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Lady Radia posted:another top ten line in the series: "Over Dresden?! I wanted to live!" Yeah that was great, though I can understand why it was overshadowed by,"It's a LOT of money!" because that is such a perfect Jim Cutler reaction to this situation. Also love how quickly he shuts down Ted's attempt to announce he is getting Jim to buy him out, hoping to sit on that news until AFTER they get rid of Don, knowing Joan's support might not extend as far as getting rid of Don if it means losing BOTH their Creative Directors (we all know Lou Avery isn't really one).
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Jul 4, 2022 00:34
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im just gonna do a big ramble about it but bert singing to don possibly one of the most layered and meaningful scenes in television history. Obviously, theres the irony of bert, an objectivist, performing song and dance about how the best things in life are free, but there’s so much more to it than that. This comes after the scene where don has just admitted to doing the small work, writing tags and coupons, and that doing that work has been part of what has given him meaning again (he doesn’t directly say this, but hes presenting The Work as a way to pull oneself out of ennui to Ted who is currently deep in it, and a perpetual calling that will pester him even if he attempts to shirk it due to his depression). We also get this scene after Don stands to make millions of dollars from a 20% stake in the sale to mccann Erickson. Theres more to it than even just that though. The context from the episode prior runs even deeper, as we have berts last word being an earnest marvel at the moon landing, the moon being one of the things whos beauty and communal ownership and ability to enjoy he later extols in song. This runs further, as earlier we are reminded that this endeavour cost the us 25 billion dollars (just shy of 190 billion today) and yet the whole world was able to watch. Roger also notes that the last lines he spoke to cooper were from “some old song” (let’s have another cup of coffee, shout out to peter bogdanovich using it in paper moon rip a king) and cooper ends the episode singing an at the time 42 year old song to don. The episode uses the song to tie up other ironies, as bert mentions love as one of the best things in life that are free, and yet we see both pete and don coming to terms with the dissolutions of their marriages. That they have all this money now, and no one to share it with. We even see this juxtaposition with sally, who the episode primes the audience to believe is interested in the jock brother, but it is her time with the nerdier one that kindly and patiently teaches her how to use the telescope and spot polaris that prompts her first kiss (romance and a star, two things bert sings of). more than that, the assertion that love can come to anyone is powerful for don, who believes he cannot ever be truly loved or accepted for who he is. He tried hiding himself, and lost betty. He tried being honest, and lost megan. What hope is there for him when no matter what, he cant be loved? Bert assuring him that isn’t the case is the thing that visually pushes don over the edge, from mere awe at the spectacle to full on nearly weeping openly. What is unconditional love? How can you give it to someone in a way that anyone can accept and understand? “id like to buy the world a coke”
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Jul 4, 2022 01:36
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Very good points, and re: Don and Pete's money coming after the loss of their marriages, it reminds me that Harry is now not only getting divorced but ALSO getting none of the extra money/power he thought he was! 
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Jul 4, 2022 02:37
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the other thing i distinctly remember from watching this episode as it aired was howling with delight seeing how harry hosed himself out of millions of dollars in real time. "none of your beeswax" got me good
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Jul 4, 2022 06:14
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Harry frantically declaring he'll vote yes on whatever it is, having no idea what he's even voting on, just desperate that he might be needed to make up the numbers and that being enough to get him that partnership 
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Jul 4, 2022 06:32
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I hate Harry. It's fun to watch him eat poo poo.
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Jul 4, 2022 07:06
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I know he's just a spoiled rich boy, but combined with his jovial personality, Roger's development in the later seasons to being emotionally needy to the point where he's so loyal to Don because he recognises the guy as probably his last best friend is really endearing to me. His family is a mess and even the hate has turned cold with them, probably justly for the way he was when he was younger, and Joan has some hard limits on how close he can get. He deserves everything he's gotten due to his behaviour but at the same time, he's ended up in a kind of graceful place where he's a guy you would actually want in your life. It's just that all the people he'd choose have turned away from him because of how he'd lie and cheat in the past. So the only strong bond he has left is Don, and he knows it, he kind of needs Don to remain on his side or he'll be more alone than he can handle. I guess it just feels like, despite everything, Roger actually learns a few lessons over the course of the show. That's nice to me.
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Jul 4, 2022 09:18
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I'll just always be partial to whichever character in a story is the one who gets into acid
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Jul 4, 2022 14:49
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roomtone posted:I know he's just a spoiled rich boy, but combined with his jovial personality, Roger's development in the later seasons to being emotionally needy to the point where he's so loyal to Don because he recognises the guy as probably his last best friend is really endearing to me. His family is a mess and even the hate has turned cold with them, probably justly for the way he was when he was younger, and Joan has some hard limits on how close he can get. He deserves everything he's gotten due to his behaviour but at the same time, he's ended up in a kind of graceful place where he's a guy you would actually want in your life. It's just that all the people he'd choose have turned away from him because of how he'd lie and cheat in the past. So the only strong bond he has left is Don, and he knows it, he kind of needs Don to remain on his side or he'll be more alone than he can handle. therapy is good for you
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Jul 4, 2022 17:48
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I love the the presentation scene. I love the way it's shot; I love the usage and non-usage of sound; I love the way the story boards frame Peggy and Don, with Peggy in bright orange and Don in duller blue; and I love the looks people make—Peggy nodding to Don, Pete grumpily staring a hole in Peggy, Don stifling his concern/surprise at the 10yo comment (her child with Pete would be roughly 10 by this time, no?), Peggy and Don giving each other a quick look at the end of her intro. It's so, so cathartic and satisfying to watch Don witness Peggy's "Carousel."
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Jul 4, 2022 18:22
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rogers whole thing is that hes afraid of aging, being irrelevant, dying and not being remembered. all his anxieties tie back into that in some way. he torches his marriage after the heart attack when he can pursue the much younger jane, but that marriage doesnt help him in the long run, everyone in his life starts aging out and dying (his mom, the shoeshine that he was the only customer of which reinforces his fears), he has that reunion with the woman he wanted to be with but she went with the other guy and she comes back for him and at that point hes matured enough to basically tell her "wherever you go, there you are" and knows enough to leave the past in the past. thats the start of his real turning point as in conjunction with LSD and therapy, he gets out of his head about those fears, undergoes ego death and realizes that theres a bit more to all of this. he pretty consistently treats people better across the board (though is still dealing with some of his old anxieties like trying to be around joan, or how he pollutes janes new apartment by loving her there immediately). in the last chunk of the show thats coming up he grows that amazing facial hair!!! fully embracing his age, behaving very gregariously and taking care of the people around him. he tells don he loves him in their last interaction that i can remember, and ends up in an age appropriate relationship with marie, in a comfortable place where they can acknowledge that they have lived their lives but that doesnt mean they have to be elderly either. theyre fully at peace and content with each other, and its a complete change from the desperation to prove himself as a young, important man that we see at the start of the show.
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Jul 4, 2022 20:10
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mad men is extremely consistent in its messaging that smoking weed and dropping acid are not only cool as heck but will make you into a better, more self actualized person e: heroin is bad though Mover fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jul 4, 2022 |
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Jul 4, 2022 20:14
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Paper Lion posted:rogers whole thing is that hes afraid of aging, being irrelevant, dying and not being remembered. all his anxieties tie back into that in some way. he torches his marriage after the heart attack when he can pursue the much younger jane, but that marriage doesnt help him in the long run, everyone in his life starts aging out and dying (his mom, the shoeshine that he was the only customer of which reinforces his fears), he has that reunion with the woman he wanted to be with but she went with the other guy and she comes back for him and at that point hes matured enough to basically tell her "wherever you go, there you are" and knows enough to leave the past in the past. thats the start of his real turning point as in conjunction with LSD and therapy, he gets out of his head about those fears, undergoes ego death and realizes that theres a bit more to all of this. he pretty consistently treats people better across the board (though is still dealing with some of his old anxieties like trying to be around joan, or how he pollutes janes new apartment by loving her there immediately). in the last chunk of the show thats coming up he grows that amazing facial hair!!! fully embracing his age, behaving very gregariously and taking care of the people around him. he tells don he loves him in their last interaction that i can remember, and ends up in an age appropriate relationship with marie, in a comfortable place where they can acknowledge that they have lived their lives but that doesnt mean they have to be elderly either. theyre fully at peace and content with each other, and its a complete change from the desperation to prove himself as a young, important man that we see at the start of the show. that's a great little synopsis of it. it's not dramatic but roger's growth is very nice to see in a series where people often either do not grow, and that's the point, or grow in bad ways. pete's another one i could say nice things about but we'll save that for post-finale.
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Jul 4, 2022 20:17
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I mean we can't discount that a part of what makes Roger's growth feel stronger than Pete's is that Roger is an extremely charismatic person, and Pete is.... well.... Pete! I absolutely agree that Roger has made great strides, not least of all because he actually went to therapy (and dropped Acid!) but he still comes from a place of enormous privilege and hasn't quite shaken his clear belief that he's the center of the universe and everybody else is just living in his story, though particularly in the first half of season 7 that gets shaken in scenes like Margaret refusing to leave the commune or Cooper outright telling him he doesn't have what it takes to be the "leader" of SC&P. Really, really looking forward to seeing how these final few episodes shake out and where everybody leaves off, Roger in particular.
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Jul 5, 2022 02:35
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kalel posted:I love the the presentation scene, Don stifling his concern/surprise at the 10yo comment (her child with Pete would be roughly 10 by this time, no?) The final Julio/Peggy scene is such a heartbreaker because he looks to be at the same age as Peggy's actual child. They do a really good job with it.
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Jul 5, 2022 03:22
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Rogers firing of Burt Peterson is a moment to cherish, I love it so
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Jul 5, 2022 03:37
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All the scenes with Julio have so much more meaning when you realize what he was already through with Paul.
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Jul 5, 2022 03:41
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Jerusalem posted:I mean we can't discount that a part of what makes Roger's growth feel stronger than Pete's is that Roger is an extremely charismatic person, and Pete is.... well.... Pete! we're getting into the point where this is debatable i just think pete in s7 is an extremely funny and sympathetic man, almost entirely disconnected from that y'know...rapist he once was and roger too, he's just so cute! this year, like i would jump on him with joy like my dog jumps on me. pretty much the only one i don't have a complicated relationship in my mind with is don and...........well. it's season 7 pal. roomtone fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Jul 5, 2022 |
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Jul 5, 2022 03:44
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Pete hasn't been very sympathetic. We just saw him be such a huge jackass to Trudy that it spilled over into ruining his relationship with Bonnie. He's starting to realize what he lost, but it was entirely his own fault so gently caress him. I do agree that he's been funny this season, he has some great lines and every scene with him and Ted is gold.
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Jul 5, 2022 03:49
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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roomtone posted:we're getting into the point where this is debatable You can see he ALMOST learns the lesson about how to be happy and content as a person and then he throws that all out the window the SECOND he realizes Trudy is also living a happy life utterly independent of him. He was convinced when she kicked him out (which was HIS fault!) that she would get a wake-up call and realize she couldn't exist without him, and discovering that she's just fine and has also moved on without missing a beat drives him insane and causes him to gently caress up his own life, then blame everybody else for it like HE is the victim somehow. "Marriage is such a racket!" he complains when Don reveals he and Megan have broken up, but there hasn't been a single moment of his marriage where he hasn't just completely ignored or dismissed any limitations it might apply to him while also angrily insisting that his wife must follow them explicitly (and getting insanely jealous even at the thought that his wife might ever do the same as him).
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Jul 5, 2022 03:51
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Jerusalem posted:I mean we can't discount that a part of what makes Roger's growth feel stronger than Pete's is that Roger is an extremely charismatic person, and Pete is.... well.... Pete!
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Jul 5, 2022 05:23
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i am finally getting round to watching s7p2 and i had to pause and screencap this incredible stan moment from e9
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Jul 5, 2022 06:50
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Jerusalem posted:You can see he ALMOST learns the lesson about how to be happy and content as a person and then he throws that all out the window the SECOND he realizes Trudy is also living a happy life utterly independent of him. He was convinced when she kicked him out (which was HIS fault!) that she would get a wake-up call and realize she couldn't exist without him, and discovering that she's just fine and has also moved on without missing a beat drives him insane and causes him to gently caress up his own life, then blame everybody else for it like HE is the victim somehow. "You thought there would be a big creative [familial] crisis and we'd pull you off the bench. But in fact, we've been doing just fine." pete is don is pete, etc
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Jul 5, 2022 09:29
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Jerusalem posted:You can see he ALMOST learns the lesson about how to be happy and content as a person and then he throws that all out the window the SECOND he realizes Trudy is also living a happy life utterly independent of him. He was convinced when she kicked him out (which was HIS fault!) that she would get a wake-up call and realize she couldn't exist without him, and discovering that she's just fine and has also moved on without missing a beat drives him insane and causes him to gently caress up his own life, then blame everybody else for it like HE is the victim somehow. oh pete. you sad, sad bastard.
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Jul 5, 2022 09:45
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Jerusalem posted:I mean we can't discount that a part of what makes Roger's growth feel stronger than Pete's is that Roger is an extremely charismatic person, and Pete is.... well.... Pete! this is really the crucial thing roger has in his corner to overcome all of his other many issues. i just love the guy, that's an impossible thing to fake. he's funny, he's easygoing, he's a pleasure to be around when he's not actively loving up. and i think the best part is, he doesn't even know it. he just assumes 'this is the way to behave'. you don't need to show me roger being an account man like they do with pete, i just believe. of course the clients would love him. and add on top of that a late series visit to therapy, acid trip and working his issues out? come on now. if roger had even an ounce of self-confidence, he'd be an amazing leader for this gang of misfits. i think it's pretty telling pete never really approaches roger for friendship, and roger generally thinks he's a little turd anyway, but he DOES approach don and becomes close to him, because he recognises don is a guy who is a-miserable just like-a me! don's really just the middle ground between roger and pete in a lot of ways. roomtone fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Jul 5, 2022 |
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Jul 5, 2022 09:49
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R. Guyovich posted:"You thought there would be a big creative [familial] crisis and we'd pull you off the bench. But in fact, we've been doing just fine." I love this, though of course the truer parallel would be if Don had gone out, found other work, been incredibly happy there, gone back into SC&P to pick up the CLIO he left behind by accident, found out the Partners were out at a meeting and stuck around for hours, called his other work to say he was sticking around there to help SC&P win an account, gotten drunk and when the Partners finally showed up screamed that they had no right to keep doing business without him before slamming his CLIO into the IBM 360 and staggering out the door in triumph for having shown them a thing or two. roomtone posted:don's really just the middle ground between roger and pete in a lot of ways. Yeah, you can see how all of them could take lessons from the other in both ways to be and ways NOT to be, because all three share some common traits and concerns beyond just their work. I do find it fascinating how Pete both appears to look up to Don AND simultaneously looks down on him, he'd clearly like to be a lot like Don (and sometimes thinks he is) but also hasn't been above sneering at him or trying to get one over on him. I wonder how often he vacillates between gratitude to Don for paying his Partnership share and hating him for it, if he ever remembers it anymore?
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Jul 5, 2022 11:47
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Jerusalem posted:I love this, though of course the truer parallel would be if Don had gone out, found other work, been incredibly happy there, gone back into SC&P to pick up the CLIO he left behind by accident, found out the Partners were out at a meeting and stuck around for hours, called his other work to say he was sticking around there to help SC&P win an account, gotten drunk and when the Partners finally showed up screamed that they had no right to keep doing business without him before slamming his CLIO into the IBM 360 and staggering out the door in triumph for having shown them a thing or two this scenario is like walking through a nightmare i'm glad they didn't do this because it would have been too hard to watch. don nearly punching the computer guy and freddy getting him the gently caress out of there was more than enough.
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Jul 5, 2022 11:53
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Gaius Marius posted:All the scenes with Julio have so much more meaning when you realize what he was already through with Paul. I'm having trouble parsing this
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Jul 5, 2022 11:55
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Jerusalem posted:Yeah, you can see how all of them could take lessons from the other in both ways to be and ways NOT to be, because all three share some common traits and concerns beyond just their work. I do find it fascinating how Pete both appears to look up to Don AND simultaneously looks down on him, he'd clearly like to be a lot like Don (and sometimes thinks he is) but also hasn't been above sneering at him or trying to get one over on him. I wonder how often he vacillates between gratitude to Don for paying his Partnership share and hating him for it, if he ever remembers it anymore? i think in the earlier seasons it was a much more violent back and forth in his mind between 'this guy is a god to me' and 'this guy is a piece of poo poo' at this point, i think we saw this in the burger chef episode and when pete stands up for don (horseflesh), he just respects his abilities and knows better than to get too close. they're friends but they'll never be best friends, and that's honestly more on don than anything else because i think even don would admit he likes pete as a person in his current form, all his many flaws considered.
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Jul 5, 2022 11:55
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Pete has many good qualities,he’s just usually too busy sneering to display them
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Jul 5, 2022 14:39
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roomtone posted:i think in the earlier seasons it was a much more violent back and forth in his mind between 'this guy is a god to me' and 'this guy is a piece of poo poo' I think it's particularly telling how Pete, even at his happiest, acts around Don when Bonnie's there, he's both proud to show her off and terrified that Don's going to "take" her away from him. I think that speaks to an underlying issue with Pete where it's hard for him to get close to people because he's always either thinking,"How can I exploit this person for my own gain?" or "How can I stop this person from exploiting me for THEIR gain, which clearly they MUST be doing, right?", and sometimes both at the same time. It's much the same as the time Trudy has the dinner party and bullies Don into coming, and Pete is thrilled to have Don Draper in his house but also ends up feeling entirely emasculated because Don fixed the tap that not only did Pete himself NOT fix but that he hosed up even worse, and he can see how the wives are appreciating Don the handyman. That Don is enamored with Tammy and desperate (at the time) to have another baby of his own never occurs to Pete, but he does belatedly seem to remember,"Oh yeah, I have a baby and people like that!" when Trudy brings Tammy in and is quick to remind everybody he is part of that too, even if in a self-deprecating "I take no credit" way.
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Jul 5, 2022 15:39
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just finished s7p2 and that was p ok. favourite moment definitely peggy olsen's cool rear end walk into mccann
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Jul 5, 2022 16:30
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Jerusalem posted:I think it's particularly telling how Pete, even at his happiest, acts around Don when Bonnie's there, he's both proud to show her off and terrified that Don's going to "take" her away from him. I think that speaks to an underlying issue with Pete where it's hard for him to get close to people because he's always either thinking,"How can I exploit this person for my own gain?" or "How can I stop this person from exploiting me for THEIR gain, which clearly they MUST be doing, right?", and sometimes both at the same time. Yeah, Pete is constantly projecting his insecurity which leads to the little mental dance you're describing. He assumes everyone else is just as much of a weasel as he is, but also sometimes they're suckers. Big  energy going on.
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Jul 5, 2022 22:22
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Jerusalem posted:I think it's particularly telling how Pete, even at his happiest, acts around Don when Bonnie's there, he's both proud to show her off and terrified that Don's going to "take" her away from him. I think that speaks to an underlying issue with Pete where it's hard for him to get close to people because he's always either thinking,"How can I exploit this person for my own gain?" or "How can I stop this person from exploiting me for THEIR gain, which clearly they MUST be doing, right?", and sometimes both at the same time. the dinner party at trudy and pete's is one of the great scenes of the show. adding on to what you said, i think there's a bit of pete - who is jealous yeah - who looks at don and thinks why can't i feel like he does when he holds my own actual loving daughter, he just naturally slides into this role! god i'm so inadequate!!!! because it's way deeper than the tap incident, of course. but pete also knows don is a very unhappy person just like he is, because he knows his history and can observe his behaviour, he just wishes he had what don has - basically, a deepheld belief that he is important - which pete lacks and is constantly searching for. even though he actually IS important to many people, and at this point has a couple of very good close friends in don and peggy. he's got so much, more than most people get, and it's just never enough for him because there's just this hole deep inside he needs to throw something at, always roomtone fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Jul 5, 2022 |
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Jul 5, 2022 22:26
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Season 7, Episode 8 - Severance Written by Matthew Weiner, Directed by Scott Hornbacher Ken Cosgrove posted:I'm very hard to please. A beautiful woman wearing a fur coat and only underwear beneath listens in rapt attention as powerful, alpha-male Don Draper smoothly and confidently tells her what to do. She is attentive, submissive, desperate for approval. He is calm, controlled, dominant, the perfect man, the master of all he surveys. It is deeply sexual, her attraction for him obvious, his control of her own natural and to be expected. What an aspirational figure, this is a REAL man, telling a woman what to do and of course she finds that deeply seductive and enticing, overwhelmed by his sheer masculinity. It's also complete bullshit. Mad Men is a wonderfully written and acted show with high production values, but it also isn't shy about making its points extremely bluntly at times. It's a show all about producing glossy surface presentation to entice people to buy what you are selling, and the far more mundane reality that exists below that surface. So it isn't Don Draper and a beautiful model alone in a motel room, as the initial framing and editing of the scene makes it appear. A late cut to wide shot reveals this for what it truly is: a casting call. Don is just the one leading an audition of aspiring models in a room also full of men taking notes on clipboards and considering what they've seen. The model was attentive, submissive and desperate for approval because that is what she needed to present to try and land this gig. Don was giving direction not as some all-powerful macho Lothario, itself an affectation shown time and again to mask the deeply insecure person he is underneath the veneer, but almost literally as a director: telling her what to do and how to present to get the look he wants to better achieve the campaign he has successfully pitched. It's the second half of season 7 (or season 8, as some prefer) and if we're not into the 70s yet we're close enough for Government work, but in many ways nothing has changed since season 1 began at the start of the 60s: casting is still a "treat" for the "Mad Men" working in advertising to have an excuse to leer at pretty young women who are eager to please in hopes of getting their start in modeling/magazines/television etc. Pete Campbell and Ted Chaough (the latter with an astonishingly horrible 70s mustache) along with two others - presumably the client - thank the model, Cindy, and a secretary opens the door to let her out before the next beautiful woman comes in wearing a $15,000 chinchilla coat to be "seduced" by Don Draper. It's an assembly line, as far from glamorous as it gets... but that's the point, beneath the surface things are always far more messy, complicated and troublesome than the simple reality that SC&P presents to make their money.   It doesn't just extend to work though. Later we see Don Draper out for a night on the town, or rather just wrapping one up. In a tuxedo, he sits at small booth in a rather low rent diner regaling three beautiful, dressed-up women with a humorous story about his youth. It's shockingly open in some ways, as he tells them freely about his stepmother Abigail and his Uncle Mack, and when Roger Sterling - with a terrible 70s mustache of his own, oh Roger - returns from the bathroom complaining charmingly about cockroaches, Don doesn't break stride in the story at all, apparently fully comfortable continuing the tale. Except... it is a tale. It's Don repurposing bits of the truth but sanitizing them, embellishing some parts and papering over others. It's a story about Abigail's contempt for a birthday gift of a toaster and her passive aggressive way of showing it, and Uncle Mack's cheapness in trying to repair the cord that kept getting tripped over giving him an electric shock. As told it is funny, charming and makes Abigail and Mack into slightly corny characters like you might find in a play or television sitcom. The reality it masks is Abigail's severity and ability to be cruel when she felt she was crossed, and Uncle Mack's stubborn insistence that he be in charge almost killing him. There is no mention of the nature of the house. The prostitutes who lived there are referred to as "boarders" instead. Don treats it as a funny, cherished childhood memory in direct contrast to what we know about the utter misery he felt living in that place with those people: beneath the surface things are always far more messy, complicated and troublesome than the simple reality that Don presents to charm his audience. Roger of course cherishes a simple narrative, and he has one that's always a winner: money! With arms around the two girls on his side of the booth, he chuckles that Don loves to tell stories about how poor he was (now perhaps, for most of their friendship he's never said a word).. but he's not now! Don jokes that this is Roger's way of asking him to get the check, and of course Roger isn't having that - he loves splashing out even at a cheap place like that - so he calls out to the waitress behind the counter for the check, referring to her rather unkindly as Mildred Pierce. Both Don and one of the girls warn him to be nice and he shrugs in acknowledgement... but when the waitress arrives he can't help but ask if they serve anything by John Dos Passos, referring to the book she was reading and slipped into the pouch on her apron before attending their table. Don starts to apologize for Roger, starting to say that he's... before Roger chimes in that he's witty. But now Don finds himself intrigued by the waitress, staring at her as he realizes there is something familiar about her. He asks if he knows her but she doesn't think so, leaving the check and returning to the counter. "She's a little old for NYU," observes one of the girls, as if there would be no other reason to read a book, while Roger shows that he has at least some self-awareness that he was being a dick as he offers to cover the check ($11.60) and tip, and puts down a hundred dollar bill, commenting that "that ought to do it". It's perfectly Roger of course, throwing money at a problem as if it excuses all issues (to be fair, in his experience, it largely has!), and they make their exit, Roger not too subtly saying he'll only be dropping ONE of the girls off at home. As they leave though, Don can't help but stop to look back at the waitress, absorbed in her book again, still convinced he knows her from somewhere. His date gets his attention at last though and he makes his exit, while she continued to read her book, obviously not sharing in his fascination. Returning home to his apartment sans-date, Don turns on the light.... and then after a brief look turns it back off again. There's nothing wrong with his place, it's the same as it ever was, and perhaps that is the problem. Lights on is a reminder that this place hasn't changed when everything else has. It was Megan who decorated this place, Megan who made it a home. Since she went to Los Angeles, and especially after he finally realized she had moved on without him, this place is no longer a home to him, just a place where he stays. He picks up the phone and calls his message service, seemingly flirting with the lady - Joanne - on the other end who gives him his messages, all from women of course, Joanne simply giving him a sweet but clear rejection of,"You're very funny, Mr. Draper" when he asks what SHE is doing tonight. Two of the women who called are seemingly New York based and one rather transparently desperate after leaving a message for him to NOT to call her after a certain time due to being busy followed by ANOTHER call after that deadline to amend that time. The third is a flight attendant with TWA, on a stopover for the evening, and that fits him perfectly: no obligation, no running into her on the street or need for a follow-up, she'll be off and on her way again criss-crossing the country and they can safely meet for simply sex as and when suits them both. So not long after, she arrives at his apartment with a bottle of wine, amused to see his tux and asking where he has been. Rather than answering, he just kisses her, and soon they're in his bedroom, her in her underwear gleefully explaining that even in First Class there is ALWAYS at least one blanket completely soaked in urine on any flight. They've clearly had a bit too drink, Don now just in pants and shirt, and when he hugs her from behind he startles her, and she drops her wine on the carpet. She laughs but is clearly alarmed to see the white carpet heavily stained, saying it is his fault but dropping to her knees asking if he has a towel, aimlessly preparing to pat it with her hands as if that will help. Don though is simply more amused, perhaps because the white carpet was a mistake from the get-go that he told Megan he only went with because SHE wanted it, and this spill is not only proof of that warning but his own way of trying to exorcise her from the apartment. Seemingly untroubled, he hauls the cover blanket from the bed and tosses it over the wine, dropping to his knees and kissing her, flinging her around onto her back as she squeaks with a mixture of shock and exhilaration at his lack of concern. As he kisses at her neck, she notices something gleaming under the bed and reaches out, holding up an earring and asking - without judgment/scorn - if this is another woman he is sleeping with. No, he explains also seemingly without a trace of pain, that's the woman he is NOT sleeping with: his soon-to-be ex-wife, Megan. Tossing the earring aside without a care (I suspect he cares a great deal) he continues to kiss her, pursuing empty and meaningless one-night-stands to try and set side the pain of accepting he blew what he had with Megan. After all, beneath the surface things are always far more messy, complicated and troublesome than what Don is willing to consciously accept.   The next day at SC&P sees a troubled meeting taking place between Topaz Pantyhose, Peggy Olson and Joan Harris (who is presumably their Account Man now) and Harry Crane in Harry's office. The subject is the "egg", or rather "L'eggs", a new brand of pantyhose by Hanes that comes in an egg-shaped container. Art Garten pops one open and rubs the pantyhose over his cheek, grunting that they're "crap", which isn't in dispute. Topaz, though "cheap", are a superior quality brand... but Harry notes that Hanes are selling L'Eggs in four test markets where they are out-spending Topaz six-to-one.... and out-selling them TWENTY-to-one. Joan offers that it's not just a matter of the cute, attention-grabbing packaging... but the placement. Hanes have targeted supermarkets in addition to drugstores and are selling at only $1.39 a pair, a note that angers Art's colleague who asks if they're expected to spend more on advertising AND lower their prices too? Joan is quick to reassure him that L'Eggs are a novelty and the inferior quality will catch up with them (technically kinda sorta true... just 25 years later!), but in the interim they're recommending a change to make-up the gap until the market corrects itself. Art though is as ever resistant to spending money, complaining that he knows they think he's cheap - "Not cheap enough!" he grunts as he critically eyes the Hanes product again - but he only wants to spend money in the RIGHT places... and then throws out an idea for spending money in the WRONG place! Ignoring what Joan said about placement being key to Hanes' success, he declares that if Hanes has an egg, then Topaz can have a "topaz", his colleague jumping on this idea and suggesting they make it a green transparent one so you can see the pantyhose inside. All smiles, Peggy tries to carefully explain why this is the most terrible idea in the history of the universe without insulting anybody, saying that she would never recommend imitation as a strategy since being second is very far from first. "Well whose fault is that?" sneers Art's colleague, and Joan immediately jumps on that with a big ol' smile, reminding him that SHE told HIM about the development of L'Eggs when it first started and he wasn't concerned by it at all. THAT revelation gets Art glaring at his colleague, but he's saved by Ken Cosgrove suddenly entering the room to greet Art and Marvin and ask if they're ready for lunch. Art is, turning to stare at Joan and Peggy as he proclaims that they had a problem but they've solved it. His meaning is clear, so used to being the guy in charge he has decided that his terrible, terrible, terrible idea is the solution, leaving them to clean up the mess. Ken takes a moment, clearly sensing something is off but figuring if the client is satisfied he is too. He follows them out of the room, while Harry's only advice to Joan as she ponders what to do next is that they "keep the client". In other words, do Art's terrible idea even though they know it is terrible, presumably with the mindset that they want to be making money from Topaz as long as possible before they either get the blame and fired or Topaz itself goes out of business. Don arrives at work, greeted by Meredith who is STILL his secretary. Presumably she is still carrying a torch for him, perhaps believing they still have some secret deeper connection, as she makes a point of letting him know she can plans for the evening and he can't talk her out of staying past 5pm (she REALLY wants him too). He simply accepts this and tells her to wake him up in.... she cuts him off, he has casting in an hour. That's perfect, just enough time for a little power nap at work, the privilege of being Creative Director... and seemingly no longer in name only, as Don steps into his office and closes the door behind him, and of course it's 3760: Lou is either gone, bought out by the sale to McCann, or buried somewhere he can do no harm, and Don Draper is back where he feels he belongs. In the lunch room, Peggy waits for Mathis to finish pouring his coffee, so he passes her his filled mug and pours himself another, asking if she has lunch plans and suggesting she come to the coffee shop with him. Confused, she points out he's literally pouring himself a coffee now, and when he admits he wants to ask her something she grunts that if he wants a raise he should come right out and ask her instead of "acting like a secretary". Wow, Peggy. But he explains it is nothing to with work, rather his brother-in-law is going to be in town this week and he thought Peggy could join them all for dinner. Yes, it seems Mathis did marry his girlfriend after all, following his indecision as revealed to Don upon his return from exile, and now he's trying to play fix-up with Peggy? It's clear that he's not well prepared for this at all, his only selling points being that his brother-in-law is handsome... and has a car! Peggy points out that while this is very sweet, he's naive if he thinks this has nothing to do with work, reminding him that if things go badly or even well between her and this guy, then it will impact on their working relationship. Here Mathis admits what was clearly the driving force behind this suggestion: Julie. Yes, his wife has decided that Peggy and her brother would be great together (and you can guarantee SHE has been thinking about how this might help Mathis at work) and pushed him to make this invitation to Peggy, and he admits he really hasn't anticipated any of Peggy's questions or statements. Still, Peggy doesn't hold it against him, simply giving him a polite but very firm no before leaving with the coffee he poured her.   Don has finished up the strenuous activity of his early morning nap and headed upstairs to where a bevy of beautiful women are waiting for the casting process to take place. Among them is Joan, reading a magazine, and when Don cheekily asks if SHE is auditioning, she sweetly points out she had tried to see him earlier but Meredith explained he was too "busy", clearly fully aware he was taking a nap. Even this little amused back and forth demonstrates how much things have changed: Joan famously got on well with Don and clearly had at least some level of romantic curiosity in him in prior seasons, but that had soured enormously in the wake of the Jaguar disaster and Don's thoughtless actions costing her financial security leading in turn to her active endorsement of his removal both temporary and permanent. Now, an undetermined amount of time after they voted together to sell 51% to McCann Erickson, clearly that relationship is something far closer to its prior status. Taking Don into her office, she explains the problem: Topaz wants an ugly plastic "topaz" case to hold their pantyhose in as their "solution" to the Hanes problem. Don considers and asks what SC&P's solution was, and Joan admits they don't have one, before noting that the ironic thing is that Topaz are being crowded out of the BOTTOM of the market, and seem adamant about staying in there. Considering this, Don notes that Department Stores are the top end, and when Joan agrees but points out Topaz have always been a drugstore brand, he shrugs and says this solves all their problems: they can tell Topaz the idea to repackage was the right one, but the repackaging should be of their name, they should become a department store brand. There's just one problem with that, Joan sarcastically pointing out that the solution to their small client's issue is for SC&P to suddenly win Macy's as as Account! But Don makes a point Joan hadn't considered, and which makes perfect sense: McCann represents Marshall Field's, and this new working independent relationship between the two Agencies can work both ways: they can arrange a meeting with McCann to convince them to convince Marshall Field's to take onboard Topaz and rebrand it as their in-house pantyhose. It's not a fait accompli, but it is a possibility, and if it works, it will make EVERYBODY happy. That evening, the Cosgroves are being paid a visit by Cynthia's parents Ed and Lillian. Ed, it seems, is finally stepping down from his role in Marketing and Advertising at Dow Chemical, and explains to Ken how the company is moving the pieces around to fill the gap left by his departure. Ken is pleased to hear that Tom Schaeffer has earned the role of Head of Plastics as a result of these moves, offering what seems to be genuine congratulations, though Ed notes it could also be good news for Ken too. Cynthia returns and apologizes that the baby still isn't awake, Ed disappointed but understanding at not getting to bask in the glory of his grandchild, Lillian happily pointing out from long experience that the last thing you ever want to do is STOP a baby from sleeping. There is one joy Ed isn't going to be denied though, as Ken slips out of the room and returns carrying an entire set of golf clubs, announcing they're a gift for Ed and that he shouldn't consider this retirement... but the start of a professional career! Ed is restrained but pleased, offering a deadpan lament for losing all enjoyment in life since Cynthia's mother passed away. Sitting right next to him, Cynthia's mother smirks (as does Cynthia!) and gives him a playful slap for his comedy, before admitting she'd be happy for anything other than the boat getting him out of the house. But Ed offers a surprisingly optimistic appraisal of his new life, apparently not like many men his age who fall apart after retiring and losing the structure of everyday work. He admits that most men his age in his field have suffered a couple of heart attacks before they retire, but he has been lucky in that regard and still feels young enough to do things. Radiating obvious love, Cynthia admits how happy she is that her father has retired still fit and healthy and active enough to enjoy his free time. Lillian though has to hold back her laughter behind a tight-lipped smile as Ed proudly explains that he's also taken up new things like cooking! He ponders what it was that he managed to cook for himself the other day, asking her to remind him, and she lets him know.... it was a pop tart! "It was VERY good!" he proclaims, proudly. Oh Ed Standing in the casting room, Don is offered an oddly worded statement by Ted Chaough, standing alone by the door oddly rocking from foot to foot as he declares,"This is another girl" and opens the door. In saunters another girl indeed, another beautiful woman in a fur over only underwear, smiling warmly at Don who looks back at her, astonished. It's Rachel Menken. "Rachel?" he asks, and she betrays just the slightest frown, as if he's broken some code by speaking her name, before she game-face is back on and she turns and walks to the mirror. Smiling at herself, she runs through the motions of exposing her skin without needing to be told, then turns and looks straight at Don, telling him she is supposed to let him know he missed his flight. "Thank you," he offers back gratefully, and if it wasn't already clear this was a dream then this exchange cements it. Not just because of Rachel being so out of place - she was rich enough that she could tell men in 1960 to gently caress off and they had to do as they were told - but because the dream logic affects Don too, his shifting emotions and immediate understanding of this non sequitur an example of how everything in a dream makes perfect sense in the moment but is nonsense in retrospect. Her task apparently done, Rachel walks to the door and the man at the door opens it for her, but of course it's not Ted anymore, it's Pete now. Don calls after her by name, and this time she looks back with a smile. "You're not just smooth," he tells her with a grin, giving the tagline for this campaign,"You're Wilkinson Smooth." She grins broadly and leaves, and Pete beams approvingly before declaring,"Back to work!" Don awakens, lying in bed with another woman sleeping with her head on his chest. Waking herself, she mumbles to ask if it is morning, and he tells her to go back to sleep. She does, rolling over onto her side, Don laying in the dark with one of a series of meaningless conquests, remembering the woman who he asked to flee to Los Angeles with him and how she rejected him for the ease with which he planned to abandon his children. "You missed your flight" could have any number of meanings, but one possibility is that they never got to go on theirs, and when he had another chance with Megan who was willing to do what Rachel wouldn't, he failed to take it himself. As always, beneath the surface things are far more complicated than they look. At the Cosgroves, Cynthia is up watching television in the living room when Ken enters in his pajamas, top open to reveal a hairy chest that thankfully isn't matched by a terrible moustache like Ted and Roger's. He's also without his eyepatch, and the extent of the damage is clear, his eye is basically permanently shut and all but useless (if not entirely useless) even after all this time. She apologizes for waking him but he waves it off, assuming that Eddie woke up and that is why she is up now. But as he takes a seat beside her on the couch, she reveals other things have been troubling her: for one, in contrast to Ed's own insistence otherwise, her father is SO old. Ken chuckles at that, promising that Ed is going to have a ball now that he's retired, but that's part of the problem.... Cynthia doesn't understand why he waited to long to have that ball? Ken's response to that is easy enough, and probably true, Ed loved the job! But as always, there's more going on beneath the surface, Cynthia isn't so much concerned about her father as she is Ken, because while Ed loved his job, she knows that Ken hates his. He's bored and angry and they both know it, and they both know it's because what he REALLY wants to do is to write. Grumpily he complains he should never tell her anything (she's your wife, Ken!), indicating that he's been open with her about how much he hates being Head of Accounts, but points out he hasn't written anything in a long time. But that IS the point, according to Cynthia, because he could start now. He's done very well for himself and they need to stop pretending she wasn't born with plenty of money thanks in part to that job Ed did for so long, he could very easily quit his job. They could buy a farm, raise Eddie out of the city, he could write "something sad and sweet for all the people who don't have the guts to live their dream." "Why don't YOU write a book!?!" he snaps, feeling backed into a corner and lashing out in spite of her obvious sincere and loving desire for him to be happy and creatively fulfilled. Obviously pissed off at this, Cynthia is also at least aware that Ken is lashing out, and so she offers a compelling argument: he already gave them his eye, he shouldn't give them the rest of his life too. Not willing to concede the point though, he aims to hurt, angrily reminding her that her father was a cog in a machine that poisoned people and made weapons, and she angrily shouts back that HE sells them. "I'm proud of the company!" he roars, and then pathetically says he at least wants to see if he's going to get that raise he's expecting, either missing or ignoring her point that they already have enough money to live a more than comfortable life pursuing their dreams and happiness. Their raised voices do what Lillian warned them not to though, as Eddie wakes and begins crying. Standing up, unable to ignore the cries of her child, she offers Ken solid advice that still holds up well into the 21st Century: there will ALWAYS be another hurdle, another "I just have to get through this" or "But I might get a raise" that will get in the way until the weeks become months become years become decades. She storms off, complaining he doesn't listen to her at all, and Ken is left sitting miserable and alone on the couch, obviously wishing he'd just stayed in bed.   Don arrives at work the next morning, mildly surprised to be chided by Meredith for being late, pointing out it's only 5 minutes after 9. She reminds him that casting ALWAYS starts on time, asking if he can't smell the cheap perfume in a little dig at the various models lined up upstairs to try on furs in their underwear. Leaving his bag and case on her desk, he asks her to call Rachel Katz at Menken's Department Store before correcting himself to say she should set a meeting with the number in the Rolodex, and to tell them it is regarding Topaz Pantyhose. Whatever meaning was behind his dream, Don has obviously instead taken it as a sign to reach out to his old lover again after all these years... and despite knowing she is married. Meanwhile, Joan and Peggy are meeting with McCann Erickson as advised by Don. Three of the McCann men - presumably Accounts - for Marshall Field's are on the other side of their conference room table as Peggy explains that L'Eggs is pushing Topaz out of the bottom end of the market, but that Topaz has the high quality to be considered for branding with a Department Store name. In season 1 of Mad Men, they laid it on thick but with a real point to make: being a woman in the workplace in the early 1960s loving sucked. Sterling Cooper was full of men who seemed to take it as one of the benefit packages of employment that you got to gently caress, or at the very least leer and probably grope, the secretaries. Ken Cosgrove himself has a first scene which basically consists of whispering in Peggy's ear that he's getting off on imagining banging her. When Rachel Menken, seen earlier, told Don off for his patronizing pitch he stormed out of the room in great offense that a WOMAN dared to talk to him in this way. Across the following seasons, we've seen a gradual shift of the situation for women on the show, in all aspects of society but particularly in the workplace. It's still far (far far far) from great but Peggy is an accepted and respected Copy Chief, well-regarded in the industry and credited by her employers for her achievements. Joan has risen to the status of Partner, has become an "Account Man", and clearly moved beyond her original role as a very competent office manager who also wasn't above showing off her sex appeal because that's what she was taught was necessary to get along in the world. Hell, Dawn is the Officer Manager of SC&P now and when she first started the idea of even hiring her at all was considered off-the-wall by the people in charge. Peggy herself only a couple of episodes earlier grumpily pointed out that most of the women working at SC&P now have families because getting married and immediately moving to housewife status is no longer the status quo. All this to make a point: things have changed. Times have changed. Women aren't just considered decorations, objects of lust to be openly leered at, prizes to be won etc. Things are still plenty bad, but they are "better". But not at McCann Erickson. No. There it is still 1960. Hell it might as well be 1950. The three men leer, that laugh, they crack ribald commentary, ignoring most of what the two extremely competent women across from them are saying to make "clever" quips. It would be bad enough if they thought what they were saying was "subtle" and the women didn't get it, but it's not that. They know all too well that Peggy and Joan are completely aware of what they're doing and they don't care, they take as a given, a right, that they can and will openly insult, belittle and drop sexually charged comments into the middle of this business meeting. But perhaps the worst thing of all? After Joan and Peggy grit their teeth and maintain their professionalism the entire way through this whole disaster? The three men actually pick up the documents they were provided and begin looking through them, having decided playtime is over and it's time to actually consider this proposal. Because it has merit. If Topaz Pantyhose has a high enough quality to be branded as Marshall Field's and sold in their department stores, they'll reap the benefits on the Marshall Field's side while SC&P while reap the benefits on the Topaz side. They could have done this right from the start, but they didn't, because a couple of people with uteruses were in the room so it was time to crack jokes about "spreading "L'Eggs", bras, panties, pulling them down over and over, nice "pears" etc etc. While Joan and Peggy are suffering through this infuriating humiliation, Ken Cosgrove arrives late to work with a smile on his face, greeting his secretary Shirley (so she survived but Lou did not! But where is Clara?) and explaining he decided to work today. She's concerned though, Mr. Sterling AND Mr. Donnelly are both here and looking for him. Confused, he heads over to Roger's office, stepping in and asking Roger if he wanted to see him. Roger gestures to the man sitting beside him, a big, strapping middle-aged man who looks like Pete on steroids (and a better hairline), noting that Ken will remember him: he's Ferguson Donnelly from McCann Erickson. Ken does, greeting "Ferg" and shaking his hand when he stands, before both take seats. Ken assumes this is about the proposed push to move Topaz into department stores, giving his support for the idea, but it's not about that at all, Donnelly saying he has no idea what he's talking about. Roger asks if he sent Ed Baxter a $200 set of MacGregor golf clubs from the firm, which Ken happily admits to (so his retirement gift to his father-in-law was on the company's dime, which probably means Dow will end up paying for it out of billings!) doing, going so far as to say he hand-delivered them. Obviously he thinks this is entirely within his remit as Head of Accounts, and he's probably right, it pays to maintain good relationships with a client the size of Dow after all. But there's bad news on that front, Roger explains with a smile that suggests he thinks it is anything but: Pete Campbell is taking over Dow. Ken is confused, though not angry at the moment (remember one of his original demands for not standing in the way of SCDP taking on Dow as a client was that Pete was NOT on the Account?), asking if this is about the clubs? But Roger doesn't mince words, nor does he explain things diplomatically for Donnelly's sake, simply admitting that they're taking him off Dow because McCann doesn't WANT him on Dow. Assuming that McCann is making this move because of the loss of Ed Baxter at Dow and their family relationship, Ken assures them that he'll get on fine with Ed's replacement, that he already knows "Greg from Metals", but Donnelly doesn't care about that and seems to take great pleasure in making this clear, also not mincing words: they don't want him on the business because they don't want him on ANY business. Bewildered, Ken seems more amused than alarmed by what he's hearing, laughing that Donnelly can't still be mad at him for leaving McCann, that was six years ago! Besides, it wasn't like they hired him in the first place, he came part and package of the Putnam, Powell & Lowe purchase including Sterling Cooper. Donnelly though notes that while people come and go from McCann constantly, they don't do so taking a 4 million dollar Birds Eye Account with them.... and now Ken finally starts to show his fangs a little, coldly pointing out that yes they do, Account Men leave and take Clients with them constantly, it's part of the risk an Advertising Agency takes with the system of close Account Man/Client relationship they encourage. But Donnelly shows some teeth too, a hard little smile on his face as he complains that those other Account Men don't walk around like their poo poo doesn't stink, and refer to the people at McCann Erickson as a "bunch of black Irish thugs". Ken doesn't exactly paint himself in glory here as he gestures at Donnelly and complains that you just have to look at him to see that's what he is, and he can't believe they're going to fire him just because he hurt Ferg's feelings. Black Irish is certainly a loaded term, and not a particularly nice one, but Ken's shock has finally worn off as he realizes that rather than getting the raise he was hoping for, all his stress and pain and even the massive fight he had with Cynthia about leaving a job he hated is resulting not in a reward, but him being fired at the whims of a guy who isn't even in the Agency. And Roger? Roger is just going along with it, seemingly entirely untroubled, almost amused as he complains to Ken to show a little dignity in the wake of being fired out of the blue by command of some rear end in a top hat you worked with briefly over half-a-decade earlier! "YOU'RE FIRING ME!" blares Ken, and Roger just shrugs and points out he'll be getting a generous severance package... IF he helps Pete secure all of his Accounts, including Dow. "Roger said he'd be happy to recommend you," Donnelly even offers, clearly loving every moment of this petty, spiteful and utterly unnecessary "revenge". Ken storms out of the office, and Donnelly smugly sips his coffee, while Roger sits apparently serene, his own personal feelings about this clearly externally forced move kept under his hat... but if he disagrees with it, he also isn't fighting it. They're an independent Agency, but he doesn't want to push too hard to find out just how independent they REALLY are.   At least Joan and Peggy's interactions with McCann were only deeply infuriating/humiliating as opposed to ending with them fired. As they ride the elevator down, Peggy eyes Joan warily, seeing her stony-face and knowing that the formidable woman is very, very, VERY angry. She timidly asks if they should get lunch, and Joan growls that she wants to burn McCann's entire building to the ground, Peggy gratefully taking this as a chance to vent a little herself and admit they were horrible... but they did at least get a yes on an introduction to Marshall Field's, which is better than a friendly no. Joan simply grumps that she doesn't expect Peggy to understand, which isn't a particularly nice thing to say, and she makes that worse when Peggy says that Joan must have experienced a scene like that before and Joan snarls back to ask if Peggy has EVER experienced anything like that. But Peggy isn't exactly on the high ground herself when she tries to make light of all this by laughing that Joan can't really have it both ways and dress the way she does and expect..... "HOW do I dress?" demands Joan, outraged that Peggy is in some way blaming her - who presented nothing but a professional performance backed up by facts, figures and logic in that meeting - for those three pigs being unprofessional and sexist assholes. Feeling a little pissed off herself now, Peggy points out that she didn't get taken seriously either, but Joan is unloading not, insulting both Peggy's style AND her looks which is the final straw. "You're filthy rich!" snaps Peggy angrily, finally betraying a little of her own obvious resentment over the Partners getting rich (some richer) while putting SC&P and all the employees under the shadow of McCann Erickson and just this kind of horrible encounter,"You don't have to do anything you don't want to." They ride the rest of the way in silence, Joan leaving the elevator first when it reaches the ground, Peggy - who has done well from her work (she owns a building!) but far from as well as Joan - waiting a little longer so they don't have to travel together. Don returns to his office, followed by Meredith who asks how the "cattle call" of casting was, giggling that he's shameless when he admits with a grin that they're going to need at least one more session. He asks if he has anything scheduled for lunch, and he doesn't... but he does have a busy afternoon plus she's scheduled a meeting for Monday with Mr. Rosenthal at Menken's Department Store. Don is confused, Mrs. Katz wasn't available? Meredith admits it was a rather awkward conversation, as Rachel stepped down from her role a few months ago... and passed away last week. It takes a moment for it to really settle in, and then Don grasps in horror what has been said. Rachel is dead. He takes a seat, though "falls" might be a more accurate descriptor, not really able to take it in, the idea is too out of left field to be true. Not only that she is dead, but that she died LAST week. Meredith isn't sure how to respond to how upset he clearly is, apologizing for hitting him with this news, asking how old she was, admitting she assumed an old lady from the name, not somebody who was younger than Don himself. Unsure what to do next, she points out the family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations are made to the National Jewish Hospital in Denver and asks if he'd like her to do that on his behalf. "No," he manages, then corrects himself, saying yes. Still hesitant, confused by the reaction, Meredith says she's going to go fetch him a sandwich, leaves him alone, too stunned to really grieve at the moment, the enormity not quite setting in yet. Suddenly "you missed your flight" takes on another possible meaning, Rachel is dead and he missed a last chance to speak with her, to perhaps clear the air after their last two far from auspicious meetings. The day passes and Peggy has returned to work, but as she makes notes Mathis pops by to say goodnight and ask if she needs anything else before he goes. She says she's fine, but once he's stepped away, Joan's cruel words about her lack of appeal have clearly been running through her head and she calls him back. Putting on a smile, she "off-handedly" notes that she had a "cancellation" and she'd like to help get him back into his wife's good graces, so she'll take him up on the kind offer of dinner with them and his brother-in-law. But a fresh humiliation comes with this, as Mathis admits that since she turned him down they already made plans to do something else as a threesome. "Well then it wasn't meant to be," she smiles back, trying to hide the abject humiliation of this encounter, but Mathis points out that Stevie doesn't need to (and probably Mathis would prefer if he didn't) come along with he and his wife, he can sell his ticket and then Peggy can have dinner with JUST Stevie. Now however there's a new wrinkle.... STEVIE? Just how old is he? A name like Stevie suggests an 18-19 year old, but Mathis shrugs and admits he doesn't know his exact age but he thinks he is about 30? Peggy hesitates, unsure now that there is a chance she will have to go through with it, and a miserable Mathis asks if he can just go home. Taking a gamble, Peggy tells him to give Stevie her number and call her, and they'll see where it goes from there. Delighted, Mathis heads home to give his wife the good news, while Peggy finds herself caught between the exhilaration of having a date and feeling miserable that she stooped so low to take Mathis up on his wife's match-making offer.  
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 12:27 on Jul 14, 2022 |
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Jul 11, 2022 14:38
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Don returns to the diner where he, Roger and the three women had dinner a few days earlier. Taking a seat at the counter, he asks the older waitress for just coffee and if she can get the attention of the other waitress cleaning in the corner. The older woman calls out for "Di" and tells her to get Don just a coffee, continuing on about her other work. Diana arrives and Don repeats yet again that he thinks he knows her, and she agrees that he does... from when he was in the other night. When he tries to explain he thinks he knew her from before that though, she just cuts him off to tell him he doesn't need a line and she knows EXACTLY what he is here for, and it isn't coffee. Confused, Don just stares, and Diana suddenly declares to the other waitress - Vi - that she is taking her break. She removes her apron as she heads out the back door without a word, Don watching her go then quietly standing and following her. Outside he finds her smoking in the alley and approaches carefully, mumbling that his name is Don. With apparent indifference, she tosses her cigarette, stubs it out and then kisses him. Moments later they're against the wall, his belt undone, their embrace becoming more passionate. Not long after, they return, Diana first businesslike as she replaces her apron and goes back behind the counter. Don shortly after, trying to straight his hair, red in the face, looking like he can't quite grasp that they just did what they did out in the back alley of a low rent diner, each only knowing the other's first name. Taking his seat at the counter, Don calls her over and asks when she is done for the night, but calmly and without malice though some small amount of contempt, she tells him he's gotten his $100 worth, they're done. She begins moving around the other tables, taking orders, checking on drinks, Don left at a loss. Did she really think he had come to claim sex in exchange for that giant tip Roger left her (remember $100 then is closer to $800 now), or was this just her convenient way of giving them both a guilt free out to move on with their lives after a single encounter? Neither case leaves Don feeling any better, he came here looking for something and it wasn't sex, or at least sex wasn't the sole extent of the intimacy he is pursuing. Who is Diana? Who does she remind him of? Perhaps there is a little of Rachel Menken in there, the woman he thought he could start a new life with and just discovered is now gone forever? Or more troubling, given the story he was telling at the start of the episode before he saw her for the first(?) time.... is there a little of Abigail, the mother who never showed him the motherly love he craved? He still seems lost in thought when he returns to work the next morning, but before he can make it to reception, a voice calls his name. Turning, he heads to the phonebanks, where he finds a lost looking Ken Cosgrove sitting alone, seemingly unsure what to do or where to go. He asks if he is okay, and Ken admits he is done, actually smiling as he explains that McCann told Roger to do and and BOY did he do it, and now Ken has to giftwrap all his Accounts and give them to Pete as an added insult to the injury of being fired. This is absolutely the first that Don is hearing of this, and it puts his own troubles aside. For all his other faults, Don also defends his team when he feels they're being wronged, insisting angrily that he's going to put through a call directly to Jim Hobart, they can't just fire SC&P's Head of Accounts! But Ken stops him, that smile still on his face as he admits something that he hadn't realized for himself until the issue was forced on him.... he's relieved. At first Don mistakes his almost manic cheer as a danger sign, perhaps remembering Lane's dramatic exit from the series, warning him not to do anything rash because this is just a job (Don destroyed his own marriage to keep his!). But Ken explains that after Ed retired, he and Cynthia had a big argument over whether he should quit his job so they could buy a farm and he could write a novel... and he thinks that maybe he was going to do it after all... only they fired him before he could! That has to be a sign, he insists, and a confused Don takes a moment before asking,"And that's good?" "That's great!" laughs Ken, before calming slightly to admit that his issue isn't that he's gotten over the humiliation and indignity of being fired... but that he has to work up the energy to continue to drag himself through those doors and work for however long it takes to secure his clients for Pete so he can at least get that severance package on his way out the door. Don still isn't sure quite how to react, clearly not happy about losing Ken but also happy (grateful?) that it isn't going to force a confrontation with Roger and Hobart and perhaps the other Partners as well... hell, he only just got them all back on his side! So he gives Ken a little reassuring pat before heading into reception, even more confused than he was before he stepped out of that elevator. Joan is doing paperwork in her office when her secretary lets her know that "Dennis" is calling. She has no idea who that is, his "girl" only said Dennis, but he's from McCann Erickson. "It's Dennis Ford," she explains, but when her secretary asks if she should put him through, Joan considers for a moment and then with great satisfaction tells her no, tell Dennis she is in a meeting. With that, she stands, collects her coat and bad, and simply leaves the office. Ken should be so lucky. Instead, he's in what will soon no longer be his office, running through files of clients that will soon no longer be his, given more by a secretary who will soon no longer be his secretary, all in service of passing all his hard work over to Pete Campbell - who Ken took over these extra duties from in the first place! - and leaving him with nothing but a payout before being kicked out without a hint of hesitation by an Agency he has devoted much of his adult life too in one form of another. Pete tries to make small talk about Clara no longer working there, Ken coldly replying that she had gotten as big as a house (she was pregnant) and not impressed by Pete's gossip about somebody named Torkelson and whether he'll marry her, simply stating that people are very good about "looking the other way" at SC&P. Obviously understanding this far from subtle reference to himself, Pete assures Ken that he didn't find out Roger was firing Ken till after Ken himself had been told. I'm still not entirely clear on the new structure of SC&P following the partial sale to McCann, but it would appear that Partnerships are no longer a thing outside of Roger being the President? It certainly seems Roger wasn't concerned about making the executive call to fire Ken without telling Joan, Pete, Don or Ted (and did Cutler manage to cling on or just take his money and beat a dignified retreat?), the directive came from McCann. "So did your millions of dollars," notes Ken, and Pete actually sighs with all the put-upon frustration that only the obscenely rich can have about how they're actually not REALLY obscenely rich. He complains (COMPLAINS!) that he didn't REALLY get millions of dollars, the cash is being paid out to him in allotments to keep him under the top tax threshold, and he might have (gasp, horror!) buy an apartment building just to hold onto any of it! This motherfucker. "Sounds like a real pain in the rear end," notes Ken, still mad but also amused that only Pete (well, lots of assholes actually) could manage to argue that somehow making millions of dollars is a real burden. Pete though continues to insist that the firing caught him by surprise, asking what he even did at McCann to earn their ire to this extent? Ken shrugs, admitting that he never fit in over there since he wasn't Irish or Catholic... plus he could read! Pete chuckles, and points out that by playing ball he's securing his future work in Advertising elsewhere, but Ken shrugs at that, intriguing Pete who wants to know if he has other plans. Carefully, Ken admits that though he hasn't done it for some time, he is thinking about taking up writing again, because he sure as hell has something to write about now! Pete laughs off the idea, though, insisting that advertising is boring... he should write an adventure book instead. Yeah, as if anybody would ever be interested in a work of fiction about advertising! Plus, Pete excitedly continues to fantasize about Ken's new life, think how good he and his eyepatch would look as the author picture! Ken admits that he has considered it, and Pete credits him, saying in some way he is envious of Ken's freedom. He admits he thought he was changing his life when he went to California, and while he was there it felt right... but now it feels like a dream. "Well, that's you I guess," notes Ken carefully, clearly wishing Pete had stayed, not knowing (and Pete seems to have forgotten himself) that he really was genuinely happy out there before he allowed himself to get in his own way. Bonnie was right, he was a better person in California than he is in New York. Stil, Pete promises him that should he ever want to get back into advertising, Pete himself will be happy to write him a glowing letter of recommendation. Biting his tongue and taking a sip of his stiff drink, Ken forces himself to tell Pete he appreciates this as opposed to wanting to strangle him with his own entrails, and has to further bite his lip when Pete spots they have a Fillmore Autoparts folder and complains Ken shouldn't be wasting his time with Clients they no longer have. Joan, meanwhile, is enjoying a far less stressful afternoon than both Ken is having and she would normally have. Because, like Peggy reminded her... she's rich! So she has gone shopping, rather than sitting around waiting on Dennis Ford, she has decided Dennis Ford can wait for her, the phenomenally rich woman, and she'll take his call when SHE is good and ready. It's not ENTIRELY healthy, but it is a bit of retail therapy she clearly needed, though it comes with an unwelcome reminder of its own. The woman assisting her with her purchases suddenly makes a remark that reminds Joan that in the grand scheme of things it wasn't that long ago that she was desperately trying to keep her and Greg afloat after he'd learned his surgery dreams were going nowhere. The woman states that she thinks Joan used to work here? If so, she can still use her employee discount to save some money on her purchases! It's a genuine attempt to be helpful, coming at exactly the wrong time, and instead Joan simply states she has mistaken her for somebody else and that no discount is necessary, before tasking her with unzipping the dress.   It's a matter of scale of course, but it's interesting to see the resentment born by Peggy and Ken towards Joan and Pete respectively in this episode. For Ken, it's understandable given he has been fired through no real fault of his own while watching Pete continue to reap both the benefits AND millions of dollars. For Peggy, perhaps the resentment is born out of knowing that she was right there on day 1 of the creation of SCDP and was in fact a part of it before Joan herself (she came in as a last minute desperation move by Roger who needed somebody who understood Sterling Cooper's filing system so they could pull off their heist) but has seen Joan make an enormous amount of money while she herself appears to have topped out for now at Copy Chief. Both Ken and Peggy have done VERY well for themselves, they'd be the envy of many for their success: even without Cynthia's family money, Ken has made a very good living as Head of Accounts even with the attendant stress. Peggy has gone from a woman who lost her mind at a couple of dollars being stolen from her purse ("my mad money") to literally being a landlord like Pete was complaining he might have to be, even if she lives in what is considered a bad part of the city. But both can't help but feel less than impressed when their very rich associates complain about how tough life is being very, very, very rich, and perhaps wonder why the hell they've invested so much of their own lives into this Agency without reaping that same level of benefits. Don is having another lie down, mind presumably caught up in Rachel's death as opposed to lamenting how tough it is being phenomenally rich, when Meredith buzzes in to let him know that Ted wants to see him. He calls him in, Ted carrying a thick binder and explaining that Wilkinson has finally narrowed it down to three girls from the extensive casting sessions but now they want to see a binder of the other options, and with 120 girls in there he's convinced that is just going to extend out the casting process even longer. Don shrugs, noting that the Wilkinson execs are clearly perverts who enjoy sitting in on casting far too much, but when Ted declares they should go with three woman and off-the-cuff comes up with the tagline,"There are three women in every man's life..." Don isn't buying it, sitting on it for a second before declaring that there is no way that Ted just came up with that off the top of his head. "....fine, I've had it for years!" admits Ted, stressing that he really thinks it works regardless! Don is amused, he's perhaps done something similar in the past, but points out that trying to find new Creative instead of just picking ONE girl is the wrong way to go around it. But that reminds Ted of something else, as he points out that Vogue are having a party this evening just around the road from his apartment, so he's going to have cocktails there tonight before attending to see if hemlines really are going up as rumored, making the invitation to Don clear. This raises new questions, his apartment? An apparent desire to attend parties, hanging out with Don (who in turn seems more than happy to hang out with Ted)... is Ted's marriage over? Is he just openly pursuing a more hedonistic lifestyle to go with that terrible mustache? What is the situation like with Peggy now? We have answers to none of these questions just yet, apart from the fact that Don and Ted are apparently well past any personal problems they ever had... well, making millions upon millions of dollars generally helps with that! But while Ted (and Don?) are enjoying cocktails and leering at hemlines at the Vogue Party, Peggy Olson does something fairly rare... and goes on a date! In a restaurant with Stevie, who is attractive in a squarer-looking Ken Cosgrove fashion, they make small talk as they wait for their meals: he went to school at Emory in Atlanta, she.... went straight to work out of high school as a secretary! Surprised to learn this, he notes that is interesting and she takes a moment to consider, asking if it is, probably figuring that millions more like her have done that, perhaps discounting that few of them end up Copy Chief at a major advertising agency and own their own building! Their meals arrive and they thank the waiter, but once he's gone Peggy notices the pained look on Stevie's face as he collects his utensils, and notices the veal on his plate... didn't he order lasagna? "This is just as good!" he insists with a smile, and a perplexed Peggy offers to swap him for her cannelloni, since it's "like" lasagna? He tries to insist it is fine, and when she asks if he even LIKES veals he says he can't exactly send it back like a "primadonna", a concept that further confuses Peggy since how is it being a primadonna to ask for the meal you ACTUALLY ordered? And what is he going to do instead? Eat somebody else's meal? The cracks are showing fast, as Stevie sighs that now he's got an impossible choice: send his meal back like a jerk or eat it and look weak in front of her. Deciding not to push it further, not impressed with his passive-aggressiveness, Peggy grunts that she isn't going to let HER food get cold and starts to eat, while Stevie cuts up and pushes around his veal, muttering that Mathis said she was a girl who didn't put up with anything. THAT sparks her interest, in a way that Mathis should have feared and she herself warned him, because now she'd like to know what else Mathis had to say about her? But here Steve proves his worth, as he pauses to consider a moment, and then saves his brother-in-law from a world of hurt by explaining Mathis calls her funny AND fearless. It's EXACTLY the right thing to say at EXACTLY the right moment. Peggy drinks in the compliment, thrilled to learn that when one of her subordinates from work talks about her from the comfort of room it is to compliment her. Coming to a decision, she lifts up her plate and offers it to him, making an admission of her own.... she LOVES veal! Delighted, Stevie swaps plates with her, and digs into the cannelloni with gusto, the two of them sharing a smile and a laugh, and suddenly all that first date tension and the poor way the date was progressing has been dispersed.   Don however is not downing cocktails and upping hemlines with Ted Chaough. Instead, he finds himself at an apartment door, knocking timidly and nervously entering when it turns out the door was unlocked and simply opened. Mirrors are covered in sheets and shoes have been removed, but when an exhausted looking woman approaches to greet him and he asks if he should removed his shoes, she explains that is only for mourners. They are Sitting Shiva, a week long-remembrance following Rachel's burial, all welcome to come and take part in helping the immediate relatives of the deceased to deal with the grief of losing a loved one, remembering them, and slowly preparing to return to life in their absence. He explains that he just wanted to come and pay his respects, he worked with Rachel in the past. The woman is surprised, he worked at the store? She explains she is Barbara, Rachel's sister, and Don introduces himself, explaining he is in advertising... and her entire demeanor changes as she lets him know she is fully aware of who (and, unstated, what) he is. Rachel's husband, Tilden, unshaven and looking as exhausted as Barbara, steps up to ask Don if he can join them to make up the last number they need for minyan. Don starts to step forward, happy to help, but Barbara stops him, explaining to Tilden that he's not Jewish and thus can't. Tilden isn't upset, simply says he will go knock on doors. Barbara tries to stop him, saying somebody else will do that for him, but he insists that they are his neighbors. He leaves, and Barbara explains they're Sitting Shiva, Don simply replying that he's lived in New York a long time to make clear he's familiar enough with the tradition even if he didn't know he couldn't take part in the minyan. He offers her the cake he brought, and she takes it, but her question to him is hard and designed to hurt: how is his family? She knows all about him, after all, including presumably Rachel telling her with disgust about the man who was willing to abandon his children to run away to Los Angeles. Don admits he got divorced, before noting he actually remarried after that. Surprised, Barbara asks if he left his wife for this other woman, perhaps thinking about why he didn't at least consider that with Rachel instead of suggesting they simply run away, and Don explains it didn't work out that way, before painfully admitting that actually... he's divorcing the new wife as well! "I'm sorry," she offers, and as tired as she is it is hard to tell if the smile is just a tired smile on top of a genuine sorry, or she can't help but take some satisfaction that his life appears to be a mess. But Don doesn't notice, his eyes caught by a new sight, a small boy and girl sitting on the couch coloring a book. He asks if they're her children and Barbara says they are, but now she's confused, he clearly wasn't sure if she even had children, when did he last speak to her? He admits it was years ago, before the children were born, and then asks the question that has been killing him since Meredith first gave him the news: what happened to Rachel? It would be nice to say it was something ultimately painless and quick, but the truth is far from nice: she had leukemia. She admits she doesn't know what exactly it is Don is looking for by coming here, and he admits he just wanted to know what was happening in her life. "She lived the lfie she wanted to live," insists Barbara firmly, as Tilden returns with the last participant he needs for the minyan,"She had everything." Tears welling in his eyes, utterly distraught, the pain of her loss fresh in his mind all over again, he manages to get out a,"Good," in response. Her own anger seemingly drained away, too exhausted to be furious at his appearance, Barbara offers a seemingly sincere apology that she can't spend any more time with him, she has to help. She leaves, passing the children to arrange things and then follow them out, and the minyan begins. Don listens to the chanting, staring at the back of men he doesn't know, chanting words he can't understand, in remembrance of a woman he never really knew and lived a whole other life after she was gone from him and never felt in want or need of his presence. Gone forever now, Don now knows they will never reconcile, either as lovers or even as a chance to be friends, and that the loss of this relationship is felt only by him. She didn't stop existing the moment she was out of his sight, she was her own person doing her own things, and he always knew that on some level, but in this grief stricken moment all he can really think about is the opportunity lost, both in the past and now in the present. He missed his flight.   On a happier note, at the restaurant, things are going swimmingly between Peggy and Stevie, as they giggle over Peggy's terrible but wholesome drunken joke speculating about poor Johnny Mathis getting confused with Johnny Mathis. Stevie laughs and admits he never thought about it like that, and Peggy - into that drunken stage where you are still fully cognizant and can communicate but just lurch from idea to idea - declares that he doesn't seem like a lawyer. Shrugging, he admits he just left a firm in Boston because they agreed! That sparks another memory in her mind, and she (wildly oversimplifies) that she once quit a job because she couldn't go to Paris, not mentioning that she's actually back working at the place she quit and working for the same guy again! Stevie is intrigued though, they really send you to Paris when you work in advertising? Sure, she insists, they shoot commercials abroad all the time! Well... "some people" do, she never has yet! Gleeful at the prospect, he points out all you need to do is write an ad set in Paris and you can go, is he wrong!?! Gleeful herself, Peggy explains that yes he is ABSOLUTELY wrong, though it's clear she finds that charming. Not troubled by his mistake in the slightest, he says she can go to Paris on her next vacation, and she ponders for a moment before admitting that she hasn't been on vacation since... ever! That surprises him, but not as much as what she says next, as she says they should go, and when he asks where, she repeats herself: Paris! He laughs, but warns her she may think she's kidding but he doesn't have a job right now, so he's up for anything! But Peggy, for once entirely caught up in the moment, high on being just drunk enough to sit in the sweet spot between euphoria and complete physical collapse, insists that they're going. Right now! Well in that case, Stevie insist, he'll get the check! "And I'll get my coat!" she guffaws, and just like that their first date is turning into a romantic getaway! At her house, she hunts through her drawers for her passport, while moaning happily at his kisses and hands running over her body. She's confused why she can't find it, since it's not like she's ever used it, but as he turns her around and they begin kissing more passionately, she admits that she is starting to have second thoughts. Not about Paris, and not about him.... or rather, about him, but in a good way. "I thought you were a fling," she admits, after he points out - but not angrily, and certainly not demanding - that sex was obviously what was on the table in Paris so why not now (and literally on the table!)? "But now I think.... maybe you're more." She admits she doesn't want to sleep with him on the first date (meaning she intends for there to be more), and when he chuckles that this is old fashioned she admits she has tried new-fashioned and it hasn't really worked out (good God, Pete  ).Here is the moment of truth, and where Stevie actually proves his worth. Lead on, offered a trip to Paris, making out heavily, both of them clearly desperately aroused for the other, he's suddenly had the certainty of sex denied to him... and he understands and accepts that it's not going to happen tonight after all. So instead, in what should be comical but is actually wonderfully wholesome, the two start considering their calendars to figure out when the best time for their "spontaneous" trip to Paris to happen? He's got to be back in Boston, then he has a trip to DC the weekend after... but he's free the weekend after that! "Perfect!" agrees Peggy, and they make out some more before finally Stevie manages to pull himself away. He makes it to the door, then rushes back to make out with her some more before he finally manages to work up the willpower to leave. Once gone, Peggy stands and basks in the glow, her passions inflamed but controlled enough that she now has something to look forward to. Against all odds, Mathis' brother-in-law has turned out to be good looking, intelligent, interested in her, aroused by her, and perhaps most importantly... he seems to be a good dude!?! She beams with joy, pure happiness on her face, a sight long overdue for Peggy Olson. But as Peggy Olson glows, Don Draper sinks into a black despair. Lying on his bed in his empty apartment that lives as a testament to the memory of his second failed marriage, he barely listens to President Nixon giving a live address declaring major military operations in Vietnam and Cambodia despite a pledge to pull out 150,000 troops. Instead his thoughts are on Rachel, on death, on missed opportunities, on his own failures and lack of happiness in spite of all his many successes. Rachel is dead, but she lived the life she wanted to live and she had everything. Don is alive, and a success, and back on top in his Agency after coming within a hairsbreadth of expulsion... but is he living the life he wanted to live? So he lies there, and he thinks, while Nixon's address drones on, and now we know that the 1960s are well and truly over. It's April 30, 1970, and the Vietnam War is still five years from it's final, miserable conclusion laughably called a "draw" by American popular culture for at least the next two decades to come after that. Nixon's own end is only 4 years away, though he would achieve horrifying success at the 1972 election before Watergate would bring his entire political career down and cement him in the history books in the worst way possible. But for now, both continue strong, while Don Draper contemplates the horrible mess beneath the surface of his perfect life.   May 1st comes, and with it... a hangover! Peggy awakens to the sound of her alarm clock blaring, her head thumping, mouth dry, the pain following the pleasure of the previous night... and she looks around either side of the bed, perhaps trying to remember exactly what happened the night before? Oh please don't let her have forgotten her delightfully wholesome adventures with Stevie! At SC&P, Pete is reporting on the success of his efforts to maintain Ken's clients once he is gone, pointing out that he's secured Birds Eye which should make Ferguson Donnelly a happy man. Roger casually offers a little racial dig at Donnelly's Irish heritage without a concern in the world for the fact this allegedly is what cost Ken his job, claiming his father would say Ferg puts the "Mick" in McCann. Pete of course chuckles, no stranger to this kind of off-color humor, and then Caroline buzzes in to let them know that Ken is here for the meeting. Roger and Pete are both surprised, Roger asking if Pete invited him, Pete scoffing at the idea that he'd invite Ken (his friend!) to THIS meeting of all things. But Ken lets himself in, pretending surprise to discover Pete there before turning a beaming smile Roger's way and explaining that he won't be collecting severance after all. Roger assumes that he must be doing this because he has already found another job, and his "Good for you!" seems genuine enough even if he fired him without protest and is currently passing out the treasures of his portfolio to Pete, though he stresses that Ken is absolutely still entitled to that severance payout. Ken waves it off, insisting that it simply wouldn't be right to take the payment, it would feel like a second helping.... after the enormous size of his signing bonus from Dow. Oh. poo poo. Yes, Ken was seriously considering following his dream and being happy with his wife and child doing what he loves and being creatively fulfilled.... but then he remembered there was something even greater than having joy in your heart. Spite. With a big smile, he explains that he wasn't just Ed's son-in-law to the people at Dow, they valued their relationships. Roger tries to make a quip about them needing a guy in fertilizer, but even that is lacking in his usual charm, and Ken isn't bothered by the line at all, giving an explanation for Ed's rather cryptic comment about Schaeffer's move being potentially good for Ken too as he lets them know that he's taking Tom Schaeffer's old post now that Tom is moving into Ed's... Ken Cosgrove is going to be the Head of Advertising for one of the largest companies in the world. I guess the only question now is, when did he decide he wanted this instead of writing? Surely not till after his meeting with Pete, given how much he was seething during it, but was this part of Ed's plan from the get-go? And how does Cynthia feel about this (angry, is my guess!) "....so, you're going to fire us?" Pete asks at last, because in spite of all his cheerful words in their meetings, his scoffing reaction to Roger's question about inviting him said it all: he knew they were loving over Ken and didn't give a poo poo, and now he assumes Ken is going to do the same for them. But Ken, who is taking on a job he already told his wife poisons the world and makes weapons to kill people with, explains what he has in mind is going to be far worse than that. He's keeping SC&P as Dow's advertising Agency.... because now HE is their client, and he is VERY hard to please. With that he walks out with a spring in his step and a spiteful joy in his heart, closing the door behind him, not waiting for a word from them. They sit in silence for a few moments, contemplating that Ken Cosgrove's revenge for their casual discarding of him is the cruelest of ironies.... now it is their JOB to be nice to him. What can you say when you have been outplayed as strongly as Ken has just outplayed them? Pete sums it up best. "poo poo." In her office, Peggy is looking for aspirin in her drawers when, much to her chagrin, she discovers her passport. She slaps it down on the surface, cringing, just as Stan enters with artboard for Fleischmann's Margarine asking if there are any last changes she wants made before they finalize it. She whispers to him to keep his voice down, and Mathis emerges carrying aspirin and a glass of water, a poo poo-eating grin on his face as he passes them to her, Stan's glee growing as he realizes she is completely hungover. When he asks who she was out with, Mathis blurts out with obvious glee that she's going to Europe with his brother-in-law, offering to give her recommendations if wanted since he and Julie went to Paris on their honeymoon. She snaps at him to get back to work and he happily throws his hands up, knowing not to cross her, obviously also feeling very confident that her and Stevie's obvious connection is going to work out great for him. He leaves, but Stan remains, closing the door behind him, excitedly considering "first date magic" while Peggy grumbles that Paris is where margarine was invented. She complains she had too much wine and she isn't going to get on a plane with somebody she barely knows, disgusted by the idea now that she's sober (and in pain). But Stan, thrilled by her rare act of spontaneity, eager to encourage her to get out there, insists that she can use that time on the plane to get to know him, and just enjoy herself. "It's nothing a couple of aspirin won't fix," she sighs, taking a gulp as Stan lays the artboard down on the desk for her to consider, even though both of them are thinking about nothing but Paris right now... and it's only the guy who ISN'T going who is caught up in the romance of it all.   In his office, Don sighs and stands up, clearly still effected by Rachel's passing, telling Meredith via intercom that he's leaving for the day. Before he can go though, she enters the office with a folder, saying she's brought him the research he needs, reminding him that his meeting with Mr. Rosenthal is first thing on Monday morning. He's confused, who? She reminds him it is the meeting she asked him to set with Menken's Department Store, and he takes that in for a second before thanking her. Collecting his hat and coat, he considers the research, wondering what to do with it, or if he'll even take that meeting on Monday at all. Soon he's found himself where he was always going to go... that cheap diner. Diana is behind the counter, Vi serving the tables, and Don takes a seat at the former. When Vi brings him a menu, Diana tells her she has this, and steps up close enough to Don that he can hear her as she whispers that whatever he thinks, THAT is not going to happen again. But he hasn't come for sex, he hadn't the first time either though of course he indulged without hesitation. He asks her to wait, and explains that he dreamed about a woman he once knew, only to discover the next day that she had died. She stares down at him, and finally asks him if that woman is the one he kept thinking she was, and he admits that he honestly doesn't know. So she tells him to think carefully, when did he REALLY have the dream? Did he find out she died, dream of her, and convince himself it was beforehand? Maybe he dreamed about her ALL the time and only remembered it this once? He admits that maybe this is all true, and she offers a simple piece of wisdom: when people die, we try to make sense of it all... but we can't. He accepts that too, and with that wisdom given, she offers a warning, stressing that it isn't intended to lead him on or make her appear more interesting/appealing to him: the next time he comes here, she wants him to bring a date. "I just work here," she insists, an understandable reaction from a woman who doesn't want to be caught up in somebody else's story. Like Rachel Menken (and Megan Calvet, and Betty Hofstadt), she isn't just a character in Don Draper's life, she isn't there to give him extra motivation or solve his problems or give him somebody to pursue. She's just a waitress, doing her job, and she doesn't want him to cause her trouble. "I just want to sit here," he promises. After a few moments, she offers a simple,"Okay," and returns to her work, joining Vi in working the tables, leaving Don to sit alone at the counter. The same song that opened the start of the episode closes it, Is That All There Is? by Peggy Lee, a song about disillusionment, about an inability for life's great experiences to truly move you, to be so disappointed in life that not even suicide or death feels like an escape, because of the inevitable sense that even death will bring no relief but simply more disappointment. It is a rather dark but strangely beautiful song, and it sums up Don Draper perfectly in this moment at least. Sitting alone at the counter, a millionaire, a success, back on top of his Agency, having sex with multiple beautiful women regularly, spending evenings partying and drinking with Roger Sterling and apparently also Ted Chaough.... Don still isn't happy. As has happened so often in this series, he has chased something to the point of obsession, finally achieved it, and then found it still hasn't filled the gap he feels inside himself. Rachel's death was a tragedy, and Don understands he wasn't a part of that tragedy that the family felt because he wasn't really part of Rachel's life itself beyond a very brief and tumultuous stretch... but it's a tragedy for him too. Because when he saw her in his dream, and when the idea of department stores came up with Joan, he perhaps saw there a chance to rekindle their relationship, to maybe pursue her once again in another doomed effort to find happiness from chasing some external source... and didn't even have the chance for the brief glory that chase might have provided because he discovered she had already died. Who is Diana? Who does she remind him of? Rachel? Abigail? Somebody else? Just some dim concept of THE WOMAN who he thinks will finally bring him happiness in the immediate aftermath of realizing THE BUSINESS won't until he fails with THE WOMAN and goes back to pursuing THE BUSINESS again? It doesn't actually matter, because whoever that is, it isn't going to work. Not until Don tries to fix what is actually wrong with him, instead of external validation from throwing what he feels he SHOULD want into that hole. Until then, he sits at the counter, contemplating life, death, mortality, missed opportunities.... and asks himself the same question as the one in the song.  Episode Index Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Jul 11, 2022 |
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Jul 11, 2022 14:38
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This episode is very good and all but my favorite moment is right at the start. Not only does Don Draper have sideburns but this is the first time he has been seen wearing a dress shirt that isn’t white. This is as close as he can get to embracing the grotesque 70s looks that Ted and roger are jumping all over.
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Jul 11, 2022 16:47
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man, Is That All There Is is such a fantastic song
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Jul 11, 2022 17:46
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quote:Radiating obvious love, Cynthia admits how happy she is that her father has retired still fit and healthy and active enough to enjoy his free time. Lillian though has to hold back her laughter before a tight-lipped smile as Ed proudly explains that he's also taken up new things like cooking! He ponders what it was that he managed to cook for himself the other day, asking her to remind him, and she lets him know.... it was a pop tart! "It was VERY good!" he proclaims, proudly. this is such a twin peaks moment and I love it
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Jul 11, 2022 19:34
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On the one hand, Ken's story here is pretty tragic. He has an opportunity to get out, to do something creatively fulfilling, to spend more time being himself with his family, and he passes it up, at least partially out of spite On the other, it's really funny watching Roger and Pete realize how owned they are
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Jul 11, 2022 19:43
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