Mad Men C to Z S2E7: The Gold Violin Transcript

Below, find a written transcript of our Season 2, Episode 7 Mad Men C to Z podcast for The Gold Violin.
You can listen to the episode here.

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Mad Men C to Z     S2:E7  The Gold Violin Transcript
 
Introduction
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 seven, the Gold Violin. This episode was written by Jane Anderson, Matthew Weiner, and Andre and Maria Jacquemetton, directed by Andrew Bernstein.

Those Are Fine When You’re Trying to Get Somewhere . . . You’ve Already Arrived
Steve: The episode opens in a Cadillac car dealership with Don looking at a 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
 
Jenna: In powder blue. It's very pretty.
The car salesman - this character is Wayne Kirkby, played by Adam Godley. You may have seen him as Mr. Teavee in the 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or in Suits, Powers, Breaking Bad, as Archie in The Great or as one of the adult singers in the finale Christmas show in Love Actually.

 
I noticed this shot of Don in the car dealership has a dreamlike quality. It's not quite real, and I think Dick Whitman would probably not have dreamed he could ever be in a position to buy a Cadillac.
 
The salesman alludes to how Don looks like he fits in: Someone like you, you've already arrived.
But of course, we know that Don feels like an imposter everywhere.
 
Identity is always a factor in Mad Men, so we really get it amplified when the salesman says, I bet you'd be as comfortable in one of these as you are in your own skin. Maybe the wrong thing to say to Don.
 
Steve: Yeah, there's some good irony there. And as well, the salesman says, you know, this is for when you've arrived instead of someone trying to get somewhere. But I have this sense of Don Draper's character that he's always trying to get somewhere, both fleeing his past and driving towards this future.
So just the notion of he has arrived doesn't quite jive with what we know of Draper.
 
Jenna: I don't know very much about cars, unlike some other people on this podcast, but I wondered what the story was with the gold car nearby.
 
There was a guy looking at it, and he was a little less flashy than Don, and the car seemed - maybe it was a little less flashy than the Coupe de Ville that Don was looking at. Like maybe this guy's dreams for himself were a bit smaller.
 
And we see in this episode that Don has the whole world laid out in front of him with these endless possibilities. But we know that Roger sent Don here. So Don's own dreams don't even include initiating this kind of symbolic success.
 
Steve: And it does provoke a flashback as Don thinks back to when he was a used car salesman.
 
Jenna: Yes, that gives us a hint (that) he’s had a long time hustling and persuading people.
 
And it's our first glimpse of a woman. We don't yet get her name in this scene. She's played by Melinda Paige Hamilton, known for roles on Devious Maids, Big Love, Desperate Housewives, and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.
 
She says, you're a hard man to find.
And then she adds, you're not Donald Draper. And she has such conviction. You see his face fall and you're really wondering, okay, who is she and what does he know about him?
 
Steve: Yeah, she's not asking. She's telling him, you're not Don Draper. And it's clear she knows he's not Don Draper.
 
Jenna: Yeah. This memory reinforces the fact that he is, in fact, an imposter in his own life. And he walks away without even test driving the car.
 
Mr. Sterling’s Here to See You
 
Steve: The next scene cuts to Jane in the office at her desk outside Do's office as Roger Sterling walks up and asks about Don.
 
Of course, he has to flirt and interact with Jane.
 
Jenna: Yeah. Roger asks where Jane lives, and she says, well, you can just check my file. And he goes, that's cheating.
 
And you get the sense that this is pretty casual, usual flirtation from Roger.
But Jane does seem more receptive to it than she is from Ken or any of the other guys.
 
Steve: Yeah, I don't know if I get the vibe so much that she's receptive to it.
I get the vibe that Roger wants to entice her into this game.
 
And that's how I interpret his comment about it would be cheating for him to use his status in the company to go look up her personal details. He wants her to engage in this back and forth, and so far, at least, she's not.
 
Jenna: I don't disagree with that on his end. I absolutely line up with your way of thinking here.
But I do notice that she shuts Ken down repeatedly and pretty harshly over and over.
 
And she's not that way with Roger. Now, of course, he does own the company, so she's got to walk that line a little bit more. But she does seem - I mean, maybe she's not going to jump right in, but I think just interesting that she's so open.
 
Steve: Yeah, I was going to say. Yeah, I agree with that distinction. I think it's important.
 
And as well, I wonder if Jane doesn't represent that stereotype that I think Joan tried to label Peggy with when she showed up, and it wasn't applicable to Peggy, as we've learned.
 
But perhaps in the case of Jane, it's all too correct and accurate.
She is looking to meet somebody here.
 
Jenna: There's a really cute line as Don comes in. He's headed into his office, And Roger goes, Mr. Sterling's here to see you.
 
So they go in and shut the door. Roger makes a comment about how Jane is hoping that Don will notice her.
And now that Bobbie Barrett seems to be out of the picture, you think maybe he will.
 
Steve: Yeah. We haven't seen any glimmer of interest from Don in Jane to this point, although Jane does mention that Ms. Barrett has been calling repeatedly.
 
Jenna: So Roger has sent Don to the Cadillac salesman. Roger makes some arguments in favor of indulgence. And we know Roger is really pro indulgence. At first, he says, do you know how invigorating it is to write a check for the $6,500 and not care?
That would be equivalent to about $70,000 in purchasing power today.
 
His second argument is, do I need to remind you of the finite nature of life? Like the song says, Enjoy Yourself. This song was probably Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, Enjoy Yourself - It's Later Than You Think song that was released in 1949. And it feels like these two arguments sum up a lot of Roger's behavior.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it seems that he's at that stage in his life, maybe where he's older than Don and he's achieved what he's going to achieve professionally at this point.
And he's starting, I think, to wonder, what's it all about?
 
You know, how can he recapture the joy and excitement of youth? And it's problematic at his age and in his circumstance.
 
Jenna: Now Duck comes in and he says, they have a new client, Martinson Coffee. Don has the young guys working on it, writing for it.
 
As they open the door, they are also interested in Jane. So one of them is saying, you don't dance or you don't want to dance with me? And Don says, leave her alone.
 
Steve: Yeah. And again, we have this stark contrast between the youth movement as represented by Smitty and Kurt, and then the older generation, which, you know, Don is the youngest of the old generation. But as you move through Roger and Bert, you know, getting more and more distant from the youth movement of Smitty and Kurt.
 
Smitty brings up the Port Huron statement from Students from a Democratic Society.
And this is this whole lean in against materialism and consumerism by what would become known as the hippie movement, although in the early 1960s,
it's not called the hippie movement yet.
 
Jenna: Smitty is played by Patrick Kavanaugh. You may have seen him on Agents of Shield.
 
And in this letter, he says from his Michigan friend,
the goal is we would replace power rooted in possession, privilege, or circumstance by power and uniqueness rooted in love, reflectiveness, reason, and creativity.
 
Don listens and he goes, that's a beautiful sentiment, unsentimentally, he says.
 
And Smitty goes on to say, it's how our whole generation feels. We don't want to be told what we should do or how we should act. We just want to be.
 
And you can see Don isn't buying this. He's not rude, but he's just not of this generation or mindset. To your point, to just be has not and is not a goal for him.
 
Steve: I think it also gets to his - his values about his profession. You know, he's creative. He's all about shaping people's wants and needs through advertising.
 
So this whole mentality or philosophy is an affront to what he perceives as, you know, his very reason for being, which is, I'm going to tell you what you want and need and help make you desire it.
 
Jenna: I think that's a really good point.
 
At Ten Cents Apiece, You’d Think You Could Reuse Them
Moving on. We see Paul pouring alcohol on a diaper, and he's talking about the ad campaign of sending a crate of Pampers to nurses and maternity wards so families will go home with them and depend on them.
 
They're expensive, 10 cents a piece, but convenient.
There's a lot of an environmental theme that pops up in this episode. Of course, the diapers are bad for the environment.
 
Rachel Carson's book the Silent Spring was published in 1962, and it sparked an environmental movement, including the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
 
She documented the dangers of the use of DDT in pesticides, so her book was controversial.
 
This show often does a great job showing us our past and how progress has unintended consequences in our society, in addition to how that's true for individuals.
 
Steve: I think there's a great irony of pouring alcohol in the diaper to see how well it soaks up liquids.
 
Just that juxtaposition of, you know, alcohol in the office, which is something the modern age we don't see so much into a product that's geared for babies. And then also just the whole time capsule aspect of disposable diapers as this new technology or new approach.
 
Because I don't know about most of our listeners, but I know from my years doing diapers that they seem like a godsend, not having to deal with whatever nastiness the baby had produced. I didn't get to experience the world pre disposable diapers.
 
Jenna: And Sal goes, at 10 cents a piece, you'd think you could reuse them.
So now Harry shows up. He's excited to be invited to Mr. Cooper's office. So he's showing off.
 
Maybe You’re Just Supposed to Experience It
 
Sal and Paul say he's going to ask about his new painting.
And Harry is absolutely deflated. He goes, how does everybody know about this painting? And then he goes, are you making it up?
 
Sal goes, it's abstract expressionism. And Harry's like, what the hell does that mean? Thank you for ruining it.
 
It's so great because you can see Harry's agitation rising and you recognize it. This pressure of appearing to be knowledgeable about something there's no reason for you to know and just wanting to be included and informed.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think the writing is very true, which, you know, is such a common comment about Mad Men, about the human condition. But the piece, I think, that really delivers it here is the acting.
 
And we buy Harry's nervousness, his sort of can't-win demeanor.
And we've probably all felt some version of that over the years in our professional life. So again, I just think it's this culmination of great writing, great acting. To then sell a scene that just feels so real.
 
And every time I see Harry sort of fretting about things, I forget that I'm watching a show. And I really buy that this individual is this nervous and put out and worried about things. So it's subtle and it's not a main character in the show necessarily, but it contributes so much to the richness of the series.
 
Jenna: Absolutely. Harry Crane is such an unlikable character for so many reasons, but Rich Sommer absolutely nails it in portraying him. So all props to you, Rich Sommer, we love you. Good job.
 
Steve: And this scene, as they're talking about this too, I think, really highlights the peril of middle management trying to figure out what management wants, what they're looking for. You don't want to look stupid.
 
You don't want to, you know, have them disqualify you for some opportunity.
They're always nervous about, you know, where are they headed next or who's coming along and how they need to behave.
 
Jenna: So as they're considering this whole painting discussion and how to respond to it, Jane asks, why don't you just go look at it?
 
And none of the guys think this is a good idea, but she's clearly on her way. And Ken says, I'll go anywhere you go. So Paul, Sal and Harry follow, and they get to the inner office area, and Harry and Paul are clearly feeling chicken.
 
And Jane calls them on it. She's not nervous at all.
And I love that they're going to go into Bert's office now without permission,
and they take off their shoes even though Bert's not there. This requirement holds still.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's interesting, this informal power Jane has to steer them in this direction and make this happen. I get the sense if Jane doesn't push the issue,
it doesn't happen.
 
None of them are going to make a point of going and doing this.
So this is solely Jane, and to this point, she's just been a very pretty presence in the office, and we really have no sense that she has sort of agency and direction.
 
Jenna: Paul chickens out and leaves, but the rest of them go in. They look at the painting,
and Sal recognizes it's a Rothko. Mark Rothko was born in Russia in what is now Latvia. He moved to the US in 1913 and founded an art group in the 30s called The Ten, who rejected the realistic painting style in America at the time.
 
And it's varying shades of red rectangles. And there's some disagreement online about whether this is the 1961 Orange, Red, and Yellow or 1957's Four Reds. But in any case, it is a facsimile that the Mad Men department created.
And it looks like Four Reds to me.
 
And I love the different responses to the painting.
Harry's response is $10,000.
And Jane looks at it for five seconds and she goes, ah, so it's smudgy squares. That's interesting.
 
Harry is trying to figure out what he can say about it to Bert later. And it's Ken.
Ken who saw something interesting in Don's Right Guard cowboy versus astronaut dilemma in the second episode.
 
And Ken from accounts,
Ken says,
maybe you're just supposed to experience it.
When you look at it, you do feel something,
like looking into something very deep. You could fall in.
And in a truth call out. Sal notices that's true. Did someone tell you that?
He just can't believe that Ken had a thought this original.
 
Steve: Yeah. And this fits a pattern that we've seen that Ken is bringing a little more intellectual heft to the office than most of the other characters.
 
And it seems that this is the first time that Sal has had occasion to notice it. And Sal is definitely impressed, and perhaps more than just impressed.
 
Jenna: As they leave in the elevator, Jane observes, we could have stolen it, couldn't we?
And Ken is up for anything she suggests, and he wants to impress her, talking about the short story he might write about the day they looked at the painting.
 
But Sal is still intrigued with Ken, and he says, oh, that story about the maple tree you wrote, it was beautiful and sad. Everybody read it. People were jealous.
 
And Ken is super pleased to hear that. But he still tries to get Jane's attention. He goes, where are you going? Are you hungry?
No. Good night.
I'm not sure why Ken's not good enough for Jane, but you can't say he didn't try.
 
Steve: I think Jane perhaps doesn't understand where Ken is in the hierarchy because she says, aren't you an accountant?
 
And he's like, no, I'm an accountant. So it seems that maybe she's not that clear on. On who he is. That said, I mean, he's not so super high up.
 
 
You’re Not Like Everybody Else Around Here
 
Jenna: The next day, Joan overhears Ken and Paul talking about the painting escapade. And Joan drags Paul by the elbow to get the story.
Now, remember, Paul left without going into Bert's office. But now he's defensive and he denies everything. And as always, Joan is hyper aware of everything that goes on in the office.
 
Steve: Yeah, and it seems that Joan already has the skinny because after the obfuscation by Paul, she basically says, here's what happened. Tell me if I've got any of the facts incorrect.
And Paul just doesn't want any part of it.
 
Jenna: I do notice she leaves out a couple of names who were in the office and Paul doesn't give them up. And Paul can be that way sometimes, so I gave him a little bit of credit.
At least he didn't snitch.
 
Steve: It is a nice scene, though, I think, for. For Joan just to show the sort of power she has around the office and that when she comes sniffing around for the details, Paul's very careful not to give her anything more than what she already has, which is plenty.
 
Jenna: That same morning, Ken catches up to Sal.
It wasn't just Sal noticing something Ken said. Ken noticed that Sal said his story was sad and beautiful.
 
So he decides to ask Sal to read one of his current stories.
And he says, you're not like everyone else around here. Truth call out again with Sal. He says, I don't know if that's true.
 
Again, the identity is so important in this show, and it's such an interesting tangle because they are both more than their account jobs or art jobs, and they see that about each other.
 
But Ken sees Sal as a potential friend with an artistic mindset who can appreciate his writing.
Paul would just be bitter, and Harry would only care about how much money it earns or how much prestige it collects. And Ken sees something in Sal about his ability to look deeper, but he doesn't realize that Sal is gay.
 
And Sal does seem to have a bit of a crush on Ken.
And he also seems relieved to discover that not everybody else at the office is just a penny pusher.
 
Maybe there's something more there.
But Ken is constantly trying to get Jane's attention, so I'm not sure how Sal is looking past that.
 
Steve: Yeah, I don't. I. I got the sense it was just an infatuation with Ken, and he's really not perhaps thinking it through all that much. He just wants to have more exposure to Ken.
 
And then on Ken's side, it's gotta be a bit of a desert there in the office with people who are perhaps jealous that you've been published, but aren't all that interested in writing, or your writing in particular.
 
So it seems that it's gratifying to Ken that finally there's somebody who does seem to have a genuine interest in his writing.
 
Jenna: Sal ends up inviting Ken over for dinner, with Kitty, of course, to talk about the story after he reads it this weekend.
 
It Stays With You
 
Steve: The next scene cuts to Don pitching Martinson coffee.
They've clearly gone with the youth movement, so it's kind of funny how Don is talking about needing to cat the attention of the youth. And he intros Smitty, who will do the speaking on behalf of the young generation.
 
Jenna: Yes. Smitty makes the pitch that being simple and direct is all they need. The coffee is delicious, hot and brown. We don't need more than that.
 
And then this guy who is supposedly so modern and enlightened, says,
Peggy, sweetheart. And what he means is, hello, female copywriter in the room. I'm directing you to turn the tape player on right now. So he wants a complete turn for his generation, except when it comes to sexism, I guess.
 
Steve: Yeah. And Peggy dutifully stands up and turns on the tape recorder, and we hear the jingle, or if you prefer song, it's a mood exotic girl, exotic brew, Martinson.
And it's done in that sort of Caribbean style, which is going to become very popular and trendy over the next few months.
 
Jenna: I thought it was interesting that the old fashioned client listens and he turns to Peggy directly and asks, what do you think?
 
And of course she plays the game well. It stays with you, she says.
 
Steve: It's kind of funny to hear it through modern ears because it just seems so banal or plain or unambitious.
 
I think back at that time it is way more exotic, you know, kind of the way Little Richard was exotic in the 1950s to an audience that had been listening to Pat Boone.
 
Jenna: Going back just a little bit at the beginning of the pitch, Don says attempts have been made to capture the attention of youth puppets and so forth, which seemed really old fashioned.
 
I went down a rabbit hole of investigations about old cartoon mascots, so I will put some of those links in the show notes, so you can also be vaguely horrified that some of these mascots really existed.
 
Steve: The other thing I'll say that strikes me here is again, we have an old white man who's trying to figure out what the youth want to get them to drink his coffee.
 
So similar to the dynamic we had where we've got a bunch of men talking about what women want and what's in women's heads, the old white man is going to vet whether this truly will appeal to the youth audience.
 
It seems that it at least puts a hook into him because he asks for pictures and Don says if you sign, you get to see the pictures.
 
Jenna: One more quick thing I noticed about this scene, which I think is the only time we see Peggy.
The last time we saw Peggy in the previous episode, she had made this huge transformation and she was sitting on a client's lap in a bar. Had completely changed her look.
 
It doesn't look like that stuff stuck. At least when we see her in this episode. This is the same familiar Peggy that we're used to. So did you think about that at all?
What, what was your take?
 
Steve: Yeah, I have to admit I, I didn't contemplate it all that much. But I, I wonder too, even if you, you wanted to continue with the change, you can't remake your wardrobe overnight on her salary.
 
When she did make the change, she ends up on a client's lap at a strip club. It's not that it works out so great or, or meets her sort of professional ideal of what she was aiming for.
 
Jenna: Yeah. In terms of the advice, you know, stop dressing like a little girl, so you'll be taken seriously. I just thought it was kind of interesting that the client did take her opinion seriously here, even though you might not have expected him to.
 
Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That Before
Next we get Harry sitting down for his meeting with Bert. He's in the office with a painting and Harry brings it up. He's not sure what to say, so he asks Bert, what do you think of it?
 
Bert won't answer. He says, it's none of Harry's business.
So he says, well, what do you think? And Harry, in a moment of supreme honesty, in spite of his usual terrible judgment, says, sir, I know nothing about art.
 
And I'm so proud of him for being honest because he's just run around in spiraling circles and anxiety about this. And then he just says the truth.
 
And Bert is not bothered by his answer. He puts him down a little bit by saying, don't concern yourself with aesthetics. You'll get a headache.
But it was a great moment for Harry, really.
 
Steve: Yeah. And Bert is, as always, you know, so unpredictable.
This defensiveness about expressing what he thinks about the painting, about the art, I interpreted that in that artistic sense of, you know, he doesn't want to reveal that side of himself.
 
The irony, though, is as Bert continues to talk about it and says, oh, you know, people buy things to satisfy their aspirations.
It's almost like he eases into this materialistic aspect of - so by the end of it, he says, well, the painting should double in value by next Christmas. So we've moved completely away from any artistic assessment of it, and now we're talking about it purely as a financial investment.
 
Jenna: And Rothko paintings have sold for tens of millions of dollars in the last decade. So Bert had that right.
 
It Will Mean a Lot To Me If You’re There
 
Steve: The next scene cuts back to the Draper residence. The phone rings and it's Jimmy Barrett on the line. ABC's picked up Grin and Barrett.
There's going to be a shindig at the club on Monday night.
Jimmy's asking Betty if she would come there to the club, you know, along with Don. Betty's flattered at the attention.
 
Jenna: There will be celebrities there, he says. And then he says, Betty, it will mean a lot to me if you're there. Don't leave me alone with those people.
I think it's the only time he says her real name.
You can see she's really flattered as she hangs up.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's an interesting bit of flirting here by Jimmy and aligns with the way he behaved at the dinner, where, you know, the only person he was really devoting much time and Attention to was Betty.
 
I'm wondering what do you think Jimmy's angle is at this point?
 
Jenna: I want to get to that a little bit later because I think his angle is revealed.
 
Steve: Yeah. And we. We've all seen the episode. So you feel that he's calling purely with that intention. He. He's on a mission and he's got a plan for this evening. And you feel this is part of the setup for that plan?
 
Jenna: I do.
I think he is genuinely happy to flirt with Betty, but I don't think he lies awake at night pining for her. I definitely think this is a deliberate manipulation.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think. I think I agree with you there.
 
Philanthropy is the Gateway To Power
 
Jenna: Back to the office. Duck comes in to say that Martinson bought the presentation.
 
We see that Don is drinking and Duck is not. So, you know, previous episode trauma, we saw that Duck was struggling with getting back to the bottle, but he seems like he's avoided that.
 
Don says to Duck, that was good advance work. So it does look like they're getting along after their meeting last time about moving forward.
And Duck replies, that's my job.
 
Steve: Yeah. It does seem like a nice little interaction between them where Duck's advance work has paid off. Don's creative have landed the account.
 
It's a success for the two of them to enjoy and have a little bit of respect and appreciation for each other.
 
Jenna: Right away, Don gets a call to go to Cooper's office.
Just Don, not Duck.
Don walks past him, leaving Duck behind, and he clearly feels like he makes it happen, and then Don gets the credit. It isn't as blatant as Harry or Paul, but it's still there.
 
Steve: It also feels like Don has got that triumph on his shoulders as well. It sort of drains the drink and strut isn't the right word, but he strides out of the office, you know, in a position of power and dominance.
 
I think it's Don that Bert wants to speak with, not Duck. And Don's pleased for that to be made clear to Duck.
 
Jenna: Don's going places. He's headed somewhere important,
and Duck is just left standing there behind.
 
To his credit, when Don goes into Bert's office and he sees Roger and Burt, they congratulate him on Martin said, and he says, thank you. I didn't do it alone.
You're kind of proud of Don for not being a jerk about it.
 
Steve: Yeah. It is a team sport, so that seems appropriate. But they've quickly passed on to talk about the reason they've called Don in there. Martinson wants him to join the board of the Museum of Early American Folk Art.
 
And then Bert says that philanthropy is a gateway to power.
 
Jenna: You'd think philanthropy is the gateway to doing good works, but what do I know? I don't wear a tuxedo very often.
 
Steve: Yeah. I think Bert, again, is viewing it in this materialistic, practical sense, similar to the way he viewed the election of Kennedy over Nixon,
you know, seeing the utility that it plays in the business world and how things are run and done.
 
So I don't think Bart's against good works or these social benefits that come out of it, but what's relevant to this conversation is the practical advantages it creates.
 
Jenna: Bert asks Roger to step out of the room for a second, and he tells Don,
you're becoming one of a few people who get to decide what will happen in the world.
And he reminds Don: Would you agree I know a little something about you,
and maybe this is the validation or permission Don needs to feel like he's worth something a little bit more.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's interesting, Don's response to that question from Bert, because he says a little, and it feels like he is conceding that Bert knows something about him.
 
But the vibe I got from it was, there's a lot more about Don that you don't know. Again, struck me as a very sort of guarded, protective response.
 
Jenna: In any case, it does seem to have pushed him over the edge just a little bit to feel like he belongs in this room. He belongs in the place of decision makers.
So it cuts to him sitting in the Coupe de Ville. He's never driven it. And he says, Wayne, I would like to buy this car.
He's arrived.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's a. It's a great moment and point in Don Draper's life that he's achieved both the material success and the peace of mind that will let him go and invest this kind of money.
 
They Made Me Do It
 
Jenna: Back at the office, we see Joan coming to talk to Jane about breaking into Bert's office.
 
Jane denies it. There's a truth call out. She says, that's not true, which I think technically she's correct, since the door was unlocked, so they didn't break in.
 
You can see Jane is nervous, but then quickly, she switches into a fake, they made me do it. I had no choice. When, in fact, she was the ringleader. And Joan definitely knows better.
 
Steve: Yeah, I love that Jane pleads the babe in the woods routine there. And I also love that Joan sees right through it.
 
She's not just some pretty face with nothing upstairs. She's thinking and strategizing about what to say and who to say it to. And in the midst of this confrontation,
she's got her ready to go excuse for her behavior and rolls it out.
 
It doesn't work with Joan, but just the fact that Jane tries it tells me, okay, Jane's thinking this thing through and looking to get out of a hot. A tight spot here.
 
Jenna: Since that didn't work, Jane goes into attack mode against Joan. Are you the only one who's allowed to have fun around here?
 
Joan tells her to collect her things. She'll find her replacement.
Jane seems really shocked by this. Did you think this was a fireable offense?
 
Steve: I struggled with that, actually trying to take myself out of the modern context and put myself back into 1962. I guess I'm going to defer to Matt Weiner here and the writers that this is, in fact, a firing offense.
 
And this sort of thing would occur, I think, in this interaction as well. Doesn't Jane say, I'm 20 years old, I don't need a mother?
 
And I thought that was a really biting comment against Joan, who we know is feeling some of the pressure as she's now in her 30s and there's all these young admins around the office.
 
Jenna: Yes. My sense was that if Jane had lowered her eyes and meekly apologized, she wouldn't have been fired.
 
I think it was this manipulative response to Joan's critique that was the problem. It wasn't necessarily that she was sneaking into the office. It was that she was sneaking into the office and she was lying about it, and she was being impossible to Joan, like, challenging Joan's power.
All of that together made it seem like, okay, this is not going to work out.
 
Steve: Yeah, I. I buy that. That. That makes a lot of sense to me.
And I think at this point, we see Joan asserting all her power now. So Joan is firing her. Joan is not checking with anyone else.
 
You've crossed me. You're out. And that decision is final.
 
I Can’t Wait To Pull Up to the Stork Club in This
Jenna: And while they're at the office, Don is out buying a Cadillac and going home early, I guess, because he brings the new car home.
Betty seems really happy and impressed. The kids aren't home from school yet.
This is who she wants Don to be, who she wants them to be together. So they're sitting in this brand new car and enjoying it, amassing status and fortune and enjoying all this together.
 
But she pulls a manipulation of her own, saying,
I can't wait to pull up to the Stork Club in this. And then she comes clean with Jimmy Barrett's party invitation.
 
Steve: Yeah, I think Betty displays her own materialism in this scene. She's very pleased that this is a sign of her status and her husband's success, and it's something everyone in the neighborhood's going to see.
 
And then she also lets drop that Jimmy had called her.
And when Don inquires about why he would do that, Betty says, well, you know, he likes talking to me.
 
Jenna: And we have to understand that that's true over the course of her lifetime. And Don would know that that wouldn't be a surprise.
 
Steve: The scene ends with the two of them deciding to go off and celebrate the new car. Not in the car, Don declares. So they head off into the house as the kids won't be home for another hour.
 
Draper’s a Tough Desk, Honey
Jenna: Back at the office, Jane carries her box of belongings and makes sure to stop by Roger's office to thank him.
She doesn't go by Ken's office. She goes by Roger's office.
 
And when she says, I've been fired,
Roger says, Draper's a tough desk honey, so there's nothing he can do about that. And then she reveals, actually, it was Ms. Holloway. And he puts down his paper and says, well, I could see someone wanting to reprimand you, seriously, but firing, that's a little permanent.
 
Steve: It's such an interesting contrast, because when he thinks it's Draper,
it's done. You know, there's nothing I can do about it. You know, it's a tough assignment when it's Joan. Suddenly it becomes something that's now contingent. It's something where there may be some wiggle room here.
 
Jenna: And Jane and Roger do this whole dance where he saves her from being fired. She reveals her address to him, and Joan is ultimately overridden, and she's not even in the room.
 
Steve: Yeah. And. And given that Joan has gone all in on asserting her power here, you know, this is really going to chop the legs out from under Joan, at least in Jane,
now that she's got this get out of jail free card named Roger Sterling.
 
Jenna: And let's note here, Roger says Ms. Holloway is going through a tough time. She's engaged, you know, and that's all he says.
 
He says, tell you what. You go home, by the time you come back Monday, this will all be taken care of. I got this.
 
I mean, he definitely throws Joan under the bus in terms of his actions, but not really so much in terms of his words.
 
Steve: Yeah, he doesn't say much about her or her state or anything else, which, as everyone who's watched the episode knows there's a reason we're making this point.
 
Jenna: Yes.
 
It Was Perfect In Every Way, Except It Couldn’t Make Music
Next we see Kitty and Sal's place. They're waiting for Ken to come over for dinner, and Sal is a little bit nervous. He's cooking spaghetti sauce from scratch. He's noticing that Ken is late.
It seems like a big deal to Sal to have him come over.
 
Steve: Yeah. And we just see Sal doting on Ken. He's enthralled with him. All his attention is to Ken.
 
Kitty, his wife, is tagging along as an afterthought.
It's all Sal pushing on Ken the entire time.
 
Jenna: I feel like in this first scene, Kitty is an eager host, and she's making conversation and welcoming Ken.
 
Ken is so nervous to hear what Sal thought about the story. He can't even appreciate anything. So he's like, look, we have to get this out of the way.
 
And Sal says, oh, he liked it a lot. He toasts to it. The story's called the Gold Violin,
and Ken says he saw one at the Met. It was perfect in every way, except it couldn't make music.
 
Weiner, in his commentary, says, what is the purpose of an object?
In other words, you know, the gold violin. So we also have the status of the Cadillac and the Rothko painting and the practicality of objects like the 10 cent diapers or the hot brown coffee or even Jane's box of things she's carrying out.
 
There's also this idea of purpose in the people.
Betty, for example, as an object, her whole identity is wrapped up in what is her purpose. It was supposed to be a happily married wife and mother,
but beyond that, she's struggling for her purpose.
 
And I feel like Roger also seems to suffer with that question,
even though he has more freedom than Betty. And this idea of such a crowded city full of things and people and not being sure of what their meaning or purpose or value is - that's a huge question.
 
Steve: Yeah, absolutely. Especially when the purpose of so many of the objects seems external. Like, take the example of the car.
 
It's so that everybody else can see how well you've done and how well you're doing.
And we know at the heart of the Draper marriage, there's a hollowness or problem.
This materialistic solution does nothing to solve that, even as it further polishes the appearance of the relationship further to those on the outside looking at it. The other thing I'll mention here is it comes up that Sal wouldn't even let Kitty read the story.
 
And he uses the excuse that he didn't know if Ken would approve of sharing it with her. It's the first hint here, I think, that Sal is holding this awfully close and trying to have this interaction with Ken. And Kitty's not really part of it.
 
Jenna: Kind of in the same way that Betty won't let Sally go to the stables because it's something she wants to keep for just herself.
 
Yes. Sal's keeping Ken's story to himself has that same feeling, too. Yes.
 
Steve: We cut to the Drapers, who've taken a drive in their brand new Coupe de Ville with the family and had a picnic out in the countryside.
It's an idyllic family scene together.
 
Everyone seems to be getting along and enjoying each other's company.
It's about as perfect, at least in appearances, as we see the Drapers,
although, you can also see the cracks.
 
Jenna: Betty and Sally play checkers for about two seconds before Betty gives up and tells Sally to go play with Bobby.
And Sally mentions she'd rather play with Silly Putty, which, by the way, was made in 1943. But Don says it's too messy for the car.
 
And he also tells Betty to check the children's hands for dirt before they can ride in it. So you can see him taking care of his new status symbol.
 
Don talks about his childhood and having an outhouse for a bathroom,
and it prompts Sally to ask, are we rich?
And Betty answers, it's not polite to talk about money, which seems very much of this era.
There's also this generation's tendency to brush over these topics and not face them.
 
So we understand Betty doesn't want Sally running around the neighborhood saying that they're rich. But all the adults are trying to negotiate this question around status. I mean, Harry with the painting and Don with the car.
Betty being invited to the celebrity party.
So ignoring this uncomfortable question just teaches Sally not to ask questions. It doesn't stop her from wondering them.
 
Steve: And they're answering the question with their actions and their material purchases. Right. Why is Betty so thrilled about the Cadillac? Because everyone's going to see them in it and everyone's going to know what this means in terms of their wealth.
 
So in effect, I won't answer the question with words,
but I'll show it with my earrings. I'll show it with my fancy car and my fur coat and my fancy house and all the rest of it. It is an interest contradiction here between openly expressing it and demonstrating it.
 
Jenna: What I do, not what I say.
 
Steve: The thing that freaks people out the most about this scene, it seems,
is this time capsule of their attitude towards littering. Don finishes his beer,
chucks the can as far as he can throw it.
 
They shake off the blanket and leave all the wrapping and papers and just strewn on the lawn completely gashed with litter from the Draper family.
 
And they fold up their things that they're keeping. They don't even look twice at all this mess they've created. The world is sort of their picnic table to, to gash a total mess when they, when they depart.
 
I don't know for me, personally just rubs me so wrong and, and just grates on me. I. I can't believe how much it bothers me.
 
Jenna: This one is such a great one because some of them seem a little too obvious, but this one hits different. You forget that that was true. That's why there needed to be signs about fines for littering or adopt a highway.
 
We're cleaning this up. This was way before any of that. So of course they would just sit there and leave, leave their potato chip wrappers floating around. It's so much garbage just sitting there in the once pristine grass.
 
Really offensive. But it's also funny that we're so shocked by that when the way that the people treat each other is so terrible and we start to get used to that and accustomed to it that the littering is the shocking thing.
So it's a amazing scene.
 
Steve: It reminds me a bit of the action movie where a whole bunch of people are shot and harmed or killed, and yet the villain kicks a cat or a dog and the audience oohs and ahs because how wicked is he?
 
He's done something cruel to a defenseless animal.
This moment in this episode also marks, I think, the moment of downturn where we're going to start to go into some very dark territory through the remainder of the episode.
 
Jenna: And remember when we met Jimmy Barrett, he started with his ad.
This is a nice place for nice people and it certainly looks pretty. But here the Drapers leave their mess lying around visible for everybody to see. And yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna be a little more visibly messy.
 
A Lot of People Find Me Very Interesting, You Know
First though, we have another mess we need to visit because Ken, Sal and Kitty are finishing up dinner and you can see that Sal and Ken are talking about work.
And now things have shifted a little bit for Kitty.
 
She's participating, but Sal is brushing her off. You know, oh, how we met is a boring story. Or oh, he's not interested in your cousin's advertising agency.
 
And we see Ken lighting Sal's cigarette,
just like when the air conditioned salesman came to Betty's house. And you could see he was there trying to sell an air conditioner. But for her, it was all charged with something more.
 
It's the same here.
Ken is happy to come over for dinner, and he doesn't detect that Sal is reading anything else into this visit.
 
Steve: Yeah, and Sal is just fawning over Ken to the complete exclusion of Kitty. And I, for one, really appreciated Sarah Drew's acting in this scene because I think she just strikes the perfect balance of somebody who's trying to put herself as part of this social gathering and be heard and be seen, and then getting the door slammed in her face at every turn, but then at the same time, having to conceal that and keep a brave face because it would be untoward to suddenly burst out in frustration.
 
But we can see she's being beaten down as the scene goes on.
 
Jenna: When Ken leaves and Kitty and Sal, as expected, push some more food on him - you know, please take some dessert and so forth. Kitty sits down, and Sal looks sad.
 
So we know that Kitty is feeling hurt. Sal has cooked, and now he plans to clean up.
And Kitty confronts him.
Do you even see me here?
A lot of people find me very interesting, you know.
 
Sal apologizes. He doesn't want to hurt her.
And it's this painful scene because Sal isn't a brute. He isn't saying crushing things Don or Pete say to their spouses, but he is crushing her just the same.
 
And he's crushed and lonely himself and having to hide himself.
I have so much empathy for Kitty because she isn't being a diva. She has a legitimate complaint about being shoved aside that evening.
 
But you also see how lonely Sal's married life is. It's not Kitty's fault. But now that Ken's gone, he has lost his spark and energy.
His normal isn't. Not what he looks forward to.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think the acting here on both actors is so excellent because I think we really see that horror in Sal's face as he realizes how badly he's treated Kitty.
 
I think, yeah, he is nursing his own disappointment and the lie of his own life and relationship, but also then to see that he's become the perpetrator of a wrong against Kitty, who in no way deserves it or merits this treatment. It's just such a great scene and strikes me as so real.
 
He never meant to do this, and he realizes he has. He takes ownership of it,
but the wound is there now, and you can't undo it. You know, it's what. What's broken can't be unbroken at this point.
 
Jenna: There's also an interesting parallel between, say, Betty and Kitty and Don and Sal, because Don and Sal are both entering into marriages, pretending to be something that they aren't.
 
Betty and Kitty have both been raised to be particular types of people in this era,
and they both feel like, okay, I must be doing something wrong, you know, and they're. They try extra hard to get the result that they expect.
 
It isn't their fault. And you almost. I mean, with Don and with Sal,
I think both of them believe I can be this person for my spouse. I can just - if I try hard enough, I can be this person and make it work.
 
And I think they both want to, but it's just not what's real.
 
Steve: Yeah. And again, I. I like the realism of this quandary or this challenge because I think a lot of people face it in a lot of different areas.
 
It's just this sort of human quandary that so many of us will find ourselves in to some greater or lesser extent, to see it so brilliantly portrayed in these two relationships. Again, tip of the hat to Matt Weiner and the Mad Men team.
 
Jenna: As Sal cleans up from dinner, we notice he pockets the lighter that Ken left behind.
What is the value of the object?
 
We get a good transition here as Sal picks up a lighter in his house and someone in an office puts a cigarette in an ashtray. Mad Men does this so beautifully with doors and windows and mirrors and transition from place to place.
 
I Ran Into Him On My Way Out.  Did You?
We see Ken and Jane walking into work.
Please don't lurk near my desk. I'm being watched. She says she's clearly nervous about coming in today.
 
Steve: We know, sort of Roger's irresponsibility when it comes to looking after things, and it's something that permeates the series, you know, through future seasons as well.
 
So just the idea that he would have smoothed this over with Joan and made sure it was all ticked and tied, I think even the first time through. We suspect that this is probably a time bomb that's ticking away, and Joan has no idea that she's going to see Jane in the office.
 
Jenna: So Jane is typing outside Don's office when Joan catches sight of her and zooms in on the commentary. Matt Weiner calls Joan Jaws as she zeroes in on Jane coming straight at her.
 
You can imagine the theme music playing as she slowly comes closer and closer and Jane asks if Mr. Sterling spoke with her. Of course he didn't. He didn't worry about it at all.
What could he possibly have to do with this? Joan asks.
 
And then Jane takes it to an extra level of mean. She says,
I'll do whatever you want. But he said you do this a lot, that you lose your temper, that you're impetuous and it's not serious.
But Roger didn't say any of that.
 
But Joan knows Roger better than most people in the office, and it is not impossible that he said something to that effect, which he did.
 
I ran into him on my way out, Jane says.
Did you? Joan asks.
Is there a problem? Jane asks. No, there's no problem at all. It's very clear. Joan walks away.
 
She's lost that battle. And Jane goes back to typing. We see her looking nervous. It wasn't easy for her, but she kept her composure.
 
And it's such a callback to Don firing Pete and then Cooper insisting they keep him. And Don had to suck that up. And now Joan is going to have to deal with Jane, who just had a whole power up in this exchange, especially now that she knows Roger is in her corner.
 
Jane seemed like she was just another pretty face, but she is totally disrupting the office order.
Do you think that Peggy or Jane is more disruptive to Joan's worldview because they both had a shakeup?
 
Steve: I'm not sure I buy that she's totally disrupting the office order, but I will agree that she's not this innocent, nice to look at, harmless presence. You know, she's got an agenda, she's got sharp elbows and she'll do what she needs to do to survive and get what she wants in the office.
 
So all. All Jane's innocence has sloughed off, fallen off in this episode and in this particular scene.
I guess when I think about disruption from Joan's perspective,
I think Joan was puzzled by Peggy and it was hard for her to get her head around what is Peggy. I think Jane is much more exactly what she appears to be.
 
And I think Joan has read her correctly. The fact that she can't do anything about her okay, that is problematic.
I wonder if Joan just says okay. I compartmentalize Jane at this point, knowing that she's got this godfather protecting her and she doesn't let it ruin the way she's running the rest of the office, you know, which is large and there's a lot to do, and Joan is just one little corner, you know, Don Draper's admin assistant.
 
Jenna: Oh, I don't know, though, because Joan and Roger don't have this relationship anymore. And it was Joan's choice. But still, that's going to burn.
 
And also remember in the Belle Jolie campaign, when they were doing the brainstorming, Joan had control over what the secretaries actually told the researcher.
She managed everything.
So to have this blow up in her face, I think is a huge setback.
 
But of course she's going to keep her composure because she does that very well.
She's going to have to come back and fight this battle another day because with Roger backing Jane, it's not an easy target.
 
Steve: Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Joan isn't just furious at Jane and very unhappy about this, but I'm talking about the larger disruption. You know, does this matter to Harry?
 
Does it matter to Paul? Does it matter to the other secretaries?
I just don't think they're part of this in any way. And it can exist in this silo where,
yeah, Jane and Joan hate each other.
 
But what is the disruption outside of that silo? I'm just not sure there is much.
The one thing I do want to point out here is so much is said about how Betty acts like a child. Guess who the child is here. It's Roger Sterling, a little boy smitten with a cute face in the office that basically ties him around her finger. And he's perfectly willing to be tied because he knows darn well what's going on here and he's still okay with it.
 
It's a. It's a weak look for Roger.
 
Jenna: Elsewhere in the office, Ken finds Sal and thanks him again for dinner.
And he says, your home is kind of what I have in mind,
the way you two are.
 
Sal just keeps his mask on and says the polite thing, but we can see that Ken is dreaming of what Sal has, and Sal doesn't even want what Sal has.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's a painful, quick little moment and just so ironic. But, yeah,
again, it gets to this appearance again of what's been portrayed, what's seen by others, and then where the real truth lies.
 
I’d Want You On My Arm
Jenna: Moving on. It's Jimmy Barrett's party at the Stork Club. Don's in a white dinner jacket, Betty's gorgeous in blue.
 
They meet the ABC executive, and then Bobbie Barrett comes over to greet them.
She has a few ideas for the show. They involve giving Jimmy a Rolex watch. So again with the status objects.
 
And Betty leaves to go get drinks.
Jimmy Barrett finds her alone drinking champagne. And at first he seems complimentary to her, but then he gets super direct and honest.
 
He says about Don that he's been standing behind guys like that his whole life.
He was lucky he was funny. Otherwise he never would have gotten to meet Betty. And in another truth call out, she says, oh, that's not true.
And he presses on.
 
Steve: He says, I'd want you on my arm.
To me, that has so much power because it's implying Don doesn't want you on his arm.
 
I wonder if it's also a reflection of Jimmy and his relationship with Bobbie, of Bobbie doesn't want Jimmy on her arm.
 
It's a sense of being the outsiders and that that happens to be Jimmy and Betty, who. Who in their own ways are both, you know, exceptional, and yet they can see that they're third wheels to the other two.
 
And I think Betty avoids this realization or contemplating this. And I think it's very ugly and bold of Jimmy to present it to her.
 
Jenna: Yes. As always, she tries to shut it down. I don't like what you're saying.
As if it's his rudeness or saying it that's the real problem.
 
But she hasn't been around people like Jimmy. He's not going to be quiet because he has to. People like he wants to burn it all down.
So he keeps going,
look at us over here at the kids table. What do you think happened between him and her?
 
He wants her to see it and hurt the way that he does. He says, I know her and you know him. And there they are, and they don't care where we are.
And Betty can't not look at it.
 
Steve: Yeah, it's so devastating the way he words it, because if he just accused her man of malfeasance, she could get defensive and block it out.
 
But the fact that he basically cops to how his wife is and she knows how her husband is, and there's so much truth in it because to this point, you know, we've seen how similar they are.
 
You know, maybe Betty doesn't know exactly how Bobbie is.
Jimmy doesn't know exactly how Don is, but they've got their suspicions and they've probably had enough evidence in their own relationships.
 
One question I had was when Bobbie and Don first hooked up, I assumed, and incorrectly based on this episode, that there was some sort of understanding between Jimmy and Bobbie and that the betrayal that Bobbie was doing to Jimmy was fundamentally different than the betrayal that Don was doing to Betty.
 
This episode suggests that the betrayal is very similar and perceived very similarly between Jimmy and Betty. What's your take on that?
 
Jenna: Yeah, he explicitly says, I don't like it any more than you do. You can see his hurt as he says that.
 
Steve: And it does seem genuine, like he's genuinely hurt. Like there's a rage that he has over this. So he's not blase or sort of reconciled with it. He. He's really hurting, and his hurt manifests as anger.
 
Yeah, I totally agree with that perception.
 
Jenna: But we do get in a later scene that it's not the first time it's happened, and he knows that, too, so he's just having to wrestle with these demons. But we understand that Betty is as well.
 
It's so funny, because Don doesn't want to have anything in common with Bobbie, and Betty definitely doesn't want to have anything in common with Jimmy. And there they are.
 
Steve: Yeah. And I think that just adds insult to injury here. You know, your partner's injured you, and then the insult is when Bobbie says, you know, we're. We're alike now. Now Betty's faced with that exact same implication with Jimmy.
 
Cosmetically, Jimmy's so different. Right. Because all the things that, you know, Betty tries to behave the right way as good manners, and the rest,
Jimmy's made a career off of the reciprocal of that.
 
Yet in terms of relationship, they're in the exact same place. And it's just such a toxic moment.
 
Jenna: Well, it's been toxic, but I don't know. I mean, I wonder if we could say,
really, he's doing her a favor here. But it's really awful. It's the exact thing she wants to avoid because her dream is to just. Well, her dream is to have it be perfect in appearances for sure, and in reality, if possible.
 
But she definitely wants to paper over anything that isn't perfect. And he is just dragging it all into the light. The messy, ugly, awful. Everything that, for her, in this moment, is really terrible because she wanted to come to a party in their new Cadillac and be dressed up all pretty and be at this elite place with celebrities.
 
And here instead,
it was the exact opposite of everything she hoped for,
and she was hoping that in fact, Don had turned it around.
 
We assumed that they had had some kind of conversation between season one and season two, after she went to the psychiatrist and said, you know, I know my husband is cheating on me.
 
This is clear evidence. Like, she cannot hide it anymore. It's like when Francine came over, it's like, I have to look at it. I have to know. I have to see it.
She hates everything about this.
 
Steve: And it just further emphasizes the hollowness of the materialistic gifts. Right. The fancy new car is still as fancy as it was before.
 
Her beautiful earrings as she walks into the Stork Club. All of that doesn't amount to a hill of beans when your relationship has got this cancer at the heart of it.
It is such a devastating sort of sweeping of the materialistic.
 
What are you left with? And it's like it doesn't matter. It doesn't count for anything.
You people are crude.
What people? You mean comedians?
 
Jenna: That's a great parting line.
 
We get a quick scene next of Sal and Kitty. They're watching TV together in the dark.
Sal uses Ken's lighter for his cigarette.
Sal and Kitty aren't talking. It's not hostile, but it's supposed to be content. And for Sal, it isn't.
 
Steve: Yeah. And it feels lonely. It feels lonely for both of them. Sitting there in the dimly lit room with the television on.
 
Jenna: I just realized that Ken's is the only light in the room because everything else is dim.
 
I Don’t Know What You Think Happened
 
Steve: The next scene cuts to Jimmy's finale. He's not done yet. He encounters Don holding Betty's stole. Jimmy decides to take him on.
 
Jenna: You know what I like about you?
Nothing. But it's okay. You got me everything I wanted.
What did you get, Bobbie? Lots of people have had that.
 
And Don, like Betty, doesn't want any of this out in the light. He tries to deflect and deny. And he says, I don't know what you think happened.
 
Jimmy says, I laugh at you. I go home at night and I laugh at you.
You're garbage and you know it.
 
And Don does wonder this about himself. He. He isn't sure he's a New Cadillac kind of person. He's not sure that anybody really knows or loves him.
And here's somebody in an elite club filled with celebrities saying he has no value, no matter how dressed up he is.
 
Steve: Yeah, at the height of his success, because it's been a very successful episode for him.
And yet now a mirror's been held up in front of his face because everything Jimmy's saying is true. And actually more because Jimmy doesn't know about all the other things.
 
So it just feels like he's putting a wedge right into that fissure in Don's character that, you know, leads to all his insecurities and failures in life. There's no hiding from it. There's no dodging it. There's nothing he can do.
 
And then Betty's back, and Jimmy makes nice again as. As they depart the club. But it's such a devastating confrontation. And the rage in Jimmy's eyes as he confronts Don again is just such great acting and portrayal at that moment, because you really get that sense of pain, hurt and fury from Jimmy. Seeking now to hurt Don Draper with his comments.
 
Jenna: Betty looks absolutely shaken.
We see Betty and Don driving home in the car silently.
And in this car, which Don has taken such care to preserve,
his wife, sick on truth and champagne,
she throws up.
 
Steve: And the look on her face both as they depart the club. And then before she throws up in the car, it's just such a devastating combination of fear, anger, sadness.
 
It just conveys so much in that moment in this magnificent brand new car.
And then even Don's face, you know, he's always a bit of the sphinx, but we can see, you know, he's contemplating what truth he's been served up by Jimmy, and he's certainly not in a good place.
 
Jenna: And the amazing choice for the closing song this episode is Brenda Lee's Break It To Me gently, released in 1961.
There is nothing gentle about that breaking.
 
I think this is the kind of thing about Mad Men – it’s what makes some viewers too uncomfortable to watch. It's so painful and awkward, and it leaves us sitting in it without resolution.
 
They're not happy together, but you're not cheering for them to split up, exactly. There's just no winning. So I think many other shows are more straightforward and you don't have to carry this guilt and shame and regret like you do with Mad Men.
 
When we did our first bonus podcast about why you shouldn't watch Mad Men, one reason was because it makes you feel icky. And this is a perfect example.
Nothing about this feels good.
 
Steve: No. And it kind of sets you up in this episode because things seem to be going so well in so many dimensions throughout the first half of it.
 
And then suddenly we go off the rails and it's so devastating.
The things that we took to be victories or things going in the right direction in the first half are exposed as hollow or insufficient in the face of these failings we see in, especially the last third of the episode.
 
So it's. It's a tough one. It's a real punch to the gut.
 
Jenna: And yet it's such good tv because it's so complicated.
I mean, you've got a character who has been raised to follow all these rules and do everything right, no matter what, and she's not happy.
 
And another character who's built an incredibly different life from the childhood he left, and he's got everything he thinks he should want and he's not happy.
How can that be possible?
 
And yet so many of us attain things and don't feel fulfilled.
It's such a recognizable condition.
Even if art generally teaches us that heroes have quests, and once they complete them, everything is happily ever after.
 
But Mad Men shows us it isn't.
 
 
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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 dot com to vote for your favorite Sterling lines and to share your opinions on our Double Dip questions for each episode.
 
Jenna: You can find us on Instagram and YouTube at Mad Men C to Z, and please listen, like and subscribe. That's what the podcast's for!
 
Steve: Thanks for listening, everybody.