We’re all eventually responsible for the relationships we keep. Whether they’re tended carefully and thoughtfully or neglected and ignored, they are ours and sometimes our lives and fates are tied to them. Don Draper has built a life that is as free of real commitment and relationship as is possible while still being a productive member of society. That is about to change.

Conrad Hilton has been playing games with Don since they met in a country club bar on Derby Day. After pulling some free work from Don and romancing him with trips to Europe for a day of meetings, Hilton slapped our man around for not literally putting Hilton Hotels on the moon. But that’s the nature of client services and we all take a beating from time to time. Draper has always had the luxury of an exit plan should things get too gamey though. Or he did until Hilton insisted the principles at Sterling-Cooper be contractually locked in before he’d give the agency his business. That meant old Bert Cooper had to drum up some of his old fighting spirit and put the heavy hand of the law on Draper to sign him to a three-year contract. Don was trapped and it was Connie’s doing.

So imagine Draper’s surprise when Hilton tells him he has to move his business elsewhere since mega agency McCann Erikson was acquiring Don’s parent company Puttnam, Powell and Lowe…and Sterling-Cooper with it.

Continue reading Mad Men – Shut the Door. Have a Seat →

For those of us who weren’t alive at the time it’s hard to imagine what the 1960s were like. Everything has become a cliché of bellbottoms and velvet coats and massive cars. As fractured and polarized as America is today it’s nothing compared to the riots and street fights and assassinations that wracked that golden decade. But that was mostly in the late 60s, after everything changed. In the autumn of 1963 we were still the great city on the hill but hurtling toward the day when it all came crashing down; when nobody was quite sure what was going on and what you were supposed to do about it…or if you even could do anything about it. It was Friday, November 22.

I don’t know about back in the day but Friday is the day people usually get fired. If you come in to work and the boss asks you to have a seat in your office you can be sure it’s bad news. Pete Campbell wasn’t exactly fired, but he was assured that the path he’s on at Sterling-Cooper was a dead-end. Lane and the men upstairs decided to give Kenny Cosgrove the lead position on Accounts. In explaining his decision Lane tells Pete that while his accounts are made to feel their every needs are met, “Mr. Cosgrove has the rare gift of making them feel as if they haven’t any needs.” In client services, it’s all about anticipating a client’s needs and heading it off at the pass. Playing catch up costs money.

Continue reading Mad Men – The Grown Ups →

Surprise! Daddy comes home a little early for dinner but it’s a courtesy call at best. Don Draper is a busy man—or rather, a getting busy man. But he’s a smooth daddy and not only leaves the family for a tryst with his new honey, but he elicits sympathy from his wife for “working too hard.” Oh, he’s working all right…

For the man who subtly advised closeted co-worker Sal to “limit your exposure,” Don Draper is playing with fire. Don leaves Betty with the kids and drives to Miss Farrell’s apartment. “I want you to spend the whole night,” she whispers, and who can resist? In bed, she tells Don about a student who asked if everyone sees the color blue the same way.

“People may see things differently,” Don says, “but they don’t really want to,” which is maybe the essence of modern American advertising and those who recognize that fact do well in this business. Don knows this…and so does Peggy.

Continue reading Mad Men – The Color Blue →

Nietzsche posited a concept of the Übermensch (aka: Superman or Overman) as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Übermensch is not drawn away from this world with the promise of a better existence in the after-life. He makes what he can of this life. Part of the Übermensch philosophy is that religion was devised in part to separate man from his body, hence the need for an eternal soul and an after-life. Rather than suppress or fight against urges of the flesh, the Übermensch may revel in them, regardless of societal mores or social constraints. The Übermensch may, in fact, live by another set of rules. Sounds like Don Draper.

Of course, even our comic book version of Superman has a weakness and the seemingly indestructible Draper may be finally meeting defeat. In the last couple of episodes he’s had his clock cleaned by wayward young hitchhikers who taunted his voyeuristic leanings and emptied his wallet; he’s been usurped by Duck Phillips (at least, seemingly in Peggy Olsen’s case); and been out foxed and out maneuvered by Burt Cooper and right into a contract, complete with a non-compete clause. Yes, it’s been a tough couple of weeks for our hero.

Continue reading Mad Men – In the Wee Small Hours →

What keeps us up at night? There are worries and fears. There are ideas and plans. There is anxiety and expectation. Poor Sally Draper is simply afraid of the dark, but it’s never the dark we’re afraid of but what we think lurks in the dark. As she struggles with the complexity and confusion of losing her Grandpa Gene, Sally stares into the darkness and down the hall to where a new Gene grunts and stirs in the night. No, Sally is not adapting well to the introduction of another Draper man in her life.

But Sally’s not the only one who can’t sleep. As the Sterling-Cooper office prepares for a visit from their British masters from the home office, Joan prepares for a life of domestic tranquility—if only her heel of a husband can finish his residency and get a position on a surgical team. Our resident office maven and all-around sex pot has already put in her notice and the office girls are abuzz in anticipation of her grand send-off. Cakes have been ordered, presents have been wrapped, booze is on ice! Of course, given how Joan rules that office, one can imagine there’s a sweet tinge of relief emanating from the secretary pool with each thought of Doctor and Mrs. Harris sailing off into the sunset. If only the louse can get a job!

Continue reading Mad Men – Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency →

A little late, we know. Blame the Beatles…and our host server.

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

–Albert Einstein

With each episode we learn a little more about the characters of the show. Sometimes we learn a bit about their past. Sometimes we learn more about their upbringing. Sometimes we learn about their personalities. This week, we learn about their humanity.

Continue reading Mad Men – The Arrangements →

Man, it must have been awesome to work in advertising and be in those casting calls—if you were a straight man. That is until The Department with Two Heads (accounts) shows up to wreck the party. Cosgrove and Campbell tell the gang that they need to work over the weekend to bang out a few more pitch ideas for Bacardi. Another weekend in the shitter.

Hey-o! Gotta love when the new Mrs. Roger Sterling stops in the office. Little Miss Thing flaunts the diamonds (and that ass—what a walk!) and is sure to let Joan know that there’s only ONE honey in Mr. Sterling’s life. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I absolutely love the subtle office sexual politics played out on this show. Looks can kill, indeed!

Continue reading Mad Men – My Old Kentucky Home →

God bless Peggy Olsen. She’s a junior Don Draper in the making and Don’s beginning to recognize it. Suffering through the opening strains of Ann-Margret belting out “Bye Bye Birdie” because it’s the concept with which potential new clients Pepsi want to launch their potential new diet soda called Patio, Peggy wants to know how in the world that is supposed to appeal to the target audience, women. She’s summarily dismissed as not being the target audience because she’s “not fat anymore,” but Peggy hits upon the first truism for advertising consultants: the customer is NOT always right.

Poor Kinsey, he can’t decide who he even is. He thinks being an ad man in Madison Avenue is a channel for social justice and civic responsibility. This half-rate Beatnik goes toe-to-toe with representatives of Madison Square Garden, who would like to demolish New York’s Penn Station to make way for their new sports complex (spoiler: the real Penn Station was demolished in October, 1963, surely to Beardo’s dismay). Pete Campbell fires off the first zinger of the episode by pinning a now nervous Kinsey with the ego deflating, “Do you ever listen to yourself?” Pete then scurries off and tattles to Don.

Continue reading Mad Men – Love Among the Ruins →