This week’s Mad Men was about getting knocked down and being tough enough to take the abuse.
Let’s start with Peggy. Mrs. commented that Peggy is the “me” of her office, in that we both stay late whenever the boss asks. In this case Don basically demanded that Peggy stay with him to work on the Samsonite ad. This of course leads to the eventual break up of Peggy and her fiancé Mark who she stands up (along with – surprise! – the rest of her family). Let’s just hope that this is for good because frankly, Mark is a dolt.
The Samsonite ad revolves around showing that the luggage is tougher than the competition and can withstand anything. Well Peggy had better be tough too because Don goes off on her about a variety of things including how lucky she is to be in her position and how she shouldn’t be looking for credit. He even goes so far as to tell her he doesn’t need to thank her because that’s what the money he pays her is for. Get in line Pegs, Don has a history of just paying women to get what he wants out of them.
All of this sends Peggy off to cry in the ladies room, but her sulking doesn’t last long and she picks herself up and eventually finds herself back in Don’s office. So let’s turn to Don, who’s been knocked down with some bad news from California. This throws Don into another drunken spiral where he yells at Peggy (see above), gets fall down drunk again, throws up, and eventually passes out on Peggy’s lap. Peggy hits Don with another blow, asking him how long he’s going to go on like this. Don is down for the count, but the next morning he’s picked himself up (and put on a new shirt) and come up with a new idea for Samsonite.
It was interesting that Don turned down the option of spending the night with Roger drinking his troubles away to instead stay in the office and he obviously wanted Peggy to be there with him, but not just to work on the ad. In fact, Don opens up to her like he never has with anyone before (except maybe Anna?) and we start to see how alike Don and Peggy are. Both lost their father when they were young (and witnessed the death), they’ve both made some questionable decisions in their personal life (and how funny was it to watch them rib each other at the bar?), they’re both facing the end of relationships (with Peggy’s engagement now apparently off and of course Don's divorce), and both are workaholics.
Anna’s death is the saddest moment Mad Men has given us. It was hard to watch Don break down, but great to see Peggy comforting him. Don squeezing her hand at the end seemed to be his way of saying thanks and showing how much he appreciates her friendship.
A few other favorite moments from last night’s episode:
Pete’s face as he sees the two mothers of his children exiting the ladies room together.
There was the Liston-Clay fight for the heavyweight title and then there was the Draper-Phillips fight (for the title of drunkest ad man?) . Let’s just say that Don needs to work on his right hook. The 1965 fight between Liston and Clay was controversial because of a “phantom punch” that knocked down Liston. I wonder if it looked anything like Don’s attempt to slug Duck?
At the diner Peggy asks why there’s a dog in the painting of the Parthenon. Well, Mrs. and I have been to the Parthenon and we can say from experience that there are indeed dogs there. We have pictures to prove it. In fact there are stray dogs all over the streets of Athens.
Loved watching Peggy critiquing Don’s ad idea at the end. A bit of a role reversal. She may not be Don’s equal in the office, but she’s getting there and obviously has his respect.
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