When we return to Mad Men, Bets and Don Draper’s daughter Sally’s acting up at school, getting into trouble beating another girl, because she’s grieving over the loss of her grandfather who just passed away. Obviously, the teacher who calls them to school for a conference has the hots for Don seriously ... are we heading towards another extramarital swing? (We already know from an earlier episode that Don’s captivated by her.) Don’s been so faithful while Bets was pregnant... Do we really need to throw another eager distraction on his path? She’s seriously smoldering, though, when she calls him later on the phone all tipsy and flirtatious!
Then Bets goes into labor, Don gets pushed into the waiting room the moment they arrive at the hospital. From there we slide into some kind of frightful fusion of Hitchcock and the Twilight Zone. Bets believes she spots her father mopping the floor. The nurse treats her horridly. Her doctor is not on duty that night. She tries to resist and calls for Don, but the nurse gives her a sedative. What a terribly impersonal alienating clinical nightmare! When she comes to, Don is there in the room with her. She says the baby’s name is Eugene, after her father. At home that night, Don is cooking a late-night snack. He has a little moment alone with Sally that’s so adorably endearing! You gotta love this guy, despite his obvious flaws.
Once more, I find it marvelous how the show weaves in issues that were current at the time. In this episode the theme is civil rights. At school, Sally has been asking questions about Medgar Evers, the African-American activist who was murdered (June ’63). In one of her sedated hallucinations, Bets dreams that her long-dead mother tells her never to speak up, standing next to a black man while holding a bloodstained cloth. At Sterling Cooper, Pete is trying to get his client Admiral to target their advertising for the African-American market where the TV brand is popular. But all he gets is resistance. On her part, Peggy asks for equal pay, but Don tells her this isn’t the right time for a raise. She gets up, distraught, and asks him, “What if this is my time?” Really a terrific show!
Then Bets goes into labor, Don gets pushed into the waiting room the moment they arrive at the hospital. From there we slide into some kind of frightful fusion of Hitchcock and the Twilight Zone. Bets believes she spots her father mopping the floor. The nurse treats her horridly. Her doctor is not on duty that night. She tries to resist and calls for Don, but the nurse gives her a sedative. What a terribly impersonal alienating clinical nightmare! When she comes to, Don is there in the room with her. She says the baby’s name is Eugene, after her father. At home that night, Don is cooking a late-night snack. He has a little moment alone with Sally that’s so adorably endearing! You gotta love this guy, despite his obvious flaws.
Once more, I find it marvelous how the show weaves in issues that were current at the time. In this episode the theme is civil rights. At school, Sally has been asking questions about Medgar Evers, the African-American activist who was murdered (June ’63). In one of her sedated hallucinations, Bets dreams that her long-dead mother tells her never to speak up, standing next to a black man while holding a bloodstained cloth. At Sterling Cooper, Pete is trying to get his client Admiral to target their advertising for the African-American market where the TV brand is popular. But all he gets is resistance. On her part, Peggy asks for equal pay, but Don tells her this isn’t the right time for a raise. She gets up, distraught, and asks him, “What if this is my time?” Really a terrific show!
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