Caffeinitions

Mad Men 5:11 and 5:12: The Man beside the “Other Woman”

In last week’s episode of Mad Men, the spotlight is shining on the three prominent female characters: Joan, Peggy, and Megan—the episode title, “The Other Woman” immediately highlights them since they are the leading ladies and each of them have taken turns being “the other woman.” But, the episode’s story becomes more complicated, as Mad Men always is, and while everyone is busy fussing over how to sell sultry mistresses and sexy cars, the driver is being overlooked.

Enter Don, Stage Left.

Don was the lion tamer, the driver of the sleek, sexy Jaguar. The man steering the vehicles of desire where he wanted, when he wanted. This is how we met him, and how many viewers came to expect him. Slowly, we’ve seen him change, become more tame, domestic even—thanks Megan. Things are changing, and his confidence in the world he knew has been shaken; that world doesn’t really exist anymore. That doubt haunts him throughout this episode and really eats at him in the following, more on that later. 

Did SCDP get Jaguar because of Don’s brilliant pitch? Or, did they get it because of Joan’s fabulous tits? 

Sorry for the curtity, but that’s how the situation played itself out. It left the audience, and the characters feeling a little jarred, uncomfortable, brows furrowed, feathers ruffled. And that’s how the world was at the time, the mid-1960s, turning back then snapping forward, squinting to make sense of what’s coming ahead, unsure how to proceed but knowing that’s the only way to go.

In this week’s episode, “Commissions and Fees,” Don once again lurks in the periphery. He’s present, but not the center of the story, but his decisions have a huge impact on the outcomes. His moment of regaining his old fire came was after a snarky remark during a partners’ meeting—”should I just leave so you can all go ahead and vote without me”—and a disappointing discovery, which lead to two unfortunate events: Don firing Lane, and Lane’s untimely death. 

Exit Don, Stage Right.

Cool, collected, Don is losing control. Things are happening without him—we saw that last week with the vote that Don’s still bitter about. But more than that, his daughter is growing up, Megan is trying out for auditions, his employees are disappearing, and Don can’t do anything about it. His advice goes unheard; his words fall flat; no one is sold on his ideas. 

The end of, “Commissions and Fees” is extremely telling for Don’s role as the series and the 60s continues—he’s in the passenger seat now. The younger generation is at the wheel. We see Don letting Glen drive, with a “helpful” (read: hesitant) hand on the wheel, making sure Glen stays on course. But, Don knows, Glen knows, we all know he’s going to have to let go. The question is when. 

Mad Men 5:12 “Commissions and Fees”—Sally and the 60s

More time is needed to process this week’s happenings—the symbolism is more plentiful than the liquor in Don’s and Roger’s stash.

Not that I want to overlook the tragedy that befell SCDP with the premature departure of Lane Pryce—may he finally rest in peace—

but, I’m interested in Sally’s development into a not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman. I’m a gender geek and an academic; it can’t be helped.

Sally, like the decade she’s coming of age in, is stuck in a constant tug-of-war with the traditional and the transitioning. She’s tempted and fascinated by the youthful, rebellious Megan, who seems to encourage Sally to embrace her budding sexuality by exposing her to other older, but still young, vivacious women and normalizing the coming of age process; however, when that sexuality finally shows up—in the form of an uncomfortable, embarrassing, and perhaps painful period—Sally retreats into the familiar arms of her mother. Once in Betty’s embrace, we see Sally, mascara now smeared, go-go boot free, curled up into the fetal position. Her mother whispering her own insecurities about herself and her body, letting her daughter know that her period is a sign that “everything is working ok” and making sure Sally knows that now’s the time when she should begin considering the path ahead of her—Betty’s path—having a baby, starting a family, “when she’s ready.”

That last part is interesting and a little unexpected. Those words subtly imply that Sally can control, somehow, her body and when she starts that family. Maybe Betty is a little more progressive than we give her credit for—she did, if we can remember that far back, stand on her well-manicured front yard, holding a shotgun in her well-manicured hands, a cigarette in her well-lipsticked lips, and shoot a pestering bird out of the sky, which is not a very middle-class, white, suburban housewife thing to do. Betty’s got a few surprises hidden under those dresses and petticoats. 

More to come I’m sure. These are just raw, first thoughts.