Interesting that both Roger and Joan talk about their respective fiancées this week, but we don’t see them. We don’t really know the status of either relationship, other than what they chose to share with the people around them. I tend to think neither is doing all that well, with Joan’s fiancée being the worst person on Earth and Roger still in love with both Joan and his ex-wife. Let’s face it, if Joan dumped that guy, she wouldn’t actually tell anybody. Heck, she’d fake a wedding if she had to. Actually, it’s hard to gauge where Don and Betty’s relationship stands, based on this episode. Are they maintaining cordiality? Was there an honest reconciliation?
Sal’s secret is out, at least as far as Don is concerned. Personally, I don’t think Don would ever play that card – he’s good at keeping secrets, and he really does seem to like Sal. However, Sal doesn’t know that – he doesn’t know that Don’s living a lie, and I think he’s going to obsess over when the other shoe will drop. I’m very worried about him right now.
And as long as we’re on the subject of hotel hijinks, not only did we have Don lie about his name (and occupation) to the flight attendant, he lied to Sal about why he’s using somebody else’s suitcase. After all, if he tells Sal that his daughter ruined the lock on his suitcase, Sal might wonder why his daughter would do that, and possibly extrapolate out some information about Don’s home life. It’s a remote chance, but for Don, that’s enough.
Also, this week Don hooks up with a blonde who talks about modeling – who does that remind you of? He’s actually cheating on Betty with somebody who resembles her, at least a little bit. I don’t know whether that’s progress or not. And passing off her pin as a gift for Sally is pure, uncomfortable genius.
I absolutely love Pete and Ken’s opposite reactions to their new positions. Ken’s excited, Pete lives in dread. Granted, we don’t really get inside Ken’s head this week, but I think that’s legitimately how he feels. Ken’s a guy who likes a challenge, and is only vaguely aware of his actual limits and capabilities. But the thing is, Pete goes through his life feeling like he isn’t good enough. You can see where it comes from, now that we’ve seen his family. Still, his inferiority complex doesn’t result in a desire to excel and prove himself. No, he has to find somebody lower to dominate (like Peggy, early in the series), or he has to pass himself off as better than he is. While Dick Whitman took great pains to become Don Draper, Pete Campbell only tries to convince people that he’s a slightly better version of Pete Campbell. And given that Pete’s already jealous that Ken’s a published author and his own manuscript, well, sucked, I see a serious meltdown in Pete’s future. (Didn’t you just want to slap him while he was being all sulky about it?
As for the new regime, Harry Crane seems to have moved up the ladder pretty handily. We didn’t see much of him that week, but his position appears to be much more important than before. Good for you, Harry! Then there’s John Hooker, who is clearly a low man on the totem pole over at the British arm, desperate for credibility in America. He hates that he’s, technically, a “secretary”. He hates being called by his first name, unlike every other man at Sterling-Cooper, and he hates the nickname “Moneypenny”. (A reference to M’s secretary in James Bond continuity. The first film, Dr. No, would have just come out a couple of months ago at this point.) And after voicing his displeasure to Joan, she promptly sets him up with an office, which Lane Pryce immediately shoots down. It’s like she planned it!
Pryce, by the way, is played by Jared Harris, who was David Robert Jones on Fringe. He’s really creepy, and if anybody loans them their watch, he will use it to kill them. I’m not sure what to make of the character just yet, but Pete’s awkwardness with him was one of the best laughs of the episode. We didn’t get much of Joan and Peggy this week and Paul may have been entirely absent, so we’ve still got some catching up to do. It’s too early to tell what this season’s theme is, but Don’s London Fog line seems important: “There will be fat years and lean years, but it’s going to rain.”
So, we’re all really excited about next week, right?
Don
As Don Draper pointed out, “it’s going to rain.” And I won’t go into all the metaphorical possibilities “rain” provides and how they brilliantly used rain coats and London Fog to establish the theme of the season, but suffice it to say, for the clever viewer, this season is going to be dark, depressing, and unclear – “fog”, get it? And “London?” I have no idea what that means – what nationality are their new bosses, anyway? I kid, I kid. They’re German, I know that.
There are season premiers, and then there’s the Mad Men Season 3 premier that jumped into our living room, grabbed us by the lapels of our classic grey suit, and yelled at us, “oh, I deserve every single one of those Emmy nominations, bub. Now sit down and watch.” It’s not often a show will open with a man heating up warm milk for his pregnant wife, living out what would be ranked among most men’s happiest life moments, and then see that same man daydreaming about his mother and a dead fetus, reminding him he was a bastard and will always be a bastard.
