Mad Men Season 4, Episode 6: Waldorf Stories

Danny Siegel is interviewing for a job at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.  What he lacks in experience, and height, he more than makes up for by being related to Senior Partner Roger Sterling's  wife Jane.  Jane is his cousin and that should be enough to get his tiny foot in the SCDP offices.  His work is pedestrian - mostly riffing off the "cure for the common cold" idiom. Under normal circumstances, he'd never have a shot at a job there as a copywriter.  But his familial relationship is not a normal circumstance.

Regardless, Don is still reluctant to hire Danny, much to Roger's disappointment.  He's starting to wonder if having his name on the door means anything anymore. First he couldn't stop the partners from pursuing Honda, now he can't get them to hire a junior copywriter to make his wife happy?

After the interview with Danny, Peggy goes to talk to Don. While she's talking about the poor quality of his book, considering the fact that he's not much younger than she is, she is also fishing for a compliment from Don.  He's going to an awards dinner that evening where their commercial for Glo-Coat is up for an award.  Peggy is looking for acknowledgement that her work is being honored and that her original idea is up for the award which Don will be picking up in her absence, but Don deflects and discussion of Peggy's role in the campaign. He even gives the extra ticket to the awards dinner to Joan rather than Peggy. 

Don and Roger pre-game before going to the Waldorf for the Clio award gala. This lead to a flashback of Roger Sterling's first meeting with Donald Draper.  Don was then a slick fur salesman, Roger was a philanderer who needed a token of his appreciation for his new mistress, Joan.  Nothing says I appreciate you like an expensive fur and nothing says mink like mink. Roger noticed the posters in the store and asked who did their work and Don said that he did.  Advertising was an interest of his. In fact, he had put together a portfolio of his work and other ideas.  Roger handed him his card and Don was surprised to see the man he was talking to was the president of his own Advertising agency.  Don asked if he could call him to discuss the profession, but Roger was not interested in being anyone's mentor. 

Later, when Don sent the mink to Roger he included samples of some of his advertising work.  Roger was not impressed with his spunk and ingenuity, he was irritated.  Don did not give up.  Instead he planned for a chance meeting at the lobby elevators for Roger's office and managed to entice him with the promise of an early drink to meet and discuss the business.  Don plied Roger with booze but still Roger had no interest in even considering hiring Don.  So Don did what he does, he made up a story, acted like he belonged there, and marched into the offices of Sterling Cooper as their newest employee.

Peggy is butting heads with her new art director, Stan Rizzo.   She complains to Don how he loses his art work and doesn't get back to her fast enough.  But Don doesn't want to hear that Stan's the problem.  "Stan is talented and more experienced. You need to learn how to work with him, not the other way around," he tells her.  Peggy is already irritated that she's not only not going to the Clios but not getting any acknowledgement for coming up with the idea that lead to the potentially award-winning commercial.  On top of that, she now has to deal with a dilettante who thinks he's her boss.  Stan is arrogant and goes on about nudity and the human body and how uptight and repressed Peggy is. If this were a network sitcom, they'd be dating by the next episode.

The Clio Awards were exciting enough with the prospect of winning their first award, but on top of that we have Duck making a drunken fool of himself and Pete getting some gossip about a possible buyout or merger of the company involving his old rival Ken Cosgrove.  Don and Ted Chaough get to snipe back at forth with each other, with Roger classically referring to him as Chao-guh-guh.  Don accepts the award for the Glo-Coat commercial and then immediately decides to ride the wave back to the office to meet with the Life Cereal reps (who came by unexpectedly).

We've seen good pitches and we've seen memorably brilliant pitches, but this is the first time we've seen Don Draper look at work like we've seen him in his sad lonely out-of-the-office life.  He's drunk and (for him) disheveled and rambling.  He does what he criticizes Danny for doing - plagiarizes someone else's idea.  First he goes back and pilfers parts of his own successful pitches, most obviously the Kodak carousel one, as he scrambles together ideas on the fly.  He's unprepared and unrefined and he only needs to piss himself to complete the full Rumsen.  In the middle of all of this sputtering, he comes up with an idea they like.  "Life, cure for the common cereal."  He's happy, they're happy, everyone's happy.

Except for Peggy who realizes what just happened. Don just sold Danny Siegel's pitch.  She can't help but appreciate the irony - once again Don gets credit for someone else's idea, once again he believes he invented the idea all on his own.

She's not the only unhappy employee.  Pete comes to Lane to ask him if their firm is merging with the one where Ken works, only to find out that Lane has been negotiating to hire Ken for the new SCDP.  Pete, who was always in competition with Ken, is mad that he wasn't consulted, and madder still that his rival will be coming back to challenge him for accounts.  But Lane puts it in pragmatic terms that Pete can understand - they need Ken's business, they can't continue to rely on just Roger.

Don goes out for more drinking, to continue the award winning celebration into the night. While there he sees Faye Miller.  They engage in a little verbal foreplay before the heavily drunk Don does what he's been doing every time he's had one (or five) too many - he hits on Faye.  Even though she's a psychologist and an expert in human behavior she's also a red-blooded woman, but so far she's able to resist uber-handsome Dob Draper's oily charm.

 While Don grabs the attention of an attractive woman at the bar, Roger thinks back again to when he knew Don before he came to work at Sterling Cooper. Don intercepted him in person after repeated efforts to reach him by phone failed. As part of his pitch, Don asked the silver-spoon fed Roger if he ever needed a break.  Maybe feeling guilty that everything was handed to him in life, or just intrigued by the offer of early morning drinking, he agreed to have a drink.  But he doesn't make Don an offer, joking that he always needs a good fit man. 

While Don was plastered earlier in the evening, he told Peggy that she and Stan   needed to get a hotel room for the weekend and figure out a pitch for Vicks by Monday. The two spend the night needling each other, sparring and trying to be creative.  But mostly, there's a power struggle between the two.  He accuses Peggy of being a prude, she calls him on just how free he really is - calling his bluff about nudism.  They strip down and go about their work.  If this were a network sitcom they'd be dating by now. 

The next time we see Don he's sprawled out in bed with a woman next to him. Betty's on the phone and she's furious, Don has missed his time to pick up he kids.  He thinks she's got her days mixed up until he discovers that he was so black-out drunk that he missed an entire day.  It is Sunday and instead of being with his children, he's with the second of two young women he's been holed up with.  And she thinks his name is Dick.  Not Don's finest moment as a father. 

He spends the rest of the day with his phone off the hook, hungover. sleeping it off.  Peggy comes to his apartment to tell him how he stole Danny's idea and pitched it to the Life Cereal team.  Don has no memory of that.  Nor does he remember ordering her and Stan to spend the weekend locked in a hotel room brainstorming.  She doesn't let Don try and wiggle his way out of the trouble his drunken presentation his gotten them into.  She frustrated with his behavior, how he gets away with so mug and is never held responsible. And how everyone thinks she's his favorite and yet he treats her like dirt. 

Observations:

Stan tells Peggy that he knows that she's Don's favorite.  (He also says he knows there hasn't been anything romantic between them, because, basically, Draper can do better.  Stan's a classy guy)  Peggy hears this all the time (Pete was be first to tell her) but she certainly doesn't feel it. Don is like an abusive boyfriend, sending her mixed signals, praising her one moment and ridiculing or demeaning her the next. 

The quote Danny was looking for was: "Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration, and inspiration."

That's Betty Draper, fashion model, in the Heller Fur ad.  We knew that she was a model, and that's how she and Don, met, and now we see the proof.

Ken is back.  Pete understandably was reluctant to have his position at the new offices challenged and, having won the war, he certainly doesn't want any new battles starting up. But Lane brings him into the negotiations and let's him set the rules - he's a partner. Ken is not, and that seems to mollify Pete.   Pete may be prickly, and emotional at times, but he has a good sense of what's good for the bottom line. 

The parallels between Don and Danny are there - both are eager and will do anything to get into the advertising game.  Both play on Roger's weaknesses to get their jobs (Don gets Roger drunk and then lies to him, Danny uses his cousin).  But where Danny is upfront about who he is and how he expects to get hired, Don uses deception to get his.  He lacks the connections that Danny has, so he has to reinvent himself.

We also see the differences between Roger and Don.  One, the spoiled rich kid who inherited his wealth, status, career, company.  The other, the self made man, raised in poverty, who did whatever it took to become successful.  Roger feels envious that everyone thinks he's never really had to work and that he coasts through life.  Don is perennially afraid of being revealed as a fraud and constantly needs validation.

At least Don knows that he gave Danny  the job.  Roger does not realize - or at least does not acknowledge - that he didn't actually discover or hire Don.  Not only is Don Draper's life origin story false, his career origin story is a lie as well. So Roger cannot even take credit for hiring Don.

First introduction of new art director Stan Rizzo, who immediately butts heads with Peggy.  But Peggy does a great job getting the upper hand with him.

Songs: 
"Ladder Of Success" by Skeeter Davis

Quotes:

Danny: You know what they say, aspiration's as good as perspiration.
Don:  That's not how it goes.

Peggy: What's his connection to Roger?
Don:  Besides being delusional?

Don: You finish something, you find out everyone loves it right around the time that It feels like someone else did it.

Roger:  Plagiarism?  That's resourceful.

Don:  Can I assume this is some kind of an apology?
Roger: No no no, I know exactly how much that costs.

Don:  Make it simple but significant.

Peggy: I was clapping and he thought I was clapping for him.
Stan:  Who claps for themselves?

Lane:  Roger Sterling is a child, And frankly we can't have you pulling the cart all by yourself.

Faye: Just think how you'd feel right now if you lost.
Don:  About the same, I suppose. It doesn't make the work any better.
Faye: That's very healthy.

Faye: Award or no award, you're still Don Draper.
Don: Whatever that means.

Stan:   I know you're his favorite.  I bet he takes you hunting and lets you carry the carcasses in your mouth.

Woman: Is that Don Draper?

Roger: Yes it is.
Woman:  Is he attached?

Roger:  To that glass? Absolutely.

Roger: They don't seem to give awards for what I do. 

Joan: And what is that?

Roger:  Find guys like him. 

Joan (to Roger): You've crossed the border from lubricated to morose. 

Don:  It's just I've left some messages for you.
Roger: And I've ignored them.  That's my message for you,

Roger:  My mother always said be careful what you wish for because you'll get it. And then people'll get jealous and try to take it away from you.
Don:  I don't think that's how that goes.
Roger:  You're an expert on everything, right? And how can I hire you? You know too much about me.


********************************************************************************
Spoilery observations. (DON'T READ UNTIL YOU'RE CAUGHT UP)

Megan stumbled pulling the projector out of Stan's office.  Was that to have continuity for when she tells Sally in Ep. 4.09 The Beautiful Girls that she falls all the time?  We should have seen Megan coming, she suddenly was everywhere on the screen.  Why couldn't they have put Clara on his desk?  She wouldn't have gotten knocked up by Torkelson in Season 7 and Don wouldn't have married Megan.  We can dream.

Stan and Peggy have a long wonderful non-sexual relationship and I thank the Mad Men writers every day that they kept them as close friends (the times they spend on the phone together is priceless) until the very end when Joey Baird's prescient "you love her" finally was proved correct and the two proclaimed their true feelings for one another. 

Fur comes back into Don's life in Ep. 7.08 Severance when he auditions models wearing fur (and hallucinates Rachel also in fur) as part of the Wilkinson Razor commercial. 

In Ep. 4.12 Blowing Smoke Don's ex-girlfriend Midge uses the same ruse to bump into Don - pretending to have a meeting in his office building.

The rivalry between Ted Chaough and Don Draper finally becomes a partnership as the two of them joined (in Ep. 6.06 For Immediate Release) to try and out maneuver the bigger agencies only to end up together in the type of behemoth agency they each tried to avoid. 

Danny won't stay at SCDP forever, but his career path takes him to heights no one could have imagined.  In Ep. 6.10 A Tale of Two Cities we discover that the little guy is now a Hollywood big shot.

Mad Men Season 4, Episode 5: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Donald Draper tells the reporter from the New York Times a little fib.  He has heard of Ted Chaough.  In fact, in the last episode, when Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce had to severe ties with the Clearasil account, he said he'd be fine with it going anywhere but to Ted Chaough.  This episode we learn more about the rivalry between the two ad men and their firms and watch as Don gets the upper hand.  Elsewhere, Roger learns about letting go of old wounds, Betty finds someone to talk to about hers, and Sally starts acting out when those wounds are still new and able to be treated.

We're late into the first quarter of 1965 and things at SCDP are relatively fine (you lose some, you win some), but they continue to be on the lookout for new business.  Pete comes with great news - they are on the short list to meet with the Honda Motorcycle Company to talk about their account (and their upcoming automobile line).  This client has a potential to bring in $5 million a year.  Not Lucky Strike money, but still a nice chunk of change.  Pete is beaming as he continues to shine in his new position (proving that they were right to go with him rather than Ken Cosgrove).

Only...Roger Sterling does not want to do business with the Japanese.  Roger served in the Pacific in World War II and even though the war ended nearly twenty years ago, it feels like yesterday to Roger.  He immediately puts the kibosh on the idea of ever working with Honda and storms out of the meeting. The partners decide to go forward with plans to meet with the Honda execs - business is business after all and if a Jewish ad agency can work with a German company, why can't they work with Honda?  They ignore Roger's feeling and schedule the meeting for when Roger will be out of the office.

But first, we see Don at Benihana's where he is having just his third date with the lovely young Bethany in five months.  He is there to do reconnaissance for the upcoming meeting with Honda and bumps into his rival Ted Chaough.  Ted is physically the underdog, shorter and smaller than Don, with the angle at which the scene was shot accentuating their difference.  Don later describes Ted as a fly he keeps swatting away, yet you can tell that the other ad man is getting under Don's skin.

Don confronts Pete the next morning for not telling him they were competing against Cutler, Gleason and Chaough, but Pete tells him there are just three agencies in the running and they can put together the best pitch.  They have their meeting and things seem to go well.  Unfortunately, Roger comes back to the office early and bursts into the meeting, just as it's rapping up, ready to drop his own atomic bomb in the room.  He insults the Japanese in general and these men by implication and leaves only after the damage is done.  Bert and Pete try their best to make excuses and apologize, but to no avail.

Understandably, Pete (who brought in the client) and Don were extremely angry with Roger.  That was then, this is now and now they are a potential client worth many millions of dollars.  The saddest and most poignant line comes when Pete tries to tell Roger that the people from Honda are not the same people he fought against and Roger shouts, "How could that be? I'm the same people!"  He still remembers and he feels just the same anger and loss he felt decades earlier and he doesn't want to hear how that's in the past and he should just move on.

Pete, Don and Bert had tried their best to smooth things over with the men from Honda but withing a day or two they realize that they are out of the running.  But, because of protocol, they will still be allowed to make their stillborn pitch.  Don is frustrated, not only does he not have a chance at the creative potential working for a forward-thinking company like Honda, but it irks him that this improves Ted Chaough's chances of getting the account.  So he hatches an elaborate plan.

Don decides to get Chaough to think that they are putting together a full-blown commercial for the Honda motorcycle.  He enlists help to stage the plan - Joan, Peggy, Joey, everyone has an important role to play in making this believable.  He knows that Chaough will not want to be outdone and will shoot their own commercial.  But, this will violate the very strict rules laid down by the Honda executives who said specifically just for boards - no finished product.  Having read the book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Don understands that the Japanese execs will be deeply offended by the breach of the agreed-upon terms, which will take Chaough out of the running. Don can then take the negative attention off of Roger's breach of propriety and basic manners and rebrand Sterling Cooper as the place that holds itself to a higher standard.  The noble place that will only do business with people who follow the rules.

While it looks like the plan is born solely of spite - since SCDP isn't getting the Honda account, they'll make sure Ted Chaough's agency doesn't get it either - it does have an added bonus of perhaps getting the firm back into Honda's good graces.  But the rivalry was certainly a driving force.  And if we thought that Don was the petulant one, the only one to feel this rivalry, we get a scene of Chaough in his office, bristling at a former Sterling Cooper employee (hey, Smitty, that's where you ended up after the partners left PPL) calling Draper a genius.  And Chaough launches his own offensive in this war between the two agencies, trying to out-do whatever creative idea Don has put together.

In the end, Don's approach works to make amends and to put them back into consideration if not for now, for the next time Honda needs a new agency for their upcoming automobile line.  And after a stern talking to, Roger is now on board, recognizing that he has to let go of the past and do what's best for the future of his company.  Joan, probably better than anyone else, tells him that what he did saved the world, but it's time to move on.  Her husband will be donning his own uniform shortly and she doesn't want to hear about all the casualties of war, she wants to think of a world at peace.

In the B-story, Don is going out for the evening with the girl that Jane Sterling had set him up with, Bethany.  His pretty neighbor Phoebe the nurse comes over to watch Bobby and Sally while he's on his date.  She asks, "Which one is it? I mean, which restaurant, in case I need to reach you." It's awkward for everyone as it does make Don sound like whore.  Sally asks if he's going to see a woman and she lets her father know that she's not happy about it.  While Phoebe and Bobby are watching TV, Sally goes off to the bathroom and cuts her own hair.  She wanted to look pretty, like Phoebe who has short hair.  Mt. Vesuvius, aka Betty, is going to explode when she sees this.

Betty is pissed when she sees that Sally's hair is cut, slapping her across the face and handing out a bunch of punishments. Henry tries to get Betty to calm down - kids do these things, he tells her.  But when Sally is sent home from a friend's house after being caught masturbating while watching TV, Betty is convinced there's something seriously wrong with Sally.  She finally agrees with Henry's suggestion to send Sally to a therapist and calls Don to tell him that the therapist wants to meet with them both individually.  She also drops a not too subtle hind that it's Don's horndog ways that are responsible for Sally's behavior.

Don was against Sally seeing a therapist, not unlike how he felt in Ep. 1.02 when Betty wanted to see a psychiatrist for her hand tremors and nervousness.  Don doesn't talk about his issues and keeps whatever is bothering him at bay by drinking until he passes out, he doesn't understand how talking to a stranger would be more beneficial.  Nevertheless, Betty meets with the therapist, Dr. Edna, and the conversation starts about Sally but ends up being about Betty.  Sensing she needs to talk, but is unwilling to see someone, Dr. Edna offers that they can meet to discuss Sally, who she'll be seeing four times a week.  Unlike the psychiatrist that Betty saw back in 1960, who betrayed her trust by telling her husband what was discussed, Dr. Edna says the contents of her conversations are private.

We see Carla taking Sally to see Dr. Edna (not Betty or Don - do we need much more to understand what's bothering her) and off she goes to talk about her feelings.

Observations:

Betty has issues.  She takes Sally's behavior personally, as an attack on her.  Alternatively, she puts it on Don as all his fault.  While Sally is the one seeing a psychiatrist, it looks like Betty might be benefiting even more from her talks with Dr. Edna.  Even in their brief time together, she raised issues of her mother's cold, harsh treatment, the loss of her father and her difficult decision to get divorced.

Don is not taking the relationship with Bethany to the next level.  Three dates in five months is not moving things fast.  Instead, we know that he's still seeing the prostitute who slaps him around and he invited Dr. Faye for a drink. Why is he not more interested in Bethany?  Does she remind him too much of Betty (the name, the pretty blonde looks, her youth)?

According to Wikipedia, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture is an influential 1946 study of Japan by American anthropologist Ruth Benedict. It was written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information, in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II by reference to a series of contradictions in traditional culture. The book was influential in shaping American ideas about Japanese culture during the occupation of Japan, and popularized the distinction between guilt cultures and shame cultures."

When Pete brings up having a meeting with the Honda people, Roger says, "Listen, let me spare you the agony and the ecstasy and tell you we are not doing business with them."  "The Agony and the Ecstasy" was the title of the biography of Michelangelo written by Irving Stone and the phrase itself comes from Romans 7:  "It is only when the focus shifts to God, to His love, to His sovereignty, to His faithfulness, that we move from agony to ecstasy."

There is not just a cultural divide between nations but within our own, one which Pete sees but others, especially Bert Cooper, don't, leading to this exchange:

Roger: This Selma thing is not going away.  You still don't think they need a civil rights law?
Bert: They got what they wanted. Why aren't they happy?
Pete: Because Lassie stays at the Waldorf and they can't.

We can date this episode as sometime after March 12, 1965, as we she Sally watching the evening news and hear mention of "The body of a 38-year-old Unitarian minister was cremated within hours of his death last night."  Rev. James Reeb died after being beaten by a group of white thugs as he protested for civil rights in Selma, Alabama.

Sally was watching the TV show "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." when she was playing with herself on her friend's couch.  Co-star David McCallum was a teen heart throb back then playing a Russian secret agent.  Today you might know him from a recurring roll on NCIS.

It's funny now to think of Honda as just entering into the car business, derided as nothing more than a motorcycle with doors.  In the early 1970s, when gasoline prices started rising, the fuel efficiency of their Civic line of automobiles helped Honda become a leading import and for a while the Accord (launched in '76) was the number one imported sedan.

Quotes:

Walter Hoffman:  I talked to Ted Chaough and he said, 'Every time Don Draper looks in his rearview mirror, he sees me.'
Don:  What's your point?
Walter:  My point is do you have a response?
Don: On the record?
Walter: Please.
Don: I've never heard of him.

Roger:  I used to be a man with a lot of friends. Then World War II came and they were all killed by your new yellow buddies.
Pete:  Look, if Bernbach can do business with Volkswagen, we can do business with anybody.
Bert:  The war is over, Roger.

Sally:   I just wanted to look pretty.

Ted:  Well, the good news is, I think it's gonna be between us.  The bad news is the best man's gonna win.

Bethany: Who's he?
Don: Some fly I keep swatting away.  They haven't done half of what we have.  The minute he declared himself the competition, suddenly we were equal.
Bethany: Well, as far as I'm concerned, he's no competition at all.

Don:  You didn't have to hit her.
Betty:  You're right, because it doesn't do anything!

Betty:  I want him dead!
Henry:  You don't think I feel that?

Roger:  I didn't know this meeting was happening.  Then again, I know how some people love surprises.  I apologize, gentlemen, but for some reason I was not informed.  In fact, someone set a long lunch for me with Randolph.
Pete: Well, it was last minute and now, unfortunately, drawn to a close.
Roger:  I have to warn you they won't know it's over until you drop the big one.

Bert: You don't get to kill this account.
Roger: You know how they are.  Maybe it'll kill itself.

Roger: As long as my name's in that lobby, I get to choose whom I do business with.

Roger:  Well, I made a pledge to a lot of men you'll never meet not to do business with them.
Pete: Christ on a cracker, where do you get off?
Roger:  You know what? You weren't there.  You weren't anywhere. I'm sorry you can't understand.
Pete:  It's been almost 20 years and whether you like it or not, the world has moved on.  These are not the same people.
Roger:  How could that be? I'm the same people!

Joey: I'm trying to figure out what makes it work.
Don:  I'm still wondering what makes you work.

Faye:  You'd be surprised what people will say to an interested stranger.
Don:  Why does everybody need to talk about everything?
Faye:  I don't know but they do. And no matter what happens while they're talking, when they're done they feel better.

Roger:  Since when is forgiveness a better quality than loyalty?
Joan:  Roger, I know it was awful, and I know it'll never seem like it was that long ago, but you fought to make the world a safer place and you won and now it is.

Suicide mentions:
Bert: You don't get to kill this account.
Roger: You know how they are.  Maybe it'll kill itself.

Whore mentions:  
Betty tells Henry:  "And who knows who he had watching her? Some secretary, another whore?"

********************************************************************************
Spoiler-y Observations (Don't read until you're caught up):

First mention of Dr. Lyle Evans -- Roger:  Why don't we just bring Dr. Lyle Evans in here?  Bert: That'll be enough of that.  In Ep. 4.08 we learn, when Don and Peggy listen to the tape of Roger's memoirs, that Dr. Evans performed an orchiectomy on Bert.  Roger is referencing the notion of impotence, equating him not having a say in his own company with Bert having his balls cut off.

Don learns that Dr. Miller is not married, that her ring is a decoy, and while there are sparks between them, they won't pan out until the next episode.

Don is seen trying to call California and not receiving an answer.  He's likely trying to reach Anna.  It's been three months since he was out there.

Peggy pulled a stunt when she arranged the Sugarberry Ham fight and now Don pulls his own stunt faking shooting a commercial and then going into the meeting and resigning.  In both cases, good things happened for the firm.  When Don pulls his next stunt, however - the infamous Letter in Ep. 4.12 Blowing Smoke - things will not be so rosy.  But it's easy to understand why he felt so sure it would work, so empowered that whatever he touches turns to gold.

Mad Men Season 7, Episode 13: The Milk and Honey Route

The last shot of the episode shows Don sitting on a bus bench with nothing but a small bag with his belongings. He's left behind his career, his job, his new apartment, his car, his old life.  If he were planning his death, relieving himself of all his possessions and falling off the grid would be the way to do it. But it's not Don who's leaving us.  

Cigarettes have been front and center of Mad Men from the first moment of the first episode.  We saw Don Draper, dapper ad man, smoking one of his Lucky Strikes as he was scribbling ideas of how to sell cigarettes now that the Surgeon General would no longer let him promote their health benefits.  Four-out-of-five dead men smoked your brand is not a great way to sell the product.  He asks Sam, an older "busboy" at the restaurant, why he smoked what he smoked.  "I love smoking," he told Don.  What about the health concerns in Readers Digest?  Sam chuckled.  That wasn't going to stop him from smoking.  

And it didn't stop Don from smoking and selling cigarettes despite the mounting evidence against their safety.  He would just reframe the issue - Lucky Strike's aren't poison, they're toasted.  Even after Don lost the Lucky Strike account and wrote the damning letter, even after he met with those who were trying to spread the word of the dangers of cigarettes, even after he had coughing fits, he kept smoking.  And yet it was Betty, beautiful, impeccable, invulnerable Betty who ends up felled by those cancer sticks.  

Her father Gene tried to get her to stop smoking, back in Season 2.  But Betty has been as tied to cigarettes as Don, from the memorable shot of her standing in the backyard, cigarette dangling from her painted lips, as she opened fire on her neighbor's birds to the scene of her lighting up in this episode even after the doctor gave her the horrible news that this life-long habit would be a life-shortening one.  We've been on Don death watch since he had his physical in Season 3 and we were looking in the wrong direction.

Betty stayed the same Nordic ice princess to the bitter end. She was raised to be beautiful and that's all she's ever known. She was not going to lose that.  As the reality hit her, she jumped over every stage of grief and went straight to acceptance.  Her time was coming to an end - she probably felt that way as every birthday added another candle.  She joked with Don last week that she might be getting old, but he'd always be older. But for beautiful women, especially back then, losing their youth and allure was not a laughing matter and enduring the effects of aging was its own kind of death.  Back in Ep. 1.06 Babylon she spoke of her fear of losing her beauty.

Betty no longer has to fear that.  She will be, like Marilyn Monroe, eternally young and beautiful.  She knows how her story will end and she accepts it.  The only thing she fears is putting Sally through what she went through, watching her mother slowly succumb to death.  And this she can do something about.  She will live out the rest of her life on her terms.  She will emulate her daughter - who marches to her own drum.   Isn't death a great adventure in its own way? 

Betty will live and die how she wants and no one will be making any more decisions for her.  She may be invisible to the doctors, but she will be heard.  She has the power and control over the rest of her days.  She writes up instructions and gives them to Sally because she knows Sally will make sure things are taken care of.  She raised that girl - the strong, self-assured, independent young lady who speaks her mind.  

And what of Sally? She's only 15 and at boarding school, this is an awful lot to put on her shoulders. She had to be strong when Henry broke down in tears and when her mother told her it was up to her to make sure her wishes were carried out after her death.  We saw how she mothered little Gene and took Betty's place at the kitchen table.  Will she feel obliged to take that role or will Henry (and/or Don) fill the void?  Betty has never been a candidate for Mother of the Year - Sally wished her dead less than a year ago - but her loss will be felt.  Alone in her room with the note from her mother, Sally broke down in tears.  She was given a gift by Betty - to discover that her mother understands her and appreciates her for the person she is.    I hope we see Sally again so we know she's going to be okay.

Pete Campbell may have lived half his life, but he wants something more for the second half.  He's come to a deep understanding of why he's behaved the way he has in the past - never being satisfied, always searching for more.  He now sees how that caused him to lose so much - his wife, his marriage, his family.  But Pete has always been an optimist, a bit of a Pollyanna. Maybe it was the silver spoon childhood, but Pete always seems to land on his feet no matter what.  Professionally and financially, things are great for Pete.  But he has no one to share this with, not the person he wants anyway.  So while he could give up, mope about what was, he's decided to take a chance at happiness in his personal life. 

Pete was one of the few Sterling Cooper transplants to land on their feet at McCann and his upwards trajectory seemed likely to continue there.  But his old friend Duck Phillips shows up with a new plan, a new direction.  Duck is not the most reliable person and who knows what his real plan was.  He claimed to be there to help McCann find a replacement for Don, but his clear intention seemed to be matchmaking between Lear Jet and Pete.  He's been trying to get Pete an aviation client since Season 2.  So he puts together a convoluted plan to get Pete in the same room as the Lear Jet executive.  He sees them as two Ivy League peas in a Brooks Brothers designed pod and knows that they will become fast friends.  Then all he has to do is suggest to Pete that maybe Pete's life does not have to stay on the road he's on, maybe there's a chance to change things.  Why not have it all?

Pete has a number of conversations that, when pieced together, form the basis for his ultimate pitch to Trudy.  First is his conversation with his brother Bud, a leading contender for the most delusional man in New York, who thinks he's a chick magnet.  But the gist of the conversation is Pete wondering why they do what they do (the feeling dissatisfied, the cheating) and why they can't change.  The next conversation is with Duck who convinces Pete that he's a superhero with unlimited powers and potential, but that it might not last forever.  He's hot and he should ride the wave he's on.   Finally, he goes back to Trudy.  Their conversation earlier (where he asks her to join him for the dinner business meeting and she declines) was the warm up for this one.  He knows she's been hurt by him, she's suspicious and wary and won't ever trust him again.  But he also senses that the hurt comes from a place of love, not hate.  And so he talks to her, about finding their own Shangri-La, their own utopia, just the three of them.  Pete's always wanted to be the creative guy and make the winning pitch and this time he does.  We can start over, move forward and not repeat the mistakes of the past.  He lost her trust, but he's afraid of losing her love and will never do anything to risk that again.  He knows she still loves him and he had always loved her and only her.  They can be a family again.  

All that's left is for Don Draper to continue his cross-country trek to find himself.  Part two of his "on the road" experience takes him through the heartland of the country and he checks in with his kids as he makes his way.  He's relaxed and not without plans as he describes his itinerary to Sally - which route he's taking, what towns he'll be going through.  They have a nice, relaxed conversation as he gives her advice on the meaning of money while talking about this and that.  It's a sweet, normal moment. 

All we know about Don's plan is that he's continuing west and heading to the Grand Canyon.  His plans are derailed when car trouble leaves him stuck in a small town in Oklahoma. There's nothing to do there but wait for his car to get repaired and read whatever paperbacks Andy the maid/bell hop can track down.  Don takes an immediate interest in this boy who reminds him of himself. Young, good looking, uneducated but entrepreneurial, and stuck in a town going nowhere. Don makes himself useful around the motel, fixing things including the Coke vending machine that is a clear reference to the life he left behind.  Yes, Don Draper should be working on Coca Cola, but on their account not on a broken down dispenser.

He has enough time in Oklahoma to watch some old TV (The Flip Wilson Show, with special guest Redd Foxx) and to read popular paperbacks (The Godfather, Hawaii and The Andromeda Strain).  He also takes a dip in the pool, after noticing the shimmering body of a lady lounging alone with the book A Lady in Rome looking out of place in Nowheresville, USA.  He makes small talk with the hotel owner and gets himself invited to a Legion meeting of local veterans.

Don is an easy mark as the Caddy-driving man who overtips for booze and book deliveries looks like someone who'd make a hefty contribution to the cause (paying to repair someone's burned out kitchen).  The men at the Legion Hall swap war stories and drink, not in that order.  Don awkwardly informs the others that he was a Lieutenant in Korea and then is scared to find a fellow Korean War vet is there and wants to make his acquaintance.  Don is relieved when it turns out the other man didn't know him - their tour of duty didn't overlap over there.  A mixture of alcohol and brotherhood, and, perhaps, a need to unload this personal baggage, leads Don to admit to some of what happened in Korea.

He tells the men that he killed his commanding officer, which does not faze men who have confessed to far worse.  He then makes it clear it was an accident, but that doesn't matter.  All that matters, the men all agree, is to get home, to get out of there.  And so Don's given a blessing/pardon/release of guilt from these fellow vets.  The camaraderie of the night is capped off by a rousing rendition of "Over There."  But within hours, allies become foes as those same men storm into Don's room, accuse him of stealing the money raised that night, beat him up and steal his car.

Don quickly deduces that it was the wannabe small-town crook Andy who stole the money and probably framed him as well.   He gets Andy to give him the money back, so he can square things up with the hotel owner and get the hell out of town.  Again, as with Diana, he gives this kid more attention than he deserves, trying to keep him from making the same mistakes Don made.  He tells him to start over, learn some goddamn grammar, and get his act together.  A life of conning people will only leave him sad, scared and alone.  He gives Andy a head start by not ratting him out and helping him leave this place for a fresh start.  Then he gives him the keys to his caddy.

Don stays behind on the bus bench, to continue his pilgrimage down the Milk and Honey Route. He looks happy while we hear Buddy Holly singing that "Every day it's-a getting closer" and the promise that "Love like yours will surely come my way."

Observations:

Don's last line to Betty was "knock 'me dead, Birdie."  How many of us saw that sentence and thought "dead Birdie?"  I'll be honest - it never crossed my mind!  In the same exchange she teased him how she'd always be younger than him and now that fact turns into a sad prediction.  But these weren't the only signs.   We had "Bye Bye Birdie" in Season 3.  And Betty smoking while shooting the bird(ie)s in Season 1.  Just how long ago was this planned? We all thought the Chekov-ian instrument was Pete's rifle when all along it was that ever-present cigarette. 

It's natural to go back and look for every hint or foreshadowing of Betty's cancer, to take things out of context or shoehorn them in now as a sign.  Back in Ep. 3.04, her father tried to stop her from smoking, telling her: "You're just like your mother.  I don't like watching you commit suicide."  In Ep. 4.12, Geoff Atherton (when talking about how grim things were for the firm financially) was told by Roger Sterling:  "Listen, Doctor, we know there's a black spot on the x-ray.  You don't have to keep tapping your finger on it." Later, in the letter than Don famously pens "Why I'm Quitting Tobacco" he wrote of no longer pedaling cigarettes and that from here on out he'll ”know what I'm selling doesn't kill my customers." 

In Ep. 7.2 A Day's Work after a fellow student's mother died, Sally said: "I'd stay here till 1975 if I could get Betty in the ground."  Later, Don tells Sally that he doesn't like her going to funerals and Sally says "it was awful.  Sarah's mom was yellow, she's wearing this wig" and Don  says "I hate that you got to see that."  But then he adds "Life goes on."  How did we miss this foreshadowing? 

Betty had a cancer scare back in Season 5 Tea Leaves when a node was discovered that turned out to be benign.  This was in 1966 and then Betty turned to Don, somewhat hysterically, worried about her kids and herself.  She needed to hear Don tell her everything would be okay and it was.  Back then, Henry resented her reliance on Don and kept him in the dark when they got the good news.  This time she turns to Henry with the news, yet does not rely on him or anyone else.  She decides what to do and how to handle it.  Last time she was scared of the prospect her children would be raised by Henry's stern mother or Don's wife Megan, but she doesn't seem to worry as much about the kids' future without her.  While Betty has been a frustrating character she had shown growth and comfort in her own skin and that makes her death seem even more unfair. 

In that episode, Betty connected with an old friend who did have cancer and asked her what it was like.  This conversation likely stayed with her and informed her decision not to fight:

"Well, it's like you're way out in the ocean alone and you're paddling, and you see people on the shore, but they're getting farther and farther away.  And you struggle because it's natural.  Then your mind wanders back to everything normal. What am I gonna fix for dinner? Did I lock the back door? And then you just get so tired, you just give in and hope you go straight down."

The title of this episode comes from the book "The Milk and Honey Route" by Dean Stiff (Nels Anderson).  It is a parody of Andersen's book "The Hobo" written under a pseudonym.  Anderson was a sociologist who studied the homeless in the Depression Era and filled this "Handbook for Hobos" with hobo terminology and a humorous take on how to live life on the road.  The last passage is particularly relevant to Don:

"The road the real hobo follows is never ending. It is always heading into the sunset of promise but it never fully keeps its promise. Thus the road the hobo roams always beckons him on, much as does the undealt card in a game of stud. Every new bend of the road is disillusioning but never disappointing, so that once you get the spirit of the hobo you never reach the stone wall of utter disillusionment. You follow on hopefully from one bend of the road to another, until in the end you step off the cliff."

The Legion hall meeting, and its aftermath, had two callbacks to previous episodes.  First, we  had the group singalong which was reminiscent of the Father Abraham singalong in Ep. 6.09 The Better Half when Don went to visit Bobby (and Betty) at camp.  Second, we had Don beaten up in a hotel room in Ep. 307 Seven Twenty Three after he hangs out with people he should have avoided, 

Pete tells Trudy he never loved anyone else and I don't know if that's true.  He did tell Peggy that he loved her and he and she did seem to have a very strong connection. But I do believe that he wants to be a family with Trudy and Tammy and that he'll do his best to be a better father and husband this time around.  He's a sincere guy who tries to do the right thing, and sometimes he's gone astray trying to act like he thought he was supposed to.  Maybe now that he knows to stop trying to be his father, he can be a better man.

Who would have thought that Duck would be Pete's guardian angel.  The job is great, but that's not what Pete got out of Duck's return to his life.  Duck's confidence builder - and his insight that Pete was on a roll - was what helped Pete focus on getting what he really wanted.  Not just the job, the title, the money but everything.  All those signs of success and someone with whom to share it. 

When Don learned of Anna Draper's cancer diagnosis in Ep. 4.03 The Good News he was furious at her family for accepting the specialists prognosis and deciding on no treatment.  He wanted to step in and make sure that they weren't missing something, that everything that could be done was done.  I wonder how he would deal with hearing the news about Betty?  The circumstances are different.  Betty is not in the dark and has made her own decision, others aren't making it for her.  And with Henry's money and clout, there's no question that she has available the very best specialists.   We'll know in a week if we see him learn of her diagnosis or whether there's a time jump to later on, perhaps even after Betty has died.

Quotes: 

Cop: You knew we'd catch up with you eventually.

Don:  You have no idea about money.

Duck:  One month and you're already the mayor.

Henry:  That quack has some nerve scaring you like that.

Don:  Let's take it a night at a time. I'm an optimist.

Mike Sherman:  I told Duck I was looking for a real knickerbocker.  Right schools, right family.
Someone who can rap his ring on the table and let everyone know they're with a friend.
Pete:  Well, I'm flattered.  But I'm afraid Duck Phillips has tricked me into a job interview.

Doctor:  It's aggressive and it's very advanced.  I wish there was better news.

Henry:  What do you think would happen if Nelson Rockefeller got this? 
Betty:  He would die! 

Henry:  You're a very lucky woman.  You have been your whole life.

Don:  I was in the advertising business. 

Pete: Well, then, how about for old times' sake?
Trudy:  You know, I'm jealous of your ability to be sentimental about the past.  I'm not able to do that.  I remember things as they were.

Hotel owner: I'm going to tell you in advance that I know we seem like fine people, but I've been a little dishonest.

Pete: How do you know when something's really an opportunity?

Bud:  Banking is a road.  You just stay on it. 

Pete:  Why? Always looking for something better. Always looking for something else. 

Pete:   I think it feels good and then it doesn't.

Duck:  You’re on one of those magic—we used to call it a trend. You know, because of the graph where the line just goes up

Duck:  Who's going to win the World Series this year? 
Pete: I don't know.
Duck: You are. Because you are charmed, my friend. ... I've been there. It doesn't last long.

Vet: You just do what you have to do to come home.
Don:  I killed my CO.  We were under fire.  Fuel was everywhere.  And I dropped my lighter.  And I blew him apart.  And I got to go home.
Vet:  That is the name of the game.

Sally:  He doesn't know you won't get treatment because you enjoy the tragedy. 
Betty: Sally, I've learned to believe people when they tell you it's over.  They don't want to say it, so it's usually the truth.

Betty:  And I don't want you to think I'm a quitter.  I fought for plenty in my life.  That's how I know when it's over.  It's not a weakness. It's been a gift to me.  To know when to move on.

Pete: Because its origins were supernatural, I realized that its benefits might be as well.

Pete: We're entitled to something new. I want to start over and I know I can.

Pete:  I said it ten years ago and I'll say it again. I do. 

Pete:  Say yes with your voice, not just your eyes.

Don:  You don't know anything about me.  I could kill you right now. 

Don: I know you think you know how to hustle, but this is a big crime, stealing these people's money.
If you keep it, you'll have to become somebody else.  And it's not what you think it is.  You cannot get off on that foot in this life.

Henry: Why are you doing that?
Betty: Why was I ever doing it? 

Betty: I love you. 

Don: Don't waste this. 

Mad Men Season 4, Episode 4: The Rejected

"I don't say this easily, but you're not a nice person."

Rejection is a natural part of life and something we all have to deal with from time to time.  Rejection can hurt more than any physical pain and can affect our emotions, thoughts and actions. The memory of rejection can last a lifetime.  We have a few characters experiencing rejection both personally and professionally and their reactions to this run the gamut from denial to devastation.  

It's mid-February, 1965 (thanks to the inscription on the note from Anna to Don).  Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is buzzing with business.  Don and Roger have their biggest client, Lee Garner of Lucky Strike, on the phone and while they're working through his concerns, various employees are coming in and out of the office on other accounts.  It's hectic, which should be good news. But of course not everyone is happy with how busy they are.  Clearasil is not happy they're now working for Ponds and so they have to drop one of the accounts.  Unfortunately for Pete, whose father-in-law is on the Clearasil account, their billings are much less than Ponds, so they're the one to be let go.

Pete does not take the news well.  We know how much he's had to deal with to make Trudy's father happy, how much ass-kissing he's had to do.  And now he has to just give up the client.  His mood does not improve when he hears Harry talking about his old rival Ken Cosgrove who is marrying the daughter of an executive at Corning.  Harry encourages Pete to join him at lunch with Ken (who's now at the larger Geyer agency).  But before Pete decides on that lunch, he has to meet with his father-in-law and give him the bad news.

Only, his father-in-law thinks he knows what Pete is about to tell him.  And instead of a stern reply, Pete gets a kiss on the cheek.  He and Trudy are finally going to have a baby!  Turns out, Trudy and her mother have known for days but she hadn't told Pete yet.  Pete is beaming, overjoyed, at the thought of becoming a father.  He is genuinely ecstatic at the news and is not going to ruin the moment by telling his father-in-law that they have to drop his account.  He goes home to Trudy (who's worried he'll be cross that she didn't tell him directly) but he's over the moon about the baby.

At the office, Dr. Miller conducts a focus group using the young, single women from the office.  You see all the subtle touches she uses to get the women to open up to her.  Changing into casual clothes, taking off her wedding ring and other jewelry.  She disarms the ladies and gets them to open up.  They are there to talk about Ponds cold cream, but the conversation instead turns to issues of self-esteem and their relationship with the men in their lives.

Within minutes some of the girls are crying and the talk is about how to stay attractive and keep a man.  The ladies feel pressure to be beautiful so they'll be loved and share the pain of feeling not good enough or pretty enough.  This frank discussion becomes very uncomfortable for Don when his secretary, and one night stand, Allison shares her feelings of hurt and betrayal.  It's one thing to be a cad, it's another to see how your behavior affects another human being.  When one of the other ladies' words hit too close to home, Allison runs out of the conference room in tears.  Don knows he's the cause, yet it's Peggy who says, "I feel kinda responsible."

Peggy goes to comfort Allison, but Allison is angry that she's there instead of who should be there - Don.  She knew he was there, behind the glass, watching, which made the whole thing even worse.  But then, Allison, says, Peggy must know how she feels.  She was once Don's secretary, she must have been there and done that.  Peggy is appalled at the suggestion (Peggy conveniently forgets that she did put a move on Don her first day on the job).  Instead of sympathy for Allison, Peggy snaps at her for thinking they're alike and tells her to get over it.

Pete joins Harry for lunch with their old friend Ken Cosgrove.  Ken has left McCann Erickson (where he went after they bought Putnam Powell and Lowe at the end of 1963 (Ep. 3.13)) and is now at the Geyer agency.  He and Pete spar for a bit - Ken has heard that Pete has bad-mouthed him behind his back - and to his credit, Pete apologizes.  Pete hears all about Ken's brief time at McCann and, hearing what an awful place it was, feels even better about the decision to leave and start up their own firm. Ken tells Pete about the next big client his firm is trying to capture, while recognizing that it's all just a silly game. The little accounts are just that - small, to keep the small firms busy.  The big accounts ultimately go to the big guys.  Yes, the grass is always greener.

Allison takes a mature approach to her situation and decides it's best if she leaves SCDP.  It's awkward and uncomfortable for her to work with, around, under Don knowing that "this happened" - they had sex - while he acts as if nothing happened.  He doesn't think it's necessary, they're adults.  Which means, it meant nothing to him and she should just act like that's perfectly normal.  But she insists on leaving.  She has one small request.  Could he write her a letter of recommendation?  Sure, he says.  But...and you want to reach through the TV and slap him before he says another word - you know what would be better, he begins?  What would be better is if you didn't finish this sentence, Don, but you're intent upon being a complete ass, so go for it.  What would be better is if you write the letter and I just sign it, he tells her.  Because I can't even be bothered to think up anything nice to say about you.

And that was the very definition of the last straw.  Allison cannot take any more rejection and has a pretty tame reaction under the circumstances.  She picks up a paper weight from his desk and hurls it against the wall (though not, where it belongs, against his thick skull).  The crashing sound brings everyone out of their office to find out what's going on, but you don't need a PhD to figure this one out.  Allison tells Don, in a major understatement, "You're not a good person."  And just like that, Don Draper will be needing a new secretary.  Meanwhile, Peggy looks over to see the wreckage in Don's office as he turns to booze rather than face what an inconsiderate monster he can be.

Don is not totally without a heart.  He obviously feels bad about what he's done, perhaps what he's become. We see him staying alone, in the dark, drinking, at the office, late at night.  He drags himself to his apartment and starts to type up an apology to Allison, but can't find the right words.  Yes, Don Draper cannot sell his own apology.  He writes, "my life is" but he has no idea how to finish that thought.

The title of the episode comes from the big red "rejected" sign on a pink slip of paper a girl Peggy meets on the elevator is holding.  The girl, Joyce, is an assistant photo editor at Life magazine and it's not her work that was rejected, we're told.  She's holding a book of nudes that her boss found too racy for the magazine to publish.  She comes by the SCDP offices later that day to see Peggy and invite her to a show the photographer (of the "rejected" nudes) is having that night.

Peggy goes out to a converted sweatshop with psychedelic music and people dressed like zoo animals and she smokes some of Joyce's weed while Joyce makes a pass at her.  Peggy, who's never shown much of a sense of humor at the office, is fast with the quips here.  She has always been able to be two people - the modest good girl at the office, the more free spirited bad girl outside.  Still, it's jarring to see her loosen up.  She meets some of Joyce's friends, a writer named Abe and the photographer named Davey.  Abe does not get off on the right foot, questioning how being a copywriter is the same as being a writer writer, which means of course the two are destined to be together (even Mad Men is not above the meet cute).

Don comes into work the next morning and sees that Joan has found a solution to his problem.  Grandmotherly Ida Blankenship will be his new secretary.  She'd been working in Bert Cooper's apartment where, apparently, he works without pants.  So she should be able to handle Don's desk without any futher misunderstandings.

Pete has more great news.  He's turned the Clearasil-Ponds conflict around into a big get for the agency.  He somehow managed to talk his father-in-law to getting SCDP the entire Vicks Chemical product line.  Clearasil will still have to go elsewhere - and Pete is feeling good enough to throw that crumb his old friend Ken's way (which is fine with Don, he wants the client to go anywhere other than to their rivals at Cutler, Gleason and Chaough). 

Peggy hears about Pete's news - not the multi-million dollar account, but the upcoming baby.  And it of course reminds her of her child - their child - and the life she isn't leading.  She's torn.  She told Freddy that his notions that women today just want to get married is old-fashioned, yet there she was trying on the wedding ring, while a room full of young girls only wanted to talk about finding a husband.  Even Dr. Miller had no choice but to conclude that this is what will sell cold cream - the prospect of matrimony.

Peggy goes off with her young, hipster friends, locking eyes with Pete who's off to his stuffy business lunch.  They are going in different directions.  But both look forward to their respective futures.  Who isn't looking forward is Don, who sees the old married couple bickering in the hallway of his apartment and wonders will he ever find someone to grow old with or is he destined to be alone.  Can anyone love Donald Draper?

Observations:

So who were the rejected in this episode?  Technically, the photographer whose photographs were not bought by Life magazine, yet he did not seem at all troubled by that. Indeed, he claimed that selling your art is selling out.  Instead of mainstream, commercial acceptance, he had another kind - the cool kids came out to enjoy his work.  They think he's a genius.  That's better than financial success, right? 

Don was presented with the rejection of his approach to selling Pond's cold cream when the young ladies in the focus group failed to go along with the "indulge yourself" or enjoy the ritual pitch.  But Don did not even let this register.  He ignored that his idea was flatly rejected and decided the problem was just time - give him more time and he could turn the rejection right around.

Allison felt rejected, as did some of the other ladies in the focus group.  They were dumped by some guy, or ignored, or inappropriately noticed, but in the end they are alone.  Why aren't I enough, they asked themselves?  What more could I do?  "I gave him everything, and I got nothing."  Any acknowledgement that you are there, that you matter, seemed to be all they wanted.  Instead, Allison was so inconsequential to Don that not only did he pretend they never had an intimate moment,  he couldn't be bothered to write up a simple recommendation letter for her.  And when he tried to fix it, when it was too late, he still couldn't come up with anything to say to make it better.

Ken felt rejected when the rest of his friends and coworkers went off to start a new agency without him.  And hearing that Pete said unflattering things about him behind his back hurt as well.  At least he got a "mea culpa" and a small account as a consolation prize.  But it still has to hurt that they all moved on without him.

When you put something out there - whether it's your work, your reputation, or yourself - you are open to being rejected.  The only way to avoid that is to never risk, but that can't be the answer. Better to have the approach of the photographer, that your worth is not measure by other's acceptance or rejection.  Of course, that's much easier to say than to believe.  Peggy put herself out there with Abe.  She kissed him with no guarantees.  It's a good sign for her that she's still willing to take such chances.

The episode opens with Don lighting a cigarette with the one he's smoking.  But, no Lee, we have nothing to worry about.  Smoking is not addictive, it's not dangerous at all.

Pete's father-in-law tells him "If it's a boy, it's $1,000, a girl, $500."  No sexism there!  But what he didn't realize is that the new baby was going to cost him even more - his whole account.  There's no way he can't generously support the father of his future grandchild.

If looks could kill.  When Roger's secretary Caroline said she and Joan weren't wanted in the Ponds' focus group meeting because they were "old and married," I thought she was a dead woman.  Joan does not want to hear that she's old and not in the 18-25 group the client is focusing on.  

Peggy tries on Faye's rings, and Don catches her and smiles.  Peggy hastily removes the rings, looking a little embarrassed being caught trying it on.  Yet the focus group seems to prove that there is a chasm between the women of this new generation.  While some like Peggy are not thinking about that walk down the aisle, most still are.  She battled with Freddy about what young girls today want, and turns out that there is not one answer that fits everyone.  

Don stubbornly believes that his approach is the right one and is not dissuaded by the focus group.  Women didn't respond to the ritual aspect of the cold cream experience only because he hadn't sold it to them yet.  They may think they want to get married and only care if the product will make that more likely, but that's because he hasn't worked his magic yet.  This is reminiscent of Don's recent clash with the Jantzen swimsuit clients.  They wanted one approach and he was convinced his different approach was the one and only correct one.  

Harry has picked up a lot of Yiddish since he's started traveling regularly to Hollywood.  Today's word is gonif, meaning thief.   Also, you may have missed his joke: "My father-in-law's a bus driver.  The only place he can take me is to the moon."  It's a reference to the profession of Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners.  Gleason played Ralph Kramden, a bus driver, who when he got mad at his wife he threatened "one of these days, Alice. Bam! To the moon."  Yes, hollow threats of spousal abuse were a laugh riot in the '50s.

Peggy told Pete in Ep. 2.13 that she had given up their child for adoption and so their conversation about his new baby was particularly pointed.  It was understandable why Peggy couldn't bring herself to sign the card.

One of the few mentions of the outside world creeping into the office is when Peggy asks Joey if he knew Malcolm X was shot last Sunday and did he even know who he was.  Joey said he did and scolded Peggy for not paying more attention to current events.  

Quotes:

Don: Why is this empty?
Allison:  Because you drank it all.

Roger:  See, I would never buy a sailboat.  I don't want to do things myself.

Pete:  That's the Lucky Strike call? Why wasn't I told? 
Roger:  Be happy.  I saved you an ass-ache.

Roger:  Throw yourself on a grenade.  Protect the agency.  You're a partner now.

Pete: I'm going to be a father.  I feel like my heart's going to burst.

Pete:   What did the doctor say? 
Trudy:  He said I was going to have a baby.

Dotty:  I feel like it doesn't matter what I see. It matters what he sees.

Allison:  I don't know how you stand it. The way he turns on the charm one minute and then yanks it away. How can you even talk to him?

Allison: He's a drunk.  And they get away with murder because they forget everything.

Harry: Those goniffs at CBS are screwing me again.

Ken:  [McCann's] the worst agency I've ever seen.  The worst.  My mother was a nurse at the state hospital in Vermont and that was the last time I saw so many retarded people in one building.

Pete:  Well, you know, wherever you do this job, you're doing this job.
Ken: I know you're all slaves to Draper over there, but I'd rather be a slave to creative than some old fart.

Ken:  Another Campbell, that's just what the world needs.

Pete:  Every time you jump to conclusions, Tom, you make me respect you less.

Peggy:  I have a boyfriend.
Joyce:  He doesn't own your vagina.
Peggy:  No, but he's renting it.

Davey:  Art in advertising? Why would anyone do that after Warhol? 
Abe:  Sorry, for somebody to sell their soul, they've got to have one.

Pete:  I guess as the president would say, I turned chicken shit into chicken salad.

Faye:   I can't change the truth.
Don: How do you know that's the truth? A new idea is something they don't know yet, so of course it's not gonna come up as an option.

Don:  You can't tell how people are going to behave based on how they have behaved.

****************************************************************************
Spoilery Observations (Don't read unless you're caught up):

Trudy's dad tells Pete: "May you know this feeling many times.  I only had the one, and I love her to death, but I wish we'd had more."  At least as of Ep. 7.12, Pete never has this particular feeling again. 

When Sterling Cooper agrees to be bought by McCann Erickson in Ep. 7.07, perhaps they should have heeded Ken's comments to Pete about that firm.  "It's the worst agency I've ever seen.  The worst.  My mother was a nurse at the state hospital in Vermont and that was the last time I saw so many retarded people in one building."

Even with Pete's mea culpa, and with him throwing the Clearasil account Ken's way, Ken still never forgives him (and mostly Roger) for not telling him (or taking him) when they split off from PPL before its sale to McCann.  

They focused quite a bit on Megan before hooking her up with Don.  She was the one Joan would always ask to do something (fetching drinks at the Christmas party, for example), and this episode she was the one in the bright red outfits, front and center.  Even Joyce's friends came by the office just to look at her.  Interestingly, she was the only woman in the meeting who actually discussed the ritual of cleansing their face rather than talking about wanting to get married.   And Don didn't pay her much attention as he sat on the other side of the glass.

The evidence of why Faye should have stayed far away from Don was right there in Allison's tears, but she ignored that and allowed herself to fall for him.  She should have known better than to accept as true his statement that past behavior doesn't predict future behavior.  Of course it does.

Our first introduction to Ida Blankenship!  She's an astronaut!  Also our first meeting with Abe, who opens Peggy's eyes and enters her heart, but ultimately is not "the one."