Also of note …remember Don Draper turned down the offer from Y&R (and the golf clubs and swanky health club membership) and the opportunity to work on American Airlines in Season 1. Ironic that he might get that opportunity in this other way. Which way will this go? Pete messes up the AA deal? New-guy-AE messes it up? New-guy-AE gets Don Draper fired (or on thin ice with Sterling Cooper, at least)? Or Don saves the day and the AA account? Or Don gets Mohawk back after we learn AA is playing new-guy-AE and Pete Campbell for fools?
Myndi Weinraub:
I think the fact that we’ve jumped ahead almost a year and a half is a fascinating device to show how much and how little can change at the same time. Betty has obviously become a hardened, world-weary housewife who simply refuses to just sit there and look pretty. On the other hand, she is fully aware of what her extraordinary beauty can do for her as she uses it to manipulate the tow truck driver. She’s much more confident in the way she assertively orders room service at The Savoy after Don can’t get it up on Valentine’s Day (which is obviously due to the medication prescribed for his hypertension). And she’s angry about things like her son tracing a picture and getting praised for it. Then again, she’s sort of intrigued by an old modeling friend who’s become an escort in Manhattan. Where is Betty going? I can’t wait to find out.
I think Don feels guilty for the events that led to him sitting on the stairs alone on that Thanksgiving eve. I have no doubt that he loves his children, and he loves his wife–or at least he did–but who’s he sending books to? Is it Rachel? Midge? Another mystery woman? Or someone else entirely? He’s trying to be a model husband and father, as well as do the right thing at work, but he also finds out that sometimes being sort of a callous, unfeeling jerk is easier, because he can just walk away. And it really sucked to be outed as a liar by the Mohawk CEO.
Speaking of the airline situation, I found two things fascinating. As a media buyer myself, I instantly recalled the frenzy we experienced the day after 9/11. In the wake of a catastrophe, we were left to frantically pull advertisers off the air indefinitely, then carefully broach the topic of when it was OK to go back with each client. Working around the fallout from any kind of tragedy is tricky business, and the show handled it realistically. Adding the wrinkle of having emotionally bankrupt Pete’s father on the plane was genius. The scene where he coldly asked Don what he should do (knowing full well that this was a man who’d stolen a corpse’s identity in Korea) was jaw-dropping, especially when he asked Don if he’d cry. Who asks something like that? What kind of upbringing produces a person like Pete? It looks like we will soon find out.
The other characters around the office are starting to get fleshed out as well. Harry’s reconciled with his wife and is expecting, while Paul is sporting a rakish beard (and neckerchief) while dating an African-American supermarket checker, much to Joan’s chagrin. I really love these two and kind of hope they get together eventually. Sal has another kind of beard entirely, and my guess is he’ll close his eyes and force himself to make babies with the poor woman, too.
And then there’s our little Miss Peggy, who evidently got some secret psychiatric care and is standing by as her sister and mother care for her illegitimate child, who hates her more than strained peas. That kid deserves an Emmy, by the way.
