The Don Draper Wannabes

Warning:  SPOILERS for the latest Mad Men episode.

This week’s episode of Mad Men, “The Collaborators”, was basically the tale of two people trying to be Don and failing in most respects.

First we have Pete following in Don’s footsteps by bringing his extracurricular activities a little too close to home.  And while there are similarities in both affairs, there are also striking differences.  There’s never been any question that Don wears the pants in any relationship he’s in, and notice how Don tells Sylvia how it’s going to be (and really how great was that restaurant scene?) before they end up back in bed.  But for Pete, who tries and fails to control the situation with Brenda, Trudy shows him who’s the boss by kicking him out of the house and leaving him living in his office (first season Harry Crane style).  Pete will never have Don’s confidence and this was evident as well with their dealings with Jaguar, where Pete goes along with whatever Herb wants and Don purposely bombs the pitch to stick it to Herb and assert his authority. 

We also see both Don and Pete facing situations where their wife and mistress are thrown together in the same room, but Don plays it off coolly (albeit after exchanging a worried look with Sylvia), while Pete ends up struggling to do damage control as Trudy treats a bleeding Brenda and he’s left hissing at Brenda about what she told her husband.  It seems like Don is doing everything in his power to get caught (maybe he figures that’s the easy way out?), whereas Pete not only has a bachelor pad in the city approved by his wife, but is apparently trying to cover his tracks with this affair and still finds himself sheepishly lying awake while Trudy drives his mistress to a hotel.  I guess it's back to Draper 101 for Pete.  First lesson - pick a more mature mistress.

And then we have Peggy trying to be the boss and failing to do it as well as Don.  The staff doesn’t quite respect Peggy the way Peggy and the gang did Don once upon a time.  And while this is at least in part a gender thing, we see with her pep talk to the staff that she’s definitely still lacking in the motivation department.  And while Don is an expert at deception and keeping everything private, Peggy haphazardly tells Teddy about her conversation with Stan about Heinz.  While Don trusts no one, Peggy is still a bit too trusting.  So she’s still got a ways to go to be the new Draper, but she is still young. 

A few other quick thoughts:

A call back to earlier seasons with all of the money changing hands.  Much like Don tried to give Allison (his secretary back in Season 4) money after their drunken fling, we see him handing Sylvia a wad of cash after their tryst.  Seriously Don?  And lots of allusions to prostitution with the Don situation above, Pete trying to shoo Brenda away from his apartment (“Honey, can we move it along”), Herb showing up in Joan’s office calling back their night together, even the idea of SCDP cheating on “beans” with “ketchup”, and of course Pete giving money to Bob for toilet paper (ok, maybe that’s a stretch – but Bob doesn’t seem above selling himself to move up the corporate ladder).  And of course the more overt example of Don and his step-mom going to live with her sister in a brothel.

Couldn’t help but laugh at Don’s “dance with the one that brung ya” line – Don’s professional loyalty sure is different from that of his personal life.

Nice shot of Don unable to open his door at the end and just sitting in the hall.  Five seasons and Don is still confused as ever about what he wants and what he’s doing with his life.

This I assume is obvious, but what drama it’s going to be this season when Don and Sylvia’s affair finally blows up somehow.  I’ve already read a theory that she’ll get pregnant (since she alluded to how she would never have an abortion), where Megan just had a miscarriage (or maybe an abortion?).  It will be like something out of the soap opera that Megan’s in.

And finally, I didn’t love the flashback scenes.  We get it, Don was raised in a brothel and had a bad upbringing and that’s why he’s screwed up.  Maybe it’s just because I don’t’ believe that that goofy kid really grew up to be Don Draper.  I mean we all have our geeky awkward stages (some of us never outgrow them), but that kid becomes Don, the man women want and men want to be?  I don’t think so.