No one said it was going to be easy for the folks on Mad Men to go it alone and start up their own ad agency. I’m actually a little surprised that things went so smoothly for that year or so before Lucky Strike pulled their business. We knew that it was happening last week, but this week the news broke and Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was thrown into a tailspin.
So often it seems that Don’s personal life follows the track of his business life (and vice versa), and in this episode it was no different. The issues at the agency prompted Don to press Faye for information on potential clients, which predictably led to a big fight. I can understand the desperation by Don, as he was watching his business crumble around him, but Faye had every right to be pissed. It was not an appropriate thing to ask of her. Of course, in the end she did exactly that, setting Don up with Heinz for a meeting.
There have been some subtle hints leading up to the encounter with Don and Megan for a little while now. That longing look at the end of last week’s episode certainly did have some meaning to it in retrospect, didn’t it? At the end of the day though, Megan was definitely playing the temptress. Certainly that doesn’t excuse Don from his actions, even if had assumed that things with he and Faye were over. To his credit, he did look pretty guilty at the end of the episode while snuggling with Faye on the couch. Or maybe he was just scared, realizing that he had just cheated on the daughter of a mobster. I, for one, like he and Faye together and would hate to see them end in an ugly fashion, although that seems to be the norm for Don.
Don’s shenanigans were not the thing worth talking about in this episode. His behavior may have been bad, but Roger’s was worse. He kept the situation with Lucky Strike under wraps for weeks, and it certainly doesn’t appear that he tried much of anything to solve the problem. He then continued to lie about the situation, going so far as to fabricate a trip to Raleigh to visit Lee in person. I have to think that this is all going to come back to bite Roger in the ass before the end of the season. If his business dealings don’t come back to haunt him, perhaps it will be his affair with Joan. It really ended before it even began, but not for lack of trying. It was just sad seeing Roger come home to a doting, obviously loving Jane. She deserves better.
It will be interesting to see if the agency can pull through this difficult time. I’m guessing that Don is going to knock the socks of Heinz, which would obviously turn into a huge client. Add in Playtex, who Peggy wooed (even with lipstick on her teeth), and they all may pull through. If they could somehow destroy that perpetually grinning Ted Chaough in the process, I would be very happy. It was nice to see that Pete pretty much spurned all of Ted’s overtures. With the way he was working with the rest of the crew, I think he will be with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce until the end. Even if he does have a new baby (that he didn’t seem overly interested in – how different child birth was in the sixties), he considers the firm to be “his,” as he is a partner.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Was Don very much in the wrong to sleep with another secretary? Will Roger recover from this?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Oct 04, 2010 @ 19:31 EST5EDT
