Oh, how I have missed Mad Men. In preparation for, and anticipation of, the premiere of the fourth season, I watched a couple of the better episodes from season three, including the finale. I still maintain that “Shut the door. Have a seat” is one of the best episodes of any series ever. It so perfectly tied together the first three seasons of the show while setting up the future. After watching “Public Relations,” the first foray into this brave new world, the future looks bright indeed.
The show picked up quite a bit further in the future than I expected. Even though a good amount of time has passed, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is still in its infancy. They have moved out of the hotel and into an office, but it is certainly not the old offices of Sterling Cooper. I have to say that I did love the introduction to the new office, with the music and the ultra-stylish walkthrough. What a perfect touch to have “Sterling Cooper” on one of the swinging doors and “Draper Pryce” on the other. It made for a great visual.
All of the characters on Mad Men are engaging and unique, but the show always has belonged to Don Draper (and I imagine it always will). Part of the reason that I loved the finale of last season so much was that Don, who is so often a lying rat bastard, was forced to swallow his pride and humble himself in front of the likes of Peggy and Pete, which must have killed him. In this episode, we got to see a little more of that as Don fell into his old ways of protecting his privacy and past. Unfortunately for him it was during an interview for a magazine. This led to a crappy article and a lot of bad PR for the firm, along with a lost client. Don clearly took it hard, taking out a lot of his anger on Peggy and indecisive gentlemen from Jantzen. By the end of the episode, though, Don was back in control, adapting to the situation and giving a sparkling interview, all about how great he is.
One of the relationships that I have always been fascinated with on the show is Don and Peggy’s. I mentioned in some of my reviews last year that Peggy really does appear to be Don’s protege, both professionally and personally. She has some secrets in her past and has done a few things that she is not proud of, just like Don. At the same time she is strong, independent, and smart. There’s also a bit of promiscuity that they share, though no one can compete with Don in that regard. In the finale last season when Don was convincing Peggy to join the new firm he admitted that he considered her a part of him, and wasn’t sure that he would be able to make the move without her. In this week’s episode, this became even more clear. Peggy’s incident with the actresses that she hired to fight over a ham gave Don ample opportunity to yell at her. Of course, he was really yelling at himself. He didn’t say anything to Peggy that he wasn’t feeling about his crappy interview.
Appropriately, it was Peggy herself who knocked Don out of his funk. She reminded him that everyone was at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce because of Don and that everyone there wanted to please him. Perhaps it was just the ego boost that he needed (because he certainly isn’t getting any confidence from his personal life). It was enough for him to realize that he is the creative force behind the firm and he damned well better start acting like it.
Odd and Ends:
What did you think about the premiere of Mad Men?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jul 26, 2010 @ 19:01 EST5EDT
Love the review. Best line is when you analyze the slapping. I’m still grinning :-D
To be honest this is a show where I just sit and enjoy the wild ride. You never know what’s coming next and afterwards I’m always having a hard time judging because the show is so extremely “real” that I don’t know if my values and standards even apply to what happens on screen. I am used to emancipation both for women and for african americans (or better “blacks” as they were called back then, starts right there you know, don’t know what to make of it) and then I have to warp my mindset and it’s really hard.
I mean who says that if the show runs another five years that it’s impossible for Betty to actually grow up? Or imagine what her kids are going to grow up to. Phew. I’m so extremely interested in this show.
And as an added bonus: no mysteries! (had to wedge that in there for good measure) ;-)
Don was so dispirited, seemed so out of sorts that I was somewhat stunned throughout much of the season premiere. I haven’t seen him lose his mojo at work like he did in this episode. He hasn’t been reduced to shelling out cash — not that we’ve seen anyway — in order to get the physical attention of a woman.
He seemed to be regaining his footing, just a bit, by the end of the episode (telling Betty and Henry they had to vacate the house, then boasting about the creation of SCDP to the WSJ reporter) but he seemed like a shell of the Don we’ve come to know over the past three seasons.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think so much of Don’s personal identity (regardless of how he abused and betrayed it) was being the “family man.” Regardless of how he felt and feels about Betty, he has always loved his children and I think it was always important for him to have a family, something he never had as a child or young man. It has to be killing him to be divorced and away from his kids. Betty is so immature and I’m sure she is being more spiteful than necessary. Yes, she was not treated well, but she also was not completely innocent.
I think we’ll see him regain some of his cool confidence, but for now, I don’t mind seeing the somewhat pathetic life he is leading. After three years of watching him get away with just about everything, my sense of Shadenfreude is enjoying this comeuppance.
Don’s “lady friend” – I believe money changed hands as he appeared to pay for her services.
I didn’t see any money exchange hands, so I gave Don the benefit of the doubt, but I agree with you. She certainly seemed very “business” like, unlike many of his other conquests.