Mad Men 4x12

Due to Roger Sterling’s ineffectiveness, the firm has lost Lucky Strike, and now they may be on the brink of bankruptcy. Don has pressured Faye for a meeting with a Heinz executive, who shows interest and is excited about Don’s ideas, but remains reluctant going into business with a firm that may not exist anymore in six months. How are they to attract new clients and remain financially solvent like this? Then they are offered an exclusive meeting with Philip Morris for their new brand of women’s cigarettes. They have everything in place for another cigarette brand, so it seems like their best shot. Still, Lane Pryce remains worried and implores they reduce staff and office space. He also requires a substantial collateral contribution from all the partners. Pete Campbell panics, because he doesn’t have the required $50,000 (even if that’s only half of what the senior partners’ share). Everyone at the office is nervous about losing their jobs. When push comes to shoves, it turns out Philip Morris was just using the pitch meeting as leverage with another firm. The deal goes up in smoke, so to say. Don understands they look too desperate.

Then my girl Peggy reminds Don of what he used to say, “If you don’t like what they’re saying about you, change the conversation.” Once home, he tears out his old journal entries (another interesting comment on that lone episode with Don’s voice-overs) – and starts writing a note, “Why I’m Quitting Tobacco.” He admits it’s addictive, causes illness, never gets better, but earned him big money when they were working for Lucky Strike. What is he doing? Is he seriously quitting? No, he changed the conversation by putting in a full-page ad in the New York Times, without consulting his partners, mind you. The next day the office is all abuzz, phones ringing everywhere, everyone unsure what Don was thinking, and his partners furious they weren’t included. Bert Cooper walks out and resigns. Don’s secretary Megan tells him she admires his guts. It’s like “he didn’t dump me, I dumped him,” she explains. Something good came out of it, too, because the American Cancer Society wants to go into business with SCDP. At the end of the day, Pete also learns that Don paid Pete’s share (no doubt to keep him quiet). He’s grateful for not having to go against his wife’s demand that he won’t lose their savings in the firm.

Meanwhile, Sally is trying to make nice with Betty and Henry. Not because she is no longer mad, or because therapy is helping, but because that weird kid Glen told her to kiss her mom’s ass. Betty doesn’t really believe Sally’s making progress, but Sally’s therapist thinks they may reduce their sessions to just once a week. Sally keeps seeing Glen secretly, until Betty catches them together. Mind you, Betty knows better than Sally what a weird little freak this kid is. During dinner Betty tells Henry she wants to move. Typical – if you don’t know how to handle a situation, walk away from it. For his part, Don bumps into an old flame, Midge (back from season 1), who we learn tracked him down to sell him a painting. She’s become addicted to heroin and needs money. Don’s appalled but offers her some money and walks away with one of her paintings. It seems like a lose thread in the plot. Are we going to hear from her again next week? At any rate, what a marvelous show! I am very impressed how this season keeps us on the edge of our seats wondering what is going to happen next. Almost imperceptibly Don has found his center of gravity again, taking the reins even if he cannot know whence he is going.

Mad Men 4x11

Lucky Strike, from the start, was the account on which our Mad Ad Men could count to remain financially solvent. Now American Tobacco wants to consolidate their business and take it elsewhere. Through the grapevine Ken hears about it from someone gloating that their firm is getting Lucky Strike. Ken calls Pete, Pete calls Don, Don calls Bert, Bert calls Roger. That same evening, Bert Cooper, Don Draper, Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove ambush Roger Sterling in his office about Lucky Strike, the sole account he had to look after. Losing it may financially ruin their firm. Roger feigns surprise and fakes a call to Lee Garner Jr., with his thumb on the receiver, acting shocked. He offers to fly to North Carolina to convince the board to change their minds. The next day, Roger continues the charade calling in to inform his partners it’s useless, the board has already made their decision, all the while sitting in a hotel room downtown.

Meanwhile, Peggy returns from a weekend on the beach with her hip friends. She takes Abe home and they make love. The next morning, she convinces him to stay awhile longer and they get it on again. When she comes into work late, the office is in a state of nervous energy. Don ensured their employees that nothing will change, that this is going to be an exhilarating challenge. No one knows how serious the loss of Lucky Strike is until Lane Pryce returns from London. Privately Don tells Peggy he’s counting on her. She has to give a Playtex presentation tomorrow, and with her amorous encounter fresh in her mind, she changes the course of the commercial to a more sensuous approach – how Playtex gloves preserve a woman’s hands for the things she really wants to touch. Then Abe arrives, pretending to be a delivery boy, and they have a go at it again in her office. Roger calls Joan from his hotel room, desperate, confiding like a little boy who confesses to his mommy that he knew for weeks that the account was lost. Joan responds with appropriate fury. Ken and Pete call clients to assure them the firm will remain viable. Then Don receives news that Glo-Coat is dropping the agency.

While they are in the hospital waiting for Trudy to deliver, Pete’s father-in-law suggests he should abandon ship. Pete even gets courted by a rival firm and is offered full partnership. Faye consoles Don that he is the most hirable man in the business, but he wants none of it. When she notices how tense he is about losing clients, she mentions that she has encountered enough unhappy clients in her consultancy. They get into an argument when he pushes her to arrange meetings with them. When Roger shows up at her apartment, Joan turns him away. “I can’t do this anymore,” she repeats over and over. The next day, Bert berates Roger that “Lee Garner Jr. never took you seriously because you never took yourself seriously.” Stan hopes to take advantage of Peggy’s nerves by kissing her, but she rejects him once again. In retaliation, he lets her walk into her presentation with lipstick smudge on her teeth. Nevertheless, the executive adores the new approach. At the end of the work day, with everyone gone, Don’s new secretary Megan throws herself at him. Good thing Don just had a fight with Faye. After the sex, Don goes home, only to find Faye in his hallway. She arranged a meeting for him with Heinz, because he means enough to her that she’ll bend her own rules for him.

Mad Men 4x10

Finally the moment I have been waiting for, Beatlemania! Sally shrieks with happiness when Don got her surprise tickets for The Beatles concert at Shea Stadium. (It is now August 1965.) When Joan tells Roger she is pregnant and he must be the father, his response is typically condescending and chauvinist. Joan, though, is such a strong woman, she tells him she will take care of it herself. They visit his doctor for a referral; he reprimands Roger for taking advantage of Joan; but recommends a clinic in Morristown, NJ. Roger toys with the idea of keeping the baby, he’ll support her, but again Joan remains strong and tells him she will handle the situation – on her own. Later Roger has dinner with Lee Garner, his contact at Lucky Strike. Roger’s firm has represented them for thirty years, but now the board is terminating their relationship. He begs and pleads for thirty days to convince them and eventually Lee caves in, even though he is certain the decision has already been made.

It is interesting to say the least to learn about Lane Pryce’s relationship with his father. Lane was expecting his son to visit him from London. Instead his father arrives to bring him to London, which Lane declines politely. He does invite his father to dinner and asks Don to join them. Afterwards Lane takes them to The Playboy Club, and introduces them to an African-American waitress Toni, his Chocolate Bunny. He is infatuated. Later he tells his father he will not return to London because of her. His father hit him on his head with his cane, steps on his hand and orders Lane comes to London.

Meanwhile, the North American Aviation account, which Pete brought in three years ago when Don went missing in California, is promising to bring in more revenue as the executives wish to promote their cutting-edge defense technologies. Then two FBI agents show up at the Francis residence, claiming to perform a background check on Don who has applied for a security clearance. For forty-five minutes they drill Betty about his integrity, military history, loyalty to the country, allegiance to political clubs, and so on. Distraught, Betty calls Don complaining he did not warn her in advance. He breaks out in a nervous sweat but is grateful she did not break his cover. His past and his fake identity are catching up on him.

Don’s new secretary Megan explains she filled out the application with the standard employment information and had him sign it. The only other person alive who knows Don Draper really is Dick Whitman is slimy Pete. When Pete explains the application is part of their new NAA project, Don panics and even suggests he will leave the firm. Snailface Pete is actually supportive and offers to speak with a contact in the defense department. Later that evening Betty tells her husband about the interview with the agents. She says she does not want any secrets between them, but she does not reveal Don’s real identity to Henry. The next day, Pete wonders out loud why he needs to protect Don’s secret. But Don demands he cancels the $4 million account. What’s in it for Pete and how long until he will blow Don’s cover?

Then Faye stops by Don’s office and notices he has a fever, she takes him home. Don gets an outright panic attack when two men approach him in the hallway. He confides he is tired of running and briefly tells Faye how he came to adopt Don Draper’s identity in Korea. At the next meeting Pete informs the partners that he has made an incorrigible error that lost them the NAA account. Roger bursts out in anger. Cooper tells him to apologize. Lane announces a leave of absence. Then Joan asks about the shape of the current accounts and Roger gives a “thumbs up” for Lucky Strike. Just as we thought things were getting better with Don and the firm, they throw us these incredible curve balls! Hence the episode’s title, “Hands and Knees.”

Mad Men 4x09

Mad Men, your Chirping Cricket contends, is the best drama show on television this past decade. For that alone the show deserves all the Emmy’s they can get. The buzz is that the episode “The Suitcase” (4x07) is certainly worth nominations for Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss for their stellar performances. That episode was intense and the interaction between Don and Peggy phenomenal. But this week’s episode, to me at least, was so very much more fulfilling emotionally. It satisfies on all levels, the writing, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the subtle score – and let’s not forget the costumes and the sets, which are always pitch perfect. If there was any hesitation in your mind that Mad Men isn’t the best show on tv, this one should cast all doubts aside. After an episode that was about men, this week’s title is “The Beautiful Girls,” and that’s obviously for a reason. It’s all about women: Peggy and Joan, Faye and Joyce, Betty and Sally, and poor Miss Blankenship – and interestingly it is not about Bethany. Let’s review.

When your world is falling apart, how do you know when you cross from lubricated to morose? Joan seems to know – and Roger has crossed that point. She’s not amused that he keeps flirting with her at work. Roger needs to hear from his secretary that Joan’s husband Greg is being shipped off to Vietnam. He has always regretted he didn’t marry her, that he let her go. He gets her a full massage, manicure and pedicure at home, but expects to take her out for dinner in return. “You’re incapable of doing something nice without expecting something nicer in return,” Joan retorts. Nevertheless, she agrees, and he confides that all his good memories are with her. On their way back home, Roger and Joan get robbed at gun point – a poignant reminder of the plight of the poor, and of the civil rights movement – because the mugger is black. In their nervous excitement, Roger and Joan have sex under a stairwell. He tries to apologies the next day, but she tells him she’s not sorry, yet reminds him they are both married.

Peggy’s counter-cultural friends, lesbo Joyce and Abe, the self-righteous artsy-fartsy leftist, are back in the picture. Peggy is worried about hiring new copywriters, because it will bring in more men to compete with. Abe, ironically, is a writer, but he is merely trying to convince her that the corporate world is killing her creative soul. When the subject turns to the civil rights movement, Peggy replies that women face discrimination in the workforce, too. Abe doesn’t get it and jokes they should have “a civil rights march for women.” She admits she feels criticized – and he defends himself by saying, “This is discourse!” (Sorry, Abe, but you can’t say that to your date.) He later stops by at the office to show her an article, “Nuremberg on Madison Avenue,” eager to hear her thoughts about it. He’s pushy and abrasive. When he realizes that he insulted her, all he can say is, “I guess I read you wrong,” and sighs, “you look so earnest.” How can you come up with dialogue like that, it’s amazing!

Don finally has a mid-summer afternoon tryst with Faye – and he is much more clear-headed and sober than before. He even allows Faye to stay in his apartment when he heads back to the office. He gets called out of a meeting, because his daughter Sally ran away from home and took the commuter train all by herself (until some lady saw her and brought her to Don). Not willing to go through the trouble of picking up her daughter, Betty agrees to stop by the next day – when she happens to be in the city anyway – and so she doesn’t have to deal with her rebellious daughter for a day. No sooner does he return to the meeting then he is called out again, this time because his secretary Miss Blankenship has died in her office chair. Don then asks if Faye can look after Sally for the rest of the day. Perceptive as she is, Sally later asks her father if he is going to marry Faye and he implies that they may see each other again. She wants to stay with her father, she hates it there, with her mother and that Henry Francis. At night, Don wants to write in his journal, but closes it – an interesting commentary on last week’s overbearing voice-over diary entries. (Not that again, please, we don’t need voice-overs to inform us of the subtext; we’re smarter than that, thanks.)

Next morning, Sally makes Don French toast in the morning – accidentally using rum instead of maple syrup. He takes the morning off to go to the zoo with her, but when Betty arrives to pick her up, Sally has one of her fits again. She is so much like her mother – and still, or rather precisely because of that, I love her to pieces. I also love the implicit ambush by Faye, Peggy, Joan and Megan in the background, when Betty is confronted with her lack of parental skills. Don is not faring much better and even asks Faye to talk to Sally. What his daughter wants to know is that her father still loves her, even though he is no longer living with her mother, but he cannot say those words. He is incapable of expressing his feelings – at least not verbally. That, in fact, is the great irony of the show: the man who knows what everyone wants and who knows all the right words to convince them into buying it, that man cannot communicate emotionally. Still, for Don and Betty, the divorce is hitting home – on all fronts. “Jesus, what a mess,” Don sighs. Even Faye is upset. She feels Don put her through the test, and she failed. She just isn’t good with kids, but he soothes her it wasn’t her fault what happened with Sally. The episode ends with the elevator doors closing on “The Beautiful Girls,” Joan, Peggy and Faye – the women of Don Draper’s professional life.

Mad Men 4x08

“They say, as soon as you have to cut down on drinking, you have a drinking problem,” Don intones, while we watch him dive in a pool for a swim. It is a healthy rebirth, like a baptism in the River Jordan. Still, his health is poor and his mind a jumble. It is June 1965, and the Rolling Stones score a hit with “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction).” (For you history freaks, yes, that single was released in the U.S. in June 1965.) The song is an interesting choice, what with its blatant frustration over commercialism on the radio and on tv. The lyrics, too, remind us of Don’s white shirt, his cigarettes, and his failure to get “girl reaction.” But times are a-changin’ for our mad ad man.

At the office, Peggy feels like (the famous anthropologist) Margaret Mead, observing the boys club’s odd behavior around the candy bar vending machine. When Joan demands that they keep it quiet, the new kid Joey tells her off, calling her a Shanghai whore walking around like she is trying to get raped. He later draws a sketch of Joan and Lane having sex and sticks it to her office window. His sexism is unnerving. Joan is already on edge because her husband Greg (the man who raped her in the office to vent his own insecurities) is leaving for basic training before being shipped out to Vietnam. She has no friends and no one else to talk to beside him.

Since Ken Cosgrove brought in Mountain Dew, Don wants to bring in more creative talent, especially after their ad concept was rejected – and he asks Joan to hire Joey full-time. She tries to tell him about Joey’s inappropriate behavior (generalizing her own experience as if it is office-wide, which only Peggy notices), but Don brushes her off with the old “boys will be boys.” Joan, as always, wants to fight her own battle at the office, but Peggy feels drawn in as she has long been upset by the boys club’s misconduct. Don encourages her to get some respect for herself and she demands that Joey apologizes to Joan. When he refuses, she outright fires him. Joan is none too pleased, “All you’ve done is prove to them that I’m a meaningless secretary and you’re another humorless bitch.” There is truth to that, but what is really going on is that Joan feels outmaneuvered.

Betty informs Don that he cannot have the children this weekend, because it is Gene’s second birthday. When her husband is having a business diner with a political aide at some fancy restaurant in the city, he brings Betty along, who notices to her great consternation that Don is sitting there with his date Bethany van Nuys (the actress Anna Camp who also played the wife of Fellowship of the Sun freak Steve Newlin on True Blood). Only now does it dawn on me how similar their names are, Beth and Betty. Betty cannot hide her distress seeing Don with another blonde, while Beth cannot help smiling about their resemblance. It is awfully gratifying seeing Betty argue with that Henry Francis of hers in his car on the ride back home. Don is taking too much space in her life, he worries. And then the scene cuts to Don and his pretty blonde Beth kissing in the back of a cab. She even goes down on him!

It does not take long before Don is kissing another blonde in a cab! This time it is Faye Miller. He had asked to discuss her research over dinner, but she pushed him for a proper date (although that is strange, because she has been pushing him off all this time). Earlier, he overheard her breaking up with a man. So, he confidently suggests dinner on Saturday. Meanwhile, Henry called Don at the office asking him to collect his boxes still stored in the garage – on Saturday, because it is Gene’s birthday on Sunday (an implicit way of saying Don is not welcome at the party). At his date with Faye, Don shares his run-in with Betty and Henry, and that he feels unwelcome at his son’s birthday. She encourages him to go nevertheless. Their cab ride home is in marvelous contrast to his ride with Beth. They kiss, but he drops her off with a cool, “that’s as far as I can go right now.” Of course, his rejection only makes him more attractive to Faye. Next day, Don does attend his son’s party, literally bringing a plush elephant in the room. Betty stares at him, and it is unclear whether she is confident that she is better off now, or if she is wondering if she should have stayed with him.

Mad Men 4x07

Despite the backdrop of the rematch of Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston (May 1965), this was a rather quiet episode, focused almost entirely on Don and Peggy. It is difficult to tell, though, if it was a good or bad one. Don did not like the proposed Samsonite commercial Peggy and the guys from creative acted out for him. He sends Peggy back to the drawing board, while the office empties out to watch the fight. It is her birthday, her boyfriend Mark is waiting for her at the Forum of the Twelve Caesars restaurant, and she finds a birthday present from Duck Philips – business cards for “Philip-Olson Advertising.” He got fired and is hoping she will start up a new company with him. “I’m falling apart,” he concedes after she asks if he has been drinking. Don decides to skip the fight and asks Peggy to stay so they can work on the Samsonite commercial. She calls the restaurant to tell Mark she will be late. Don does not like Peggy’s revisions and comes up with an idea to tie in the commercial with the fight, but he doesn’t yet know how. Then Mark calls Peggy again, upset that she keeps him and her family waiting. Not knowing it is her birthday Don says she should go, but she hesitates. She was expecting a romantic dinner and instead she accuses Mark of trying to “score points with a bunch of people who drive me crazy.” She cancels on him and they break up. It did not feel right to her anyway and work is more important to her.

She scolds Don, though, for never appreciating her work. He shouts angrily that “that’s what the money is for!” Still, he takes her out for dinner, and later they listen to the fight in a bar. She’s self-deprecating that everyone believes she slept with Don. They make jokes, she sighs, “like it’s so funny because the possibility was so remote.” Even her mother thinks Don was responsible for the pregnancy she aborted. They return to the office, where they find Duck wandering around drunk. He gets into a fight with Don – believing like everybody else that Don and Peggy are having an affair. Peggy tries to encourage Don to drink less. “I have to make a phone call, and I know it’s gonna be bad,” he says by means of an explanation. Earlier, he had received an urgent message from Stephanie in California, but he is afraid to return the call. He knows what it means, Anna passed away. Don falls asleep in Peggy’s lap. When he wakes up he makes the call and cries when his fear is confirmed. Peggy is staring wide-eyed at him. He can only say that someone close died, “the only person in the world who really knew me.” She tries to console him, but he insists she goes home to sleep. Instead she takes a nap in her office. Later that morning Don shows her his concept, based on Clay’s victory over Liston, predicting that the photo on every newspaper will become iconic. “It's very good,” she admits. They briefly hold hands and then Don tells her to “Go home, take a shower, and come back with ten tag lines.” While the whole episode takes places over the course of less than a day, much has happened: Don lost Anna and Peggy lost Mark, but they have gained a sense of trust sharing their loss; they have grown closer, but without the sexual tension that normally surrounds Don Draper; he has had an idea that may become their next big advertisement. In short, this has been the pivotal moment of the season.

Mad Men 4x06

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.

Mad Men 4x05

Thus far, Don has been drunk, distant and depressed since his divorce from Betty. He has not achieved anything in his private or professional life. Is he going to snap out of it? He seems to be on the verge of something in his battle with Faye, the market research consultant. For her part, Peggy has been dabbling in the 60s counter-culture and I am hoping that love affair is going to continue. Don has told her he needs her in the firm because she understands young people. Will he also come to “get” the new 60s? But Don also wanted Pete on the team, because he is open for new and young markets, yet Pete is more concerned now with maintaining his position and keeping up the façade of his marriage. With their Clearasil and Jai Alai accounts gone to a competitor, Pete is proud to announce they are invited to compete for Honda’s business. Roger Sterling’s World War II experience keeps him form appreciating the opportunity.

Nevertheless, the other partners are eager to take the chance and Pete recommends they read anthropologist Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. When the Japanese executives explain they have a set of rules for the competition, Roger explodes. After the meeting, Don has an ingenious idea: as Bert Cooper believes they must resign because Roger insulted the executives, Don does not want to see the business go to the competitor by default; since they do not have the financial means to break the rules and produce a finished commercial, he suggest they make it seem as if they are shooting one, so that the competitor will actually make one. On the day of the presentation, Don offers his resignation and complains that they broke their own rules. It gains him their respect, they win the account and have bankrupted the competition. Don’s stunt has paid off royally.

Meanwhile, Don’s daughter Sally is acting out against her grandfather’s death, her parents’ divorce, her father’s many affairs, her mother’s new marriage. First she cuts her hair and later she touches herself on a sleep over. Betty is angry and mortified, but Henri says punishment will not make Sally change her ways. Instead he suggests seeing a therapist. Like Don, Betty does not believe in psychiatrists. She has been in therapy years ago and it did not do her any good. Not surprisingly, his daughter’s behavior brings Don closer to Faye and as they chat she admits she merely pretends to be married to avoid male attention at the work floor. He almost asks her out for dinner. A new blonde in his life. But that’s for later. Don is starting to get his groove back. Now let’s hope we will hear more about Peggy next week.

Mad Men 4x04

Mad Men, the most amazing show on television at the moment, is delving deep into relationships of various kinds. Don’s secretary, Allison, is disturbed by his callous attitude about their one-night-stand. She breaks down during a focus group meeting about Pond’s facial cream when the conversation steers toward marriage. She later tells Don she is quitting and throws a paperweight at him when he agrees to sign a letter of recommendation if she writes it for him. He cannot even show her enough respect to write the letter himself. “You are not a good person,” she responds. When he comes home drunk (as usual), Don starts to write an apology letter. He tries to explain his life is in a mess, but he cannot even finish the sentence. The main reason Pete Campbell is working at the firm is because he was able to bring in the Clearsil account through his father-in-law. Now he is told they have to drop the account due to a conflict with Pond’s – and Pond’s brings in more money. Right at the moment he wants to inform his father-in-law, he blurts out that Trudy (Pete’s wife) is pregnant. The next evening at home, Pete demands that his father-in-law gives him the entire Vicks account, or otherwise the firm will have to drop Clearasil. He breaks the good news at the office next day, receiving congratulations from all, before taking his father-in-law out for lunch.

Meanwhile, Peggy meets an assistant photo editor at Life, Joyce, in the elevator. She shows Peggy some rejected nude photography that intrigues Peggy. Later Joyce invites her to a party downtown that the photographer is throwing. There’s lots of drinks and weed, and that delicious Joyce flirts with Peggy talking about vaginas. Peggy gets berated for being merely a copywriter, and the photographer is insulted she invites him to work for the firm. “Art in advertising?” the photographer exclaims, “Why would anyone do that after Warhol?” Then the police raid the party and Peggy hides in a closet with one of the writers. They kiss before Joyce calls them to flee down the fire escape. It is fascinating to see Don clash with Faye Miller, their market research consultant, about the validity of focus groups and psychoanalysis. “You stick your finger in people's brains, and they just start talking,” he chides her. Don brags that people won’t understand a new idea until he shows it to them. In other words, people won’t know what they need until advertising tells them to. They are both manipulators of consumer behavior, but he’s in for radical new ideas while she opts for the conventional. Then there’s a casual reference to race riots in Harlem and the death of Malcolm X (Feb. ’65). The countercultural revolution is about to burst at the seams!

Mad Men 4x03

1964 is almost over for the Mad Ad Men on Madison Ave. Financially Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is still in a precarious position, but Lane tells Don it’s been a magnificent year. Don is spending the holidays in Acapulco, but makes a stopover in L.A. to visit Anna, the widow of the real Don Draper. She knows more about Dick Whitman than anyone alive. Anna’s sister Patty is helping with chores, because Anna broke her leg. And Anna invites her niece to stay over, not only to meet Dick, but also because she got “grass.” Stephanie is a college-age, pretty girl and it is obvious Dick is instantly attracted to her. Anna steers the conversation to Betty. He’s still broken-hearted about it, but seems to think she couldn’t be with him anymore because of his false identity, not because of his patronizing and promiscuous ways. Later, Dick drives Stephanie home and flirts with her. She tells him Anna has cancer, but that they’ve decided not to tell her, because it’s terminal. Next day, instead of flying to Acapulco, he returns to New York.

Meanwhile, Joan’s relationship with Greg is tearing at the seams because their busy schedules hardly leave time for them to be together. When she asks for some days off after the holidays to be with Greg, Lane rebukes her in a most unkind way. Joan is worried Greg will be sent to Vietnam as a military physician, and all he can tell her is that they will make it. Joan’s the kind of woman who wants to be in control, who doesn’t leave anything to fate, while Greg is stumbling from one failure into the next. He wants to take care of her, raise a family, but it’s hard to picture how that’s going to happen. Meanwhile, Lane was supposed to visit his family in London. He has been arguing with his wife, and his secretary accidentally sent her the wrong apology card. She hates New York, he loves the City; you say eether, I say eyether; let’s call the whole thing off. His wife left him. Don finds Lane still at the office and they decide to have some fun together. They go to a B-rate Godzilla movie, have dinner at a steakhouse, visit a comedy club, and invite some lady friends. Lane thanks Don for the “welcome distraction.” Heading the office meeting after the New Year’s weekend, Joan says, “Alright, Gentlemen, shall we begin 1965?”

Mad Men 4x02

Freddy Rumsen is back! Not only has he been clean and sober for half a year, he’s bringing the $2 million Pond’s Cold Cream account. His only request is that Pete Campbell cannot get near the account. Soon Freddy argues with Peggy over the creative direction of the Pond’s advertisement. Pond’s wants to use an older celebrity, but she suggests Elizabeth Taylor, as young women don’t respond to beauty advice from older women. It is Christmastime, 1964, Don has his secretary buy presents for his children, and the office is all a-bustle with excitement. Even at his apartment his flirty neighbor is busy preparing early in the morning for a party. Lee Garner Jr. of Lucky Strikes has invited himself to the party at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. And so, despite the firm’s dire financial situation, Roger asks Joan to turn the party into a “Roman orgy.” Back at Don’s apartment that night, his neighbor Phoebe is already cleaning up after her party and has to let him in as he’s too drunk himself. He tries flirting with her, but she tells him to be a good boy. The big office party is the next day. Lee Garner pressures Roger to put on the Santa suit, and he reluctantly agrees to please their most important client. Santa hands out cartons of Lucky Strikes to everyone, but gives a Polaroid camera to Lee. After the party, Don arrives home drunk again, without his keys. He calls his secretary, Allison, who finds and brings them. “My goodness,” she giggles after they have sex. She’s all smiles the next day at the office, but Don’s stiff demeanor sobers her up. While I sympathize with Don, he’s starting to lose his charm and becoming pathetic.

Meanwhile, that creepy kid Glen (who once had a crush on Betty), has been trying to bond with Sally over their shared experience of their parents’ divorce. To encourage Betty and Henry to move out of Don’s house, Glen breaks in with a friend and empties the fridge all over the kitchen. I’m not sure what to make of Glen’s reappearance. It seems a little contrived. Is Glen going to be Sally’s love interest? (Parenthetically, Glen is played by Marten Weiner, the son of the show’s creator Matthew Weiner.) Then there is the situation with Peggy and her boyfriend Mark. He begs her for sex. “I want to be your first,” he says. So she hasn’t told him yet she slept with Pete Campbell and Duck Philips before. He talks some nonsense about Swedes making love right away. She asks him to leave. At the office, Freddy notices she’s testy about marriage. He advices her to hold off sex, if she wants to marry Mark, but not to lead him on. Afterwards, she goes to bed with Mark. “Do you feel different,” he asks. She doesn’t even answer. I don’t know what to make of Peggy and Mark either. For now their relation is hanging in the air like an afterthought. I do not know this Mark, and thus want better for Peggy, for she deserves the best. Maybe Duck Philips wasn’t so bad after all. There was also an interesting discussion about the dangers of Medicare, entirely appropriate for the present day: “They won’t stop until they ban personal property.” Hilarious! As always, it’s the characters that make this show so enjoyable, and by now we’ve gotten to know them so well, that scenes barely have to explain anything. A gesture or glance can be enough to remind us of some previous episode. Brilliant!

Mad Men 4x01

The best show on TV returns for a fourth season! Appropriately, the season premier is titled “Public Relations,” and the first words we hear are: “Who is Don Draper?” That’s a question on everybody’s mind. He has brought the Madison Avenue advertising firm Sterling Cooper to great heights and then encouraged his partners to start anew, as Sterling Cooped Draper Pryce. Out of a sense of misplaced modesty, Don doesn’t answer the reporter’s question – in fact, he hardly talks about anything, except his latest commercial for Glo-Coat floor wax (admittedly a great piece). Once the article is printed, Don’s partners are dismayed by his lack of salesmanship. Because of the article, one of their big clients drops out. Now Lucky Strike covers an untenable 71% of their billings. Bertrand Cooper suggests that Don counter the negative piece with an interview for the Wall Street Journal.

Don’s now divorced and Henry has moved in Don’s house with Betty. Yet it is Don who is paying the mortgage. He doesn’t want to pressure them and uproot the children. He is still single and paying a woman to have sex – and slap him in the face. Roger Sterling offers a blind date with a friend of his wife Jane, Bethany. “Come Turkey Day, maybe you can stuff her,” Roger quips. Don agrees and enjoys a pleasant evening. In the taxi cab, she allows him to kiss him, but holds firm that they take it no further just yet. When he returns the children, Betty and Henry keep him waiting for almost an hour. He demands that they move out or start paying rent. “It’s temporary,” Henry says in his defense. “Trust me, everybody things this is temporary,” Don replies curtly. I can only hope so, Henry is so wrong for Betty –she herself remains unhappy and unable to handle rebellious Sally.

Pete and Peggy are trying to save their Sugarberry Ham account. She suggests a stunt to attract attention: two customers fighting over the last ham for their Thanksgiving dinner. The coverage turns out better than expected, and Peggy already comes up with a new slogan, “our hams are worth fighting for.” Unfortunately, the actresses fought so hard, that one is pressing charges against the other. Now Peggy needs to ask Don for bail money and some cash to keep them silent – and Don was never in on the stunt. When Don later berates her for the stunt without his approval, she reminds him that all they want to do is please him.

Meanwhile, the company is hired by Jantzen swimwear, who refuse to sell bikinis or play along with the increasingly racy advertisements of their competition – they prefer to hold on to their wholesome image. Don presses them to show the skin a two-piece swimsuit is supposed to reveal, but the refuse. He sends them packing – and they have lost yet another client. He is now adamant to correct his mistake and public image, abandons his modesty, and this time he brags his way through the interview: “Last year, our agency was being swallowed whole,” he gloats. “I could die of boredom or holster up my guns.” So I walked into Lane Pryce’s office and I said, ‘Fire us.’” He smiles and continues, “within a year, we’d taken over two floor of the Time-Life Building.” And you wonder why this show is so brilliant?

Mad Men - recap

At a friend’s recommendation, I started watching Mad Men last year and finished three seasons (39 episodes) in just under half a year. From the beginning I’ve been impressed on so many levels. It’s historical authenticity being one of them: the sets, the costumes, the hair-styles, the mores, and the language. Then there’s the chain-smoking and hard drinking; the jazz music, beat culture and references to drugs. I adore all the contemporary consumer products and brands they incorporate – from Lucky Strikes to Pepsi Patio Diet Cola, from American Airlines to UTZ chips, from Clearasil to Playtex bras. There are the obvious Cold War references: the space race (i.e., the aeronautic program), the Vietnam War and the military draft, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Famous names, like Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe. Events such as the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 into Jamaica Bay. Local New York history, such as the rebuilding of Madison Square Garden. And in season three we start hearing more and more about the civil rights movement: the murder of African-American activist Medgar Evers; Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”; the four black girls who were murdered by segregationists in Birmingham, Alabama, and so on. All of this makes for great, satisfying entertainment.

But none of this would matter one damn bit if it wasn’t for the characters who make the show. And the reason why Mad Men is the best drama series of the past few years, is exactly because of the captivating characters and the superb acting, the fascinating plotlines and the compelling dialogue. Over the course of three seasons we’ve been treated with such amazing stories and character development! I’m not going to try and recap the events in Don Draper’s life, his marital turmoil, or his extra-marital trials and tribulations, but they sure are part and parcel of the fascination. I don’t mean to judge him, yet at the same time want to blame him for ruining his marriage, for patronizing his wonderful wife, for boxing her up in her Connecticut bird-cage. I’ve been applauding Peggy’s spectacular rise to success at Sterling Cooper from secretary to creative writer. I’ve come to resent Pete for being such a whiny snail, but learned to respect that he’s actually good at what he does. Again, it’s the cast that makes this show, and they are formidable!

Mad Men 3x13

This is the one, the season finale of Mad Men. Things have been building up on so many levels, I haven’t been able to keep up. I’ve been catching so many episodes (like one or two an evening), that I actually finished the show mid-January! Let’s just say I didn’t want to overwhelm you... hehe. The big story that has been building up over the past several episodes is that Sterling Cooper is for sale. We’re given the impression that the London office, Puttnam Powell & Lowe, just used the company to make a profit and is now letting it go again. Only Lane Pryce knew, and his wife was ecstatic about the prospect of leaving New York, which she loathes for the smells and the noise and the criminals at every level. Meanwhile, Snailface Pete Campbell, the most despicable creature in Sterling Cooper, gets the word that Ken Cosgrove will be promoted over him. Lane Pryce explain that, while Pete has the talent of making the clients feel their needs are being met, Ken has the great gift of making the clients feel as if they have no needs at all. On his part, Don has been arguing, now that Salvatore Romano is fired, that the office runs without a head of the art department – and no commercial director – and creative can’t work without art.

Connie Hilton informs Don that Sterling Cooper’s parent company, Puttnam Powell & Lowe, is being bought by some advertisement agency called McCann Erickson. (so, not just Sterling Cooper, but PP&L, too, is being sold.) Despite all the talk that Don was like a son to him, Connie severs his business arrangements with him. Back at the office, Don proposes to Bertram Cooper that they buy their own company back from PP&L. Bert agrees as long as Roger remains on board – they need him for the Lucky Strikes account. Roger isn’t so easily convinced it would work. Lane Pryce is incensed when he finds out about the deal and no one can guarantee where his position will be. When he informs Don, Bert and Roger that they won’t be able to purchase the company, Don offers that Lane fires the three of them. Lane will be “thrown overboard,” anyway, Don explains. Bert proposes to make Lane a partner. Gosh, this is such exciting stuff! I’m rooting for them!!

Then they start formulating a strategy, they need accounts, Lucky Strike, and others for cash flow. They only have the weekend to collect their things, secure accounts, and scramble together some sort of staff. “Well, gentlemen,” Lane quips jokingly, “I suppose you’re fired.” Heehee! First off, Don orders Peggy Olsen in his office. She’s upset he assumes she’ll do whatever he says. He gets miffed and tells her he won’t beg her to join the new agency. “Beg me?” she responds irked, “you didn’t even ask me.” Later he visits her at her apartment to ask for her help – and confesses he will spend the rest of his life trying to hire her if she won’t join already. They also need a good accountant, so they offer Pete Campbell the job. He was in fact thinking about joining Duck Phillips’ company, so he needs convincing. Don admits they need his talents, to stay ahead of the curve, to keep looking forward, like Pete has with the space program, teenagers, African-Americans, and so on. The next day, the office is humming with cheerful excitement, but there’s one problem: no one knows where all the materials are... There’s only one person who can help: our svelte redhead Joan! Next day, the small staff is operating from a hotel suite, Joan picks up the phone, “Good morning, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce,” she answers. Excellent stuff. Top notch.

Mad Men 3x12(b)

Back in TV land, on Mad Men, I’ve been feeling that Betty and Don Draper were growing back to each other, getting past his false identity and weathering the storm after Kennedy’s assassination. There was this sweet scene in which Bets wakes up because the baby’s crying ... the bed is empty beside her ... so we assume Don is out philandering with sassy Suzanne ... Bets goes to the baby’s room ... only to find Don’s already cradling his little boy! But when Betty screams watching Lee Harvey Oswald get shot on live television and Don tries to comfort her, she says she has to leave the house and clear her head. Instead, she’s meeting with that Henry Francis she’s been dallying with. He offers her marriage. They don’t even know each other! What a moron. She goes back home and tells Don she doesn’t love him anymore. He believes she’s distraught about the tragic event of JFK’s death. The tables have been turned: while Don has cut things off with Suzanne, Betty is drawn further toward that Henry.

When she suggests Don to contact a divorce lawyer, he advises she should see a doctor. She asks him why, “because I have to be sick to want out of this?” “I didn’t break up this family,” she retorts when he blames her for walking away... sigh... Soon enough Betty is seeing a lawyer with Henry, but she learns that it won’t be easy in New York to get a divorce. Moreover, Henry advices her against a financial settlement. (That’ll mean she’ll become dependent on Henry. Not a good idea.) Later Don finds out about Henry and his hurt turns into anger. All the ugliness comes out, the accusations, the frustrations. The truth comes crashing down and all the lies are crumbling. Oh, my, I’ve been rooting for these two, believing they could get past their issues. I always wanna believe in love. But it seems quite inevitable now... They need to tell the kids, Sally and Bobby, who take it hard. They want to know who’s to blame, solve the problem, and keep things the way they are. “Nobody wants to do this,” Don tells Bobby. Afterwards Don calls Betty from work to let her know he won’t be fighting her. “I hope you get what you always wanted,” he adds. She and Henry will go to Reno for a quicky divorce. Don moves to Greenwich Village.

Mad Men 3x12(a)

Oh, my, we’re getting very close to the end of Mad Men’s Season Three! Many plotlines are starting to get tied up – and there are many subplots I haven’t mentioned before... One of these involved our svelte redhead Joan, who used to be the head secretary at Sterling Cooper. She married Greg who hoped to become a surgeon. When his plans fell through, she encouraged him to apply for a psychiatry residency. Meanwhile, she calls Roger (with whom she used to have an affair) in hopes he may help her with finding work – and he’ll make every effort because she’s important to him. When Greg’s interview went bad, he comes home sulking. He keeps complaining ... and I’m watching him whine ... and I can’t help thinking, she should smack him upside the head. Then we see Joan’s face, she’s getting livid, and what does she do? She bashes him upside the head with a vase! Yes! Way to go girl! Later Greg apologizes and announces he’s joined the army to work as a military surgeon ... ouch ... How to you come back from that? Joan has to take a deep breath.

Not surprisingly, they’ve kept the assassination of President Kennedy (Nov. ’63) until the near end. And they make great dramatic use of the tragic event. Duck Phillips unplugged the TV to make sure Peggy wouldn’t hear the news – and he could have his way with her. He only turns the TV back on after they had sex. At Sterling Cooper, Pete and Harry’s conversation about their future at the office is interrupted when about half the personnel barges in to watch the news of Harry’s TV. Don’s about the last person to get the news, as he was just walking down the hall as the story broke. He rushes back home, where Bets can’t stop crying. He tells her to take a pill and lie down – so patronizing! – and tells the kids it will all be okay... The worst part is that Roger Sterling’s daughter is getting married that weekend! It’s a terribly awkward affair with many no-shows. Most people from the office came, though, despite the circumstances, but everyone’s very uncomfortable. After the ceremony, with his wife drunk on the bed, Roger has to call Joan, because she’s the only one he can really talk to about the wedding and the assassination.

Mad Men 3x11

We haven’t heard much recently about Dick Whitman, the birth name of our Don Draper, the Mad Ad Men at Sterling Cooper on Madison Avenue, or about Anna Draper, whose husband, the real Don Draper, got killed in Korea. One day Betty is doing to laundry and happens upon the key’s to Don’s desk drawer. Out of curiosity she uses it, only to find her husband’s deed to Anna Draper’s house, plus a box full of Whitman family photos! She doesn’t know what to do. At first she’s waiting for Don, but then she puts everything back. Later she talks to her father’s lawyer, who advises her against divorce: Don’s a good provider, Bets could lose custody of the children. “It’s a lie so big,” Bets sighs. She goes back home and when Don arrives, she orders him to open the drawer. “You know I know what’s in there,” she tells him.

“I can explain,” he replies quietly... And she’s actually giving him a chance to explain ... and we are treated with some of the best TV we could ever hope for: emotionally gratifying, profoundly touching, excellently, expertly acted, superbly shot. Don tells Betty about his poor upbringing and how he found it easier to assume Don Draper’s identity than to start over after Korea. She argues that she doesn’t even know who he is now. “Yes you do,” he replies. During Halloween Trick-or-Treating the next evening, they all go out, and this man (the husband of Betty’s friend) says to Sally and Bobby, “We’ve got a gypsy and a hobo,” and glancing at Don, he asks, “and who are you supposed to be?” What an amazing show! Did I tell you that before? Man, if you’re not watching Mad Men you should run out and get the DVDs. It’s stupendously wonderful!

Mad Men 3x10

Stupid Mad Man Don Draper is continuing his affair with sassy Suzanne, Sally’s teacher. He’s even spending the night with her – pretending he’s going back to the office, and getting Betty’s sympathy to boot... Not that I don’t find Suzanne attractive, but, jeez, things were finally starting to get better between him and Betty... I hate to see people ruin love... One day, while he’s with Suzanne, there’s a knock on her door, it’s her brother Danny and she wants Don to meet him. Later she follows him into the train to New York (wait, why is Don sometimes driving his car, sometimes taking the train?) ... and tells him she doesn’t care about his work or his marriage, as long as she knows he’s with him... Uhoh, here we go. She’s getting possessive. The affair has turned in to a relationship. They’re even holding hands. Darn fools!

At Sterling Cooper, Peggy Olsen demonstrates yet again how good she is. They’re supposed to come up with ideas for Western Union telegrams... Paul Kinsey is working late, drinking steadily, and has an epiphany, then drinks some more. His secretary wakes him up the next morning ... he forgot to write down his incredible idea ... now he has nothing ... he forgot! Peggy tells him it’s alright, she has nothing much either. Paul recalls a Chinese saying, “The faintest ink is better than the best memory.” In Don’s office, Peggy’s ideas don’t go anywhere. Paul has to admit “the dog ate his homework” ... Then Peggy asks Paul to repeat that Chinese saying and she spins off from there, off the top of her head. Paul is visibly impressed. “See, it all works out,” Don says. I adore Peggy!

Mad Men 3x09

Mad Man Don Draper has brought in the Hilton account for Sterling Cooper. Conrad Hilton warned him things are going to change with Hilton in his life. So, in the middle of the night, Don wakes up as the phone rings. Connie wants to talk business with him: he’s thinking about giving him Hilton’s international business. He wants hotels around the globe, even on the moon, “to bring America to the world.” At the pitch, Connie at first appears impressed but then gets upset when the campaign doesn’t show Hilton on the moon. Don is stunned, but Connie persists that when he says he wants the moon, he expects the moon... To compound things, Sterling Cooper just about lost the Lucky Strike account, because Salvatore (the new commercial director) rejected the owner’s son, Lee Garner, when he came onto him. Garner wanted Sal fired, but Harry Crane (the Media Liaison) told him he doesn’t have that authority. At the presentation, with Sal still there, Garner stormed out. And Roger fires Sal when he hears what happened. Apparently, Mad Men are supposed to be whores, too, if you pardon my French.

Bets has been dreaming about that Henry Francis from the Governor’s office – and trying to contact him. Then he rings her door bell unannounced, but changes the subject to a fundraiser when Betty’s help walks in on them. Bets gets miffed when, later, he doesn’t show up in person, but Henry wanted her to come to him, because she’s married. When push comes to shove, though, she backs off (fortunately!), reproving that “it’s tawdry” to have sex in his office. Meanwhile, Don’s been crossing paths with Sally’s teacher, sassy Suzanne – first by accident, and then not so much. After the debacles at work with Hilton and Lucky Strike, the numbskull visits her, telling her he can’t stop thinking about her and that he wants her ... and the rest you can fill in with your own vivid imagination. Great episode! Things are really heating up now. I can’t wait to check out the next one!

Mad Men 3x08

On Mad Men, Bets and Don Draper have both been inching on the brink of extra-marital affairs... Their marriage has been tested by the arrival of a new baby boy ... and temptations were thrown on their paths... Don’s sent on a tour of Hilton hotels around the country, including a trip to Rome. Bets keeps working on the local campaign to save the reservoir and during the town hall meeting her connection at the Governor’s Office, this Henry Francis guy (I’m sorry, but that really is how they call him) delivers an order that the installation of the (huge) water tank be delayed. We all know he’s merely there to have his way with our angelic Elizabeth... Afterwards he walks her to his car ... leans in to kiss her ... and then she drives away... Of course Don doesn’t know his wife is about to be seduced, but the love and admiration in his eyes when he hears she achieved her goal in local politics, it’s the sweetest thing!

Next, Bets decides to join Don on his trip to Rome. They get a room overlooking the Forum. While Don’s catching up on sleep, she makes an appointment at a beauty salon and then enjoys a night on the town. Don joins her pretending they don’t know each other to tease the local Latin lover boys. It’s truly adorable! “By golly, you are an indecently lucky man,” Connie Hilton tells Don when he arrives. In the end, Don and Bets return to their room and make love. When they come back home and Don gives her a little souvenir dangler shaped like the Colosseum, something’s wrong. Betty is fed up with the town they live in, their fake friends, and the home she just redecorated. All this time of being a rich man’s housewife whiling away her time doing nothing has made her restless, eager for some excitement, and she wants to get away from the boredom. This was a quiet episode – a bit like filler before we get to the season’s end, I fear – but lovely nonetheless.