Episode 8 - The Hobo Code

Part of why I love Mad Men is how it sends a message in a subtle way. Like - you have to pay attention or you won't get it. So far, the show has shown how sexist life was back in the day. It has also, in it's own way shown how African Americans were not even regarded. I think the character we have seen the most has been the elevator attendant who helped Don in the last episode to get back at Roger Sterling.

The episode begins with Pete Campbell and Peggy in the elevator together. Both coming to work uber early at 7am. During the ride, the attendant lets them know that the service elevator is out of place and would it be okay if the janitor rode with them? The look on Pete's face as they disembarked filled me with rage. It was one of "seriously, it would have been better for him to use the stairs. How dare he ride with me?"

Pete looks exceptionally unhappy and when Peggy goes into his office, he repeatedly tells her to shut the door. To which Peggy tells him "why? there's noone here" - despite the fact that a janitor just rode with them into the office. This is how Mad Men tells its story to show the disregard held for African Americans. I digress, a one-two step and Pete and Peggy end up having sex as the "noone there" janitor sees their silhouette through the window bumping and grinding.

Don shows how good he is at his job by closing the Belle Jolie account using Peggy's words. They have an alpha male celebration in the office and Peggy ever so slightly forward, goes into the office and she is offered a drink. She tells the operators and Joan doesn't take it so kindly and is a bit snarky towards Peggy. The girls tell Peggy she has to celebrate and arrangements are made to meet at a bar. She has also invited Pete, who declines at first since its the day he and Trudy are moving in to their new apartment. She shows up unannounced and Pete is not so kind to her - probably the guilt of cheating on her but then again is Pete capable of guilt?

So far, Sal is not out the closet and one of the operators has taken a liking to him and looks out for him at the party but he is a no show as he ends up having drinks and dinner with a Belle Jolie exec who eventually hits on him and invites him back to his house but Sal kinda snaps out his trance and says no and leaves.

At the party Peggy is having a good time and Pete seems to look miserable. She flirtatiously dances and asks Pete to dance with her and the miserable person that he is says "I don't like you like this". I am not even sure what he meant but his intent to be hurtful works as Peggy dances away with tears in her house.

Re-watching now, I am beginning to see how highly narcissistic most of these characters were. We continue to see how they spiral out of control. And to think we are still just in the first season.

Episode 7 - Red in the Face

The "Red in the Face" episode seemed to showcase how immature a lot of the characters are. It starts with Don getting updates from Betty's therapist when he hints that for now Betty is only revealing petty jealousies but there's probably deeper issues. We move on to Sterling, who is on the phone with his wife, Mona who is making sure he drinks milk for his ulcer. As he responds that he is drinking his milk just as he pours a generous amount of vodka in it, I realize that Sterling might have been the comedic relief on this show - well as best as comedic relief can go on a show like this. Don and Roger are headed out and are having a conversation in the hallway when Pete, ever insecure walks by and asks if he was missing something. Sterling quips back that he isn't and they are talking about him like they always do then adds "Goodbye Paul" haha.

Roger and Don go out to a bar and have two young women giving them the googly eyes. When Don steps out, Roger realizes the eyes weren't for both of them and were just for Don and he seems a bit resentful. Don invites him to dinner with he and Betty. Roger drinks a lot and they talk about a variety of things. At some point Roger calls out Don's background as he mentions that he drops his "g's" and assumed he grew up in a certain area. Ever the master dodger, Don changes the subject and goes in search of more alcohol. Betty is cleaning up in the kitchen when Roger comes up behind her and makes a pass at her. She tells him to stop. Don walks in and can sense something went down but says nothing. Instead he allows a very drunk Sterling to drive himself home.

He comes back and practically attacks Betty for coming on to Roger. She tries to defend herself and say she was being nice since that is his boss but Don with the most menacing look tells her that he feels like he is living with a child. I never really realized how abusive Don was but he had a pretty scary look in that scene.

Pete being Pete, returns a wedding gift which was a chip and dip set and runs into an old classmate who is flirting with the sales girl helping Pete. He tells the sales girl he will be back for her and Pete tries to see if he has the same charm his old classmate does by trying to ask the sales girl out in exchange for her giving him cash instead of store credit. He fails and looks quite pathetic and even the sales girl shakes her head at him. We see that Pete used his store credit to get a gun that he parades around the office. Later, we hear his wife berate him for getting a gun.

Betty runs into Helen Bishop at the grocery store and when Helen tries to confront her for giving Glenn a lock of her hair she slaps Helen. Her friend Francine hears about it and comes to check on Betty. Betty spins the story, omitting what she did and says Helen is lonely and bitter. Circling back to Don, his revenge plot is in motion as he pays the elevator attendant to say the elevator is out. He takes Roger out to lunch and continues to feed him oysters and martinis. When they head back to the office trying to nail down the Nixon account, the elevator is "down" and they have to climb an endless number of stairs. Don makes it up fine but by the time Sterling makes it upstairs to the meeting, he pukes up the heavy lunch he just had. Don asks if he is okay as he walks away smirking.

Do not cross Don Draper, kids.

Episode 6 - Babylon

The episode starts by showing us how great Don is at being deceptive as he has set up a breakfast tray for Betty and is playing the best husband of the year. He slips and shatters everything as he climbs the stairs which leads us to a flashback of Don's childhood and the life he ran away from showing his step mom giving birth to Adam. They have a good day regardless and the Drapers end up amorous in bed. Teasing each other and trading jokes. At some point he tells Betty they should study advanced reproduction and jokes that he flunked it and Betty quips back "that's because you cheated" and for a second I hear an audience gasp in my head and a flicker pass through Don's face and passes just as quickly as it lingered. Betty still grasping at her relationship lets Don know she thinks about making love to him all the time.

We are introduced to the affair between Joan and Roger as she meets him at a hotel which is funny after a run in with his wife and daughter at the office. More events at the office, the ladies are asked to do a focus group testing on lipsticks and while the ladies are ooohing and aahing at the different shades, Peggy sits aside and observes looking as she has all season so far - like an outsider. At the end of the focus, she hands over the basket of tests to Freddy joking "here's your basket of kisses". Fred is taken by this and asks Peggy more questions about why she was just observing instead of participating. He is so taken he makes a request to Don to approve her being a copywriter. I couldn't tell if Joan was jealous or not. But with Joan, you can never tell.

Don being nice to Betty is ironic considering he has a tryst with both his mistresses - Midge and Rachel. Rachel is trying to not fall for him but seems to have lost this battle as she tells her sister she has met someone. Although, I have watched this series before, this episode really opened my eyes to how terrible a person Don is. I mean it was Mother's Day and Betty was having a moment with her emotions seeing as her mom had passed and at some point Don is like "mourning is just extended self pity" Sheesh.

Episode 5 - 5G

Taynement says:

We begin the episode seeing that Don has just won an advertising award and he is doing his best to downplay it. It was nice seeing Don and Betty seem like a couple that is actually into each other and you can tell Betty is relishing this moment with her husband as it doesn't come often.

We later find out why Don was trying to downplay his award (keeping a low profile considering noone knows much about him and few episodes back someone called him Dick Whitman) as Peggy announces that there is someone here to see him and it's none other than his half-brother, Adam. Adam has seen his picture in Advertising Age and rushes over to see him after believing he was long gone. He updates Don on how their mom passed away from cancer. It was cute to see how eager and genuinely happy Adam was to see his brother. Too bad, Don/Dick doesn't feel the same way as he is visibly shaken at this turn of events.

In the other corner of the office, Ken Cosgrove announces he has had a short story published and all his "friends" are so jealous. No one more than our resident sweetheart, Pete Campbell. Pete is so jealous that he makes his wife Trudie go meet an ex (An ex that was her first and which Pete did not take kindly to when she told him) he is so desperate he asks her to meet him and try to see if he can get his story published. Trudy later expresses her hurt by asking why Pete would make her do something like that. And this is where we begin to see how terrible Pete is and how this marriage might be in for a turbulent ride.

Don has a lunchtime tryst with his mistress, Midge and Peggy overhears this conversation. She doesn't know Don like we do and seems surprised Don is having an affair. Betty and the kids pop in for a family portrait appointment and Don has popped out to see Adam. Peggy gets flustered and thinks he's out with his mistress and doesn't know what to tell Betty. She confides in Joan and Joan scolds her for even sharing that info with her. She reminds her that her job is to keep Don's confidence.

Don can't take the sheer terror he has at the reappearance of his brother and asks to see him immediately. Adam, ever so eager (I mean he asked Don if he missed him or ever thought about him) says he always has time for him. Don hands $5000 over to Adam (remember Pete makes $75 a week, now think how huge this is for a janitor) and tells him to take the money and he never wants to see him again. Friends, my heart broke at the look on Adam's face.  A boy who clearly idolized Don but also knew how much this money would change his life. 

Ah Don, we are just beginning to see how much of an awful human being he is.

Altius says:

This week on Mad Men, we find out that Ken Cosgrove is a writer in his spare time and he’s just had a short story published in The Atlantic so this is no small feat. This hilariously sparks the jealousy of many of the men at Sterling Cooper and of course Pete’s jealousy is the worst. I can’t help but crack up when he subjects poor Trudy to his own (terrible) short stories. He encourages her to go and see her publisher friend Charlie Fiddich, who was also the first man she slept with. Pete is essentially pimping out his wife to get his shitty short story published and it’s exactly as gross as it sounds.

Midge reappears and Peggy accidentally overhears her asking Don to come “pull [her] hair ravish [her].” Poor Peggy looks scandalized as Don leaves the office on some weak pretense in order to go to Midge and do just that.

In the meantime, Betty drops by the Sterling Cooper office and Peggy panics when she realizes that she has no clue where Don is. She thinks he’s with Midge so she stalls painfully and asks Joan for help. Joan, cool as ever, laughs at Peggy’s ineptitude in concealing the vagaries of her boss and teaches her the benefit of discretion as a secretary. Poor Peggy is getting her innocence stripped away one incident at a time.

Seems like everybody wants to visit Don at work this episode because he also receives a visit from an Adam Whitman who refers to him as “Dick.” Don initially pretends that he doesn’t know what this man is talking about but it’s hard to buy when 5 episodes in, we’ve heard somebody call him “Dick Whitman” twice. Adam saw the picture of Don winning something called a “Newkie” award in the newspaper and immediately recognized his long-lost older brother. Don eventually gives up the charade and agrees to meet with his brother for lunch. We discover that Don disappeared from 8-year old Adam’s life and nobody had seen or heard from him until this moment. He finds out that his stepmother has since passed from stomach cancer and the only response he has to that is “good.” Adam’s eagerness to reenter his life terrifies Don and he lets Adam know in no uncertain terms that there will be no happy fraternal reunion. However, Adam mails a picture of Don and himself as a child, along with his room number in case Don changes his mind. Don indeed pays him a visit and gives him $5,000 (just over $40,000 in today’s money) to leave New York for good. The brothers embrace in a tearful goodbye and my heart absolutely breaks for Adam. Here is somebody who thinks he’s lost every single relative, miraculously finds his older brother, only to find out that he wants absolutely nothing to do with him.

I love the way that Mad Men is slowly peeling back the layers of Don’s life. Just when you think you’ve got him figured out, you’re thrown a curveball. I look forward to what comes next.

Episode 4 - New Amsterdam

Taynement says:

So this episode was a Pete-centric episode and we find out that Pete can't hack it at work or at home.  The boys at the office are slacking off as usual in Pete's office listening to a comedy record when his secretary (who I promise is Jessica Chastain but I cannot find anything that backs me up) lets him know that his wife, Trudy is here to take him out to lunch. There is a brief encounter when Trudy meets Don and Peggy and Peggy flees as fast as she can. Trudy tells Pete she has found them an apartment. They go look at it and Pete lets her know that they cannot afford it. Trudy who seems used to getting what she wants lets him know there is nothing wrong with getting help. When Pete mentioned he only made $3500 a year it took a minute for my brain to adjust and realize these were different times.

Cue Pete going to ask his dad for money and we get a glimpse as to why he is the asshole he is. Because his dad is a bigger asshole to him. He berates his job and basically lets him know he is not good enough and will not be helping him out financially for the apartment. Which was a complete turnaround from when they ask Trudy's parents for money and Pete's father in law showers Pete with praise and places so much confidence in Pete's future. On the work front, Pete oversteps his boundaries eager to prove that he is more than a client woo-er and pisses Don off so much he was surely out of there, until Bert Cooper explains why Pete's family connections is needed for the company. Sterling (who I am appreciating more with this rewatch) uses this opportunity to tell Pete that his job was saved by Don and he owes everything to him.

Betty is walking the new family dog and sees Helen Bishop's ex husband making a scene outside her house. She later goes by to Betty's and they have a drink and a chat where Helen tells her details of the divorce and how she was cheated on. Don walks in while they chat and he goes straight upstairs, Betty feels she has to make an excuse and says he needs his quiet time.Helen later asks Betty to please babysit for her and so begins the strange relationship she will forever have with Helen's son, Glen. Betty goes to her psychiatrist and spends her time talking about Helen - or rather herself. And this is one of the reasons why Mad Men is my fave. The human psychological aspect of it that is expressed through metaphors of some sort. She mentions how she thinks Helen is jealous of her and how she needs help but the reverse might be the truth. Betty is probably jealous of Helen and her bravery and freedom so to speak. All in all, the whole episode felt like characters who are trapped in a life where they don't feel they belong to.

Altius says:

Welcome back to our Mad Men rewatch. We’re settling back in nicely with the folks of Sterling Cooper and this week we spend a lot more time with smarmy Pete. We finally meet Pete’s wife Trudy (the fantastic Allison Brie), the same time as Peggy does and it’s as awkward as you can imagine. She’s trying to convince Pete to buy an apartment that way out of their budget. Pete doesn’t seem overly keen but Trudy certainly has a forceful personality with an accompanying manner that’s hard to say rebuff.

Pete asks his dad for money to help buy the apartment and he’s summarily dismissed. Trudy then asks her parents for the money without Pete’s consent and they almost fall over themselves to help. Pete, somewhat understandably, bristles at this as he feel this further puts him under the thumb of Trudy’s parents.

Unlike Trudy’s seemingly easygoing parents, Pete’s own parents are pretty gross and casually racist (quelle surprise). Pete’s father believes that the wheeling and dealing that goes along with advertising is “whoring” and “no job for a white man” so that should tell you everything you need to know about him. It’s pretty hard for me to feel any sympathy for Pete though because clearly the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

Pete’s frustration in his personal life leaches over into his professional life when he pitches to a client behind Don’s back. Don, understandably, doesn’t take too kindly to this and fires Pete on the spot. However, when he and Roger Sterling go to Bert Cooper for final approval of said firing, Bert reminds them that Pete comes from an influential family and that they’d do well to keep Pete on board. Don and Roger then let Pete know that he’s hung on to his job by the skin of his teeth but battle lines have clearly been drawn and I’m sure that isn’t the last we’ve seen of a conflict between Pete and Don.

Betty meets Helen Bishop’s estranged husband and this meeting is the impetus for Betty and Helen to come together. Helen ropes Betty into babysitting her kids while she shills for Kennedy on the campaign trail. Yay! This means we get to spend more time with creepy Glen Bishop. Truly, I’m not calling Glen creepy just to be mean, he just really is! When Betty gets up to use the bathroom, he purposely walks in and stares at Betty while she’s doing her business. He apologizes and I’m almost ready to chalk it up to regular child curiosity but then he asks Betty for a lock of her hair. What’s really wild is that Betty actually gives it to him. What is wrong with these people?!

This episode gave us more insight into the dynamics of some of our key players at Sterling Cooper but where was Joan? Boooooo!

Episode 3 - Marriage of Figaro

Taynement says:

The episode starts with Don on the train and we find out that he is not really the Don Draper we know as someone calls him by the name of Dick Whitman and names the platoon he was in. Don plays along while looking over his shoulder to make sure that noone overhears him and it sets the tone for the episode which seems to be the secrets the various characters seem to be keeping and the face they present to the world like everything is okay.

Pete comes back to the office from his honeymoon and it's hard to believe that he was missed that much to get as much a hero's welcome as he did. In the elevator he tells his guys a gentleman never kisses and tells and I scoff at Pete considering himself a gentleman. Anyways, he continues to try to convince them that marriage is the bomb by saying "he gets to go home to dinner". Next thing we see him exchanging very charged glances with Peggy clearly recalling their night together before he got married. He tells her she looks nice and also tells her he is married now and it can't happen again and Peggy lets him know she understands. Yea, Ok Pete. It was so hilarious seeing him pawing and begging for Don's approval and Don dismissing him like an annoying dog. haha.

It's Sally's birthday party (so hard to believe Kiernan Shipka was that young when Mad Men started) and Don and Betty get to play host to the couples in the neighborhood including the divorced mom, Helen Bishop who has been judged already. Don who seems to have picked up mistress #2 with Rachel Menken by kissing her and letting her know he is married just always seems uncomfortable when he's home.

He's building the dollhouse and one of Betty's friends makes a comment "What a man!" as a compliment to Don and Betty agrees knowing deep down that he is not all he is cracked up to be. The secrets continue as one of the husbands hits on Helen and when she steps out for a smoke with Don the wives alert Betty and Betty sends Don to get the cake. Don never comes back in time to cut the cake, he instead exposes his misery by attempting suicide on train tracks. He gets home very late with a puppy as a gift for Sally. Betty is not pleased but it's one more secret added to this unhappy household, Betty beginning to realise she is drifting further away from her husband and Don basically just tried to end his life.

Altius says:

The third episode of Mad Men begins with a shocker. Don is on the train on his way to work when he meets an old acquaintance who calls him by the name “Dick Whitman” and Don answers (!). A few minutes later, Stan and Peter are discussing Don when Stan says, “Draper? Who knows anything about that guy?” and boy is that statement apt. I thought we’d established Don as a brilliant ad man and devoted family man who clearly has a problem keeping it in his pants. So who the hell is Dick Whitman and why does Don answer to that name? Unfortunately, this being Mad Men, we won’t be told in this episode and we’ll have to wait for some elucidation. However, the fun is in the journey right?

Speaking of not being able to keep it in his pants, Rachel Mencken, heiress of Mencken’s department store, is back this episode and she and Don continue their not so light flirtation. Their flirtation progresses to a passionate kiss this time however, Rachel quickly puts the kibosh on it when she discovers that Don is a married man. In a state of disappointment and high emotion, she asks that Don remove himself from the Mencken’s account in order to avoid any further awkwardness between the two of them. I have a feeling that we definitely haven’t seen the last of Rachel.

Weasely Pete Campbell is back from his honeymoon and he wastes no time in disabusing Peggy of the notion that there’ll be a repeat of his pre-wedding indiscretions. Peggy has definitely got the better end of the deal here but the look on her face is like somebody kicked her dog. I’m going to need Peggy to do better here. Of all the men in New York, she’s got to be able to do better than Pete Campbell.

Back in the Draper household, it’s Sally’s birthday and Don and Betty are throwing a small party for her and the neighborhood kids. However, practically from the moment Don wakes up, he starts knocking back the beers, swiftly escalating to the hard stuff. I mean I get it. I wouldn’t particularly want to be sober around a bunch of hyper children all under the age of 10 either but Don is really going at it. Something tells me that the drinking has just as much to do with the mysterious “Dick Whitman” as well as self-medicating in order to deal with so many children though….

Betty invites scandalously divorced Helen Bishop and her son Glen (real-life son of Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner) and their appearance at the party causes an unsurprising stir. The women are threatened by her existence and subject her to several not-so-subtle digs, while the men seem strangely titillated by her mere presence. The creepiest of them all being the husband of Betty’s bitchy friend, Francine. He ostensibly offers to do a good deed by offering to take Glen out to play football etc. with him now and again. However, Helen sees right through his overtures and has no problem putting him in his place. I cheered.

Besides kissing yet another woman who isn’t his wife, Don saves his assholiest moment for the end of the episode. Betty asks him to go and pick up Sally’s birthday cake, which he does begrudgingly, but instead of bringing the cake back home, he keeps on driving right past his house and goes MIA for several hours. Betty is understandably worried sick until she realizes that he’s gone missing on purpose. She is humiliated in front of the other parents and I really do feel for her when Don shows up hours later with a dog (really?!) in tow for Sally and their other, silent, son Bobby.

In later Mad Men seasons, I convinced myself that I’d always hated Betty but watching this episode made me wonder why I ever felt that way? I hate myself for subconsciously seeing her as the “nagging wife” because this episode reminded me that boy, did she ever have a reason (s).

Until next time folks.

Episode 2 - Ladies Room

Taynement says:

The show begins to take shape and we get to see what the show will later become - a subtle show where something so simple could mean a million different deeper things. The episode begins with a double date between Roger and his wife and Don and Betty. In the first instance of the ladies room (episode title) visit that we see, we learn that Betty has an illness where her fingers clam up and she can't do anything with them. We later find out that it is anxiety related as Betty is beginning to realize she may not know her husband as well as she thought she did.

The second ladies room visit is between Peggy and Joan and they meet a fellow secretary sobbing in the bathroom. When Peggy wants to see if she is okay, Joan waves her off and tells her to ignore it. Peggy is beginning to hang out with the boys for lunch but it comes at a price as she gets hit on by more than one guy, even by Paul the polite guy. She gets upset about it and cries out to Joan wondering they just can't let her be.

We see more of Don's character in this episode and know by episode 2 already that he might not be a good man. Something I find so fascinating is how he is able to put on a facade of being a caring man but also a jealous, controlling man. While in bed with his mistress, Midge he gets jealous when he realizes she has a TV given to her by someone else. In another instance, he drops by Midge's place and mentions Betty and Midge tells him to never bring up her name because it makes her feel cruel - which answered my question that she knew he was married.

Don seems annoyed at Betty for her fingers issue and uncomfortable that she has to see a psychiatrist. He connect psychiatrists with unhappy people and wonders what Betty could be unhappy about. He supports her seeing a therapist but the episode closes with us finding out that he calls the therapist to find out everything Betty has told him.

The most interesting quote from Don for me this ep - "What do women really want? What if they want something else, some mysterious wish that we are missing? 

Looks like Don could use a visit to the Ladies Room to get an answer, eh?

Notable Guest Stars: Talia Balsam (who is married to John Slattery in real life), Darby Stanchfield (best known as Abby on Scandal)

Altius says:

This episode of Mad Men highlights how good the show is at giving us a lot of plot without it weighing us down. And my do we get a lot of plot.

On the Sterling Cooper side of things, we finally meet the Cooper of Sterling Cooper with the introduction of Bert.  Bert is replete with one-liners and a penchant for going shoeless in the office. He’s eccentric *natch*. His no-nonsense attitude is a nice break from the abundance of frat bro behavior we see from the copywriters at Sterling Cooper. There’s no creepy Pete this episode but his colleagues sure make up for it by continuing the tradition of sleaze.

Peggy, still the flavor of the month, is hit on in quick succession by both Ken and Paul. At least Ken wears his sleaziness more brazenly because Paul hides his under the guise of being a “nice guy” and I’m sure I’m not alone in finding this much, much, worse. Peggy, in danger of wilting under the pressure of so much attention in the office, is swiftly put in her place by Joan, who reminds her that her novelty is the only attractive thing about her (mean- but I laughed). However, Paul does at least one useful thing this episode- he plants the seed of the idea of women copywriters in Peggy’s head.

We spend more time getting to know Don’s wife Betty in this episode and we find that still waters may yet run deeper than we think. The quality of the writing in Mad Men elevates Betty from fulfilling just another bored housewife trope and we see that Betty is battling with very real psychological issues that her current society (namely the men in it) refuses to take seriously. Betty clearly feels like an ornamental bird trapped in a cage and her frustrations and neuroses manifest themselves physically via a feeling of numbness in her fingers. This leads to a low-speed car crash with her two children in the back of the car. Betty uses this crash as an opportunity to get permission (yuck) from Don to see a psychiatrist and Don is flabbergasted at the thought that Betty could possibly have any complaints about her perfect, perfect life.

Don’s solution to Betty’s troubles is of course to throw money at it and he gifts her with a white gold watch. This is only strengthening the cage Betty feels she’s in and tellingly, Betty is only able to open up to her therapist once she removes said watch. And to make matters worse, any small goodwill we’ve built towards Don is quickly eradicated by the end of the episode when Don calls Betty’s therapist to get details of her session. The violation of her privacy is breathtaking and Mad Men once again leaves us with the overriding lesson that MEN ARE SCUM.

Random observations:

- So interesting to see how divorce is seen in the world of Mad Men. It is the ultimate social ill for suburban women.

- Two episodes in and three instances of black people in Mad Men. They are of course all in subservient positions. Fun, fun, fun.

- Mad Men lucked out with Kiernan Shipka. Who could guarantee she’d grow with the role of Sally Draper as well as she did?