Don is at the height of his career. His Glo-Coat commercial is nominated for the ad industry’s Clio Awards. Although he denies it, he is clearly nervous. It is the perfect moment for flashbacks to the time when Don was still a fur coat salesman and first met Roger. He is intrigued to learn that Roger is in advertising and wants to show his own work, but Roger is not interested. Don encloses his portfolio with a coat Roger bought for his first date with Joan. Don persists, offers Roger lunch, keeps showing up at the office, until Roger budges. Unfortunately, we hear nothing of late about Peggy’s hip friend Joyce. Instead, we see her struggle for recognition. Everyone knows she is Don’s favorite, but he did not thank her for her contribution to the Glo-Coat ad. She is not even invited to the ceremony; the guys are taking Joan to charm potential clients. When she complains that her new art director Stan is lazy, Don brushes her off with “Learn how to work with him.” Stan flirts with two secretaries, talks about nude photography, but treats Peggy as one of the guys. They spend the whole weekend brain storming.
At the award ceremony in the Waldorf-Astoria, one of Ken Cosgrove’s clients drops a hint which Pete misinterprets that their firms are merging. Duck Philips drunkenly interrupts the emcee. Don and Roger joke that they have already won. Naturally, Don gets his award, but they have to leave the ceremony to give a presentation for the executives of Life cereal. They find Don’s “Eat Life by the Bowlful” campaign too sophisticated. Still drunk and excited about the award, Don starts running a few other slogans. They like the tagline, “The Cure for the Common Breakfast” – except that he plagiarized it from Jane Sterling’s cousin who has been trying to get a job at the firm. Peggy tries to warn him, but he scolds her for not producing any ideas for the Vicks campaign. When he finally gets a chance, Pete confronts Lane about the merger. Lane replies that actually Ken is joining the firm. “We can’t have you pulling the cart all by yourself,” he explains – since he is the only partner bringing in clients, and Ken will come with Mountain Dew. Returning to the after party, Faye spurns Don’s attempt to hit on her. He goes home with some other woman and wakes up two days later with another. He missed his weekend with the children. He sends the woman out, has another drink, and falls asleep on the coach.
The contrast between Don and Peggy is poignant. While he gets the recognition of the Clio award, he hardly performs at work, his life is a mess, he sleeps around, and drinks the emptiness away. It’s sad to see. Peggy for her part is working as hard as she can in a man’s world, without getting the gratitude she wants from Don, she feels like an outsider at the office. And that, too, is sad to see. Roger half admits that his only job is to find guys like Don. He threw his wife’s cousin in his lap, perhaps to remind Don of his own small beginnings. But Roger would not have hired Don if Don didn’t buy him drinks. If Mad Men is trying to get across that the state of inebriety at the firm is unhealthy – as it clearly has become for Don – then are we to assume Don is going to bring them down? Is Don going to slide farther and farther into this drunken stupor or is something or someone going to pull him out? Faye is painfully aware of Don’s mess. Peggy is too busy getting recognition. We are halfway through the season with this episode, the story arc, it seems, can go both ways, up or down. I am still rooting for Don, and for Peggy, that something good is going to happen.
At the award ceremony in the Waldorf-Astoria, one of Ken Cosgrove’s clients drops a hint which Pete misinterprets that their firms are merging. Duck Philips drunkenly interrupts the emcee. Don and Roger joke that they have already won. Naturally, Don gets his award, but they have to leave the ceremony to give a presentation for the executives of Life cereal. They find Don’s “Eat Life by the Bowlful” campaign too sophisticated. Still drunk and excited about the award, Don starts running a few other slogans. They like the tagline, “The Cure for the Common Breakfast” – except that he plagiarized it from Jane Sterling’s cousin who has been trying to get a job at the firm. Peggy tries to warn him, but he scolds her for not producing any ideas for the Vicks campaign. When he finally gets a chance, Pete confronts Lane about the merger. Lane replies that actually Ken is joining the firm. “We can’t have you pulling the cart all by yourself,” he explains – since he is the only partner bringing in clients, and Ken will come with Mountain Dew. Returning to the after party, Faye spurns Don’s attempt to hit on her. He goes home with some other woman and wakes up two days later with another. He missed his weekend with the children. He sends the woman out, has another drink, and falls asleep on the coach.
The contrast between Don and Peggy is poignant. While he gets the recognition of the Clio award, he hardly performs at work, his life is a mess, he sleeps around, and drinks the emptiness away. It’s sad to see. Peggy for her part is working as hard as she can in a man’s world, without getting the gratitude she wants from Don, she feels like an outsider at the office. And that, too, is sad to see. Roger half admits that his only job is to find guys like Don. He threw his wife’s cousin in his lap, perhaps to remind Don of his own small beginnings. But Roger would not have hired Don if Don didn’t buy him drinks. If Mad Men is trying to get across that the state of inebriety at the firm is unhealthy – as it clearly has become for Don – then are we to assume Don is going to bring them down? Is Don going to slide farther and farther into this drunken stupor or is something or someone going to pull him out? Faye is painfully aware of Don’s mess. Peggy is too busy getting recognition. We are halfway through the season with this episode, the story arc, it seems, can go both ways, up or down. I am still rooting for Don, and for Peggy, that something good is going to happen.
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