expecting.   Don is knocking back yet another drink when she returns to his office, back in her coat, and informing him she's going to leave if that is all right with him (why did you add that last part, Peggy!?!). Don though has been thinking (about anything but Stephanie's message burning a hole in his pocket) and now he's having second thoughts about the three classes thing... maybe there is something to Peggy's elephant idea after all! He offers to pour her a drink, and when she stands glaring in her coat holding her hat, he sarcastically asks if she is trying to subtly convey the idea she has somewhere else to be? Really pissed off now at his condescending attitude, she tells him she is supposed to be having a dinner for her birthday an hour ago, and Don's reaction is to.... be offended that she's offended! He snaps that she should have told him which is sorta fair, but then blows that by complaining that him not knowing it was her birthday isn't his fault... after all, she doesn't know when HIS birthday is. "I was your secretary!" she blurts out in response, amazed he doesn't grasp that yeah she knew every detail of his life. But Don isn't fazed, reveling in fact in the chance to strike out some of his stress and tension in Peggy's direction, complaining that at "twenty something" (oh my God she's told him MULTIPLE times how old she is!) she should be over birthdays by now. Then he has the gall to bitch that he will handle the Samsonite Account himself so she can run off and do something as selfish and inconsiderate as enjoy her birthday with loved ones after her normal working day is done! She stomps off to the elevator, hitting the button and waiting. The lights in the lobby flick off automatically as the elevator doors open, marking it really is well after normal hours now, and she stands seething at the door before coming to a decision. At the restaurant, Mark takes yet another call from a clearly irritated Maitre'D, snapping at him that yes he actually IS that special to be receiving multiple calls. He knows it is Peggy, and that if she is calling it means she hasn't left yet, and Peggy confirms this by saying that she won't be coming at all, she simply can't leave. He's appalled, the two bickering over the fact that it isn't HER fault that HE decided to have a surprise party, but not as much as Katherine Olson. She grabs the phone to chew her daughter out, complaining that her daughter should value Mark and unnecessarily pointing out that there probably aren't too many "nice boys" lining up to date her (Jesus Christ, Katherine). Mark takes the phone back, but when Peggy apologizes that he had to spend the evening with her mother, he points out that Katherine is right. He complains that she doesn't value him, snarking that he should have invited Don since she never stands HIM up (the rest of the family take this in VERY uncomfortably), until things finally reach their crescendo. Mark tries to pull back as he gets heated, but Peggy - feeling very much like she is in the right... or at least seeing Mark as an outlet for her frustration in much the same way Don sees her as an outlet for his own - goads him to keep going, and so he declares with finality that it was nice knowing her, happy birthday... and hangs up. Peggy is left sitting shocked at the phonebooth beside the elevator, while in the restaurant the VERY shocked table are left to absorb that their family member's boyfriend just broke up with her on the phone and now they're stuck here with him. Anita gently attempts to comfort him, pointing out that couples argue the time and asking Gerry to back her up on this... and he's happy to do so, he's clearly had more than a few heated arguments with Anita in their time together. Thinking that Peggy has gone, Don sits in his office staring at the phone, Stephanie's number in front of him, knowing that the time can't be put off any longer: he MUST call her. But then he hears Peggy's footsteps and slips the paper away, asking if the elevator was out when she marches in and pours herself a drink. Nope, she admits that she thinks that she just broke up with Mark, catching him by surprise. He tells her to go home but she turns that down, declaring she is ready to work... before bitterly adding that he wins. Again. At the moment Don is more amused than angry, but it isn't going to last. He points out she could have just told him it was her birthday and she needed to go to dinner, and she complains sarcastically that she is sure there would be no repercussions. "So this is MY fault?" Don asks incredulously, even though in part it absolutely is (that relationship was probably doomed anyway), and Peggy hits below the belt by pointing out it certainly isn't HER fault that he has no family or friends to spend his own evenings after work with. Ouch. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Jul 6, 2021 |
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Jul 6, 2021 12:57
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He insists that she doesn't have to be here - he probably believes it too, he seems astonishingly ignorant of the way their power dynamic colors their working relationship - and she can go run to Mark like something out of the movies. But she's venting now, pointing out she does have to be here, because he picked a stupid idea from Danny who he only hired in the first place because he stole ANOTHER stupid idea from him because he was drunk. That raises Don's ire, complaining back that she is getting personal because she didn't do her work, acting like a disapproving dad or schoolteacher and trying to make her feel like a naughty schoolkid who didn't do their homework. There's also the matter of reminding her of an uncomfortable truth she may not like to acknowledge: there is no Danny's idea, there are only ideas that belong to the Agency. That is the truth of working here (and something he felt restrained by at the old Sterling Cooper!), ideas get thrown out all the time that get grabbed, worked, reworked, adapted, changed, filtered, strained and twisted until they get some gold (hopefully) out of it. But Peggy has a different take on it, when he says the ideas belong to the Agency, he means they belong to HIM. "As long as you work here," he agrees, and that REALLY gets her fired up, is he THREATENING her? He tells her not to overreact, but she's pissed and while there is an element of taking out her frustrations on Mark on him (as he is regarding Anna on her) she also has plenty of very real frustrations about him as well. She reminds him she has taken up on one threat already today with Mark, then sarcastically offers a phantom blank sheet of paper and suggests he turn it into Glo-Coat. Don IMMEDIATELY knows what she means, and he can't believe it. She complained to Stan about how Don got all the credit for an innovative game-changing commercial that she did a large chunk of the work on, and he obviously grasps that she feels this way, and he's having none of it. Angrily, he reminds her that she gave him 20 ideas and he picked one of them, the kernal of an idea that HE blossomed into the Glo-Coat ad. She leaps on the fact he remembers she provided the original idea though, and he freely admits he does, it was... something about a cowboy? No, she declares triumphantly, it was a kid dressed as a cowboy locked in a closet because his mother wanted him to wait for the floor to dry.... and that's the commercial he made! Except... well, it wasn't. An incredulous Don can't believe it when she accuses him of changing it just enough to claim all the credit for himself, mockingly asking her how they were supposed to shoot him sitting in a dark closet!?! How would that translate to a television commercial? No, she had the kernel of an idea, he adapted it, adopted the movie format, gave it the twist, HE deserves the credit because her seed of an idea was nothing without him turning it into something. "You got the Clio!" she roars, and he roars back that this is her job, he gives her money, she gives him ideas, and when she complains she wanted a thank you he snaps back,"THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY'S FOR!" It's one of those wonderful (for television!) arguments where both sides are absolutely right... from their point of view. At the heart of it, putting aside the external factors that have driven them both to such high stress, is one of the key tensions of working in advertising: they're creative people working in a commercial environment. Both Peggy and Don, alike in many ways, thrill to the expression of ideas, to the puzzlebox of figuring out how to put something together to sell it in a way that is interesting, clever, (preferably) artistic, and creatively stimulating. Don is right that the money is thanks, but if money was the only thing that interested him he would have long ago gone to the "sausage factory" of Grey, or accepted Duck Phillips as the new President of Sterling Cooper, or leaped at the chance to sign a contract at Conrad Hilton's behest. Yet he expects Peggy to be fine with her financial compensation being the only expression of gratitude for her work. Peggy is right that Don builds his success from her (and other's) ideas, but forgets that she has done the same many times seeing the kernal of creativity in an idea (like Paul Kinsey's Aqua Net pitch) and figuring out how to turn it into something better. But Don is full righteous fury mode now, spurred on of course by the Sword of Damocles that is Anna's condition. He bellows, red in the face (the drinking helps) that at her age it is ridiculous to be counting her ideas, that at only two years into her career she has already had enormous opportunity, and she should be thanking HIM along with Jesus for every extra day he gives her.... a perhaps not-too subtle reminder that he covered for her during her unexplained absence due to a cryptic pregnancy/forced psychiatric evaluation. He stops short as he sees her trembling face and realizes she is on the verge of tears, letting out an,"Oh come on!" that is equal parts irritated and regretful as he realizes he has lashed out too far. She stumbles out of the room as he calls after her, telling her he's sorry about her boyfriend. She doesn't care about that, or rather not right at this moment. She's just had her entire self-image torn apart by a man who is maddeningly, paradoxically both her biggest supporter and most frustrating roadblock. She races into the bathroom past one of the janitors, trying to compose herself but failing, bursting into tears in much the same way she once forced herself to avoid following her observation of Joan's complete disdain for another secretary doing so.   Angry, upset, still trying to avoid making the call, Don turns to dictating bad ideas for Samsonite onto tape for Miss Blankenship to type up the next day. But the tape runs out immediately, so he goes into Joan's office to collect a new tape from a draw, surprised to spot a mouse race by on the floor as he does so, obviously not expecting people to be around at this time of night. He returns to his office and winds in the tape, listening out for sounds from elsewhere in the office, knowing that Peggy is still around somewhere, another little mouse hiding away from the drunken man stomping around causing havoc. She's actually reviewing files, perhaps to take her mind off her humiliation or maybe doubling down to try and come up with some brilliant idea for Samsonite to rub it in Don's face that it is more than a kernel. But suddenly she hears his voice calling her name, not so much ordering her into his office as excitedly requesting it. "No!" she grumps, but he eagerly insists, so she stomps her way into his office looking for all the world like the angry little girl she doesn't want to be seen as... and Don's red-face now isn't from being angry or (just) the drinking.... he's jolly! Laughing, he tells her to sit down and then plays back what he found on the tape that was already full when he tried to record earlier.... it's Roger Sterling's memoirs! Tape #4 in fact, of a book he's calling,"Sterling's Gold" (of course!), and they listen as Roger rambles on about how Bert Cooper hated him when he first started working there. He assumed at first Cooper hated him because he would be an ally of his father's (which seems to indicate Roger started in advertising BEFORE his father's death) but then came to think it was jealousy of his "joie de vivre", the romantic conquests he mentioned in tape 3. But this isn't even the best part, Don is excitedly watching Peggy for her reaction for what he knows is coming, as Roger mentions that one of his romantic conquests was the "Queen of Perversions", Bert Cooper's own personal secretary: Ida Blankenship. Holy gently caress. Peggy's jaw drops as Roger pauses, ponders and instructs Caroline (or just himself?) not to use her name, and then things get even worse (better?) as Roger declares Bert's jealousy stemmed from being cut down in his own sexual prime by an unnecessary orchiectomy, performed by Dr. Lyle Evans (the name dropped out of nowhere by Roger during the Honda debate). Peggy does a little double-take at this, barely even having time to register Roger's casual remark of,"I think he had him killed..." before going into a ramble of mixed up dates as a giggling Don turns off the tape. Peggy WANTS to be morally outraged at listening to these tapes, likening it to reading a diary, but she can't help but laugh as well as a delighted Don declares,"Ida a hellcat? Cooper lost his balls!? ....Roger's writing a book!?!" She shakes her head but can't quite lose the smile, while Don pours her a drink and asks (not demands) she stay awhile when she suggests she should go. He isn't asking for work now, just company, though she disputes his claim that they've had personal talks before, saying they don't and she thinks he likes things that way. "Suit yourself," he agrees and has a drink... and Peggy immediately starts talking about the personal things she claimed not to want to talk about. She's outraged at Mark, pissed off that he would invite her other to THEIR romantic dinner, that he doesn't understand her at all if he thinks that would be how she wanted to spend her birthday. But she's also resigned to the fact that (at the ripe old age of 26!) she is back to square one, single yet again. "As Danny would say, there's no use crying over fish in the sea," chuckles Don, getting a laugh from her... and then a scream as she spots the same mouse from earlier which has made its way into Don's office now. She leaps onto her chair, while he is straight down onto all fours to look under the coffee table. He jokes that he plans to put it in his Samsonite and throw it off the roof, since that has been a variation of every idea she offered so far. She's horrified, not by the joke, but by the fear that the mouse might be a rat. He assures her it is definitely a mouse though, casually letting drop that he grew up on a farm. He can't spot it though, and settles into a seated position on the floor, musing that there must be another way out of the office they don't know about... and the phone rings. The quiet terror on his face is immediately apparent, and a concerned Peggy asks if he is okay. To his relief, he realizes the call is coming from another office, and assumes it must be hers. She doesn't want to answer it though, assuming it is Mark (or perhaps her mother? Or Anita? Or the roomate?), and so Don actually makes a reasonably kind offer (that also gets him away from HIS phone), it is still her birthday so he can at least buy her dinner somewhere. That somewhere turns out to be a not particularly upscale diner, but they serve burgers and that's just fine by both of them. Here they are more in keeping with their usual creative dynamic, Don musing about what the most exciting thing about a suitcase is, and Peggy offering that it is the fact that you will be going somewhere. She looks at the painting on the wall of the Acropolis and offers that as one potential location, and Don admits he would enjoy going to Greece. Peggy would be happy with anywhere, admitting that she's never even been on a plane let alone flown anywhere. This leads Don, in a nostalgic mood, to casually throw out another tidbit of the private information he usually guards so jealously. He remembers flying to Korea, and another soldier who was "even more of a yokel" than he was screaming,"MAN WASN'T MEANT TO FLY!" after being told how high in the air they were. He's now let Peggy know that he grew up on a farm and was a "yokel", which doesn't sound like much but provides details almost every other person in his life is ignorant of. If she notices or does anything but file that information away she gives no sign, instead finally speaking up about a different revelation from tonight... Cooper has no testicles!?! Don grins and takes a swig of his drink, grimacing that it is only water (the first non-alcoholic drink he's had all day, it seems) before throwing out another tidbit, tangentially related to their work with Samsonite. He remembers his Uncle Mack telling him he always kept a suitcase packed, that it was a necessity for a man to always be able to move at a moment's notice (remember, Mack would have lived through the Great Depression). He ponders if there is a metaphor in that, and Peggy muses on the idea as well to see if anything can be made of it for Samsonite, then sighs and admits she can't tell the difference between good ideas and awful ones anymore. Don admits that sometimes the two are very close, but that you will know the good one when you see it, and it's just a matter of banging your head against the wall till you do. They share another moment of that creative synergy that so awed Paul Kinsey last season, agreeing happily with each other about the satisfaction of when the idea comes. Don feels a little awkward at first when Peggy starts talking about her personal life again (despite being the one who earlier insisted she could) but that changes when she finishes by admitting that nothing in her personal life that she knows she SHOULD want comes close to the real feeling she gets from working in the office. That is where she expresses herself, where she feels truly like she belongs, where everything is right even in spite of (or perhaps partly thanks to) the frustrations she feels there. Don can't understand that mindset, hell when everything else in his life fell apart it was the pursuit and creation of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce that truly felt like it really mattered. Peggy admits that she didn't know Don was in Korea, though he stresses it was only briefly. He didn't shoot anybody while he was there, but he did see people (well, one person in particular) killed which is also pretty memorable. Peggy can understand that, telling him that she was there when her father died. She was only 12 and he was watching sports when he had a violent heart attack and died in great anguish... right in front of her. That's why she hates sports (she didn't tell Mark this story, obviously, which says a lot in and of itself), the association with one of the worst moments of her life. It's another thing they have in common though, Don admitting her saw his father die as well, kicked by a horse. She laughs at first, until she realizes he isn't joking. But while he's being so open about his life she's happy to ask for more information, what about his mother? He shrugs, admitting he never knew her, and then they're both distracted when Peggy realizes that there is a dog in the Parthenon in the painting... and Don corrects her it's actually a cockroach, and suggests they go somewhere.... well, if not cleaner, at least darker. So they end up in a bar, Don getting that non-water drink he wanted. They're listening to the Liston/Clay fight on the radio, or rather Don is, while Peggy can happily ignore it since it's not on television. She admits she hates dating and is terrible at it, and Don dismisses that by acknowledging she is cute as hell. Normally that would send up warning signs, but there isn't a single hint of flirtation between them as Don chuckles that she shouldn't care what he thinks of her looks and she admits that everybody thinks she slept with him to get her job. What actually seems to rankle her about that isn't the rumor itself, but that people joke about it, like the idea of Don and her together is too ridiculous to take seriously. Don assures her that she is certainly attractive, but that he he has very careful rules he has to keep about workplace fraternization. Perhaps remembering her own clumsy and rejected come-on on her first day as his secretary, as well as the Allison debacle, she points out she mustn't be as attractive as some of his other secretaries. He pauses at the memory of Allison, and suggests - without active cruelty - that she shouldn't be giving him morality lessons, reminding her that things happen. That sits between them for a second, the unspoken secret they never refer to even when they're screaming at each other. It seems with distance though there is some level of comfort with it, as Peggy smiles in acknowledgement that yes sometimes poo poo happens and you sleep with the wrong person at work. She even offers him in on a little additional secret: her mother is convinced that Don was the father of her unexpected baby. He was the only one from work who came to see her, he helped her keep her job, Katherine can't conceive of any other reason for why an older man would look out for her daughter like that unless he had guilt or responsibility by her situation... which says a lot about Katherine, really. Don is surprised to hear this, but now that the subject has been opened he expresses a question he never asked before but has clearly been curious about... does she know who the father was? Of course she does, she immediately answers (not offended, but did Don think she just banged 20 dudes in a row or something?). It's the next answer to the next question that is the more interesting, when he asks if she ever thinks about "it", and rather than saying yes or no she simply admits that she tries not to. Not that she doesn't or won't, but sometimes it comes up out of nowhere, in places like playgrounds where she can't help but think about how it could be her child there, or even that in another world she and the child's father could have been there together with their child. That's something that can never be, and she knows it, but knowing it and feeling it are two different things.   Mercifully they're distracted by the sudden elevated voice of the radio commentary, and the entire bar screaming,"GET UP! GET UP!", joined by Don as they listen in disbelief as the commentator declares the fight is over and Liston has been beaten, again. In the first round. "The fix is in!" shouts one disgusted patron, a confused Peggy trying to figure out what just happened. Don explains he lost $100 in 2 minutes, but while the other patrons seem convinced the fight must have been rigged, Don seems philisophical: he was wrong, "Clay" was the better man, back-to-back victories over Sonny Liston can't be ignored. The "was it fixed" controversy would continue for many years, but whether it was or wasn't, it would be Liston's reputation in tatters while Muhammad Ali's was on the way - albeit with a few roadblocks - to legendary status. They return to SCDP, those extra drinks at the bar finally catching up to Don as Peggy has to help him stumble down the lobby complaining the elevator has made him sick (aided by the copious amounts of booze in his belly). They actually left the front doors unlocked, so they don't have to spend time fumbling for keys as she pulls him to the toilets, hesitating a moment before bringing him into the men's room. As he vomits copiously into one of the stalls (ladies' man Don Draper, folks!), Peggy stares with fascinated revulsion at the urinals, and notices a bit of wall graffiti telling people to call Caroline for a good time. She asks if Don needs some water, and offers to bring him the toothpaste and toothbrush from her desk to help him freshen up. And then she hears it, a voice bellowing her name, but not Don's. It's from elsewhere in the office, a voice crying out for her, and confuses she leaves the toilets and spots of all people Duck Phillips staggering through the dark corridors before suddenly lurching into an office. She races to the doorway and stares in horror at Duck, pants down, squatting over a chair as he declares he's decided to leave Draper a little present. Horrified, she shouts at him to stop and he complains that he needs to concentrate (to take a poo poo?), but this gives her enough time to make a pertinent point.... this is Roger Sterling's office, not Don's! He stares around the room, bewildered, seemingly as drunk or even drunker than Don, pants around his ankles, a far cry from the urbane and sophisticated Head of Accounts Services who blindsided Peggy into a baffling affair a year earlier. She snaps at him to pull up his pants and, breathing heavily, he does so, tucking in his shirt and insisting he won't go anywhere without her, calling her baby and lamenting that he needs her so bad! He called (or showed up in person?) her apartment and her roommate said she was still at work, and when she wouldn't answer her phone (that was him calling earlier) he decided to make a grand, drunken romantic gesture by racing over to sweep her off her feet. The fact that he can barely stand on his own didn't seem to dissuade him. But as she tries to escort him out, pointedly not asking his questions, another drunk is staggering his way don't another corridor. Don Draper spots the other pathetic middle-aged man as they pass either side of the Creative Lounge, and is immediately incensed, demanding to know what is going on. Peggy tries to tell him to go lay down, but like a territorial dog Don is infuriated at Duck's presence, growling that "doesn't belong here." For Duck's part, he's feeling territorial in a different manner, putting 2+2 together in his drunken mind and getting,"My hated rival banging the love of my life who just doesn't realize it" as the answer. He stumbles into the Creative Lounge, sneering that Peggy had to "go back to Draper" when she realized screwing him wasn't getting her anything (what? I mean, even drunk.... WHAT!?!). Peggy tries to pull him away but he refuses to go, immediately 180ing from insulting Peggy to declaring triumphantly to Don that he and Peggy are in love.... and then 180s right back around (yes, the full 360!) to declare that it turns out she's just another whore. Don doesn't really understand what is going on, all he knows is that he doesn't like Duck, Duck is somewhere he shouldn't be, and Duck just called Peggy a whore. So he does what any drunken idiot would do... he takes a swing! It's clumsy, telegraphed a mile away, and he's already hopelessly drunk, so Duck's own delayed dodge was completely unnecessary, the punch wasn't coming within half a foot of him. But Duck does react with some speed after that initial slow reaction, grabbing Don from behind around the neck. The two flail and stumble against the table, Peggy yelling at them both to stop, Duck having enough presence of mind to trip Don so they fall to the floor with him on top (Clay/Liston this is not). All his fantasies coming true as he has Don down and at his mercy, Duck makes a half-assed martial arts claw, draws it back and snarls that he killed 17 men in Okinawa! Jesus Christ, Duck. Don lies there, drunk and confused but cognizant enough to know that he's been physically dominated, and so with utter disgust at himself he whispers,"Uncle" to signify his submission. If Duck wasn't so drunk that would probably have had him sporting a massive erection, as he staggers to his feet in triumph, straightening his tie and ignoring Peggy's demand to know what is wrong with him as he sneeringly asks Don,"You still think you're better than me?" Then, like he thinks he's the high school hero who has just wowed a cheerleader with his physical prowess, declares to Peggy it's time for them to go and strides out of the Lounge. Peggy does follow after a quick worried glance at Don staggering to his feet, but it is pretty goddamn unlikely that it is because she's thoroughly enamored with Duck's drunken machismo. As she goes, she stops to look back at Don staggering like a broken man back to his office.   Mad Men presents: The Duality of Man... Part 2. She returns not long after to find him sitting in the dark, shirt rumpled and stained with a barely washed bit of vomit, normally perfect hair a mess, unshaven, staring at nothing. She tells Don she managed to get rid of Duck at last (is he sitting bewildered in a taxi right this second, trying to figure out why she didn't swoon at his feet? Or more likely passed out in the back seat) and asks if he is okay. He's fine, he lies, asking how SHE is. She isn't entirely sure how to answer that, admitting she never thought Duck would.... well, what exactly? Stumble drunkenly through the corridors of an office he never worked at, try to poo poo on the wrong man's chair, then "win" a "fight" with an equally drunk man? Rambling as she tries to explain her relationship to Duck, she admits she isn't entirely sure herself why she was ever with him, just that it was a confusing time.... but Don stops her. She doesn't have to explain herself to him, and if anyone understands the sanctity of keeping your embarrassing poo poo private, it is him. All he wants from her is a drink, and so she can't quite return the favor of not making him explain himself, worried enough about him to ask how long he plans to go on like this. She doesn't just mean this weird and strange night, but in general. She has seen Don at low points before, like when he called her for bail money for him and Bobbie, but never this sustained. The last year has seen Don turn from the handsome Mr. Perfect Creative Genius to... well still a Creative Genius, but also a wreck of a drunk who mostly keeps it together in the office and then drinks himself into oblivion in the evenings.... and now he's starting to let his heavier drinking seep into his work as well. Since it is seemingly the night for it, Don makes another admission: he has to make a phone call and he knows it is going to be bad, and he simply hasn't been able to drink enough to be able to face it yet. She asks if he wants to be alone, which is the last thing he wants (and yet keeps pushing himself into being), so he just asks for a drink. She brings him one, hesitating a moment before taking a seat on the couch beside him. He doesn't take the drink, and he doesn't make a pass, he just... lays down. His head in her lap, he seeks a comfort missing from his life, partly due to fate but also largely due to his own mistakes. He apologizes for embarrassing her, but she shushes him, letting him lay there, one arm on his shoulder, drinking from the glass she brought him instead. He didn't need a drink, but he couldn't admit what he really wants/needs: company. A sympathetic ear. Somebody who can give him comfort while he allows himself to feel vulnerable. The bulk of the night passes, Peggy falling asleep seated on the couch. Late, late into the night, Don wakes and raises his head from her laps, staring in shock as Anna Draper steps into the room carrying a suitcase: she's going traveling, going someplace he can't follow. She's transparent, drinking in the office, getting a good look at a part of his life she never got to join in, before turning and beaming a smile as bright as the sun his way. And then she turns and, suitcase at her side, disappears through the door, and he knows - truly knows - that no matter how much he has delayed calling to make it a reality, she is gone. Whether a ghost in reality or simply his own mind (the far more likely choice), he accepts what he saw, looks to the sleeping Peggy, then lowers his head back onto her lap and falls asleep again. Dawn breaks and the sun falls through the window and onto his face, waking him again. He lifts himself from the still sleeping Peggy and the couch and moves to his phone, and finally makes the call he has been dreading. At Anna Draper's home in California, Stephanie answers a phone ringing pre-dawn for her. Don announces himself and she doesn't beat around the bush, telling him that Anna is gone. "I know," he says, even though it has been confirmed now, his vision made him accept it before he had it explicitly revealed to him. He apologizes for not calling before now, but can't bring himself to make up a reason for what delayed him. Instead he asks if Anna asked for him, and Stephanie admits that at the end it wasn't really "her" that was there. He tells her he will fly out and make the funeral arrangements, but Stephanie tells him there will be no need, Anna left her body to medical science. Unable to keep the smile from her face despite fighting back tears, Stephanie explains her aunt's final joke: she wanted to go to UCLA Medical School tuition free. Don can't help but smile too, but he still feels like he has to do something, mark the irrevocable change in some way. He says he can take care of the house, but Stephanie admits she was hoping to be allowed to stay there for now, to take some time off from school. He is quick to agree (will that be two hours he has other women living in now?), and struggles to hold back his grief as Stephanie - fighting tears herself - offers the old condolence that Anna is in a better place now. "That's what they say," is all he can offer. Stephanie, clearly sad she has to do it but mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted, points out that it is late and she has had a long day. Don agrees and they end the call, and now that she is off the line it all comes out, the grief and anguish and yes even anger at the unfairness of it all. Realizing that Peggy has woken and has been watching him, the dams break and he bursts into tears, shocking her. She approaches, asking what happened, and he sobs that the only person who TRULY knew him has died. "That isn't true," she promises, whether meaning herself or somebody else or just a nice pleasantry unclear, and rubs his back. Struggling to regain his composure (cry Don, it's good for you!) he tells her to go home, she can come in late and he'll be fine here now. She offers him commiseration, the only thing she really can do, and then collects her things and finally prepares to go home at last... and then figures gently caress it and goes back to the office and takes a nap on the couch instead. She's woken by a loud whistle and Stan crouched over her declaring like a drill sergeant that she should drop and give him 20! Danny and Joey are cackling at the desk, Peggy sitting bolt upright and grunting he's an rear end in a top hat, though he points out - with some glee - that it is 10:30am, well past starting time. Joey asks if she spent all night here and she immediately snaps no... then admits yes. They ask if she saw the fight and technically she isn't lying when she says she didn't, and this gets them all focused on arguing over that, 90 seconds of fighting and 3 hours of analysis and they still don't know who won... or rather they know that Clay did, but do they agree blah blah blah. She doesn't care about boxing or the fight, and she takes advantage to make her escape. She moves to Don's office (Miss Blankenship nowhere to be seen) and knocks on the door, and he calls out for her to come in. She enters the office and is stunned.... seated behind the desk is Don Draper: Mr. Perfect. Perfectly groomed, clean and pressed clothes, a clean shave, looking bright and chipper and none the worse for wear after an appalling night of heavy drinking, a "fight" and the complete breakdown of his emotional walls. "I spruced up," is his only explanation before calling her over, wanting to show her the inspiration that struck him re: Samsonite this morning. Next to the front page of the Daily News he has scrawled a rough approximation of what will soon be recognized as an iconic image in sports and pop culture for the 20th Century: Muhammad Ali standing aggressive and triumphant over the fallen monster of yesterday: Sonny Liston. Don's version is the Samsonite case standing tall over a fallen competitor in a boxing ring, effectively aping Ali for a celebrity endorsement without technically being "lazy" and getting a celebrity endorsement.  For the viewer of Mad Men, the use of the image makes perfect sense, almost EVERYBODY knows the famous image of Ali over Liston. But for Peggy Olson in 1965, one day after a fight she didn't see and didn't care about, the issue with this choice of imagery is clear: it only works if you're familiar with the original. Don has the right of it when he says the photo is plastered over every newspaper in town, but that isn't her only objection: how will they know it was the Tourister that got knocked out? How will they put it together for television? Will it be animated? Don offers answers but he's also confused, why is she making GBS threads all over what HE sees as a great idea? Peggy, who is only doing her job, shrugs and admits she is tired, agreeing that it is good. They stand for a moment in silence, side by side, him seemingly perfect and her a frazzled mess, you'd never know their positions were mostly reversed all the previous night. Then Don slowly places his hand on hers, in some ways an echo of her failed come-on way back in the first ever episode of the show... but more than that, perhaps an acknowledgement from Don that despite their return to the boss/worker relationship necessary for their work... there is something more there between them now. Don has lost the person who truly knew him best, he has no wife, no girlfriend, no family, and what does that leave? For better or worse, Peggy Olson IS the person who truly knows him best now, even if she still knows so little about him, and perhaps even including her mother and sister, Don is the person who truly knows Peggy the best as well. Plus she was there for him at his darkest hour, the (thankfully non-sexual) intimacy of the previous evening something not likely to be forgotten regardless of how drunk he was. This brief holding of hands is an acknowledgement that they share a deeper connection now. Where that goes and how it manifests in the future I do not know, nor whether it will ultimately be healthy or helpful for either of them... but it is there. The moment passes and Don tells her to give the sketch to Joey... no, straight to Stan, then go home, shower, and then workshop him potential taglines to go with the art. She agrees, moving to the door and asking if he wants it open or closed. "Open," he tells her, another echo of sorts to him telling Allison the same thing. The difference here is that then Don wanted the protection of exposure, now here sitting alone in his office only a few hours after being at his lowest and most vulnerable... he has nothing to hide. Let the people look, all they will see is the carefully crafted image he presents to them. He let Peggy see beneath that last night, the dam was breached and the walls came down... but everything is already back in place. For now.  Episode Index Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Jul 6, 2021 |
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Jul 6, 2021 12:57
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   FINALLY
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Jul 6, 2021 13:21
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"let's go someplace darker" is such a good drunk line.
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Jul 6, 2021 14:42
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The Klowner posted:
this...just this.
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Jul 6, 2021 14:44
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This is an important ep as it confirms that Don isn’t specced as an Illusionist, as you might have expected, but is in fact a single class Necromancer
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Jul 6, 2021 14:58
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quote:that "queer" at Belle Jolie who has been barking up his tree "That queer" is probably a reference to Elliott, who tried to sleep with Sal back in S1: Jerusalem posted:Season 1, Episode 8 - The Hobo Code
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Jul 6, 2021 15:15
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There's a real abundant intentionality to this episode
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Jul 6, 2021 15:22
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How'd you like this episode, Jerusalem? It's the consensus best episode of Mad Men. It tops the vast majority of lists in entertainment publications (did some googling and saw it was #1 for Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and Buzzfeed, and #2 for USA Today), and it also has the highest user score on IMDB. I think it's interesting that it's the middle episode of the middle season. Don on his way down, life falling apart, Peggy on her way up, having a rough night, but with so many reasons to be optimistic about the future. (It's so funny that Trudy feels the need to reassure Peggy that she's young, when just a minute earlier Megan was wowed by how far along Peggy is in her career at such a young age. Notable that Trudy has probably never had a job, and Megan is at the very bottom of the SCDP totem pole.) I really appreciate that they avoided showing the creation of Glo-Coat. It would have led to people trying to figure out who really deserved the most credit. We don't know who did the storyboards, who wrote the final script, who edited it, etc. Those details might seem important if we had seen them, but they aren't important. What is important is that Don and Peggy have a fruitful creative partnership, but they both want as much credit as possible, and Don is in a position to soak up all the credit, as far as Madison Avenue is concerned. In their blowout argument, Peggy is practically shouting at him, "Appreciate me!" and he flatly says, "No!" I also like the ending, with Don's idea for a Samsonite ad. Peggy asks practical questions about the concept. Don characterizes this as "making GBS threads on it." But she's doing exactly what Don did with her Glo-Coat idea. He's correct that her idea wouldn't have worked on TV, even though the idea was good. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Don has an idea that could work, and Peggy is trying to figure out how to actually put it on TV. But in both cases, the outside world will know it as a Don Draper ad. I also think Don being specific about wanting Stan to draw it up is another commentary on credit. The truth is, this work is highly collaborative. Don believes Stan will do well with this, and he depends on that. No one person created Glo-Coat. Another amazing thing about this episode is how Don maintains such a casual tone while revealing so much to Peggy. When he says he never knew his mother, after saying that his father was kicked by a horse, and he grew up on a farm, he has just admitted that he was orphaned as a child. Peggy may not put that together immediately, but she probably will eventually. He also so casually reveals that he's a veteran who hates talking about his war experiences. Don needs someone to be with him on this night, but he's still not ready to admit that to anyone, so he talks about the most serious poo poo ever while acting like he's chatting about the weather. ANOTHER thing that I like (because it turns out, there are a bunch of good things about this episode!) is Don finding out that Peggy's mother thinks Don got her pregnant, and he is shocked and nonplussed, which is a reasonable reaction. What I like about this is that when Don helped Peggy find the motivation to live her life again, he was doing one of best things he's ever done. He was helping someone else because he saw she needed help. I appreciate that Don ends up getting judged harshly by Katherine for this. We've seen Don act cruelly to so many people at so many times, and he almost always gets away with it. But then he gets judged for one of the best things he's ever done. In a show that is so much about public personas and how people present themselves, but also about the nuances of relationships and internal lives, this is just so poetic and fitting. Finally, I want to touch on the Muhammad Ali thing a bit. I do think that Don's problems with Ali do have to do with race. But he does actually have a problem with white athletes acting cocky as well. He mentions that he specifically dislikes Joe Namath, whose persona was just as full of swagger as Ali's (although Ali actually backed it up--Namath was actually a mediocre quarterback). And Don has been consistent about believing people shouldn't talk about themselves much, and that he doesn't believe in it, so it does make sense that he would have some distaste for Ali even if he were white. ...Which is why that "MOO-HAMMAD ALI" that Hamm delivers is so perfect. The contempt and the dismissiveness he conveys are so perfect, so revealing. He dislikes Joe Namath, but he can't stand Ali. Good storytelling. Hoo-boy. I wrote a lot of words here. I guess I expected that to happen.
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Jul 6, 2021 16:01
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quote:Don is right that the money is thanks, but if money was the only thing that interested him he would have long ago gone to the "sausage factory" of Grey, or accepted Duck Phillips as the new President of Sterling Cooper, or leaped at the chance to sign a contract at Conrad Hilton's behest. Yet he expects Peggy to be fine with her financial compensation being the only expression of gratitude for her work. "That's what the money is for!" is a classic line, but it also speaks to a fundamental truth about Don's view of money. He appears to believe that money can be exchanged for emotional currency. He wants to avoid conflict; in other words, he wants to ignore the fact that he's unable to give the people in his life what they want from him emotionally. Don wanted his half-brother Adam out of his life, so he gave him $1000. He gave a $2000 bonus from Cooper to Midge before cutting her out of his life. Betty's father once accused Don of thinking money solves all his problems. It isn't clear at this point how the arrangement between Anna and Don shook out after she tracked him down, but it is clear he felt deeply indebted to her, so he bought her a house. It's clear that he resents and is ashamed of his upbringing, so perhaps it's ingrained in him that the source of his family's problems was their destitution. Poor = sad, therefore wealth = happy, right? (Speaking of, we get to see the Whitman's money troubles firsthand in the final episode of season 3, where we are also shown old man Whitman get killed—which this episode directly references.) Grappling with the fact that money isn't a substitute for emotional connection is one of the series' most enduring themes. "Money can't buy happiness" is kind of cheesy when you just say it but the show does a good job of exploring that from various angles through its characters.
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Jul 6, 2021 16:33
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Gaius Marius posted:There's a real abundant intentionality to this episode This episode has so many connections to everything that came before, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that it connects to a lot of what comes after. It's fitting that it's the actual middle point of the series: episode 46 of 92.
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Jul 6, 2021 16:38
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quote:Roger mentions that one of his romantic conquests was the "Queen of Perversions", Bert Cooper's own personal secretary: Ida Blankenship. This part is just fantastic. It's a wonderfully poetic irony that the man who extols the virtues of capitalism and self-interest literally has no balls. Also, I admit I'm curious whether Jerusalem tried to give the good doctor a google back when he was mentioned in the Honda episode. Edit: also ironic that the secretary that Don claims Joan knew he needed was, in fact, a serial sex-haver. And she's not the first secretary of Don's who was revealed to have had a secret relationship with Roger. The Klowner fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Jul 6, 2021 |
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Jul 6, 2021 16:54
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That joyful, expectant look on Hamm's face just before that "queen of perversions" bit is one of my favorite expressions of the series.
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Jul 6, 2021 16:59
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Yoshi Wins posted:
He also likes Liston because he thinks he's like Liston, he's quiet and goes about his business. We know he's not like that but its how he like to think of himself. I wonder though if he dislikes Ali so much because he kind of reminds him of Ted Chaough with all the poo poo talking and theatrics.
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Jul 6, 2021 17:18
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Don grabbing Peggys hand is such a nice, sentimental moment that really underlined this episode. Rather than pretend the previous night didn’t happen, that he didn’t just openly break in front of Peggy, he looks and lets her know.. yeah, I let you in. I won’t pretend this is nothing. It’s deeply affectionate in a platonic way.
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Jul 6, 2021 17:40
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Beamed posted:Don grabbing Peggys hand is such a nice, sentimental moment that really underlined this episode. Rather than pretend the previous night didn’t happen, that he didn’t just openly break in front of Peggy, he looks and lets her know.. yeah, I let you in. I won’t pretend this is nothing. It’s deeply affectionate in a platonic way. Mad Men, at its core, is a platonic love story between Don And Peggy
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Jul 6, 2021 17:59
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Yoshi Wins posted:How'd you like this episode, Jerusalem? I like this observation and I agree that recognising Peggy's potential and then intervening to bring her back from oblivion is probably the best thing he has done on the show. I don't think it's purely that he was helping someone who needed help, although at the level I mean that, I'm also saying no act can ever truly be selfless. I think it's a combination of Don recognising something in Peggy, him wanting her talent on his team, and him also being satisfied that he is smart enough to recognise a person like this is important - along with the fact that it is one of the rare times Don is actually looking outside himself and paying attention. The Don/Peggy dynamic does a lot of the work in making Don a sympathetic character, and it's smart of the show to keep it so central because it reminds you why you care about this man. Don has other good moments too, here and there, but having their dynamic be so important to the early part of the show establishes that this is a guy capable of being good for people around him, if only he would make the slightest effort, because we've seen him do it with Peggy. He gets a lot of mileage out of that while mostly behaving poorly. Don and Peggy's relationship is tense most of the time, because they are both very demanding people and Don is only occasionally considerate. This episode portrays all of the ups and downs and them together in one night and I think if Don and Peggy are the heart of the show to a viewer, then its an obvious choice for a best episode in a show that doesn't really do big episodes. It isn't my favourite episode. I don't have one. It's very good though.
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Jul 6, 2021 18:00
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Beamed posted:Don grabbing Peggys hand is such a nice, sentimental moment that really underlined this episode. Rather than pretend the previous night didn’t happen, that he didn’t just openly break in front of Peggy, he looks and lets her know.. yeah, I let you in. I won’t pretend this is nothing. It’s deeply affectionate in a platonic way. My first time watching I thought that would be the moment he gives Peggy the "Thank you" she asked for, but then I realized that would be too on-the-nose. Hamm's face says everything. roomtone posted:It isn't my favourite episode. I don't have one. It's very good though. Every episode is the best episode!
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Jul 6, 2021 18:20
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Jerusalem posted:"So this is MY fault?" Don asks incredulously, even though in part it absolutely is (that relationship was probably doomed anyway), and Peggy hits below the belt by pointing out it certainly isn't HER fault that he has no family or friends to spend his own evenings after work with. Still digesting the episode and my thoughts but its interesting to note that Don didn't react to this insult at all. He only said Peggy was being personal when she accurately said that Don drunkenly claimed Danny's idea for a client pitch. His sense of what's private is so out of wack its hilarious.
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Jul 6, 2021 18:30
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