jimcofer.com

The folks at TV Squad caught up with Mad Men creator Matt Weiner for a nice, long interview about season 4. Check it out in full here (there are no season finale spoilers in the interview). Here’s his response to the question of Don possibly still being outed as a fraud:

I think that that’s there, but what I was trying to say, and certainly it was a big deal with the clearance and everything, but he’s starting to realize that it’s just so exhausting to try and be that person. Who is he? We learned last year when he got the contract offer that he became this guy in a suit that he always wanted to be. Inside, there was somebody who still — whose father thinks he’s nothing.

That’s what I’m always trying to do. If you give yourself over to the show and sort of take the events away from it and say, “Well here’s a guy now who is living in this apartment that people don’t think is very nice.” Anyone who’s ever gotten divorced will say, “That’s the apartment where that man would live.” He moved to the Village, and he’s working all the time, and focusing on the things he can control in his life. Every part of his personal life does peek into his job, but they’re so closely related to each other that, to me, writing that letter last week is an assertion of the fact that he still is who he is — whatever that is.

The season finale of Mad Men is this Sunday at 10pm on AMC.

This episode begins with Don having lunch with an executive from Heinz, who explains that his business is cyclical, and ketchup has become popular while his division – vinegar sauces and beans – has faded in importance. He further says that they’re not happy with their current agency, and while the man likes Don’s work, he just doesn’t trust that SCDP will be around for much longer. He then leaves, and Don calls a waiter over.

In Ossining, we see Betty making dinner for Sally and Bobby. Sally asks why they don’t have dinner with Henry, and Betty says it’s because Henry works too late to eat with them and because they eat different foods. Sally says that she’d try new food, and Betty smiles and asks if she’d like to eat with Henry. Sally says that she does, and Betty says that she’ll think about it.

At the office, Geoffrey Atherton (Faye’s boss) tells the partners that signing new business is extremely important. He then mentions a new brand of “women’s cigarettes” that Philip Morris will soon be releasing, and he says that it would be a good match given SCDP’s past experience with Lucky Strike. He further says that he’s arranged a meeting between the folks at Philip Morris and SCDP.

Continue reading “Mad Men: “Blowing Smoke””

This episode begins with Peggy getting into Joyce’s car after a weekend trip to Jones Beach. Suddenly, several “hitchhikers” appear, with Abe Drexler being one of them. Peggy is less than pleased at first, but we then see them falling into bed together back at Peggy’s place.

Meanwhile, we see Ken having dinner with Ed and Cynthia Baxter, his future in-laws. The young couple is telling the story of Trudy going in to labor when a BBDO employee named John Flory walks up and offers Ken his condolences for SCDP losing the Lucky Strike account. Ken assures him that they haven’t lost Lucky Strike, but Flory says that they have.

Ken excuses himself, and hunts down Pete at the hospital. He tells Pete about what his friend had said. Pete can’t get Roger on the phone, so he calls Don at home, who is just walking in with Faye. Don tells him to wake Cooper and meet him at the office.

Continue reading “Mad Men: “Chinese Wall””