Looks like someone’s crashing and burning next week, but those sneaky promos don’t give us any idea who.
Mad Men Roundtable: Waldorf Stories
EJ
You have to admire that Mad Men bases an episode around the Clio Awards on the same night that the Emmys aired. In fact, it actually ran during the Emmys. Well played, AMC. Well played. And isn’t it fun to think that right before they announced the winner of Best Drama, John Slattery and Jon Hamm each locked hands with Christina Hendricks.
I really liked the flashback scenes – it was fun to see a more Dick Whitman-esque Don Draper, back when he was a young go-getter. I’m curious as to when these scenes are set – the series began in 1960, when Don was already the Don Draper we know and love, and an indispensable part of Sterling-Cooper. Do we know in what year he started? I believe he and Betty were married in 1953, and I’m interested to know whether this is before or after that. Also, this means that Roger Sterling and Joan go back a good long time. I think it’s reasonable to set the flashback in 1955 or so. (I think it’s established that Sally was born after Don started working for Sterling-Cooper.) So that means the Sterling/Holloway affair was already (at least) five years old when the series started. So just imagine how long Joan’s been waiting for him to come around, only to have him end up with Jane.
Incidentally, the way Roger meets Don is reminiscent of how Buck Strickland found Hank hill on King of the Hill. Buck went into a Jeans West one day and was impressed by a certain salesman’s moxie. Though Hank never got Buck all liquored up and lied about being hired. Because Myndi’s right – that’s totally what Don did. Why do you think that he famously didn’t have a contract? He was probably working for a year before it even occurred to anybody. Essentially, Don made the George Costanza maneuver work. (Dear Matthew Weiner: If you revisit this time period again, please have Don work on the Penske account. Your friend, EJ)
It was nice to see Betty in Don’s ad, too. At this point, it’s a treat to be reminded of a time when they didn’t hate each other. But it was good to see where they started. It’s easy now to assume it was always bad, and it’s good to see again that there was a time when they were crazy about each other. It’s important that Don was not a high-powered executive when they got married – he was just a salesman with a dream. She didn’t marry him for his money or power, because he didn’t have either. Of course, that makes it all the more depressing to see the current state of their relationship.
In the present, well, Don’s kind of turning into Roger. There’s obviously the bit where both of them have to hire somebody because of their drunken escapades. But look at the way they both clutch Joan’s hands before the award is announced, and the fact that Don kisses her upon winning. That’s right, we got Jon Hamm kissing Christina Hendricks on the mouth, and the world exploded with attractiveness. Given Roger’s reaction, I don’t think this is something that’s happened before.
And we’ve seen Don drunk before, but we’ve never seen him get sloppy like this. This was “Roger Sterling after lunch” drunk. I loved the way his Life cereal pitch played out liked a sad parody of the Kodak Carousel – he’s trying to hit all those same buttons, but he can’t quite get to the words. We’ve never seen Don like this before, and it was really funny at first, but upon reflection, it’s depressing.
Somehow Don goes on such a bender that he actually loses a couple of days. Again, that’s not our Don. And if you try to put together the sequence, he somehow got out to a diner to wolf down French Fries, and apparently he had company, as the waitress he woke up with thinks that she met his sister. That’s at least one change in locale and one change in women (possibly more) while he was blackout drunk. That’s impressive. It’s not like he stayed in one place and kept drinking and called his ex, Don was out there getting stuff done.
And as Myndi points out, the waitress knows him as “Dick”. We’ve seen Don blur the lines more and more, but this is the first time that he actually used the wrong name. Was he that drunk, or is he starting to think of himself as Dick? Because, frankly, there are certain things you can hold onto, even when drunk. Personal experience has taught me that I can list Tom Waits’ studio albums in chronological order even when I can’t figure out how to put on shoes – there’s no way Don can get drunk enough that he’d use the wrong name unless he really wanted to.
Of course, the most lasting consequence could be that Don actually has to hire Danny after stealing his stupid idea. SCDP can’t exactly afford to float an extra salary right now. They’re already paying the worst Art Director on Earth, after all. (And since Myndi didn’t point it out, Danny was also Doyle on Gilmore Girls.) At least he’s funny, and the idea of Mrs. Blankenship tormenting the new guy is hilarious. (Best laugh of the week, aside from Roger trying on the fur, was Mrs. Blankenship’s muffled “I don’t work for you!”)
There’s not much I can say about Peggy’s story that Myndi didn’t cover already. I’m not a guy who says “You go, girl!”, but that’s what Peggy had me saying this week. I’m eager to see how the story with Ken Cosgrove plays out – Pete has been threatened by him since the beginning (Remember when Pete found out Ken was a writer, and then tried to write a terrible short story?), and it seems like he’s just finding his feet professionally and maybe even personally. Having Ken around is not going to help with that.
Finally, I think Duck is going to play a major role before this season is over – you don’t bring him back just for that one short scene. And since Don’s already got self-destruction as a story element covered, there’s something else going on with him. I just know I’m going to get really nervous whenever he’s listed in the opening credits.
