Mad Men Season 5 running thread

Then wind up in Federal Pound Me in the Ass Prison after Watergate.

 

Outing alert: Pete Campbell is Gregory Marmalard.

 

Maybe Don ends up going there? He's had enough of Pete and Roger and he takes Joan and the Jewish writer to Peggy's new place.

At some point, Don can't be satisfied being the creative director of a boutique ad agency. He would want to be CA of a big time firm.

 

I thought the exact same thing after the previews of next weeks episode. I think they are planning on having Don leave and ring Peggy back into the fold.
I really don't think Megan and Don are going to make it. (IMO)

 

Just watched the last episode. Without having read any of the usual suspects in terms of recaps, my initial thought is that there is something interesting to be said about Don and prostitution.

He's the son of a whore who won't partake with the other fellows from work in prostitution (although he did at the beginning of last season). He works in a job which is considered by others to be similarly unseemly --yet is very defensive when his profession is denigrated. He's quick to rip Megan's friends who rip him or his professions as whores ("I'm good enough to buy them dinner").

Despite not wanting Joan to prostitute herself at any price, going so far as to take the unusual step of going to her apartment, his interactions with his closest protege are the opposite. He's opened himself up to Peggy, knows her closest secret and shares the bond that the most important thing in their lives is their work -- not the politics of work, but the actual work. Yet on three occasions, once in last season and twice here, he purely monetizes their relationship, asking Peggy to name the price for her dignity which he wouldn't dare to with Joan.

Also -- the pitch worked so well because Don has everything that he wants in Megan. She's smart, gets his business, is ambitious and independent in the way that Betty never was. And yet, he can't own her -- which I think is part of what he loves about her -- and now he may be looking a proverbial pretty but impractical second car, one which may not work so well, but it can be owned.

Apologies for the rambling.

 

That's a great point about Megan also being the Jaguar, Webster, and not one I've seen made elsewhere. Thought it seems quite clear now. Goddamn, Weiner is good.

 

Except that Don doesn't really "own" her either. Notice how he flipped out when she said the part she was auditioning for would keep her on the road a lot. She ended up not getting it, but if one day she does land one ...

 

Right -- the point was that even if Megan is far improved over Betty, Don still can't own Megan. And I'm guessing that if Megan gets the part and goes to Boston, Don will be seeking a Jaguar to drive around.

 

That's the reason why the Jaguar pitch works, though, which was Webster's point. Men like Don, men like the sleezy dealer's association executive -- and maybe all men really -- will be drawn to the Jaguar campaign because the car is something beautiful they CAN truly own, control, take for a spin whenever they want. The genius of it is that Don is talking about himself, and the kind of men who lust after Joan, without even realizing it.

 

It was Ginsburg's idea. Don sold it, but Ginsburg created it.

 

I think we are romanticizing Joan a little too much here.

Go back and rewatch the episode where Peggy is discovered because of her thoughtful choice of lipstick. Peggy main asset is her brain. She is smart, but not as gifted as Don at selling the ad, but still smart.

When the men were watching all the women putting on lipstick, and getting off while watching it, Joan made sure to shake her full round ass in their faces. Joan's main assets are her looks. Her awesome, awesome looks.

Joan's goal was to marry well. Peggy's goal is to be respected. The conflict in this gender is growing and growing and will erupt in the 1970s.

Peggy's main problem is she is not hot, and she knows it. But she also knows it might not be a problem at all. I think that was part of the smile as well before The Kinks started to play.

 

Great point.

Those final 30ish seconds were such a dichotomy of how these women got to their higher standings after each made an extreme decision.

Peggy, she of incredible brains and creativity, looks longingly at Joan, knowing she'll never have that elegance to use to climb the ladder.

Joan, she of the incredible beauty, looks at Peggy, knowing she'll never have the brains and creativity to climb the ladder.

Both have to use their best assets to get ahead. Neither knows what the other has just done as they take turns examining each other. But it doesn't matter. As a result of her respective decision, Peggy is less well-off than Joan, but she's got a clear conscience and a bright future (as literally shown by the opening elevator and light on her face). She knows how she climbed that latter. As a result of her decision, Joan is much more financially secure, but knows what she did to get there.

Just fantastic thematic and creative storytelling.