Mad Men C to Z S2:E9 Six Month Leave Transcript

Below, find a written transcript of our Season 2, Episode 10 Mad Men C to Z podcast for The Inheritance.
You can listen to the episode here.
Also, please visit the full episode page with Sterling Lines, Double Dip questions, show notes time stamps, and more.

Mad Men C to Z S2:E9 Six Month Leave Transcript
 
Introduction
 
[00:00] Intro Music
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: Hey everyone. Welcome to season two, episode nine, Six Month Leave.
This episode of Mad Men was written by Andre and Maria Jacquemetton and Matthew Weiner. It was directed by Michael Uppendahl.
 
Home Away From Home
[00:50] Steve: The episode kicks off with Don sitting alone in bed. It's pretty evident that he's not at home in his bedroom, but he's in a hotel room.
He opens the door to collect his morning newspaper and his shined shoes.

 
Jenna: See, when I first see this scene, it's a bit of a fake out to me because we see Don wake up on the same side of the bed. There's a gap where the bathroom is at his house in the same place.
 
And when you look closer, you can see the ceilings are taller. We're missing that turquoise headboard that we usually see so definitively. When Don opens the door, we know he's living at a hotel right now.
 
Steve: Yeah, for me, the part that tips that he's not in his bedroom is there's the plates of food from the room service the night before sitting there.
 
In any event, seems clear that Don's not at home, which leads to the conclusion that the fight with Betty is still ongoing.
 
This scene rolls quickly into the next scene which is Betty alone in the bedroom at home. She's kind of listless.
 
You can hear the kids heading off to school downstairs and Betty gets up and sort of looks down, but it feels like life is continuing on without her and she's sort of spectating it from a distance and she looks lost, she looks unkempt, she looks unhappy.
 
Goodbye, Norma Jean
The third scene is in the elevator headed into work. We've got Don and Peggy getting in the elevator. Hollis, the elevator operator is in there and they mention that Marilyn Monroe has died.
 
And there's several interesting comments they make here that suicide is disturbing. Hollis mentions he keeps thinking about Joe DiMaggio.
 
Peggy mentions thinking of work that they would have had to pull the maiden form ads because those had pitched Jackie versus Marilyn as the two looks that Maidenform was aspiring to for women.
 
[02:36] And from this scene, they rolled into the office where we can see the other admins taking it rather personally.
 
Jenna: When Peggy says, we're lucky Playtex didn't go for that Jackie / Marilyn campaign, that is huge. That's our first truth call out.
Don says, yes, that's true, and he looks impressed.
 
Peggy isn't stricken by this news about Marilyn Monroe in quite the same way we'll see other people have it. She is always thinking about work, and I think Don really respects that in her. You can see that on his face.
 
I also want to talk about the fact that Marilyn Monroe died at the age of 36 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. And she grew up living in several different foster homes before becoming a model and getting a film contract.
 
So, like Don Draper, she came from some challenges that most of the successful people around her could not have imagined.
And of course, they both took new names.
 
And as we see them moving into the office and the secretaries, including the Marilyn and Jackie look-alikes from the Playtex campaign, they're so upset about this loss and they're connecting with Marilyn,
while Don, a superstar who seems to have everything, who's hiding deep insecurities, is actually the one who has so much in common.
 
[03:49] Steve: And I think the point about Peggy is well taken because I think, again, this is another clue of what differentiates Peggy. Because if we think about who's truly upset about Marilyn, at least as far as the show goes, it's the admin, it's the secretaries.
 
You know, they're all weeping in the office, as we'll see as they step off the elevator.
This really demonstrates, I think, that Peggy is less like them and more like the Dons, the Petes, the Rogers, you know, who are thinking about the business side. I was also going to say about Marilyn . . .
 
It's such an aspect, I think, of American culture. The highs are so high and the lows are so low. It's before my time. But my impression is back in the day,
people saw the highs Marilyn attained and couldn't really fathom that somebody could be broken or their life could be tragic, you know, having hit those highs.
 
I mean, this is before other, you know, notable folks, I would say, you know, like Elvis and later Michael Jackson. I think culturally, this is a real truth of the American culture and just what happens to some of their brightest stars.
 
It's fascinating how the average person identifies with these individuals and somehow basks in their glow when they're at their peaks, and then feels the pain and loss of their fall.
 
[05:01] Jenna: And going back to Hollis and his lines, he talks about Joe DiMaggio knowing there's someone left behind who cared deeply about this person, even though they were only married for less than a year.
 
But they apparently had a very close relationship until she died.
And this other comment that Hollis makes some people hide in plain sight seems like a really bright light line.
 
It applies to all three of them in the elevator. So Hollis is a Black man in 1960s Madison Avenue. And Don Draper with a fraudulent identity. And Peggy Olson, who is often in the room without being seen or heard.
Yeah. Hiding in plain sight.
 
Steve: Yeah, absolutely. All three of them. And they have their own secrets, their own tragedies in the midst of success.
 
Jenna: So we alluded to this, but as they move into the office and we see all these secretaries crying over Marilyn's death, and you see that Don has no patience for it.
He's not sentimental.
 
I did notice that when he feels something deeply, the whole world needs to stop. But when other people are experiencing pain, I guess it's just a nuisance.
 
[06:01] Steve: Yeah. And I got a sense of sort of a sexist vibe as well.
The professional men of the office differentiate themselves by not displaying or revealing any concern about something as frivolous as Marilyn’s fate.
 
I'm not sure it's so strictly true. They don't feel some impact from it. But I get the sense of they understand what's expected in the office, and that's that they don't show any sympathy with the secretaries because they consider themselves different.
They present as different.
But I wonder, beneath the surface, some of them are probably feeling or struck by Marilyn's demise.
 
Blood Drives and Housewives
[06:37] Jenna: Next, we get a short scene to show that the office is having a blood drive and the departments are competing over who will get the most donors.
 
Ken says that accounts always loses, Campbell's afraid of needles, and Duck doesn't give two craps, he says.
 
Steve: Yeah, and we get the sense of Don is spending a lot of time in the office because they're waiting for him to join this meeting, to organize the blood drive.
 
And this is not something we could expect, you know, the head of Creative, the golden boy, to be involved in. Normally, they talk about getting everybody to turn out, and this obliges Don to say, hey, you know, his kid is sick, so he won't be able to make an appearance at a concert. And I think we can see on Don's face the - I don't know if shame is the right word - but the desire to maintain secrecy about the fact that his marriage is on the skids.
 
Jenna: Yes. Harry's invitation to the NBC gathering is for both Don and Betty.
And of course, Don declines with an easy lie and a fake cough. But, you know, even if he and Betty were together, he wouldn't want to go to something like that just to benefit Harry anyway.
 
[07:42] Steve: Yeah, agreed.
The next scene cuts back to the Draper residence, and we just see Betty in the midst of, you know, humdrum domestic tasks. She's defrosting the fridge.
 
She's cutting out liners for the drawers.
And I think we get a real sense of loneliness here. You know, Betty just doing these tasks all alone. They're mundane. There's no glamour to it.
I think you get a vibe of - Do you feel pity when you see her in that circumstance?
 
Jenna: On the one hand, I was kind of proud of her a little bit because she's in an old house dress and she doesn't have any dialogue. So we have to imagine her state of mind.
 
And it kind of felt like maybe she was tiptoeing into a new start. I mean, she's defrosting the freezer and she's cutting new shelf liners, so kind of freshening things up.
 
But she's still in the same house, and she's still pretending everything is fine. And these are really just projects to keep her busy.
I mean, she could be taking her kids to the park, but instead she sends them away with Carla, and she's just in her own headspace, and maybe that's just what she needs right now.
 
Steve: Yeah, agreed. And I think a lot of people, you know, when faced with these sort of emotional turmoil and this hurt, turning to the familiar, turning your energy towards tasks can be a way of diverting the mind and escaping the emotional pain or at least pushing it out of the forefront of your mind.
 
We cut back to the office, and we have Jane joining Don in his office to go over his schedule. It quickly becomes clear Jane has got something else she wants to talk to him about.
 
She may have made a big mistake. It turns out Sally has called the office and asked when Don would be back from his business trip.
 
Jane is caught off guard by this and says, Wednesday. You know, again, just making up an answer to mollify Sally. And now Don is aware that Jane is aware there's some disconnect now between what he's telling his family and what's going on at the office.
 
So he's basically found out in terms of his marital situation.
 
[09:37] Jenna: Don reveals Mrs. Draper is working some things out. I thought it would be over by now, I guess. And it seems like Jane is very pleased to hear any kind of truth from Don.
 
So should we all, I guess. And he intuits that. And so he immediately reminds her it's personal, and it feels like she wants to be friends. She says, I hope you know I'm a discreet person.
 
And he's not softened by her in the least. He says, I don't know you at all, and this is personal.
So we get that he isn't anti Jane per se. He just really doesn't want this information leaking to the office, and he definitely doesn't want to discuss it with her or collect any sympathy from her.
 
It's also kind of a funny detail that her dress has squares on it, the red, yellow, and green. It's sort of like when she talked about the smudgy squares painting.
So I wondered if that was an intentional callback.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think Don has put out that his efforts to keep this secret are failing, and it's gradually leaking out, and there's nowhere to hide here.
 
He's got his whole secret past, his secret life, and he's compartmentalized everything, but his compartments aren't cooperating now with the reality of how others are interacting with his world.
 
[10:49] Jenna: So back to Betty, still in the old house dress, now with a glass of wine. She turns on the radio and she listens to the news about Marilyn for a minute. And you think this might have a similar reaction to the secretaries in the office, that Betty might be very emotionally tied to this, but instead, she turns to a new station, she listens to classical music, and she sits on her couch with Katherine Porter's book, Ship of Fools.
 
Now, that book features some dysfunctional relationships that parallel those in Mad Men, including this great line that one character named Jenny realizes,
“the past is never where you think you left it. You are not the same person you were yesterday,” which will come up later in this episode.
 
You know, for Betty, growing older is a tragedy. And for Don, moving forward is an essential survival skill. So they're really at an impasse.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think, you know, from the quote you gave, I also draw just,
life scars us. And as much as we might like to move past things or put them behind us completely, they have changed us.
 
We aren't the same being as we were before these incidents, these events. And I think that's especially true of this relationship as you see her there, you know, having finished these mundane chores from earlier in the episode and she's sitting down on the sofa to read.
 
[12:07] Normally, you'd think, oh, this is a sense of accomplishment. Good, the chores are done. You can now take a bit of time for yourself and enjoy yourself.
 
I don't get that vibe. The lighting of the scene, it feels very somber. It feels lonely. It feels like you're making the best of this moment, but you're not getting anything positive out of it.
 
Again, it's a second best. It's an alternative to some other world that you'd prefer to find yourself in at this point.
 
Jenna: No, that's a great point. She wants to be the kind of person who sits around listening to classical music and reads the most popular novels and that's what she spends her time doing.
 
But I don't get the sense that it does bring her joy to have that time alone. She really would like to be with her husband and be adored by him and have the picture perfect family.
So she's trying to find a win, but it's hard for her to locate one.
 
An Extra Pair of Trousers
[12:57] Steve: Next, we head back to the office. We're in Freddy's office where Pete, Peggy, and Sal are preparing for the Samsonite pitch.
 
Jenna: Hey, Mad Men fans, let's notice it's Samsonite. That's suitcases. The first appearance.
 
Steve: Freddy appears buzzed maybe, maybe he's drunk.
The others walk in. He pours a really huge drink for Sal, which Sal kind of notices just how massive it is. And they're going to run through the pitch.
 
The interesting thing about Freddy the drunk is he's a functional alcoholic. You know, he's still able to make the pitch. He's talking about what they're going to say, how they're going to say it.
 
And everything seems to be proceeding despite Freddy's state of inebriation, until he turns around and kind of pauses and then wets his pants standing right there.
And Freddy is so out of it, it's several beats before he even realizes what's happened.
 
[13:54] Jenna: He mumbles, I'll fix this. Before falling asleep at his desk.
It is such a memorable scene.
 
Pete's complete disgusted. He can't even fathom what's happening.
And Peggy is shocked, but she's professional throughout.
And Sal completely represents all the office guys with their. I mean, this is complete fodder for a great office story later. That's all it is to him.
 
Steve: I also think Peggy's reaction to this further reinforces this notion of the almost father daughter relationship between Freddy and Peggy, she's looking how to make it better, how to, you know, avoid making Freddy feel bad about it, how to push through this situation.
 
Jenna: She's not about scoring points. You can tell this isn't an office story she's ever going to tell to anybody. And it's such a great contrast.
 
She's focused on damage control.
She says she should talk to Don. Freddy can't leave the room. Pete's not sure if he should push the meeting back until tomorrow. And Sal's the one who says, Peggy, you could do it.
 
It's a suitcase. And he hasn't ever been her particular champion. But she's proven herself enough. They can handle this.
 
And Peggy is up for it. There's a truth call out again. She says we can tell them Freddy is sick. It's true.
 
And Pete continues to be super judgy and disgusted. And let's remember, this is Pete we're talking about here, throwing his judgy around. He's got plenty of things he's carrying that we can be disgusted about.
 
And Peggy is assertive with him. She says there's no need for that. To your point here, she is stepping up in defense of Freddy and he's passed out in front of them before the pitch he's supposed to give.
 
[15:29] Steve: Yeah. And I think another thing to point out, because it'll have relevance later in the episode, how this story is told.
 
Pete really is all over the place. So he's not taking control and rolling out a plan.
You can see him struggling with multiple options and not really knowing which way to proceed.
 
I agree with you. It really feels to me when Sal says Peggy can present it, you know, that opens a door that we just - from Pete's history with his views on Peggy, he's not going to open that door himself. But the fact that Sal opens it up effectively is Sal throwing a lifeline to Pete.
 
And then suddenly he starts to coalesce a plan because he starts with who's going to make the presentation. They've answered that question.
 
Now they can work through the other things, such as ensuring Freddy doesn't stumble into the meeting in the middle of it once they launch.
 
So it's a great scene because I think the three different reactions of the three people, and then in the midst of it, it is rather comedic, seeing Freddy drunkenly sleeping as they resolve the crisis.
 
Ship of Fools
Jenna: So Freddy’s passed out on his couch. And similarly, we see Betty asleep face first on her living room couch, and she wakes up when the doorbell rings.
 
Sarah Beth from the stables has come by to pick up some dresses for an event.
And just like Don lied to Harry about not being available for a social occasion, Betty uses the same language with Sarah Beth here:
We'd love to, but I'm not feeling well.
 
This pretense of this perfect relationship is so ingrained in both Don and Betty.
 
[16:57] Steve: Yeah. And the scene also gives us some insight into Sarah Beth's world, where she talks about, you know, her husband is easy to please, but she feels unseen.
 
She fantasizes about Arthur and has dreams about him.
And then she mentions that Betty's so lucky because Don's perfect.
 
And the irony there is so rich. And it really, to me, goes back to Hollis's line from the elevator of people hiding in plain sight. Everybody's hiding in plain sight.
 
Jenna: Yes. And we remember Betty modeling outfits for Francine last season. And she was so happy and beaming remembering her modeling career.
 
And here she's pulling out dresses. She's just exhausted and trying to get to a choice so Sarah Beth will leave. Our third truth call out already is when Sarah Beth says she's invisible, and Betty assures her that's not true.
 
And you're right. It's just too uncomfortably close for Betty to hear someone voicing problems about not feeling seen or valued. And when Sarah Beth is bringing up Arthur, Betty discourages her. She says, you know, you shouldn't talk to him so much.
 
But it feels like Betty is both judgmental of Sarah Beth and a little bit jealous of her for receiving Arthur's attention.
 
[18:04] Steve: Yeah. And I think the other element, too, is as Sarah Beth looks at these beautiful dresses, she says, oh, I couldn't pull this one off.
 
And again, I think it further highlights all the things that Betty does have. I mean, she's gorgeous, and she's got these amazing outfits that look amazing on her.
 
So, again, she's got all the accoutrements of beauty and success and glamour,
and it's all hollow and empty when you don't have that relationship at the core of it.
 
Jenna: There's a great detail when Betty tries to offer Sarah Beth the dress that she wore to the dinner with Jimmy Barrett and Bobby Barrett and the people from Utz.
 
So it's so funny. It's like Betty just wants that dress out of the house, as if that will solve the problem.
 
Shame and Sadness
[18:45] Steve: We cut back to the office, and Freddy has woken up in his office on his sofa, realizes he's wet himself, realizes he needs to go home.
 
His shoe is squishing because of the urine that's gone down his leg.
The story has clearly gone through the office, and everybody is sneaking a glance over at him as he does the walk of shame out of the office.
 
In some ways, you might think it's a tragic scene, but I think at this point it's still more playing from a comedic side. What was your take?
 
Jenna: I think the opposite. He's holding his hat and his briefcase carefully in front of him, and I felt like it was meant to be comedic, but there is such a sadness in it to me. The embarrassment, the consequences.
 
His alcoholism is so integral that it's hiding the rest of him. It just made me feel sad.
 
[19:33] Steve: Keeping with our theme of people laying down on various pieces of furniture, the next scene has us in Roger's office as he enters and finds Joan sleeping on his sofa.
Jenna: I love the shorthand between Roger and Joan, even though it breaks my heart a little that they can't find their way to each other.
 
It's a sad conversation wrapped in some really funny bits.
So Joan's lying on Roger's couch, and when he comes in, she sits up and says, what are you doing here? And he goes, oh, you're right. I'll just go get my belongings.
 
[20:02] Steve: There's a few witty lines here, but I agree with you. I think there's an underlying sadness in the interactions between the two of them about a relationship.
The relationship's not necessarily over, but it certainly changed from what it was or perhaps what it might have been, at least in Roger's mind, to where it is today.
 
We also see the gap highlighted between the perception of Marilyn's death between folks like Roger, and the people on the admin side like Joan. Roger says, oh, no, not you, too.
 
It's clear to Roger, she's a stranger. She's a celebrity. She had it all and threw it away. He has no empathy for this, and I get the sense that this is genuine. He really is puzzled by how the women are taking this.
 
I think as he - so it soaks into him that Joan feels this way. He starts to see the connection that perhaps Joan feels with herself and her own life and choices.
 
Jenna: Yes, Roger says, basically, it's impractical for Joan to be sad about this. And plus, it's uncomfortable and less interesting to him, so he wishes she wouldn't.
 
And I did wonder, why do you think Joan has such a strong reaction to this news?
Does she really identify with Marilyn that much?
 
Roger says, she was a movie star who had everything and everybody and she threw it away. I feel like that applies a lot more to Roger than to Joan.
 
[21:19] Steve: absolutely. But it doesn't seem like Roger's making any of those connections to himself. You know, he doesn't perceive it that way.
 
The only thing I can think in terms of Joan is, you know, she is relatively older now.
She's in this marriage that she hoped would be a solution. And as we've already seen some first gleamings, perhaps it's not the solution she hoped it would be.
 
I think that's a parallel to Marilyn's life, where she was married multiple times and never really seemed to find that perfect fit.
 
She's aging, and as a sex symbol, you know, a female sex symbol, especially age, is so cruel to that status. Much more so than, say, on the male side, where if we take an equivalent like, I don't know, Clark Gable, he can get old and still be considered rather dapper and handsome.
 
Whereas for the female sex symbol, you know, Marilyn is on the back nine of her ability to fit that role.
 
Especially back in the 60s where longevity was a lot shorter than it - I think it has been in more recent times.
 
Jenna: Although let's acknowledge there's still quite a disparity between men and women when it comes to their longevity as sex symbols in Hollywood.
 
Steve: Oh, yeah, absolutely. But I was just thinking how a number of female celebrities have really managed to maintain that allure for extended periods.
Cher, Jennifer Lopez. I mean, the list goes on.
 
These types of sex symbols in middle age really didn't exist back, you know, in the 60s and prior. That would be unheard of. So it's quite a contrast to today's world.
 
It Won’t Be That Long, Salamander
[22:49] Jenna: In the next scene, Don brings the kids home after a day out with them.
 
And remember what Helen Bishop said to Betty? That having Dan gone wasn't actually that different than when he was around.
 
Don actually seems more engaged with his kids. Here he kneels to talk with Sally and he hugs her instead of shooing her up the stairs immediately.
 
So we see that Betty didn't go out with them for their day. She isn't dressed up or dolled up for Don here, although she is dressed and brushed and everything.
 
So we can see her performance effort is really diminished for him compared to what it was when she wanted to impress him.
 
Steve: Yeah. The other thing that struck me about this scene, and, you know, listening to the director's commentary as well, they didn't mention any of it, but I really get a vibe here that they've had this breakup.
 
It's unresolved, and now we're sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know, what what will be the resolution of this? And I really get the sense that Betty is still open to a reconciliation if Don would be willing to admit his wrongs and be willing to engage to actually change them.
 
The vibe I get out of Don is he'd just like this to go away. Can we just pretend it never happened and do a reset and it'll just be the way it was before and nothing will really change and we'll not think about it?
 
And to me, that feels like the disagreement or the gap here between the two of them. And when I listen to Don Draper's comments in this scene, that's what I hear him saying, hey, can we just do a repeat reset and pretend it never happened?
It's unspoken by Betty, but I get the sense Betty's like, that's not going to work for me. I need something more substantial or I can't even fathom, or I don't even want to try to assess what needs to happen then in the alternative.
 
So it feels to me she's not decisive that she wants to terminate it and head down that road, but it feels to me like she's frustrated and disappointed and hurt that Don's making no indication of being willing to do anything other than the easy reset, which isn't going to solve anything.
 
[24:49] Jenna: I agree that Betty seems open to something, and I agree that she's completely disappointed by what Don has to offer.
 
I thought it was very interesting that Betty makes the comment,
what do you want me to say? after Don tells Betty that Sally called his office, because that's what Don's line always is.
 
So here she's flipping the script and the whole conversation seems sad. She wants Don to say he's sorry, and she wants him to say he loves her, he'll do anything to be with her.
 
And instead he says, what do you want to do? He isn't fighting for her or for their old life together at all.
 
Then they discuss what they're going to tell the kids about this separation, and he makes up a lie on the spot so thoroughly that he repulses her. She is every bit as disgusted as Pete was disgusted by Freddie at his ability to lie so quickly and so thoroughly here.
 
That really closes the door on the conversation for the moment.
 
Steve: Yeah, it seems like more of the same old from Don Draper.
And I agree with you. I think what Betty wants to hear is, I'm willing to change to save this Betty, because I love you.
 
And I love you enough to drive this change that needs to happen. And that is not forthcoming from Don Draper at all. Here in listening to Matt Weiner's comments, he says, you know, oh, it's pride keeping them apart.
 
Okay, I can accept that. But again, I feel there's this fundamental, substantial question that's sitting there over and above any questions of pride, which I'm sure they, you know, they're both proud people.
 
And I would also say that Don’s sort of, hey, just head forward in life vibe, which Weiner alludes to. And he says, Don is basically telling her to go forward with her life. I don't think that's the answer she wants from him.
 
And maybe he's not actively saying that, but I think by default, his failure to step up here and take ownership and make an indication of his motives is leaving her with that as the only alternative.
 
You're going to have to get on with your life, Betty, because I'm not budging from this spot. You can come back to me or you can head forward, but I'm not going to change my position.
 
[26:56] Jenna: And I think she feels owed. I think she feels wronged and that he owes her a grand gesture and that he is completely failing.
 
Not only did he do the wrong thing multiple times, she worries, but he also is horrible at the makeup part, and she's not even convinced that he wants to make up, and neither are we. So it's a complete disappointment to her.
 
It's not even just the initial cheating that's disappointing. It's just a continued series of hurts when she's already raw and vulnerable.
 
Steve: And I'll just say here that the scene with Sally hugging him and clearly hurting because her father's not home, it's so heartrending, and you feel so bad for the children caught up in the midst of this. Bobby looks like he's in a bit of a pout, runs upstairs as soon as he's dismissed.
 
But Sally wants her father at home. This is not her choice, and this is being forced upon her.
 
Jenna: It's a little bit kicking Don when he's down, maybe, but how much did he really see of her?
 
Even when he lived in the same house, he didn't spend a lot of time and attention with them. Clearly, he's an important figure to her, but he hasn't been a cruel father.
 
But he also hasn't been a super involved father. And I know we have a different standard in today's generation. I don't know.
 
Steve: I agree Don is not a great father, but I don't think that changes the pain in the daughter's eyes. In her mind, in her heart. It's just hard for a little person.
 
I Don’t Know You At All
[28:20] Jenna: The transition here moves from Don going out of his house door into his office door the next day, where Jane has brought him a few new shirts in a Menken's department store bag.
 
She has no idea of knowing this is a triggering thing for him. However, the relationship between Don and Jane is still not a familiar one or necessarily friendly, but it does seem to thaw just a little bit. They talk a little bit about the blood drive,
and it feels like maybe going forward, they could have a decent working relationship.
Steve: Yeah, I think it's all business, and she's doing her job competently here. You know, she's got his schedule laid out.
 
She's provided some shirts for him, thinking ahead to what he might need and how to make all this arrangement work. And I think for Don Draper, those are all requisites before anything else, any closer relationship is possible.
 
And the fact that she's ticked all those boxes. I get the same vibe as you. It feels like the gap shrinking now because she's knocked out the core must-haves.
 
And that opens the door to these other connections that they could form.
 
[29:26] From here. We cut over to Peggy in her office, typing, and Freddy's come in to apologize.
 
They sort of talk around it. Freddy asks how it went, and Peggy says they loved it (the Samsonite presentation). And Freddy apologizes for putting her on the spot.
 
Peggy explains the excuse they gave to the client to cover for Freddy.
Peggy is really kind here with a big smile, very reassuring. You can tell Freddy is uncomfortable and nervous, but it really feels like Peggy is bending over backwards here to reassure Freddy.
 
And as Freddy leaves the office, the look on her face says it all, that it was all an act and a courtesy and a kindness from Peggy to Freddy. And her true feelings are quite divergent from what she's just pitched to him.
 
[30:10] Jenna: She cares about him, and he obviously cares about her, or he wouldn't have taken a minute to talk to her.
 
She does accept his apology graciously. You know, there's no need, no reason to talk about it.
 
So there's a little bit of that Don Draper, we're moving forward aspect to her approach.
 
And I don't know that it's - her real reaction is opposite, but she does look stern and sad after Freddy leaves. And I don't know if we can ascribe that to disappointment in him or exactly what it is, because I don't get any sense that she's cruel or judgy to his face.
 
And she hasn't been to any of her colleagues. So do you think she just has the same level of disgust like Pete has, or what do you think?
 
Steve: I don't think it's disgust. I think Peggy loves Freddy as a father figure, and I think she's disappointed. I think she's worried sick. I think he's jeopardized the work piece, which, you know, she. She prioritizes and puts first, so that's unacceptable.
 
So I think it's a combination of disappointment, worry, discomfort.
Yeah, I didn't get the vibe of disgust. You don't feel disgust when you love a person.
 
You feel those other emotions and just tip of the hat here, I think to Elisabeth Moss,
who, again, just with that quick look, I think just nails that swirl of emotions Peggy is feeling and gives it to the viewer in that instant as the scene ends.
It's just such great acting and I appreciate it so much.
 
Jenna: The kids would say that scene ate and left no crumbs.
Good job, Elisabeth.
 
I’ve Been Married Almost 20 Years, You Know
[31:46] In the next scene, we see Carla pushing against Betty's boundaries. And it's the same way that Jane pushes against Don.
 
Both Betty and Don have walls up, especially when it comes to talking about their separation.
 
And we haven't really gotten to know anything about Carla until this scene. She says, I've been married almost 20 years, you know. And she says it so kindly and respectfully.
 
She's opening a door if Betty wants to walk through it, just as Jane did to Don and Don didn't, Betty does not. She does not want to walk through that door.
 
And she's a little bit rude. Then she corrects herself, changes course, and Carla suggests that she go outside. And she has this line that she says, you'll notice things are right where you left them.
 
And in the DVD commentary, Matt Weiner says, it's so true. They are.
But this is the opposite of that line from Ship of Fools, which Betty was reading, where Jenny realizes the past is never where you think you left it. You are not the same person you were yesterday.
 
Betty can't just go outside and look around and pick up where she left off. Her world is different now. She didn't want to see it. She'd worked really hard to avoid seeing it, but she can't not see it now. For better or worse.
 
Steve: Yeah, I like the scene because of the power dynamic, how Carla makes this human gesture to try and help and comfort Betty in a moment where she can tell she needs it.
 
And Betty, always proper, always following the appearances and trying to maintain that image, rejects it, and then realizes she's overstepped.
 
I also think when I look at Carla's advice, it does feel like that move forward advice. You know, maybe you don't know where you're headed, maybe things aren't necessarily all right, but you've got to just keep moving forward. You can't stall. You can't get stuck.
 
You can't wallow in it. I think that's a very common theme, you know, with the sort of Draper philosophy of always moving forward in life. And we criticize Don Draper for always moving forward in some of his choices, but he hasn't been one to wallow to this point.
 
And I think if any of the characters were wallowing, we would jump on that to say, hey, you know, you've got to move forward here. You can't just. Just stall.
 
[33:54] Jenna: I do think now is a great opportunity to talk a little bit more about Carla, because she hasn't really had very many lines so far.
 
There is a whole thing in the Mad Men fandom about how amazing it would be to be able to go home with Carla and see what Carla says about the Drapers, particularly on a day like this where the house is an upheaval and Carla knows that Don isn't around.
 
And, I mean, the laundry is going to be different. There are going to be signs. Carla's not stupid. She's going to know.
 
So it would be fascinating to see Carla with her family and what her take is about the Don and Betty Draper household, and we never get to see that. And even though we go home with some of the characters, not going home with Carla seems like a huge miss, because I think it would give us such a huge insight to the Drapers and fill out the character of Carla.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think Carla's perspective would be interesting, and I do think that's outside the world that we're given in Mad Men, the series as it's been written and presented.
 
So I feel it's almost unfair to call it a limitation or a deficiency because it's not trying to do everything for everyone from every perspective.
 
But I do agree with the observation that. That that's definitely a perspective that, given how many other perspectives we get, that's one that does seem to be less served or less covered than so many of the others, agree.
 
The Clients Already Think We’re All Like This
[35:14] Jenna: Next, we see Don walking into a meeting where Roger, Duck, and Pete are waiting already. They want to fire Freddy.
 
Duck absolutely insists he doesn't want Freddy on any of his accounts, it could have happened in front of a client, and then he says, incorrectly,
we're lucky Campbell took the controls. He locked Rumson up and threw Peggy Olson in.
 
Okay, Pete was not Mr. Man in charge in that moment at all. But I'm sure he likes remembering it that way, because Pete.
 
And Don fights for Freddy here. You don't want to throw him away.
 
How much of Don is arguing for himself a little bit here, that your mistakes don't define you, that there's good in him and he deserves love. Is Don really just talking about Freddy here in his defense?
 
Steve: Personally, that's how I took it. There's some self defense here, perhaps.
 
At this point, I have no reason to think Don has anything he needs to defend himself, at least professionally. Although that's coming in the series.
 
I perceived it in as being just Don's code and his loyalty to people. Freddy's been a good trooper.
 
I get the sense from later in the episode that Freddy has helped mentor and coach Don as he came in, you know, wet behind the ears. And now Don's at the top of the mountain and he's not forgetting who helped him to get there.
 
And I get the sense that substantively, at least in terms of the creative profession, Freddy is one of those folks for Don. And I think it's rather admirable that he's defending him so fiercely here.
 
The other thing I noticed was it feels to me that the decision's already been taken by Roger. So they are having a discussion and Duck and Pete are present.
 
But I don't get the sense that it's really a decision that's up for grabs. I feel like it's a fait accompli and they're just informing Don that this has taken place, which I think fuels some of his frustration and irritation here to have Duck and Campbell get a decision out of Roger before Don's even had a chance to make his pitch and present his side of it.
 
I also liked your comment about Pete obviously giving a very skewed version to Duck. Who buys it 100%. We saw how lost Pete was. And another good reason to hate Pete Campbell, because what he could have done is given credit to Peggy there.
But no, it's. It's about him saving the ship, not being in charge. It definitely makes sense to me about a reason that Don is so frustrated here.
 
 
[37:32] Jenna: So Roger says it will be a six month leave to dry up. They intend it to be a firing and of course it's deliberate that they're drinking as they're ousting Freddy for too much drinking.
 
After the others leave, Roger tells Don, your loyalty is starting to become a liability.
And he means because of how Don fought for Mohawk Airlines and now for Freddy, of course. But since Don is always cheating on Betty and he lies so adeptly,
I mean, loyalty is not generally the first description for Don Draper.
 
So much so that when he does something nice for somebody else, I have to stop and think about what's also in it for him.
 
So, like what you're saying, it could be just a reaction to - he wants to be the person to make the decision for Mohawk. I feel like it could have been about his client over Duck’s with American Airlines.
 
And here I feel like it could be about his creative team control, in addition to what does seem like some genuine appreciation of Freddy.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think it's all wrapped up in there, so I don't disagree with any of that. I also get the feeling that when Duck and Pete are dismissed, Don drops the fight for Freddy.
 
He knows the decision's been taken, and now he's letting Roger bring him to that decision here with a little less kicking and fussing.
 
I noted the comment there. You know, I don't think my contract requires me to fire people because Doug Phillips wants me or whatever the line was. And. And I love Roger shooting back to him: You don't have a contract.
 
[39:05] Jenna: And if you wondered whether Bert Cooper would put his finger on some kind of lever about this, Roger does say they can't even tell him about it, given his thing about germs in the office.
 
So we know Burt is not coming to save the day here.
 
Steve: Roger's okay with the decision. It's what he feels has to happen.
And you get the sense that Don has now given up the fight. He's accepting this is going to occur, and there's nothing he can do to stop it.
 
Stables and a Man’s Name
[39:30] Jenna: In the next scene, Betty does head out of the house, as per Carla's suggestion, and she goes to the stables. She sees Arthur talking and smiling to a woman, and she approaches.
 
After that woman leaves, you can see her turning on her full Betty charm. And she lets drop some hints that Sarah Beth talks about Arthur a lot, that he cheers her up and suggests that the three of them have lunch together.
 
Steve: Yeah, Arthur is quite the little rooster in the hen house, as Matt Weiner calls him, and it's clear he's flirting and chatting with all the ladies at the stable.
Betty turning on her charms and engaging with him has got to be quite the contrast from Arthur's perspective, given what's happened previously, and even the cover of a threesome for lunch to make it less untoward that they would get together.
 
The vibe I get out of the scene is that Betty wants to have lunch with Arthur and then Sarah Beth can tag along at this point.
 
Jenna: Okay, so I think differently. Before, she engaged with Arthur because she seemed to like this attention, but here she seems to be scheming because everything about the encounter is really cheery until she walks away and she's very dark and gloomy.
 
So this feels like a deliberate setup which we can talk about in the next scene.
 
Steve: Yeah, yeah, I agree that we know that it is. And that end of the scene is the reveal of that because the change in contrast on her face is very reminiscent of the change on Peggy's face after Freddy leaves from the apology scene.
 
I'm just talking about up until that moment. I'm thinking, oh, gosh, you know, Betty is moving forward with her life and that involves interacting with Arthur.
 
Like you say, at the end of the scene, it becomes clear there's something else going on here.
 
Jenna: So I'm not proud of her for the scheming bit, but I also was relieved when I realized she didn't really want to be with Arthur because I was like, oh, Betty, that's not the way to go. That is not the way to do this. Not okay, Betty. Not okay.
 
Steve: Agreed.
 
[41:30] The next scene is the blood drive. We see Sal walking out, acting all manly about it. The gang is joking about Freddy Rumsen. He's a whiz in advertising, and the rest.
 
Don Draper walks up, hears some of the patter, and confronts them about it in a pretty aggressive way. What was your take?
 
Jenna: The scene is short, but it really defines so much about the office.
Don knows that Freddy is on his way out.
He's extra sensitive when he hears Harry and Ken mocking Freddy behind his back and Sal and he says,
Ccan't you find something else to do besides dining on the drama of other people's lives like a bunch of teenage girls? And I feel like that's a line that unfortunately could be used in so many real world contexts.
 
But Harry, I think, says, sorry, Don, it's funny.
And he answers, sure, it's just a man's name, right?
Always the protection of his image and name matters. He doesn't want people talking about the blow up of his own marriage and joking behind his back like this.
 
It comes out looking like a defense of Freddy. Maybe both are true.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think probably both are true. But I think it's important that the defensive Freddy part truly is present there.
 
This is not a happy thing for Don. He's. He's sad about it and they don't realize Freddy's been fired over this. Like, it's over for Freddy. And we as a viewer know that, you know, he's on the way out.
 
Jenna: I just want to go back quickly and talk about the fact that I hate to be this suspicious, but when you look at what acts across the series, does Don Draper make that are completely and truly selfless, that could not be ascribed to his own personal advantage?
There are very few, very few.
 
And he's so difficult to read that you can't ever know for sure. And I don't know, maybe that's true for everybody. Maybe that's the human condition that the choices that we make are because we want to be seen as a hero or we want to be seen as very upstanding and moral or we know we're going to get a side benefit.
 
So we'll lobby for this particular thing that also happens to help this person.
But it does seem with his lying and scheming and cheating, that he always has some kind of extra motive there.
 
And generally it's for his self purpose. So even though - And we can see in this scene where Roger and Don are out with Freddy, they seem to like him. You know, that seems to be at least a little bit genuine.
 
And yet you can't help but suspect Don of some kind of subterfuge about everything.
 
Steve: Yeah, I hear you. But I think I will differentiate between somebody who has perhaps an insecurity or a concern that applies to themselves as much as to the other individual.
 
Freddy, in this case Don, has nothing personal to gain in this particular interaction.
So is he nervous about his marriage situation getting out and being the subject of gossip? I'm sure he is.
 
But when he's barking at these guys about their chatter about Freddy, I don't think there's any direct benefit or protection Don's obtaining there for his own situation, even if it is informing his motivation and probably his emotional state.
 
Jenna: At the dinner, they define the terms that Roger says they'll give him six months with a full salary and then the door will be open, he'll dry up, they'll see where we are.
 
And Freddy fights for his job. He says, the clients love me. Look, we're laughing about this. I'll be fine on Monday.
 
And Roger smiles and he's kind, but he's not flexible. And I feel like when Don says it's the best thing Freddy, then he really understands this is going to happen, which is interesting because Roger is the boss, but Don's comment is the one that seals the deal.
 
 
[45:11] Steve: Yeah, and also as his supervisor, you know, Don is his actual boss.
Don's a little MIA here in terms of conveying this message and leaving it to Roger to be the heavy to be the bad cop.
 
That really is a dereliction of duty for Don as a supervisor. Nobody seems to get in a twist about it. And as the scene goes on, we can see Freddy actually trying to console Don a bit because obviously this is difficult for him.
 
But like you pointed out, this is driven by Roger, and it does feel like genuine affection and friendship between here between the three of them.
 
Jenna: We've talked before about whether Don actually ever has friends, and if so, Roger might be the person who comes to mind first. But look at Freddy's arc without spoiling anything here in season two. This might be Don's friend.
 
And of course, there are things all three of them don't know about each other. He doesn't know where Freddy lives, for example.
 
It's hard to say what percentage of socializing is friendship versus business between these people, but it does seem rare for Don to socialize voluntarily. I guess maybe it's because Betty kicked him out and he has nothing to do tonight, but it feels like he does want to be here.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think Roger sort of made him an offer he couldn't refuse. So I. I got the sense Roger saying, you need to be there and we're going to do this tonight, and I know you don't have an excuse not to do it.
 
What I love about such a minor character as Freddy is this scene really gives us the arc and the history of the character in a way, you know, that he knows that Roger's father would out drink both of them, he says.
 
And they talk about their experience in the war, which we know is important to Roger's view of people, and how Freddy wasn't always a, you know, a rear echelon type, but had actually been, you know, a combat soldier and has Roger's respect as somebody who was on the pointy end of the spear.
And as well, you know, Roger mentions his father idolized Freddie. So, you know, he's got the advertising chops, he's done the time, he knows all the players, the principles here.
 
You get a sense of what's being lost or destroyed here at this moment, you know, never to be resurrected. And there is a sense of loss and passing.
 
[47:18] Jenna: This decision that they're letting Freddy go because he can't control his drinking. But they all decide to go out drinking together after the obligatory dinner. So that decision seems to me to be genuine affection between them.
 
Nobody has to do that part. And now it's just this true feeling between them. And you realize how rare that is for Don Draper to have that with anybody.
 
Steve: For an office where I think we all assume there's a quite a high number of people with drinking problems, it's just that red line that he's crossed. And I think Roger points that out in a couple lines where he says, look, you know, he's crossed the line here.
 
Now, the implication of that is the rest of them are on the other side of the line, but they're not necessarily so far away from it themselves.
 
[48:03] Jenna: The three of them move on to a New York City speakeasy,
and Roger knows the places to be, and he can't remember the code word because he's too drunk.
 
So he introduces himself as Dick Dollars and Mike Moneybags, and then Don introduces himself as Tilden Katz, who, of course, is Rachel's new husband.
 
Steve: It's such a stylish, charismatic scene. And John Slaughtery just kills it with his delivery, his timing of the lines, and, you know, they've forgotten the password to the speakeasy, but yet, when they're in the elevator, he remembers it.
 
And having tipped extra to get in, it turns out he did end up remembering it, and he could have avoided that. So it's just such a great scene. And I think it further highlights your point about this genuine friendship and camaraderie between them here on this final bender.
 
Jenna: Freddy is smiling in the speakeasy. It looks like everyone is having a good time. And even though they're letting Freddy go, he takes a minute to encourage Don, saying, loosen up. Everything's going to be okay.
 
And he does make a comment about Pete Campbell. He says, I would have never thought I was in his way.
 
So either during the evening, something leaked, pardon the pun, from Don or Roger about Pete's involvement, or maybe Freddy just figured it out.
Steve: Yeah, I think he knows who was in the room. I think he knows Peggy isn't going to be the one to rat him out. So it comes down to Pete and Sal.
 
And of the two of them, I think I'm on record for my attitude about Pete. And the truth of the matter is, I don't think Pete was gunning for Freddy in any way. He is honestly disgusted at what happened.
 
And I think Roger's take on it is accurate as well. Like, he really did cross a line here.
 
Jenna: So Freddy sits at the gambling tables while Don and Roger sit and talk. And Roger is really pushing Don to talk about what's going on at home.
 
And Don refuses and Roger says, I have been in your particular situation and he has an amazing set of lines about marriage and infidelity:
 
People make mistakes. You feel bad about it. In the end, you do the grand gesture for her. It'll be easy for you. You're creative. You want to be right or you want to be married?
Marriage isn't a natural state, but you do it.
 
Why? Don asks, and Roger shrugs. Kids.
It isn't really a solid case for happiness that Roger is making here.
 
[50:25] Steve: You know, Roger's letting on that the way he knows about Don's situation is all these signs of him coming in early and working longer and leading the blood drive and yadda yadda.
 
There's another reason Roger might have some insights into the situation here, which, spoiler, we're going to get that insight later in the episode.
 
Did you really buy that Roger has just observed this and gotten to this answer, or do you think he sourced it from some additional information he's not forthcoming with Don?
 
Jenna: Well, I wanted to talk about that when we get to the actual scene,
but before I saw that without hindsight, I do think that Roger has a genuine desire to get to know Don.
 
And I think that the walls that Don always puts up frustrate him. And I think he wants to have a real friendship and that Roger, despite his easy manners, is very lonely himself.
 
And I think Don is smart and interesting and Roger is selfish, so friendship is difficult for him. And Don has all his issues, so friendship is difficult for him. But I think Roger wants to be Don's friend here, and that's part of it.
 
He is always working an angle as well. So I can't be too benevolent in assuming kindness on it on his behalf, but it does feel sincere to me, at least a little bit.
Steve: Yeah. And when Roger and Don are talking together, it does feel like another one of these conversations where they're ostensibly talking about the situation or the other situation, but really it's a reflection of their own thinking and place.
 
And it's striking here that neither of them really seem to have much of an answer to the question of, you know, sort of what's the point of marriage?
 
Or, you know, what's the point of what they're doing here. They seem stumped.
 
[52:11] Jenna: And both of them chose partners who tick all the boxes.
It wasn't like they went out and just irrationally made a choice that they regretted the next day.
 
They had been raised and groomed to choose people who were exactly like the people they chose and married. And this emptiness that they feel with these relationships, I think it is really befuddling to them.
 
Across the room, Don spies Jimmy Barrett.
And Jimmy Barrett sees Don and says, well, if it isn't the man in the gray flannel suit, which refers to a 1956 film starring Gregory Peck, based on a 1955 novel about a workaholic estranged from his family.
 
And Don approaches Jimmy with a really weird smile. And he's been drinking. So you're thinking, what's going to happen here?
 
And all of a sudden, he just punches him in the face. You feel like he had that coming, right?
 
[53:00] Steve: Yeah. I think everybody, to quote a line from later in the series,
you know, I'm pretty sure everybody's wanted to do that at one time or other. And it's a total sucker punch. So he doesn't telegraph it at all. He just drops it on Jimmy and drops him.
 
And Jimmy Barrett is a lot smaller than Don Draper. And quickly, it's clear Don needs to get out of the club. And Roger steps in, intercedes to stop the bouncers from physically removing him.
And they leave voluntarily.
 
We see Jimmy bounce back up, and he spots Floyd Patterson, the reigning heavyweight champion, and asks, how did he do, you know, in terms of taking the punch?
 
Still quipping, still yappy. And as they get outside the club now, now they're going to say farewell to Freddy.
 
Jenna: You can see the real affection between them, between Freddy and Roger.
And then Freddy pauses to say to Don,
I'm going to miss you. You're talented.
And Don is Freddy's boss. But Freddy again, having probably, as you said, mentored Don on the way up, and Don looks a little bit sheepish about this, and then he says, thank you. It means a lot.
 
And Don seems happy to engage with Freddy about his talent. But then a little shadow falls because Freddy says,
what am I going to tell Violet if I don't go into that office every day? Who am I?
 
Which, of course, is Don's question about himself. And he can't stand talking about the identity piece, so he avoids that like he always does.
 
And he sends the cab away, saying, good night, Freddy. And Freddy says the truth.
Goodbye, Don.
 
It's really, really sad, isn't it?
I mean, here is this sexist man, and you care so deeply that he's leaving.
 
[54:40] Steve: Yeah, Agreed. I was just going to say, you know, if he doesn't go into the office every day, who is he? That question is so much more applicable to Don Draper than it is to Freddy, I think.
 
And the answer is even more terrifying, because we know Don is a liar and a cheat. He's not a great father. He's not a great husband. So what is he? He's a great creative director.
 
And if you were to strip that away, what are we left with in terms of who Don Draper is? And I think it's a really terrifying question, assuming that Don Draper's there, standing, looking over the cliff that Freddy has just tumbled over.
 
Jenna: So then Roger and Don go to a new bar, drinking together very late at night. And Roger asks if the whiskey made Don angry, referring to the punch. And Don says it was a real Archibald Whitman maneuver.
 
Roger doesn't know that's his biological father, and Don just explains it's some old hothead drunk I used to know.
 
And then he confesses he's staying at the Roosevelt Hotel and he doesn't want to discuss it. But Roger presses, because you feel bad?
No. Mostly I'm just relieved.
 
And this admission, I think, feels a little bit shocking.
Their marriage isn't great, but Don and Betty have both been so committed to the pretense of it that I thought he cared more about it than that.
 
And Betty seems really important to his carefully crafted persona, at the very least.
And we've seen Betty so icy and so lost and uncertain at home, and it turns out that Don is mostly just relieved not to be there.
Steve: Yeah, I think it's a surprising answer. And I think you can see how different it is from Roger's perspective, because Roger asks him, did you fall in love like Roger's assuming there's another woman, and thus, you know, Don is stuck with, say, a wife that he loves, but you know there's another woman he loves more.
 
That is not the case for Don Draper at all. There is no other woman at the present moment, and yet he still just feels relieved, which I think is a denunciation of his marriage itself.
 
And in a way here, because it's not expressed between them, Roger isn't aware of this divergence of perspective, even though Roger himself is thinking the same way.
 
Except in his case, he thinks there is another woman. He thinks he is in love with someone else.
 
[56:58] Jenna: And Don goes on to say, it's your life. It's short. You have to move forward. I mean, that's always his advice. All the time.
 
And Roger considers this, and they're both drunk, and he restates that. He says, gotta move forward.
And Don goes, I mean, this can't be it, right?
To your point, I mean, the marriage isn't enough for him, so he's really admitting that out loud now.
 
And then Roger says, we're in it together, huh? And Don smiles. Truth call out: That's true.
 
This feels like a real, genuine friendship.
But as we alluded to a little bit earlier, Roger has some inside information here in this conversation that Don didn't know.
 
So we'll unpack that in a second. But it felt like, finally, this is friendship. Don has confessed something to Roger, and Roger isn't judging him. They're having a real conversation about meaningful things outside of business.
 
It feels like a really important relationship in this moment.
 
Steve: Yeah, I agree with you. And I think for me as a viewer, sometimes I take my future knowledge of subsequent seasons and bring it back and assume, oh, Roger and Don have always been close friends throughout the series.
 
In this rewatch, you know, for the podcast, I've been trying to block out my knowledge of the future and just accept what's on the screen.
 
And I agree with you. I think this is the moment where it steps from a owner / principal to creative director situation, to a true friendship now between Roger and Don.
There are limitations to it, and it's. It's in its early stages, but it does feel like they've crossed a barrier to a different place now in their relationship.
 
That’s The Way It Happened
[58:37] Jenna: The next morning, Don has some Alka Seltzer in a glass in his office because he's had a long night.
 
There are a lot of ways to promote somebody and give them good news, and this feels like maybe the most disappointing way to do that.
 
He calls Peggy into the office. He is mad at her for not telling him about Freddy's accident at the Samsonite presentation, but he says she'll be taking over all of Freddy's business.
 
Steve: Yeah. Peggy is genuinely surprised at this, and she quickly puts it together and realizes Freddy's out and gone completely. And then, I think, in this moment, again, just great acting by Elisabeth Moss, we really see the depths of her feeling for Freddy. You know, this is personal to her.
 
She loves Freddie. She expresses that openly. And you can tell this is hitting her hard, even as we simultaneously know that professional Peggy, who's all about the job, all about advancement and dedication to her profession, you know, this is really great news professionally for her.
 
Jenna: And it feels like Don is testing Peggy. So he knows that she cares about him, and she's genuinely sad he's leaving, but she isn't a crying secretary like the Marilyn Monroe women. She holds it together.
 
And then he says to her, don't feel bad about being good at your job.
Which sounds like a compliment, but it just comes off really mean.
 
And she says something that I think is such a Mad Men moment. I wish it hadn't happened this way.
 
And he says, that's the way it happened. And he shakes her hand.
I love how we get to see her - she had a picture in her mind of what this moment was going to be like, and it wasn't going to be at the expense of somebody she cared about. It was going to be her working her way up.
 
I hate for her that the moment is tinged with this bad feeling. But I also appreciate her more because, unlike Pete, she does have that feeling about it. It is mixed.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think also, you know, Don has had a lot more time to process the emotions around this whole decision and course of events.
 
So I love the writing here because I think it's so true to the way the men are trying to portray this sort of unemotional, cold, rational approach to it all. And Don here is giving the brick wall emotionally to Peggy. You know, he's not engaging on that level at all with her. Yeah, she's got all the rational and logical bits, but she's also moving through the emotion simultaneously. And he's had the benefit of at least 24 hours, if not longer, to get squared with it.
 
[01:01:09] Jenna: So Peggy leaves Don's office and walks right with purpose to Pete.
 
And I love how Hildy tries to intercept her at first, and she's like, oh, Ms. Olson, you know, Mr. Campbell . . . And then when Peggy says to Pete - and she won't be stopped - she says, do you know what you did to Mr. Rumson?
You didn't have to tell Don.
 
And then Hildy looks at Pete and goes, you told on Mr. Rumson? She's appalled.
It's a huge difference between Pete and Peggy right here, outcome versus process.
 
Peggy wants to earn her way up through her talent, and Pete will buy or trick or kick his way to the top.
And Peggy says, if it wasn't for him, meaning Freddy, I'd still be a secretary.
 
And Pete says, if it wasn't for me, you'd still be a junior copywriter.
And he's right.
But I appreciate that she genuinely didn't want it to happen this way. Well, Pete doesn't even care.
 
Steve: I want to tilt against that a little bit. She was not promoted into Freddy's accounts for any reason other than she's got the competence and ability to take them.
 
So, yeah, Pete put the knife in Freddy's back and Freddy's out of the way, which opened a chair, which she was able to take. But she's now taken over as the senior copywriter or whatever the title is, you know, on her merits.
 
So I love the writing here because Peggy herself says, oh, Freddy's the reason I'm not a secretary, which kind of has a similar dynamic in a way.
 
All he did was recognize her genius and ability to contribute, which then opened a path for her.
So we see Peggy's loyalty and love for him for that.
 
And then we see Pete sort of trying to glom onto some similar dynamic here, although it just rubs the entirely wrong way or opposite way and, you know, just adds to our hatred about Pete, I think also, when Pete snaps at her for hanging around after Peggy stormed in the room,
 
He doesn't want to have this confrontation in front of Hildy because he knows Hildy's going to see what a weasel he is. And he knows that Peggy's got fire in her eyes here and she's about to unload on him, so he doesn't want an audience for that.
And again, that's just so on brand for Pete Campbell.
Jenna: I think that's such a great point about the reframing of Peggy's success trajectory in terms of - even she ascribes it to maybe more to Freddy than she should.
 
I did notice, though, and this is a minor spoiler, but I did notice this time that Pete is the one who says, we're going to get raises. I refuse to feel bad. You can get his office.
And I just thought, oh, I didn't catch that several times around that Pete maybe plants that bug a little bit, that that's a possibility for her. It is such a tangled web.
 
Steve: Yeah. And we haven't had a lot of Pete Campbell activity, I think, the last several episodes. So I really welcome the character back here with some critical moments in this episode, because I just love to hate the guy.
He's so integral to what I love about Mad Men.
 
A Series of Meaningful Conversations
[01:04:07] Jenna: In the next scene, we see Arthur showing up to have lunch with Sarah Beth, who is surprised to see him.
He says that Betty thought it would be fun, and he seems sufficiently into her, I guess.
 
We see that Betty is at home baking cookies with the kids, and she pulls the phone off the hook after checking her watch so she knows what time it is and that they're there without her.
 
And her scheming is all, I think in response to Don's behavior and to Jimmy Barrett's. First, in the first place, she's imagining how good it feels maybe to pull on the puppet strings the way that she imagines Don does.
 
And there's this brilliant thing with Mad Men that's so great because the characters learn for better and worse from each other and they try on these different behaviors and attitudes that they collect.
 
So Jimmy Barrett got Betty to go to that party so he could blow up her marriage to hurt Don. And, it wouldn't have worked if Don had been faithful.
 
And then here, second, she's being judgy and really sensitive about cheaters. So she acts as a friend to both of them and constructs a situation that makes it easier for them to cheat if they choose to, which is a really poisonous thing to do.
 
Steve: Yeah, and it's interesting because we know what's in Sarah's head. We know what's in Arthur's, I think.
 
And just when it becomes clear Betty's, you know, not joined them yet. And Sarah Beth dismisses her drink order. A gin and tonic is nothing special.
 
And just Arthur sort of slyly says no, it's, I think he says it's perfect.
And you know, it's very clear these are two willing participants in, in Betty's scheme. You know, regardless of what we think about Betty's motivations.
 
Jenna: It might be the meanest manipulation we've seen from Betty so far. I think her other lies have tended to be about preserving her own good image, not messing directly with others. So this, this feels like a real turn for her.
 
Steve:  I don't think Betty has great intentions here, but I just - Arthur and Sarah are the ones who have obligations. They're the ones who are electing to do what they're doing.
 
So I just, I'm not willing to hang it on Betty's door even if she, you know, greased the skids here, so to speak.
 
Jenna: I don't disagree with that. But watching her just have that whole self righteous feeling of I'm at home with the kids, I'm baking cookies, but she's not talking to the kids or even looking at them.
 
You know, just so she can feel like she is the perfect human being and all these other people are out cheating and doing the wrong thing, but she's going to do the right thing here and it's not the best look.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think. I think that observation is one I wanted to emphasize as well. She is baking cookies with the kids, but it isn't some joyful, warm, you know, family setting here.
 
It feels very sort of like a military operation, and the kids are doing their duty to bake the cookies, but you don't get a lot of love and warmth coming out of that environment.
 
 
Jenna: Back at the office, there's a quick scene about a client, and the men are talking, and Duck pauses, and he looks at Peggy and says, are you okay with that?
 
And she answers, yes. And okay. We can't really read a whole lot into it because if she hadn't been okay with it, it's not clear if she would have really had power to turn it around.
But, you know, we're tiptoeing here.
She is included in the conversation by somebody who has some power because Duck does.
 
Now we can really see her career is moving the direction that she wants it to be. And it's those small moments that make it happen.
 
Steve: Yeah, absolutely. And just that, head of accounts turning to her to make sure she's okay with it. It's such a huge moment because that means you truly are someone who matters at the table. We need to hear from you, and we haven't heard from you.
 
We're going to seek it out because we can't proceed without it. So for a character who my memory is really didn't like Duck, I think he's pretty good at his job based on what I’m seeing across the office.
 
[01:07:52] Jenna: Don, not being great at his job, is on his couch sleeping,
when Mona comes in, followed by Jane. So just like Peggy stormed into Pete's office, followed by Hildy. Now Mona comes in without permission to Dawn's office, followed by Jane.
 
And Mona has so much dignity. She's beautiful. She's not fussing.
She just declares, he's leaving me. He's in love. And you said it was great.
 
And Don denies it because of course he does.
And then he hears her say, it's your life. You have to move forward.
 
Mona, I didn't mean it that way.
25 years of marriage, she says.
 
She doesn't call him names, but she names the destruction. And he feels the weight of it.
 
Steve: Now in defense of Don, I didn't feel when they were talking in the bar that Roger had clearly laid out, oh, I'm in love. And I'm contemplating what to do with my marriage. And that Don was in any way responding to that.
 
I think Don was in his world talking about his life. And I think Roger was in his parallel universe.
 
So I buy Don Draper's reaction here to Mona to say, you know, I, I, I wasn't talking about that, or, you know, I, I, I had no part in this.
I wasn't giving him advice about what to do in his relationship at all. Sounds like you don't.
 
Jenna: No, I think that's fair.
But I think if we look across the series, when Don Draper comes into your life, does he make it better or does he make it worse? And I think for almost everybody he touches, there is some kind of downturn impact, I'm sorry to say.
 
So I think for Mona, it's just her unhappy luck that Roger decided to befriend Don and drink late into the bar at the moment Roger was at.
It's not his fault. You know, Don didn't create the problem.
 
Roger certainly brought his own issues, and I'm sure Mona did too.
But Don gave him permission, even unwittingly. That connection to somebody like Don with his unhealthy move forward mindset. Life is short. Don't worry about responsibilities, that kind of thing.
 
He can pretend it's really easy to move forward and leave the past behind. He was ready to leave his kids and Rachel Menken was like, you, what? You're going to do, what? That's not a thing you can do.
 
And here's Mona saying the same thing. That's not what people do.
Don Draper does, but you shouldn't.
 
[01:10:17] Steve: I need to think more about whether everybody who touches Don Draper's life ends up the worse for the experience.
 
But what I will say is this is Mad Men, not Touched by an Angel.
So maybe Don's job isn't to make anybody else's life better and stuff happens and that's the material for the show here.
 
Jenna: So, yes, it might not be his job to improve the lives of those around him.
 
However, if the pattern is that, okay, let's just take Betty, Adam, his kids.
What is it that Don is doing when he has deep relationships with people?
 
How about Rachel? He doesn't have the best track record. So he got Midge a TV and then he bullied her into throwing it out the window.
 
Steve: No, that's the best part. He didn't bully her into throwing out the window. She's so cold blooded. She threw it out the window and said, there you go, TV gone.
 
Jenna: It was very empowering. Anyway, yes, I do think this is something that we can come back to over and over. But I think there is a difference between saying he's responsible for caring for everybody around him versus he does seem to leak out his unhealthy habits around the people closest to him.
 
Steve: I agree with that. And he is a selfish guy who thinks only about himself the vast majority of the time. All I'm gonna say is, in this particular instance, I think he is blameless.
 
He is not offering Roger relationship advice in the wee hours of the morning in a seedy bar, even though Roger takes it that way.
 
And then I'm also going to call out Roger for violating the man code here,
regardless of where he got the advice of, it's your life. You got to move forward.
 
You don't rat that individual out to your wife in the midst of telling her you're ending your 25 year marriage knowing Mona, knowing she's going to march into that office and confront your advisor with exactly that fact.
 
And I think that look of betrayal on Don's face at the end of the scene as he's looking at Roger. And what does Roger say? I think he says, Don, I can explain.
 
Jenna: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, let's hit Roger for a little bit too, because he deserves a helping.
 
So Mona walks out of Don's office and Roger is standing right there. And helpfully, he says a really great thing.
I want you to calm down.
So helpful. So helpful, Roger. Right in that moment. And let's be really clear, Mona is calm. She's calm the whole time. And on her way out, she says, you can talk to Margaret.
 
So now Roger's still gotta face that relationship with his daughter, which is not successful and hasn't been since the beginning.
 
And then Jane, sitting at her desk, begins to cry.
And Roger looks really concerned by this. He puts a hand on her shoulder, and then he guiltily looks back at Don.
 
And Don gets it.
This is the thing. This is why their marriage is breaking up. And Don's first and only reaction is, I want her off my desk.
 
[01:13:11] Steve: But it's a double betrayal in what Roger said. Don gave him the advice to move on with his life. And it's a second betrayal that. Oh, so Roger's been with Jane, and it's possible that Jane has shared some information about Don's situation. So the look on Jon Hamm's face as Don Draper there is just perfect.
 
He's so irritated at this situation and circumstance right in the middle of his office with his admin assistant and his new friend. We've just, you know, christened Roger as his new friend.
 
And. And it's like. And what do friends do? Friends betray you.
 
Jenna: Absolutely.
At first glance, and even on the first watch of the series, it feels like this is a huge rupture between Don and Roger. And it feels like it's Don's hypocrisy that he is so upset about Roger leaving Mona for Jane because he's a cheater too.
 
But if you remember that Jane brought up Don's separation situation tentatively with Don and he shut that down.
 
But then he had to admit some logistics and then the same thing with Roger - until Don had a lot more to drink, Don did not volunteer and discuss any of that with Roger.
 
Roger had inside information from Jane about Don's situation and then he manipulated Don into confessing it. And Don's private life is critical to him. Bobbie Barrett's gossip about him was a deal breaker.
 
He doesn't engage with the neighbors or colleagues about his personal life.
This is a huge rift in what was maybe going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
 
Steve: So maybe the moral of the episode is alcohol makes good friends better friends.
 
Jenna: Is that what we're taking from this?
 
[01:14:52] The closing song is I'm Through With Love, recorded by Ella Fitzgerald for her album in 1959, and this is Marilyn Monroe's version, which she recorded for her 1959 movie Some Like It Hot.
 
We'd like to thank Al P. From LA for listening to and supporting our show. We appreciate five star ratings and positive reviews on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts to help our indie show find other listeners.
 
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 dot 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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[01:15:41] Steve: Thanks for listening, everybody.