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Mad Men: Inexorable Choices
WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD SPENT LAST NIGHT AT RANDOM BARBECUES, our friends at SCDP put on quite the show. The Other Woman is a doozy of an episode focusing on how men perceive women as objects -and how they go about obtaining them for their trophy rooms.
We open on a room full of dudes, surrounded by beer and tissues, which is what ad agencies used to call the tissue paper sketches of possible ideas for print ads. The boys in creative are trying to win that all-important Jaguar account, without Peggy’s input, of course. Stan blurts out, “Jaguar. The mistress who will do things your wife won’t.” Everyone chuckles, and Don shuts it down. Ginsberg comes back with “Jaguar. You’ll love it when you’re in it.” Don calls for a break, because obviously his creative department has turned into a sixth-grade locker room, filled to the brim with nervous giggles and dick jokes.
Speaking of Peggy, she runs into Don for a minute outside the meeting room where everyone else is holed up, and she asks him to sign off on something. Don’s all, “I’m not interested, you take care of it,” just as Joan rounds the corner with a caravan of lobster from the Palm — lunch for everyone working on Jaguar. There’s a look on Peggy’s face that’s become very familiar this season, and I’m officially dubbing it the “I’m Turning Into Betty Draper.”
Elsewhere, Pete and Ken wine and dine Herb, the head of the Jaguar dealership association — the guy Lane’s friend barfed on, and because of that incident, inherited his job. Which really says a lot about the kind of person we’re dealing with. When they take him to dinner, he tells them he’s interested in Joan, and Ken tries to interject with a quick “She’s married,” but Pete cuts him off and says, “She’s a very interesting person,” implying nothing and everything at once. The client responds with a “So she’s one of these ‘free spirits,’ open to eh, ‘ideas?’” Ugh.
The head of the Jaguar account is a jag. What a surprise. I suppose when you refer to sleek, fast cars as “she” and “a beauty,” they sort of become interchangeable with women. Especially if you’re, you know, a douchebag. Ken tries to diffuse the situation by offering up some other redheads, but this guy is more interested in screwing her AND the agency -he basically threatens to award the account elsewhere if they don’t set this up for him. And after last week, when Joan nearly brained the receptionist with the model airplane, I wouldn’t want to be the one to approach her with this. I want to say that the guys shut it down, since Joan is such a staple at the agency, both feared and respected by her male co-workers, but then this would not be a show about advertising.
Don returns home late. Megan is preparing for an audition, and Don is stuck with no ideas still. So she offers her help…until she hears the “mistress” strategy. “So a wife is like a Buick in the garage.” Yeah. This is a bad idea. But car makers are full of them, as evidenced by the last few years especially. Clearly, it’s historical.
The next morning, Pete, blinded by his own hubris, tries to get Joan on his side by bringing up Herb’s proposal directly to her. He really thinks he can make this happen. He tries to get JOAN to break the news to the agency that they’re out of the running because she won’t sleep with the client. Like it’s her problem that this situation has totally spiraled out of control, and that Pete couldn’t just let Ken shut it down, because Pete has to control everything. He is going to be a spectacular fuck-up by season’s end, you mark my words. “You’re talking about prostitution,” Joan says, disgusted. She shuts him down and out. I also wish I could say that that’s the end of it. Again, though, this wouldn’t be a show about advertising.
Ken, Harry and Peggy are on a call with client Rick, who wants to pull an ad. After an ingenious bit of improvisation, Peggy appeases Rick with a great new ending. Another great triumph for plucky Peggy, which goes totally unnoticed and unappreciated by Don.
Pete reveals Herb’s request to Bert, Lane, Roger and Don. Lane, Roger and Don are clearly pissed about it, but Don is the most pissed, walking out of the room. Lane suggests that maybe Jaguar isn’t meant to be. Everyone else not only entertains the idea; they start discussing how to extend their credit to get her a $50,000 payout. Lane, who’s already extended the credit without the other partners’ knowledge, is even more freaked out than when we left him last week. He too, has a look on his face that’s becoming increasingly familiar, and I’ll dub this one “Ohhhhhshit.” Meeting adjourned, each of remaining partners looks at Pete long and hard, wondering what they’ve gotten themselves into.
Don, still reeling from the Indecent Proposal, takes down the “mistress” idea and really drives his creative team to come up with something else. Is Draper finally starting to come to terms with the kind of man he once was, and the kind of man he wants to be? Who knows. Peggy, after winning big with one of Ginsberg’s clients earlier and being replaced by Ginsberg again, objects. She wants to produce the ad she’s just written on the spot. Don throws a bunch of money at her and she walks away, disgusted. But -and this should be pointed out — she is NOT CRYING. Peggy knows how much misery that would add to an already very stressful, very male-dominated job. Crying doesn’t get you promoted. It doesn’t put you in front of clients. It doesn’t get you anywhere. A drink, on the other hand…
In another corner of the office, Lane approaches Joan to discuss the Indecent Proposal. Lane reveals that he, too, is not making as much as he should. But he wanted to tell her that the money is enough to make her turn her head. He understands what it could do for her, and also that it is just never enough.
Late that night, Megan pops up at the office and suggests a tagline: “Jaguar. It’s your problem, not mine.” She then takes Don to his office so she can “audition with confidence,” aka “have sex.” And while the wild rumpus continues to dominate at the agency, Pete Campbell is tucked away in his suburban enclave, listening to music on the biggest fucking headphones I have ever seen. He looks like he’s commanding a space shuttle or something. Trudy and Pete argue about whether or not Pete should have an apartment in the city. He’s bored out there, she’s tired of competing for his attention with the city. Er, yeah, the city.
As Joan arrives home, her mother asks where she was, and then tells her that the fridge isn’t working — Apollo, the repairman, isn’t allowed in the apartment because his wife is jealous of Joan’s mother. Geez. People really find ANY way to make drama, don’t they?
The next morning, Megan is all excited about the call back she got from the audition. When she reminds him that the rehearsals are in Boston, he changes his mind about the whole thing and they get into another argument. As long as Megan stays close, Don’s fine, but when she becomes too independent, he loses it. It’s obvious that he’s got abandonment issues, and that he believes women make his world go round, whether they want to or not. We’ve witnessed this in his interactions with Megan, Peggy and, to a lesser extent, Joan, and also in the past with Betty. When things fall apart, he runs to them. And they reluctantly pick up the pieces.
Joan speaks to Pete about the logistics of the Indecent Proposal, and demands a “non-silent” 5% ownership stake in the agency. She also demands documents by the end of the day. “He’s not bad,” Pete whispers to her. She looks right at Pete and goes, “He’s doing THIS.”
In another room, Ginsberg talks to Don about the “asshole” who probably would buy a Jaguar. He has no idea how slimy this whole thing is, yet works on a brilliant instinct — the hallmark of a great creative person. Anyway, he chats with Don about how this guy probably already has a lot of beautiful things. “Finally, you’re getting what you wanted: a woman you can’t have…she’s rich, fast, beautiful…Jaguar: At last, something beautiful you can truly own.” Bravo, Ginsberg.
Peggy is meeting old Freddy Rumsen for lunch, and she talks about whether or not she should take some interviews. Freddy tells her that s
he has to take another job, and he’s right about the fact that Don still looks at Peggy like “a secretary from Brooklyn who’s just dying to help out.”
Late that night, Pete and Don discuss the campaign, and the Indecent Proposal. Pete tells Don that Joan approached Pete about the deal, and Don is so upset that he goes to Joan’s apartment to talk her out of it — he doesn’t want to win Jaguar this way. “I said no, and they voted when I left the room. Who wants to be in business with people like that?” Joan says he’s one of the good ones.
The next day is the big day. As Don is presenting, it’s revealed that Joan has already done the deed with Herb. Unfortunately. Don talks about deep beauty, and unattainable objects speeding by just out of reach. “This car, this thing, what price would we pay? What behavior would we forgive? If they weren’t pretty, if they weren’t temperamental, if they weren’t beyond our reach and a little out of our control, would we love them like we do? Jaguar: at last, something beautiful you can truly own.” A clever bit of editing shows Don arriving at Joan’s after the presentation, and after she’s slept with Herb, to tell her not to do it, and I wince. It’s only after that she realizes Don stood up for her, and it wasn’t expected of her to go through with this awful thing she’s already done.
Speaking of feeling like a piece of meat, Megan’s audition is very similar. “Turn around, please.” They scan her body in a very similar manner to the way Herb took in Joan’s figure. Later, Don asks her how the audition went, and she’s still upset about his little outburst. “Don’t run away like that,” he tells her.
Peggy meets Teddy, Don’s nemesis. Teddy loves her work, and asks her about what she’s heard about him from Don, and why she’s looking to leave SCDP. He then asks her to give him a number — what should he pay her? She passes him a slip of paper with a salary on it. He looks at it and says, “You already know you want to go, and you know how much you’ll do it for, and you didn’t make me wait. I’m gonna give you the same favor.” He offers her even more. She’s so excited she orders herself a chocolate shake. Atta gal, Peggy!
The next morning, Peggy is about to give Don her notice when Roger and Ken breathlessly run around exchanging gossip about Jaguar. D’Arcy is out, and another agency just got a no. The SCDP line rings outside Roger’s office. Peggy gets that look on her face again, and goes back to her office to wait. All the partners -including Joan — meet in Roger’s office, and Don figures out what happened. Oh, they got Jaguar, all right.
Don’s pretty dejected, so he loops back around to find Peggy, who’s reluctant to give her news. “I need to talk about something serious,” she tells him. Don tries to sweet talk her by saying she picked the right time to ask for a raise, and she’s like, “No really, I’m serious.” And when Peggy tells Don she’s off to Teddy’s shop, he really lays it on thick about how he’s the best thing to happen to her, and he tries to buy her. Peggy says there is no number, and that he knows this is what he would do. So, to keep his manly control over the situation, he tells her to just leave now, and not wait for the two weeks’ notice to run out. He kisses her hand, desperately, and she tells him “Don’t be a stranger.” The vein in Don’s forehead is HUGE right now, which can’t be a good sign, and amid the Jaguar celebration, Peggy gathers up her things and leaves the agency for the last time -unnoticed, as usual. But not unappreciated.
I miss her already.
Miz J has an attitude. Deal with it. Check out her NSFW comedy podcast, I SAID IT, on iTunes or follow her on Facebook or on Twitter @askmizj.
