I can barely do a recap. I feel like we’re in a special era of Mad Men where the showrunners are so familiar with the characters that they can spit out hilarious episodes like last night’s intuitively and without batting an eye. I am loving this season and I can’t believe that the various blogs and message boards I lurk on are full of petty gripes and complaints about it. Then again, my friends keep telling me that I should stop looking to the internet for rational, informed commentary.
UNLESS IT’S IN THIS AWESOME COLUMN! Spoilers down below.
Signal 30 is one of those gruesome videos you watch in driver’s ed, the Red Asphalt of the 60’s. The episode was a litany of small disasters. It was also felt like an old episode of Mad Men, full of suburban angst, thwarted ambitions, office shenanigans, and male idiocy.
And it all focused on Pete! My favorite dude. Pete’s come a long way since being the villain of Season 1, but really he hasn’t changed a bit. He’s still dissatisfied with his wife, hated around the office, and full of himself. The only difference is that now he’s the cornerstone of the firm. He thinks he’s Don, and while he is very capable at his job, he’ll never have Don’s charisma or confidence. That’s why Pete can’t lash out at his coworkers without them taking exception.
There is another difference, a very significant one. Don may be Pete’s only real friend in the office. An exchange like the one they have in the taxi cab would have been inconceivable in Mad Men’s early years. There’s a lot less bullshit in their relationship these days. Maybe it’s not friendship, but it’s definitely grudging respect.
Lane continues to struggle with irrelevance and boredom. He puts on a brave show (and a silly hat) to root for the England in the World Cup, and as a result gets SCDP a meeting with Jaguar. Too inept and awkward to make any head way with his new friend though, the congnoscente of the firm wine and dine the man, then take him to a whorehouse, at his insistence. But because a prostitute leaves some CHEWING GUM IN HIS PUBIC HAIR his wife finds out, who calls Lane’s wife in a huff, and they lose the account.
And so we arrive at the moment everyone has been waiting for since Pete dressed down Peggy in the very first episode. Lane kicks Pete’s ass in a fist fight that was one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen on this show. The internet died for a moment, and then was reborn.
I’ve skipped a lot so let’s go to bullet points.
—The dinner scene was excellent! When Don whipped off his shirt and fixed the Campbell’s sink it turned me ON.
—Also, CYNTHIA. I won’t be calling her Alex Mack anymore!
—Also, Plaid Party! I like the guys in they’re jazzy sport coats. The 70’s closer then the 50’s now.
—Ken’s science fiction is a little Vonnegut-esque. It’s a fun subplot. Pretty sure it was Pete who tattled on his side career to Roger. But it’s worth it because Pete is his new little muse.
—Speaking of Ken, him and Peggy apparently have a “pact” to leave the firm together.
—Joan was back with little fanfare. Her wedding ring was in place.
—The New York Times recap taught me that the writer of tonight’s episode, Frank Pierson, also wrote Dog Day Afternoon.
—John Slattery is a little heavy handed of a director but he gets the job done.
—Everyone is dissatisfied, unhappy, or flat out miserable, except for Don, the king of despair. Something doesn’t feel right about that. The tension is killing me.
What do you got Blogtown?
I’m not griping or making petty complaints; I’m fully enjoying the downward slide. I thought the first episode was a little off, then realized when they pulled a Fat Apollo where things were headed. Now I just watch it for pure mock value.
Dude… Peggy totally ratted Ken out! When it comes to writing Sci-Fi on the side, Pete and Don couldn’t give a rat’s ass—but there’s no way in hell Peggy’s gonna let Ken have any success. PEGGY!!!
Also, I loved Lane & Pete’s respective boxing styles: Lane’s gentlemanly Cambridge style stance vs. Pete’s weak-ass attempt at Cassius Clay. KEEP YER LEFT UP, PETE, YOU IDIOT!!
Jacob, no mention of how Don got mad props (and a free drink) from the Madam for having grown up in a ‘whore house’? And what about Don’s (so far successful) quest to stop sleeping around since marrying Megan?
@bikefor1. I was a little confounded by Don’s claim that he grew up in a whorehouse, but it seemed like just the sort of vague, superior thing he would say.
What was Roger’s line? “Even in here you’re doing better than us.”
I still think something bad is coming for Don. I’m rooting for him to change, but there would hardly be a show if he didn’t fuck up somehow.
I agree with Steve: PEGGY!!! Look at that pout face!
The “he speaks British” quip is almost certainly a cute jab at Robert Morse, who couldn’t maintain an English accent on set for his role in The Loved One and had to be dubbed in.
Parts of this episode almost matched the splendor of Don carelessly foot-scooting Madchen Amick’s corpse under his bed. I love the direction this season is heading, personally.
@Jacob Why were you confounded? It’s well established his mother was a whore.
Don seems to be on his way to some kind of nebulously-defined enlightenment. He’s unburdened himself of a loveless marriage, taken up swimming, and is now actually exercising discipline where there was once only hedonism. I keep waiting for him to fuck it all up, but I think that would be cheap at this point. A story about a man who actually pulls himself out of careless decadence while surrounded by a changing world might actually be more interesting than just a cavalcade of failure.
@Andy His mother died in childbirth! Did he grow up going to the whorehouse to hang out?
@RRRP I agree with you.
It’s cute reading all the haters on the internet trying so hard to claim this season isn’t good.
@Jacob @Andy: I was hung up on that for a moment too, but Archie Whitman surely frequented the local brothel, and likely brought his son along for the ride on many an occasion. Sure, regular visits may not quite constitute growing up in such a place, but add in our protagonist’s lingering shame over his origins and it’s understandable that Don would perceive himself as being (uncomfortably) at home, and even identify himself as such in the presence of the madame whom he’ll likely never see again.