
After last week’s alcohol infused binge and all-nighter with Peggy at the office, Don is shaking it off by cleaning up his act and doing some soul searching, starting with copious amounts of swimming at the swanky New York Athletic Club.
Right away the voice-overs start as Don writes in his diary and we get inside his head for a change instead of seeing his blank, vague expressions, which are usually what makes him so appealing. Remember SNL’s Don Draper’s Guide to Women this is the Don I love. I usually hate voice-overs, there are so few instances where they actually work, and if they do, it’s because they are funny.
Up until this point, Don had learned how to navigate through life by compartmentalizing and controlling his emotions very cleverly, but the divorce, separation from his children and Anna’s death has sent him on a fast downward spiral.
Summer is coming and the world is starting to change. Don standing outside the N.Y.A.C. with “Satisfaction” by the Stones playing in the background shows the shift from his era to the counter-culture. I love these outdoor shots and want more. Can’t he drive that red Thunderbird from LA around NYC? We need more parties, country clubs, trips to the beach, nightclubs and boating. That trip last season to Palm Springs was killer, especially with the spot on portrayal of the guests at the house.
Enough already with Mrs. Blankenship…it was funny the first couple times, but now it’s just tired. Even Don is funnier than she is. “Get Ray Charles in here!”
It was great seeing more of Betty in the episode. The patina is starting to wear off in the Francis marriage. Henry was a total rebound and I think she is starting to feel some after shocks from her hasty divorce from Don. Seeing Don out on a date with someone who looked like a younger version of her, got her completely unnerved in part from the shock first, and then the realization that she is married to an older boring man {that’s really like her father, rather than a husband} and won’t be having fancy romantic dinners out and going to glamorous parties with handsome Don especially with the ‘Swinging Sixties’ ready to kick into high gear.
It all results in a typical Betty-style drunken temper tantrum, and quietly I was cheering as she and Henry fought in the car. I have always had Henry pegged as the snake-oil salesmen and waiting for his underlying controlling behavior to come out. Never trust a man who suggests a quickie divorce in Reno. I could not believe he asked Don to come the day before Gene’s birthday to get rid of boxes, all the while rubbing it in that Don is not welcome at his own son’s party. I would love to see a Draper -Francis fight where Don knocks him right between the lights and Betty secretly fawns while watching from the kitchen window. I am hoping she leaves Henry and gets back to her rebellious ways and takes up a wild nightlife. Her one night stand in the bar was unforgettable.
And then of course there is the office uproar triangle between Joan, Joey, and Peggy. Poor Joan is in the most vulnerable place we’ve seen her with the stress around her husband’s departure to Vietnam. Typically she is the office powerhouse using her charm and buxotic beauty to snap all the gentlemen into place. But when Joey crosses the line, and self-righteous Peggy jumps at the opportunity to put herself in a place of power, Joan being Joan gives her such an unbelievable verbal smack in the elevator putting her in her place. I love Joan’s ability to cut right to the bone and show people how it really is.
“All you’ve done is prove to them that I’m another meaningless secretary, and you’re a humorless bitch”
It was a great surprise at the end to see Don bite the bullet and show up at the birthday party bringing the elephant. So my question is, does this symbolize Don as the elephant in the room or Henry? Or is the elephant in the room the fact that Betty is still in love with Don?
ps: After their date, Don drops off Bethany at the Barbizon, the famous women’s only hotel with a vast history. Vanity Fair wrote a story about it in their last issue. I want to own this series so I can watch it just to uncover the minute details in the script and the objects placed very specifically within the sets. It is so amazing! AMC just came out with the Mad Men scrapbook showing props from the episodes! It’s so cool…Elisa are you able to check it out? I hope so.
The idea of a sorority-esque hotel is so bizarre! I guess it's the modern girl in me that doesn't quite understand the appeal of how any would want an extended stay in a sort of collegiate Greek system. Although the article had me googling a young Cloris Leachman and she was a hottie!
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