Grid Effect

One indicator that you’re watching a great series is each episode seems to top the one that preceded it, and that is definitely the case with Mad Men. This episode focused primarily on Roger’s superiority complex, Pete’s inferiority complex, Don’s relative normalcy and Betty’s resentment of it.

Of course normal in 1960 meant he cheated on you regularly but was discrete about it and kept it away from friends and family. Roger, however, threw his infidelity right in Don’s face, more specifically, he threw it right at Betty, and she all but reciprocated. Now, since Don isn’t exactly the posterboy of monogamy, he doesn’t really have any right to complain, but as far as we know Betty has no proof of his discretions, and since she implies later that she values herself strictly by her desirability to other men, and she enjoys it when other men look at her, I think this had more to do with her own reassurance and pissing off Don, who dropped Roger on her for dinner at the last moment.

What was surprising is that Roger apologized the following day, claiming that having his name on the building lead to his own misinformed sense of entitlement. Though the apology was halfhearted and ambiguous, it was still unexpected that he would address the situation at all, particularly since Don never really caught him with his hands around Betty. It appears that all three of them knew what transpired when Don went to the kitchen to look for more alcohol, since both Betty and Roger apologized for what could be perceived as nothing more than an awkward moment. Obviously they both know Don is no one’s fool, the guy is living like five different lives for christ’s sake.

This however, lead to the greatest revenge I think I’ve ever seen. With the Nixon campaign coming into to discuss strategy, Don, being the funny, evil prick that he is, paid off the elevator operator to pretend like it’s out of service. Before this ruse however, Don went to lunch with Roger and used Roger’s own gravitas against him. As Roger kept baiting him into eating more oysters, drinking more martini’s and eating cheesecake (at first I was remotely jealous with the first order of martini’s and oysters, after the second order of oysters and lord only knows how many martini’s plus fucking cheesecake, I decided I’m better off not eating for a month), I suspected something was afoul, because at that moment I had no idea what Don was giving the elevator operator wads of hundreds for.

Watching the ensuing walk up twenty-three flights of stairs and Roger’s struggle with it reminded me of Fatty McGee from the Adam Sandler album. Don took advantage of his comparative youth, and though he was somewhat winded when he got to the top of the steps, it was probably a result of smoking on the way up. Meanwhile Roger actually collapsed, and was wheezing like Engelberg after he hit a double. He eventually tells Don to go ahead to spare himself any further embarassment, and by the time he introduces himself to the Nixon boys, he is ready to and does vomit all over the carpet. With Don offering the most emphatic consolation, it may have clued Roger in on Don’s intentions. Whether Don wanted him to know or whether Roger actually does is just speculation, but I’d like to think both are true. Don does give him a smug look that reads, “if you touch my wife again this will seem like Christmas because I’ll fucking kill you”.

(Sorry this was so long winded, but it really has been my favorite part of the series, I felt like it needed to be explained in full detail).

Pete’s plight would be sympathetic if he wasn’t such a creepy dipshit about it. After being shot down by Don and Roger (who calls him Paul), his friends giving him shit about being whipped, the store clerk(s) being unnecessarily bitchy towards him, then them reciprocating his random friend’s advances, then his wife chewing his ear off about returning a “chip ‘n dip” that was a wedding gift he was under the impression they had two of; one might be inclined to feel bad for the character. But then again, after attempting to whore out his wife, one might not.

Anyhow, how does Pete deal with everything above? He exchanges the “chip ‘n dip” for a shotgun and regals some twisted hunting fantasy with Peggy, in which he slaughters a deer, his wife prepares it for him and watches him eat it (though he goes into, vivid, vivid detail). This is after pointing the gun at several people in the office and cracking lame “frat boy” jokes while doing so (Note: this gun is going off before the season is over). Peggy, however, instead of being scared for her life and filing an appropriate restraining order, indulges in some luncheon meats and a pastry because she is so hot and bothered by Pete’s abnormal since of masculinity. Yikes.

Honestly, I’ve never seen so much controversy and human emotion result from something as inanimate as a “chip ‘n dip” (which, in case you were wondering, is two bowls to put chips in and one smaller bowl connecting the two you put chip dip in). Pete said the phrase at least eight or nine times, and each time it was inflected so much that it was burned into your memory.

Other notes:

-Peggy is idiotically sharing her copywriting notes with Pete, who has been known to willfully steal others ideas. She’ll probably regret this.

-Betty was confronted by the divorcee about giving her kid a lock of her hair. The woman’s accusatory tone led to Betty slapping her in a grocery store. The only way this slap could be any lighter is if she had a small hand pillow taped to her hand. But, regardless of degree of volatility, it was some huge gossip piece that had the whole neighborhood buzzing. Also, Betty hates JFK, we are never told why, probably because he represents change, something Betty probably feels is beyond her control.

-Speaking of which, Pete was the only Sterling Cooper employee who seemed to understand what JFK represented and the threat he posed. Admittedly, he wasn’t terribly convincing, but his head was in the right place in understanding the threat that JFK posed to Nixon. They also made fun of Nixon’s affinity for playing the piano.

-Don is still conversing with Betty’s therapist, who describes her psyche as being like that of a child. And Don accuses her of being just that when confronting her about the dinner with Roger.

Like stated earlier, probably their best episode and we can’t imagine it being improved, which is a rare acknowledgement from this website.