Mad Men, Ep. 13. "Meditations in an Emergency"

With the Cuban Missile Crisis looming in the background, Sterling-Cooper's merger looms in the foreground. Betty learns she's pregnant, Don comes back home to an ambivalent Betty and a failed power grab by Duck.

-We'll be seeing a lot more of Father Gill next season, I think. I like how the writers have made him a staunch hard-liner in terms of addressing his parish, without making him out to be a hypocrite (He doesn't come onto Peggy) or an asshole. He's a rare character in

televison, the idealist who pushes his values as far as he can in the real world without coming across as naive or cruel. Any conflict that he's involved with in season 3 will examine the point at which Gill has to re-evaluate his effectiveness as a priest.

-I'm torn between Betty's dalliance with the random guy in the bar. Half of me says, "You go, girl!" and the other half is disappointed. (but not surprised.) She can't take a moral high ground against Don's cheating anymore, and with the upcoming pregnancy, she won't be inclined to stray, for at least a long while.

-The showdown between Duck and Don during the merger is like watching the coyote try to catch the road runner. Duck was so sure he could put Don on a short leash, the waves of humiliation he felt after learning Don 'Doesn't have a contract' glowed red off him. Looks like there's a new replacement for 'Office Drunk' with the abscence of Freddy Rumsen...

-"This doesn't affect the merger, does it?" quips Roger after Duck's humiliation. Oh, Roger! Always with the one-liners...

Part of the pleasure of watching "Mad Men" for me is seeing how the story unfolds on a tightrope. As I've said before, we've got likeable characters doing unlikeable things, which makes it hard to really empathise with most of them. Glimpses into Duck's home life and the incredible self-loathing he has, even has me sympathising for him a bit. (He's the closest thing, besides Jimmy Barrett, to a villian on the show.)

You, along with the main characters, can't really explain why the main characters behave the way they do, it just 'feels right'. So when Betty screws the stranger at the bar, it makes sense. When Duck abandons his beloved dog on Madison Avenue, it feels like the type of self-punishing behavior a guy like Duck would engage in. When Peggy, smiling, twists the knife on Pete informing him of their kid, it feels right. (Peggy knows more than Pete how their raising a kid together would be a really bad idea. Also, she's ruthless enough to enjoy letting him know about that little fact.)

So when the show goes through it's missteps- like the 'real Don Draper's wife' bit, for example, it's disapponting. My concern is that when viewers stop watching "Mad Men", it'll turn into a soap opera in order to regain viewers, and lose the spark it had in becoming one of the most compelling shows on T.V. right now.

Ep. 11 "The Jet Set"

While Pete sorta works in L.A., Don gets caught up by some 'Beautiful People'. Peggy's attempt to connect with Kurt brings up an awkward revelation. Duck attempts to grab the reins at Sterling Cooper.

As I mentioned last time, Mad Men has episodes that are mostly set-up, and episodes that are mostly pay-off. This'un's a 'pay-off' episode, with Kurt's revelation, Duck's revealing his true intentions at Sterling-Cooper, and Don's final line.

-When is Pete not an oaf? Sitting in his suit at the hotel pool, (and lamely hitting on girls in bikinis) and bullying the hotel bartender. He seemed pretty excited over the MIRV presentations at the Kubrick-influenced meeting room. Contrast that with Don's obvious unease.

-Don's encounter with the 'jet set'. Your first thought is that these people are way too friendly, maybe they're con-artists? The thing is, Don's too self-assured to come across as a potential mark, and while it's obvious Don has money, he doesn't have enough to make a long-con worth while. So I suppose these people are what they appear to be. That is, self-involved new-rich types who live a life of rootless privilege. It's this rootless aspect which appeals to Don, which is why he impulsively jumps into Joy's convertible to Palm Springs.

-However, even a life of rootless privilege has its costs, which is evident to Don upon the arrival of a member of the jet set hauling his kids around. (It's no coincidence they resemble Don and Betty's kids.) It's that incident, coupled with Don's passing out from heatstroke and his anxiety at the MIRV demonstration - and perhaps the glimpse of the Betty doppleganger at the episode's beginning? which makes Don place a phone call and give us the jaw-dropper of the season this far:

"Hello, this is Dick Whitman. I'd love to see you soon."

-Kurt's 'coming out' is right up there with Adam's suicide and Peggy's pregnancy as one of Mad Men's false notes. (Though Sal's reaction is priceless...) Looks like Ken, Pete and Harry are gonna be doin' some queer-stompin' in the halls of Sterling-Cooper pretty soon. Yee-haw! Seriously, though, Kurt has nothing to gain from coming out of the closet, and in all likelihood, will get booted from S.C. for being a 'pervert'. ( You can imagine a red-faced, furious Bert Cooper firing Kurt: "This company has a reputation to uphold, mister- or should I say, missy!! Why can't you be a normal man like that Salvatore in the art department?" ) The only reason I can see for it is so's Kurt can be a dramatic counterpoint to the repressed Sal in season 3.

-Duck looks to be the series' 'bad guy', with his motivations for trying to get his former employers to buy out Sterling-Cooper. (It's more to spite Don and Roger than to prove his business acumen.) The results are somewhat anticlimactic, however. Roger and Bert seem to warm to the idea right away, which makes Duck's fall off the wagon over his betrayal somewhat pointless.

Mad Men backlog...

"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.

"Maidenform"

Madmen Season 2, Ep. 6- "Maidenform"

Don't know how I missed all the 'mirror' leitmotifs in this episode- Kudos to Noel Murray of the 'Onion A.V. club' for pointing 'em out. This episode has Don punishing himself -and Bobbie!- for his lying. Meanwhile, Peggy tries to get in the boy's club and starts to take Bobbie's advice from last episode to heart, and we get to look into the life of Duck Phillips...

So, first we have Don. When him and the family are at a country club Memorial Day bar-b-que, he stands up quite uncomfortably when the M.C. asks all the veterans to stand in recognition of 'all the brave men who won't be eating ribs today'. (What a great line!) So he goes running off to Bobbie hoping she'll help him forget who he is. Big mistake, as Bobbie keeps reminding him of the past when she starts talking about her son and daughter. He ties an excited Bobbie to the bed, then when she hints about his reputation as a 'ladies' man', he angrily gets dressed and leaves her there, much to her horror. The episode ends when Don's daughter watches him shave, then says, "I won't talk anymore." Don remembers his asking Bobbie to stop talking, then slumps onto the toilet in self-loathing. The camera pulls out to reveal his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Peggy's education into the ad men business continues as she plots to become one of the boys. As Joan points out, 'I never got as far as you, so I wouldn't know what to tell you, dear.', when Peggy comes to her for advice. While she's writing the actual work, it's Paul Kinsey and Don who take the credit, much to her chagrin. Not that it matters, as the Maidenform execs decide that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (Well, they decided that on the way to Sterling-Cooper, but went through the meeting out of obligation.) It's not a total loss, as the Maidenform guys generously treat the S.C. execs to a night on the town at a burlesque bar. Peggy shows up in a low-cut dress and ingratiates herself into the party. Much to Pete's disapproval. (or is that renewed interest?)

Finally, I got what I wanted last week, that is, a little more insight into the misery of Duck Phillip's world. His ex-wife is getting remarried, his kids don't have a lot of respect for him, and the only member of his family who's pleased to see him is his dog, Chauncey. After the debacle of the American Airlines pitch, and the inertia of the Maidenform one, Duck winds up doing a triple gainer somersault off the wagon. What drives the point home is the way he abandons Chauncey on Madison Ave after the dog watches him struggle with a bottle in one of the art guys' office.

-After spending the episode getting emasculated by his brother and Peggy, Pete picks up a model from the Maidenform tryouts and goesback to her place. Which she shares with her mother. Egad. Pete and the girl make out to a T.V. show waxing poetic about America's air superiority. When he heads back home, he smugly regards himself in the mirror. I so wanted his wife to bust him just then. (...'And is that perfume I smell on you, Peter Campbell?'...)

-No, Pete. As a matter of fact, Duck is right. Bringing a dog into the office is a stupid idea. You oaf. (I just had a thought. Do you think Freddy Rumsen is Peter in fifteen years? And is Duck what Don will become in five? Discuss.)

-Peggy's looking better and better as the season continues. Joan's right about her fashion sense, though. She started to display some style in the beginning, but went back to her schoolmarm look in the middle.

-speaking of Joan, she's looking a little broader in the beam these days too. Methinks her impending marriage is killing her desire to be a sex kitten. Least, that's what I'm hoping. I hope it's not actress Christina Hendricks puttin' on the pounds...

-Man, Betty looks good in that bathing suit! On the topic of female flesh on parade, -and there's a lot of it in this episode- How hard must it have been to cast women now who have that specific body type that was so popular in the early sixties? (You know, the wide hips and slight pooch below the belly button?)

-Something about that model that Pete went home with struck me as 'off'. Her line about coming back from London struck me as a lie, considering that she lives with her mom. Also, she seemed to be trying too hard to be more sexy than she is. Compare her with Bobbie, Betty, and Joan, who come across as effortlessly sexy.

-Don's treatment of Bobbie is going to bite him in the ass, big-time. Either she's going to make his life a living hell in the months to come, or her husband is. And from what I saw of next week's previews, it could be both.

-Dig that old Spanish-American war vet in the corner, precariously tottering up on his crutches!

-That opening song is The Decemberist's 'The Infanta', by the way.

"The New Girl"

Mad Men Season 2, Episode 5 "The New Girl"

Clever title, this. It refers to A) Bobbie Barrett starting to 'negotiate' her way into Don's pants; replacing Rachel. B) Peggy's more assertive character, and C) Don's new secretary-what a little yummy!

-Everyone seems to be giving Don that "I know what you did!" look this episode. Rachel-with her new husband, Tilden Katz (?!), Peggy, Betty, Joan, Jimmy, hell, even the cop at the station.

Though in the context of the episode, leaving things unsaid seems to be the best strategy all around. When Roger Cooper and Joan discuss Joan's marriage, they wind up sniping at each other, as do Pete and his wife regarding their pregnancy issue. To be honest, Pete's wife already has a kid to deal with.

-I might be reading too much into this, but doesn't Don's advice to Peggy during her stay in the hospital seem awfully close to what he told Adam in season one? Could Don be trying to make up for abandoning Adam by mentoring Peggy? That may not be the best decision for Don, considering the leverage he's giving Peggy over him.

-Bobbie's becoming a more interesting character as the series progresses, mainly because she's the one doing the chasing, as opposed to Don, this time around. It's odd seeing her reach out to Peggy, as this worldly show-biz type and this odd mousy copywriter live on different worlds.

There's two bits of humour that come out of left field in this episode- which is where the best gags come from. The first is Pete's, er, 'visual aids' in the doctor's office where he's giving his sperm sample- there's a copy of U.S. News and World Report mixed amongst the nudie mags. The second is Freddie Rumsen's cockblock of Ken Cosgrove and the new secretary. Just as Ken's moving in for the kill, Freddie comes out and zips his fly up and down arrhythmically. "Sounds like Mozart!", he enthuses. What the fuck, Freddie?

Speaking of the new girl, while Joan's leaving 'single girl' status, she's not so willing to give up her status at the office so eagerly, as her remonstrating the new girl so bluntly demonstrates. Again, maybe it's just me, but her wiggle seems more pronounced then ever this season. (Don't tell me the writers have actress Christina Hendricks donning the fat suit, now?)

"Three Sundays"

Season 2, Episode 4, "Three Sundays"

Three consecutive Sundays in "Madmen", and the underlying theme seems to be, "Getting stabbed in the back." Sterling-Cooper gets shafted by American Airlines when their contact gets fired, making all their hard work for nothing. Peggy's older sister- much older- resents her growing friendship with the young Jesuit priest, and stabs Peggy in the back during her Confession. Then you've got Don dragging his heels in disciplining his son. Naturally, Betty thinks he's making her out to be the bad guy to the kids. And finally, Roger starts the episode pushing for a traditional marriage for his daughter, then ending the show sweet-talking a call girl out to dinner. (Shafting both his wife and her next client!)

-If there's a broader theme for this episode, I'd guess it's about how being responsible and doing the right thing isn't going to be rewarded. As the young priest points out to Peggy's sister, Anita, in the confession box. Don's attempt to be a better husband and father seems like an uphill battle- Betty and him get into a shoving match. Then you have Sterling-Cooper's meticulous proposal for American Airlines thrown out because their contact got fired. Don's daughter seems to be getting a free ride, while his son's getting the wrath of Betty, which mirrors the sibling rivalry between Peggy and Anita.

-You wonder if Duck was taking a perverse glee in giving the bad news to Sterling-Cooper about Shel's firing. (I didn't notice the 'last supper' reference of the presentation team's staging 'til someone on the A.V. club's board pointed it out.) I'm sure putting Shel's name on the presentation folder didn't help matters much...

-The secretarial pool REALLY doesn't like Peggy, not only since she makes more money, but she gets to hit the buffet table before them.

-Don's daughter likes that Scotch. Oh, yes.

-I hope we see more of Colin Hanks' Jesuit priest this season. I hope he picked up on Peggy's sister's spiteful gesture in Confession for what it was. I'd like to think his giving her the Easter egg 'for the little one' in the final scene was a gesture of compassion, and not a 'You're so busted, Peggy!' Maybe it's both?...

-Whadda ya wanna bet that the reason Ken Cosgrove gets 300 a week as opposed to Pete's 75 is his unofficial job as the office pimp? He knows an awful lot about call girls...

-It's funny, but even though Betty's in the right about their son, it's Don we empathise with. I have to assume his story about his dad beating him was true, even though one's first assumption is it's yet another lie.

-You can't help but like Roger, even though he cheats on his wife for the same reason he enjoys working at Sterling-Cooper. "It's the thrill of the chase", he tells Don, trying to console Don over the loss of American Airlines. Though if you can afford to buy out a call girl, there's not much thrill there, really.

-Check out Pete's tennis outfit on that one Sunday! Come on, Pete! Sal's supposed to be the gay one!

-Don's silence when Betty asks him, "Would you be the man you are today if your dad didn't spank you?"

-I can't say I blame Anita for her 'confession'. She's married to a lout, her figure's gone, and she got stuck raising Peggy's kid. No doubt her family views her as the 'baby factory'.

-Betty was reading that F. Scott Fitzgerald book the horny riding patron referenced in the last episode.

-So far, Duck's the only character who's life we haven't had a look at. It's kind of odd, given the trademark of this series is to show off the many facets of the character's personalities. They seem to be setting him up as a foil for Don in the business, but I'm hoping there's much more to Duck then we're seeing. While Don views advertising as an art form, where the pitch to the client is the bait on the hook, Duck's point of view is that if one is going fishing, why not use a grenade in the pond to get the fish? (It's a clumsy metaphor, but I just woke up...)

While I'm here, I've heard some critisism that at the end of the day, 'MadMen' is just a soap opera with a higher budget. This is an understandable assessment, but wrong, and here's why.

On the surface, it's a story about a bunch of disparate characters in a specific time and place, and how they interact with each other, and how outside events affect them. Which, in broad terms, is how a soap opera works. However, in a soap opera, its story lines could be charitably described as melodramatic, 'And Then' plotting. For instance:

For one character's story arc in a season on a soap opera, the season starts with Sweet Polly Baker's cliffhanger pregnancy from last episode turning out to be a miscarriage. AND THEN, it turns out that the kindly, handsome young minister Dr. Anderson was really the father, not her rising young hotshot executive husband Dan. AND THEN her sleazy half-brother Nathan shows up 'for a few days' to crash on her couch and work on his 'business idea' which he tells everyone is to start a surf shop in their city of Missoula, Montana but he's really hiding from the Mob and his business involves getting runaway teenage girls to pose for nude photos for the Internet, AND THEN it turns out that Polly's baby wasn't born dead but a deranged nurse stole the kid to raise as her own, AND THEN... but you get the idea.

The point is, Polly's always going to have a likable, or sympathetic personality, and her latest crisis is going to be resolved before the season ends. Unless the actress playing Polly wants more money, or wants to expand her career by doing something less degrading, like appear in a national ad for hemmoroid commercials, in which case, the soap opera producers will kill her off in a melodramatic way.

In MadMen, what defines the show is the complexities of the characters. Betty Draper comes across as melancholy and sheltered, and now her character seems to be taking on darker aspects, with her increasing impatience to her husband and kids, with an increasing awareness of the power of her sexuality. Pete Campbell initially comes across as a glad-handing, unctous little weasel, until you get a glimpse of his home life and how emasculated he is by his family. And Don Draper is one of the most complex characters in T.V. fiction. He's a man with a strong sense of integrity, who takes pride in his work and his family. Until you find that his entire life is a lie. He lied to get to where he is in the world, his job involves lying, ultimately. And he's desperatly unhappy. What compounds this is that this is the life he chose for himself, and he can't see any way out of it. (What's coming up in this season is Don's attempt to make the best of the hand that he's been dealt, and finding that not only doing the 'right thing' offers no rewards, but winds up making a complicated life even more complicated.

That's why the few melodramatic touches in the show seem so out of place. Peggy's pregnancy and Don's half-brother's suicide, for example. I understand creator Matthew Weiner was concerned that the show might not get a second season, hence why those odd touches went in. Since it looks good to continue for at least a couple more seasons, I'm hoping the quality of the series won't be brought down by bits like those.

"The Benefactor"

Since I've just started watching 'Generation Kill' as well, I'm just gonna go ahead and start a new topic, "T.V. Notes". I'll be commenting on it and Mad Men in that section, as well as any other T.V. related topics I can scrounge up.

Episode 3, season 2 "The Benefactor"

-This episode's full of uncomfortable moments, as the popular comedian hired to promote potato chips in a t.v. commercial cruelly insults the sponsor's wife. (She's pretty big.) Don is drafted to perform what is now known as 'Damage Control'. In other words, he has to get the comedian, the comedian's wife/manager, and the sponsors together so's the comedian can apologize for his behavior. The second story thread has Harry bucking for a higher star at Sterling-Cooper. (This starts when Harry opens Ken Cosgrove's paycheck 'by mistake' and discovers Ken makes a hundred dollars more than him. Meanwhile, Betty flirts with and then rejects the advances of another patron of her riding club.

-The scene with Betty and the young Lothario at her riding club make me think she's starting to extend her powers of seduction a little more than the season's premier, where she got the mechanic to install her car's belt for free.

-One of Mad Men's trademarks is how certain scenes bounce off each other in subtle ways. Note how the final scene of Don with Betty has an uneasy tone to it, compared with the scene of Harry cuddling up to his wife's pregnant stomach after he told her of his promotion. Don goaded Betty into helping him smooth things over with the chip people, and Harry's wife inadvertently goaded him into going for a raise.

-Dig how Roger gives Harry a mock benediction in promoting him to 'head of T.V.'. I bet it was an ad lib by actor John Slatterly, who has an awesome perverse sense of humour in his commentaries on the DVD.

-Peggy stands out in this episode in her one scene, since she's in the room where the 'crew' is watching a controversial episode of 'The Defenders', going on Harry's suggestion that their lipstick client may be willing to sponsor controversy to gain customers. They aren't, but the move impresses Roger Sterling enough to get Harry a promotion and a raise. Anyways, note how uncomfortable Peggy is while watching the show. It's about a teenager getting a 'rhymes-with-gagortion'. Oh, she can relate...

-and the awkward pleasantries between Sal and the lipstick rep. (who tried to seduce Sal last season. Cough.)

-What foreign movie was Don watching at the show's beginning? And why? It wasn't Hiroshima Mon Amour, was it?

-I love the near-silent scene at the beginning where Harry's trying to find a way to repair Ken's opened pay stub envelope.

-Don seems cartoonishly confident of his sex appeal this episode, as evidenced by his 'persuasion' of the comedian's wife to make her meal ticket apologize to the sponsors. Not a very sincere apology, either. We'll be seeing more of Jimmy and Bobbie. Is Don so disgusted of her (and himself) that he has to use dish soap to wash out his mouth when he gets home? Yes.

-Notice how Jimmy Barrett none-too-subtly bites his fist when the fat wife says that she's not sure she's 'big enough to accept' his apology. BTW, Bobbie Barrett is played by Melinda McGraw, who was Jim Gordon's wife in the Batman movies...

-Fred Rumsen drunkenly dozes off during the ad shoot, leading to crass comedian Jimmy Barrett to insult the client's fat wife, and his penance is a tart riposte from Ken. On the other hand, Don's secretary gets fired, simply because she didn't cover up enough for Don. It's a man's world, baby...