1.03 Marriage of Figaro

Summary and spoilers

On his way into work, Don is accosted by another ad man who identifies him as someone called ‘Dick Whitman’. Don doesn’t even bother denying that this guy has the wrong man; instead, he reflects, perhaps, that he is just an interchangeable person, just another salesman in the assembly line

At the ad agency, the guys are searching for ways to emulate the confusing success of the frank Volkswagen ads. Despite an ugly product riddled with numerous shortcomings, Volkswagens are breaking sales records. The guys talk about it a lot, but they haven’t been able to crack the sales code. Pete, freshly back from his Niagara Falls honeymoon, is enjoying his newly discovered blissful state. He floats through the ribbing and endures the prank of finding a Chinese family - with chickens - in his office. He even uses his marriage as an easy way of discarding Peggy - and she is quite willing to confide that their tryst ‘never happened’. Peggy now has to turn to reading the shared office copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

Rachel Mencken is back in the office. This second meeting is better, but Rachel finds out no one has actually been to her store. Don rectifies this later that day, and while getting the tour, kisses Rachel, and only then tells her he is married. She is visibly upsets, and reacts by telling him that she wants someone new to head the account.

On Saturday, it’s the at-home birthday party for Don and Betty’s daughter. Don is tasked with putting together a playhouse. He works a bit, opens a beer, works a bit more, opens another beer…and then another. When the guests arrive, there are mint juleps, with harder stuff for the guys. Betty has invited Helen, the only divorced woman in the neighborhood, and she is the topic of discussion, suspicion, and ridicule from most of the female guests.

When Betty sees Helen standing outside next to Don, she reminds him to go pick up the birthday cake. Don complies and returns but drives straight past the house. Sitting under a bridge in his car, he stares into space, watching passing trains. Hours later, long after all the guests have left, he finally arrives home, with a surprise gift for his daughter - a dog. Now we know a bit more about just how much Don is searching for meaning in his life - and why Betty’s hands are shaking.

Comments

How sad and lost is Don, really? While filming the party, his lens catches one of the other couples kissing and caressing. He stops to watch, his face indicating that he either doesn’t know or understand the emotions he is witnessing, or has long forgotten them.

At the party, a kid knocks a drink off the table. One of the fathers grabs the kid, slaps him in the face, and disciplines him. The kid’s father arrives and expresses gratitude at this ‘shared’ parenting. Oh, how times have changed.

Mad Men Quotes

Pete: Fine. So, she laying there, right? And she kept looking at maps, talking about all the things we were going to do? But we never did.
Ken: Ladies Home Journal - I can get that at mom’s.

“The ring - it’s like catnip.”
- Harry (to Pete)

Peggy: They paid an Oriental family to be in Mr. Campbell’s office.
Don: Someone will finally be working in there.

“You know, they did one last year. Same kind of smirk - remember, 'Think small'. It was a half-page ad on a full-page buy. You could barely see the product.”
- Harry (describing the inscrutable Volkswagen ad)

Rachel: It was nice the way you handled that. It’s hard to get caught in a lie.
Don: It wasn’t a lie; it was ineptitude with insufficient cover.
Rachel: [laughs] There’s something about the way you talk that restores my confidence.
Don: I have a deep voice.

“Draper? Who knows anything about that guy. No one’s ever lifted that rock. He could be Batman for all we know.”
- Harry

Chet: Let’s go.
Joyce: We haven’t done birthday cake.
Chet: There’s not going to be a cake. Am I the only one that knows that? Don Draper, you are a first-class heel, and I salute you.

1.02 Ladies Room

Summary and spoilers

Betty (Don’s wife) is exhibiting signs of stress. Her shaking numb hands at first appear to be a symptom of a night of too much drinking while trying to impress Don’s boss Roger. But when it happens again while she is driving the car, and the kids end up on the floor of the back seat after she drives up the curb, she visits a new doctor. This doctor tells her she should see a psychiatrist. The stigma attached to such a visit is just lifting, Betty tells Don. Don isn’t so convinced, and argues that there is no reason for her not to be happy, and certainly no need for her to have to talk to a stranger. This makes perfect sense coming from a man who never shares his life history or has revealed details of his childhood – not even to his wife. When Betty stress continues to grow, Don concedes that maybe she should see a psychiatrist. He leaves the choice up to her, and she chooses to do so. Her session consists of her lying on a comfy couch, while the doctor sits out of sight behind her, taking notes. She is not encouraged to talk or prompted to do so, but talk she does, including sharing something that we learned near the beginning of the episode: that her mother passed away three months ago. Later that night, unbeknownst to her, Don calls the psychiatrist to get a complete run-down on what his wife said and what the doctor feels her problems might be (we are not privy to the details of this conversation).

Peggy’s office experiences are exhilarating and frustrating. She’s pleased to have survived two weeks and is proud of her first paycheck. She’s not so happy about being constantly hit on by every man in the office. There’s no subterfuge about it; at a social lunch, they even admit there is a bit of a betting pool going on who will be the first to sleep with her. Paul, one of the seemingly nicer guys, gives her a tour of the office and buys her lunch from the ‘cart’ a couple of times. But when he gets her alone in his office, he kisses her, then suggests they barricade the door and make love. She only escapes by claiming that there is ‘someone else’. And perhaps there is: back at her desk, Peggy steals a glance at the postcard that Pete has sent from his honeymoon at Niagara Falls. It was sent to the office and posted on the bulletin board, but Peggy has co-opted it and now keeps it as a personal treasure in the top drawer of her desk.

Meanwhile, the copywriters are tasked with selling the newest unique sensation: Right Guard deodorant in an aerosol can. They suggest the space-age angle, with various ads depicting an upside-down astronaut, and tag-lines like, "It works in my suit or in yours." But Don is going for a more basic angle. Assuming that women will be buying this product for their man, he asks the question: what do women want? Unfortunately, he is met with a gallery of blank stares.

Don has also been asked to assemble a team (and that team must include Pete Campbell) to handle Nixon’s run for President against Kennedy.

Comments

This episode is all about the women – how they are trapped, unfulfilled, limited – yet how they are encouraged to be happy with their lot in life. This encouragement comes not only from men but also from other women stuck in the same situation. For the women, today’s often well-developed sense of solidarity is non-existent. Twice, Peggy enters the office toilet to find another women crying. The first time, she makes an effect to talk to the woman, but stops when Joan suggests that she just keep walking. The second time it happens, Peggy is already desensitized, and barely glances at the other woman.

Mad Men Quotes

Betty: Do you think I need a psychiatrist?
Don: I always thought people saw psychiatrists when they were unhappy, but I look at you, and this, and that, and that, and then I think, are you unhappy?
Betty: Of course I’m happy.
Don: Well, that’ll be 35 dollars, you’re welcome.

Paul: Submitted for your approval: one Peter Campbell, a man who recently discovered that the only place for his hand…is in your pocket. You watch it? Have you seen it, The Twilight Zone?
Peggy: I don’t think so, I don’t like science fiction.
Paul: I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.

Don: Let me ask you something: what do women want?
Roger: Who cares?

"I keep thinking…not that I could have killed the kids, but worse – Sally could have survived and gone on living with this…horrible scar on her face and…some long, lonely, miserable life…"
- Betty

Don: I can’t decide if you have everything…or nothing.
Midge: I live in the moment [kisses Don]. Nothing is everything.
Don: Sounds more like you live in the Village.

Don: What do women want?
Midge: Well, one of the things has to be not to be asked something like that.
Don: What do women want? You know better than to ask. Give me a pen. [writes] What do women want? Any excuse to get closer.
Midge: Oh god! There’s that ego people pay to see.

Don: [on phone] Hello. Sorry to bother you so late. It’s Don Draper.
Psychiatrist: Oh, hello Mr. Draper. No, no, it’s not too late at all.
Don: Glad to hear that. Well?
Psychiatrist: Well, I had a very interesting hour with your wife this afternoon. She’s a very anxious young woman. I think you’re doing the right thing.

Mad Men: Watching Just for the Fashion

Dianne Butler of The Courier Mail says she'd watch Mad Men just for those flamboyant 1960's fashions. But she's also excited about the other, less superficial elements. Read the full article here

1.01 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Summary and spoilers

Hotshot 1960's Madison Avenue ad executive Don Draper (Jon Hamm) has a problem. While fighting off the inevitable threats of young up-and-coming ad exec Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Don's got to convince the world to smoke Lucky Strike cigarettes, but the world has just discovered proof that cigarettes cause lung cancer. Although he tells a client that he doesn't believe in the future, as the first episode closes, he returns home to his big suburban house, hugs his wife, and tousles the hair of his two small sleeping children.

Of equal interest is Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss), the new girl in the office. She appears to be conservative, but her first move is to ensure that she has adequate birth control. Close to quitting time, she thanks Draper for making her first day great, placing her hand on his while they are alone in his office. Draper removes her hand and reminds her that he is her boss, not her boyfriend. Later that evening, Pete shows up at Peggy's door, drunk and amorous. Peggy has the choice to send him away, but instead she takes him into her room. Is this something that she does because she feels she must do or she will ruin her career, or does she have a choice here, and does she make this choice to advance her career?

Comments

Focusing on this period allow misogyny and racism to be shown in abundance. I first noticed this with the Ron Burgundy movie - by placing the timeframe in the 70s, it allowed Will Farrell a lot more freedom to make sexist comments that nowadays would just look foolish. And, of course, everyone is smoking.

Mad Men Quotes

Don: I'm having a situation with my cigarette account.
Midge: Wow, you really are here to talk.
Don: The trade commission is cracking down on all of our health claims.
Midge: Um, I get Reader's Digest. Yeah, this is the same scare you had five years ago. You dealt with it. I know I slept a lot better knowing doctors smoke.

Don: We should get married.
Midge: You think I'd make a good ex-wife?

"Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay."
- Don

Now try not to be overwhelmed by all this technology."
- Joan (to Peggy), unveiling an electric typewriter

"Shall we drink before the meeting, or after…or both?"
- Salvatore to Don

Roger: Have we ever hired any Jews?
Don: Not on my watch.
Roger: That’s very funny; that’s not what I meant.
Don: We’ve got an Italian – Salvatore – the art director.
Roger: That won’t work.
Don: Sorry. Most of the Jewish guys work for the Jewish firms.
Roger: Yeah, I know.

Greta: Before the war, when I studied with Ededaide in Vienna, we postulated that what Freud called ‘The Death Wish’ is as powerful a drive as those for sexual reproduction and physical sustenance.
Don: Freud, you say…what agency is he with?
Salvatore: So, we’re supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite? That’s ridiculous.

"Advertising is a very small world, and when you do something like malign the reputation of a girl from the steno pool on her first day, you make it even smaller. Keep it up, and even if you do get my job, you’ll never run this place. You’ll die in that corner office, a mid-level executive  with a little bit of hair that women go home with out of pity. [pause] Wanna know why? ‘Cause no one will like you."
- Don (to Pete)

Roger: You had me worried. I don’t know if you were drunk, or not drunk. But that was inspired.
Don: For the record, pulled it out of thin air. [looks up] Thank you up there.
Roger: You’re looking in the wrong direction.

Automat girl: I love this place! It’s hot, loud – and filled with men!
Salvatore: I know what you mean.

Rachel: I’ve never been in love.
Don: She won’t get married ‘cause she’s never been in love. I think I wrote that, just to sell nylons.
Rachel: For a lot of people, love isn’t just a slogan.
Don: What do you mean, love, you mean big lightning bolt to the heart where you can’t eat and you can’t work and you can’t – just run off and get married and make babies. The reason you haven’t felt it is because it doesn’t exist. What you call ‘love’ was invented by guys like me…to sell nylons.
Rachel: Is that right?
Don: Pretty sure about it. You’re born alone and you die alone, and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts, but I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow…because there isn’t one.
Rachel: I don’t think I realized until this moment, but it must be hard being a man, too.
Don: [smiling] Excuse me?
Rachel: Mr. Draper -
Don: Don.
Rachel: Mr. Draper…I don’t know what it is you really believe in, but I do know what it feels like to be out of place, to be disconnected, to see the whole world laid out in front of you the way other people live it. There’s something about you that tells me you know it too.
Don: [taken by surprise] I don’t know if that’s…true. You want another drink?