(Ed. Note: Typically these posts run on Monday mid-afternoon, but since yesterday was a holiday and we’re having a Workaholics discussion today in the afternoon, we’re running this in the AM today. Carry on as you were.)
Um, WTF Mad Men?!
Wow. Just wow. I’m kind of glad Monday was a holiday so that I could have more time to process what went down Sunday night, and not only do I think it’s the best Mad Men episode ever, I think it’s one of the finest hours of television I’ve ever seen. The last 10-15 minutes of the show were nothing less than a kick to the nuts.
Let’s get right to it, shall we? Here are a few notes I made during last night’s Mad Men about characters, scenes, etc. I found interesting for one reason or another.
- So this episode obviously centers around Peggy and Joan and the different paths they embark on to take their careers to the next level — paths to the top that couldn’t be more divergent. It’s striking really, especially if you go back and watch the scene from the Mad Men pilot where Joan is giving Peggy a tour of the office, passing on pointers on how to succeed in her new job at the firm on her first day. The key line from that bit of 411 dropping: “Hopefully if you follow my lead you can avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made here.” When taking that into consideration — the mentor/mentee relationship the two shared in the beginning — that scene where Peggy has grabbed her things and is headed out the door, all the while being eyed by Joan and Joan alone, becomes all the more profound.
- Can Pete Campbell possibly be more of an awful human being? Lane Price was so right: Pete is indeed a grimy little pimp. How prophetic that insult turned out to be. I want things to end horribly for him soooo bad. Death by grease fire would not even be good enough for me at this point. He’s such a goddamn weasel.
- On Sunday night, because the following day was a holiday, I was out drinking with some friends. Naturally, I ignored Twitter completely to avoid spoilers, but at some point around 11 or so someone showed up to join our group who exclaimed, “Holy sh*t one of the main characters on Mad Men dies tonight.” I responded by yelling something along the lines of, “SHUTUP AS$HOLE!” and left shortly thereafter in a huff to go home to watch the episode before it was spoiled for me any further. Of course, we now know that no one died, but I went home to watch Mad Men that night truly believing that someone actually did.
Now flashback to a couple of weeks ago when the elevator doors opened outside the SCDP offices for Don with no elevator inside. When Peggy stood waiting for the elevator at the end of the episode, was I the only person absolutely convinced she was about to plummet to her death? How awful would that have been? UNSPEAKABLY AWFUL, right? Girl works her way to the top and then SPLAT! But because of what I’d heard earlier I watched that scene with my hand over my mouth anticipating a tragic end. So the fake spoiler actually sort of enhanced the emotional gravity of the scene for me. I guess you could call it a reverse spoiler. So thanks, fake spoiler person!
- So the big question following this episode has to be this: Is this the last of Peggy? It can’t be, right? They have to introduce a storyline involving Peggy at her new job, right? RIGHT? But here’s the thing: other SCDP employees who have left rarely are seen and heard from again. Duck. Paul. Freddy. Sal. They’re all just basically gone, aside from the occasional cameos like the time Duck showed up to try to drunkenly take a dump in Don’s office or when Paul came back as a Hare Krishna/aspiring TV writer. But then again, those people aren’t Peggy.
- It didn’t hit me until after the episode, but I suppose the thought of Joan — who we know Don adores and respects greatly — whoring herself to land the Jaguar account must have been especially crushing considering that Dick Whitman’s mother was a prostitute, something we know f*cks with Don’s head greatly. It’ll be interesting to see how this changes the dynamic of the Don/Joan relationship.
Also, how long before we see Megan in a “casting couch” situation? Seemed like she came pretty damn close to one Sunday night. I suppose we’ll see just how badly does she wants to succeed as an actress if that happens!
- I wonder how current executives at Jaguar feel about how they’re being portrayed on Mad Men, because it hasn’t been very flattering, has it?
- I was a little shocked by Roger’s lack of protest at the idea of Joan sleeping with Mr. Jaguar in the hopes of landing the account. That was the one part of the episode that confused me and sort of didn’t feel real. I’m not sure I would have expected him to be so indifferent to his beloved Joanie — who he knows is the mother of his child — boning some bloated cretin to land an account. Then again, ole Rog probably needs the money.
- Speaking of Roger, someone I follow on Twitter retweeted an observation someone else made (sadly I didn’t bookmark the tweet and I can’t remember where it came from) that went like this: when she went to me Mr. Jaguar, Joan appeared to be wearing the fir coat Roger gave her in an earlier season. I was able to find a still from that earlier episode and it appears as though the aforementioned person on Twitter was right.
- That scene between Don and Peggy in Don’s office at the end reduced me to a puddle. That was f*cking powerful.
“Don’t be a stranger.”
Tears. More tears. And more tears.
Your thoughts/feelings/observations are of course welcome in the comments.
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Also, candidates for “best” character on the show (in terms of their morality) would be Dave Algonquin himself, Megan, Peggy (bastard children and movie-theater handies, aside) and Sal, right? Sal cheated on his wife technically, but him being gay sort of negated that in my mind. These are the ones that stick out to me, anyway.
I keep waiting for Ken Cosgrove to do something. Technically speaking, he’s the best character that’s been on the show, right? Staying faithful to Alex Mack, being a talented writer on the side, doing his job really well without being ruthless; his only misstep was waiting for Pete to tell the Jaguar guy that Joan was married. I’m just curious as to what Weiner’s going to do with him, what he’s supposed to symbolize when it’s all said and done.
He does have that pact with Peggy. Is he going to follow her or get really bitter he’s been left behind?
“When Peggy stood waiting for the elevator at the end of the episode, was I the only person absolutely convinced she was about to plummet to her death?”
No, sir, you were not. I actually startled my girlfriend while we were watching it when I shouted “Oh God, PEGGY NO!” because she was looking back at the party as she was about to board the elevator. Then she turned into it at the last second and I was so relieved.
I’m too into this show.
Has anybody ever noticed how much Pete Campbell looks like Ralph Reed from the Christian Coalition.
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I’m glad I’m not the ONLY one who had the “She’s going to fall down the elevator shaft!” heart-attack!
Then she smiles and gets on and I can’t help but think that was BRILLIANT on behalf of the writers. They set that whole moment up just to screw with us right then.
I read a interview with Elisabeth Moss saying those were real tears and that shooting the Scene they had told Jon Hamm to not let go of her hand and when he did that’s when she started to lose it
The fact that there are still two weeks left has me so amped its scary.
After watching the episode, my first reaction was also to go back and re-watch the first one which drew me to one of the last scenes of the episode between Don and Peggy, where she reluctantly makes a move on Don by touching his hand, only to have him move it and say he’s “not her boyfriend” so if this was the last of Peggy (can’t be) it seemed fitting that its Don that caresses her hand this time. – Also I know she will still be part of the show, I just hoe she doesn’t get Betty-ed (or worse, fat Betty-ed)
I was trying to keep the time period in mind for Joan’s decision, but I came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter. She’s a single woman (essentially) and had a clear chance to become financially stable for herself and child. She’s worked so hard to create the mystique that exists around her, and while it was surprising that she had a price to give that way, I think the most surprising thing was that it was Pete who could convince her to sell it. I can’t wait for his fall, literally or figuratively. He’s on a quick path to going full Joffrey, never go full Joffrey.
There’s an old saying about a man who offers a woman $10 million to have sex. She agrees. He then pulls out a dollar bill. She asks what the dollar bill is for, and he responds: “We’ve determined what you are, now we’re haggling over the price”.
The other partners will always know what Joan did for her partnership, and they’ll subconsciously treat her accordingly.
I’m not condoning her decision, I was devastated by it. It stuck with me until today. I understand it, however. Regardless of what the 5 people who know about it think, she’s a voting partner now. They can’t do anything about it or leverage it against her without jeopardizing the company.
I wish “Celebrity Deathmatch” still aired on MTV so Pete and Joffrey could square off against each other.
I also think we’ve resolved whether Pete jumps out a window this season. He doesn’t jump. He’s shoved.
Clearly.
Who is Pete going to walk in on Trudy screwing?
THIS. A MILLION TIMES, In fact, I even said to my wife “Well, if Pete doesn’t kill himself, I’ll just have to root for Don to push him out a fucking window.”
This past Sunday night was pregnant with amazing TV. Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Girls, and Veep all totally killed it. I was immediately struck with the feeling that it was a historic night for great television.
I thought Girls had the worst episode of it’s series on Sunday, the British character is so poorly written it’s laughable. I think she alone is enough for me to jump ship at this point.
Everything else, amazing.
@SatanBigsby…Yeah, I think Girls may have lost me for good on Sunday. May have to cancel the DVR record setting. That episode — and everyone in it — was just annoying and stupid.
@Cajun, it was only a matter of time.
Also, are we sure Megan didn’t already have a casting couch situation? They didn’t show much of the process on Sunday…
I hated this episode. Not because it wasn’t good (it was great) but because I really, really didn’t want Joan to do that and I didn’t want Peggy to leave.
My joke on twitter last night was that maybe Pete doesn’t jump out of the window, maybe someone throws him
I was under the impression there’d be a gif of Megan’s “free-spirited” friend playing jaguar on the conference room table….
I scoured the web and couldn’t find one ANYWHERE. If anyone sees one, please feel free to pass along.
Am I the only one who likes the direction the story telling has been taking? The flashbacks and alternate story lines interweaving? The biggest punch in the face with this, of course, was when we see Joan talking to Don in her apartment the second time. Pretty sure I yelled “WHAT?!”
I’ve been loving the alternative storytelling sequences as well.
It’s funny, the first time that he’s shown talking to her, I thought “Oh no, Don, it already happened, you’re too late!”. The second time, I was so surprised by it, I double-checked to make sure there wasn’t a problem with the download, or that someone on a particularly popular torrent website wasn’t just messing with me.
I thought that was the way it went too but the truth is that she already slept with the guy by the time Don gets there. She puts the necklace in the drawer and then puts on the robe.
Don throwing the money at her in the GIF is kind of poignant since he did it so sarcastically at the beginning of the episode, and then at the end he metaphorically throws money at her to try and get her to stay with SDCP.
Well played
Man, the final scene with Peggy and the elevator…I was watching the whole thing with eyes and mouth wide open mumbling to myself “Holy Shit! Holy Shit! Shit Shit Shit!”.
It is a fucking downer that the show isn’t that known around here (Grats from Germany, Uproxx owns) and that I can’t have a discussion about the awesomness of it.
People don’t know what they are missing….
Just curious…how do you watch it over there? Amazon? iTunes? Or, ahem, other, shadier ways?
@Cajun Boy: I could watch it on Pay TV, but 1. It’s dubbed, and I HATE to watch dubbed shows knowing that it can’t quit deliver the originality and wit of a series and 2. We are in the middle of season 2 over here, and I’m not someone very patient when it’s about stuff I like.
So, I use a…well, trusted and reliable streaming site, getting stuff like Community, Mad Men, Breaking Bad in fine HD. Daddy needs his sugar quick and crystal clear.
Mad Men is on Free TV (zdf.neo, dubbed version) and on Pay TV (Fox, you can choose if you want to watch a dubbed version or the original version). Fox already aired the first 4 seasons and is now re-airing them before they’ll start showing season 5 in September, I think. Seasons 1-4 are also available on DVD and on iTunes. But if you want to watch the latest episodes there’s no legal way to do that. Sky recently started airing Game of Thrones Season 2 (dual audio) but they’re like 8 weeks behind, so I’ll have to continue my shady practice of streaming TV shows.
I also was afraid Peggy was walking into an open elevator shaft thinking to myself “Please look forward before you take a step”
I’m right there with you. I just couldn’t fathom Peggy being the character that took the plunge, especially not in an episode where Pete Campbell took another giant step towards being one of the slimiest characters on television. It just didn’t seem fair.
This episode crushed me. CRUSHED ME. I am still kinda disturbed by it.
This recap nails a lot of the observations I had — especially the one with the elevator at the end, only to have Peggy flash that winner’s smile with the Kinks blasting in the background.
We have not seen the last of Peggy. It is noteworthy that in that last scene in Don’s office, he says to Peggy — now that he knows everything with regard to Joan and the account — “I can’t put a girl on the Jaguar account.” He might mistreat Peggy, but goddman, he is not going to allow someone else to mistreat her. He will always rise to protect her.
I humbly submit we are seeing the finest season of television ever broadcast.
I’ve been having the finest hour vs. one of the finest hours debate in my head since Sunday night.