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I love how Don is talking about Sylvia instead of the work for his entire trip.quote:he insists that Ken MUST figure out a way to get him in a room with the Chevy people to pitch in person. Admitting he doesn't know if he'll be forceful or submissive, he insists that the most important thing is that he is there in the flesh, where the timbre of his voice will be just as important as the quality of the work. Okay, I should note that Jon Hamm actually says "tambre" here. gently caress, I just realized that when he comes back from his space-out, he's looking at Moira like she's Sylvia and that's why she reacts so weird.
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Feb 26, 2022 03:25
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The subtitles said tambour and I couldn't figure out if if there was a word I'd never heard of that just so happened to be similar to timbre, or he just had a weird way of pronouncing timbre. Turns out it was tambre, a word I'd never actually heard of till today!
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Feb 26, 2022 03:40
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That's just how timbre is pronounced
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Feb 26, 2022 03:57
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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misguided rage posted:That's just how timbre is pronounced
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Feb 26, 2022 04:00
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OMG it was just a little joke about Hamm's pronunciation you were correct!! Why did the subs say "tambour", lmao
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Feb 26, 2022 04:01
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Oh wow, I've been pronouncing timbre wrong my entire life 
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Feb 26, 2022 04:03
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misguided rage posted:That's just how timbre is pronounced
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Feb 26, 2022 04:08
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clearly none of you are band geeks
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Feb 26, 2022 04:28
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i love that this show buried the most important piece of understanding its protagonist and imo the major theme of the series in the middle of an episode as jam packed with wild poo poo as this one. theres always been a lot of don scorn in the recaps, but in light of this i just find it all more pitiable than anything.
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Feb 26, 2022 14:25
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I've said this before in spoilers but you have to admire the restraint and the storycraft in keeping such an important revelation under wraps for so long. and being so honest and unflattering in the portrayal. it's shocking because of how utterly mundane it plays out. think about every single other sexual assault scene you've ever seen in television: quick cuts, dolly zooms, maybe heightened saturation and other camera tricks to gEt InSiDe ThE cHaRaCtEr'S hEaD. here it just happens, and then it ends, with music fading out, like sound ringing in your ears after waking from a horrible dream, and you just feel a stinging uneasiness as you watch Don smoking alone in that claustrophobic box of a room also, non sequitur, it's cool that the show finds ways to incorporate the random skills of its cast into the plot. Aaron Staton tap-dancing, Christina Hendricks playing the accordion, January Jones speaking Italian, etc.
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Mar 1, 2022 04:28
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I mean in a way the total underplaying of it might have been to its detriment at the time the episode came out. Something that really bugged me back when I was watching the show for the first time and looking up recaps/reviews to contextualize everything was that back then, hardly any of the usual recap fare (The AV Club, The Guardian, Vulture etc) referred to Don's first sexual experience as rape or assault. TBH most of them didn't even cotton on to the fact it wasn't consensual  I guess that's the difference in perspective between 2013 and today though.Also of note is that apparently the flashback scenes were not received well during initial airings either? One guy in the AVClub comment section compares Young Don to the kid who played Young Anakin in the first Star Wars prequel, which strikes me as kind of harsh, lol
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Mar 1, 2022 06:13
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Agreed that I really dug that they didn't make it a big AHA! moment for the show or the characters, just left it to the audience to go,"Oh holy poo poo that explains so much!  ", but that said...Blood Nightmaster posted:TBH most of them didn't even cotton on to the fact it wasn't consensual I shouldn't be surprised I guess, but Jesus Christ. "Do you want this?" "No." "Come on don't you want to know what all the fuss is about?" "Stop it." And she just ignores him every step of the way and does what she wants.
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Mar 1, 2022 07:56
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Blood Nightmaster posted:I guess that's the difference in perspective between 2013 and today though. Recaps in general are usually pretty poo poo, then and now, no doubt in large part due to time constraints. I think you're right in that some recaps would mention it if the episode aired yesterday, but if a conclusion requires a minute's thought then I wouldn't expect it in a day-of recap.
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Mar 1, 2022 16:51
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I'm rewatching Mad Men and got the the episode where Sally masterbates. Don's reaction is to ask if the friend she did it in front of is a boy or girl. That reaction is a lot more interesting/telling when you know that Don was raped at a similar age.
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Mar 1, 2022 17:54
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KellHound posted:I'm rewatching Mad Men and got the the episode where Sally masterbates. Don's reaction is to ask if the friend she did it in front of is a boy or girl. That reaction is a lot more interesting/telling when you know that Don was raped at a similar age. the interesting thing is that mad men is written in such a way that the writers clearly have room to allude to things in one season and expound on them later without necessarily knowing the exact details at the time of conception. a lot of shows do this and it's useful as a storytelling tool when you need to adapt to the realities of production. But while there's no way to know for sure if this was something they figured out just this season, there are so many tiny moments like the one you described throughout the series that I feel like there's no way Don's character was conceived without this detail in mind
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Mar 1, 2022 18:46
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Season 6, Episode 9 - The Better Half Written by Erin Levy & Matthew Weiner, Directed by Phil Abraham Betty Francis posted:I can only hold your attention so long. Don Draper and Ted Chaough are having an argument. What is the subject of these two high powered, competitive executives who are still clashing to figure out the pecking order of their merged Agencies? Why... margarine of course! Sitting in the conference room with Pete and Harry, Don's argument is that as margarine is the cheap alternative to butter, thus they should focus on taste to separate Fleischmann's from the other margarine brands and bring it closer to butter. Ted's argument is that Fleischmann's is the "Chivas Regal" of margarine, the most expensive brand and thus the choice of the "sophisticated" margarine consumer, who will think it tastes better BECAUSE it's more expensive. Pete chimes in, noting that while margarine has 70% of the market share over butter it is difficult to argue any margarine brand as "luxury" over the other when the price difference is "pennies" and the cheapest option is made by the same company as the most expensive! Ted argues the difference is more a matter of percentage though... but he doesn't argue that to Pete, apparently treating him purely as a source of figures rather than an active participant in the debate, focusing all his attention on Don instead. Even worse, he asks questions that Pete has already answered about market share, indicating he wasn't really listening to Pete beyond the surface level. But if Pete is expecting better treatment from Don, he's not going to get it. Don and Ted are butting heads for territory and prestige, and Don completely ignores Pete speaking up in defense of his taste focus to instead loudly call out to Peggy as she is passing by, both he and Ted motioning for her to come in so they can get a third party's take on the matter! Pete is flabbergasted when they offer their (leading) questions to Peggy on which idea she prefers and straight up tell her that nobody else has given their opinion yet, loudly repeating himself that he prefers Don. For Peggy though, this is even more awkward because suddenly she's the kid being asked by her parents to pick a favorite. Trying to get the lay of the land, she asks Harry what he thought and he mumbles that he feels strongly "both ways", a complete non-answer that satisfies nobody. Peggy offers the most non-offensive answer she can think of, simply to say that in her personal situation she would probably go with the cheaper brand but as both ideas are good she'd suggest "slipping" them to the client to see what broad concept is more appealing to them. That won't work though, the meeting is tomorrow, and now this is more than just about a third party opinion, Ted and Don are hungrily staring at her waiting for her to essentially tell them which she prefers, which she endorses, which of them is the "better" man.   Caught between a rock and a hard place, or she can offer is,"I don't know..." and both of them realize she's not going to endorse them, both clearly bitter about it as Ted grumps that they'll just go with Don's idea. Don of course immediately pretends like it doesn't matter to him at all, instead "casually" proclaiming Ted should go with what he's most comfortable with since Don isn't going to be at the pitch itself. He leaves, stopping to glare at Peggy as he hold the door open for her. She glares back for a second then steps through, expecting him to say something once he follows... but he just walks on to his office and she is left standing awkwardly before eventually returning to her own, much worse, office. Ted collects his things and heads out the door, telling Pete to get another copy of the research so he can have it "big on the board" for the presentation... and doesn't even look at Pete as he does so, treating him like an underling rather than a Partner. That is NOT lost on Pete, who turns seething to Harry and asks if he saw that. Harry did, of course, but now Pete has a target to take out his aggression on, angrily mocking that NOW Harry has learned to talk, pissed off he simply sat and offered nothing but that he felt strongly "both ways". Harry though was doing what he thought was sensible, which was just staying the gently caress out of the way of two senior partners butting heads. He isn't interested in Pete's angry complaints about feeling overlooked though, pointing out that the rest of the advertising world sees them as The 27 Yankees - in other words, a murderer's row of the best in the business all on the same team. Pete disagrees, complaining that the new Agency doesn't even have a new official name yet, but Harry simply states that Pete should go see a headhunter if he wants "his balls tickled". A shocked Pete asks if he is planning on leaving, and Harry admits that it is nice to have options... before once again proving that he lives in his own bizarre world of simultaneously feeling redundant and irreplaceable as he insists that once the chaos of the merger settles down he is still expecting to be made a Partner, just like he once laid out as an ultimatum to Don, Roger and Cooper. He thinks of the line-up of CGC and SCDP (particularly Don and Ted, obviously) as a murderer's row, and he is keeping his head down to stay out of their way... but also clearly thinks that his role as the creator and head of the Media Department puts him on that same upper echelon and that he will eventually be rewarded for his fence-sitting ways. He leaves the conference room, and only Pete is left, horrified at the thought that everybody else is seeing the writing on the wall but him. Once the workhorse of SCDP, now he's barely noticed or gets taken for granted in meetings, treated like an underling, and even Harry Crane is apparently out there making moves to either get up on the same level as him, or even use the Agency's currently notoriety to escape to a higher position elsewhere. All while Pete is left a powerless non-entity at the Agency he helped found and keep afloat during a crisis. On To Have and to Hold, Megan's character is rifling through a desk when she is confronted by Arlene's character, who warns her off whatever relationship she is having with her husband. But this isn't Corinne the maid, it's Colette the sister! Yes, Megan is playing her own twin in a typical soap opera twist, blonde, dressed up and speaking in a French accent (far from Megan's own Canadian-accented French. She spills her drink in alarm when called out on the affair (in "real" life, Arlene and her husband absolutely wanted to sleep with Megan and Don, and of course Megan's own husband was having an affair with her friend in the apartment a floor below!), bending down to mop it up, and the director halts a call to the action. The script called for Colette to spill the drink, but it didn't say anything about her cleaning it up. Megan of course just did what felt natural, but in the heightened reality of the soap opera, Corinne is the maid who cleans and Colette is the sultry seductress who makes messes, and they need her to make both characters different. Of course this explanation makes Megan nervous, because she sees this as not just a criticism of her acting but also an indictment of her own talent (in her own head). Plagued by self-confidence issues as an actress already, she stands with her arms folded in a self-reflexive protective gesture, spinning paranoid fantasies in her head in a moment about how she's loving this all up and they hate her and they're going to fire her. Even Arlene's self-assured "Don't worry about it" just paradoxically makes her MORE worried, because of course to her Arlene's apparent self-confidence born from years of experience only makes Megan herself feel more uncertain of her own ability. Speaking of uncertainty, Peggy is working away in her own office when Don pops by to ask to see the final boards for the Fleischmann's presentation tomorrow. She notes they're with Stan and he nods, and of course he must have known that would be the case, but this was purely a pretext so he could come in and make small talk before oh just so happening to bitch her out about not siding with him in the meeting earlier. Of course he doesn't think that's what he is doing, just cracking a "joke" about how a "professional" forms an educated opinion and then gives it, as if he (and Ted!) weren't being incredibly unprofessional by summoning her in and putting her on the spot. When Peggy refuses to let him act like he was the professional, sensible "adult" and points out that it is HIS job to make a collaboration with Ted work, not hers, he of course gets offended. It doesn't matter that he popped into the office to have a go at her, that he wanted to make her feel bad and take out his own frustrations on her, suddenly SHE is the bad guy for giving back to him exactly what he is giving to her. She insists that she wasn't just playing it down the middle, that Ted and Don have been having this argument for weeks now and the simple truth is that both ideas have merit, rejecting his insistence that there is an arbritary right and wrong answer to which was the "correct" pitch. Don, if he had distance and detachment, would be telling her exactly the same thing if their positions were reversed, but of course because this relates to a DON DRAPER IDEATM it can't be that simple! Making the implicit explicit, she straight up tells him that what he really wants is for her to pick between Don and Ted, but it isn't that simple... even if sometimes they feel like they're the same person, both pig-headed and arrogant at times. The difference being, Ted never makes her feel lovely about herself in their dealings in the way that Don can, because Ted is interested in THE idea, while Don is only interested in HIS idea. On that point Don, who is rather stunned to be called out like this but unwilling to accept that he's not the aggrieved party in this situation, offers a typical Don Draper bon mot before stalking out of the office, wanting the last word and leave her reeling. It's not that Ted doesn't make her feel that way, it's that he hasn't YET, because he doesn't know her. In other words, the flaw is with Peggy herself, she is somehow lacking, she is somehow to blame. Because it's always somebody else's fault when it comes to Don, even when he admits his mistakes he insists that the other person has to then play along according to his rules and his narrative. The worst part being, of course, that he DOES know Peggy well enough to know that she'll stew on this for the rest of the night and days to come. As for Don himself, he won't be happy even having "won" the conversation, he'll be in a bad mood heading home now... but he'll probably also largely forget it or move on once something more interesting comes up. It was an entirely pointless argument that he brought on himself for no good reason, purely because his feelings were hurt that she didn't endorse his idea earlier in the day while he was having a pissing contest with the man who largely replaced him in Peggy's life until he worked his way back in.   Betty Francis appears to have finally put her weight gain issues behind her. Looking almost the same as she did back in season 1, she stands waiting and smoking outside a bank of phones in a building holding one of the many political fundraisers Henry told her he was so eager to show her off at. An older man in a white tuxedo spots her waiting and comments that Henry said they were leaving, but she smiles and gestures towards the phone booth, saying he had to make a call that turned into two. Chuckling, the man notes that Henry's loss is his gain, since he's wanted to be alone with her all night. She restrains rolling her eyes at the comment and notes Henry will be out in a minute, but getting a serious look on his face he takes a half step forward and repeats himself, putting emphasis this time on the "you", he wants to be alone with HER all night. Yep. He's just flat out propositioning her right here in public like it's the most natural thing in the world, a woman he may have met a handful of times at similar fundraisers if at all, that he has barely had conversations with, but in his mind that's all he needs to straight up tell her he wants to gently caress her, seemingly expecting her to swoon at the idea of some thin middle-aged dude with a receding hairline being "seductive". "Mr. Dell, I have three children," she tells him with a serious look on her face, and still trying to be breathy and seductive he whispers back,"I don't care," only for her to turn the tables on him completely when she suddenly smirks and repeats herself, this time asking him to look at her, can he believe she's had 3 children! Surprised at the forwardness of her reply, perhaps more used to gasps or blushes followed by intrigue in the concept, he actually recoils slightly in surprise, and then Henry returns bringing an end to the interaction. Henry, who himself once approached Betty in a similar fashion while she was at a Country Club with Don, spots Dell and is instantly suspicious, seemingly knowing Dell's reputation (one he's probably laughed and joked about in the past), making a point of standing between them and guiding Betty out as he makes polite small talk with "Stew" before making his own exit. Peggy returns home and is shocked to find a policeman sitting on the couch and Abe in a chair with his arm in a sling. "There was an incident," Abe assures her as she hurries to his side to check on him, as if it is no big deal. The cop though, seemingly amused, points out that the "incident" was that two guys stabbed him in the arm as he was getting off the subway! Abe is aghast, complaining that he was trying not to worry her, but the cop says she should be aware so she can keep her own guard up. The tension between Abe and cop is readily apparent, Abe clearly doesn't want him there and objects to answering his questions, while the cop seems to suspect Abe is hiding something given how sketchy his responses have been and the fact he left the hospital rather than wait there to make a statement as told. She can only stand and watch, confused and agitated, as Abe insists he comes from Brooklyn so has learned to keep his eyes down, though he objects to the cop only asking if the assailants were colored or Puerto Rican and seemingly doesn't even consider they might have been white. They've both done their civic duty by reporting the crime and taking down (little) details, but now Abe "respectfully" wants him to leave. The cop just shakes his head, still amused, still suspicious, and collects up his truncheon, advising Peggy to invest in getting one for herself as she lets him out of the apartment. The moment he's gone, Abe is in full uproar, declaring a cop a fascist pig for the types of questions he was asking. Peggy doesn't care about that though, her concern has given away to anger at Abe's entire attitude... he has a photographic memory, why did he tell the cop he doesn't know what they look like!?! Now Abe is the one horrified and angered... if he tells the cops his assailants were black, it'll give them every excuse they want to shake down/beat every kid on the block, and he won't be a party to that. The argument quickly spirals out of control, both of them initially upset by two different things. For Abe, this is a moral stance he feels he has to take: yes he was assaulted and stabbed, but he doesn't want to judge people who feel they have no other recourse in the society they have grown up in, especially given the history of slavery and civil rights abuses in America. This is the precursor to a rebellion, one that Abe wants to fight in himself like they did in Prague and Paris, and that's part of why he was so eager for them to live here. He wants to be part of a changing America, a more multi-cultural and accepting America where a ruling class (of almost entirely white rich males) doesn't dictate what is and isn't right. Wonderful ideas, very high minded.... except Peggy's argument is that HE GOT STABBED! She doesn't care about any greater cause, she cares about the criminals who attacked her boyfriend getting arrested. There's a ton to unpack here, and this episode write-up is going to be long enough, but there's certainly an element here of Abe being almost a parody at times of the well-meaning liberal intellectual who is so caught up in the bigger picture that he loses sight of the realities of day-to-day life. Where Mad Men can get away with things like this, in my mind, is that it goes out of the way to show that every character is flawed or has obvious blind-spots about a lot of things. Peggy's "sensible" reaction is an appeal to a status quo that Abe clearly finds disgusting, and when he starts complaining suspiciously about how he's going to include her siding with a cop over him as part of the story he writes about this stabbing, her reaction absolutely is as patronizing as Abe complains it is. She sits next to him and tries to pet his hair, telling him that she's heard about how soldiers can have trauma (yes, we've known about PTSD for a very, very long time even if it would be another decade before it got added to the DSM) and clearly this is what he is feeling too. Both are trying their best to navigate the tensions of a relationship where they both clearly love each other but have very, very different sets of values. That has been obvious since they first met at that awful party/art installation, and both have made sacrifices or forced themselves to hold their tongues when the other said, did or was part of something they didn't agree with. Now when Peggy complains that she'll sell this "shithole" (which looks quite nice now!) even if she has to take a loss, Abe tries to calm her by telling her that he loves that she is so worried about him... but undermines this somewhat by insisting she get his typewriter and take dictation so she can write his story badmouthing her since he can't write himself with his arm in the sling! She complains she is going to bed and storms to the bedroom, slamming shut the sliding doors while glaring at him. She had a lovely day at work, he had an even shittier experience, and now both have made it worse for the other. At the Draper Residence, Megan has made dinner and poured Don a drink, and he is immediately suspicious when he walks in the door, his guard up as he clearly thinks there is some ulterior motive here for her being so domestic. She simply smiles and reminds him that she told him she would make dinner on Thursday, asking him to take a seat at the table with her. He does, and when she asks how his day was he picks up quickly that she REALLY wants to talk about her own day, so asks her that. She takes a moment to sigh, then admits it was terrible and she doesn't know if she wants to talk about it. Don's alarm bells are ringing now, he knows this is going to be an intense conversation and he clearly feels too tired to take part (you know, marriage is more than just having somebody who makes you dinner and kisses you hello and goodbye each day!) so he makes a futile effort to change the conversation, asking what is for dinner. Megan has gotten started now though, admitting that she thinks they hate her at work, confusing Don who points out that they just wrote her a second part! That's the problem though, and when she says that she feels like an idiot because "they" keep telling her they can't tell twins apart, what she really means is that SHE is worried that she isn't capable of making two distinct characters. What she wants is some reassurance from Don, some commiseration. More than anything else, for him to listen. To be there for her, to be supportive and interested and more than anything simply present. Instead he states that it's not like this kind of soap opera twist hasn't been done before, and when she jumps on that to remark about how she's worried about her character being a cliche, and about how she doesn't really get Mel's insistence that she's playing two halves of the same person who want the same thing in different ways.... Don just sighs and asks if they can just sit down and watch television because he's too tired to really do anything else. Upset by this but wanting to be empathetic herself, she asks if HE had a bad day. Don, a man who has very much lived a split existence and wants the same thing in different ways, considers for a moment and then simply says he's tired. All that leaves for Megan is to tell him she packed his luggage for him to make his visit to Bobby's summer camp, giving him a hopeful smile wanting at least acknowledgement of this... which she doesn't get. So she tells him she'll clean up, and they both take large sips of their respective drinks, together at the table but completely alone regardless.   Being driven home from the fundraiser, Henry asks their driver for some privacy. The driver raises the privacy shield for them, and when a nervous Betty asks Henry if the evening was a success he angrily demands that she him, wanting to know what Stewart Dell said to her while Henry was on the phone. He points out that while she was watching Henry, EVERYBODY was watching her, that Stew did everything but grab her rear end, demanding a word for word recount of what he said when Betty claims she doesn't want to get anybody in trouble. Timidly she tells him that Dell said he wanted to be alone with her, and Henry grabs her by the chin rougher than his usual tenderness, knowing there is more. "All night," she softly says, and he glares at her.... and then kisses her, and she kisses him back, and they're all over each other. "I can't wait to show you off to everybody," Henry has said more than once, and it's clear there was a double-meaning there. Ever since he was enamored at first sight by her and placed his hand on her pregnant belly, Henry has been intensely aroused by Betty. He wanted to be with her when she was with Don, but she resisted his efforts even as they engaged in a clear emotional affair. Once they were together, the only time he has shown any sense of jealousy has been when she was focused on Don rather than himself. But other people staring at her? Wanting her? Even coming on to her? It's clear that Henry loves that, hell that he finds it arousing in and of itself. All these people want Betty, just like he wants her, but he has her. He's not angry that Dell wanted her, even if he's probably not entirely pleased that he actually came on to her openly, he's delighted. Because of course Dell would desire her, of course ANYBODY would, and his passions inflamed Henry indulges in everything he wanted from their marriage. Not just the connection, the family, the intimacy, the shared emotions... but in her desirability, not just to him but the world. He never lost that passion for her, even when she put on the weight, but he delights now that the rest of the world sees her the same way as him again. As for her? She is just as enthusiastic an participant in this, because for better or worse (thanks to her mother), Betty has always ascribed a large part of her own value to her attractiveness. She felt she had lost that with her weight gain, now that she is back to "normal" she clearly revels in the attention she once took for granted, as her comment to Dell demonstrated already and her equal passion for Henry in this moment only serves to solidify. The next day at the (still unnamed!) Agency, secretaries gather and watch with delight as Roger Sterling joins his grandson Ellery in hopping up the stairs over the protests of Margaret Sterling. She insists that they don't have stairs in their apartment so Ellery "isn't good at them", clearly rather anxious at the thought of leaving her son in the not-particularly responsible hands of her father. Scooping Ellery up, Roger carries him down and presents him to the secretaries, who giggle as Roger asks Ellery which is his type. Joan arrives and Roger whispers to Ellery he'll tell him his later, the other secretaries quickly leaving before Joan loses focus on the cute kid and asks them why they don't have work to do. Greeting Margaret, she coos over Ellery and asks how old he is (4, which makes him older than his unknown Uncle Kevin), joking that it'll just be a regular workday for Roger when he says he's going to the zoo and a movie. Margaret says her goodbyes, giving Ellery a kiss on the cheek as he unconcernedly plays with his toy car, the rest of the world largely irrelevant to his own fascination (so he really is Roger's grandson!) and then Roger and the boy head upstairs, Margaret's smile more forced as she casts a look Joan's way knowing that a fellow mother will understand the separation anxiety... not knowing just how closely connected they (or rather, their children) actually are. While Roger is looking forward to a day off, Pete is taking time off himself to meet in his lovely little apartment with.... DUCK PHILLIPS!?! Yes, he's back, seemingly once again in control of his faculties after his drunken showdown with Don a couple of seasons earlier. Eating pickles but only drinking water while Pete pours himself liquor, Duck apparently has found a new role in life as a Head Hunter. He's always been involved in advertising, but advertising clearly has not been good for him... until he found a way to stay in that world while not being immersed in it. He admits he has met with Harry Crane but that Harry has wasted his time more in search of a "fan club" than a Head Hunter, and he doesn't want it to be the same with Pete. By way of his own credentials, he points out that he already managed to get Burt Peterson a Vice Presidency at McCann and if Burt can keep his head down he's set for life.... but that he arranged that when news of the merger between SCDP and CGC was fresh, and other advertising agencies were keen to grab anybody from the new star on the block. Now that the merger has settled down a little, and with Pete not giving Duck the most illuminating information over the phone, he needs to know more so he can work it to Pete's benefit. The biggest issue is that nobody REALLY knows who is in charge over at the newly merged Agency, even if Pryce and Gleason are dead that still leaves a lot of bosses (it being the 60s, Duck puts it in terms of "Chiefs and Indians"), and Duck doesn't know what Pete's position there actually is. Two months ago he was the workhorse, the engine carrying SCDP to success... but what is he now? What happened with Vick? Has Pete been sidelined and lost any and all clout? They're valid questions, and one Duck has to ask, not out of cruelty or malice but so he can work in Pete's interests without surprise. Pete considers that for a moment and then offers the answer that Duck was hoping for: if the current picture isn't rosy for Pete, then he wants Duck to paint him a new portrait, one that makes him a can't miss prospect. Duck's first suggestion is that he consider hopping across the aisle and working on the client side rather than for an Agency, offering him a role as Head of Marketing at a Wichita firm. He knew Pete would reject that of course, he could barely handle Connecticut there's no way he would survive in Kansas. But more than that, Duck has a personal recommendation for Pete as well. Pointing out that he always liked him (and he means it, even if Pete often held him in contempt, Duck valued and appreciated Pete all the way back to the Sterling Cooper days), Duck offers him advice born from his own awful experience: he needs to focus more on his family than his work. Pete is a little surprised, suspicious and concerned by this of course, insisting that he's in this apartment as a necessity, blaming it on his mother "run amok", not wanting to admit that he has destroyed his marriage to Trudy which exists purely on paper now and nothing else. Duck doesn't realize that he is giving this advice probably far too late, that it took him too long to realize that what generated his drive and ambition and confidence in the first place was his family. But he's making the advice from a point of genuine concern: after he drunk himself out of his last job he "filled rooms with desperation" as he went interviewing, and though he's found a good equilibrium now it came late in his life, a fate he'd like Pete to avoid. Pete, who came to this meeting hoping to at least give himself options and to seek potential escape clauses from being buried in the new structure at work, is left considering words of wisdom from a man who knows better than most just how badly a life driven entirely by work at the cost of family can leave you feeling... and also whether he's already passed that point of no return and the advice simply can't help him anymore. Today is a day for the many "Chiefs" of the merged Agencies to be out doing their own thing it seems. Roger is out with his grandson, Pete is getting life advice from Duck Phillips Ted is out pitching to Fleischmann's (at least that is work!), and Don is on his way to visit his son's summer camp. He stops at an Esso Station to fill up the tank, but the attendant doesn't respond to his call for service, and when he steps out and finds one called Roy, he largely ignores Don, quietly mumbling that they're busy as they never take their eyes off of another customer... or more accurately, another customer's rear end. Because a leggy woman is bending over as they lean into the car to fetch something, and Don can't help but admire her read end in shorts as well along with the attendant, until she extricates herself and turns around holding a map, and he realizes the attractive stranger is... Betty Francis! He calls out a hello to her, surprising (and probably making jealous) the attendant when she smiles back and asks if she is lost too. He walks to join her, Roy walking with him happily explaining that the lady asked for directions, hesitating to leave when Don simply tells him to fill his car up with gas, not wanting to lose the chance to ogle Betty some more. She isn't displeased to see him but a little stand-offish, explaining Henry will be joining her tomorrow and expressing surprise that he was actually able to get away by the office, by which she probably more accurately means she's surprised he didn't use the office as an excuse NOT to come. But when Roy returns and gives very unclear instructions to travel down roads that don't have names, she's grateful when an amused Don tells her just to follow him in his car instead. Back in the city, Stan, Peggy and Pete return to the office, the latter having apparently joined them for the pitch after his "lunch" with Duck. Moira lets Ted know as he reaches his door that Fleischmann's called, which Pete takes as a good sign, but it seems they just wanted some more of the market research figures to consider. Pete promises he will handle that, and Ted - looking less than excited about how the meeting went - asks Peggy to join him in his office. They walk in together and closes the door, Pete left behind clearly concerned by the fact he's been left out of yet another meeting, or perhaps more that Ted seemingly didn't even consider including him or even acknowledging him handling the Fleischmann's inquiry. But Ted has something else on his mind, demanding to know what Peggy was thinking at the meeting. Confused, she points out the strategy was that she NOT talk... did he want her to? But no, his complaint is that when she passed him the board to show off their figures... she touched his hand! Bewildered, she points out that she didn't even notice she'd done that, but he's not done, freaking out that she smiled at him at one point and she can't do that either! He never should have kissed her! Realizing belatedly what is going on, she quickly pulls Ted away from the door so Moira can't overhear them, asking if they are still thinking/acknowledging that the kiss happened? Because she has very definitely decided NOT to remember or acknowledge it! A big smile crossing his face, Ted admits he hasn't stopped thinking about it, but her quiet little,"....oh" can't be exactly what he was hoping for. Trying to be sensible, he acknowledges that it's a bit of a cliche for the boss to fall in love with their protege, and of course they both have somebody else in their lives (he's married!) so it would be a lot easier for him if he knew this was a purely one-sided infatuation. "...I'll think about it..." she says at last, because of course she lied when she said she'd stopped thinking about it. She's been thinking about it a lot, particularly as things have gotten rougher with Abe, even if she's acknowledged Ted's own obvious flaws exist, but she has compartmentalized it because there was so much else going on and it was something that she figured couldn't happen, and that Ted himself had moved on. Admitting that he understands now it was a bad idea to bring it up, he takes a seat behind his desk, trying to get back into work mode and move on. He's been under stress with this Fleischmann's pitch, which makes his sudden renewed romantic interest in Peggy smack of ultimately being a way of distracting himself from that stress, and now that he's spoken up about it he's realized it was a bad idea to bring up. Unsure exactly where she stands now, feeling bad about herself in just the way that Don warned her Ted eventually would, she asks him if he'd prefer she worked somewhere else. "Of course not," he insists, still not looking up, and she quietly leaves the room. There he is, just like Don he's decided to be "professional", a mask that lets him get away with some pretty lovely treatment of one of his employees, particularly one he (and Don) considers a protege.  
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Mar 10, 2022 02:58
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Betty is in a diner with Bobby, amused but playing along as he insists she sing along and do the moves of one of the camp songs he has learned. Don arrives, spotting the scene and amused himself to see Betty singing along and pumping her fist. Spotting his father, a thrilled Bobby rushes to hug him, surprising Don who assumed Betty would have told Bobby he was there, and she admits with a smile that she wanted it to be a nice surprise. Don joins them at the table, and Bobby is in 7th Heaven. The middle child of divorced parents, he's used to having to share: Sally and Gene get the bulk of the attention due to their respective ages/positions in the birth order, his parents are rarely together and usually arguing when they are, and rarely paying full attention to him. Even Don taking him to see Planet of the Apes (twice!) after MLK was assassinated was just his father, not both parents. Now his mother and father are both here, they're in a good mood AND they're paying full attention to him. It's about as good as things get, and he revels in it. He babbles excitedly, waving to another kid and identifying him as Bobby 2, who is shy, explaining that he's Bobby 5 and there is no Bobby 1. Betty thinks that must be due to Bobby Kennedy's assassination... but nope, Bobby 1 just went home! He made a wallet for Don but left it in his cabin (he gives a grumpy little "Dammit" which Betty chides him for, but in an indulgent, happy way), offers to ask the waitress to bring Don a "drink" (Betty has to tell a hopeful Don that no they DON'T serve liquor here) and then insists they both sing the camp song with him! He leads the way, a smiling Betty playing along, and Don lets his own guard down and with a smile follows along, singing enthusiastically along with Bobby, the three of them for one blessed moment just parents and a son having a good time together. At the Agency, Pete pops by Joan's office as she is packing up and offers to walk her out, which she happily accepts. But he then closes the door behind him and asks if he can ask her something personal, which puts her guard up slightly. When he asks if she feels his attention to business has been dilute recently, she pauses before answering, then instead asks him HOW personal he wants this conversation to be. Scrambling to light her cigarette when she picks one up, he admits that recently he feels pulled in a million directions by not just work, but his family, children and especially his mother. Joan can't help him with that, admitting those are problems SHE has to deal with as well, including her mother who she live with. Pete explains that his mother has exhausted every nursing agency he has tried to hire to help her out, while Joan points out that her own mother has simply exhausted her. Collecting her purse, she opens the door to leave and Pete thanks her. "For what?" she asks, given that she didn't actually provide him with any solutions, and wearily he admits he doesn't quite know. Hell, maybe just talking to SOMEBODY about his problems was helpful (go to therapy, Pete! Roger goes to therapy now. ROGER!). Joan considers for a moment, seeing how miserable he clearly is, then makes her exit. Megan welcomes Arlene into the apartment, having invited her around for drinks, and is stunned when she realizes that Arlene walked there from the West Side, asking if she heard about the shootings in the park, presumably the cause of the loud sirens heard during the dinner-that-wasn't with Don. Arlene though isn't bothered, saying she isn't going to let "a couple of lunatics" (there was another, unrelated shooting the same night) ruin a nice evening stroll. She's more interested in how nice the apartment looks, taking a seat on the couch with Megan who asks if she should get her script, presumably the reason for having her around. Arlene though assures her that there is nothing in the script that Megan doesn't already know, understand, or is incapable of performing. She promises her that she is a good actress and on her way to becoming at the very least a successful one too, and the reason Arlene come around this evening if because she's worried about her. That of course just makes Megan MORE worried... is she going to be fired? Her stress levels don't go down when Arlene doesn't give a direct answer, instead telling her about when she got her own first job - in radio! - and how she took to heart a comment by her agent that left her stuck between thinking she was doing well and that she was complete poo poo. So.... Megan asks, which was she? "Honestly?" grins Arlene with a confidence that largely comes from experience, the whole point of this story,"I was wonderful!" It's a wonderful evening at the motel near Bobby's camp where the parents are staying too, and Don is returning to his room when he spots Betty sitting outside having a drink. He points out the mosquitoes will "eat her alive" out here but she reminds him they never bother her, allowing a little warning smile when he points out that might not be the case in THOSE shorts. As he moves to return to his own room though, she asks if he managed to find a bottle, and he offers back a,"Maybe?", curious as to why she is asking. He's relieved and pleased when she lifts the can she is drinking (a beer?) and motions to him to fill it. He removes the bottle of liquor he managed to buy from his pocket and walks up to join her, pouring drink and then taking a pull from the bottle itself, a former married couple enjoying a pleasant evening outside and a drink together while visiting their son at camp. I do not like where this is going at all! He takes a seat beside her, admitting he never went when she sighs about how much she loved camp (of course she did, her parents were rich!). She disputes that though, he DID go to camp, teasing him that he should count the time they went and stayed at Lake Champlain with her parents. He's amused by the memory, though she recalls he did have a big argument with her father over who would carry in the luggage. What he remembers better is that he and Betty then sneaked off into the woods and "made Sally", though that does make Betty focus more on the present, admitting she doesn't understand her own daughter. That's not so unusual, though Don takes exception at learning that Henry thinks she takes after Don, not just because Henry doesn't know Don well enough to say but because Don himself thinks Sally takes after Betty. But all the teenagers of the world are in revolt, he points out, Sally isn't an aberration in that respect. Betty happily ponders what the two of them were like as teenagers, and admits that when she saw Don at the gas station earlier for just a moment she didn't recognize him, he was just a man saying hello to her... and she forgot how mad she is (eternally) at him. Slapping at a mosquito and admitting that she's getting bitten after all, she lets Don help her to her feet. A lightweight, she stumbles slightly from the mixture of beer and liquor, but once she's steadied herself she realizes that Don hasn't let go of her hand. He holds onto it just a bit longer than he should, and her smile fades, becoming more stone-faced as she makes a point of pulling her hand clear. She walks away, Don - much like Ted - regretting the impulsive move... until he watches her walk into her motel room and very deliberately not close the door. Oh no.... no no no nonononono. He walks in after her, that open door an invitation he couldn't deny. She doesn't get upset at his presumptuousness, she doesn't even comment on it, simply telling him to close the door so he doesn't let the bugs in. He does as he's told, staring at her the whole time as she removes her earrings... and then he turns the light off and slowly approaches her, staring down at her. "What are you doing?" she asks simply, and his reply at least makes it clear that he is aware that SHE is the one in control of this situation, or at least has the power to stop it,"Waiting for you to tell me to stop." She simply stares up at him, not demure, not timid, not uncertain, and then she smiles and SHE kisses him. He kisses back enthusiastically, of course, and they drop to the bed, beginning to remove their clothes. The only pause is when Betty asks him to tell her what HE thought when he saw her at the gas station, and greedily drinks in his reply that she was as beautiful as the day he met her. Like Henry, her desirability to others excites her. She has only cheated on her marriage once before, a revenge one-night-stand after Don's return into her life, even if she has plainly fantasized about other men many times. She resisted the urge to sleep with Henry while still married to Don, but now here on this beautiful evening she has decided to live dangerously, and sleeps with a man who is NOT her husband... or at least, he isn't any more. In Manhattan, Megan and Arlene are a few drinks in and Arlene is gleefully telling stories about arguments she has had with Mel about his writing. Megan, laughing, admits that she envies Arlene getting to work with her husband and the clear love, pride and enthusiasm they have for each other. Arlene promises her that Don is proud of her too, she can tell because he's so obviously protective of her, but Megan is less certain, noting that she knows it hurt him when she stopped working with him, and that while he offered her encouragement.... "And then you started succeeding," agrees Arlene, who has clearly seen it all before and knows when a male ego can get bruised: it's one thing to encourage your wife to follow a flight of fancy, knowing that you're the bread winner and if it fails she'll have you to fall back on, quite another to see her succeed and realize... poo poo, maybe she DOESN'T need me to make it in life? Maybe... oh God, maybe I have to be more than just a paternalistic rear end in a top hat who my wife's entire financial and personal stability is reliant on!?! Of course, she puts it in nicer terms: "He's old fashioned... he'll get used to it." But the problem for Megan is... she thinks he already has. He's gotten used to her NOT being around, not having to deal with a bunch of her problems that he can't actually solve. With a sigh, she admits that she isn't entirely sure if she is to blame or him, but she feels so lonely. Arlene is all sympathy, gently stroking her hair, her face the picture of concern... and then she leans in and kisses her. Megan is surprised at first, then pulls away and offers a warning,"Arlene...." which the other woman tries to push past, still leaning forward, all seductive voice moaning that she wants to make Megan feel better. "This isn't the way," Megan tells her with a nervous smile, and Arlene immediately pulls away, trying to act like it's not a big deal. But now that the initial shock is over, Megan is rather justifiably pissed off. She just poured out her heart to a friend, work colleague and in many ways a mentor... only for her to be no better than so many of those men she's encountered in her life who are only interested in her for sex. Arlene actually tries to turn that around on her, complaining that Megan was leading her on (another complaint Megan has probably heard from many men) by inviting her over when her husband wasn't there, having two bottles of wine to cover a scene "a child could understand" and telling her how lonely she is. Megan isn't going to let that slide though, angrily pointing out that she keeps getting pressured to do something she doesn't want to do, and now she has to worry about whether she's going to be punished at her work for it. After all, Megan is her colleague but Mel is her boss, is this going to cost her her job? If she was worried before about her role based purely on performance, now she's worried about whether refusing to have sex with either Mel, Arlene or both is going to have the same effect. A little drunk, a lot disappointed, and now offended as well, Arlene grumpily tells her that a no is a no and that's perfectly fine, but she really doesn't need to be insulted to go along with that. Of course, the fact that she has put Megan in this awkward position and is now complaining about the understandable reaction to it is another echo of the likes of Don and Ted who force a situation and then get upset when it doesn't go the way they wanted, blaming the other person for it. Megan, who probably too often in her life has had to apologize for upsetting people who have upset her first, is of course apologetic, taking Arlene's hand and telling her she didn't mean to insult her. So of course Arlene tries to kiss her again! Megan pulls back, Arlene calls her a tease, and when Megan sighs and says,"Fine..." Arlene completely misreads that too and launches forward to try and kiss her AGAIN! "I'm fine with being a tease!" Megan elaborates, and a fed up - and drunk - Arlene decides that maybe now would be a good time to call it quits. Collecting her things, she gets up and mumbles that as far as the script goes, two roles are tough but in the words of Laurence Olivier... let the wig do the work! With a flourish she assures Megan that everything will be as it was when she returns to work, she doesn't have to worry about that, and Megan offers her thanks for the advice, even now having to be nice and polite and consider the feelings of the person who has misread the situation and then gotten offended about it. Once Arlene is gone, Megan can't help but laugh. After all, the other alternative is to cry. It's all so stupid and hosed up, and she thought she could at least rely on another woman not to try and get into her pants for the crime of <WANTING TO TALK TO SOMEBODY>.   At the motel, Don and Betty have finished having sex (calling it making love would be a misrepresentation) and Don watches as she leans over and lights up a cigarette, telling her that he missed her. Rolling back around, seemingly amused by this line, she just smiles at him, and when he asks her if she feels guilty her answer says a lot about both her mindset and how much she has changed from season 1: No, she doesn't feel guilty, because "this happened a long time ago." In other words, this isn't a rekindling of something new, this isn't the start of an affair. It's simply... a memory. An old habit indulged in one more time that no longer holds the power and compulsion it once did. Don takes her offered cigarette and takes a drag, grimacing and admitting he certainly doesn't miss menthol cigarettes. Rolling over to stare at her from his pillow, he asks if this is what things would have been like if they'd stayed together, but without malice or recrimination she simply states that she doesn't think about that anymore, because she's happy in her life... so they should just enjoy THIS moment. Being Don, he immediately picks up on the "anymore" and points out that this means she DID used to think about it, as if that makes any difference, and asks what she is thinking right now. She's thinking about how different he is before and after sex, admitting that she loves the way he looks at her after "this", but then she has to watch it decay. Because she knows him better than most, even if there was so much he never told her: Don is a man in pursuit of something to fill the emptiness he feels inside of him, and he is always left disappointed when the momentary solution doesn't stick. For Betty, being on the other end of that was a miserable experience, the realization that she could only hold his attention, his love, his devotion, his presence, for so long. "Why is sex the definition of being close to someone?" sighs Don, and Betty admits that while she doesn't know it is for her, and it is for most people. Don disagrees, likening sex to climbing a mountain: just because you climb it doesn't mean you love it. He insists that he would have been just as happy to lie in bed with her with their arms around each other, which is a wonderful and high-minded thing to say... when you've already had the sex. Plus he sure as gently caress wasn't just holding in his arms the multiple women he had affairs with while he was married to Betty, and if he'd found out she'd had sex with another man he would have lost his loving mind (remember how angry he got at her letting a door-to-door salesman inside the house when he wasn't there?). No, this is another example of Don talking up a philosophy he doesn't actually practice. We know partly why after the revelation of the last episode, that sex is intrinsically tied up with guilt, longing and a need for affection in him. He really does mean it when he says it, but it simply isn't true that he can ever be satisfied with just "holding" a woman: the closest we have ever seen him manage this was in The Suitcase, when Anna's death was finally confirmed and he broke down weeping in Peggy's lap. It absolutely is not a philosophy he extends out beyond himself: having sex with Sylvia was apparently absolutely fine and not a problem at all in his mind, but if he'd found out Megan was sleeping with Abe? There'd have been hell to pay! Betty doesn't call him out on any of this, it's all pillow talk after all, but she does ask a pertinent question: is it the same with Megan? In other words, is he going around sleeping with other women because he thinks "It doesn't mean much to me"? He's quiet for a moment and then asks why she wants to talk about that, not wanting to think about his actual current wife in this moment with his ex-wife, not wanting to give her ammunition so she can feel in some way superior or look down (more than she already does) on her. Also not wanting to admit that this makes HIM at fault, because he is the common denominator in both marriages. "That poor girl," Betty sighs, stroking Don's cheek,"She doesn't know that loving you is the worst way to get to you." But then she puts that behind them, sliding over and kissing him. He kisses her back, but then she pulls away and cheekily teases him, asking if he's sure he doesn't want to just hold her? Of course that's not all that he wants, despite his earlier claims, and they return once more to having sex, Betty exulting in every moment of pleasure. She feels no guilt, she feels no trepidation. She knows exactly what she wants and she knows exactly what will come of it, and for one of the few times in her life she is getting to fully control the situation: this is HER conquest, he is the mountain that she is climbing, and he - whether he knows it or not - is for once simply along for the ride. There's banging of a different sort going on in the city. Peggy launches herself into her bedroom brandishing a stick, frightened by the sound of loud banging coming from the room. What she finds to her mixed relief and confusion is a sweaty Abe, holding a rock and using it to hammer boards into place over shattered window glass. Alarmed herself by her sudden appearance, he gasps but then insists that there is nothing wrong and nothing to worry about, insisting she has the wrong idea when she realizes that somebody threw a rock through their window. He promises he will fix it all properly when he gets back from work, and this worries her even more... he's going to go to work tonight and leave her home alone? Trying his best to put an unconcerned face on it, he tells her she can come to work with him at the paper tonight if she doesn't want to be alone, which is no kind of solution at all... she has work tomorrow, she has to sleep! She's concerned that the people who stabbed him might have seen him talking to the police and so this is retaliation, and he is right at least to tell her this is paranoid... even if it doesn't make the fact people are throwing rocks through their window any less troubling! As she points out, this means somebody was actually in their yard to get that close, and she is genuinely scared. Seemingly finally realizing that she has a point, Abe admits that she is right, dejected as he agrees that they should sell the building and move elsewhere since he doesn't want her living in fear. She takes a moment to let that sink in, asking if he really means it. "Maybe we're not made to be pioneers" he admits, and she feels a wave of love wash over her as she approaches and they share a kiss, and she buttons up his open shirt for him as he tells her she can sleep in the parlor and he'll make sure not to wake her. They have their problems, they have their clashes, but at the heart of it is love and a desire to make the other happy, even if it means compromising. A man not used to compromise is Roger Sterling, who is woken in his big bed in his big room by the phone ringing. It's Margaret, utterly furious that he took Ellery to see Planet of the Apes! Roger is confused, Ellery WANTED to see it, and Don took his kid to see it and he loved it! That just makes Margaret angrier, Ellery is only 4-years-old and Don Draper is not exactly a great role model to take parenting tips from! But Roger, being Roger, insists that it is fine, that Ellery had a great time, and that he should put him on the phone so he can do his impersonation of Dr. Zaius! Margaret has had enough, especially when Roger insists that it isn't his fault Ellery was having nightmares all night or that he's so scared of fur now they might have to get rid of the dog, pointing out that he saw The Golem when he was 4 and he turned out fine! Roger Sterling did NOT turn out fine! She admits that she is at fault, but only because she allowed one four-year-old to babysit another four-year-old. When Roger tries to put on his dad voice and warn the "young lady" to watch her tone, she isn't having it, nor his insistence he will come around to check on Ellery. He can continue with his fantasies of being a father, she informs him, but his grandfather days are over. If he wants to see Ellery, he'll have to organize it through Mona, because she'll need to be there too since Margaret simply can't trust his judgment by himself. She hangs up and Roger is left alone in his big bed in his big bedroom in his big house, rich and successful and powerful and completely, totally alone. Don also finds himself alone in bed, waking to find nobody else there. Getting up, returning to his own room and dressing, he goes to the diner where he spots a glowing, happy Betty... having breakfast and chatting away happily with Henry. Taking a moment, Don approaches and says good morning, and Betty smiles and offers a good morning back, a blase Henry saying it's good to see him and then offering nothing more. Don stands there a moment, a dumb smile on his face, feeling every bit the outsider, then simply nods and walks away. He takes a seat at another table, all by himself, looking over at Betty and Henry as they chat animatedly, not a single sign of acknowledgement or care from Betty about the previous night. Welcome to the other side, Don, now you know how it felt for all those women you slept with before returning home to your family and becoming the perfect husband/father in the eyes of the world without a second thought for them living in limbo waiting for your return. Just as Betty told him, last night was something to enjoy in the moment... but nothing more. There will be no reconciliation, no continued affair, no half-assed "revenge" on Henry for (emotionally) cuckolding him. Betty felt like having sex, she had it, and now she's moved on like "It doesn't mean much", just like he claimed he felt about sex himself.   It's the weekend, so Joan is planning to take Kevin out to the beach, though as she packing a bag she admits it is a real project even to do such a simple thing when a kid is involved. But she's not talking to herself and she's not talking to her mother, or even to Kevin, about this... no, she's talking to.... Bob Benson! Yes, it seems she took her mother's advice to heart, Bob is now a part of Joan's life. Whether they're just friends or dating isn't entirely clear, but it does flip the normal office dynamic on its head: here the woman is not only older but in a senior position, while the male is the junior in both age and position in the office. She tells him to let Kevin sleep a little longer before they get him up for the trip, and then muses about how nice it would be to have a summer rental to stay at. Bob points out that Pete Campbell has a beach house, but with a grin she warns him not to go asking Pete for favors... before stopping and thinking when Bob asks if she doesn't like him, admitting that - even in spite of his awful manipulation regarding Jaguar - he is the only person at the office who has never actually broken a promise to her. Bob agrees that he's a nice guy (he really isn't), and notes that he suspects Pete is having a rather rough time at the moment, and a surprised Joan asks if he told her about his mother. No he did not, but Bob is immediately intrigued, saying he wishes he had. Joan explains in brief that he needs a nurse for her, pointing out that Pete would be too ashamed to ever tell Bob (or likely any man) that. They're distracted by the ringing doorbell, Bob pondering whether Gail is already back from spending the morning at the racetrack as he goes to answer it... and finds Roger Sterling on the other side of the door! Bob is surprised to see him but, true to form, puts a big smile on his face and greets Roger by name. Joan hears that and is immediately concerned, while Roger simply stares at Bob and finally asks the pertinent question.... who is he? "I'm Bob.... from the office....?" Bob manages, obviously not all that thrilled to discover Roger has no idea who he is. Roger walks in, greeting Joan and lifting his shopping bag, himself a little more uncertain than unusual when she asks what he is doing there and he realizes he can't speak openly with Bob there, simply saying he was shopping and realized he'd misplaced some papers. Bob, sensing the awkwardness, suggests he go start the car for the beach trip and Roger agrees that would be a good idea. But Joan isn't letting him dictate the morning, simply smiling and insisting that actually Roger is just about to leave and they can deal with his papers on Monday. With a nod, Roger apologizes to Bob for his intrusion, admitting all of them are bit "out of context" in this situation, and he makes his exit. Intrigued anew, Bob points out he wasn't aware she and Roger were that close, but she simply smiles and ignores the implication, stating that some people never stop working before announcing she is going to freshen up and then they can get going. She leaves, and Bob's smile fades a little, as he considers just why Roger Sterling showed up unannounced and obviously feeling welcome at Joan's home. That night, Peggy is sleeping in bed when she hears the sound of shattering glass. Frightened, worried it's another act of vandalism on her home, she creeps to the window clutching her stick, which she has taped a knife to as a quasi-spear to defend herself from. Outside she can hear people yelling at the neighbors whose window has been smashed to get out because this is "our block", and she timidly pulls the blinds open a little more with the knife to get a look at what is happening. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" asks Abe, walking up behind her to see what all the noise is about, and with a panicked yelp she twists around to face him.... and stabs him right in the torso with the knife! They stare in horror at each other, Abe letting out an astonished,"JESUS!" while she, horrified, gasps out asking why he didn't say anything. He doesn't dignify that with an answer, and she asks what to do, and more alarmed himself now at the sudden thought of how she might react warns her NOT to pull the knife out. Shortly after, they're riding in an ambulance together, Peggy insisting that he will be fine when he starts to mumble about what he expects if he doesn't make it. She looks to the paramedic for assurance that Abe will be just fine, and in response gets a mildly bored shrug! But Abe has something he wants to tell her, and he wants her to know that he isn't saying it because she just stabbed him, it's something he has obviously been thinking for a long time: she's a scared person who hides behind complacency. Bewildered, she doesn't understand what he's getting at, but he makes it painfully clear very quickly: "Your activities are offensive to my every waking moment." He can't stand that she channeled her creative talent into advertising, that she's part of the machinery that sells things to people, that convinces people to think, feel and act certain ways that uphold a status quo he despises. They've clashed over this all before, of course, but it's come to a head with her refusal to be a "pioneer" and be at the forefront of a change to the way things have always been. He of course overstates and overestimates his own bravery and idealism, he is a man who has compromised plenty and whose revolutionary fervor has always had a hint of intellectual detachment, like he's trying desperately to fit into an image he has created of himself. But the point remains, he can't be with her anymore, their values are too different, their willingness to adapt to certain things are channeled in different ways, and one or both is going to end up hating the other if they don't end it now. "Are you breaking up with me?" she asks at last, and fighting back the pain he chuckles that she gave him a hell of an ending for his article! She doesn't know what to say, how to act, what to do. All she can do is turn and look at the paramedic, who sure as hell isn't bored anymore but remains just as non-committal, not wanting to get in the middle of a trauma far beyond the physical. So she sits there with what is now seemingly her former boyfriend, riding in an ambulance to get him treated for the knife SHE stabbed him with. It's been a hell of a weekend!   Megan stands on the balcony in her underwear and a shirt, looking out over the city when Don returns home. He takes a moment before he joins her, thinking about her and perhaps whether he can handle any issues or problems she might have, much as Megan told Arlene she feared he felt. When he steps through the doors, she turns and greets him, asking if he had fun, and he tells her that he missed her (before, during or after sex with your ex-wife?). She considers that and decides to just be open with him... she misses him all the time. Sirens sound in the background, but they ignore them, Megan explaining that she has been trying to pretend everything is fine but she can't ignore any longer that it isn't. She doesn't know why, but she has tried everything she can to get things back the way they used to be, even if that is naive or "young" thinking. Don stops her, agreeing with her, admitting that he HASN'T been here. He kisses her, and with relief she sinks into his arms. He stands there on the balcony, simply holding her, having perhaps been jolted by seeing what Betty and Henry have, made all the more prominent by how she could be that way after spending the night with him. He simply holds her, and he told Betty for him that would be enough.... but will it be? The weekend over, Joan is at work and joined in her office by Roger, closing the door behind him and passing her the shopping bad he had on the weekend: they're Lincoln Logs, bought for Kevin so he could build his mother a house. Joan is reluctant to take them, even more reluctant to have this conversation with Roger. She warns him he can't just drop by her place like he did on the weekend, and when he moans and whines and asks why not, she disabuses him of the notion that he is Kevin's father. Because he can't be, it's too confusing for Kevin (and for Roger, and for Joan), as far as Kevin can ever know, his father is some hero out there fighting a war, and THAT is the man she'd rather him think is his father. Roger doesn't know how to react, he's offering to be there, hell he is HERE while Greg is off in Vietnam, and if nothing else he wants to be around. But while Joan isn't cruel, she is truthful, and that is a cruelty in and of itself: he's here NOW, he wants to be around NOW.... but she can't count on that. And she's right not to. Why is Roger suddenly interested in being a father to Kevin? Because Margaret got upset at him and won't let him be Ellery's grandson without following strict conditions. What happens when Roger gets bored? Or finds a new interest? Or gets a new girlfriend? Or knocks up some other woman? So she tells him in no uncertain terms no, ignores his insult about Bob "Bunson" being the guy to watch television with Kevin, and opens the door for him to leave. Much like Betty with Don, Roger is seeing the other side of the power dynamic for a change, and he doesn't like it. These are the chickens coming home to roost, he had her as a mistress for years, he told her he couldn't be the father to her baby, wanted her to have an abortion, told her if she kept it the baby would have to be Greg's, showed no interest or involvement in his life at all.. until now, when suddenly he is interested and expects to get his own way. But it isn't happening, today is one of the few days where Roger gets told no and has to suck it up and take it. Armed with knowledge, Bob pops into Pete's office and tells him he wants to discuss a delicate matter. Pete, interested, tells him to take a seat, and Bob works his way up to sharing his information, insisting that he hesitated to bring it up as it may simply be gossip.... but it's come to his attention that Pete needs a nurse for his mother. Pete is immediately suspicious and angry, openly condemning Joan for betraying his confidence. Bob though simply reaches into his pocket and pulls out a slip of paper, telling Pete that he has the details of a man named Manolo Colón, a fully trained and registered army nurse who has just become available to work after tending to and bringing Bob's own father back to full health. Angry, betrayed but needful, Pete glares at the paper but then takes it, his anger subsiding as he reveals a little of his desperation, asking if he's Spanish from Spain... because his mother will refuse if that is the case! "He's very well bred," smiles Bob, and then proving that he hasn't just thrown Joan under the bus in order to get brownie points with Pete, takes a moment to speak up in her defense, insisting that she only revealed Pete's secret to him because she had exhausted every other effort and was desperate to help him. This is, of course, complete bullshit. But that doesn't matter, it paints Joan in a good light while also reinforcing Pete's need to believe that others take his needs and feelings seriously and want to help him. That Bob benefits in the eyes of both is a bonus, though I'll stress again that Bob has managed to make sure that he is in the middle of all of that. It's genuinely hard to tell how sincere he is in his friendship and how much is just him being a kiss-rear end... or if he's one of those people where that Venn Diagram turns out to be a perfect circle.   Peggy approaches Moira's desk and asks if Ted is in. With a smile, Moira says he is and starts to buzz him to let him know Peggy is there, but Peggy says not to worry, she'll just go straight in. Moira allows this, perhaps because she got used to their working relationship at CGC, and Peggy enters the room of the man she has fantasised about and who so recently told her that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the time he kissed her. He's working at his desk and greets her, but quickly picks up that there is something wrong, if only because her hair and make-up aren't as carefully applied and she looks miserable. Approaching her with concern he asks what the problem is, and deciding not to get into the specifics (which would require even MORE explanation) she simply explains that Abe was stabbed, he will be alright... but her relationship with him is over. She waits expectantly, hopefully, wanting him to to embrace her, to kiss her, to tell her that now maybe they can be together, maybe he will leave his wife, maybe she can have what she has fantasised about. Instead, a sad and warmly encouraging Ted promises her that she will get over it, that she will find somebody else, and whoever it will be will be lucky to have her. Her heart sinks. It isn't gonna happen. Ted kissed her when he was stressed about Chevy. He brought up the kiss when stressed about Fleischmann's. But once those stressful moments were dealt with he went back to life as normal, and nevermind that he's thrown her entire life into turmoil. Nowhere is this made more evident when he suddenly, all chipper, asks if she is ready to get to work and opens the door, happily telling her that it's Monday and the start of a brand new week of work! Leaving his office in a daze, she finds herself once again caught between the two "mentors" in her life. Ted calls across to Don as he arrives to ask how his weekend was, and Don calls back asking how the pitch went. "Full speed ahead!" grins Ted, full of energy and completely at ease with himself now that things have worked out as he wanted, Peggy largely forgotten. "Good work," nods Don, and heads into his office as Ted cheerfully tells Peggy to round up the team. Don's door closes, Ted's door closes, and there is Peggy, left caught in the middle, both men the same, mentors whose self-interest forever trumps her feelings, who both try to use her as a way to make themselves feel better and leave her feeling bad. At least before she had the fantasy, and she had Abe. Now she has neither, just the miserable realization of the truth, and her own position in a merged Agency that is far from the place Don told her to imagine she would LIKE to work.  Episode Index Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Apr 9, 2022 |
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Mar 10, 2022 02:58
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I uhh.... I played a lot of Elden Ring over the last week+, sorry this took so long to get posted! 
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Mar 10, 2022 02:59
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Jerusalem posted:I uhh.... I played a lot of Elden Ring over the last week+, sorry this took so long to get posted! I didn't even notice because I too got sucked into elden ring
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Mar 10, 2022 03:29
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Should've done the whole recap in message form
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Mar 10, 2022 03:33
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Should have included the paramedic shrug in the ambulance as a picture.
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Mar 10, 2022 03:41
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Abe getting stabbed isn’t quite on the level as the lawnmower scene but it’s almost as good, and I love how completely banal he is with breaking up with Peggy in the ambulance.
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Mar 10, 2022 04:15
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Jerusalem posted:He babbles excitedly, waving to another kid and identifying him as Bobby 2, who is shy, explaining that he's Bobby 5 Is this a little meta winking here by the writers? Are we on our 5th Bobby at this point? Fake edit - According to google, we're only on Bobby 4
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Mar 10, 2022 04:24
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Yeah, pretty sure this is Bobby's final form
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Mar 10, 2022 04:26
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I like to pretend Abe died and no one cared.
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Mar 10, 2022 04:29
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Another comprehensive and insightful recap...but an episode highlight was glossed over: The one-two punch of "So Bob Benson's routine got through to Joan?" followed by "...wait, is he even wearing pants right now?"
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Mar 10, 2022 04:41
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GoutPatrol posted:Should have included the paramedic shrug in the ambulance as a picture. 
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Mar 10, 2022 04:41
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WampaLord posted:Is this a little meta winking here by the writers? Are we on our 5th Bobby at this point? maybe they had cast another Bobby who had to be replaced before shooting the pilot. this would make the "he went home" line make more sense
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Mar 10, 2022 06:00
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bobby died on the way to his home planet
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Mar 10, 2022 07:09
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Wonderful, I love that dude  JethroMcB posted:The one-two punch of "So Bob Benson's routine got through to Joan?" followed by "...wait, is he even wearing pants right now?" It's the late 60s, alright, those shorts combined with that shirt are INCREDIBLE 
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Mar 10, 2022 07:30
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I can't help but laugh at the way Abe dumps Peggy in the ambulance. Like literally saying "your activities are offensive to my every waking moment" has similar energy to that one scene in Billy Madison for me. He's just so done with her TBH if I had his legs I'd prob wear shorts that small too!  Maybe fish print is a little on the nose for the beach though.in hindsight his whole deal was pretty obvious at this point. maybe not as obvious as Salvatore but still
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Mar 10, 2022 07:45
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the abe and peggy stuff is probably the worst example of mad men being pro-establishment because they really do write abe like a blowhard in this one regardless of the fact that i agree with everything he says. i'm so glad they did don and betty's one night stand. i don't know why, they're terrible for each other, but it makes me happy. megan's life is depressing. pete's life is a farce.
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Mar 10, 2022 07:50
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JethroMcB posted:Another comprehensive and insightful recap...but an episode highlight was glossed over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wDpigy4eFE
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Mar 10, 2022 07:59
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roomtone posted:the abe and peggy stuff is probably the worst example of mad men being pro-establishment because they really do write abe like a blowhard in this one regardless of the fact that i agree with everything he says. abe's in advertising too, when you think about it
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Mar 10, 2022 08:33
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roomtone posted:i'm so glad they did don and betty's one night stand. i don't know why, they're terrible for each other, but it makes me happy. At first I was very worried/disappointed they were going in this direction, but once I realized that Betty was completely controlling the entire situation and that Don didn't get that it absolutely clicked for me, and him sitting there alone in the diner having to watch Betty just move on without a care in the world enjoying her breakfast with Henry was  roomtone posted:Pete's life is a farce. It's really great seeing him get phenomenally good advice from people who absolute can speak with authority and knowing that Pete himself knows it is too late. Don warned him when he still had a chance to salvage things, he ignored him, he hosed everything up, and now Duck is giving him the same advice not knowing that Pete's entire family/married life is a complete sham now, and though it isn't impossible it is highly unlikely he can do anything about it now.
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Mar 10, 2022 08:36
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who the gently caress is father Abraham and why did he have seven sons
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Mar 10, 2022 13:08
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kalel posted:who the gently caress is father Abraham and why did he have seven sons ♪ SEVEN SONS! ♪
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Mar 10, 2022 14:00
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Jerusalem posted:♪ SEVEN SONS! ♪ and seven sons had faaather abraham
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Mar 10, 2022 14:10
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I bet they laughed a lot!
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Mar 10, 2022 14:38
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but anyway, speaking of fathers and sons, it's cool that Don and Roger got to pretend to be decent dads for a day before the reality of their failures hit them in the face. that being said, in their defense, Bobby is a really weird kid, and Ellery is a loser because planet of the apes rules The forbidden zone was once a paradise!
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Mar 10, 2022 15:19
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