Ok, obligatory spoiler alert- if you haven’t seen Mad Men season 4, episode 4, and you hate spoilers, stop reading.
Not sure what was going on the last two episodes, setting up for the future, sure, but as individual episodes I hated them. This one felt better. In fact this one had so much going on I’m going to have to leave a lot out or risk this post going much longer than you want to read.
First, the opening scene (directed by John Slattery): A wide shot looking up at Don smoking, as Don goes over the new cigarette advertising rules which include- no wide shots looking up at the subject to avoid making smokers heroic. No need to reach too deep to get this point: our hero, Don Draper, can’t been seen as the hero anymore.
The nudity we were warned about at the start was art photos in a portfolio. I guess if you paused the DVR and walked up really close to the screen you might see something someone might find “offensive.”
AMC
And speaking of the portfolio, not sure how I feel about Peggy’s new elevator friend, Joyce. I get, and love, that they are bringing in gay characters. We the audience in 2010 picked up that Joyce is a lesbian immediately, but it felt forced. And even in the Village, at an art show, while high, would she have tried to kiss Peggy after less than 20 words had passed between them? Peggy reacted a little too nonchalantly I think. I did love the one secretary’s (forgot her name…) take on Joyce, “she’s kind of pretentious…” which seemed an appropriate reaction in that time and space.
I really hope the writers follow through on the teasers with Peggy. Peggy is the one who will create the coming earthquake at SCDP. I loved Peggy’s turn around when Allison assumed she’d also slept with Don. For Peggy that’s the worst thing you could say about her- that she’s where she is for any reason other than her own skills and talents. Note too her utter surprise about the reaction her work in advertising got at the party (complete disdain.)
While Peggy brings the agency into the explosive culture happening outside, Faye Miller is going to help bring Don Draper into something explosive of his own. He’s the most vulnerable we’ve seen him yet. The looming loss of Anna, typing an apology (of all things) to Allison (btw “this actually happened” was a brilliant line from Allison, harkening back to Don’s words to Peggy after her pregnancy that “this never happened.”) It was Don arguing for a more modern approach to Ponds when Dr. “it’s a woman” Miller’s research said girls just want to get married. Don sees change ahead, he just has no idea what it will look like.
And what’s this? Pete came from out of nowhere and demanded Vicks from his father-in-law. The “son of a bitch” knew the account was his, his father-in-law wasn’t going to get in the way now, with Trudie pregnant. And when the word about the pregnancy gets around, Peggy steps up and makes sure that Pete knows that she hasn’t forgotten what “didn’t happen” between them.
The final scene, like the first, hammers it all home. The middle-aged white men on the inside, the young bohemians on the outside, and Peggy & Pete locking eyes through the glass. Maybe Pete and Peggy will create that earthquake together?
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