Mad Men: “Indian Summer”
We’ll get to last night’s South Park and last week’s Survivor later today. For now we’ll stick to Mad Men because I’ve been wanting to write about it for a few days now, since it’s had more plot development in one episode than the ten combined that preceded it. No flashbacks, no soul searching, just forward progress.
Was anyone expecting that opening? I was kind of assuming the introduction and farewell to Adam Whitman in “5G” was going to be used for nothing more than character insight. Turns out, his bleak, depressing suicide could out Don about his past. Really, I’m not sure who all will care, set aside Betty and his kids. Because with Roger being sidelined with a failing heart, Don is kind of indispensable to Sterling Cooper. And Betty, being the passive 50’s housewife that she is, will never develop the backbone to leave him, especially when she finds out how miserable his childhood was, and why he’s gone to such great lengths to distance himself from it. I imagine the reaction on the home front would consist of first shock and dismay, then quickly turn to pity.
Also, it seems to be common consensus that Pete Campbell would be incapable exposing someone like Don Draper regardless of the dirt he has on him. While I agree that Don is certainly far more impressive, Pete hasn’t exactly been portrayed as the inept piece of shit we all wish him to be. At some point, credit has to be given to where it’s due. And his assessment of the Kennedy-Nixon race (which tonight’s episode revolves around, and I can’t wait for), combined with his strategic use of combining the laxative ads with Nixon commercials, I wouldn’t call him a pushover. Either way, it will really prove indicative of how desperate Don is to keep his secret a secret.
Peggy is really starting to come into her own, and I don’t like it. Her behavior on the date was detestable, and the guy had every right to lash out (and when he went to far he apologized, not that it would have helped his cause anyway). Her remark about New Yorkers being better than them was like the Sex and The City mentality before Sex and The City. No one cares about you writing copy. At least not before you act with a modicum of decency. Honestly, you think if anyone would realize this it would be Peggy.
From being kicked around by Joan, yanked around by Pete, and I’m sure she has some idea of how she is talked about behind her back. The only person in their office that treats her with an ounce of respect is Don, and that’s because she does his work for him. One would assume she would give the same respect she so desperately seeks, but after being commended by all the big wigs at Sterling/Cooper, I suppose she doesn’t feel the need. Enjoy the belt, Peggy.
Seriously, though, good on her for getting that raise.
Other notes:
-As a subplot, Betty’s discovery with the washer (or was it the dryer?) really was peculiar. Will she ever develop the nerve to give as good as she gets? The salesmen seemed excited.
-Roger’s “confession” to Joan was quite possibly the most clueless thing a man has ever said to a woman in any setting, fictional or otherwise. It kind of typified his shallowness, though. In fact, the extent of his return had a whole Sopranos “people never change” vibe to it. If even after sustaining a heart attack, he can’t lay off the cigarettes, red meat and alcohol, then when will he? The comeuppance was appropriate, considering he had his second heart attack while reassuring Lucky Strikes that it will be a long time before warning labels are added to cigarettes. But regardless you had to feel for his wife, and I liked Don’s reaction after Roger’s relapse. His whole dismissal of the idea seemed endearing.
It seems that by 1960, the north and south had already settled their differences.
-Speaking of Don as he relates to Roger, him getting the promotion in Roger’s office (which does seem particularly creepy) then to be followed in immediately by Pete was fitting. Is there ever a situation where Pete doesn’t put himself in the position to be the first to suck up?
A stellar, eventful episode. Admittedly, I am partial to the ones like “Marriage of Figaro” and last weeks episode, “Long Weekend”. But this series has blossomed so naturally over the course of eleven episodes that I have no qualms with the developments that took place last night. Really, the whole Pete-Don confrontation could go any way imaginable, and it would be unexpected.
More on South Park and Survivor later today.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:01 am
[...] I said last week, this storyline could go either way and it wouldn’t be surprising. But with Roger out of commission (and likely done with the series, set aside a couple cameos), [...]