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"The Gold Violin" Ep. 7

The episode's title refers to the title of the short story Ken Cosgrove lets Sal read after their shared mis-adventure (with Jane Siegel) into Bert Cooper's office to view the Rothko painting hung upon his wall. And there's a lot of 'gold violins' in this episode. (If a gold violin is an object of unattainable beauty which is, ultimately, useless.) And the hateful Jimmy Barrett drops the dime on Don and Mrs. Barrett's affair to Betty.

Firstly, we've got Jane Seigel, who is Ken's 'gold violin'. She effortlessly brushes his flirtations off the whole episode, without seeming rude or offended. I like how she sweet-talks the junior execs into sneaking into Cooper's office to look at his Rothko. She does it for the sheer perverse thrill of breaking a rule. Note how she's the first to leave- ("Mm. Interesting..." she says, disinterested.) Later, Joan confronts her on the little adventure, the claws come out, and Joan fires Jane. Without missing a beat, Jane goes to Roger Sterling to 'say goodbye', and plays Roger off against Joan. Looks like she's Roger's 'gold violin' too.

And Ken's Sal's 'gold violin'. While Ken connects with Sal over their appreciation of the Rothko and Sal's complement of Ken's writing, it's pretty evident Sal's developing a crush on Ken. (He keeps the lighter that Ken accidentally left.) I feel so sorry for Sal's wife, though. (And I'm glad the detail of whether Kitty was Sal's wife or girlfriend was cleared up...)

Even though Jimmy Barrett's the cuckold in Don and Bobbi's affair, I can't help but despise him through and through. I get the impression that his professional life feeds on the misery in his private life. His relationship with his wife is strictly business, the price of his success having to endure his wife sleeping around with their professional contacts. His humiliation feeds the latent hostility in his 'act', he gets more success, his wife/agent meets more contacts... He's in a loop. You can feel the glee in his voice when he tells off Don near the end of the episode.

One more 'Gold Violin'. Don's brand new Cadillac. ("You see that little sensor?" he boasts to Betty. "It dims the headlights automatically whenever another car's ahead.") It's a subconscious act of revenge on her part when she throws up in it after Barrett rats out Don to her on Don's infidelity...

I think Don bought the car not just for its status, ("Of course, you already walk about in elegance!" exclaims the Cadillac salesman to a dapper Don.) but to remove himself further from Dick Whitman. An early flashback in the showroom shows a younger Don as an unsuccessful used car salesman, having his 'Don Draper' persona busted by a woman from the real Don Draper's past.



"A Night to Remember" Ep. 8

Peggy's relationship with young Father Gil deepens, Don's attempt to ingratiate Sterling Cooper with Heineken's as a client backfires on the home front, and Joan's shot at a lateral promotion fizzles out.

At this point, anyone who hasn't been watching 'Madmen' from the beginning is shit out of luck. My advice: Thank God for the first season DVD. And, er, other sources... (There's a TORRENT of 'em out there, if you get my drift...)

-When I say Peggy and Father Gil's relationship deepens, I don't mean I think they'll start a romantic relationship. I'm hoping Peggy can find a true confidante. (If I were Peggy, I wouldn't trust Draper as far as I could throw him. Though he does come across as the perfect mentor for her at work.) I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure Gil's compassion for Peggy is genuine, and not just a priest doing his 'Christian' duty. Maybe it's his Jesuit get-up.

-Betty's suspicions about Don's philandering come to a head after she feels humiliated. When Don explains to the Heineken rep he invited to dinner at his home how he 'tricked' Betty into buying Heineken beer for their little get-together, it's the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Though the rep's wife probably left more of an impression on everyone else at the dinner.

-"Crab, Duck. Duck, Crab!" You know Roger loved giving that introduction to Duck and Crab, the Heineken rep.

-Here's the odd thing about the world of advertising: While Joan is good at reading t.v. scripts for Harry, she's not the right person for the job, as the clients notice her first, and not the work. However, Peggy's rise at Sterling-Cooper is in part to her mousy appearance. That is, clients see the work first, then her.

-It's seeing Jimmy Barrett's Utz potato chip ad on the television that's the final straw for Betty. Despite Don's cool demeanor, and Betty's inability to find any evidence of Don's cheating in his home office, she throws him out of the house. The final shot of this episode has Don at Sterling-Cooper at the company kitchen, getting a bottle of Heineken out of the fridge.


Mad Men Ep. 9 "Six Weeks Leave"

Betty spirals into depression and apathy over her and Don's split, which leads her to cut off a potential avenue for revenge against Don. Freddy Rumsen's bladder faux-pax turns into a promotion for Peggy. A drunken send-off for Freddy leads to Roger's surprising revelation.

Don Draper is a tragic hero in the classic sense. That is, while he does the right thing almost every step of the way-technically, it was Bobbie Barrett who seduced him- he still winds up making a mess of things. For example, Don's attempt to connect with Roger at the bar leads to Roger misinterpreting Don and leaving his wife for his secretary. And Don's attempt to save Freddy Rumsen's job only convinces Roger even more so that Freddy's a liability for Sterling-Cooper. And finally, Don's attempt to reconcile with Betty only antagonizes her worse. They'll reconcile eventually, maybe not this season, but given the Draper's social class, and how the divorced mom last season was looked down upon, Don and Betty will get back together, if only for 'the sake of the children'...

-It was a neat little touch how Betty engineered setting up her riding buddy Francine with the preppy guy who's been mooning over her this season. It removes the temptation from her, and it gives her moral leverage against Don, in her own mind.

-Marilyn Monroe's suicide sets the mood for this episode. Watching the women in the office grieving while the men make neutral comments reminded me of the schism between the sexes when Princess Diana died. Note the black elevator operator's comment on Marilyn's suicide: "Some people can be hidden in plain sight." It's Roger's lack of empathy towards Joan's grief that infuriates her. And, I suspect, starts the ball rolling for Roger to leave his wife.

-I was surprised at how sad I was when Sterling-Cooper cut Freddy loose. He's a buffoon like Pete Campbell, sure. But unlike Pete, he was genial and harmless. It was the junior executives mean comments about his losing control of his bladder that made me empathize with him when Don tore a strip off them for their cruelty. Given Don's past, there's an added layer of meaning when he snarls, "Just a man's name, right?"

-Though Salvatore's look when Freddy gives him a heaping glass of booze is priceless.

-To make matters worse, Freddy's loss is Peggy's gain. Remember, it was Freddy who pushed Peggy into a junior copywriter's slot at Sterling-Cooper. And let's face it, doesn't devout Catholic Peggy have enough guilt on her plate already? Don's solemn promotion of Peggy (and Peggy's immediate dressing-down of Pete) makes it look like there's going to be a Pete-Duck vs. Don-Peggy rivalry in the office. Which makes me think: Given Pete's complete contempt for 'sloppy drunks', how do you think he's going to react to Duck once Duck falls off the wagon again?

-While I liked seeing Don belt Jimmy Barrett in the mouth at the illicit gambling club, Jimmy's sudden appearance seemed a little too neat.

-Roger and Don go for a nightcap after seeing Freddy off. (And what a sad scene! "No, what am I going to do?" laments Freddy after Don's lame reassurances.) where Roger tries to crowbar open Don's defenses. He doesn't get too far- Don references his punching Barrett as "a real Archibald Whitman maneuver", which tells us more about Don than it does to Roger. It's Don's line about how 'life moves in only one direction- forward' that has tragic consequences for Roger and Don.

-The tragic consequences being, of course, Roger's wife confronting Don the next morning about Don's exhorting Roger to leave her for 'his secretary'. Given Joan's curt rejection of Roger's advances earlier, and Don's secretary Jane's tears, I have to assume that Roger, did in fact, help himself to a heaping slice of Jane after all.