Ep. 6 "Babylon"
-This episode opens with Don's accident of slipping down his stairs, and smacking his head on the floor. This brings up a remembrance of his past as a little boy when his younger half-brother was born. Whom he rejects.
-Betty talks about her desire for Don, both physical and spiritual.
-Roger's wife and daughter pop by the office to visit Roger, who's with Don and Joan. While Joan escorts Roger's daughter off to make a hair appointment, Roger expresses some concern over his daughter's lack of motivation. This concern continues as Roger, half-dressed in a hotel, expresses his feelings towards his daughter to his mistress, who turns out to be Joan.
-In trying out lipstick for a new client, Peggy discovers her knack for clever word smithing (Basket of Kisses) which leads her career down a different path.
-Hell of a lot of characters exchanging trivia in this episode. (Betty and Don, Don and Rachel, the junior ad execs.) I notice the characters also use etymology to define words and their roots. It's another leitmotif through the series, particularly coming to the fore at the series' end.
Ep. 7 "Red in the Face"
- The big issue in this episode is Roger's not-so-subtle flirting with Betty, much to Don's contempt. We're still in the era, mind you, where if you couldn't sweet-talk 'em into your bed, chasing them down was an acceptable alternative. Don's revenge is to make the unhealthy Roger eat a shit-load of oysters with his martini lunch and walk up twenty flights of stairs (Don paid off the elevator boy to shut down the service.) Roger barfs up his vodka and oysters in front of the client.
-More of Pete's emasculation continues as he tries to return a wedding gift. (It's a Chip-N-Dip, the name itself castrates Pete every time he says it.) After an awkward encounter with a former school chum, ("Hey, it's Humps the Camel Campbell!") Pete tells the sales girl at the return counter that the guy has the clap. He gets a BB gun in exchange, much to his wife's extreme displeasure. (He is such a child...)
Ep. 8 "Hobo Code"
-One of my favorite episodes in the series. Don's past is revealed in a flashback to when he was a young boy and a hobo came to visit. Though a bum, the man is thoughtful and well spoken,and makes an impression on young Dick. Particularly the monologue to Dick about just pulling up and moving on. After being shabbily treated by Dick's step-father, the hobo leaves a 'hobo mark' on his family farm that says, "A dishonest man lives here." The scene ends with present-day Don waking up his son and assuring him he will never lie to him.
-Peggy's success on writing copy for the lipstick company leads to some acrimony with Joan and especially Pete. (At an after-work celebration, Pete sulks while Peggy dances around. "I hate seeing you like this!", he complains. What, happy?)
-Don's break-up with Midge when he realizes she's in love with one of her beatnik/hippie friends. Though he offers her his five-thousand bonus as an incentive for her to run away to Paris with him, she turns him down. Don endorses the cheque to her anyways, then walks out of her life, at least for the rest of the season. (As he leaves, one of the beats warn him that the cops are outside, and 'he can't go out there, man!" "No." responds Don. "You can't." The police politely greet Don as he leaves Midge's apartment.
As an aside, I've noticed that some people out there in Internet land are complaining that the hipsters in this series are drawn in too-broad strokes, like casting the cartoon Maynard J. Krebs in a John Updike story. This is a misreading. What these people are, are not particularly committed to the Jack Kerouac-Henry Miller outsider-artist. They like the bohemian lifestyle, and the lack of responsibility that goes along with it, but none of them have any particular insight or creative talent, except for Midge. And she's as much a part of the commercial creative world as Don is, her cynical asides notwithstanding. (The lack of talent on display is evident in the performances at the coffee shop that Don gets dragged to by Midge...) Don crumbles one guy's typical complaints about Don being 'The Man' with Don pointing out that there is, in fact, no big system controlled by 'The Man' and no 'Man', at all. ("Aw, man! Why'd you have to bring me down like that?")
-Salvatore's encounter with the lipstick sales rep. I understand the actor Bryan Batt is gay himself, I'm not sure a straight actor could've pulled off such a subtle performance. Watch his face light up as he considers the other man's offer. I suspect Salvatore is so in the closet, he doesn't know he's gay himself...
Ep. 9 "Shoot"
-Betty goes through an interesting arc this episode. A rival ad firm is courting Don, and to sweeten the pot, they offer Betty a modeling job for Coca-Cola. Obviously, she's delighted to recapture her modeling days and Don reluctantly allows it. After Don sees the proofs, he turns down the ad firm's offer, so they fire Betty. The episode ends with the frustrated Betty shooting at the neighbor's doves to his horror. I love the insolent way her cigarette dangles from her lips as she takes aim at the birds.
-Betty's nostalgia for her modeling days, working for a guy named Gianni. She gleefully models some dresses of his for her friend, Francine.
-Betty's meeting with Dr. Wayne, the shrink."You're angry at your mother," She gets defensive after he comments on her mother's disapproval of her modeling career. "She wanted me to be beautiful so I could find a man -- there's nothing wrong with that."
-Pete's clever way to counter the Kennedy ads. (Sterling Cooper's working for Nixon.) Inspired by an anecdote about throwing a funeral for his frat's mascot dog, he buys up t.v. space in states like Illinois, so the Kennedy promoters will have to put JFK on the radio over there. It's obvious he has strong feelings for Peggy, as evidenced by him sucker-punching Ken Cosgrove after Cosgrove makes a comment about Peggy.
-Tensions seem to be rising between Joan and Peggy.
Ep. 10 "Long Weekend"
-Betty's resentment over her father's new girlfriend.
-Don's outburst over the agency losing the Dr. Scholl's account.
-Joan comparing her and Roger's affair to Shirley Maclean's situation in "The Apartment".
-Joan's roommate's clumsy pass at her, and Joan's ruthless rebuff of her.
-Roger's 'after-hours' party with Don and the two twins. It takes a creepy turn when we see Roger riding one of the girls like a horse. (Don and the girl's sister look very uncomfortable.) You feel almost glad when Roger gets a heart attack...
-For the first time in the series, Don opens up to Rachel (and us.) who's he's started getting physical with. His mother was a prostitute, and when she died in childbirth, they delivered the baby to his father and his wife. His father was a drunk who got kicked in the face by a horse. When he died, his step-mother took up with another man. The last lines: "I was raised by those two sorry people."
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