Watched it twice now and still feel blah about it. So my question is, when did Don start screwing around with the doctor's wife??
Snarky version: Whenever he wanted. Snark-free version: When Megan turned her back on Sterling Cooper and pressured Don to use his leverage and jump start her acting career -- it flipped a switch for him. And the last scene of last season was Don at a bar, with a woman asking "Are you alone......?" Fade to black.
Did we learn anything during those two hours other than that Roger is becoming a complete caricature and Don is now completely un-savvy?
Yes, I would pin-point the moment was when all alone in his office he screened Megan's screen test and stopped thinking about her as his wife and just another starlet looking to get a break. Admiration turned to contempt. Clueless, clueless Megan. If I were Don, I'd hit Marie.
Particularly with Roger being divorced from his first wife, supposedly divorced from his second wife and his daughter seemingly only seeing him as an open wallet. -G
What about the woman in orange at the fondue party? She's obviously got the hots for him - remember her remark as she leans towards him about getting undressed in the elevator - and I half suspect he's already been to bed with her.
That was a much better episode. Actually a terrific episode. Pete trying his best to play Don Draper, but getting skittish and also getting caught. Don in very deep and as troubled and as unfulfilled as ever.
Another really good episode, albeit one that I had to watch a day later off of my HD-DVR due to the Sunday-evening San Jose Earthquakes game. * This episode was directed by Jon Hamm and it seemed to flow better than the episode he directed last season. * The Tet Offensive either happening or just having happened (as heard throughout the episode's new broadcasts, as well as in Don's and Dr. Rosen's dinner discussion) placed this episode right at the end of January 1968. * It was pretty satisfying seeing Don undermine Herb with the Jaguar executives and then shake his hand when he wouldn't do it earlier. Still, was Herb's constant want, want, want from the agency much different from Don's constant want with his continual extra-marital affairs? * Don likely would've cleared out of his office upon angry/frustrated Joan's entrance to give her some space anyway even if he didn't have to go to the Jaguar meeting at that moment. * Apparently Betty wasn't the only one of Don's wives that fired the help when getting upset. At least this time we had some inkling from last week that Don was unhappy with the maid's work (unlike with Carla, who was always good toward Betty and the children). * Don's professional loyalty (as displayed by sticking with Heinz Baked Beans over chasing the more lucrative Heinz Ketchup) seems stronger than his personal loyalty to his wives past and present. Considering that this time his affair-mate lives in the same building as him, what'll happen if/when Megan and Rosen eventually find out about the affair? * Peggy seems to continue getting accounts at her new agency that she previously handled at her old one. * Despite Don already having decided against pursuing Heinz Ketchup, just imagine how he'll feel if (likely when) Peggy eventually lands it. * Will something as seemingly small as Bob refusing to take Pete's money for the toilet paper indicative of Bob's intentions to perhaps screw over Pete sometime later? * Trudy apparently was already aware of Pete's infidelity but the Brenda incident seemed to be the last straw for her. Alison Brie does such a good job with the role that it's hard to imagine that she also successfully plays Annie on NBC's Community. Onward toward the next episode! -G
http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-mad-men-the-collaborators-just-a-gigolo Goodsport You're either Alan Sepinwall or you need to start linking to his recaps.
I think I found out about this site on the season 4 (maybe 3) thread, so I thought I would re-post it. Required reading, I believe, after each episode. http://madmenunbuttoned.com/
I just remembered this morning how Harry totally jobbed Joan when he first started that TV department -- basically taking credit for all of Joan's great thinking and then ditching her for some young twirpy thing, sending her back to deal with the secretary pool. Which now gives that whole episode an even darker twist. And much like my earlier comment on how Cosgrove has remained so consistent, so too with Harry. As much as Pete is despised as a character, I don't think anyone is as petty and small minded as Harry. Him and his danish and cup of coffee -- just perfectly self-interested. Yet oddly talented and productive in this niche he's discovered for himself. I could see the firm being well screwed were he to take his ball and go home. Also re: Heinz: -- Second pitch this season where Don refuses to show the client's product. -- Loved how Don listening to Peggie's pitch knew he was beaten instantly.
I can't explain why, but that one made me feel dirty and guilty. I'm definitely giving this one a second viewing soon.
I looked on it a little differently. Everyone knows that Joan slept her way to being a partner and now the fallout is that Harry - who feels he's contributed more to the firm - is jealous that she is a partner and he isn't. Sure, Harry is very self serving, but I can understand his feelings on this.
Was he? I thought Don's campaign was better. It foreshadows the highly-successful "got milk?" campaign by 25 years.
I saw it more as the student emulating the teacher. He was a bit proud that he taught her well. I liked Stan flipping her off in the bar.
I didn't say hers was better; I just thought the client liked hers more -- remember how he wanted to see the bottle? She was giving him a 40 foot high bottle in Times Square. My take was that Don realized he was not winning the day. But now I've read a review that says neither firm won the account -- a third firm was mentioned at the bar, and that's why Ted and Peggie were not especially celebratory or gloaty. That makes sense, based on how they were behaving, but I totally missed that fact as I watched it (but I think that's true, as I definitely remember names and facts being thrown around that I didn't quite absorb).
Yeah I missed that at first also. But my wife caught it, so when I re-watched it, then it made sense.
Jealousy reared it's head in this episode. Jealousy on Harry's part that Joan became partner because she slept with the client. Jealousy and possessiveness on Don's part towards Megan. He resents her success, and then because of his mother's lifestyle probably feels his wife is no better. It's funny how hypocritical Don is to Megan considering how he has been cheating on her. But that was to be expected once Megan started acting. Don and the good Doctor's wife are a better fit. She understands Don is damaged and is less concerned about a career than a happy relationship. Don is a product of that generation. A contradiction. A womanizer, yet also wants a traditional family life.
I'd say loyalty is a factor too. Dawn is loyal to her secretary friend and breaks a company rule for her. Joan fires the secretary only to be undermined by Harry so she turns to the partners who prove disloyal and don't support her. Megan is has to balance her "steamy" love scene with Don and still prove and reassure him of her loyalty. He turns around and has his affair proving his disloyalty. Same with Heinz. Pete and Don go behind Ken's back and prove SCDP as a disloyal company. Peggy showing her loyalty(or disloyalty?) when pitching Don's advice during the presentation. Great episode and a good start to the season.
I think all that's generally true -- but it's not like the partners totally abandon Joan. True, they don't say "Fine. Walk -- we're backing Joan" because Harry does bring in real money. Joan's tied to the financial success of the firm as well, so I don't think she would have made that call in the moment either (Harry's business vs. a principled firing of a secretary). And that Bert Cooper, Roger, Harry scene seemed (to me) like a support of Joan, i.e. they didn't cave to Harry's partnership demand (yet). I'm not saying they won't abandon Joan -- I just think they all looked pretty disgusted with Harry at the moment, even if they didn't back her 100% on the two secretary firings. Plus: I loved that inside/outside moment of the partners' meeting -- where Harry assumes they're talking about him just before he bursts in. Especially Ken's quick, quiet assessment -- and then his simple: "Don't."
Actually F Joanie. I have grown tired of her I'm the bad ass. She has absolutely no compassion for anyone. She should receive the same treatment in return. There was a better way of handling the lost time than firing Harry's admin. Furthermore, Joannie has it coming with regard to criticism of how she made partner. I wonder how Joanie would have reacted to one of her girl's doing what she did. Bet it would run along the lines. Go to your office grab your things. You're fired.
This season has been strange and unsettling, I think largely because Don has been so... pathetic. He has always been an asshole, but in seasons past he was a lovable asshole. He was charismatic, competent, talented, smart, complicated... Despite all the infidelity and lies, how could you not admire him for perpetually being the smartest person in the room (and handsomest to boot)? This season is different. Don is just going through the motions. He's having an affair, but it's not intriguing or titillating. We've only seen his failed pitches at work. Other characters talk about him as though he's the Don Draper of season 1. For example the doctor who lives downstairs and Megan's head writer both talk about how dazzling he is. But we, as an audience, aren't dazzled anymore. I'll give the show enough credit to conclude that this is deliberate, but I'm not sure exactly what to make of it. If the theme of the season is death, maybe Don is, in a sense, a ghost of his former self. The previous season ended on "You Only Live Twice." Well, Don has lived twice. So maybe that's all he gets. The throughlines of this last episode were marriage and infidelity. Don is being unfaithful, but in his mind Megan has already been unfaithful to him. Her acting career is her infidelity. SCDP is unfaithful to Heinz baked beans, and pays the price -- not unlike how Pete paid the price for his infidelity in the previous episode. It's no accident that they met with ketchup in Pete's affair-ready apartment. It seems that Don is smarting a little from what he perceives as Peggy's infidelity too. Meanwhile, Joan is confronting that she doesn't have and probably will never have the security of married life she'd always planned on. She's in uncharted territory as a woman who never planned to be an executive, who never aimed for that, yet who now has a seat at the table, but only sort of. Dawn is struggling with the same problem at a different stage, forced to stay in a job she doesn't like because she can't meet a husband. Then there's Megan's costar and her husband, the head writer -- apparently happily married, but their arrangement doesn't quite meet the traditional definition. But maybe the traditional definition is truly outdated? As Don said in the first episode of the season, anything to do with matrimony is positively neolithic. This episode's title was "To Have and To Hold," the name of Megan's soap. But love doesn't really mean "having" the other person, and the characters on this show are finding themselves painfully unable to hold on to their relationships.