With Trevor still indispose in Europe, I can’t review Mad Men all alone.
Samir comes through again to help me review last night’s episode, strap in, it’s even longer than last week.
Spoiler alert: we talk a lot.
Margaux: I really enjoyed “A Day’s Work”, it reminded me of an upbeat version of “Mystery Date” from season five. Replace Richard Speck with Valentine’s Day.
Samir: Haha, yes. Like, it was a genuine mystery who would be at Don’s door. Who is he dressing up for? Who is he keeping up appearances up for? Oh, it’s Dawn, for Don. Nice to know he still has some small frisson of passion left, for whatever reason, for his work. It’s endearing to see that he doesn’t want Dawn to think of him watching TV in his underwear and staring at cockroaches creeping about by himself instead of doing something productive.
Margaux: Of course Don sets his alarm for 7:30AM, like most people who don’t have a job yet, have the intention of getting shit done during the day. He hits snooze and wakes up again at 12:30. Just like me, Don’s couch and TV is his start-up now, wake up when you want buddy.
Samir: But Dawn also seems to have come up a bit in the world if she feels confident enough to come to his home to report back and refuse money to maintain her integrity. She’s still on top of her shit while dealing with assholes until 8 o’clock at night. Speaking of dealing with assholes, let’s catch up with Sally at the boarding school.
Margaux: Sally shows up for the first time this season but I was a bit confused as to who actually died. She has new friends but she’s still puffing on cigarettes, looking like a young Betty in that plaid housecoat.
Samir: I was thinking the same thing-these girls are their mothers in training here aren’t they? Like all teenagers, as much as one tries to create an autonomous personality, even by moving away, they end up continuing their most ardent influences’ legacies. Unfortunately for these girls, that legacy is one of reckless emotional torture with lots of money, surreptitious conversation and tobacco. I love when the girls mention that the recently bereaved schoolmate will be on leave “until Easter.” Just to ground us in the present a little bit, we’re in the same time in 2014 as the characters are in 1969. And out in California, 1969, Pete is still an odious little twerp.
Margaux: Pete’s sex scenes are the WORST. Mainly because you feel as gross as you would if you were actually banging him. Ted walks in mid-coitus to ask how Pete’s Chevy dinner went, which is a hilarious contrast to the next scene. “Didn’t you see her calendar? February 14th: Masturbate gloomily”, Ginsberg hits Peggy’s (and former Pete paramour) current sex life right on the head. For lack of better term.
Samir: Pete and sex, for me, is like the hot psychopath social worker emerging from the horse’s corpse on Hannibal last Friday night. It makes me cringe.
Margaux: 😐 That’s disgusting. More thoughts on Peggy, she acts like such an asshole in this episode, she truly is becoming a mini-Don and it all starts because Peggy’s so up her own ass, she thinks a dozen long stem roses could only be for her. When Peggy shoos Shirley out and calls Ted to deliver her “message”, all you can do is yell: GURL, NO – the whole time.
Samir: And she didn’t even think up her message before making the call? Rookie move.
Margaux: It made the whole scene more unbearable to sit through, this is going to bite her back in ways we’ve yet to see.
Samir: Poor Roger is trying to drag some semblance of life, vitality, emotion from Lou Avery and failing. There is no reviving that hunk of charcoal posing as a heart inside that sad withered old white crab.
Margaux: Roger misses Don, his racist and colorful story was an exchange he could’ve easily shared a laugh with Don. Avery is more focused on being the least likeable character in the show, which is no small feat.
Samir: And speaking of racism, the show’s efforts to represent black people as continuing characters, Dawn and Shirley, shows them becoming a part of the system here at SCP. Though Shirley is proving tough to mold, thankfully. I like that she has no interest in placating her boss, but she knows enough about Peggy to know that correcting her now would be suicide. Clearly Peggy is not loved in this office.
Margaux: I love how Dawn and Shirley trade names when they talk to each other, great subtext of how they think they’re viewed by others in the office. It was more powerful than them going quiet when a white secretary walks in the kitchen. Don’s lunch with Wells-Rich-Greene was interesting for a couple reasons. First question, who da fuq is Mary? Is she their Joan or Peggy? All the Knicks talk was fun too.
Samir: Mary Magdalene? It did air on Easter after all. Also, this conversation displays Don in his flirtatious ad man attitude. He’s doing lunches with others who can offer him jobs, deftly deflects the soulless McCann. The way he responds to the mention of his having pulled a “major boner” to get suspended, with “You’re spoiling the mood.” Is this return to character signaling Don’s rebirth in a way?
Margaux: I like the moment with Hobart, I think the questions from their small exchange are answered by the end of the episode. Don tells Jim he isn’t taking “lunches,” only looking for love. In turn, Jim responds, “we’d love the chance to tell you how handsome you are.” Not to skip ahead too much but after Don drops Sally off at school, she tells him she loves him. We get a beautifully lit reaction shot of Jon Hamm framed through the window where you cannot help yourself from thinking, that is one fine hunk of man. Mad Men is an incredible show for many reasons, one of being, moments you think are throw away are very telling. Like “Mystery Date” sets up Butler shoes AND Megan’s career in literally ONE LINE; these two moments were a perfect call and response that Mad Men excels at. Another cringe moment, when Sally shows up to Don’s office and has the misfortune of meeting that dickhead Lou Avery. Seriously, he’s gonna die right?
Samir: I’m praying on it. I don’t think it will be as fabulous as Ida Blankenship keeling over on her desk unnoticed. But with as little joy and creative energy as he provides, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of him dying and no one paying attention to it.
Margaux: How does Meredith ALWAYS show up at the wrong time to say the wrong thing?
Samir: “Have a nice day!” She is blissfully unaware of what happens in this office to such a degree that it is a mystery how she has maintained employment there. But clearly being oblivious is a gift that would make her likely to survive evolution in this environment. The less you know the happier you are at SCP.
Margaux: Except when you overhear things you probably shouldn’t. When Bert complains about this being the “worst wireless program” during the conference call partners meeting, I thought to myself, wait till Podcasts. If you live that long Bert.
Samir: Or trying to find service on the subway to call a client.
Margaux: Roger here is simply the best. When he has a “that’s what she said” exchange about their relationship with Chevy in the past, he just gives up on apologizing to Moira. Classic Sterling.
Samir: I love this moment where they struggle with the communication technology meant to keep Peter connected to the office in New York. Pete can’t communicate with anyone efficiently, even machines reject him. Moira: “I think he can’t hear us” Pete: “WE CAN HEAR YOU!” And he is still having a problem shaking the spectre of Bob. When will we see Bob again??
Margaux: We will probably see Bob soon since Pete and Roger lose the Chevy argument against the other partners. Shut up Pete and take it, it’s happening. Bob’s back, bitches.
Samir: This episode also shows the two pretenders to imaginary thrones, Pete and Peggy, regressing in their development and having childish temper tantrums. They might as well have stomped their feet and stormed out. Ted is clearly not having any of Pete’s nonsense. I love his blase disregard for Pete’s pouting.
Margaux: Pete clearly misses Don, when Ted doesn’t respond to his fury of having the new Chevy business taken away from him, he loses his ever loving mind. I think there’s some validity to what Pete says, he doesn’t want to cash checks and die. He wants to take money out of people’s hands, evident in the conversation he has with Bonnie at her open house later. She and Pete have a lot in common besides sexing it up on Pete’s desk, the thrill of making the sale. So whatever the source of Ted’s depression, I hope we find out soon cause he is bumming the hell out me too.
Samir: Ugh, Peggy lying on her back on her couch, smoking and resting a drink on her chest. Then wandering out in her drunken stupor to angrily berate her secretary for no reason, then walking off in a huff. At least she cringed at herself once she slammed her door. There’s still hope yet Peggy! What was it you said ”banner day for Peggy!”
Margaux: Her behavior was just as hard to sit through as that car ride with Sally and Don back up to school. “I don’t have to tell you anything”, hello childhood!
Samir: Oh Sally and Don, they are starting a pattern of honesty between them! Sally isn’t just taking the lies anymore. When he asks what he should say in her letter, she tells him directly “Tell the truth.” And then Dawn calls to fill Don in on Sally’s visit to the office and her terrifying encounter with the Grinch/introduction to Avery. Speaking of which, what cesspool from hell did they fish this demon out of? Why is it Dawn’s responsibility to prevent Avery from dealing with any essence of humanity while shopping for his wife’s perfume at the same time. He is wrong when he thinks that “none of this has anything to do with me.” Um, actually, it’s your job. You took it and everything that came with it. Should have thought more about your decision. Do you think Joan switching Dawn and Meredith from reception to Avery’s secretary is Joan’s way of saying “Fuck you” in her immaculate professional manner? She gave him the most hilariously incompetent employee in the building. Here’s hoping that this spawns great comedy in the near future.
Margaux: Ha! I never thought about it that way but I’m sure you’re totally right. Joan looked like she was gonna punch Avery in the mouth for talking to her that way. Another sign this dude is (hopefully) not sticking around for long.
Samir: And now for more racism in the NYC office-Dawn can’t work the front desk (per Cooper’s instruction) because she’s black and it wouldn’t look appropriate to the other businesses in the building. So now Joan, who is supposed to have moved up in the company, is frustrated by this return to cleaning up everyone else’s messes for no added benefit to herself. The answer to this conundrum is delicious and troubling at the same time.
Margaux: That’s why I started clapping when Jim Cutler offers Joan the upstairs office of an “ad man”. She’s worked so hard and for so long to literally move up in that office, it is so nice they ended on that note. And by the way, Joan handing over the keys to her domain to Dawn, which was set up last season, was only shocking because for a show that never showed us Joan landing the Avon account – you’d of thought they would have left out the obvious, Dawn Got The Job, but I still liked the moment.
Samir: Joan finally get her day?!?! Fingers crossed that second-wave feminism sweeps them to a permanent position on the upper floor. Last season Joan found the courage to be triumphant over her rapist, and now she is getting the recognition she deserves in the workplace. Until now, she has suffered the most abusive end of the stick on this show. Literally. I’ve been rooting for this since season 1.
Margaux: Don’t want to jinx it but I do indeed think Joan has F-I-N-A-L-L-Y gotten her day! Let’s talk about Sally and Don’s heart to heart. Cut out all the fluff – does Don still love Megan and does he still want to move to California? More lying or is he telling Sally the truth?
Samir: Don kind of looked to the side and back at Sally when he said he still loved Megan, isn’t that a tell that someone’s response is less truthful than they want it to be? And I like that Sally is setting boundaries with Don-no more bullshit. In a pleasant surprise, they eventually bond over dinner because of it. She starts interrogating him as he had done with her earlier. I think they are being more honest with each other than they have been with the rest of the characters throughout the series. We still don’t know how much he has told her about his childhood, but it appears that she knows a lot when she understands how bad it is that he told his partners “nothing” she doesn’t know about his past in a meeting. Don even seems to joke with her about dining and dashing, like a happy family?? This episode, with him keeping track of his drinking and being more honest with his kids, is like an echo from a couple seasons back when he was journaling, swimming at the gym, and telling his kids about Anna Draper in Long Beach. The Kodak wheel has spun around to the same moment of revelation, but projecting a more progressive picture perhaps? As the final song says “It took a long time to come.”
Margaux: We are going to California! Maybe, probably. How many stars?
Samir: I hate to repeat myself, but 4 stars seems appropriate.
Margaux: I’d have to agree, I think the best is still yet to come. 4 stars.
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