Don Draper is impulsive and the master of reinvention so this bold move he has made halfway through this sixth season is not necessarily a surprise in terms of this character, but it is with the direction it will take Mad Men in. This episode shows some similarities to the season 3 finale “Shut the Door, Have a Seat” in which they departed Sterling Cooper and stared Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Things are more fractured than back in 1963 (this also mirrors how last week’s assassination episode recalled Kennedy episode of season 3). Unlike the season three finale we only have to wait a week to see how this will change the dynamic of the show.
The episode opens with the first of several “hush hush” meeting with Bert, Pete, Joan and a banker as they discuss the worth of the agency on the open market. Joan says she doesn’t think that Don really cares about these financial matters and this recalls the time that Betty told Don that he never really understood money (also season 3). This is evident with the way that Don operates and why he is a creative mind and not an account man. It’s why his impulsive actions like dumping Jaguar or his letter to the New York Times about the state of tobacco work in his mind, but to someone like Pete actions like this (literally) cause him to fall down the stairs (thanks Internet for having getting this gif up in quick fashion). The staircase that has been added to the SCDP office layout has provided some excellent moments this season and it gives a focal point in this argument between Pete and Don, before Joan ushers them into the just as public conference room thanks to the fish bowl nature of the glass walls.
This meeting probably should be held behind closed doors, particularly when Joan admonishes Don for how easily he has dumped Jaguar. Harry has already made very public digs about how Joan got her title, so Joan openly showing her frustration at Don in this scene isn’t going to reveal a big secret that isn’t public knowledge anyway (though I doubt that any of the lower level staff know all the details). Don is shocked by Joan’s outburst and the home truths that she lays out; Don is all about the “I” rather than the “we.” What Joan did was to benefit them as a group as well as her own career and Don has his impulsive habit of going out in a blaze of glory. Christina Hendricks is excellent in this scene as she delivers this public dressing down and I wonder just how Joan and the rest of the partners will react when they hear that they are merging with CGC.
When Megan tells Don she likes seeing him like this, he answers with “Desperate and scared?” Megan’s response is quite the opposite; she calls him fearless and compares him to Superman before giving him a very adult treat. Megan tells her mother earlier in the episode that their marriage is having issues; Marie’s advice to Megan is to remind Don that she isn’t just his wife by making him think of sex. Megan wears the shortest dress you can probably get away with in public when they go out for dinner; at the table the long sleeves and high neckline give the impression that Megan hasn’t taken her mother’s advice which is why it’s an amusing moment when they get up to leave Herb and Don to talk business. It is also looks like a futuristic version of the “Zou Bisou Bisou” dress.
Don has been struggling with both his marriage and work this year; the campaigns he has produced have been abstract and he hasn’t had the same drive that we have seen in the past. This trip to Detroit changes all of that and his late night bar encounter with Ted where they discuss the pitfalls of being a smaller firm give Don a light bulb moment. When we first met Ted he was an antagonist to SCDP; making crank calls, trying to poach Pete and being generally unpleasant. With Peggy working at CGC we have seen a very different side to Ted as he is a supportive boss (maybe too supportive after that kiss) and is very different to Don.
There are going to be a lot of big personalities clashing with this merger and the look of shock on Peggy’s face when she realizes that she will be working with Don again reveals the first of many people who will be disgruntled with this turn of events. Peggy telling Don that she bought an apartment (that she hates) feels like her way of saying that she’s moved on and Don doesn’t get the subtext. Peggy has already moaned to Abe about how much she hates change and now both her personal life and professional are in transition. This coupled with the growing romantic feelings that she has for Ted means that things have got far more complicated for Peggy.
One person who gets to show why he is still important for SCDP is Roger. Previously he has felt like a spare part as Pete excelled, but thanks to some Roger Sterling charm he got to play master spy this week. Roger has been sleeping with a flight attendant who has been slipping him some information and this is what gets them the meeting with Chevrolet. For all that Pete is good at when it comes to being an account man, Roger will always trump him in the likeability stakes
Pete spends a lot of this episode alternating between feelings of glee at how rich he is about to become and anger at everyone around him who he blames for jeopardizing this new found wealth. It starts with Don and ends with his father-in-law who he has seen at a “party house” with a prostitute. Ken reassures Pete that Tom won’t do anything as it’s mutually assured destruction. Ken is very wrong as Tom has been waiting for a reason to get Pete away from his business. Tom assumes that Pete won’t tell Trudy, but Pete pretty much tells him he’s going to anyway. Things have been improving between Pete and Trudy but this revelation undoes all of this work and Pete doesn’t seem to care; Trudy directs all of her anger at her husband as she knows he is only doing this out of spite. Pete is going to be part of the power play that this merger will bring and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone scrambling to show how much they are worth to this new agency.
Other thoughts
– Thing I never thought I would hear Don Draper say “I love puppies.”
– Megan’s mother Marie’s disdain for Herb and his wife is so perfect (also the word idiot sounds the same in French as it does in English). Also perfect is the way she dismisses Roger on the phone and drinks straight from a bottle of wine.
– Joan’s anger at Don was matched by the jingling of her many bracelets, sometimes you need to let your jewellery be your cheerleader.
– The creative team listening in on the big conference room argument, followed by them scurrying away only to get called into Don’s office is hilarious.
– I am so glad to see the back of Herb as he rivals Lucky Strike’s Lee Garner, Jr. for most vile client.
– Dr Rosen has quit his job because of bureaucracy that interfered with his ability to save lives. This moment probably helped Don with his decision to make sure that in his business the game isn’t always rigged. If Arnold doesn’t have a job it will make it harder for Sylvia to leave a penny under the doormat.
– The date is May 17, just over a month has passed since Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination and Bobby Kennedy’s assassination is not that far away (June 6).
– What will the new firm be called? This is an organic way to drop the Pryce of the title and respond to the news that Frank Gleason, a CGC partner has pancreatic cancer by dropping his name too. That is still a lot of letters and lot of egos to accommodate.
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