Mad Men C to Z S2E6: Maidenform Transcript

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S2:E6  Maidenform Transcript
 
Jenna: Hi, I'm Jenna.
 
Steve: And I'm Steve. Welcome to All Things Mad Men, from Chip and Dip to Zou Bisou.
 
Jenna: We started this podcast to connect to fans like us who pick up something new each time you watch the show. We break down each episode of Mad Men, from the pivotal moments to our favorite lines.
 
Steve: Be advised, our discussions may include spoilers so we can talk about character arcs all the way through the final season. We won't be gratuitous with the spoilers, but they can pop up from time to time.
Let's get started with Mad Men C to Z.
 
Jenna: Welcome to season two, episode six, Maidenform.
This episode was written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Phil Abraham.
Apparently, this season was plotted through episode seven and this episode was written kind of at the last minute, so it didn't rush the Bobbie and Don storyline.
It doesn't feel last-minute to me. This is a strong episode.
 
Although I will say that the trauma of this episode is likely to burn you for the rest of your life. So that's the gift of Mad Men. Great episode. Never-ending trauma.

 
Steve: The episode kicks off with scenes of the different female leads dressing. We have Betty, Joan and Peggy getting dressed, and each one seems to represent a different ideal or type of womanhood.
 
Jenna: The opening song is the Infanta by the Decemberists. And I found an interview where Colin Meloy of the band talks about how this song is about the absurdity of the excessive presentation.
 
There's a procession of elephants and silks and crowds, and eventually you realize it's about a very young girl not really attending to the excess around her.
 
In a theme this episode, we also see a lot of mirrors, starting in this opening sequence. I feel like mirrors are used a bit too predictably in a lot of shows, including maybe last season on The Hobo Code when Don was at Midge’s and had his first flashback, and also again in a future season with Roger.
 
But in this episode, the mirror moments feel so realistic to me that the characters aren't preening or on stage. They feel really true to life. Even in this opening sequence as the women are getting ready, it does really feel like we just happened to be there. It isn't like they're on stage.
 
Steve: Yeah, it feels to me like they're used very effectively in this episode. So I didn't find it really reminding me of, oh yeah, they're using a mirror to make a point.
 
Jenna: In our first scene at the office this episode, Playtex is Sterling Cooper's client and they want some flashier advertising like Maidenform is using. Even though the Playtex sales are already very strong,
there is a series of real Maidenform ads showing women in various public situations in their bras with skirts or pants to match the occasion.
 
It's like “I dreamed I was traveling down the Nile in my Maidenform bra” or walking on a tightrope or a knockout in a boxing ring.
I'll put a link with some examples in the show notes.
 
Steve: On brand, Don is against Playtex jumping on the Maidenform bandwagon, as we've seen with some other suggestions that have come up. He's not interested in copying what's been done successfully by somebody else.
 
Jenna: Also true to form, there are a few sexist jokes about the product during the discussion.
 
And then the men in the room throw it to Peggy. She's the only woman. What do you like about Playtex? And that's an impossible question to answer in a room full of people who are talking about how bras open easily.
 
Steve: Yeah, this entire episode we really see Peggy struggling as a woman in a man's world and at times being drawn in to be the voice of women, but then simultaneously discarded or ignored in terms of whatever she did provide. So it almost feels like a can't win situation for her.
 
Jenna: It absolutely does.
And Duck wants Don to give Playtex a new campaign.
 
And he suggests a line that falls really flat. And Don looks at him and goes, thank you for that. Which is the nicest way he can say, you suck at this. Stay in your lane. But it's clear they're going to have to do some work for the client they already have.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it's just another example of that Don - Duck tension that we've seen building up here where it's creative versus accounts. It's Don versus Duck.
The tension remains high between the two men.
 
Jenna: As Duck comes out of that meeting, he runs into his ex wife, played by Alexandra Paul. She was also Stephanie in Baywatch, she was Lee in Christine, and she was Connie Swale in 1987's Dragnet with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks.
 
Duck's children are played by Gina DeVivo as Patricia. She's recognizable from Scrubs, Shield of Tomorrow and Tempting Fate.
And his son Mark is played by Darian Weiss, recognizable from Days of Our Lives.
 
Steve: In listening to the commentary from Matt Weiner, he compliments these character actors playing Duck's family.
It brought up a larger observation that I think you made, which was the casting is so good on this show that even these minor roles are perfectly cast and it just contributes so much to the development of the plot and the characters of our, you know, recurring characters.
 
And you never get distracted by these little bit roles. They're always contributing to the greater whole in a very seamless way. So tip of the hat, I guess, to casting on Mad Men.
 
Jenna: I agree. I also think the costuming and sets help so much to put us in that very specific world instead of imagining that character from their other roles that you might know them from. So I think that's part of something that makes it a little bit easier to put them so immediately into this environment.
 
So Pauline is handing the kids to Duck earlier than he expected,
and she says, off to the side, you know you're not good in the afternoons, referring to his drinking problem.
 
And in our truth call-out, he says, that's not true anymore. And we haven't seen any issues with Duck and his drinking, so we can believe him.
 
And Duck is so awkward with his kids and yet absolutely delighted to see his dog, Chauncey. And we can see his sales confidence at work here. He says he's going to take them to see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. And the kids go, oh, we saw it.
 
His immediate reply is, not from these seats, you haven't. So he's going to make the sale. He's going to be the great dad. He's going to make this work.
 
Steve: Yeah. It's an interesting peek into the status of Duck's life. And we can see that his alcoholism has played a big role in the breakup of his marriage. He can see that his children are dealing with the breakup.
And we can see Duck doing his best to, I think, maybe try and compensate or make it up to his kids for the fact that he is separated from his wife.
 
Jenna: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was a 1962 Stephen Sondheim musical that won six Tony Awards.
The plot is about a lot of people lying and pretending and affected by one character's drive to attain his freedom, which might ring a bell for us.
 
Extending the awkwardness of Duck's kids’ visit, Freddy comes up. He's very polite and appropriate, greeting the family and the dog, and he asks to step away for a minute.
 
It seems like Duck really wants to be in charge and show off in front of his kids. So he says, spit it out, Freddy. And it turns out they need another box of brassieres, which is not the impressive take charge request Duck was probably looking for.
Steve: Yeah, it's kind of a funny moment. And probably more awkward for the children than it is for either of the men.
 
Jenna: I just feel so sad for Duck here, even though he's been put against Don and we kind of dislike him because of that. I think because Don's our protagonist, even though obviously he's got his issues,
I cannot help but really want Duck to have a win with his family and everything.
 
And it just keeps sliding downhill. And even though these are very small moments that you don't think are going to be such a big deal,
he really doesn't seem to have any wins with his family.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it feels like the show doesn't really reward characters who are doing their best, you know, trying to stay good or trying to impress or mend fences.
 
It seems that despite their best efforts, inevitably they're pulled back to whatever it is was causing the problems in the first place.
 
Jenna: In our next scene, Pete, Sal, and Peggy are in Pete's office, and they're talking about the Clearasil campaign.
 
I love this scene because we can see the working relationship around ideas. And I am a little confused why Pete is in the creative development meeting, because it feels like Peggy should be discussing this with the writing team.
 
But in any case, we can see she is really good at her job. She identifies having a story to tell in the ad, which is maybe a couple getting ready for a date.
 
It's a winning idea compared to, say, testimonials. She says their skin, it's not even on their mind. They're two kids who used to have a problem. It's prom night, and she can picture it all in her head.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it feels like a very collaborative interaction. So unlike some of the earlier ones, where we feel that Pete is throwing stones at Peggy and trying to get her replaced in this interaction, it seems like they are collaborating successfully together.
And it's a bit of a new look of Pete working with Peggy instead of against her.
 
Jenna: But just when you want to give him some credit, he offers the line, thanks, Clearasil.
And Peggy says, maybe.
 
And Pete is true to form, pushy about his line here, and Peggy wants some room to play with the idea. And I really love this conflict in the creative process because people like Pete - well, and Don - do really fall in love with their own ideas, and they don't stay open to other possibilities.
 
And like Peggy, just like when Don said, think about it deeply, then forget about it. Some people understand that percolating a while can be really helpful to find some gold in an idea, but that tolerance for ambiguity is really difficult for somebody like Pete.
 
He wants to rush straight toward the finish line in all things. He likes the result, not the process.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think there's a ton of ego at operation with Pete in all things. Right. He wants to win or be the center, the focus.
 
But I do think from a substantive point of view, Pete has some creative chops here, you know. Thanks, Clearasil isn't terrible. It's not like Duck's suggestion earlier in the episode.
 
This one has got some potential, some possibility, even if Peggy's not ready to jump on it and take it at this point.
 
Jenna: It is funny to see them working, collaborating together,
when Pete was reluctant to even accept that she could be a copywriter. And now here she is in his office having a discussion as maybe not quite an equal, but at least more on the level.
 
Steve: In the commentary from Weiner, he talks about this tension or electricity in their relationship between the two of them. And I think it's perhaps simmering just below the surface in this scene.
 
Clearly there's some connection there that's greater than just a straight work meeting.
 
Jenna: Next, we move to a country club scene where Don and Betty are framed with their backs to each other, talking to different people.
Don is gossiping with Crab Coulson, played here by Matt McKenzie, who was in 24, and Veronica Mars.
 
They're talking about public relations business, the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy's philandering, and bomb shelters. And Betty ends up left by herself after the couple she's chatting with moves away.
 
Steve: Yeah, and in being alone there, who should swoop in but Arthur from the stables. They have a little bit of small talk and it seems that it's a little flirty.
 
There is a bit of tension between the two of them, but then suddenly Sally and Bobbie run in and Betty goes from being this attractive, desirable woman to being the mother figure tending to her children.
And at that point, Arthur seems scared away and excuses himself.
 
Jenna: Yeah, she can't be alluring anymore if she's also a mom somehow.
 
We also get our second truth call-out there when he says, I haven't seen you riding. And she says, I suppose that's true, because the last time they saw each other, he tried to kiss her. So we learned that she has been avoiding him. Where we have Don, who is sort of pretending to try to be good, Betty really is making an effort to make sure nothing like that happens.
 
Steve: I think we also have a bit of a sense of Don sticking out a bit and not fitting in perfectly at the country club.
 
Apparently he doesn't play any golf, which would be a big tell that he's from some place where he's not always been upper crust, perhaps, you know, maybe he just doesn't like golf and opted away from it.
 
But for somebody who's come from such a hardscrabble background up to where he is today, he - it makes sense that there would be these little items that kind of prevent him from fully disappearing within the upper crust.
 
Jenna: It's also interesting to me that Don is paying no attention to Betty until Arthur comes over, and he happens to look over and sees her chatting and smiling at him. And then he finally pays attention.
 
Steve: Later, they're sitting in the luncheon, and the emcee introduces one veteran, one of Teddy's Rough Riders. He's an old guy in his Rough Riders outfit from storming San Juan Hill in Cuba.
 
And that morphs into requesting that all servicemen stand up to be recognized with a round of applause.
 
And Don stands along with the vast majority of men in the room, which is another, I think, interesting time capsule of just how military service was much more universal back in the day. And there had been, you know, so many wars and conflicts that men could be a veterans of at this time. So you would probably have World War I vets, World War II vets, Korea vets.
 
As viewers, we know that the Vietnam War is starting to heat up at this time. As Don stands, he looks a little uneasy with the recognition. And there's all the applause. And we can see both Betty and Sally beaming at him, so proud of their veteran.
 
Jenna: The look on his face when he blinks -- he knows he doesn't deserve this.
 
The applause isn't such a hard thing from a whole room full of people, but looking at his daughter and seeing her intense enthusiasm and pride in him, that's what breaks him.
 
Steve: Yeah, And I was thinking about Don's military service. So if he’s drafted in, does his basic training, gets shipped to Korea, it seems like rather quickly upon arriving in Korea, you know, the incident happens and he gets sent home as Don Draper.
 
So in effect, he's a veteran, technically, I guess, but he's - even his length of service has been very de minimis at this point.
It's interesting because I wonder how much that contributes to it, you know, maybe more profound discomfort with his status as a veteran.
 
Jenna: It feels to me that we don't often see Don wrestling with the guilt from his major life deception. Usually he's very comfortable wearing this costume that he wears throughout his life.
 
But here, I think, and in other cases like when he is confronted with Adam, for example, he really does come face to face with this lie.
 
And I think he really, really wants to earn his daughter's approval here legitimately. And he hasn't. This thing that she's so proud of, he knows is a lie, however long he spent there.
 
Steve: Well, and I think it's very humanizing for the Don character. If he doesn't have this guilt, then what are we left with? You know, someone who's behaving badly and doing bad things.
 
I think it makes him much less sympathetic. The fact that he is uneasy with it, that he is feeling guilt, that there is some conscience in there that's judging himself and finding himself wanting.
 
I think it's really important to keeping his character human,
more sympathetic than it would be otherwise. I guess we could argue about how sympathetic a character he is.
 
Jenna: No, that's a great point. Because if he's just some kind of James Bond hero who gets away with poor treatment of people in service of God and country, I guess, or the mission above all and, you know, everybody else's feelings be damned, that's one thing.
 
That's a different type of character. Or if he's just a psychopath who will do anything ruthless to get his own way, but instead he is this really confused, lost person. It's much more interesting because he's complicated.
 
Steve: The next scene is Pete and Trudy entertaining Pete's brother and wife at the apartment in Manhattan. There's some funny back and forth between Pete and his brother.
They're talking about summer plans. And we see here Pete's ego and sense of importance when he talks about his presence is needed at the agency and that when he's absent, you know, his absence is felt.
 
Jenna: He so wants that to be true. He really wants to matter.
This joke that Bud and Pete have. Bud says, I was on the phone with Mother the other day and you were all she talked about. And Pete goes, really? And he goes, no, I'm kidding.
 
And then they both laugh because that's ridiculous.
Both Judy and Trudy are uncomfortable with this type of humor. They don't join in.
 
Steve: We then cut back to the club where there are models modeling swimsuits. The young women are body shape appropriate to the time and place. So it's another sort of brilliant casting by the Mad Men team.
 
And it's striking how different they look from modern swimsuit models that we might expect to see, you know, here in the 21st century.
Don makes some excuse, says he has to go back, check on the People at the office abandoning Betty at this luncheon. But Don's not going back to the office.
 
Jenna: He kisses her on the cheek, and she's clearly so hurt and disappointed. You're going to miss the sparklers, she says. And he answers, call me from the emergency room.
 
And it's not like the sparklers or the fashion show are so great, but Betty is here doing what she's supposed to be doing.
 
And Don acts like he's having Betty do whatever she wants so he can leave her to it and go do whatever he wants. But Betty doesn't even think she has the option to do what she wants. Her wants are all prescribed for her.
 
There are moneyed people who go to the country club and talk with the right people, so that's what they'll do, too. It's not like this is so fun for her, necessarily, but she's trapped.
 
And if Don said, I don't want to go hang out at the country club, she wouldn't even know what else to suggest. She wants to show him off and feel like he loves being with her and he just wants to escape all of it.
 
Steve: Yeah, I agree with that 100%.
It's not a great look. And again, I think it's a profound failure of Don in committing to the relationship. And it's compounded when we find out what he's gone off to do.
He's calling Bobbie on this phone call.
 
Jenna: He learns that Bobbie has an adult son he's never heard of before. And just like Arthur seeing Betty with kids, Bobbie being a mom seems to make her less sexy to Don.
 
And since she's not available, Don goes home instead of going back to his wife and kids. He stares out the window while the neighbor's lawnmower sounds. And it really amplifies how he's an observer to his own life.
 
Steve: Yeah. And again, not giving any weight or commitment to,
you know, trying to look after Betty's needs, because he could have easily said, oh, I called the office, everything's fine, so I'm back here with you. He doesn't. He goes home and drinks milk in a lonely way in his kitchen.
 
It reminds me very much of the birthday cake from the first season, where he could have dropped off the cake at least before taking off, but he can't be bothered.
 
And this feels, you know, very much that sort of betrayal of commitment to his marriage, even though he's not going to end up getting together with Bobbie.
 
Jenna: And speaking of selfish decision making, Pete comes into Peggy's office.
He says he ran the thanks Clearasil line by his father in law and he loved it.
 
Peggy to her credit, says, I'm glad, even though it wasn't Pete's job to sell the line yet.
And rudely he goes, the libraries were closed yesterday. What did you do? And we find out Peggy was working. That's what she does with her free time.
 
So Pete goes, oh, Trudy and I saw this movie. And he spoils the ending.
He goes on and says, you know, I know you don't like the line.
And that's not strictly true on her part. It's more that she doesn't like him charging in and stepping on her toes, I think.
 
And she goes, it's all about making your father in law happy. I do my job, you do yours.
And the dig is very subtle, but it's there. His job is to be married and keep his father in law happy.
 
Steve: Yeah, and stay off of creative's toes.
So to me, this interaction very much parallels Don when he's chopping someone like Duck off at the knees for crossing over into creative’s territory.
 
Jenna: Pete takes so many turns in this very short scene. He's condescending and snippy, he gets defensive, he tries to be casual and he's curious about her.
 
I really hate the part where he says, just play with the line, okay? As if he's entitled to boss her around.
 
And at the same time he wants to know where she lives. And he seems to want to talk more. And finally she says, look, I really do have a lot of work to do before he'll leave.
 
Steve: Yeah, and it's interesting in the context of this episode because we see we've already seen a couple scenes where too much information is a bit of a put off and a cooler on what people think of others.
 
And in this case Pete's actually soliciting additional information about Peggy and trying to get to know her better.
 
Jenna: We don't know what Don wants and I don't think Don knows what he wants. But I don't think Pete knows what he wants, either. He really does seem to change moment to moment about his involvement with Peggy.
 
Steve: Yeah, agreed. But again, I think we can see that there is some attraction going on here, at least from Pete's perspective towards Peggy.
 
Jenna: In our next scene, we get a glimpse of Jane. She's got a serious sunburn from Memorial Day weekend.
Roger comes in and asks Don, has your wife seen that yet? Do me a favor, let me be there when it happens.
 
There was a really quick line in season one where Roger says how Mona picked his own secretary. And we know Mona would never have picked Jane.
 
Steve: Yeah, absolutely. And then the other thing that's interesting here too is we know Don is a womanizer, but he's not displayed any sort of interest in Jane whatsoever.
 
Jenna: And she makes really reasonable conversation. She seems to have a perfectly pleasant sense of humor, but nothing about her seems to pique Don's interest. And you would expect - you would predict that she might, but apparently she doesn't.
 
Steve: Roger brings the conversation back around to the reason he's coming to Don's office. He wants Don to bury the hatchet with Duck, and he wants Don to have lunch with Duck to make that happen.
 
Jenna: We transition over to see Duck in his office with his kids.
He's issuing directives to them. He's not really listening to or spending quality time with them.
 
He buys them hot chocolates. They might be a little too old for that. He says Patty can use the phone while he works.
And then the kids spill that their mom is remarrying.
 
And it seems to me like Duck takes this news really well and he tries to be supportive. And he says, Franklin Reeve is a good man.
So here he is being this standup guy, just like he was during the rushing around at the American Airlines pitch. He's saying the needful thing. He's doing what he's supposed to do, but then it takes a turn.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think he's putting on a brave front here. And I think each of these are little cuts that are just slicing them to ribbons because clearly his wife is moving on.
 
This is going to change his relationship and accessibility to his children.
And they actually spring that he's getting Chauncey the dog back.
 
Jenna: That's the part it seems like he can't keep down.
He says, I've learned to do without him so you two could have some consistency. Frank's allergic, they say, and in those two words, Duck really is outside of his kids lives.
 
It seems like there's a lot of regret for mistakes he's made in the past, probably due to alcoholism. And he really does seem to think he can work a problem.
 
So if he can just work hard enough and try hard enough, he can get to the right answer. You know, he can't change this. He can't fix this. It's too late. Of course it hurts him that they're moving on without him,
but the dog is really the symbol of all the things that he couldn't get right.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think you hit it with that. The permanency of it now, you know, whatever hopes he may have had about recovery and moving things back to the way they were, now that door is being closed and locked, and there'll be no passing through it again.
 
It's such a subtle little scene, I think, because Duck's world is being shredded. Or at least his dreams of his world, his possible future of his world are being shredded here.
 
And he's gotta take it all with a brave face and, you know, be supportive for his children. And he steps up in that way. But I. I really get a sense that he's being torn to pieces inside.
 
Jenna: Me too. And I admire him because he doesn't let himself fall to pieces in front of his kids. And you have to think,
Pete would,
Paul would,
Harry would.
So here's Duck. He's trying to keep it together, but you can see it's not easy.
 
Steve: The next scene cuts to the creative team working on the Playtex account. But they've got a new addition.
Paul's been brought in. And apparently they were at a bar the prior night. And Paul came up with this idea that all women are Jackie or Marilyn. They walk the idea through, explain it to Don, who wasn't at the bar - they all start to realize that they've got a pretty good idea.
 
Jenna: Peggy, the only woman in the room, says, I don't know if all women see themselves as a Jackie or a Marilyn. Maybe men see them that way.
 
And the men in the room insist, no, no, it holds up. But it doesn't. It doesn't even hold true in that very room.
And Peggy says, which one am I?
 
And Don offers Irene Dunn. And Freddy, ever supportive, says, oh, I love Irene Dunn.
This was an actress who was nominated for Best Actress five times and never won. And she had an interesting philanthropic career after she retired. So it's a very interesting comparison to Peggy that this actress was frequently overlooked, yet full of potential.
 
The whole campaign is a perfect example of advertising making people think there's something wrong with them because they don't fit into this narrow vision of the world. They asked for Peggy's input, but they ignore it.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think that's a great point. And if we think about just advertising as presenting unattainable ideals, I mean, who. Who are the two most glamorous women in the world at this time?
You could argue it's Jackie and Marilyn.
 
So now all women need to aspire to be one of the two. It's just another losing situation for Peggy. She's on the team, but she wasn't at the bar the prior night.
She's on the team, but her input isn't really welcome when it doesn't line up with what they have assumed or decided, you know, as a collective here, she's on the outside looking in.
 
Despite all her success, despite all her merits, you know, it's so hard to break through here. And we're seeing that getting inside the room, you know, was a portion of the battle, but it wasn't the whole battle, because even inside of the room, you're boxed out and trapped.
 
Jenna: Right after this meeting, Peggy does go to Freddy, and she says she wished she had been included in the work discussion.
And to his credit, Freddy is open to it. He says he'll run a better idea past Don, even though he's already signed off on this. And I love that he's fair to her and willing to listen here.
 
And Peggy says, I'm not saying I had a better idea. Now he already likes that one. But she says, I'm not part of it. All I had to do was be in that bar.
 
And it is, as you were saying, it's unfair. Her good ideas and her hard work aren't enough. And I don't get the sense that she wants to be in the room where it happens so she can seize all the power.
She just needs to be in the room so she's not excluded from the conversation.
 
Steve: Yeah, I get that same vibe. She's part of the team. She wants to be part of the team substantively and be contributing, working away with the rest of them, not someone who's sort of tagging along when they've already made all the decisions.
 
At the end of the scene, Freddy sort of slaps her behind with the file folder as he walks in his office. In the commentary, Weiner says that this relationship between Freddy and Peggy, it's not at all sexual. It's more of a parental relationship.
 
And that really fits to my perception of the way the two of them interact. Freddy is positively disposed towards here. He's supportive of her, and he tries to do right by her. But simultaneously, he's also, I think, a bit of a prisoner of the norms and biases and prejudices of his time, and he can't leave that sexism behind 100%.
 
Jenna: In our next scene, Don comes into Duck's office to have the makeup conversation they never had about American Airlines.
Don's argument is that Duck tries to convince Don to change more than he tries to sell Don's ideas to clients.
And Duck seems very hat in hand in this scene. I was actually surprised because he's so hard-charging all the time.
 
Steve: Yeah, it does feel like Duck is the supplicant here, and perhaps that's just a product of the way things have played out. You know, had they landed American Airlines, he would have been the hero of the day and, you know, led them to the promised land.
 
The fact that it's fallen through now means it's Duck's embarrassment, it's Duck's loss.
 
So he's the one who needs to kiss and make up to Don versus the other way around.
 
Don's kind of a cold fish. He's not really helping Duck to make the rapprochement or build this bridge. You know, he's more sort of, if not throwing stones, then standing there with his arms folded in front of his chest, letting Duck do the dancing.
 
Jenna: I have to give credit to Duck. He still maintains American Airlines was a risk worth taking, even though they disagreed. And you might support Don, you can see he wasn't fighting just for reputation. He really did believe that that was the right thing to do, and he fought for it and worked for it.
 
He adds that Don now has an I told you so and asks if they can move forward. Don agrees and they shake hands.
And then Duck sits down alone on his couch and the dog comes over to him and Duck pats him on the head, and he's all alone.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's been a rough couple scenes here for Duck. So his family has been blown apart and the door is locked, you know, preventing him from ever healing that.
 
Now, professionally, you know, they're sort of gone through the motions of what Roger had wanted to happen, but really the substance doesn't appear to have moved all that much. Don having a victory lap at Duck's expense.
He seems deflated, he seems weak, beaten down here at the end of this scene.
 
Jenna: Again, it's hard to feel sympathy for Duck across a couple of the episodes, but here you really do feel it.
 
Steve: It's going to get worse.
 
Jenna: In our next scene, Don and Bobbie are in bed together in satin sheets, and Bobbie reveals she also has a college age daughter, which Don didn't know before either.
 
They do have a lot of power language back and forth. Don says, you can go, and she says, I know I can.
And she asks if he wants to stay and go through her things. And he says, I would never leave you alone in my place. So it's such a weird relationship how they don't trust each other and that's their normal.
 
Steve: I think we see how shallow this relationship really is for each of them too, you know, like he doesn't even know about her children yet. They're having this torrid affair. And really the torrid affair, the physical act together, is about the extent of it. It doesn't go any deeper.
 
And as this thing rolls out, we'll find that there are, you know, hard reasons why it can't go anywhere else. So it's interesting that two people who seem so smart and sophisticated are stuck in a wading pool, I guess, with each other.
 
Jenna: She has this line near the end of the scene where she says it has to come out somewhere.
And she says, you know, I'm the same way.
 
So that they have this thing in common, which of course is cheating, but also this high pressure life and this need to escape to something like this, which, as you say, is pretty shallow.
 
Steve: And Weiner mentions in the commentary, you know, this clear differentiation between Bobbie and Rachel. Rachel was looking for somebody, a life partner, a soulmate, and had dreams of where this might lead. Now that was ill fated and obviously didn't get there.
 
Bobbie is not that. Bobbie’s not looking for a soulmate. Bobbie’s not looking to leave Jimmy Barrett.
Bobbie’s just having her little fantasy escape here. And she's doing it with eyes open, with the limitations and parameters of this relationship and how it's going to be. It's such a contrast.
 
Jenna: Weiner also says it's different from Midge. And I agree:
I think Midge certainly had her eyes open, as Bobbie does.
 
But I do think Don and Midge had a different type of relationship together. And even though she doesn't say it, I do think Midge looked at Don not because she wanted some kind of permanent marriage in the suburbs, but I do think she was wanting more from him than he was ready to give her.
 
I mean, at least she wanted to be able to call him and talk when she wanted to, and he wasn't. That was too much for him.
And here Bobbie doesn't really need anything from Don ever. She certainly doesn't want a life with him.
 
Steve: No, she's. She's quite content to have these dalliances of afternoon delight in a hotel room.
 
Jenna: Next there's a Playtex casting and Peggy comes down seeing a room full of women waiting to audition Ken at the door.
And she doesn't want to be part of casting, but she hates being left out of the account.
 
And Ken, like Freddy, is kind of a buddy to her and he says, don't worry about Kinsey. I won't let him put anything together without you.
And then he immediately calls the next woman in and the door closes in Peggy's face.
 
Steve: Yeah. Again, just the rough episode for Peggy continues here. She's inside the room, but invisible. You feel for her character, you know, what a tough spot to be in for all your success, you're still the fifth wheel on this particular account.
 
Jenna: Yes. And it makes sense that even though Peggy made herself a copywriter, as Bobbie put it, she's still not equally included in so many different ways. She's still an other among her colleagues.
So it might be a -- It's a little heavy handed in this episode. But of course, these incidents would be true for her across all kinds of accounts, where Pete's family connections are overriding her writing or where their eagerness to audition a bunch of beautiful women excludes her from the planning stages.
 
So there's a lot, I'm sure, that we don't see on screen that Peggy has been excluded from prior to this.
 
Steve: Yeah, and fitting with the theme of the episode, you know, about perception, both of ourselves and how we're perceived by others.
 
Peggy's prison here is completely due to the perception of others, you know, their unwillingness to see her and her talents and to give them a chance and make them part of it, you know, so it's nothing that she's done wrong or improperly or she's not contributed anything to this.
 
She's held at arm's length for things she can't control, like her gender and the fact that she's the first female copywriter. So it just really leaves you with a feeling of just how unfair and unjust this is.
 
Jenna: Next, there's a quick scene with Pete and Duck, who seem to get along pretty well. They're both ambitious and they seem to struggle with personal connections. As Pete observes Chauncey, he muses to Duck maybe he should get a dog for the office to make them look friendly and approachable. And Duck says, I don't think that's a good idea.
 
You know, Pete would never take care of a dog or pay attention to it, so it's ridiculous. But it also feels like Duck sees the dog as a symbol of his weakness of caring too much.
And he definitely doesn't want that on display in the office.
 
Steve: Yeah, I don't know if I got that vibe, but I was thinking it's Pete's again coming up with ideas. Sometimes they're not great ideas or really well thought through.
 
I imagine in Pete's world, you know, the, the dog that he drops off at the office, suddenly becomes the problem for the admin assistants to look after.
 
But in this scene, I think Duck is down. He's trying to make some connections, maybe bond a bit with Pete.
 
And it seems like Pete's head is elsewhere, so there - it doesn't feel like it's really successful for Duck, or that he gets any sort of positive affirmations back from Pete.
 
Jenna: On his way out, Pete sees a woman on the elevator leaving the Playtex casting, and he strikes up a conversation with her.
He ends up going home with her. And her apartment includes a folding wall, and her mother lives on the other side.
 
You can see this is a huge turnoff for Pete.
How dare these women have real full lives and disturb the imagery for the men who are lusting after them.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think it's another funny play on perceptions because in the elevator, you know, clearly this woman is a model. She's just come back from Europe.
 
She's very appealing to Pete. They do their flirtations to go back to this seedy apartment, see the mother, you know, in a house coat in curlers, and then, you know, having her be closed off, you know, with a little partition.
 
And then even on flipping on the small TV set and having some background white noise to drown out the sounds of Pete and the model getting together. It's a funny little juxtaposition between the glamour of the image, the ideal, and then the gritty reality.
 
All that said, she detects Pete's unease with this gritty reality, reassures him and ensures that he sticks around. So he doesn't leave the apartment.
 
Jenna: And afterward, Pete does the quiet late night return, just like Don had in the last episode.
And because Betty was lying awake waiting for Don, I almost expected Trudy to be waiting for Pete.
 
But instead he catches himself in the mirror.
And he's not ashamed. He seems a little proud of himself.
 
Steve: Yeah, he totally seems proud of himself. It's another sort of ugly moment for Pete's character because maybe if he feels shame, we have a little bit of sympathy or understand that sort of weakness.
 
But the fact that he's. He's puffed up and proud of himself, it. It's just you, you know, you want to punch Pete in the face.
Jenna: So often. So often you wanna punch Pete in the face.
 
The next morning, Betty is downstairs at home making breakfast in a gorgeous canary yellow bikini and cover up.
And Don definitely notices her.
 
What's that? He says.
Cereal, she says, holding the box, which -- I love that line.
 
She got the bikini at the auction that he left. And now he doesn't like it, saying he doesn't want the lifeguards and the tennis pros and the loafing millionaires staring at her.
 
Don. Everybody bought one, she says. And it's desperate,
he says, and then immediately, I have to go. And he kisses her forehead goodbye.
 
She's not sexy to him anymore, but she better not represent herself as sexy anywhere else. And she just stands in the hallway and pulls her cover up around her a little bit tighter. It is the saddest scene.
 
She starts out so happy and ready to go to the pool and have fun with her kids. And we see her not engaging in flirtations with Arthur,
and he's out there cheating with Bobbie, and he has the nerve to accuse her of being desperate.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it feels like it's his hang up saying, oh, you know, you're a mother. That's why you can't dress and be sexy.
So he's imposing that view on her.
 
And, And I agree with you, it's so crushing and I think really well acted by January Jones in this scene. We just see her deflate and turn into a, you know, a weak little girl who's basically a hostage in this relationship.
I don't know, it's probably unfair to say that, you know, this is the last nail in the coffin of this marriage, but it feels like an awfully important point in it, in that Betty just can't win.
 
Jenna: And he hasn't been physically romantic to her in any way that we've seen across this episode. So to see her, and she's so gorgeous,
not even a kiss or any kind of appreciation.
 
I hope that they didn't only just have the physical part of their relationship, but that is so clearly gone now. He. He doesn't even recognize that part of her anymore.
 
Steve: Yeah. And. And I think if you're in a relationship where,
you know, dressing up and looking gorgeous is so important to your own sense of self worth, the fact that he is so oblivious to it,
and even if he does notice it, then it's in a negative sense of how it's impinging upon his potential control of her, it's a pretty dark sign for the relationship.
 
Jenna: Next, we're back at the office, and Peggy goes to Joan and asks about being included on the list when playtech's account meetings happen.
 
And I appreciate that Peggy is seeking advice with her problem. She tried to talk to Freddy. She did visit with Ken at casting, and she realized it wouldn't do any good to be there.
 
But Joan knows how it works, and she doesn't really want to ask Joan for help, but she says there's business going on and I'm not invited. You know how this office works. So she is trying to solve the problem.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it's interesting she turns to Joan because if you think about where could she turn for advice with this problem, she really doesn't have a lot of possible options. Right. Like she's coming from a family background where there's nobody who's going to understand this quandary.
 
Most of the people she interacts with in the office are actually part of the problem. So it's both surprising, yet logical that she hits Joan up for this.
I love what Joan has to say to her here, where she says, look, you need to speak the language of their country. Joan also admonishes her and saying, hey, you never listen to my advice anyway.
 
But the last bit of it is really biting advice. Joan tells her to stop dressing like a little girl if she wants to be taken seriously.
And I was thinking that, to me, almost feels like it alludes to that sort of French feminism model of, yeah, you've got the smarts and the ideas and the chops, you know, the merits to be a copywriter,
but you need to leverage your feminine side as well.
 
And that's part and parcel of this. And even if you don't leverage that feminine side to your advantage, it certainly can't be a disadvantage, you know, by dressing like a little girl or dressing in a way that they're not going to take you seriously.
 
So I think it's really good advice from Joan for Peggy here.
 
Jenna: Joan's advice to me is disappointing. It's about how Peggy dresses, and that's what Joan has talked to Peggy about since the pilot.
And to me, it's the mirror that's the problem.
 
And maybe this is a naive take because the world does focus on appearance, so you can't really ignore that. And Joan is very pragmatic. But I don't think Peggy's outfits are the issue.
 
It's this whole society that doesn't know what to make of her if she's not a Jackie or a Marilyn or a mom, that how you look is what matters, even if you're demonstrably good at your job, as Peggy is.
 
So perhaps Joan's advice is practical, but it's also incredibly unfair.
 
Steve: I agree with that. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with that.
 
But I think along with the advice of not dressing like a little girl is the implication that if you're not able to be diminished and looked down upon as some sort of juvenile compared to them, it's going to put you in a position where you can start to assert power and influence in a more forceful way by virtue of you're not giving them these physical cues that are going to allow them to dismiss you so readily.
 
So I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking that.
 
Jenna: Again, I think that it is such a great show because this is a very real complicated problem with no easy solution.
And I think a lesser show, first of all, wouldn't ever show us Peggy really having this problem.
 
Or if she did, she would have it for half of an episode, and then it would magically be cured. But this is something she's going to have to work through across her career.
 
And she's going to hit some bumps in the road as she tries different things to try to navigate this space, that's a new space.
 
And as you say, critically, she doesn't have mentors who can help her. She has to find her own path, and that's difficult and uncomfortable.
 
And how interesting for her character. Just as with Don feeling guilt over his mistakes and his choices, it's much more interesting because of the complication.
 
Steve: Yeah. And if we think who has been a mentor to Peggy to this point, you know, previously we had Bobbie giving her some advice and telling her, you know, speak to them like you're their equal and, you know, and sort of insist on that and default to that assumption of equality.
 
They'll start to conform to it or, you know, it'll force them into a corner.
I have a little bit of a sense that that’s sort of what Joan's advice here is as well. She's saying it through clothing and appearance, but it feels to me like it's a similar intention or strategy.
 
It's present as an equal, you know, maybe a different gender, but as an equal, in order to force them to treat you that way.
 
 
Jenna: Our next scene takes us to the Playtex presentation.
Don says, the bra is called the Harlequin. It comes in black and white.
Jackie, Marilyn.
Nothing fits both sides of a woman better than Playtex.
It's a very flattering mirror, Don says.
 
The ad is very well received by the client. And the room full of men, who seem more comfortable viewing women as all one thing or another, all seem to approve of it.
 
It calls back to season one when Don asks Roger, what do women want? And Roger answers, who cares? It should just be simple. And if it's pretty, even better.
 
Steve: Yeah, I, I, I have to say it, it, it always is a little cringy when these large groups of men are pontificating on what women want, how they want to be seen, et cetera.
 
And, we all know, you know, they don't have the deepest view there. And in many ways they don't have the most diverse view. You know, they kind of herd together in their perceptions.
 
And as we saw earlier in this episode, even when presented with some divergent opinions, you know, they're, they're quick to group think together and shut them down.
 
And then even this pitching to Playtex, they're not talking to female executives at Playtex. They're talking to other men who seem equally prone to default to these assumptions and stereotypes about women.
 
Jenna: And ultimately the clients decide they don't need the ad, even though they like it. Let Maidenform have women's imaginations, they say. We'll take their money.
 
Paul is so upset. He says that was a waste of inspiration. These people.
 
Steve: I think Don is happy that they didn't switch because I think it's affirming his point from the beginning of the episode, which was, they're doing great in sales. It ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
And for heaven's sake, don't go chase Maidenform. Don't, don't jump on the bandwagon of something else. So I think from a creative standpoint, Don feels really good about this rejection, which is kind of funny because he does seem to jump onto the idea idea and improves the idea and is enthusiastic about pitching it.
 
Jenna: After the meeting, they make plans to take the client out for an evening. And Peggy overhears the guys talking about going to a club with the time and location details.
 
Steve: She's not part of the group. She's not been included in this outing. She's in the room, but she's invisible. And what a miserable spot to be.
 
Jenna: There are moments in Mad Men that haunt you forever, and this next scene is one of them. I don't know how you get over this scene.
 
Steve: Duck, down on his luck, grabs a bottle after chasing the office holder out of the room to go fetch him some newspapers.
He's going back to the demon alcohol.
 
Chauncey's there beside him, looking up at him.
Duck picks up the bottle, opens it, sniffs it.
And Chauncey's there looking at him.
 
And I think Chauncey represents everything that he hoped for his life to beat. To salvage his marriage, be a hero to his children, successful at work, you name it, Chauncey's the personification of it all.
 
And now Chauncey's staring at him and making him feel guilty as he turns back to the bottle. He walks Chauncey out of the building,
removes his leash and shuts the door and walks back.
 
Chauncey barks at him and we get a close up where we can see Duck's face and it is just a mess of turmoil and it's hard to tell whether he's about to cry, scream, break down.
 
He's a broken man walking back from that door where he's let his conscience go.
 
Jenna: And unlike some of our other characters, where we have the shiny glass window of the main building where he's let Chauncey go, Duck turns his back on that mirror as he walks away.
 
And his face looks like he has never felt so much pain and he's trying to be strong and not cry. He keeps walking purposefully back toward the office.
 
The audience, I think, should feel free to cry at will. We will never forgive this. Hashtag, still traumatized. No matter how many times I watch this, it's equally painful.
 
And I do think it's important to note that Duck doesn't take the drink. He puts the bottle down, but he's let something go.
 
Steve: Yeah, he's in a wasteland right now. His life is a wasteland. So even if he hasn't taken a drink in this instant, we can tell he's getting very, very close to falling off the wagon here.
 
And I will say on this rewatch, I was far more sympathetic to Duck because I think the episode establishes how much Chauncey meant to him. And then as a symbol of everything he wanted in his life.
 
So when he lets him go, previously, I was much more just thinking how irresponsible that is as a pet owner to do that.
 
This time my focus was much more on just how destroyed Duck is to put him into this place. Because he loves Chauncey like it's clear he loves that dog. It was hard for him to give the dog to the children and not have it himself, but he's in a place now where even that is gone. The whole house is burned down.
 
Jenna: We might never be over the loss of Chauncey, but the scene's still moving on. Don and Bobbie are looking at themselves in a mirror before they kiss.
 
She says, it's very flattering to be able to keep you interested.
And he says, stop talking.
 
He ties her wrist with his tie, and she reveals that she wanted the full Don Draper treatment. It's better than they said.
 
And Don stops. He is horrified that people have been talking about him.
 
Steve: Yeah. He asks who. Who is talking about him and presses Bobbie to provide him with a name. And she says, Sarah Tierney at Random House.
So it's clear that Don's dalliances are to the extent that women like Bobbie Barrett now know of him and what he's offering in terms of these little escapes.
 
And like you mentioned, Don does not want to be confronted with that as his reputation or that his identity is known in the city.
 
Jenna: And Bobbie doesn't understand that at all. She says, you have a reputation. Enjoy it. It's completely off putting to him.
 
Does it make you feel better to think that I'm like you? He asks, which I think is unfair to Bobbie in the same way that telling Betty her bikini is desperate was unfair.
 
He wants to feel better than Bobbie that he's not a user, he's not a cheater out to get whatever he can take. But isn't he?
 
Steve: Yeah, I think that's exactly what's going on here. And it's interesting that he wants to preserve that sort of moral superiority,
because I would argue he's much worse than Bobbie.
 
Bobbie's not in a loving relationship with Jimmy Barrett. In fact, both of them are running around doing the exact same thing. It's almost like an arrangement they have. That's not the case with Don and Betty.
 
So to me, that he's clinging to this sense of superiority and then is so obviously offended and enraged that she sees them as equivalent. I would argue, Don, that's a compliment. You're much lower than Bobbie.
 
Jenna: So he ties her to the bed, and she's still thinking that it's sexual. But then he leaves and says on his way out, I told you to stop talking.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it's. It's such a great way to end the scene because we've come back around to this notion of how do we perceive ourselves and how do others perceive us?
 
Clearly, Don is not pleased with the way others perceive him. At least others in the circle of Bobbie Barrett.
 
I will say here as well, I think Bobbie is very consistent and true to how she lives her life with no apologies. You know, I don't think she takes any damage in this episode as far as her behavior and morals and all the rest of it. She is what she says she is. She openly embraces it. She faces it with eyes open, and she doesn't have any delusions that she's fooling herself. Unlike Mr. Draper.
i
Jenna: It’s a tiny bit campy when he walks out, kind of,  Ha ha, Bobbie, it's not what you thought it was gonna be. After all, you don't get what you wanted. Cheater.  You know, there feels like that element to me in the scene.
 
But as you say, she didn't misrepresent herself with Don. And Don's obligations to Betty are not her problem, and her obligations to Jimmy are her business.
 
So, I mean, it's interesting again, in the Mad Men fandom, there's a lot of hate for Bobbie Barrett, but I mean, she's not pretending in the same way that Don is pretending. And I think there's some respect you have to give her for that.
 
Steve: And even in this scene, Bobbie's not crushed. She's not crying and weeping and begging. She's puzzled. She's puzzled. I thought all this was clear. All the cards have been flipped over.
What's going on right now?
 
Like, what have we just talked about that's a surprise or news to you, Don? And from her perspective, I think it's - there's absolutely nothing new. We always knew what - exactly what this was.
 
And I think she's still processing, like, is this really happening? Because it just seems bizarre. How could he not understand what this was? Because she always knew what it was. And as far as she's concerned, he's exactly like her.
 
Jenna: He's so used to deceiving other people and not being caught.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think the Bobbie hate is misplaced entirely. And I would say there is somebody who's betraying his partner and his relationship, and it's not Bobbie Barrett.
 
Jenna: In the evening at the strip club, the office guys are entertaining the client and Peggy shows up in a blue dress with a new hairdo. She looks really pretty.
 
Steve: This scene really works for me as a viewer because I do think of Peggy in exactly the way I think Joan was alluding to, you know, this sort of busy bee at the office.
 
Non-sexual little girl outfits, Miss Prim and Proper. So to see her dolled up at the TomTom Club, it's very striking visually. And it's- suddenly this Peggy character becomes something entirely different in my mind just through the physical appearance of her. And, you know, she's wearing full makeup. She looks very pretty. She's wearing a nice dress.
 
You know, we talked earlier just about the superficiality maybe of. Of Joan's advice, but I don't know, maybe as a species or at least speaking on behalf of all men on the planet Earth. Maybe we're just weak and susceptible to these sort of visual things.
 
Maybe we're simple creatures.
 
Jenna: I like this about the show. Don is always trying on new things and Peggy does, too. And often Peggy tries to take Joan's advice when she tries on a new personality and it backfires.
 
So, like, she tried to put her hand on Don's hand in the pilot, as instructed. That didn't work.
 
And she went to get birth control at Joan's advice, and she ended up having Pete's baby. And we'll see Peggy try on a lot more personalities, some inspired by Joan, others not, through the series.
 
She's got a new dress, she's on the client's lap, and she's part of the group pretending to have fun. But Peggy works in her free time.
This is just a costume. Is this really going to advance her career or is it in the way? I mean, does it help if she's a Marilyn or a Jackie?
 
Steve: I think it's another misfire, too. How is she included in the group? Nobody else is sitting on the client's laps, even when she. She's now part of the group. But in what role? Like, oh, she's another piece of eye candy, another female, you know, to sort of be sexualized to the pleasure of the clients.
 
So I, again, I just feel so bad for Peggy. You know, you can't be one of the boys, whereas before you were one of the ignored people in the office.
 
It's sort of. There's no winning path for her here. And looking at her face in the scene. Again, I'm a big fan of Elisabeth Moss’ acting, and I just feel like she really manages to convey that sort of not totally comfortable, this isn't exactly what she had in mind.
 
It's kind of like, you know, damned if I do, damned if I don't.
And all this before she meets Pete's gaze.
 
Jenna: Yeah, she's in the room and she's laughing, but it does not feel like this is a way she can be taken seriously either. As you point out,
Pete sees Peggy and his look turns dark and judgy pretty immediately. He's definitely not a flattering mirror.
 
We know he just wants her to be a bird in a cage for him whenever he feels like it. Like Roger wanted Joan to be.
 
Unlike the Twist episode where she was genuinely happy, I don't think she is. There she is really good at looking directly at him, but here, when she meets his gaze, she looks down and she looks away.
 
This isn't genuine. This isn't her being her best self like it was when she invited him to dance. This right here is a costume.
 
Steve: Yeah, absolutely. And here's Pete judging away on her for something that Peggy herself is sort of, you know, roped into and isn't thrilled with the outcome, I'm sure, and definitely not what she was seeking.
 
Yet Pete is going to sit there and judge her. And we know exactly what Pete's been up to this episode. So, again, to me, it's kind of a I hate Pete moment.
 
Maybe not as bad and crushing as the scene with the twist, but in this case, it's just insult to injury for poor Peggy here, having him look down his nose at her.
 
Jenna: In the morning, back at the Draper household, Don's alarm goes off. Betty is already up. She's completely covered up, we notice, in contrast to previously when we saw her.
 
What do you want for breakfast? She asks. Grapefruit, he answers. There is no physical contact or other conversation between them.
 
Steve: Yeah, the relationship doesn't seem to be in a good place, but, I mean, how many hits can Betty take from Don and keep coming back for more?
 
Jenna: So then we see Don is shaving, looking in the mirror.
He has a pink towel wrapped around his waist, and the bathroom is very frilly. He does not belong here any more than Peggy belonged on the Playtex client's lap.
 
Steve: Yeah. And as he's shaving, Sally comes in and sits down and gazes up at him, very similar to the way she was looking at him when he stood as a veteran.
 
So you can tell she's madly in love with her father, admires him with all that childish innocence. And we can see that Don Draper knows he doesn't deserve any of that.
 
Jenna: She walks in and sits down and says, I'm not going to talk. I don't want you to cut yourself.
 
And this makes Don pause and he looks at her, and then he looks in the mirror, and he's so clearly different that Sally asks if he's okay.
 
Remember, he was just commanding Bobbie Barrett not to talk.
And here is his innocent daughter, volunteering to keep quiet so as not to bother him.
She's still young, and she's already learned not to get in his way by voicing her ideas and thoughts.
 
It's pretty hard to look in that mirror when you're not proud of yourself.
 
I don't think Don feels guilty about treating Bobbie Barrett badly,
and I don't know if he feels too much guilt about treating Betty badly,
but he certainly still feels trapped, and if not shame, then at least not pride, especially in light of his daughter's love for him.
 
Steve: Yeah, and he. It's so heartbreaking. Again, maybe the second heartbreaking scene in this episode when he tells Sally that she'd better leave him alone. And you can see how disappointed and crushed she is.
But she goes. And then Don's left with himself.
 
Jenna: The camera backs up and we see a shot that leaves us with a reflection of Don in the mirror before it fades to black.
 
Steve: And I guess this episode really makes me think about, you know, what are Don's perceptions of himself because it is such a contrast, as we talked about, where Bobbie's living this life, owns it, embraces it. It's exactly what she wants. She seems at peace with her choices.
 
Here we have Don living this life. He doesn't seem at peace with his choices. In fact, he seemed torn apart and at war with himself over these choices.
 
So, not that he's going to make better choices, but he's certainly not happy, fulfilled. And for somebody who came from such a hardscrabble background, where home wasn't really home or a safe place, I mean, heck, he enlists in the war to get away from home. That's how bad it is.
 
And yet here we see him with an opportunity for a home and a life that he could have never imagined as a child.
And now he's either unwilling or incapable of doing what's necessary to embrace that.
 
Jenna: And on that happy note, it's time to close out the episode.
 
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Steve: That's it for this episode of All Things Mad Men, from Chip and Dip to Zou Bisou. Visit our website, Mad Men C to Z .com to vote for your favorite Sterling lines and to share your opinions on our Double Dip questions for each episode.
 
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Steve: Thanks for listening, everybody.