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Bobby's ever changing nature is a clear allusion to homosexuality. So he's one of the many new York socialites who mysteriously die in the 80s either vindication Reagan or making him briefly feel sad depending on which side of the aisle Henry evolves into. He never married. Sally has a lot of both of her bioparents in her and "cuts off her nose to spite her face" by going all in on the Evangelical movement. She is heavily involved in the anti-ERA movement and tours extensively with Phyills Schalfly through Henry's connections. Marries nebbish poor old money she can push around to enable her "leading from the back" conservative approach but the guy's weakness cuts both ways and societal pressure wins so he forces her into a more domestic life that she resents. They settle into WASPy domesticity in Connecticut and raise some very Pete-like unhappy children of their own. Gene is a cipher. edit: egap doog a rof epins doog a ecin!
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Jul 13, 2022 23:40
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100% this
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Jul 14, 2022 01:33
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An office conference room, circa 2009. A grey haired Don Draper is pitching to Domino's executives. "It's the simplest thing in the world. You admit that your pizza sucks, and you say you're gonna make it better. And then you do. Customers will love it, it's authentic, it's honest, it's raw." Cut to dawning grins of realization, many hand shakes. "Draper, you've done it again!" Everyone jumps up in celebration, freeze frame, credits
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Jul 14, 2022 01:51
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"bobby" eventually finds other skinwalkers, with whom he proceeds to covertly seize control of the US government
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Jul 14, 2022 02:38
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"Skinwalker" is a legit belief in Pueblo cultures. this racism will not stand.
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Jul 14, 2022 02:53
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I choose to believe that Peggy is responsible for the Chuck Wagon commercials with the little Chuck Wagon going around the house. But she hates it because it just reminds her of Glo-Coat, just because they have some similar imagery. Stan tells her she is wrong, but it doesn't make a difference. Freddy is responsible for the National Airlines "Fly Me" campaign and forced into retirement once and for all.
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Jul 14, 2022 03:52
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quote: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. I always enjoy Stan the modern man. Making a birth control/abortion joke to your female superior would be ballsy today. Where the characters were at the start of the series? unthinkable.
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Jul 14, 2022 18:50
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2nd Amendment posted:Are we past the point in the series where we can share the crazy Youtube theories where some characters are Communist spies? I remember it being bugfuck crazy. That reminds me of the one theory where the series finale ends with Don boarding a plane and buying a ticket as D.B. Cooper.
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Jul 14, 2022 20:28
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Cat Army
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MightyJoe36 posted:That reminds me of the one theory where the series finale ends with Don boarding a plane and buying a ticket as D.B. Cooper. If the series had ended with Don sitting on a plane after his cross country trip, ordering a drink, being asked his name by the flight attendant, and looking up to say "Dan. Dan Cooper." before cutting to black, I'd have lost my mind.
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Jul 14, 2022 20:39
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apropos of nothing: - Don dreamt of both Anna and Rachel before he learned they had died - he saw a vision of his own birth (and the death of his biological mother) - regularly sees and sometimes talks to apparitions (Rachel/Anna ofc, but also his half brother, Cooper, archibald Whitman) so it's definitely canon that Don demonstrates some level of extrasensory perception right?
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Jul 14, 2022 21:47
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He's a newtype
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Jul 14, 2022 21:48
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Mad Men is set in X-continuity and Hamm plays a Mr. Sinister clone who never learned his origin
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Jul 14, 2022 22:28
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Gaius Marius posted:He's a newtype pete opening the box of dons kompromat in season 1 and experiencing the newtype flash
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Jul 15, 2022 01:09
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quote:"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. This is so adorable. It's such a good move 
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Jul 15, 2022 18:44
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Season 7, Episode 9 - New Business Written by Tom Smuts & Matthew Weiner, Directed by Michael Uppendahl Pete Campbell posted:What if you never get past the beginning again? Bobby and Gene - the latter wearing his dad's hat  - watch as Don Draper makes them milkshakes. He's in the kitchen of the Francis' spooky mansion, apparently not for the first time despite his clear desire to avoid going inside in earlier episodes. Go goes about his work with practiced ease, apparently familiar enough to be able to make his way around confidently.Betty Francis walks into the kitchen, dressed up to the nines, calling out a loud hello to her boys and to her ex-husband, who explains that the blender was broken at the diner. This explains some things at least, presumably Don had the boys out for dinner while Betty and Henry were out elsewhere, and he - as Betty notes - wanted to be the good (popular) dad and not "deprive" them of desert. She offers to finish up making the milkshakes but he observes her nice dress and gloves would get messy and continues on, asking if she went to a fundraiser with Henry. Much better, she assures him as she looks through her mail, they were having dinner with the Dean of Fairfield University.... Betty's going back to College. To study for a Masters. In psychology! Oh my loving God. He says nothing, doesn't even give her an odd look, but she knows him well enough to know that he doesn't much credit psychology itself and certainly doesn't think of her as somebody who would be a psychologist. Grinning, she points out that while it might be outside of his experience (well, short of getting her psychologist to just openly tell him everything she told him!) she has a knack for it, people seem to like coming to her to share their feelings! Don simply notes it will be fascinating for all involved, as he pours the boys their milkshakes and hands them over. Just then Henry returns too, a little surprised to see Don there but not at all troubled: it's a long way from Henry feeling emasculated over living in Don's old house with his old things (and Betty!) and paying him rent. Bobby happily tells him they're having chocolate milkshakes, while Don forces a smile and says he will be going. Henry tells him he doesn't need to rush out, but Bobby unwittingly (and innocently) hurries him along by suggesting that his dad make Henry a milkshake too, which is certainly something Don has no intention of doing. So Don simply smiles, tells Bobby to give Henry a sip of his, retrieves his hat from Gene and gives him a kiss goodbye and Bobby a friendly pat, and then is out the door. Henry happily declares he will make himself one, while Betty - who doesn't need to be a psychologist to see the tension Don feels - asks Bobby if he had a good time. Don pauses on the threshold before leaving, taking a moment to look back at his ex-wife, their children and her new husband. It's a cozy domestic scene, it's loving family and a happy couple and a working marriage... it's everything that Don does NOT have. Everything he DID have and then cost himself. Twice. You also don't need to be a psychologist to know that Don Draper is feeling some pretty strong regret at the moment, though of course as often happens with Don, it's come far too late and well beyond where he should have realized what he was costing himself.   Returning to his apartment, Don answers the ringing phone... and there's his other (soon-to-be)ex-wife! Surprised that he answered, Megan admits that she expected to get his service, and explains she's calling because the movers are coming on Wednesday to collect the last of her things. Taking that in stride, he asks when she wants him to be there, but she tells him he just needs to let the doorman know, but wanted to know if 10am was too early to avoid bumping into him. "You know what time I go to work," he points out breezily, even though they both know he often doesn't bother to go to work, or gets bored and comes home, or is doing who knows what else. Still, the message has been given now, and that would be the end of things... except it's already the 24th. Now he seems unsettled, having apparently braced himself well enough to pretend to be unbothered by everything else: how could she be out of money already!?! Megan starts to explain that the cost of the flight and hiring the movers has eaten into her cash when she suddenly stops, coming to an angry realization: she doesn't have to explain poo poo to Don, they're getting divorced and she needs her poo poo! If he'd just finalize their divorce settlement she wouldn't need to ask for an "allowance" in the first place, which is humiliating enough already. Don tries to blame it on her lawyer being aggressive, and when she says she's heard the same about his, he tries to explain that his finances are a mess due to the complications of the McCann buyout payments and when they're coming through... but Megan isn't buying him pleading poverty anymore than Ken did with Pete last episode, reminding him that he was already a millionaire when she first met him! Grunting that she can't keep living like this, she tells him he can let his lawyer know they won, because she'll sign whatever they put in front of her now. Don actually encourages her not to do so, even though it would obviously be to his benefit, pointing out that this is just what divorce lawyers do, and says he can leave her a check, but how much does she need? She thinks for a moment and suggests $500, and suddenly that understanding disappears as he sarcastically asks if she's been moved by the New York Jets!?! But she isn't interested in an argument, or a discussion, simply telling him she has to go. She hangs up, and shortly after he does the same, and continues to sit in the dark of his lonely and now over-sized apartment, the second time tonight he's come face-to-face with the consequences of his poor performance as a husband. The next day, Roger summons Caroline into his office to give her notes, not pleased that Shirley has joined her and that Caroline insists sorting out his schedule is now more work than one woman can manage. To be fair, Caroline probably spent a LOT of time with Roger's schedule being "gently caress about and day drink" or "Lucky Strike coming in, gently caress about and day drink with them" and little else, so now he's actually actively leading the Agency it has apparently been a shock to her system as well. Shirley starts things off, explaining that his next meeting is with Mr. Campbell and Mr. Torkelson regarding Lester Chapman. Roger has no idea who that is, and when Caroline explains he's with Secor Laxatives, Shirley has to very politely and very carefully correct her that he's actually at Life Cereal. Caroline notes he wants to meet at 4pm, but something has triggered in Roger's memory, and he asks if Chapman is NAC? Caroline immediately checks the Rolodex, Roger explaining to a confused Shirley that NAC means No Afternoon Calls... because the clients are so drunk by that point no actual work can be done (or agreements kept to, presumably). Caroline confirms he is NAC (weirdly, this is actually legitimately one of the things a secretary of this era is supposed to keep track of, not the Account Man) and Roger suggests they just go ahead and call him now. So Caroline takes the phone.... and passes it to Shirley to dial while she reads the number out loud! "Well," opines Roger,"This certainly is a two-man job." Meanwhile, Meredith has the worst job of all: talking to Harry Crane! She admits she finds the idea of him traveling to Los Angles and back to New York so often an exhausting thought, though he says the only tiring thing is returning to New York, as he clearly far prefers the freedom of LA. He suggests that Meredith should go sometime, a painfully transparent soft come-on that she thankfully misses, instead admitting she couldn't sleep at night knowing the "Manson Brothers" are out there! "The Manson Family," sighs Harry as Don arrives, not bothering to remind her that they've already been arrested and will soon be on trial (provided it isn't June yet). "Are they coming in?" Don quips, then asks Meredith to get him a coffee after giving Harry the nod to join him in his office. Inside, Harry closes the door and explains he got a strange phone call... from Megan. She wants to take him out for a drink when she's in town to help her find a new Agent, he explains, and Don simply shrugs and asks if he can. Of course he can, Harry proclaims, almost sounding offended, he does it all the time... but he wanted Don to know about it first, since he always finds out when Harry is meeting with Megan without him. "Because you always tell me," observes Don, and when Harry stresses that he doesn't want Don to think he's sneaking around going after her and asks if he should agree to drinks or not, Don simply shrugs that Megan isn't his wife anymore. Meredith buzzes in, struggling mightily with a Greek surname as she announces that Nicholas Constan-tin-opolis is on the phone, and at first Don seems as confused as her... till he suddenly remembers who that is and eagerly takes the call, dismissing Harry to greet the other man, far keener to talk to this stranger than continue to discuss his soon-to-be ex-wife with Harry Crane.   Whatever they discussed appears to have borne fruit, as Don goes to a restaurant later, not as upmarket as the places he usually attends, though not as low-rent as the diner he and Roger stumbled into with their dates late episode. The waitress, wearing an ugly brown/VERY 70s uniform, comes to take his order and ask if he is being joined by another guest... then pulls up short when she sees him. It is, of course, Diana. She asks what he wants, and he explains that he wants to have dinner with her, even if it is only for 5 minutes at a time. Strangely, she's not wowed by this near-stranger having apparently stalked her to her new place of work, and after she declines his "romantic" gesture and he reaches into his breast pocket, she makes no bones about warning him that he's making her very uncomfortable. Don just passes her a card after writing on it, telling her it is his number and that if she calls him when she gets off work, he can meet her somewhere. It does at least put some of the onus on her to call him rather than him just forcing himself into her presence, but it's still a pretty lovely move which doesn't leave her with much choice but to at least take the card for now whether she likes it or not, if only to avoid a scene and potentially getting in trouble with her boss. While Don is being a romantic comedy lead (i.e, a creepy stalker), back at SC&P Peggy is trying to convince a frazzled looking Stan that he'll agree with her choice once he sees the work. She calls to Ed while Stan complains Peggy dug deep to find a woman to do whatever this job is, and when Ed enters the office Peggy asks him to bring her Samantha Ryan's portfolio. Ed explains Samantha actually goes by Pima, and Stan seems to recognize that name... and it makes him more frazzled, not less. Ed has a faraway look in his eyes as he talks about her visit to RISD while he was studying there, and admits that she is a very sexy woman, getting Stan to exclaim without a moment's hesitation that he thought Ed was "queer". Ed ignores that, explaining he took the portfolio home with him, does Pima need it? "No, I need it!" snaps Stan angrily, complaining that Peggy is forgetting this is also HIS ad and not just hers. She isn't troubled by that though, noting that Stan doesn't have anything either Peggy or Cinzano are looking for that Pima doesn't beat him on.... apart from being cheaper! When he complains that it is hard to keep your balls at this job, Peggy teases him by asking Ed what HE knows about Vermouth, jokingly implying that maybe she'll put Ed on the Account with Pima instead, and Stan complains,"NO!" before stalking out the door. The night passes, and Don is in his pajamas in bed when the phone rings. He turns on the bedside lamp, it's 2:20am which generally means a phone-call means some kind of disaster. It is, of course, Diana. Chuckling, he admits that he didn't think she was going to call. She's standing at a payphone in the restaurant, the staff packing everything up for the night because of course for some people work doesn't finish until after 2am, but it seems she didn't immediately call him once her shift ended. In her coat and drinking something stiff, she admits she was pretty mad when she first saw him, but also more taken aback because she doesn't know anybody in New York, and thus seeing somebody she DOES know caught her off-guard. Don suggests they go out for a drink and have a chat but she doesn't need to do the former as she already has one, and if he just wants to talk they can do that on the phone. So she has him explain how he found her, and he admits he waited before returning to the diner so as not to spook her, only to discover she had stopped working there. He paid Nick (Mr. Constan-tin-opolis) to let him know if she returned, and she explains she left to go home... to Racine, Wisconsin. She was getting a divorce, and with a long sigh she explains that now she IS divorced, and isn't surprised when he admits he is in the same boat, saying some part of her already knew that. She's back now, found work elsewhere and an apartment, but doesn't have a phone there yet, which is why she is calling from the restaurant. So of course he asks to see the apartment, or to meet her somewhere, and not long after we find him all dressed up and buttoned down in his perfect suit as he heads to the front door of his apartment... and lets her in, because they ended up deciding on his place in the end! She's amused at how well-dressed he is, asking if he sleeps like that, and he admits with a grin that he's vain before taking her coat and purse to hang them up in the closet. She looks around, telling him his apartment is very nice before offering a backhanded compliment: it looks like it should be in Architectural Digest. Grimacing, Don explains that "she" decorated it, having no problem throwing Megan under the bus because at least part of him clearly always felt that her interior design was basically just borrowing from the way "perfect" homes were shown in glossy magazines - hence the white carpet, which he admitted in an earlier season he knew was a mistake but paid for anyway because she wanted it. But it is what she pictured, and when Don smugly notes that she just admitted she was thinking about what his place looked like, she quite sensibly points out that she just took a cab to a complete stranger's apartment in the middle of the night with only $6 in her pocket.... OF COURSE she was hoping to find an apartment like this! Don considers that for a second, then almost as if the idea only just occurred to him (and perhaps it did), he declares that he is going to sell the apartment. She shrugs and notes that she was only recently out apartment hunting, he's going to be hard-pressed to find a place that tops this one! But now he's ready to move on from talk, stepping up close to her and asking if she'd like a drink. She hesitates, admitting she isn't sure if she actually wants to get to know him better than this, and he makes a somewhat crude but fairly accurate statement: it's 3am, she knows EXACTLY why she came to the apartment. With a chuckle she lowers her head and admits she's already drunk, having apparently had more than one after work to get up the courage to first call and then come around. So instead he offers her a glass of water, and now she's done with talking too, looking up at him and then moving in for a kiss, which he gladly reciprocates.   Afterwards, in bed, she lies with him spooning up against her arms when she wakes, looks around and then nudges him awake, telling him she can't sleep like this. Tired and a little confused, he points out that she WAS sleeping like that, and she corrects her earlier statement: she doesn't WANT to sleep like this. Not offended but a little hurt, he asks if she wants to leave, and she takes a long beat before she finally comes to the answer in her own head and tells him no. So he rolls over onto his back, and she does the same, and they lie there briefly for a few moments before she asks him a question that has been worrying her: is he REALLY divorced? He is, he promises, why does she ask? She points out something she noticed earlier but chose not to mention (or perhaps tried to convince herself she didn't see?), that there were a LOT of women's coats in his closet. That's easily explained though, "she" lives in California now, she simply doesn't need them... hell, he even offers to give her one! Diana muses on California, admitting that she considered San Francisco when she left Racine, and it came down to a coin-flip between there and New York. Don though admits that he ALWAYS wanted to come to New York, not explaining his childhood history but admitting that it was the glamorous place he saw in movies and magazines. It's the first time he's ever admitted this (on-screen at least), and it's of course interesting that for much of the show we've seen him yearn for California only to choose New York when finally given the chance for happiness in the former. She admits she's seen barely any of the city so far, and he exclaims that it is a great city... before side-winding her with his next question, one he has been mulling over in his own mind perhaps: how long was she married? 12 years, she tells him, a number that easily eclipses his best effort (though remarkably doesn't come close to Roger Sterling's!). They both commiserate that being divorced is never easy, no matter the reasons that necessitated it. Don at least takes solace from the fact that there were no children with THIS divorce, asking her if she had any. "No children," she states, and then despite her earlier protest she snuggles up against him, laying her head against his chest. He catches the scent of her hair and admits she smells incredible, asking what it is. "Shampoo," she states simply, before offering a little more information as she reflects once again on what she left behind. It's shampoo from Avon, that she bought in the living room of her ranch house with the 2 car garage in Racine. This is what she no longer has, the life she left, the success of modern American living, the dream that all are supposed to aspire to. Closing her eyes, she falls asleep, taking some comfort from being in his arms, as he takes some comfort from having her in his. The next morning Don is toweling down his hair as he steps out of the shower into the bedroom, alarm buzzing... but no sign of Diana. He turns off the alarm and calls out for her, and finds her standing in the doorway of Sally's room, staring. He explains the kids come and stay every other weekend, before correcting himself that only the boys do, because his "little girl" is at Boarding School. But she just continues to stare, and then slowly walks into the room and sits on the edge of the bed, burying her head in her hand. "Are you okay?" he asks, and she mutters a no, and when he sits down next to her and asks what is wrong, she admits she lied to him. "Already?" he grins, trying to make light of it, but she is in no mood, admitting that the reason she left home is because she has a little girl.... she HAD a little girl. "Oh," he says at last, grasping her meaning. He gently slides his hand over her back, telling her he is sorry, and she just mutters,"Yes," in a perfunctory way. It is the manner of a woman used to reciting the right thing by rote in response to the stunned commiserations of people who do not and cannot feel the pain to the depth she does: even those who have lost children themselves, because of course each loss is personal, just as she can never feel the depths of THEIR pain for THEIR children, they cannot truly feel the depths of HER pain for HER children. It was 2 years ago, and it was nothing dramatic, nor exotic. It was simply the flu. Nothing else. Which somehow makes it worse, because at least something monstrous makes a horrible kind of sense, but the flu? Just the kind of thing all kids get and bounce back from? It's unfathomable, horrifying, unacceptable. Don is unsure what to say next, but when Diana manages to get out that she thinks he should leave, he can't help but remind her that... well, this is HIS house! She can't help but manage a slight smile at that, but notes that he should be getting ready for work... which will in turn lend her some space to wallow in her guilt and grief. But Don considers his job, the thing so important to him that he burned his marriage and chance of real happiness to keep it.... and declares that he simply doesn't feel like going to work right now. So she buries her head on his shoulder yet again, and he sits and simply lets her take comfort from his presence, able to offer her this much at least, sitting in the bedroom of a daughter who - estranged though they may have been at times - is at least thankfully still alive and healthy.  While Don is staying home, work continues for the rest of SC&P. We finally get our first look at Torkelson, who apparently knocked up Clara at some point, and he's.... well, he's a piece of poo poo! He leads the Cinzano execs into the photo-shoot, promising them that "Torkelson's Law" means that they can watch the bottles and the models in the photo-shoot and then later on pick which one they want for themselves! He leers and gesticulates as the execs cackle, while Stan and Peggy take their places and try to ignore the unfortunate necessity of their work: having the clients do anything other than give them money! Peggy excuses herself and Stan, leading him over to introduce him to Pima Ryan. She stands and shakes his hand, an older woman who has obviously taken great care of her body, with impeccable dress-sense and... holy poo poo, it's Mimi Rogers! Shaking Stan's hand, she notes that as the Art Director, he'll be the one cutting up her work. Fixing a grin, he admits that he tries to treat everything like art even if it is selling something, and when she chuckles that all art is selling something he insists that no, they're actually selling something with this "art": Vermouth! He "apologizes" that the models have so many teeth, noting she's probably not used to that, then excuses himself, stalking away still upset that she supplanted him as the photographer for the campaign. There is, of course, an element of Sal Romano here, his earlier stoned realization that he'll never be able to draw as well as a photograph making him feel his career was at risk... so he started doing photography, but unlike Sal and directing, his talent hasn't put him into contention for the jobs that would bolster his career or offer him another path to stave off redundancy. Peggy apologizes, explaining that Stan has trouble with.... new people. Pima smokes, unfazed, simply saying he hates himself, making Peggy remark that can't be right because Stan has a HUGE ego! When Pima learns he also does photography, that explains it all for her, and she says she isn't bothered by men like that and Peggy herself shouldn't either, after all look at everything Peggy has put together for this ad itself. Pleased and flattered, Peggy of course insists it was all nothing, but Pima doesn't push her to accept the compliment, simply continuing to smoke and moving on to start corralling the models into place - all of them in black riding hoods, standing between white pillars in a white space, each pillar topped with a bottle of Vermouth. You know... art! Don arrives to work late, Meredith noting it's 11:30 and that she was worried. "I was sleepy!" Don offers back, actually looking taken aback that she'd make a big deal out of this, because of course one of the benefits of a top position and millions of dollars is that it isn't "lazy" to show up to work late and to take naps, it's somehow to be expected and considered normal! Before he can enter his office though, Meredith warns him that Mr. Sterling is in there, and is NOT to be disturbed. Slightly bewildered after less than 30 seconds in the office, Don of course goes ahead and enters his own office rather than avoiding it, finding Roger drinking (of course) on the couch, complaining that with two secretaries and three phones, he feels like Marlin Perkins is chasing him on the Savannah! Despite arriving almost 3 hours late for work, Don points out that he can't really deal with this right now as he has work to do, but that's actually (partially) why Roger is here: McCann represents Derby Foods' Peter Pan Peanut Butter, who are currently developing a cookie... but they also represent Nabisco, who have cookie in their name. "No they don't," points out Don, which is true, but does query if this means McCann are giving SC&P a shot at winning Derby's business to avoid a conflict? Not at all, it's "just" a cookie and not enough to cause the type of panic like SCDP and CGC used to have to deal with when choosing between clients. But because they're part of McCann, even if independent, Don and Pete are expected to take the clients golfing tomorrow to help McCann keep everybody happy, because Roger can't go. Don is distracted by Meredith buzzing in to let him know there is a messenger from his lawyer who needs him to sign for something, so he goes to the door to accept it from the messenger, asking Roger WHY he can't go? The answer is simple enough, Burt Peterson is the Account Man! Yes, Peterson has managed for the THIRD time to land on his feet and forge a successful career from nothing, and Roger's naked glee at firing him the second time is hardly going to be conducive to a unified front to McCann's clients tomorrow. Noting Don's delivery, he asks if it is good news or bad news, and Don has no hesitation in saying it is good... because it means the divorce proceedings are almost over. Roger of course has a different take on that, insisting that Don not yield until they settle on the figure that DON wants, because he brought her into the good life she'd have never known without him. It's a pretty loving lovely way to think, and while Don does defend Megan, he does it by throwing Jane under the bus when he notes that Megan is NOT Jane. Roger bitterly reflects on his own divorce from Jane, which apparently turned pretty messy despite the rather sweet way they came to the decision to end their marriage: he bitches that she complained about him wasting her youth and using up her child-bearing years as well as ruining her career. "What career?" he demands,"She's a consumer!" Luckily Don is saved from this tirade by Meredith buzzing in to ask Roger if he is still "out at lunch" since Caroline and Shirley are asking (and probably know exactly where he is), so he takes his exit, sneering that,"She made her choices" as he goes, Don looking amused but not really questioning Roger's bitterness. Because while Jane wasn't perfect by any means, Roger is of course conveniently forgetting that HE pursued her, that HE insisted she could live a life of luxury and not have to work, that HE absolutely did remove her from both the workforce and the pursuit of romance elsewhere at a young age, that she SHOULD be a consumer and that he was happy to pay for that lifestyle for her.... for the period of time he was enamored with her as his sexy young wife who made him feel more alive and virile.   Stan is drawing in his office when he's mildly startled by Pima's voice, realizing she has been standing and watching him, commenting that he is very good. Ignoring the compliment, perhaps assuming it is a lie or just her buttering him up, he asks stiffly if he can help her and she explains that she's been told the negatives from the shoot belong to the Agency which means they are processed in his lab... and she's not comfortable with that. He tells her that he's sorry to inform her, but the negatives are NOT hers anymore (why... he's not sorry at all!), and when she points out that he has a darkroom here he agrees that he does, but that he can't develop them here just to assuage her desire to be involved/oversee the development process. So she takes another tack, musing on the start of her own career as a clerk with a newspaper in Sarasota and how all she wanted to do was to get into that darkroom. Stan admits it is a bonus to have that access, especially here in the city, and when Pima points out that having his own darkroom means he's a photographer too, he stresses that he does everything, because that's what being an Art Director means. "I can feel the tension of your need for my opinion," she points out after she asks to look at his work and he hesitates, and rather than taking umbrage at this (accurate!) presumption, he takes a moment before he quietly admits that he would value her opinion... but only if she promises to be honest. "Let's see how brave you are," she grins, and takes her exit, and Stan now finds himself facing the terror of all artists to show their work to somebody accomplished in that field, sure as always that they're a fraud and the expert will proclaim it to be so. Megan has arrived in New York, and walks into her (very nice) hotel room calling for her mother and sister. The latter steps out, Marie-France, the two greeting each other warmly and speaking in French as the bellman brings in the bags. Marie-France tells him to just leave them by the entrance, and when Megan asks why she isn't impressed to discover that Marie isn't happy with the room and wants to change it. Megan isn't having that, commenting that when their father isn't around, their mother becomes a "princess", and she isn't going to pay for it. Marie-France though has another take on this, all this for Megan to enjoy and "him" to pay for, meaning Don. She explains the plans her and their mother have come up with: Supper at Le Pavillon. Some Sauternes. But Megan cuts her off, reminding her this isn't a vacation, she's here to collect her things and finalize a divorce, not party. But Marie-France laments that she should do so if only for Marie-France's own sake, after all when does Megan think she'll be able to convince her husband Henri to watch the children again? A devilish grin on her face, she says they can make a contest of it: can they get drunker than their mother!?! That line finally breaks Megan, who laughs and feels a wave of relief and perhaps normalcy from this suggestion. Hugging her sister, she thanks her for being there with her and for her in this time of need, one last excising of Don Draper but perhaps also New York City before she moves on for good. For Don Draper though, the past continues to be an unwelcome guest in his life, particularly his recent mistakes. As he and Diana get into the elevator to return to his apartment, a familiar voice calls for the door to be held and Diana happily pushes the button to keep the door open. In walks two other residents of the building, joining Don and his date for the ride up. It is, of course, Arnold and Sylvia Rosen. They're all dressed up, but it looks like Arnold has had a few to drink, as he greets Don happily while holding open the door for Sylvia. Don introduces them to Diana, and Arnold eyes her up and down before chuckling as he notes that "brought the whole restaurant" home, referencing her waitress uniform with zero subtlety. Noting his clearly inebriated state, Don asks if he is on call, and Arnold doesn't confirm or deny, simply states that they were attending the wedding of a CEO who got married to a young but "homely" girl. Arriving at their floor, Sylvia gives a farewell that is polite and friendly but nothing more, stepping out of the elevator. Arnold can't resist flopping around to look at Don and suggest they go and play squash sometime, before leering that this will depend on if Don has any energy left. "Arnold!" snaps Sylvia from around the corner, having her own reasons for not wanting the two to talk but also completely justified regardless in wanting to stop her husband from being a pig, making a drunken fool of himself AND embarrassing Don and especially poor Diana. Once they're gone, Diana seems more amused by the whole experience, asking Don exactly how many girls he has had in this elevator? "That's not what that was," he promises, though he offers no further explanation. How to explain that he was banging the wife of a friend who lived a floor beneath him and his own wife? That this wasn't even the reason for the divorce - against all odds both Megan and Arnold never found out what Don and Sylvia were doing - but it devastated both he and Sylvia's lives in utterly different ways. So he simply leaves it at that and leads the way to his apartment. Meanwhile, Stand sits on his bed beneath his still-slightly-baffling poster of Moshe Dayan, reviewing his own photography with disgust. His girlfriend arrives home, irritated that he didn't even grunt when she called out hello. She's a nurse - her name tag reads Elaine - and she is obviously tired herself, having grabbed a beer and quickly taking advantage of his joint, but seeing his obvious misery she asks if he is in a creative mood or just a bad one, as it appears the two are barely indistinguishable for Stan when he gets really into either. She passes him the beer as he complains that anything good he has ever done is from a long time ago, which she shrugs off, pointing out that Picasso probably doesn't look at Guernica and tell people to ignore it because he made it a long time ago! But for the first time, Stan admits what others have suspected: he's intimidated and envious of Pima's ability, sighing that her work is so sensual. Elaine, who as a nurse presumably is pretty exhausted herself, takes it upon herself to help her man out regardless. She tells him to get his camera, stripping out of her uniform and telling him she wants him to photograph her. Despite himself he becomes excited, asking if she really wants him to do that in here, her indulgence only going so far as she reminds him she has no intention of doing this outside. Still, if sensual is what he wants, she can give him that, and so he races off to fetch his camera, a little boy easily distracted and his mood turned around by the simplest of things.   Diana lays out food from her and Don's takeout on his table. Looking out to the balcony, she smiles and says he must spend a lot of time out there, which he neither confirms or denies (we have rarely seen him out there), simply saying he would like to see HER place. She presses her head against his chest with a girlish smile, like a young girl with a crush thrilled that the boy she likes turns out to like her too. She admits that she is still nervous with him, pointing out how ridiculous this is without having to explain what she means: they slept together the second time they ever met, with the first just being her bringing them the check at a lovely diner, but somehow just this cosy domestic scene has her feeling butterflies. She says she can feel a twinge in her chest and he asks if it is pain, perhaps fearing that she's already wanting out, but no she's positive it is not that. It is, perhaps, that most wonderful and sometimes deeply cruel of emotions: hope. He asks if she is hungry and she admits she is not, and they kiss before time passes and we find them lying in bed together the next morning, woken by the ringing of the phone. It is, of course, Megan. More accurately it is Meredith, but she is reminding him that Megan is bringing the movers at 10am today, his line about her knowing when he goes to work proving to be as meaningless as it seemed when he first said it. Thanking her, he hangs up and explains to Diana that they have to leave, and when she asks why he explains that "she" (always "she", never Megan) is coming to pick up her things. "Oh," offers Diana blankly, but Don stops her from sliding out of the bed, pulling her against him and admitting that if he was her, this would bother him too. But he doesn't want it to, because "this" (meaning his marriage) is almost over, and he clearly doesn't want to allow it to interfere in what he feels is potentially something good. She seems to take this at face value, agreeing that they should go, and when he tells her he wants to see her again tonight she gets a happy little satisfied smile on her face and tells him she wants it to be at her place. He agrees, and she tells him warmly,"Let's go," as she leaves the bed. She walks away, Don watching her, an almost awed smile on his face that she is so understanding and sensible, far different from the highly emotional Megan. In short, he's already falling for her badly, in the same way he has allowed his excitement to get the best of him and blind him to potential problems in the past, including with Megan. Shortly after, an impeccably groomed Don arrives at SC&P, walks into reception... and immediately realizes he has hosed up AGAIN, because sitting waiting for him looking pissed off and very, very stupid in his outfit is Pete Campbell: they're supposed to be golfing with McCann's clients today! Pete grabs his clubs and tells him they'll swing by Don's on the way, but Don insists he'll just rent something. "You'll rent PANTS?" complains Pete, and when Don simply states he'll throw his tie over his shoulder and roll up his sleeves and the clients will love it, Pete admits angrily that they probably will, hauling his clubs away with him, in no mood to argue. At the apartment, Megan is packing up things while Marie-France lies on the bed (that Don and Diana were in only recently) with a towel over her face, moaning that she's waiting for the room to stop spinning, having apparently failed to measure up to either Megan or their mother in the drinking contest. Marie herself enters, holding a pile of albums, asking which are hers, but Megan simply says she has already collected what she wants. Marie gasps as she spots the red wine stain on the white carpet, Megan shrugging with indifference and noting that at this point it makes no difference to her what Don is doing in this apartment. But Marie never saw a drama she didn't want to get over-theatrical about, and she gasps that he won't be drinking alone, it's a wonder Megan doesn't have syphilis! Marie-France scolds her mother for saying such a thing, while Megan again stresses that Don can do whatever the hell he wants, which in turn makes Marie scold her that it was like that when they were married too. Which... well, she isn't wrong! But Megan is more concerned about her lunch plans, worriedly noting the time and that she needs to get changed. Handing over a wad of cash to Marie-France, she explains the cost for the movers is $200 including the tip. Her sister stares in shock at the enormous amount of cash (roughly $1500 in 2022) while Marie is disgusted: she is spending her OWN money "for that man?" The money is actually Don's! Megan explains as much, he gave her a check for $500, but of course even that is something for Marie to complain about, so he gave her money like she was a whore!?! Marie-France snaps at her mother not to say such things, but then fucks it all up herself when she reminds Marie they're not here to make Megan feel bad about her "failure". Megan is appalled, THIS is how her sister supports her? Marie-France tries to explain what she meant, just digging herself in deeper as she pleads with Megan to try for an annulment instead of a divorce! When Marie firmly tells her other daughter not to be a bitch, Marie-France has had enough, brandishing the money in Megan's face and yelling that she didn't come her to be her servant while she went off to enjoy lunch. Megan snaps back that she doesn't expect Marie-France to understand what having a career means, and snatches the money back when her sister thrusts it at her, watching her march out of the room... before remembering that she actually needs her to stay so the movers can be paid! Marie waves it off with apparently no concern whatsoever, much like she did with Megan herself when they had their last big blow-out argument, simply saying that Marie-France can go cry in Church, obviously feeling her daughter's religious/moral bent isn't worthy of anything but disdain. She puts the blame on Don, saying she hates what he has done to their family despite it being made VERY clear in the past that there were some pretty big loving issues with the Calvets for a long time. But can Megan cancel her lunch? No she can't, so Marie agrees to handle the movers for her. That.... that can't be a good idea. But a relieved Megan grasps at this straw, pointing out the last few choice things she wants to take with her, including "Granny's cabinet" which presumably belonged to Marie's own mother, or Megan's father's, then takes her exit. She passes one of the movers as she goes, explaining when he sees her leaving that her mother is still here, thanking him for all the help. As she reaches the doorway though, in spite of her earlier claims to Marie-France, she stops and takes a moment to drink it all in one last time. THEIR apartment. The place Don bought for her, that she decorated, that they made into THEIR home, and where they were happy... at least for a little while. She takes her last look, then she walks away.  
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Jul 20, 2022 10:58
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Driving to the golf course, Pete complains about Don smoking while Don complains he needs it to take his mind off Pete's driving! Pete complains again about not stopping by Don's apartment first, worried that rented clubs will make them look cheap, but Don - a millionaire, remember - simply states he'll buy an entire set. He does offer an explanation though, explaining that Megan is picking up the last of her things, and Pete is immediately more understanding, if only because he's still bitter (and surprisingly, somewhat introspective!) about his own failed marriage. Like Roger, Pete complains about the fallout that comes with divorce, but unlike Roger he admits at least some level of culpability in both the failure and the poor handling of the break-up itself. He talks about the vicious cycle you can get caught in, they get mad at you, you get mad at them, but in the end it is your fault and you're just making it worse. Looking up to Don as a role model - he often does, but then frequently looks down on him too, Pete's a weird little rat man - he asks how he handles client dinners in this situation? Don offers simply that he brings a date, but Pete sighs that he doesn't have a steady girlfriend (his fault again, he blew it with Bonnie!) and so he doesn't want to bring multiple different girls on different dinners, or run the risk that they drink too much and look like a "floozy". Yes it's all very much poor little rich kid stuff, two millionaires driving to a private golf course, one complaining to the other about how rough it is having a ton of girlfriends to bring to a variety of expenses-funded lavish dinners... but Pete does offer a very real and very genuine lament that perhaps has kept Don up late at nights as well: after a divorce you think you might be able to make a fresh start, but what if you can't? What if this is just your life now? Don, who obviously desperately hopes to have just that fresh start with Diana (as he once did with Megan), is clearly somewhat alarmed and troubled by this surprisingly insightful take from Pete, and simply admonishes him to keep his eyes on the road, wanting to change the conversation, to do anything but think about the possibility that maybe this time he won't be able to claw things back and create a meaningful personal/romantic life for himself again and find somebody to share his life with... again! But while Don tries to hope for a brighter future, Marie is in the middle of making sure his past isn't quite done biting him on the rear end yet. The movers are done at the apartment, but complaining that they've filled the entire truck which wasn't part of the agreement and they'll need more money as a result. Marie tries to insist they take what she is offering, $350, almost twice what Megan gave her, being paid out of her own pocket.... which can only mean one thing. Yep, the apartment is COMPLETELY empty now! Looking at the $350, the mover calmly explains that this is enough money... for him to leave everything on the sidewalk. Angrily, she proclaims this is extortion, but he's not remotely bothered by her anger, she changed up the agreement and that means he needs to get paid, and he has no qualms with straight up telling her that she's a massive pain in his rear end! So what does Marie do? She calls Don! Well she tries to, at least, calling Meredith and demanding she interrupt whatever he is doing, only for Meredith to sweetly offer to take a message to pass on to him when he's back. So instead she calls Caroline, who buzzes in to let Roger know a Marie "somebody" is on the line for him. At first Roger is confused, Marie Who? But then he grasps the only Marie it could possibly be and quickly scoops up the phone, snapping at Caroline to get off the line before cooing,"Bonjour?" "I am in desperate need of you," she gasps, which puts the biggest poo poo-eating grin on Roger's face, cheekily offering his own hello back to her. But she's in no mood for flirting, telling him she needs to come to Don's apartment with $200, before turning to glare at the two utterly-done-with-this-poo poo movers before roaring,"AND NOT A PENNY MORE!" Roger tells her to calm down, insisting he can send someone, which just infuriates her some more, complaining that everything he gets what HE wants, he runs away. "Bring cash!" she yells, and slams the phone down, glaring at the two movers who have the audacity to want to be paid the money they're due for the work SHE wanted them to do! The work that she decided for herself to have done in complete opposition to what Megan asked for and clearly wanted. While Marie is dealing with this monstrous act of... wanting to be compensated for work, Stan is beavering away in his dark room where there is a knock on the door. He lets whoever it is know that they it is fine to come in, so the door opens and in she walks. It is, of course, Pima. He's alarmed, because of course what he is developing are the photos he took of Elaine. Given he let whoever it was come in without a second thought, he had no issue with Ed or Mathis or Peggy seeing his girlfriend posing in her underwear, and his nervousness with Pima isn't due to her being a stranger but because, as he himself admits, he wasn't ready for her to look at his work just yet. But look she does, grinning that the model certainly was ready! He starts to explain who Elaine is, but Pima just grins that she's "overdeveloped" before noting that you can see it in her eyes that she isn't "worthy" of Stan. Does she mean Stan himself, or Stan as a photographer? He seems unsure himself, and Pima looks around the rest of the photos before admitting that she expected more... but also, she feels that his ability to draw is a far rarer talent than being able to take photographs. "Oh," he says, because like so many Creatives the thing he is good at doesn't bring him as much joy as he believes he would get from getting good at the thing he isn't (yet). But Pima has more in mind than just looking at his work, or talking to him. Stepping up close to him, playing with his collar, she makes her intentions clear, and Stan makes his ability to ignore any loyalty he might have to Elaine even clearer, as they bring to kiss and fumble at the buttons on each other's shirts, ready to make good use of the dark room's privacy. Roger meanwhile has actually followed through, arriving at Don's apartment where he's stunned to discover the place stripped bare. Marie ignores that, simply demanding he pay what the mover is demanding, another $180 on top of the $350 she has given him. Roger forks it out, the mover simply declaring,"My pleasure," to Marie before leaving, because all he wanted was to get paid for the work he did and it was her that turned it into a giant angry performance where she somehow expected him to feel bad about basic economic principles. Once he's out the door and the two of them are alone, Roger looks around at the empty apartment again and asks if Don really agreed to this, and Marie just gives a cute non-answer of,"He was very generous" before stubbing out her cigarette and growling that she hates what he did to her daughter. Roger don't care though, he's shown up, he's paid the man, and if Marie says this was all okay then that is good enough for him... so he offers to take her out for a drink. "Mon Dieu, I'm trembling," mutters Marie, looking at her hands, the adrenaline dump from pulling this off mixed with the fear and excitement of having struck a "blow" at Don on "behalf" of her daughter while knowing full well that Megan did NOT want this. Roger steps up and takes her hands, surprised that she's not exaggerating, she really is trembling. She leans forward and kisses him, and surprisingly he pulls back, laughing a little as he asks what she is doing. She laughs, as if she finds it ridiculous that he won't want to have sex with her, kissing him again. He kisses her back this time, but then breaks off again to point out that she's already emptied the place out... does she want to defile it too? Indeed she does, though she doesn't say so, instead simply breathlessly asking him to take advantage of her. Roger has already shown admirable restraint for... well, for Roger! So now he eagerly makes out with her, hands quickly unzipping the back of her dress, more than happy to bang his best friend's mother-in-law (for now) in said friend's apartment. While Marie is getting lucky, Megan is hoping for some luck, as she waits at the restaurant for Harry Crane. He arrives with a big smile, accepting and giving a kiss on the cheek, apologizing for being late but noting that she of all people understands what the SC&P offices are like. He asks if they should get some wine and she points out she already did, and he checks the bottle and notes quietly that he'll be getting the check, presumably an acknowledgement that she kicked a high quality wine and he can claim it as an expense. But Megan insists that she cover the bill, pointing out what great advice he gave to her friends Miranda and Jill when they were looking for Agents. To his credit, Harry actually acknowledges an important point here: his advice wasn't THAT good, neither of them had Agents and his advice to them was.... get an Agent! Still, it worked, and so they share a quick toast and then Harry asks her to give him the lay... taking a beat before quickly explaining he means the lay of the land, though it's such an oddly precise way to say that one wonders how often he has used this line on others. Megan, who has mostly been disgusted by Harry in the past - particularly when she caught her eagerly telling Stan how much he'd like to gently caress her - either doesn't notice or ignores that though, and explains her situation. She hasn't been booked for anything in a few months, and when a surprised Harry asks if she didn't even get anything during pilot season, she admits she turned down some smaller roles she was offered because Alan (her Agent) thought they would take her out of the running for lead roles. Harry has never precisely been the smoothest customer, but he says all the right things now. He finds it difficult to believe she could lose out in a contest with any woman. It doesn't matter that Alan represents Angie Dickinson, if he's not landing Megan roles then it is because he doesn't know how. Any Agent worth their salt will know Casting Directors and be able to get her name on a list considered for Lead Roles, she can bypass the sign-up process and go straight to a direct read aided by a direct network of people who know her, like her, and want her to succeed. She laughs that HE should be in the business, which makes him grin. But he's not just taking the chance to throw Alan under the bus here, he takes a shot at Don too, the first sign for Megan that something isn't entirely on the up-and-up here. He muses that he can't believe Don "threw her away", and then points out that Don COULD have helped her land roles but that he didn't. He stresses that Don is not a loyal person but HE is (ironically, Don did once note that one of Harry's few redeeming features were his loyalty, even if it was usually born out of fear), and he would be committed to helping her achieve her dreams. Admitting that he's not actually all that hungry, he points out they could get to work on helping rebuild her career right away. Swept up in hearing exactly what she wants to hear, Megan excitedly notes she has a pen and paper and they can work while they eat! She turns to grab them... and Harry reaches out and strokes her hand, purring that he has a room upstairs (WHY!?!) and they could go up there and "make some calls" now. This loving guy. "Oh.... Harry," she mutters, dismay written all over her face as she finds herself doing the age-old dance of trying to let them somebody incredibly offensive without offending THEM,"I'm not interested." But of course, Harry feels no shame, is not aghast at this rejection, instead he almost smugly offers that she is a "big girl" and suggests that she might be in the situation she's in because of how she's reacting to this now. This gaslighting piece of poo poo. So thank loving God that Megan, a woman who has been pushed to desperation even by setting this lunch with Harry in the first place, is able to react to this by simply standing, downing the last of her wine, collecting her purse and simply marching out. Only NOW does Harry's facade of confidence slip, stammering to her to sit down and have another glass of wine, suddenly contemplating the hell to pay if she calls Don and tells him that Harry tried to proposition her for sex in exchange for help with her career. How many other women have there been who didn't have the sense to do that, or were in positions where their desperation overrode their disgust.... or perhaps worst of all, who believed him and thought this was a perfectly reasonable and even expected thing to have to do. Harry Crane is one in a long series of creeps and parasites lurking around Hollywood and Show Business, looking to exploit the dreams of young, beautiful women who believe "discovery" will make their dreams come true at a price they think they are willing to pay. How far has Harry fallen from season one, when he was awkward and uncomfortable but at least very much open about his desire to avoid any possibility of temptation or misunderstanding. Who wept with despair after drunkenly cheating on his wife in a one night stand, who admitted his infidelity and willingly accepts the punishment of being temporarily kicked out of his own home because he knew what he had done was wrong. That Harry Crane is dead, the one who walks and talks in 1970 is a monster who bears little similarity, but whose slow journey of moral decay has unfolded clearly step by step across the seasons to get to the point it finally has.   Roger meanwhile is feeling very satisfied as he redresses in Don's apartment (the bed is still there at least, seen through a crack in the door from the living room) and talks on the phone to Caroline, explaining his absence from the office by simply saying he was busy and actually asking for a pat on the back for remembering he was SUPPOSED to be in a meeting! But all that good cheer disappears as he hears a voice, and looks up in horror to see Megan walking through the door. She thought she had left the apartment for the last time, but of course the calamity that was lunch with Harry meant she left early, coming back presumably to see if Marie was still there, and not expecting to find Roger there anymore than he was expecting to see her. But as he makes a point of saying her name loudly, Megan has other things on her mind initially, as she looks around the apartment and asks a very pertinent question. "Where the gently caress is everything!?!" Unfortunately for all of them, Marie didn't pick up on the "subtle" clue from Roger shouting out Megan's name, and she comes walking out still putting her dress on, calling his name obviously expecting him to do up the zip on her back, and comes to a horrified stop as she sees her daughter staring in disbelief at her. Megan doesn't know how to react, caught up in disgust and disbelief at discovering the affair (she never discovered Don and Sylvia, but THIS she finds out!) as well as bewildered fury at where the hell the furniture is! Marie offers no excuse or explanation for the affair, but does state that she took "what you deserved" regarding the furniture, a convenient excuse for her taking out HER aggression towards Don, and completely ignoring her daughter's own wishes. Finally Megan finds an outlet for her anger, all compounded by the debacle with Harry, asking Roger if it means anything to him that Marie is married... to Megan's FATHER! "It wasn't my idea," Roger mumbles, like a schoolkid truculent in the face of a scolding. Marie tries to make herself imperious, declaring severely that she won't let Megan stand in judgment of her, itself seemingly a reference to Megan's failed marriage much like Marie-France made earlier. But Megan doesn't rise to the bait, and that is somehow worse for Marie, as she just glares at her mother, looks set to speak... and then clearly decides it simply isn't worth the effort. Instead, Megan turns and leaves the apartment for the final time (again!), this time not looking back. With her daughter gone, Marie's stern facade collapses and she bursts into tears, racing into the bedroom to escape. Roger is left standing, having no idea what to do now, whether he should comfort Marie or do like she claimed and run away now that he's gotten what he wanted, and avoid being involved any further in all this drama. Unaware of the farce unfolding at his home, Don has returned to the office with a brand new set of golf clubs, Meredith in tow behind him as well as... Harry Crane! He asks Meredith for some privacy, but she makes a point of collecting Don's hat, coat and golf clubs first, slamming the latter against the door as she struggles under all the weight out the door. Harry closes it behind her, then tells Don,"No, thank you" as he sees him pouring drinks.... except of course he was only pouring one, for himself! Harry immediately gets to the point, asking if he has spoken with Megan. With a sigh, clearly not wanting anything to do with this conversation, Don points out that he literally just got back to the office. Harry, seeing he got in first, immediately declares that they had lunch and... well... she's not stable! She said a lot of crazy things and he suspects she will CONTINUE to say those crazy things. "And what will she say about you?" asks Don, who is no fool (not when it comes to Harry Crane's clumsy manipulations at least), stepping up close to him, automatically understanding that Harry has done something incredibly stupid, gross, or both, and is now desperately trying to cover his tracks. "Crazy things!" insists Harry again, before lowering his voice slightly and noting that she REALLY wants to land a gig, unbelievably implying that maybe she tried to come on to him! Don asks what exactly that means, giving Harry all the rope he needs to hang himself with, and Harry laughs that of course nothing happened between them... after all, they both know she hates him! So.... why would Don think something (sex) happened between them if that was the case? But as Don eyes this idiot up and down he suddenly comes to a realization.... this isn't his problem, this isn't something he needs to thrash out with anybody, and if Harry offended Megan or if he is scared of her then that is for them to deal with, not him. Sensing he's going to get away with this, the worst possible message he could get, Harry is ready to beat a quick retreat, but before he goes he can't help but get in one last dig at Megan, words that he doesn't realize actually do hit Don hard. Nobody could help her land a part, Harry claims, after all, she quit a regular role on a soap opera and left New York? That was a really dumb idea! With that he's gone, and Don can't deny that this DOES have something to do with him... everything in fact. Joan once told Peggy that Megan was going to be one of those rich wives who gets to fail at being an actor because they have money behind them. Peggy told Joan she felt Megan might actually be one of the few people who could make a success of it. Both have ended up being right in different ways. She did need the help of Don aiding her casting in a commercial, but Megan DID succeed as an actor. She landed a cushy role on a soap opera, she was (B-List, perhaps C) famous, she was working regularly, they wrote in a SECOND part for her even after she and Don rebuffed the writer and lead actress' offer of a swinger's party... and then Don convinced her to give it all up so they could start a new life in California, then abandoned her to do it all alone after she gave up everything. There is no getting around that. No mutual blame. No "well it's really her fault". Megan was not blameless in their marriage, not anymore than Betty was blameless in Don's earlier marriage. But Don takes the lion's share of the blame, and in this one particular case he takes ALL of it. He is responsible for Megan's current career rut, and the fact that he did it all with zero malice because he did it thoughtlessly makes it all the worse.   Peggy is working in her office when she spots Pima walking by and calls out to her, letting her know she has the selects from the photo-shoot. Pima seems hesitant at first to look at them, but steps into Peggy's office, taking a moment to absorb being told what to do when Peggy (very pleasantly) asks her to close the door. She joins Peggy to view the selected images, looking over the top row which Peggy has identified as her favorites. She notes that likes the one in the top right corner, but that Stan didn't. Confused and a little irritated, Peggy asks if Stan already showed Pima the images, and she shrugs and says he did.... but that he knows nothing of women. Ouch! Peggy is further confused, what does that mean? Catching herself, Pima doesn't explain, simply saying Stan disliking her preferred photo was just his opinion. Peggy takes that onboard, and then offers a very self-confident reply: "Mine's the only opinion that matters here." Pima seems to like that, agreeing that Peggy is in charge, asking her which one she likes. Peggy points out #3 on the top row, and Pima takes another look at it, commenting (not asking) that Peggy has never been married. That's a sore spot for Peggy, but she admits it is true, and an unbothered Pima points out she hasn't either, chuckling about the adventures she would have missed otherwise. She identifies #4 as the best, and as Peggy takes another look at it, Pima eyes her up, and declares that she would love to photograph her. Surprised and a little off-balance at this out-of-nowhere offer, Peggy stumbles out that she doesn't know about that, put even more off-balance when Pima gently slides the back of her hand over Peggy's cheek and says she would love to capture the look that Peggy is giving her right now. She slides her fingers over Peggy's own as she takes the magnifying glass back from her, going back to viewing the images, Peggy at a complete loss how to react. It was one thing when Joyce made a pass at her, it was a party and they only knew each other vaguely and she was able to quickly establish that she wasn't interested, which Joyce (largely) respected. But this is something different. An older woman but also technically working for her, suddenly making a far more subtle and sophisticated pass than Joyce's clumsy attempt to kiss her before she just continued on about her business like nothing had happened. As Peggy deals with a suddenly complicated working relationship, Don is preparing to finally end a complicated personal one. He arrives at his lawyer's office to find Megan already waiting, but as he places his coat down he realizes that his lawyer has disappeared, he was right behind him but is nowhere to be seen now. So Don takes a seat, picking out a cigarette and offering one to Megan to declines. As he lights up, she admits that she had planned to say nothing, that she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he ruined her life... but now that they're both here, she simply can't help herself. He tries to speak, but he can only get out a soft,"Megan..." before she continues, and at first her complaints are more aimed at herself: why did she believe him? Why did she believe everything he told her? Why is she being punished for being young? She accepted everything he told her at face value but he's nothing but a liar.... an aging, sloppy, selfish liar. Jesus Christ, suddenly Pima insulting Stan's lovemaking skills doesn't seem so bad! He can't argue her point, but nor does it bring her any pleasure. Getting it all out brings no catharsis, no sense of relief that she has said what she has been thinking, just a lingering bitterness knowing that her life is worse now than it was before she met him, in spite of some dizzying highs they had along the way. Don takes it all in, then reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out his checkbook. He admits he is right, and she sneers at the notion that he is going to write her a check, that he is effectively going to just pay to make her go away ala Roger Sterling. But this isn't that. Don has heard it from various sources over the last couple of days. Roger's bitterness. Pete's fear. Diana's regret. Now here is this woman who he once genuinely loved, whose life he knows he has made worse, who is facing an uncertain future even with a divorce settlement thanks to the California move that HE convinced her to take. So he writes a check and passes it to her, telling her that she's right, and he wants her to have the life she deserves. She scoffs at the check, not because the money is an insult, but because it seems like a joke, one she doesn't believe: One million dollars. 7.5 million dollars in 2022, a little less but not much than what Joan made for agreeing to the McCann purchase. She doesn't believe it, insisting it isn't real, but he calmly assures her it is. She stares at it, realizing that right there on the table is more money than most people would ever see in a lifetime. Quietly she takes the check, folds it and places it in her pocket, still not entirely believing it is real but unable to deny the appeal if it is. But she has something for him too. She slides her wedding ring from her finger, placing it on the table for Don. Anna's ring, family heirloom of the closest thing he has ever had to a soulmate, technically his first wife though the Don Draper she married was not the Don Draper who divorced her so he could marry Betty Hofstadt. "I'm sorry," he tells Megan, and he means it. Both for the failure of the marriage, for the mess he made of her life, but perhaps also for his failure to live up to the promise of that ring in the first place. "Send me the papers," she tells him quietly, and leaves, a million dollars in her pocket and the wreck of a marriage all but left behind. Don's lawyer is going to murder him when he finds out what just happened.   Peggy and Ed are having a drink in her office as Ed contemplates growing his hair out long and asks what Peggy's opinion is. Before she can answer, Stan pops in to say goodnight, taking a moment to tell Ed that he was right about Pima... she's a treasure! It was... uhh... it was Peggy who first tried to sell you on Pima! But she is amused by his change of heart, and Stan asks with an incredulous grin if she doesn't like the work, because he thinks she would do well on Butler Shoes or Topaz Pantyhose... she knows legs! "Women's legs," agrees Peggy mockingly, confusing Stan. When Peggy tells him she's sorry to disappoint him, implying he has a crush on her, Stan insists he isn't disappointed before "slyly" pointing out that Pima wasn't either (she was), taking great pleasure in what he takes to be Peggy being jealous that Stan and Pima are a thing. Quickly calculating how best to avoid destroying her friend, Peggy promises she isn't bothered but "Ellen" might be, Ed quickly correcting her that Stan's girlfriend's name is Elaine. Stan doesn't take kindly to the suggestion she might let her know though, pointing out it isn't any of her business. Still amused, and deciding gently caress it and that it's easier just to tell the truth, Peggy explains it is Pima's business... and Pima's business turns out to be more advertising than art after all. "She's a hustler," Peggy explains, but Stan is still insulated from the high of having sex with somebody whose art he respects, and laughs that Peggy is just jealous. So Peggy, taking a fair degree of satisfaction from this it has to be said, explains that she tried to make the same moves on Peggy that she did on Stan... she just didn't get as far. So no, Peggy is NOT going to hire her for more work, and when it finally seems to sink in for Stan that Pima was playing him to continue to get more work (or maybe she just likes banging attractive dudes AND women!?!), he can only stammer out an almost desperate plea that he doesn't believe her. "What part?" asks Peggy sweetly, and Stan walks in a daze from the room, his good mood gone now. Peggy's own mirth fades, she didn't really want to destroy Stan like that even if his own attitude kind of egged her on a little, but better to get it all out in the open now. She catches Ed's eye, and he quickly looks away, a little smile on his own face, presumably because now of course the image of Peggy and Pima together is in his head. At the hotel, an equally dazed Megan returns to find her sister weeping on the couch. With a sigh, she tells Marie-France she doesn't have time for her drama, while her sister sobs that their mother has left, tearing up her ticket and telling her to go home alone, she is going to be staying in New York with some man! She is leaving their father! How does she know a man in New York well enough to stay with him!?! Megan's response is cold but understandable given her day, she simply notes that she doesn't care. As Marie-France wails and accuses New York of poisoning people to do "as they feel", declaring they can all go to the devil, Megan can't help but offer that this moral high road she seems to take such pleasure in sobbing on didn't stop her from ordering room service. She notes that the Bible probably considers being a ghoul feeding on the pain of others a sin too! Finally, not necessarily defending her mother so much as showing she understands her, Megan points out that their mother has been unhappy for a very long time, at least SHE did something about, a line that implies much about Marie-France herself, but perhaps also Megan as well. There's an old phrase, shared around in various forms over the centuries: Money can't buy happiness. It's true to some extent, false in others, but a surface level reading of it misses the greater point. Because money CAN buy happiness... in that it can buy many of the things you CAN make you happy, or it can buy away many of the things that prevent that happiness. The Megan Calvet who returned from that lawyer's office is a different Megan Calvet from the one who walked into it, and the difference is - on the surface - money. What Don gave her wasn't a million dollars, or at least not "only" a million dollars. It was a chance for HER to make the life she wants and deserves. Don accepted his fault, belatedly and self-awareness only coming well past the point of fixing anything, but he accepted it and he did something that will let HER fix it, rather than him trying to do that for her. Maybe she will fail as an actress. Maybe she will go nowhere in Hollywood, ending up doing bit parts or background work or community theater. Maybe she'll be a big success and become a movie star. Maybe she'll have a modest little career, nothing groundbreaking but still a solid life of frequent or even constant work. Maybe she'll give up acting entirely and do something else. But she has the choice to do that now, and without compromise. No need to play political games. No underlying desperation that eats away at her confidence. No having to deal with sleazy casting directors or sleazier hangers-on like Harry Crane. No ever having to be in a position like she was at lunch today where there was ever even the slightest consideration - even if only from Harry's side - that she might sleep with him just for a chance for a part. This is not to say she might not make decisions she regrets, or hates, or that she is immune to exploitation. But what the money gives her is power. Power over her own life. She is free, the divorce marks not just an end to Don's part in her life, but an end to the rat race, to the desperation that makes you cling to relationships that have lost their love, like her mother and father, and perhaps between Marie-France and Henri (or maybe they're a strong couple whose love will get them through these tough times), and of course that between Don and Megan herself. Money can't buy you happiness... but it sure doesn't hurt to have it while looking. Stan finds no happiness in his one clear talent: drawing. Sitting on the bed in his apartment, he sketches the window and the view of the brick wall on the other side. Elaine returns home, hopping onto the bed and sighing that she is exhausted, and he admits the same. She asks if he printed anything and he notes they are currently drying in the dark room, and she's delighted, asked if he showed Pima, and what did she think? "She loved them," he assures her, and she is thrilled, curling up against his chest. He puts a loving arm around her, but as she settles down for a very well earned rest, his face falls. Pima told him that you could see in Elaine's eyes that she was not "worthy" of him, and despite discovering she was just angling for future work (perhaps) by seducing him, what she has said obviously impacted heavily on him, now battling with his disgust in himself and his anger at Pima (and perhaps Peggy) for getting so easily manipulated. What does that say about him? Was everything she said a lie? Is his drawing really good or was that just buttering him up? Why didn't he see what was happening? And perhaps, hopefully, maybe he feels just a smidgen of guilt about the fact he cheated on his live-in girlfriend?   Diana lets Don into her apartment, for once wearing just clothes instead of a work uniform. The apartment itself is basically just a bedroom, but he's not troubled by that, the two kissing before she goes to pour him a drink, though she only has vodka on offer. He's brought her a gift in a brown paper bag, and she asks him to open it while he pours. He does so, passing her a New York City guidebook so she can finally start her tour. "Can't you see I don't want anything?" she offers, gesturing to the almost bare apartment. Any other time it might seem a joke, but her demeanor strongly suggests his gift has actually angered her, and he asks her not to be "a mood" (Jesus Christ, Don), assuring her he's probably had a far worse day than she is. Now she IS in a bad mood, snapping that she's not in a mood.... and he has NEVER had a worse day than she has had. He corrects her on that, asking if she really thinks he has never known grief, noting that she knew that about him from the first time they met. But she's on her own trip at the moment, clearly having set a script in her mind she means to follow now whether he is along for the ride or not. She explains she has spent the day trying to talk herself out of this, and he thinks she means the relationship, but she explains she means telling him what she intends to tell him now. Don isn't listening, not really, still trying to offer calm and reassuring manliness to set her at ease. He promises that today he finally put something behind him, that he's been separated for a long time but now it is over. She is not the "first thing to come along", he is "ready", meaning ready for a real, actual relationship and not just sex. But she's not after reassurance, she wants confession, and she is going to have it. When he promises that he has been where she is, that she's in a dump like this because she's punishing herself, but it's okay to be happy, she offers back that she left her daughter. He dismisses that, telling her to stop blaming herself, but he's still not listened, so she says it again. She left her daughter. She had two daughters. He's stunned as she lays out just enough to fill in the picture: she had two daughters, one died and the other.... she just couldn't be there for her anymore. She ran away. She went to New York and left her daughter with her husband, only going back to divorce so she could return to New York, leaving her daughter behind yet again. There are no details, no sense of how old this other daughter is beyond being "my oldest", whether she hates her mother or blames herself for the divorce or just lives in horrified, baffled non-understanding of how her mother could just walk away like this. The truly horrifying thing is that it is, in some senses, Don's story. He left the woman who raised him, "Uncle" Mack, and a half-brother he genuinely loved behind when he stole Don Draper's identity, but at least he left them with the story that Dick Whitman died and they had a body they could bury. What makes it worse for him is that Diana doesn't not love her daughter, it's plain as day, she simply just couldn't cope with the pain anymore. Yes she is punishing herself, but she already knew that. That is the problem, she explains. When she was with Don, she forgot about that pain for a moment, she forgot about the loss, she forgot about the daughter she abandoned. She NEVER wants to forget that, that is part of her punishment, that she must feel this pain. She feeds on it, not with the miserable, feverish excitement of Marie-France, but as a type of self-flagellation, an acknowledgement of a guilt she not only feels but believes she must continue to feel. She takes Don's glass from him and turns her back on him. He stands and stares, and finally he turns and leaves, though not before putting the guidebook on the bed. Neither one of them look back at the other as he goes, both accepting that the other will not be there despite the clear connection they felt. It may be a blessing in disguise for both, Don's early infatuations never really last, and Diana has severe issues she must work her way through before she can allow herself happiness again. So it is that Don returns home alone. Stepping into his apartment and turning on the light, what should be a comedic moment ends up instead being a deeply depressing one. The apartment is bare, the furniture all gone, only a scant few personal items of his own left on shelves, everything stripped out by Marie taking it upon herself to get "revenge" on behalf of her daughter. But it is a - rather on-the-nose - visual representation of Don's own situation. This was a home, for a time for her and Megan, and later just for himself. When he proclaimed he was going to sell it, it was a genuine statement of intent, but it was a decision HE had made that HE was going to undertake. Now he finds the place stripped bare, he realizes how much he had come to accept the way the place was as the way his home was. Megan's spirit is well-and-truly exorcised now, and what it has left behind is.... barely anything. That is Don Draper, or what he has always feared is Don Draper: an empty shell, with nothing inside. Even after giving a million dollars to Megan, he's still rich. Even after being called an aging, slobby, selfish liar, he is still respected and envied. Even after two divorces and being dumped by a waitress from Racine he is still an eligible bachelor. But what does it all mean? The episode started with Don looking at a family he gave up living happily without him. It continued with a woman he once loved deeply and who loved him deeply in return finalizing their divorce. It ended with the new woman he thought he'd found a connection with telling him that connection was why she had to end things. Now he stands in an empty room, with nothing. What good is any of his wealth and success with nobody to share it with? Don Draper has money, but in his case at least the old saying is true.  It hasn't bought him happiness. Episode Index
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Jul 20, 2022 10:58
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Yeah yeah Mad Men is really blunt with its symbolism but gently caress it I really love this last shot. I think with hindsight knowing where the show goes thematically it works really well on multiple levels: the "Gag" of him finding out he got completely hosed, there's the metaphor for Don's life and finally ~other things~ that come into play later. Also I've always loved by Don trying to be genuine and saying "I'm sorry" in the most Don way by giving someone money and then getting totally hosed. algebra testes fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Jul 20, 2022 |
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Jul 20, 2022 13:53
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I wish we had the chance to meet Marie-France before now. It adds to Megan's character to learn that, in addition to Marie and Emile, she grew up with a tremendously pious, dramatic sister who shares her mother's penchant for "accidentally" saying casually cruel things. Harry's such a piece of poo poo. Jerusalem posted:Pete's a weird little rat man 
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Jul 20, 2022 14:06
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Don's genuine attempts to do better here are so fascinating to me because no matter how genuine he is, the consequences of his actions don't just go away. He can be as sorry as he wants, but he still hurt a lot of people, burned a lot of bridges along the way, and that hurt doesn't just disappear because he's honestly, genuinely sorry and honestly, genuinely trying to be better. Roger encountered this before, and now it's Don's turn. I remember finding this part kind of hard to watch because, despite everything, I wanted to root for Don. Not because I thought he was a good person or deserved good things magically, but because I wanted to see him do better. But, as stylized as Mad Men is, it's committed to emotional realism: Don doesn't automatically find forgiveness just because he tries, and it's circumstances like this that make it so, so easy to backslide. That's part of what makes the last couple episodes of the first half of season 7 such a comparative bright spot for me: at least he managed to help Peggy and to start rebuilding their friendship.
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Jul 20, 2022 14:07
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The Calvets almost strain my credulity because of how neatly they represent every element of Quebecois society at the time in a single family: ineffectual Marxist, high-society Francophile, right-wing religious conservative, and wannabe American.
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Jul 20, 2022 14:10
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having a million bucks sitting in checking is a true don draper move
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Jul 20, 2022 14:15
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Harrow posted:Don's genuine attempts to do better here are so fascinating to me because no matter how genuine he is, the consequences of his actions don't just go away. He can be as sorry as he wants, but he still hurt a lot of people, burned a lot of bridges along the way, and that hurt doesn't just disappear because he's honestly, genuinely sorry and honestly, genuinely trying to be better. Yeah, the Rosens showing up again was particularly great, because of course they're not going to go away, they live in the building and as far as Arnold is concerned Don is STILL his good friend in addition to the guy who saved his son's life. Plus he obviously has a bit of envy for Don apparently getting to sleep with lots of women after he and Megan split up. But Sylvia is also RIGHT there, barely saying a word, but her and Don had an EXTREMELY intense affair that ended in about the worst way possible and there she is as another reminder of something else he missed out on, but also something he did that helped destroy his marriage (even if Megan never found out). A stark reminder of how his romantic obsessions often backfire on him, while standing in the elevator with his latest romantic obsession. Running away is often his go to choice (and sometime he runs away by staying in the same place) but I really think he needs to get the gently caress out of that apartment.
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Jul 20, 2022 14:19
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Yes but it is such a cool apartment.
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Jul 20, 2022 14:52
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j-ru im curious, 2 episodes into this back half what do you think the show is going to try to do with its final episodes? do you have any predictions about any events or themes that will show up? any that pointedly may not? what are things you would like to see but believe we may not?
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Jul 20, 2022 15:02
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Harry's behavior towards Megan in this episode implies a degree of darker context for another incident in the first part of the season, where Alan (Megan's agent) calls Don with a secondhand story about Megan going "crazy." We didn't get the full story in that episode, Megan was quick to drop the discussion of it at the time, but it's not hard to imagine what really happened.
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Jul 20, 2022 15:26
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ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:The Calvets almost strain my credulity because of how neatly they represent every element of Quebecois society
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Jul 20, 2022 17:03
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ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:The Calvets almost strain my credulity because of how neatly they represent every element of Quebecois society at the time in a single family: ineffectual Marxist, high-society Francophile, right-wing religious conservative, and wannabe American. Which is also just an improvised choice from Matt Weiner, as I understand it. I don't think he had this wrinkle in mind when he conceived of Megan, but Jessica Paré happened to be French-Canadian on top of everything else and he ran with it. Allegedly; this may just be apocryphal and he always intended to cast a French speaker.
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Jul 20, 2022 21:39
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kalel posted:Harry's behavior towards Megan in this episode implies a degree of darker context for another incident in the first part of the season, where Alan (Megan's agent) calls Don with a secondhand story about Megan going "crazy." We didn't get the full story in that episode, Megan was quick to drop the discussion of it at the time, but it's not hard to imagine what really happened. oh wow, I hadn't thought of that. that is extremely plausible and awful.
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Jul 21, 2022 00:35
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Didn't he say that she ambushed the casting director at a restaurant or something? There was more of a concrete reason at least.
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Jul 21, 2022 00:52
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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Love Roger casually dropping into this episode to have sex with his best friend's mother-in-law in his bed, pay to have all of his furniture stolen, and float away scot-free. That's Sterling's Gold, bay-bee.
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Jul 21, 2022 01:09
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A real motherfucker
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Jul 21, 2022 01:21
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Paper Lion posted:j-ru im curious, 2 episodes into this back half what do you think the show is going to try to do with its final episodes? do you have any predictions about any events or themes that will show up? any that pointedly may not? what are things you would like to see but believe we may not? They say a man who tries to predict how a prestige drama will end is a fool, and with God as my witness, I am that fool! I think there are two likely directions things will go in: 1. Things continue on as they have. There will likely be some final crisis for the show to deal with, but the end result will largely be at least a core of the characters continuing their business and their lives as they have been, working in advertising, doing what they do, with perhaps a wry comment on or even flash-forward to the future. 2. Something fairly significant happens to finally break a long-running cycle, at least in regards to Don. I think the 2nd is more likely, and what I am hoping will happen. The show has made so much hay out of the way Don continues to cycle back and forth between work and love trying to paper over the hole in his soul but never finding happiness, that I feel he will finally come to some kind of realization of what he really needs to do to make a real change in his life and actually heal somewhat the deep pain and trauma he has been living with all his life. But there may just be an element there of expecting something big to happen because I know the show is about to end. Mad Men has a Sopranos pedigree, obviously, both in Weiner but also a lot of the crew, so I feel like he'd actively try to avoid doing a David Chase style "show's over, life continues without you!" ending just to avoid the comparisons. I guess I'll find out soon enough (that's not soon enough).
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Jul 21, 2022 02:00
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misguided rage posted:Didn't he say that she ambushed the casting director at a restaurant or something? There was more of a concrete reason at least. This: "Megan went into an audition and performed adequately from what I can tell and by the time she got to the parking lot decided to call casting and ask if she could come back in and do it differently." "On Sunday, she got the director's number from someone in her acting class, called his home, then managed to run into him at the Brentwood Country Mart while he was having lunch with Rod Serling." "I don't even know if she knew he was there. She apparently pled her case, in tears, and demanded another reading." does have much more of a sound of "she's reeking of desperation" than "gross casting couch nonsense."
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Jul 21, 2022 03:02
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Randallteal posted:Love Roger casually dropping into this episode to have sex with his best friend's mother-in-law in his bed, pay to have all of his furniture stolen, and float away scot-free. That's Sterling's Gold, bay-bee. Hell yeah
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Jul 21, 2022 03:08
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Sash! posted:This: It’s left deliberately ambiguous imo.
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Jul 21, 2022 03:12
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someone get rod serling on the phone, he'll be able to corroborate it
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Jul 21, 2022 04:56
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Season 7, Episode 10 - The Forecast Written by Jonathan Igla & Matthew Weiner, Directed by Jennifer Getzinger Joan Harris posted:You're such a disappointment. A blonde woman, roughly the same age and with a passing resemblance to Betty Francis, lets herself into Don Draper's apartment with a key. She looks about, disconcerted by the still almost entirely empty apartment, but primarily by the fact the balcony furniture has been dragged inside to act as a makeshift couch/dining table combo. She calls out a careful hello but gets no response, so tries the bedroom, where she finds Don Draper still asleep in bed. Quietly at first but with increasing volume, she calls to Don, and when that fails to rouse him snaps out an insistent,"DRAPER!" that finally penetrates his (possibly) drunken slumber. Seeing this woman standing in his bedroom doesn't alarm him, rather he takes a moment and then groans, apologizing to "Melanie" for not being up yet. She isn't satisfied by this though, reminding him that the prospective buyers of the apartment are coming to view it BEFORE work, and he won't have time to have a shower before they get there. With a grunt he rolls out of bed, Melanie turning to avoid any embarrassment though he could care less if she sees him in nothing but boxers. She mutters that she will make the bed, while he trudges off to the closet to pull on some clothes. Soon, in his usual well-tailored suit but lacking his usual carefully groomed appearance, he shifts the balcony furniture back outside under her supervision. The prospective buyers had left a message with Don's service but he never followed up on it with Melanie, and there is very definitely a sense of Don simply going through the motions of selling the apartment, doing the bare amount necessary beyond hiring Melanie (poor Bonnie might have jumped at this chance, but it might have become another one of her horror stories) to find a buyer. She complains that he was supposed to have the carpets cleaned and he complains back that he did. She gives a little sniff at that, as if there is still a stink, and he knows what she is getting at, apparently a well-worn argument between the two of them, as he insists that he will NOT buy all new carpeting for a place he is going to sell. He could at least rent a couple of pieces of furniture though, she bemoans, and it's clear that beyond Don's half-assed approach to being proactive at getting this sale, there is a conflict between the two of them over who knows how to sell things best. Don insists that an empty apartment is better than a furnished one, because the buyers can imagine their OWN belongings inside. Melanie quite rightly points out that he has never sold an apartment while she obviously had, but Don - tying his shoelaces, probably stinking underneath a veneer of cologne - dismisses her concerns, claiming that he has sold plenty of uglier things than this apartment. Finally she's had enough, outright asking him if he can please just leave. Once upon a time, a handsome and confident, well-dressed Don Draper meeting the buyers in passing might have been an asset: a charming grin to dazzle the wife, a firm handshake and nod to impress the husband, the very figure of the modern successful city resident whose fantastic apartment you could live in next. Instead, he's a kind of pathetic figure, a lonely man in an empty apartment who hasn't had a shower and eats off patio furniture.   A ringing phone wakes Joan Harris, who accepts the charges and greets her mother wearily. Her room is dark, and she tiredly reminds her mother (unheard) that Los Angeles is 3 hours behind New York, it's simple subtraction if she wants to avoid waking her up. Opening the curtains of her hotel room, she lets the Californian sunshine in, cheering up immediately when Kevin is put on the phone, asking what he and Grandma Gail have been up to. But the line has gone dead, either because of a poor connection or because Kevin - being a kid - simply hung up or walked away not grasping the significance of what he was doing. Still, she's up now, so she dials room service and asks them to send up breakfast, and then takes a moment to enjoy herself. She's an Executive on a business trip, everything to be expensed, SC&P's LA Office apparently still up and running despite Pete and Ted's return to New York, and it's about as far from where she ever expected to be even only a few years ago. In New York, Don pops into Roger's office having been told Roger wanted to see him. Roger tells him to come in and take a seat, a phrase which often has bad news following quickly behind. Don seems untroubled too, openly carrying a beer that he sets down on Roger's table as he takes his seat, Roger - who will drink liquor in the morning, sure, but BEER!?! - only making a complaint that he should be drinking coke, presumably because it is a McCann-Erickson Account ("It's the Real Thing" is still a year away). He instructs Don to grab a pad and paper, explaining that their "benevolent overlords" have invited select presidents of select subsidiaries to attend a "godless retreat in the Bahamas". Don immediately grasps what is wanted here, Roger needs to make a speech and he wants him to write it. Roger agrees that if it was just a toast, he'd happily handle that himself, but after Caroline looked at the "fine print" (my guess is that it was just THE print) they realized they needed to actually provide a real statement on where they see the future of SC&P. So he has Harry producing a "manifesto" with the computer and Ted doing performance reviews, but he needs Don to write him a "Gettysburg Address" to cap everything off. Don shrugs, only asking when it needs to be done by. Monday, explains Roger, and when Don isn't overly pleased at the looming deadline, points out that ONE of them is very busy and can't do it, gesturing to the pile of work he has (the downside of him finally becoming the Leader Cooper said he couldn't be, he actually HAS to work!). Don testily points out that this work includes a paid trip to the Bahamas, and Roger somehow manages to be both condescending and genuine when he asks how he is, dismisses his claims he has never felt better by noting he certainly has looked better, and offers to bring in his barber to fix Don's normally pristine hair and give him a shave. Don declines and leaves with his beer, Caroline fruitlessly buzzing Roger trying to get his attention as he goes back to looking through all the paperwork... who knew being the President of one of the 25 biggest Ad Agencies in America would be a lot of work!?! In LA, Joan arrives at the SC&P Office and greets the secretary, Dee, who is delighted to see her in the flesh for the first time. The door to the office opens and we finally get out look at who replaced Pete Campbell and Ted Chaough as the face of SC&P in Los Angeles, the man who represents the brilliant creative-lead vision of the Agency to the West Coast. Oh my God it's Lou Avery. Yes, apparently that 3-year-contract and the vow to milk it for every cent no matter what proved true, because Lou is apparently happy working almost entirely alone out in LA now.... and the New York Office is probably just as glad of it too! He greets Joan and asks how her trip was, but even as they share polite small-talk he is putting on his coat and fetching his hat, surprising her by claiming he is about to head off for an errand but will be back for their first interview at lunch. Joan is confused, why is the first interview of the day at lunch? Lou points out that SC&P is looking to hire somebody from a pre-existing job (presumably to work alongside Lou) which means they have to sneak out, it's either breakfast or lunch as options. Joan can accept that, but notes she thought they could use the time beforehand to rank the candidates in order of preference. Lou breezily waves that off too, saying he's already ranked them and he's sure she has as well, so it would be pointless to do it all over again. With that, and a quick check of the best traffic route to take from presumably LA-Native Dee, Lou Avery is out the door and Joan is left alone with the secretary. If this is the blase attitude that Lou takes to working this office when a Partner (is she still a Partner?) is in town, what does it say about his work ethic when he's basically got the place to himself? Still... the alternative is having him in New York, so maybe nobody cares! In New York, Don is finally shaving in his office as Meredith reads over the brief notes he has taken for consideration of the "Gettysburg Address" Roger wants him to write. It's all stock-standard stuff: more awards, more money, more international business.... and a space station? "Gas Station," Don corrects her, presumably meaning one of the Seven Sisters, as Peggy pops in and apologizes if she is interrupting... but also makes it very clear she has no intention to STOP interrupting, warning Meredith to stay out of this when she tells her Don (Shaving!) is busy: they need him to sign off on their Peter Pan Cookie campaign and he knows as well as they do that it can't go out until he has. So Don saunters out of his office behind Peggy, joining her, Ed, Mathis and a bored Pete in the Conference Room who asks him if he needs to set up the pitch for him like he would with the clients. Don says just broad strokes are fine, so Ed and Mathis leap up and run through the idea: "Dear John" letters in children's handwriting with a kid voice-over explaining why they left the competitors for the unique taste of Tinker Bell cookies. They run through a series of puns based on the rival cookies, Don cutting them off when he's heard enough, asking for the tagline.... and less than impressed when not for the first time it involves the word love, a concept he has a complicated enough relationship with already before watering it down further as the most basic of taglines. Mathis at least has an alternative: One Tink and you're hooked. Ed is reluctant though, pointing out the kids won't know Tink means Tinkerbell, but a clearly uninterested Don reminds them they'll be explaining who Tinkerbell is multiple times throughout the commercial spot: apparently redundancy is perfectly fine in THIS case! With that he leaves, his "job" done, and when Pete grumpily asks if they'll be ready to present on time, Peggy tries to play off Don just upending the tagline by forcing a thin smile and assuring him that little details like this are WHY they had the meeting and included Don just now. Pete takes her at her word, but not without a grumpy look Ed and Mathis' way before he goes, obviously not happy that they didn't have work that Don could immediately rubber-stamp... and they don't fail to notice his annoyance.   In LA, Joan checks in with Dee, concerned that their first interviewee - Jim McCloud - is going to be there any minute, but there's no sign of Lou yet. Dee explains that he called to say he was running late, news that Joan is not happy to ONLY be hearing now, demanding to know where he called from. Dee at least seems to understand Joan's position of authority, worryingly asking Joan not to be angry at Lou, explaining that he's working on something very big. That does pique Joan's interest, because if Lou is working on a big client it is news she should be in on, and so Dee excitedly lets her in on the secret. It's loving Scout's Honor. Yes, to Joan's disbelief, Dee explains that Lou has been in talks with Hanna-Barbera to potentially make a cartoon out of a comic he has written "like Gomer Pyle... but he's a monkey!" THAT is how he has been spending his days in LA while getting paid good money by SC&P, apparently so brazen (or at least aware of his temporary status in the Agency) that he took a meeting on the same day Joan was in town to work with him on a new hire. Joan asks how long this has been going on, getting a delightfully Meredith-style answer from Dee of,"Since he was in the army... I think he misses it!" Before she can grill her further though, there is a knock on the door, and Joan puts on her professional face, greeting the man at the door, asking if he is Jim McCloud. He agrees that he is, asking who she is.... and hey, it's Bruce Greenwood! Which is guess means Jim McCloud is gonna get the job! She introduces herself, giving her name and explaining she is an Account Executive AND Partner (well that answers that question) before apologizing that Mr. Avery is stuck in traffic but they'll get started without him. But as she asks Dee to fetch Mr. McCloud some coffee, Lou Avery arrives, saying he hopes he didn't keep them waiting but he was catching up... with Jim McCloud!?! Yes, there is another, sadly non-Bruce Greenwood, man just behind Lou, the Jim McCloud who was coming in to be interviewed. Lou introduces him to Joan, who after a moment shakes his hand and greets him, and then Lou leads McCloud on into his office, asking Dee to get him a Sanka. That leaves Joan and Mr. NOT-McCloud, and a thankfully amused Joan asks who he actually is. "Richard Burghoff," he admits with a cheeky grin, explaining that when a lady like her walks up and assumes you're somebody else... you pretend to be somebody else! "I'm a little nearsighted, not blind," he chuckles, having admitted he actually knocked on their door looking for his optometrist... and then straight up invites her to dinner. She hesitates, though she is clearly flattered, and he goads her to give him a try.... he wants to see if he can get the job! When Lou calls to ask if she is coming, Richard takes the chance to suggest they get French, giving her his card, and saunters out of the room obviously feeling like he just hit the jackpot. Joan herself has a little bit of strut in her own walk as she moves to join Lou, amused, intrigued and curious about the somewhat older but clearly still attractive and self-confident man she has unexpectedly met. At the Francis' spooky mansion, Sally is painstakingly signing traveler's cheques while sitting at the kitchen table with her mother. She asks WHY she is signing all of these now, and Betty cheerfully schools her daughter by explaining that they have her sign it again when they cash it out, so she can make sure the signatures match. Sally considers that for a moment, then points out that if somebody stole the cheques, they'd now have an example of her signature they could copy! Betty, who isn't entirely sure how to answer this seeming loophole, retreats to the safety measure of,"They have it worked out, Sally!" rather than admit she doesn't know how they get around that. Sally asks why she's snapping at her, especially since the trip she's about to go on was Betty's idea in the first place. Surprisingly, rather than get angrier, Betty just smiles cheerfully and admits that she's going to miss her, making suggestions for other stops they can make on their trip, like Colonial Williamsburg. Still signing, Sally reminds her that they have to make 12 States in 12 days, so the bus can't stop everywhere. Betty again doesn't get angry, just acknowledging that when she was Sally's age and did a similar trip, it was only six States, so she didn't know how rushed it way. "Weren't they still colonies?" teases Sally, and not only does Betty not get angry at that either, she actually laughs at the barb. Why is she being so indulgent? Because Sally is doing one of the things that Betty "expects" from a girl her age, which is why she suggested the trip in the first place. As we know, when things are going along in line with Betty's worldview, everything is sweetness and light, she even admits that she and her friends got into a little trouble on their trip and if Sally was to do the same it's also entirely to be expected. Of course, Betty's idea of trouble is that she and her giggling friends trying to break all the light-bulbs in the hallway at every hotel. That completely baffles Sally, noting at last that they're not going to do that. But then Betty does bring up a more serious subject, admitting that she's aware they will probably bump into boys on the trip. Clearly bracing herself, not really wanting to have this conversation but wanting to treat her daughter somewhat like an adult, she asks that she have the good sense not to act like she's been let out of a cage just because she's on a trip. "I'm sorry mother," notes Sally quietly,"This conversation is a little late.... and so am I." For a second Betty looks almost ready to rear up and strike down her own child into a pillar of salt... and then she regains control of herself, the barest twitch of the corner of her mouth lifts up in acknowledgement that this was a good one, and she just firmly notes disapprovingly but not without love that everything is a joke to her. Sally actually grins at this, pleased not only at getting away with the kind of joke that would have driven her mother into a frenzy a year or two earlier, but that Betty actually seemed somewhat amused by it in spite of herself. Have these two finally both matured enough where they can actually talk to - and more importantly, see - each other as another human being and not whatever demon-figure they have considered the other as for so long?   Don returns home and finds Melanie clearing up after a full day of viewings. When he asks how things went, she grumpily notes they went as well as expected: everybody loved the lobby, but the weirdly empty apartment is a problem. Don of course treats this like he's talking to one of his Copywriters, talking down to her, reminding her there are other ways to sell things, insisting that the would-be buyers having to use their imagination is a good thing and gives her an opportunity to sell them on a dream. He asks who the best prospect was, a young stockbroker with a 4-year-old and another on the way, and he immediately launches into a fairy-tale about how this place was owned by the inventor of the Frisbee who moved his family into a castle in France because of "taxes", confidently declaring to Melanie that you just need to offer "a little glamor, a little hope." But Melanie isn't a copywriter desperate for approval and Don doesn't control her future even if he does have the ability to fire her like he could any of them: she isn't a magician and she has to show this apartment to people with their eyes open, and this place looks like exactly what it is, a place where a sad person lives, a man who got divorced, spilled wine on the carpet and couldn't be bothered to replace it even for himself. As always, Don gets petulant when people don't immediately fall under his spell, snapping at her not to blame him for HER failure. But she's now cowed, the apartment reeks of failure and the people looking at it understand that immediately: it isn't the highly desirable city apartment that wowed the Rosens who lived only a floor below anymore, now it's an $85,000 fixer-upper! On some level Don knows this, and especially knows that the apartment is a reflection of himself. Because the anger is gone now, replaced by an almost pathetic appeal to normalcy as he puts on a little smile and tells her he has a good feeling about tomorrow. "We'll see," she grunts, collecting her things, and walks out having said her piece and reminded him yet again of something he is only just beginning to come to grips with. The apartment, like Don himself, is no longer just immediately appealing/desired. For so long he has been used to the idea that everybody wants to be him, or be with him, or wished to emulate him in some way. But Megan put it best last episode, he has become a sad, sloppy, liar. Melanie just nailed him with the line about this being where a sad man lives. From season one on he has been established royalty, and his authority and power only grew over every season (minus a blip during his drunken collapse after Betty divorced him), making him master of all he surveyed. But while he's still an unmitigated success business-wise, time is starting to catch up to him, he is getting older, his best days may be behind him, and like this apartment simply being who he is may no longer be enough to attract admiration and attention. In LA, things are looking far rosier to Joan. Adjusting her outfit, she returns to the hotel bed and with a smile reminds her guest that she has an early flight. "You're not going anywhere!" laughs Richard, hauling her into the bed, naked himself because apparently their dinner went VERY well. She giggles at his lamentation that he's been in prison for five years, saying he's acting like it, assuming his talk is just leading to more sex, but he has a happy plan he wants to lay out for her. He wants her to cancel her flight, then he'll drive her up to Malibu and they'll eat lobster "in one of those tourist traps where everyone's getting engaged" before continuing to the Biltmore in Santa Barbera where he plans to sit on a lounge chair and watch her get in and out of the pool all day. She admits it sounds wonderful, but she DOES have someplace she needs to be and she is sure he does too. He promises her once again that he is retired, and she laughs at the story he told her about having been a millionaire developer, asking if he's a movie producer too and really thinks she just "fell off the truck". But it's true, he assures her, and the talk gets a little more serious as they share a bit more about each other's lives. He is divorced, after 22 years and remaining married "for the kids", the moment his youngest graduated and went to Europe he realized this is what he wanted to do too. Or rather, he wanted the freedom to do what he wanted. He built a strong and successful career but he also denied himself and missed out on a lot of things he always wanted to do, and now that the marriage is over, the kids are grown, and the money has all been made, he is finally free to do what he wants. For Joan of course it isn't that simple, though she laughs and agrees with Richard's assessment that "boy did he blow it" when she admits she is divorced too. But she NEEDS to work, and when he asks if that means she has mouths to feed, she considers a moment and then says no, whether out of a conscious decision to hide that she has children to preserve the magic of a one-night stand, or because technically she is telling the truth (she doesn't NEED to work to feed Kevin, she's a millionaire in her own right, at least on paper). No, she explains, she just finally found the job she always wanted. "So you're just an executive on an out-of-town trip?" he asks, and they laugh over the role-reversal of the usual old story of a one-night-stand as she promises to send him flowers. They kiss again, and for the moment at least she forgets about her early flight, the return to New York, Kevin, Gail, SC&P and everything else, and just enjoys the moment.   Don returns to work, Meredith letting him know that Roger popped by wanting to pick up what he'd written, but she told him he was at the library. Don admits a trip to the library isn't the worst idea, but when Ted also arrives to work and calls out a hello from across the floor, it seems to give Don another idea. Soon in Ted's office, Don joins him with his coffee and two donuts, explaining that Meredith got him two but he only needs one. Ted happily accepts the offered donut, though whether he can already see this is a painfully transparent ploy isn't entirely clear yet. It should be once Don starts just casually asking questions about the casting for the new St. Josephine's commercial and asking questions about how Ted feels about their current lot: does he ever feel like there is less to do but more to think about? Ted still appears to be taking this at face value, stating that he doesn't feel this way but maybe that makes him a "bad" manager for being too hands on? But when Don starts pushing for his ideas about what is next, what is AFTER casting and shooting the commercial, about the future, about how what they have now is good but COULD be better.... Ted absolutely understands what is happening. Chuckling, he lets Don know that Roger actually asked HIM to write the "Gettysburg Address" first, and Don can't help but grin broadly at getting caught in the act of trying to poach ideas and get Ted to do his homework for him (which is actually what Roger is having Don do!). He asks how Ted got out of it, and he makes no bones about the fact he (probably quite easily) convinced Roger that Don is better at painting an enticing picture than he is. Even that observation, made to get Ted out of the extra work, is a relatively big concession from Ted who for so long tried to paint himself as either Don's equal or superior in the Creativity stakes. But Don is clearly struggling, and so asks what Ted's thoughts were. They were, unfortunately, largely in line with the notes Don already gave Meredith: an oil company, Goodyear Tires. Is that REALLY it, Don asks, and almost timidly (and quite adorably) Ted finally confesses his real big dream, looking like a little boy admitting he has a crush on somebody. He'd.... he'd..... he'd really love to land a pharmaceutical! Oh Ted  "Bigger accounts?" asks Don in disbelief, and Ted freely admits that this lack of a sexy and exciting vision is exactly why HE is doing the performance reviews and Don is writing the Gettysburg Address! Standing, Don admits that this time last year his main worry was if there would even BE a business next year, and Ted adds on for both of them that the thought of whether either of them would still be here was also a major factor. Now, Don admits, it could be anything... and that's the problem, without that short term goal to aim for that has kept him going, the future is suddenly a completely open and daunting thing, coupled with a growing concern that maybe there ISN'T anything to aim for to keep his interest up, maybe he's already peaked? In Joan's office, there is plenty of work to keep her occupied, until her secretary buzzes in to let her know that Richard Burghoff on the line. She pauses for a moment, then says she'll take it, removing her earring and putting on a softer voice as she says hello. In a hotel room, Richard cheerfully declares that it looks like her story checks out, though he's probably more pleased that it was a real number he was given more than anything else. She admits she is happy to hear from him and asks how things are in paradise, and he confesses he wouldn't know... because he's in town. Surprised and a little uneasy at first, she asks for confirmation he's in New York, but when he confidently asks her where THEY will be having dinner tonight, the unease is drowned in a tidal wave of excitement and she suggests The Oak Room at 7:30. He asks if he should pick her up at work or home, but she easily avoids that conundrum by saying she'll meet him there. "Good, you can make an entrance," he agrees, and they both hang up with poo poo-eating grins, delighted at the thought of seeing each other again so soon. At the vending machine, Don considers the snacks on offer - including his beloved Hershey's Bar - and makes his selection. But before he can enjoy it, Pete Campbell accosts him, declaring they have a peanut butter cookie problem. But before he can elaborate, Peggy launches in from the other side of the corridor, proclaiming they do NOT have a problem and Don shouldn't listen to him. The two argue back and forth with Don between them, Peggy insisting that the client hating the layout just means they need to fix the layout, not the rest of the work. But Pete continues to unload, explaining that when the clients expressed their discontent, Ed and Mathis suddenly turned on each other and began arguing themselves, and Mathis used.... a four letter word that starts with F! gently caress, I hope it wasn't fart. Peggy burns a hole through Pete's head with her death-glare as she insists that Pete can't fire HER workers, and when Pete angrily points out that he CAN fire HER, Don has to finally jump in to settle everybody down, insisting that nobody is getting fired. Rather, he insists that they have to send Ed and Mathis back in, and when Pete is horrified at that idea, Don reminds him that sending in new Creative at this point would make it look like they're starting over. Besides, the Clients are adults, they'll have heard the f-word before (gently caress, I really hope it wasn't fake), they'll get over it. Begrudgingly, Pete agrees but insists that he wants all new work to present. Peggy takes great satisfaction in declaring that now the "problem" has been "solved", and both her and Pete turn and stride away, leaving Don with his snack (Lifesavers was his choice in the end) and disbelief that something so utterly mundane was being treated like such a world-ending problem... which is itself part of the problem, as shown by his chat with Ted earlier and the apartment conversation with Melanie before then: Don really doesn't seem all that invested in anything going on anymore. At the Francis' Residence, Loretta answers the doorbell, the young man on the other side explaining he is a friend of Sally's who has come to see her. Loretta calls up to Sally that she has a visitor, and seems charmed when the nice young man asks her name, shaking his hand when offered, not immediately hearing any alarm bells when he makes a point of asking if Mrs. Draper is at home, more confused by the use of Mrs. Draper over Mrs. Francis. It is, of course, Glen Bishop. Sally rushes down the stairs, delighted and surprised to see him, asking what he is doing here. He gives her a hug, explaining he was in the neighborhood, seemingly untroubled when Sally lets him know that Betty is at home. In fact, he looks extremely confident: he's lost ALL of his baby-fat at last, a tall (relative to Sally), lean and attractive young man, seemingly well past the inadequacy and uncomfortable tension of his youth and teen years. She takes pleasure in noting that he survived Finals, something that was apparently bothering him the last time they spoke, and when he asks what her plans are she explains she'll soon be going on a "Teen Tour" and then figures she will probably lifeguard for the summer again. He clarifies what he meant, what is she doing NOW, and then the doorbell rings again, Glen answering while Sally calls out to the house that she's got it. The woman on the other side of the door is with Glen, who explains he is almost done, while she admits sheepishly that she needs to use the restroom. Glen introduces the two of them, the girl is Paula, who stares around in surprised awe at the monstrous interior of the monstrous house and asks if she could have a "map" to the powder room. Thankfully, Sally is not even remotely concerned or upset that Glen has another woman with him, it seems her long-standing claims that she doesn't think of him in a romantic sense are entirely true, and happily gives her direction. Paula passes Betty as she goes, offering a strained,"You have a lovely home," greeting in her rush to get to the bathroom, Betty not bothered but simply continuing on to Sally and Glen, noting that she didn't know she had guests over. Glen explains that they just dropped by, they were going to Playland and he thought Sally might like to come. Sally nods but casts a quick look Betty's way, her independent streak not quite pronounced enough to not check for permission from her mother first, especially given who the person giving the invite is... and then something astounding happens. Betty asks her to introduce this nice young man to her. Yes, Betty has NO idea who he is. She doesn't recognize him in the slightest, and why would she? The last time she saw him was in Ossining, hauling her daughter away after "catching" her meeting up with a far younger, chubbier version of the handsome young man in front of her right now. She doesn't know (presumably) about him sneaking into New York to meet with Sally and go to the museum, or him sneaking himself and a friend into Sally's prestigious boarding school to smoke dope and make out with her classmates before getting into a fistfight over a pass made at Sally. Sally and Glen share surprised smiles, and then Glen introduces himself to a stunned Betty, explaining who he is and reminding her that he lived up the street from her and Sally in Ossining. "Glen?" she asks, surprised, before offering a my goodness and asking how old he is now. She's surprised to learn he is 18, and an awkward moment follows as Sally finds her eyes darting between her friend and her mother who only appear to have eyes for the other. Even Sally's initial troubled query on the two of them staying in touch seems more like a reflex action with no real venom behind it, easily smoothed over by Glen's not-entirely-false explanation that they've been pen-pals.   When she comments on how much he's changed and Glen offers an almost wowed,"You look exactly the same", Sally breaks the spell by mentioning that her mother found her backpack, wrenching it from her hands, Sally almost looking annoyed to have her attention diverted away. Returning to Glen, she asks if he is in school, meaning college, and he explains he just finished his Freshman year at Purchase. She's impressed, noting it is meant to be a good college, and with barely concealed pride mentions that she is going back to college herself soon, which Glen notes is "cool". That's really more than Sally can take, she may not be jealous of Paula but she is sure as hell jealous of her mother, and grumpily asks if she can have some ACTUAL money to take to Playland? Of course, notes Betty, telling her to get her pocketbook, and Sally asks why she can't do it herself, desperate now to separate her mother and her friend. Thankfully Paula returns, apologizing for not giving a more polite greeting before this and explaining how badly she needed the bathroom. Betty isn't remotely bothered, not while Glen is taking up her attention, and if she can't help but notice Paula slide her arm around Glen's it if anything only further relieves any lingering doubts she might have had that Sally and Glen had something going on. When she offers them all drinks, Sally is aghast to hear Glen not only request a beer but for Sally to gladly agree to giving him one (it would be over a decade before the drinking age was lifted to 19, and to 21 a few years after that). Paula though points out he's meant to be taking them to Playland, and Sally again points out that she needs money, and finally Sally reluctantly and grumpily manages to pull herself away to fetch her pocketbook. With her gone, Paula quietly asks Sally if she has any grass, and Sally simply shrugs and points out they'll be able to get some at Playland itself. Betty returns, handing some money over to Sally but warning her not to be too late since she needs to pack for her trip, before telling Glen and Paula to enjoy the rest of their summer. Just like that, what could have been a calamitous encounter seems to have resolved with no issues whatsoever, and they go their separate wa- Then Glen decides to say one last thing.  Pulling himself up as straight as he can, he turns back to Betty and tells her that he thinks he should make a more formal goodbye. Sally looks apprehensive at whatever he's about to pull, while Betty - who has apparently completely forgotten her raging accusations towards him as a little boy (and to be fair, he'd done some hosed up stuff before then) - promises him that he is welcome to visit at any time. But he won't be able to, he explains, because he's shipping out next week. Oh my God he's going to Vietnam. Betty is surprised, but Sally is absolutely aghast. "ARE YOU loving STUPID!?!" she demands, luckily no peanut-butter sellers nearby to be offended, causing her mother to instinctively admonish her, but Sally could give a poo poo about decorum in this moment. She slashes through Glen's attempts to justify his decision, reminding him he wept after Kent State and talked about joining the protest movement. When he tries to make an angry appeal to morality, claiming it would be wrong for "us" to sit around getting high while "negro soldiers" die overseas, she's having none of that. She demands to know if Paula put Glen up to this, causing the startled woman to admit "we only just met!", and snarls at Glen to enjoy himself at Playland.... and to remember the other kids there will be the same age as the ones he is murdering in Vietnam. She races up the stairs, ignoring her mother's angry demands she return. Glen though says it is fine, it is much the reaction he expected to get from her, and there is clearly still a significant element of that weird, obsessed little boy in him as he appears to be far more interested in Betty than Sally. When Betty assures him he is doing the right thing and has grown into a fine young man, he laps up the praise hungrily, and when she promises him that they look forward to seeing him again on his return and that includes Sally no matter what she might have just said, he only has ears for the fact that she wants to see him again. He and Paula leave together, the latter clearly bewildered at how she got herself into this when all she was expecting was a fun day getting high at Playland. But now that Betty is alone, she takes a moment to frown, because at last the war has shown up on her doorstep. This is the woman who insisted earlier in the season that the war was right and just and needed to be continued to be fought, who now has to face the fact that a young man that she knows, who she knew as a literal child in fact, is about to go over there, be given a gun, and to kill and possibly be killed.... and for what? At SC&P, Don lies on his couch musing into his tape recorder, trying to figure out how to put together Roger's Gettysburg Address. His musings though are once again taking on a more personal bent, as he says they have to ASSUME that things are good, but that they have to get better.... they're SUPPOSED to get better. Thankfully he's interrupted from this spiral downwards by Meredith buzzing in to let him know that Mr. Mathis needs to see him. He calls him in, Mathis presenting him with a gift-wrapped bottle of booze, thanking him for fighting for him and asking if they should open it now. Don points out he already has a drink and darkly observes that nobody should have said Don fought for HIM, making it clear he was saving the Account and not Mathis himself, and clearly in no mood for Mathis' timid attempts to suggest any stronger bond between them than a Creative Director and one of many copywriters on his team. So he outright asks Mathis what he wants, and when Mathis practically begs him to come to the next meeting he refuses, making it clear - and actually giving good advice - that Mathis needs to make this right himself if he wants to actually succeed. But Mathis has no idea, he's not exactly neurotic but he's also not the (presenting) deep well of confidence that is Don Draper either, so what does he do? Don considers that and offers the only advice he can: his own experience. He recounts how he once spoke up during a meeting with Lucky Strike, a meeting he wasn't supposed to talk in AT ALL, and how he knew if he apologized none of them would ever want to work with him again. He's disgusted when Mathis asks WHY they wouldn't want to work with him, asking if he really needs to explain that, assuming that Mathis would just have an instinctive understanding of weird male ideas of machismo and the mindset of never showing "weakness" by apologizing. So how did he make it right without apologizing? Well at the next meeting, he walked directly up to Lee Garner - the most powerful man in one of the most powerful tobacco companies in the world - and shook his hand while looking him directly in the eye and expressing that he couldn't believe the balls on Lee daring to walk into this meeting after the way he embarrassed himself. Mathis laughs, as impressed with Don's ballsiness as Lee Garner clearly was himself, stating that he thinks he understands. Perhaps considering the idea of Mathis trying to deliver a line like that makes Don second-guess himself though, and he makes a simpler suggestion: do something like bring a bar of soap with him and explain it's there for him to wash his mouth out with soap if he can't contain himself again. Mathis though seems assured, having taken onboard Don's lesson: confidence is the key, carry himself like he belongs, don't apologize, make it into a joke so the problem is addressed but then move on. He leaves looking less dejected than before, while Don sits back and just lets the quiet take him again, still no closer to solving his own problem on what speech to write for Roger to wow everybody in the Bahamas with.  
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Jul 30, 2022 13:36
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At the Oak Room, Richard is happily regaling Joan with a story of how one of his big golf resort developments was hampered by the appearance of radicals demanding low income housing and something about killing birds. Amused, Joan notes they must have REALLY been radical to prefer low income housing to an expensive golf course, and when Richard cheerfully asks whose side she is one she admits happily that she roots for the underdog, a reply that seems to greatly please him. It also offers him a smooth segue-way into suggesting they go back to his hotel room, saying he can check how soft her heart really is if they get a nightcap. She agrees immediately, but as he motions to the waiter for the check he also notices her glancing at her watch, and his heart sinks. Quietly, a forced smile on his face, he asks her where she told "him" she was going to be, and when she acts confused he asks her to tell him the truth: she is married, isn't she? She assures him she is not, but when he sighs and asks her wearily to tell him the truth, she considers for a moment and then admits there is another male in her life... she has a little boy. "....oh," he says quietly, and when she explains his name is Kevin and he's four-years-old, he notes that his is a VERY little boy. "Does that make a difference?" she asks, a sweet smile on her face that does little to disguise that this is a very important test. She seems to have deliberately not mentioned her son for fear of scaring off a man she is clearly getting along with very well, and though if it was to end up being serious she would have to tell him sooner or later, she obviously didn't think it would be this soon. But Richard assures her that it does not, and once again asks for the check, apparently not put off or his desire any less for her in light of this new information. In spite of her guard clearly having been up, Joan's smile broadens into a more natural one, relieved that maybe this might turn out okay after all. Having less of a good time is Sally Draper, who has paused in her packing to make an upset phone-call to the Glen Residence, speaking with an unseen Helen Bishop (who I was once convinced would be a major recurring character in this show) and all but begging her to ask Glen to call her when he returns, fighting back tears as she insists that Helen pass on her apology and also that Sally has to say a proper goodbye to him before she leaves on her trip tomorrow. She apologizes to Helen herself, who has apparently started crying on her end of the line, obviously not any happier than Sally that her son is about to travel around the world and possibly die in a pointless and stupid war. Like Betty, Sally is suddenly face-to-face with the reality of the war finally intruding on the comfortable bubble of her life, no longer an intellectual exercise but very very real... and what they are feeling pales in comparison to what Helen must be going through. In Richard's hotel room, he and Joan are getting hot and heavy, but she has to break it off to ask to make a phone-call to her home to let them know she'll be late. He offers to make her a drink as she asks the hotel operator for an outside line, and she places a call to the babysitter she has hired, what looks like a college-aged woman with barefeet currently laying on the couch watching television while Kevin is presumably zonked out asleep in bed. Her name is Maureen, and when Joan explains she may be late and asks if she can stay a few hours longer, she offers the infuriating response of,"Ummmmmmmmmmm I don't know......", stating that she has "someplace to be" but finally relenting that she'll stay till at least midnight. She mentions that Kevin had trouble getting to sleep because he was scared of a.... cow? "It's a horse," sighs Joan, a wonderful little line that adds so much with so little about the weird little fixations little kids suddenly come up with, asking if everything is all right now? Maureen promises to check on him, and Joan thanks her and hangs up, accepting the drink from Richard and telling him they now have all the time they need. "Until Midnight," he observes, and when Joan tries to play it off as a joke by gently teasing that she had no intention of staying the night, she realizes that Richard is no longer joking.... and that his assurance earlier that her having a child wasn't a problem was not as accurate as she had hoped or he had believed. Setting aside her drink, she asks if he would prefer she was married, and he actually has the gall to condescendingly ask her to give him some credit for not being a "cad" and waiting till after they had sex to tell her he couldn't deal with dating somebody with a child. "I don't like this," he explains, getting a dangerous,"You don't like WHAT?" response from her, and when he complains that he loves kids but he's raised his own already and he's done with that part of his life, she tries her best to keep from sounding devastated at the casual cruelty, forcing a quip that he was being presumptuous about where their relationship was going. But he's confident on that front at least, saying they both know what this relationship is - meaning not the usual "we're just having no-strings-attached sex" but rather than there was clearly a connection and a chance for something more.... or at least there was. "You're such a disappointment," she sighs, miserable but also genuinely, truthfully, sincerely disappointed in him. His suddenly angry proclamation that his plan was a life with no more plans and that this would be ruined by her being tethered to her child stuns and saddens her, but it also makes her next move very, very clear. She agrees that he is right, meaning that there is no way they could be together given his intentions for the rest of his life, and so she simply stands and walks out of the room without a backward look. It's a disappointment, it's horrible, it's depressing... but she's also long since past the point where she feels either the desire and certainly no longer has the need to bury her own feelings and plans to make her partner feel good about themselves. She's a rich and successful executive, she'll be fine without him.... it's just that for a couple of wonderful nights she could pretend that maybe she could have it all after all, that real love she told Bob she was willing to continue to wait for rather than settle. Of course, the moment she is gone Richard winces, knowing how badly he handled that, regretting it already, knowing he just blew it with a truly unique and spectacular woman. Just like he said Greg had, Richard just blew it with her big time, and at least Greg had the excuse of being young and powerfully, arrogantly stupid. In Don's office, among the magazines he has been looking to for inspiration for the future are a Time Magazine from April with a drawn cover of Jesse Jackson, and a Look Magazine from January laying out all the NEW that comes with the exciting futuristic decade of the 1970s. The idea is obvious, it's a new decade and that means a chance to start again, to begin anew, to march into the future, to find new inspiration and to change up and unshackle from the problems of the past. The trouble is, the inspiration isn't coming, the chains of the past don't seem to unshackle particularly easily, and Don seems to be falling deeper into ennui despite his efforts to find a spark to reclaim his interest. Meredith buzzes in to let him know Miss Olson wants to see him, and he sets aside The New Yorker magazine he was scanning for anything and tells her to let her in. Peggy steps inside, explaining that Ted told her she needed to perform her own performance review.... and she's tired of it. "I'd start with that," he quips, but she's being serious. While most would probably kill to do their own performance review, Peggy is both sick of Ted obviously trying to avoid dealing too closely with her as well as in desperate need of validation: she WANTS her performance reviewed, and if Ted won't do it, she wants Don to. So Don takes her paperwork from her, bracing himself for another of the boring admin tasks that he has always rankled at doing even back in the Sterling Cooper days... and then inspiration of a type hits him. If he can't figure out the future for himself, or get anything remotely inspiring from Ted.... then who better than his protege Peggy Olson, who has proven time and again to have the same knack for pitching and imagination that he has always credited himself with? Yes, her performance review will be doing his (Roger's) homework for him (and Roger)! So he asks her what she sees for the future. She considers the enormity of that question then asks one of her own... is that on the performance review? No, he admits, some of his old smoothness creeping back in now that his interest is piqued, admitting that he's just curious. So she tells him: she wants to be the first female Creative Director of this company. He grins, and - offended - she asks if he thinks that is funny? No, he quickly explains, he's just impressed at how quickly she was able to answer the question. "What else is there?" she points out, but now Don is on a roll: okay, so let's say she becomes Creative Director? What next? She considers that, and the answers she lays out are much the same as Ted's and of course his own from back in the day, albeit spoken with a clear wistfulness beyond their somewhat more jaded perspective: she wants to land something big, to create a catchphrase, and yes she admits openly when asked, she wants to be famous. The trouble is, Don REALLY want answers he can apply to himself. What he fails to realize (or accept) is that Peggy's goals and her dreams are genuine, and that achieving them would (or at least might) bring her happiness. He can't realize or accept that because for the most part he HAS achieved what she dreams of, and he ISN'T happy, so how could she be? No no, there must be something else! Something more! And if he can just keep pushing her, maybe she can articulate what he can't and he can find something new to finally be excited about after everything else he has ever done has failed to bring him (lasting) happiness. When he pushes her further, demanding to know what else, she finally lands on the final thing, a trite but still genuine answer: she wants to create something of lasting value. "In advertising?" he chuckles, and now she's pissed off herself, complaining that she wouldn't have asked him to do this if she had known he was going to be "in a mood". Complaining that this is about her job and NOT the meaning of life, he sternly asks if she thinks those two things are unrelated (they probably should be!), and she snaps back with a killer shot that leaves him too stunned to respond with one of his usual imperious final words: why doesn't HE give her a list of his dreams so she can poo poo on them? She storms out of the office, and Don seems to at least realize that he hosed things up there, much like Richard only realized after Joan left that he handled things in the worst possible way. Peggy just came to him with a genuine desire to be evaluated, and instead he all but told her that her dreams and aspirations are an empty joke that won't mean anything. Good job, Creative Director, really leading the team there!   The next morning at Joan's, Kevin is happily scribbling in his coloring book while Joan sits smoking at the kitchen table, waiting impatiently for Maureen. When she arrives, Joan angrily demands to know where she was, an amused Maureen offering the good morning she did NOT get back at her before reminding her that she had a class. Joan angrily says she could have mentioned it last night, and when Maureen - scooping up Kevin - asks if Gail didn't tell her, Joan snaps that they make quite a pair, complaining that her mother just HAD to go on vacation now. Maureen quietly observes that it seems like Joan could use a vacation herself, and Joan angrily unloads on her, yelling that she's ruining her life before turning to march out the door and on her way to work... and freezes when Kevin innocently and happily calls out,"Bye bye!" to her. Pausing in the doorway, she immediately regrets her anger and taking it out on Maureen, or at least doing so right in front of Kevin. She takes a moment to gather herself, then calls back,"Bye bye, sweetie!" to her son before stepping out the door and closing it behind her, already wanting to put this day behind her. At SC&P, Peggy, Ed, and Mathis are waiting nervously for the Peter Pan Peanut Butter people to arrive. Pete leads them through the door, assuring them confidently that they'll be impressed if only with the speed at which they've turned around new creative work. Everybody stands, and before Peggy has a chance to speak, Mathis takes the lead, awkwardly greeting the executives again, and then with forced confidence declares,"Can't believe you two have the balls to walk back into this place after the way you embarrassed yourselves!" Oh. my. God.  Everybody's face falls, Peggy and Pete both staring in horror, Ed barely able to hold back a shocked grin, the Peter Pan people shocked, and mercifully everything cuts to black to save us all the agony of Mathis' death scene. In Don's office, he stares out the window, Meredith waiting patiently with pad and pen in hand to take down his notes for the "Gettysburg Address"... which simply aren't coming. Cheerfully she asked if he went to the World's Fair, since she thinks THAT is what the future will be like (wasn't it... in 1964?). In a glaring example of just how desperate Don is for inspiration, he asks her what her favorite part was, but we're denied Meredith's happy musings on the future by Mathis suddenly bursting into the office, angrily proclaiming,"Oh good, you're here!" when he sees Don. "...can I help you?" asks Meredith, trying in her own sweet way to remind Mathis there is a protocol to how you see Don Draper, but he just demands she get out, and she turns to look at Don for direction. He's fixated on Mathis though, bewildered by what he's talking about as Mathis sarcastically "thanks" him for his great advice getting him taken off the business. What is he talking about? Mathis complains that he tried Don's joke, confusing Don even further.... the soap one? "No, the one where I call them assholes!" bellows Mathis, somehow not grasping that maybe putting it like that explains why it went down so poorly. Meredith takes this as a clear cue to leave, and she slips out the door, Mathis closing it behind her as Don points out that he didn't have to do EXACTLY what Don told him he'd done himself, but to think of something himself. The trouble is, Mathis complains, he DID think of something to do, and that was to APOLOGIZE.... but of course Don doesn't understand that as a viable alternative, but guys like him never have to do it. "Guys like me know HOW to do it!" Don snaps back at him angrily, but now that Mathis has started to unload he doesn't mean to stop, sneering that Roger tells the same Lucky Strike story about Don... but in his version, Lee Garner Jr was in love with Don, and Roger had to be in the room just to stop him jacking Don off! "You have a foul mouth!" warns Don, despite the fact he gently mocked the idea of Peter Pan being upset by a curse word only a few days ago, demanding he take some responsibility for his own screw-up. He reminds Mathis that HE was given the account and HE is the one who failed to make anything of it, because he lacks character. "YOU lack character!" snaps Mathis back immediately, and then hits Don with a line that goes right to the heart of his own long-established imposter syndrome and deep-seated insecurities,"You're just handsome. Stop kidding yourself." For a moment all is quiet, and then Don - holding back his anger - tells him that everybody has problems, but some people can deal with them and some people can't.... and the next one he has to work his way past is losing his job, because he's fired. Mathis simply nods, agreeing that he knew that the moment he stormed into this office... but he also knew something else, a lesson that Don "taught" him... that he shouldn't apologize. With a rare last word in an argument with Don (unless you're Peggy Olson), Mathis strides out of the room, satisfied that if nothing else he gave his boss a piece of his mind before getting fired. But of course, while he's right that Don has obvious advantages in looks, confidence (or the appearance of it at least), a smooth voice and a presence that makes people want to be around him.... Don was also right that Mathis should have come up with something of his own. The advice that Don gave was biased towards his own natural gifts, but it was only advice, and Mathis knew better than anybody that he didn't have the same debonair, seemingly-easy authority that a Don Draper has... so why force himself to say such an astonishingly terrible line in such a nervous way? Don is a contradiction, as all human beings are, because despite often being assailed by self-doubt and convinced he'll finally be outed as a fraud.... when not spiraling out of control he also clearly believes for the most part his success is primarily down to talent and that others can also do what he does and just aren't trying hard enough or naturally gifted enough to do it, discounting the importance of his meticulously crafted appearance. Having Ed throw in his face that he lacks any actual character beyond just being handsome enough that people are wowed by anything he says or does came at the worst time for him, because of course the "Gettysburg Address" has brought into sharp focus his unhappiness with his life and the ultimate emptiness of his accomplishments. Meredith asks if everything is okay, and he simply asks her to shut the door, taking a seat in his empty office, with an empty apartment to go home to tonight, feeling empty inside. A sad man. A sad, sloppy, liar who just happens to be tall and handsome.  Joan is working in her office when she gets an odd call over the intercom from her secretary: Jim McCloud is here to see her!?! Confused as to what an applicant to work in the LA Office would be doing in New York, she steps out of her office and finds herself staring at McCloud's back, and demands to know what he is doing here. Turning around, he offers her flowers, and she takes them with an angry little thank you, more out of politeness than anything else. Because, of course, Jim McCloud is once again really Richard Burghoff. "I'm a heel, okay?" he admits, shamefaced. But Joan decides to confess something too, staring him directly in the eye and saying he was right, she is going to send her son away to boarding school! Richard is confused, but she keeps staring him down, coldly telling him that if the choice is between him and her son, then of course she will choose him over her own son, and remove her son from her life just so they can be together in a way that suits him. He takes the point, and tells her he never asked for that, but she isn't letting him get away with that, making him acknowledge that yes that is EXACTLY what he was telling her with his little tantrum at the hotel, and it is as ridiculous a notion as she just made it sound when she told him she would do it. So he explains why he is here, to apologize yes but also to make it clear that he has continued to think about things after she left. He made it clear that he had locked in his plan (for no plans) and refused to be shifted from that, but now he admits that he doesn't want his thinking to be rigid, because that kind of thing makes you old. So he lays out what he plans to do instead. He's going to buy property here in New York, because he wants to continue to be close to her. In spite of her clear anger, she finds herself yet again feeling the audacity of hope, and after a moment's thought decides now is the time to hit him with EVERYTHING, letting him know she also lives with her mother, and that she's been divorced... twice (six awful months with "Scotty"). He isn't bothered, insisting that he wants them ALL to visit with him and spend time, that he's willing to make her family part of his life if it means that he can continue to be a part of hers. His only "rigidness" comes when he asks where she lives and she tells him 12th Street, and they both share a laugh when he admits he isn't going to buy property there! He takes his leave, and she watches him go, sniffing the flowers, surprised but pleased that what had turned from a dream to a disaster might be turning back into a dream again. She finally has the job she always wanted, she turned down Bob's offer of a marriage of convenience, she has plenty of money (on paper at least, the money comes in installments but there is a lot of it, plus her actual salary!), and now it turns out she might have a romantic future once more. At the Francis' ridiculous mansion, Loretta calls out that she'll answer the doorbell, Betty continuing to read her magazine in the kitchen she seems to spend the majority of time within despite the massive home. As she reads, the visitor steps into the kitchen, explaining Loretta let them in as she was leaving, hoping they didn't surprise her in a bad way. It is, terrifyingly, Glen Bishop. Surprised and a little uneasy, she asks if he is aware that Sally has already left, and with that unsettling confidence he explains he was already aware of that, making it clear it was HER he came to see. She offers him a drink and he agrees, and when she goes to the fridge to collect something and asks what he'd like, he asks for the beer she was going to give him the other day. She brings it over to him, and he takes a drink, doing everything in his power to look cool, calm and collected as he comments on the fact that Sally is mad at him, his mother is mad at him.... but not Betty, she seems to understand what he is doing and why it is is important. She points out both Sally and his mother are scared for him, and admits that she is scared for him too, but he stresses again she understands the importance of his service. Trying to exude a manly aura, a confidence that makes what comes next inevitable, he proclaims he knows he will be fine because she is his.... and then leans forward and tries to kiss her. I have never been so relieved in my life as I was when Betty immediately turned her head aside and quietly made it clear that she had zero interest in kissing him. "Why?" he asks, and she simply notes she is married, the easiest way to let him down possible. Because despite the clear thrill she had to discover he had grown into a (young, small) man, there was no desire on her part for him, certainly not anything to make her even remotely consider risking her marriage, her life, her love of Henry etc. This obsession has always been one-sided, though given unintended encouragement at points due her desperate unhappiness in her marriage to Don when he was young and impressionable (her sobbing conversation with him in the parking lot of the supermarket in season one probably left an indelible mark on him). Miserable, pouting much like he did as the little boy denied her affections when he walked in on her in the bathroom or ran away from home and lived in Sally's playhouse, he complains that being with her was supposed to be the ONE good thing that came out of this whole affair. Betraying that he still thinks of her as some fantasy version who only ever existed in his own head, he insists that she knows him, that she knows the man he could be, despite the fact they haven't spoken in years and she didn't even recognize him when she saw him, that he has shared all his intimate thoughts, fears and hopes with Sally but that Betty barely knows him. Horrified, she asks him to tell her he did NOT sign up because he thought it would impress HER, and he admits that it far worse than that, and exposes the actual truth behind his sudden surprise bout of patriotism. He flunked out. She's saddened to realize the truth, this is simply a matter that he screwed up those Finals he told Sally he was so worried about, and flunking out of Purchase removed his ability to defer any draft call-up. It's not entirely clear if he signed up himself to get ahead of the draft or was just straight drafted, but presumably it is the former as he admits that his stepfather had threatened him when he found out he was not doing well in school.... but was intensely proud when he learned Glen was going to Vietnam. It seems whoever Helen ended up with (presumably this is still the man who Helen had another baby with?) was one of those "The army will make a man out of you and teach you discipline!" types, either unaware or unable to understand that Glen was actively against the war at worst and indifferent to it at best, but certainly not in anyway eager to be a part of it. Everything he told Paula and Sally and Betty was just trying to sell that lie, that he was committed and eager to go, and not that he was terrified and that the only thing that was keeping him going was the childish fantasy that maybe he would finally have his long dreamed of moment of love with Betty. She doesn't know what to say, and so she simply offers him the closest thing to love she can. She cups the back of his neck as he tries to hide the tears welling in his eyes, and she places his hand on the side of her face, offering him that level of intimacy at least. It isn't enough for him, but he knows it is all he is going to get, so he lets it rest there for a moment, and then he takes his hand away and slowly collects his jacket and begins to walk away. Offering what encouragement she can, she promises him that he is going to make it, she knows he will. He tries to take that in the spirit it is intended, even though he knows death is a very real possibility, or that even if he makes it back unscathed he'll be changed irrevocably by what he sees and does over there. He slowly walks away, his last childish fantasy denied, the trip into adulthood happening in the worst way possible for him, considered a man in every sense legally but still little more than that strange little boy who was looking for love and attention from the pretty neighbor woman who came by to sit on the couch with him one night in Ossining. Once he is gone, Betty's confident, encouraging smile falls, faced once again with the war on her doorstep, but this time without even the benefit of the pretense that Glen was going of his own free will out of a sense of duty and patriotism. It was easy for her to talk about service being the right thing to do, of being a necessary sacrifice and something everybody should be glad to do... but now it's somebody she knows, somebody she cares for her in her own way, somebody she knows is entirely unsuited to going to war, who won't have the protection of rank or family connections or some highly desired skill that gets them above the status of a frontline grunt and puts them in active harm's way?   Unaware that her friend has just unsuccessfully made a pass at her mother and then unloaded the truth of his miserable experience on her, Sally is having an awkward encounter of her own as she and her friends have dinner with her father at a Chinese restaurant ahead of their departure of the "Teen Trip". Don is in full charm mode, doing it seemingly by instinct, and Sally's friends are very charmed, one in particular not being particularly subtle in her crude attempts at being flirtatious. After a particularly bad joke about the lateness of their meals being down to a lack of stray cats, Sally notes that he ALWAYS makes that joke, and he shrugs that it's still funny (it's not funny) before asking the others what they're most excited about seeing. When he learns one of the girls - Carol - is excited to see the floor of the Senate, he asks if she wants to work there one day, and is impressed to learn she wants to be an actual Senator. Another girl, Yolanda, whose father is a diplomat, wants to be a UN Translator. But the flirty girl admits she just wants to live in New York, while Sally sighs that she's tired of people asking her what she wants to do when she grows up. Don, who has been struggling with this notion himself all week, jokes that she should write it down when she figures it out so she doesn't forget when she gets older. He admits that he didn't even know what advertising was when Flirty Girl asks if he wrote that down as a youth, but that he DID want to live in New York just like her. Asking if she can have a cigarette, she presents it for him to light, Sally watching the typical male/female courtship moves happening between her friend and her actual father with distaste. She wants to know where he lives, and when he tells her the Upper East Side she immediately asks if he lives in a Penthouse, and of course he admits that he does. "He grew up poor," points out Sally grumpily, but that just impresses Flirty Girl more, he grew up poor but now he lives in a Penthouse? It is of course the fantasy vision of a young girl, having attention paid to her by a handsome grown man who not only lives in New York but in a Penthouse on the Upper East Side. Don turns his attention away from her though to his daughter, asking her what she does want to be? She grunts that she just wants to have dinner, and just then the waiters arrive with their meals, Don grinning that there's nothing like having realistic goals. Everybody laughs again, all of them utterly charmed except for Sally, repelled by her father's easygoing charm that she no longer falls for herself. Not long after, Don escorts them all to the greyhound bus that is going to start their journey. As he loads their luggage in, the girls say their goodbyes, Flirty Girl making a point of giving him big eyes and a little grin as she thanks him for the dinner. The moment she turns her back, Don's smooth smile disappears, replaced by obvious unease with her rather obvious and unsubtle flirting, before he sets that aside and calls to Sally. She tells him she'll wave from the bus, but he insists she join him, and when she reluctantly does he proves to have completely misunderstood her stand-offishness, having assumed she was just nervous about the trip and assuring her it is perfectly normal to feel that way. "You can't help yourself, can you?" she asks in disbelief, confusing her father, and angrily she points out that her flirty friend - Sarah - is only 17-years-old. He chuckles at that, amused that she thought he had any interest in the young girl, assuring her that he's well aware of her youth. But that's the problem, Sally pointing out that he knew but he went ahead and put on the charm anyway.... and her mother is exactly the same, betraying her continuing disgust at what she perceived as Betty encouraging Glen's attention. Revolted, she points out that if anybody ever gives the slightest bit of attention to either of them - and they ALWAYS do - then the both of them just "ooze everywhere". Don absorbs this withering - but distressing accurate - character attack, but putting on the stern authoritarian father voice he explains that her friend is a "fast girl" and he simply didn't want to embarrass her by calling attention to her inappropriate flirting. Sally isn't interesting in hearing him blame a 17-year-old girl for a 40+ year old man turning on the charm with her though, and lets him know exactly what she plans to put into writing about what she wants to be: she wants to get on a bus and drive far away from him AND her mother, and to hopefully be a different person to either of them. She tries to stride away in triumph at that dig, but Don stops her, grabbing her arm before she can go. He warns her that despite anything else he IS her father, and while she may not like it she has to accept that she IS like her mother and him, and she's going to find that out. She doesn't know how to respond to that, given she just told him that they were both horrible people, but he elaborates: she's a beautiful girl. In his own way, he's trying to explain something she may not have grasped having grown up with two highly desired parents who have had people swooning over them every day of her life.... she herself is a physically attractive person, one who is going to have her fair share of swooning admirers. So what is Don's message then? She is going to share in her parents' obvious attractiveness... but it is up to HER to be more than just that, a tacit acknowledgement of sorts that both he and Betty have perhaps failed to do so, or at least himself... or so perhaps he fears, following Mathis' condemnation that his own real "character" was that he was handsome. She isn't quite sure how to react to that, stunned for a moment by her father talking to her like an actual adult human being, seemingly acknowledging his own flaws and warning her to take a lesson from that. But then she instinct to not just drink up whatever he says kicks in, and she grimaces a little and turns away, not wanting him to know how strong an impact what he just said made on her. She hops onto the bus without looking back, and as the other parents wave their goodbyes, Don simply lifts a hand in a simple farewell and walks away, considering yet another in a series of revelations over this week that seemingly confirmed his fears of the emptiness of his own life.   At the Francis Residence, Betty is cleaning up the dishes while Bobby and Gene race around playing, Bobby blasting with a toy gun while Gene eagerly races around with an egg beater emulating his older brother. She calls them back as they race by, warning them it's time for bed, and Bobby sighs and complains that he wanted to watch the Brady Bunch. Indulging her little boy for once, perhaps thinking about another young boy whose childhood indulgences are now long over, she agrees, but as he prepares to race off she tells him to hand over the toy gun. He does so, then walks into the kitchen, his high spirited need to race around seemingly going with the gun. Gene, clearly taking cues from his older brother, walks alongside him, still carrying the egg beater but now at his side, no longer turning the handle to try and join in with the ratatat noises. Once they're gone Betty considers the toy gun, a simple way of introducing young boys to the notion of war as an exhilarating and exciting good time, and soldiers as heroic figures to be emulated. In a gesture that will probably devastate Bobby (unless he simply never finds out what happened and is just left confused trying to find it), she tosses the gun into her trash, deciding this is one bit of patriotic fervor she doesn't want her young son to pick up on, in contrast to her statements earlier in the season. Because, of course, now it has affected her, it is finally real. Don meanwhile returns home to his empty Penthouse apartment, a far cry from the romantic vision in Sarah's 17-year-old head. But this time he's not alone, alongside Melanie are a young couple putting pen to paper, the woman heavily pregnant, the man tall and handsome in a suit. Melanie excitedly takes him aside, promising the couple she will only take a minute as she leads Don outside of his own apartment, and then in an excited whisper let's him know the good news... she did it! She sold the apartment! He's stunned, it's happening RIGHT NOW? "Asking price, 30-day escrow!" she beams, having admitted that she isn't quite sure how she pulled it off but she has, she's made a sale despite the obvious flaws in the presentation of the space, for the money he wants, and everybody is happy, everybody is getting what they want! He gets to sell the place and move on, the couple get the place they so clearly want to raise their family in, she gets her commission! "Now we have to find a place for you!" she beams, obviously far more excited by that idea than she was selling this place: a millionaire on the lookout for a place to call his own, she's in for a second hefty commission on that one! She darts back inside, eager to finish up the paperwork, leaving Don outside staring at his own door, suddenly realizing for the first time that this place is about to NOT be his. This is the place he bought with Megan, at a time when he thought he had finally found exactly what he wanted to make him happy in life. And they were happy. At first. He "oozed" with love for her, she did the same for him, and he had a domestic and workplace harmony that made everything perfect. Then it all went sour. The arguments, each chipping away a little more at them even after they reconciled. Her departure from work, making home a place he came back to see the "betrayal" fresh again each time. The strain that her asking him to get her a part and him eventually doing so took on both of their feelings about the other. The affair with Sylvia. The discovery by Sally. His growing drunkenness, her bitterness, and then the moment of reconciliation when they came back together in joint ecstasy at the idea of a fresh start in California... only for him to screw that up to and remain in New York alone and unloved after sending her on, losing his job... and just staying in New York anyway. The eventual collapse of their marriage, as he continually make it clear he was putting a job that didn't want him above happiness with her, only finally acquiescing to join her permanently in California when he thought he had no other choice, the straw that broke the camel's back. Disappearing into a hedonistic fog like he once told Rachel he lived for, turning the place into little more than a fuckpad, spilling wine on the carpet and not bothering to clean it up. The stripping of near everything from the place by Marie that he only discovered after his divorce settlement with Megan. The apartment is full of memories. Some wonderful. Some horrible. But all HIS. Now.... it is his no longer, or soon won't be. The realization has only hit now, at the end of a miserable week of facing up to a lack of clear direction or desire in his life and the accusation from both an employee and then his daughter that he's simply an attention-seeking pretty-boy whose good looks mask a lack of anything to actually offer anybody. Yes, it has happened yet again. Don Draper has taken something for granted.... right up until the moment he realized he has lost it. https://i.imgur.com/moXHuHb.mp4 Episode Index
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Jul 30, 2022 13:36
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Thanks for the patience, everybody. I had Covid last week (which loving sucks, breaking news I know) and was in no state to write up the episode.
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Jul 30, 2022 13:38
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Jerusalem posted:In New York, Don pops into Roger's office having been told Roger wanted to see him. Roger tells him to come in and take a seat, a phrase which often has bad news following quickly behind. Don seems untroubled too, openly carrying a beer that he sets down on Roger's table as he takes his seat, Roger - who will drink liquor in the morning, sure, but BEER!?! - only making a complaint that he should be drinking coke, presumably because it is a McCann-Erickson Account ("It's the Real Thing" is still a year away). drat our pal Jerusalem is an insightful watcher.
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Jul 30, 2022 14:57
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