Year: 2008

This week’s episode of Mad Men takes place over three Sundays: Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, 1962.

We begin with a hungover Peggy attending Mass with her family at their Brooklyn church. After a few moments, Peggy decides that she needs some fresh air, and so she excuses herself. As she approaches the door of the church, she runs into a visiting priest, Father Gill. The two have a brief (but meaningful) conversation, and Father Gill says that he’ll be eating lunch at Peggy’s sister’s place that afternoon. At lunch, Father Gill, who has lived in Rome, impresses the ladies with tales of the Vatican. Father Gill and Peggy have some sort of “spark” between them, and when Peggy says that she needs to go, Father Gill excuses himself in order to give Peggy a ride to the subway station. In the car outside the station, Father Gill picks Peggy’s brain for “marketing ideas” for his sermon the following week.

While all this is going on, Don has convinced Betty to skip out on a barbecue by getting frisky with her. Unfortunately, the kids interrupt them, and so the two end up spending a lazy Sunday on the sofa, enjoying drinks made by Sally, the family’s 8 year-old bartender. (I like Sally’s version of the Bloody Mary: 90% vodka, 10% tomato juice, and nothing else). Don and Betty later dance to a Bing Crosby song that Betty loves.

After a brief respite, the sin returns in full force on Monday. Pete and Ken have hired Vicky, a high-end call girl, to entertain a client. Roger stops by the table, and Vicky is (awkwardly) introduced as the client’s wife. Meanwhile, Bobbie Barrett goes to see Don at his office, with plans for a Candid Camera style show starring her husband, tentatively called Grin and Barrett. Last week, I said that I thought that Bobbie and Don didn’t do anything in the car; that illusion was shattered this week when Bobbie locked the door to Don’s office and threw her coat on the floor… presumably to keep her knees from getting dirty.

On the following Sunday, Don gets an emergency phone call from Duck: it seems that the American Airlines meeting has been moved up to the upcoming Friday, and Don’s needed in the office now.. Betty had stepped out of the kitchen moments before the phone rang, and while Don was on the phone, Bobby burned himself on the pancake griddle. Earlier in the week, Bobby also broke the record player, and there’s serious tension between Don and Betty over “who wears the pants” when it comes to disciplining the children. Betty, in a rage, takes Bobby to the emergency room, leaving Don to take Sally to the office.

Continue reading “Mad Men: “Three Sundays””

I know that some of you might be sick of all the talk about Mad Men, but I just wanted to let you guys know about two cool Mad Men websites.

The first is AMC’s official Mad Men site. Yes, it’s an official site owned and operated by AMC, but there’s lots of great stuff at there, like blogs, trivia games, episode guides and a lot more. The Mad Men blog is especially interesting, as it contains not only interviews with cast and crew members, but also the “1960s Handbook”, which focuses on background information about many of the places, objects and companies featured on the show. The site is, in my opinion, great, and if you like the show, it’s absolutely worth a visit.

The second site is a bit silly, yet thought-provoking at the same time. It’s called What Would Don Draper Do? and it features “questions” that people allegedly send in to the site, which “Don” answers. Think of it like “Dear Abby”, only run by a hard-livin’ guy from the 1960s. There are also lots of free-form quotes inspired by things Don says on the actual show. The funny thing is, the quotes tend to come across sounding a bit like fortune cookies… like “Don’t be cruel unless it serves both parties equally” or “Don’t fight. Say whatever she thinks you should” or (my personal favorite) “Teach your eight-year-old daughter to bartend”.

Both sites have RSS feeds, too… so you don’t need to check them all the time.

Wow – Mad Men‘s getting dark again, isn’t it? It really is starting to live up to its tagline: “Where the truth lies”.

This episode begins with comedian “Jimmy Barrett” filming a commercial for Utz potato chips. Barrett – a pastiche of Don Rickles, Jackie Mason, and\or Gene Saks – has had a few drinks, and when Utz owners Mr and Mrs Schilling enter the room, Barrett launches a verbal assault on Mrs Schilling and her considerable girth. The Schillings are understandably offended, and Barrett is too drunk to care. A fiasco thus ensues for Sterling Cooper.

Unfortunately for the agency, Don is at the movies, looking for meaning (again)… this time in Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte. When he gets back to the office, the agency is in crisis mode. Don angrily fires Lois and vows to take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile, two big things have happened: Arthur and Betty have more conversations at the stables, and Henry opens Ken’s paycheck and finds out that he makes $100 a week less than Ken. This causes Henry to call a friend at CBS to see if any jobs are available there. There aren’t, but his friend does mention that he desperately needs advertisers for an upcoming episode of The Defenders.  Why? The episode is about abortion, and none of his regular advertisers will touch it with a 10-foot pole. Henry thinks that he can sell the ad space to a Sterling Cooper client for pennies on the dollar, and comes up with a plan to sell it to his bosses. Most touching about this scene: the fact that Henry calls his wife for advice about his money situation, and that Jennifer actually gives him good advice. Henry and Jennifer are, more than any other couple on Mad Men, a “team”. They’re husband and wife in the “modern” sense, and it’s cute to see them together.

But then… everything gets dark. Don goes to meet Bobbie Barrett (Jimmy’s wife), to see what it will take to get Jimmy to apologize to Mrs Schilling:

Bobbie don’t play. She takes on Don at every turn, and at one point she suggests that Jimmy will apologize only if Don lets Jimmy have sex with Betty! Negotiations are at an impasse. Don offers to give her a ride home… when a hailstorm breaks out… and Bobbie kisses Don in the car! What happens next isn’t clear: several blogs have talked about how “Don slept with Bobbie”, but the official AMC recap only mentions the kiss. Personally, I’m not sure. I think he only kissed her, but I’m not sure about that.

At home, Sally asks Don if she can ride with Mom on Saturday. Don tells her no. Betty then gives Don his watch, which she’d taken to get repaired (and engraved as a special treat). Don looks at the engraving, says “Awww, Bets!” and kisses her.

Saturday rolls around, and Betty goes to the stables to ride. She, of course, runs in to Arthur. They have a long conversation, which ends with Arthur trying to kiss Betty. She refuses his advances, and in doing so looks absolutely beautiful. January Jones is one of those people that looks much better on TV than she does in real life. Which is a pity, because when she’s all dolled up as Betty Draper, she’s totally a modern day Grace Kelly:

Anyway, while Betty is at the stables, Don calls Bobbie to arrange a dinner between her and Jimmy, Don and Betty, and the Schillings. When Betty comes home, Don asks her how she feels about going to Lutece on Monday night. Betty is initially excited, but then she finds out that it’s a “business thing”. Betty asks if “this is one where I talk, or where I don’t talk?” Don gives her one of his trademark lines: “I need you to be shiny and bright. I need a better half.” She complains about the short notice and having nothing to wear. Don, seeing that she’s really complaining about not spending time with her husband, tells her that they’ll go alone sometime. He then calls her “Birdie” (for those of you keeping up with his nicknames). Hmmm..

Continue reading “Mad Men: “The Benefactor””