Mad Men Round Table: Season 3, “The Gypsy and the Hobo”

This was a fantastic episode for Roger Sterling.  We got an interesting look into his past with Annabelle – and isn’t it great to see Roger be affectionate with a woman who’s somewhat age-appropriate?  I loved her line about Roger “acting like a character in somebody else’s novel”.  Her reference to his boxing days is even better – it feels like Roger went through a Hemingway phase, which is not hard to imagine.  I’m more surprised that he has legitimate heartbreak in his past, with Annabelle leaving him for another man.  And I’m even more surprised that Roger didn’t give in to her advances.  It’s not like the man’s known for being faithful.  Could it be that he really does love Jane?  Or at least loves the idea of himself in a marriage with somebody who’s barely legal?

Here’s the thing:  Jane is pretty awful.  I said last week that Mad Men is very good about giving characters depth and dignity beyond what’s required, but they haven’t done that with Jane.  They want us to dislike her, and that makes Roger’s heretofore unimagined fidelity really peculiar.  I feel like Michael Bluth whenever Roger talks about Jane.  “Really?  Her?”

Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but I found the dog food plot far more funny than I probably should have.  From the awkwardness of the original meeting (“I don’t know why I was singled out for this smear campaign?”) to the self-destruction of the focus group.  And Myndi already pointed out the great detail that Don’s the one who pushes for the name change.  Of course he thinks you can fix everything with a new label – it worked out all right for him, after all.  (Funniest exchange from the episode – Don:  “Turn it off!”  Peggy:  “I can’t!  It’s actually happening.”)

I automatically like any episode with Joan in it that much better than a Joanless episode.  And this one gets extra points for the scene where she actually breaks a vase over Stupid Greg’s stupid head.  I love seeing Greg squirm, but it’s killing me that Joan is collateral damage here.  To me, his casting about for a career sort of reminds me of George Costanza.  “I like history, I could be a history teacher.”  I mean, that transition from failed surgeon to aspiring psychologist doesn’t seem like a recipe for success.  Also, people who rape their fiancées generally don’t have fruitful careers in the mental health business.

Joan did seem happy for him when he committed to his career in the Army, though.  Because, you know, it gets him out of the house.  And he seems rather unconcerned about maybe having to serve a stint in Vietnam “if that’s still going on”.  Is it wrong that I’m really hoping for a fragging?

You know what?  Even though Jane is the one to whom Roger is faithful, Joan is the one he loves.  Is there anybody else in the world on whose behalf Roger would call in a favor?  Heck, would he take thirty seconds to make a phone call to help anybody else out?  I love those two, and like Myndi, I hope there’s a way where they could be happy.

We saw Betty at her most adult this week.  Don couldn’t bluff her or bully her – she pressed for information, she asked pertinent questions, and she didn’t accept hesitation.  Betty can be childish, but when she focuses, she’s a damned impressive sight.  And Don, to his credit, didn’t hold back.  I think he knew he wasn’t getting away with anything, and just look at Jon Hamm’s face in these scenes – that’s real pain there.  It’s genuinely painful for Don to dredge up his past like this.  And I don’t think he’s relieved to finally be unburdened – he hates having to do this.  Surprisingly, he even comes clean about his role in his brother’s suicide, and that’s something he really could have glossed over.  I can’t get over how good their scenes are in this episode.  I wish I had more to say on the topic, but I think Myndi pretty well wrote the book on it.  Plus, I keep getting distracted by the fantastic acting, and that leaves me with nothing to say.

This episode ends on Halloween, in a rare case of Mad Men matching up with the calendar.  Both Bobby and Sally are dressed as wanderers, a Gypsy and a hobo.  (Remember that hobo who spent the night at the Drapers?)  That means we have 22 days until the Kennedy Assassination, and the world changes forever.  But for most of our characters, especially Don, their worlds are already falling apart.  We’re going to have a rough couple of episodes…