Mad Men’s at its best when the principals are scheming something, like for instance plotting the start of a new rogue agency. So watching Joan, Don, Peggy and Joey team up to set up that fake commercial shoot (cue Peggy riding a Honda around on an empty set) brought me nothing but joy.
But besides that, what a tough episode. It marked the first time we’ve seen Roger get serious since maybe after his season one heart attack. Perhaps I owe this to my recent viewing of Band of Brothers, but I really felt for him and his loyalty to the men that died out there fighting the Japanese. And for him, it’s pretty raw still - just twenty years post WWII.
I’m proud of Pete reminding Roger of the old Godfather axiom that “it’s business [with the Japanese], not personal” and standing up to Roger in an important way. Pete and Betty have long been the adult children on this show, and it seems like Pete’s actually growing up.
Betty, meanwhile, is just as bratty and childish as ever. When she was on the couch with Dr. Edna unknowingly showing off her own ridiculous selfishness, it reminded me of episode 3, when Stephanie, Anna Draper’s niece, said something like “No one knows what’s wrong with themselves and everyone else can see it right away.” Maybe the monthly visits with Dr. Edna will help Betty more than Sally, but a more mentally balanced mother will help Sally in the end anyhow.
Speaking of being on the couch, what a breakthrough for Don, talking to his office shrink/contract employee Faye that way in the kitchen. This whole season/time in the sixties marks the change from not talking about stuff to Don’s bemused observation, “Why do people have to talk about everything?” I was shocked how much he opened up about his situation with the children, how he didn’t know how to deal with them but that he missed them; there’s more there with those two. But I have to admit it’s weird to watch scenes where Don Draper talks about his feelings (when he opened up to Anna about the divorce this season, it was also more than I thought we’d ever hear). I didn’t know if Faye was making an early reference to what we know now as “daddy issues” when she assured him Sally would be okay so long as she knew Don loved her, but she’s probably right that Don’s influence will save Sally in the long run, in spite of her sorry excuse for a mother.
And all the people who figured that engagement ring was just a prop — score!
Stray Observations:
-LOVE ME SOME LAXATIVE PUNS! Roger’s “ease it out” and “sure you don’t need to loosen that up” jokes at the beginning of the episode in reference to the C-COR laxative account killed me.
-More Mad Men/True Blood actor crossover. Dr. Edna played one of the True Blood season two townsfolk who fell under the spell of Marianne and ended up having crazy animal sex with the coroner.
-Where would Mad Men be without Joan? She’s totally the glue that holds everything together.
Off to save face like a good Asian,
Elise
