Raw Data: In Care Of - Part 2

This is part 2 of the observations for the Season Six finale of Mad Men, "In Care Of".

Part 1

If you have not seen this brilliant "he was dead the whole time" video essay from Forrest Wickman and Chris Wade on Slate, do check it out.  I had originally planned to write up a general post about the season as a whole, but I do not think there is much I can add now after focusing on Don in Part 1 and watching that essay on Vietnam.

• Don wants another fresh start, to go to California.  Back in Season One he begged Rachel Menken to run off to Paris with him.  He had his walkabout in Season Two, touching base with Anna.  In Season Four, it was the fresh start he needed to begin a new marriage with Megan, and this season Hawaii was the high point for him and Megan.  Go West, young man, and try again...
• The episode takes place sometime between Election Day (Nov. 5) and Thanksgiving (Nov. 28) in 1968
• Did not detect an exact date on the prominently featured correspondence
• The episode may, at least literally, refer to the c/o addressee on the mail and telegram received by Don and Pete
• Figuratively, unsure
• Don pours booze into a coffee cup in what is possibly the first time anyone has bothered to hide or be ashamed of their own alcoholism
• His hand to his face during the meeting is the same reaction he had in the elevator trying to chase down Sally in "Favors".
• Almost like a private moment
• SC & Partners is located at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, but we knew that already
• The Depression era scenes always make me want to give Carnivale another try
• That show was super weird and I did not understand it at all, but maybe I am wiser now
• Don taking his kids to see his old house makes me think of Tony Soprano taking Meadow and AJ, at different times, to the old stone church which takes us back to this this and this
• The church was built by Tony's grandfather who was a stone mason from Avalino
• Tony uses the church to illustrate the value of hard work and to show them the old neighborhood
• It also touches on an early theme of the show which is being in on something from the ground up, while Tony laments he's at the end of the good times.
• I also just really really like talking about the Sopranos
• Both old neighborhoods are now black ghettos
• Sally all but threatens her father mentioning she should tell "what she saw"
• Harry Crane appears long enough to make his "I'm totally straight!" comment of the week
• I remember thinking, "meh, that didn't really warrant a comment" except to note how out of character it was for Peggy in the work place
• I don't want to think about what weird comments Harry would make about Megan's sleeping attire
• And once I started thinking about this, I though more about the dark and light colors they were wearing
• A contrast which was also noticeable when Ted plead with Don to let him go to California
• Peggy sits in Don's office and her last shot is the female version of it all
• Pete and his brother Bud are understandably angry, but it quickly morphs and it's interesting to see them, uncomfortably, rationalize that they shouldn't spend time or money to bring their mother's alleged murderer to justice.  Neither one of them were too happy with her when she was alive.  In fact, she was so miserable, she made Pete seem sympathetic
• Polar opposite outcome of the end of Season Two, following the sale of SC to PPO
• Don used to be indispensible.  However, he's become more and more disponsible this season, backing away from work and letting other fill that void, in addition to being an outright liability
•  Don removed himself from the process, saying he would only continue to review work because it is his job.  Meanwhile, colleagues more and more went to Ted with their problems.  Not being busy is a good way to get yourself axed
•  At the end of Season Two, Don, who is even allowed to work without a contract, is crucial to the company.  When he threatens to walk away the entire restructuring, with Duck as president, is re-done.  Like with anything, the bigger SC & Partners gets, the less important he, or any one individual, is
• Burt Cooper, the man without an office, willing to take his name off the firm for the sake of sanity, sits in the lobby still reading his newspaper, and wields enormous power.  
• Real power is knowing when you can give some up, at least superficially 
• Cooper still sits with his finger on the button to destroy Don at whatever moment is most convenient to him
• Loved  "Both Sides Now" at the end.  If only because it was on my dad's Folk Favorite's of the 60's and 70s'.   The point is, Don is trying now.
• We had the tapes, not these fancy CDs, and wore them all the way down
• Try to find a better mix of songs, you won't.
• I wish we didn't have to watch promos over the credits, and these songs could just play out, like on HBO.  

Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

Raw Data: In Care Of - Part 1

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-13 "In Care Of."  This is the Season Six finale and is written by  and Matthew Weiner and Carly Wray who on IMDB is billed as "assistant to writers" for the previous twelve episodes this season.

The episode directed by.....Matthew Weiner! who has directed the season finale for each Mad Men season.

I'm going to do this one backwards, a write up first, and then some bullets and observations about the episode.  

All Don's terrible and selfish behavior catches up with him, effectively alienating everyone and everything (sound familiar?).  His wife is walking out the door.  His partners are pushing him out the door.  His daughter wants nothing to do with him.  Even his underlings at work have had it up to their eyeballs with him.

When he's asked to take a few month's leave, and not given a return date, we recall alcoholic Freddy Rusmen in "Six Months Leave" when  he steps into the cab and says "Goodbye Don" knowing his time off means time's up at the old Sterling Cooper.

With all the death imagery in the season premiere, and revisited again, I'm wondering if it refers to Don's career suicide, or at least the end of the life he's led as Don Draper.

The partners ambush Don, earlier than he is even though he's early (for once).  Last time Don wasn't "in the meeting before the meeting" Pete was going to Duck about Freddy Rumsen's alcoholism, and pushing him out.   Here, well, they push another creative type out the door.

Pete, whose indebted to Don for paying his share when the company was going under, and Ted, who is indebted to Don for allowing him the California opportunity, are not in the meeting, either not wanting to face Don or already on their way to the new office in Cali.  Roger, surprisingly, stands with the other partners.  Considering Joan's mere five percent share (at least, that's what Lane suggested she ask for), one would think if Roger had taken a stand against Cutler and Cooper it may have not been possible to push out Don.

Roger clearly didn't fight for Don.  He may have told Don the same thing he told Bert Peterson when he fired him..."No one fought for you."  We saw the converse when Bob Benson was highlighted and about to be deleted when Joan spoke up for him.  All of Don's savvy and con artistry couldn't allow him to continue to treat everyone and the business so poorly.  Bob Benson is the new con artist in the agency.

The creatives are scattered about, with Ted in California, Peggy holding down the fort in NYC and Don going who knows where.  No doubt the account men are relieved to search for one less mood lightener/topic changer every time Don brings up the Vietnam War/whorehouses/whatever with some huge client.  The fact they do as well as they do is a weekly source of amazement.  Had I sat there in Ken's seat, I'd be forced to break into "The Aristocrats" after every one of Don's weird dark lectures, or someone makes fun of 9/11. 
'
Don's stolen an identity.  He's stolen ideas ("The cure for the common breakfast") and he's stolen opportunities (California, from Stan).  Now, he's being honest.  For all of Don's lying and scheming and manipulation to get a foot in the door at the bottom to eventually build a top 30 advertising firm mainly on the back of his creative genius, it is ultimately his conscious about the war and his single most honest moment, in perhaps both his personal and professional life, that pushes him over the red line and out the door.  Don wants the product, at least this product, to remain pure and innocent, without advertising to obscure and manipulate it before it reaches the public.  It feels a bit like Holden Caulfield wanting to preserve the innocence of childhood.  And it's this honest moment that Roger directly questions "Was any of that even true?"

Much of the problems between Don and Megan were left unsaid this season.  But they talk about the chance to get back where they were with the move to California.  Before it falls through, Don has a civil phone conversation with Betty on the phone, with Megan right there, when he affectionately calls her "Birdie".  Betty tells him there that the good can't beat the bad.  (Did Megan have a similar line?  Re-checking this.  Maybe it was Megan who said it)  Maybe it's then that Don realizes, as much as he tries to run and get a fresh start to try to chase that ideal life he can't have, Don plus in the key and enacts the failsafe, putting those final events in motion to walk into the ocean, as foretold in his ad in "The Doorway".

After Don gives the spot to Ted, Megan drops "You want to be alone with your liquor, your ex-wife and your screwed-up kids" on him, though I'm not sure how much Don wants to be around his kids.  Don blase-ly talks about them being bi-coastal and seeing each other occasionally.  It's almost as if Don knew he could try to re-start the marriage in California, but then realized he didn't want to, and gave the opportunity to Ted as both a gesture of good will but as a way to completely sabotage the marriage because he wants to be better and it is easier to completely tear it down than try to rebuild. 

Raw Data: The Quality of Mercy

Initial thoughts and observations for Mad Men episode 6-12, written by, Andrew Jacquemetton, who shares a writing credit on several Emmy nominated Mad Men episodes ("Commissions and Fees", "Six Month Leave" and "Blowing Smoke") and you guessed it, Matthew Weiner.  The episode is directed by Phil Abraham who recently directed "The Better Half", the duality heavy episode earlier this season.

• The episode title "The Quality of Mercy" comes from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in a quote which discusses why mercy is the most virtuous virtue.
• "The Quality of Mercy at 29K" is the title of a favorite SportsNight episode from 1998, where Dan attempts to figure out where to donate money, Dana sees The Lion King on Broadway and the show follows climbers scaling Everest all while everyone tries to scrounge up food.  I could talk all day about it.  It even features "The Weight" by The Band.
• Mercy-ness is next to godly-ness.
•  KEN!
• For all their bellyaching about the hardships they've undergone as account men, their stories focus on degradation and not danger.  Ken already was using a cane due to his car crash which also involved firearms.  Viewers' incredulous-ness at their incredulous-ness is off the chart.  With his family, Ken again highlights the difference between him and Pete where advertising is a part of Ken's life while it is Pete's life. 
• There's an Emmy for best actor.  But there needs to be one for best scene and one for best single line delivery.  The nominees would all be John Slattery/Roger Sterling and the winner would be "Lee Garner Jr. made me cup his balls!"
• The Nixon campaign is heading to a narrow popular victory, but an electoral landslide.  Nixon campaigned (with the help of Roger Ailes) on peace at home and abroad, seizing on the crime epidemic, which has been painted well this season, and promoting law and order (opposite of the disorder of the Dems).  Despite Nixon's "secret plan" to fight inflation, er, end the Vietnam War, it continued through his first term.
• This dates the episode between Sept 20, 1968 (last week's episode) and Nov 5, 1968 (Election Day).  The lack of Halloween decorations and election fever probably put it in early October
• Rosemary's Baby was released June 12, 1968, so that is not much help, but seeing a scary movie in the Halloween season makes sense.
• It's possible Ted was watching an episode of the second television incarnation of Dragnet, but that is only a best guess
•  "Harry's such a pain in the ass" Megan probably never told Don about Harry's behavior regarding her.
• Betty was bearable, even likeable.
• Ted is still a dick to Don ("Feeling better?"), despite being awkwardly found with Peggy  even though it's completely reasonable for Don to feel better later in the day than in the morning.  Passing judgement on the severity of someone's illness is a pet peeve.  
• Ginsberg's description of cranberry-prune juice is hilarious and makes me wonder if they are so good at coming up with great ad techniques for products, be they good or bad or neutral, how effective would they be at  etching these images into consumers' heads so they don't buy a particular product
• The GM guys wanting to stop for lunch on the way to the hospital brings to mind Donna's boyfriend from West Wing
• "I'm just saying if you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for a beer"..."If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for red lights"
• Ken totally and hilariously missed Pete's hand due to a lack of depth perception 
• The stairs make another appearance, but nothing was apparently noteworthy.  Sometimes stairs are stairs I guess.
• Ted chastises Don (SCDP) for not being good to their word, which brings to mind Don's attitude toward Mohawk, pre-Heinz
• Bob's leaving the meeting was the best move he could have made, making Pete look petty, and because he already knew he had gotten into the account
• Speaking of Bob, is this him?
• Bob seems to be able to inhabit whatever skin is necessary for a situation
• He has a bit of Don Draper in him, apparently conning his way into a job (like Don)
• He also tries to gaslight Pete.  And takes on a forceful demeanor with Pete, not letting go of his hand and changing is tone to include a certain expectation.  You could feel him squeezing Pete's hand
• Interesting cut from the "blue blood" description to Bob speaking Spanish
• I am not sure if Pete is trying to make Bob an ally or make him grateful to him (Think back to Season One when Don fired Pete and Cooper overruled him, though Don got to re-hire Pete and make him grateful about it).  Or if he is paranoid about what someone who has such capabilities could do to someone like Pete.
• Or maybe he is being merciful.  He is at least by keeping Bob's gay tendency to himself, much like Don did for Sal on their business trip 
• "Servile" is a word I never heard before but was so clearly a great choice coupled with the contempt dripping off Pete's delivery of it.
• Looking for some Bob Bensen/Arrested Development overlaps involving the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mary, and the Seaward
• Sally was making drinks for her parents as early as Season Two's "Flight 1".  I guess that will come in handy?
• Pete's DoD friend got a mention last week.  This off screen character had a part in the Pete-Don-Dick unveil.  And now Pete's in the midst of another multiple identity case
• Glen's coat gets in there with the secretary's boots Pete's suits and Stan's beard and jacket for best costumes of the year
• Mr. Plow, That's my name.  That name again is Mister Plow
• Don is not being super nice, but that doesn't make him wrong.  It's possible for him to be acting in his interest and be correct/be in the company's interest.  Though, probably not merciful.
• If he really wanted to wound Peggy he'd say something like "Do you want your work to be for nothing?" which would bring up erroneous but well traveled idea that she got ahead by sleeping with Don.  If I recall correctly, she brings this up in "The Suitcase" and is actually somewhat disappointed at how preposterous Don thinks it is.  But if she and Ted continue this, it will be even worse because it will be the second time through she's getting ahead by sleeping with the boss...at least that's how it will be viewed
• "My father's never given me anything" Happy Father's Day! 
•  They do this a lot, such as this past Mother's Day.
• The color in the frame when Pete stood outside his office was staggering, especially compared to the drab old, just out of the 1950's Sterling Cooper offices of Season One
• The episode ends with a shot from Requiem for a Dream...Don in the fetal position, possibly a reference to Rosemary's Baby?  If only I'd seen that movie...Or maybe the ad Peggy came up with?

Matthew Weiner's End Game Part 3

Part 1 - End Game

Part 2 - Don and Tony's similar women

Ultimately, Tony Soprano went back to his old ways.  He returns to his dangerous life and no longer has therapy to help him.

Don's return to a mistress may signal something similar for him.  Having learned some lessons along the way, like the value of a group and loved ones, he still returns to his loner, self interested ways.  Learning the value of the help a group can provide was a central tenet of "Shut the Door, Have a Seat" when Don's own father spurned the co-op compared to Don who worked with his colleagues to start their own business.

Joan emphasized Don's use of "I" versus "we" recently.  It doesn't seem like the idea of doing what's best for the group has totally set in on Don.  As Pete said he's out for himself "swinging vine to vine" without a plan or consideration how it may affect others.  Always impulsive, think his plan to go overseas with Rachel Menken, or, you know, when he became Don Draper, Don is not one to think out the consequences of his actions.

While the merger may prove to be a success, it could easily go the other way.  A merger that was conceived and executed almost entirely by Don alone...not unlike his letter quitting tobacco*.  While Don tries using "we" by the end of the episode, the means by which he does so are almost a one man show.

Don has that ability to mentor and lead, given Peggy and his speech about landing Jaguar last season.  But he also lacks the ability to understand others' perspectives.  This is somewhat surprising for a man so successful at advertising.  In the first episode, he dismisses a scientific study out of hand.  He also pushes his singular focus for work onto Peggy which both partially drives her away and rubs off on her, which we see in her treatment of her own staff. 

Don is also consumed with denial/self loathing/double standard/something else when it comes to judging his wife for not conforming to the idea he has of how she/the ideal wife should behave.

With the country changing as much as it is, particularly in 1968, Don may be left as a man without a country.  Even at work there are changes and the influence of CGC is more collaborative than Don's hiearchical style. Don, in a theme explored when Peggy feels he's taking credit for work not his**, feels the world exists for him as the head of the household/head of the agency/the one in charge with his relationship with Sylvie ("You exist for my pleasure.")  When Sylvie's had enough, she leaves the hotel and leaves Don behind.  When the agency, when the country has had enough...when they can get along without Don, he is going to be left behind, standing there, shocked.

Like Tony, he can't get away from the deep flaws that define him.  If he can't empathize with the new culture and see how the next generation (i.e. his second wife) is viewing the country he is going to be left behind professionally and personally.  If he can't adapt he is going to alienate everyone around him, though he will view it as everyone else having the problem.  Assuming Don maintains his 1960-behaviour, which we originally found acceptable given the context, we'll have a different reaction to such behavior given a 1970s context.



* Cooper's strongest object to that letter was that he didn't include the other partner's names.

** It's unclear how much he did this to Peggy but he also clearly does it with "the cure for the common breakfast"

Matthew Weiner's End Game - Part 2

Read Part 1 of Matthew Weiner's End Game

Part 2 - Don's and Tony's Similar Trajectory and Similar Women

When Don Draper is introduced we see him living the city life with his artist girlfriend, struggling for ideas to pitch to a tobacco client.  It's not until the end of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" * that we discover Don has a wife, two kids and a house in the suburbs.  Don spends the next few seasons cycling through a load of (dark haired, independent, professional) women.  While surprising to see at the end of the first episode, we sort of accept this as the status quo and a sign of the times.

While his blonde wife somewhat complicity allows this behavior, Don's goes through a roster of dark haired mistresses including:

• Midge - owns her own artistry business
• Rachel Menken - department store owner
• Bobbie Barret - her husband's agent/manager
• Suzanne - teacher at Sally's school

Sound familiar?  Ton Soprano, another villain protagonist, philanders around in what viewers accept as "old ways" (but don't find acceptable).   Blonde, blind-eye turning Carmela Soprano also sat at home while her husband spent time with darker haired professional women**:

• Gloria Trillo - luxury car saleswoman
• Valentina - art curator
• Julianna Skiff - realtor **
• Sonya - high end Vegas stripper ***
• Dr. Melfi ** 
• And so on...****

While Tony and Carm separate at the end of season four (partially due to the unconsumated attraction between Carm and Furio) Don and Betty divorce at the end of season five (partially due to the unconsumated attraction between Betty and Henry).

After a season on their own where they live in their own versions of squalor and behave poorly, they both find themselves back in a home with a wife at the start of the season that follows (Don and Megan marry and Tony and Carm reconcile).  They then both spend a season keeping their vows, though tempted (Don's fever dreams, xxxx; Tony and Julianna Skiff).

Don seems to lose interest in Megan when she 1) leaves advertising which is is obviously good at and 2) helps her get a job.  Megan doing away with what Don views as a professional and independent life puts him back to his old ways.

Tony loses patience with behaving when he sees Christopher with Julianna in "Kaisha" immeiately regretting his decision.  He also catches hell from Carm following Christopher's movie premiere when she takes scenes in the movie for Christopher's mistaken impression that Tony and Adrianna slept together***.  Both serve to increase the riff between Tony and Christopher as well as create resentment within Tony.  As he sees it, even when he behaves, he is punished.  Shortly thereafter, Tony returns to his ways with a girl while he and Paulie are on the lamb in "Remember When."

The point is Don has followed a similar path as Tony and is about at the point where Tony was at the middle of Season Six: Part Two of The Sopranos. How he gets from the current point to the end point remains to be seen.  The biggest difference will be the role the 1960s plays in this shows.  The setting almost acts as character, like the Island on Lost.  A central tenet of the show has been to convey different characters reactions to both life events and current events.  The events provide the setting and conflict and the characters behavior so far will inform their reaction.  Which means we need to take all of Don's behavior thus far into account and predict how he will react to the upcoming era in the show's timeline, which is likely to be the setting at the conclusion of the series, the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

* Fun Fact - the episode title is also the episode title of an early Homicide: Life on the Street episode.  In the episode, from the early 90s, cops are still allowed to smoke in a government building, though they are considering a no-smoking section.  When I first watched this around 2005 it was jarring to see even then.  The episode also features cops fooling a suspect into thinking a copy machine is a lie detector, used again in the fifth season of The Wire, "More with Less."
 
** Tony makes this observation aloud in "Kaisha"

** He literally just "spent time" with her in this case, following Tony's new lease on life, and Melfi's rebuffs.

*** Possibly a real 'pro' in old profession

**** Two others meet the requirement halfway, Irina's dark haired but dependent on Tony and Svetlana is blonde but owns her own home care business...Tony's attraction to her starts when he sees her building a website herself

Raw Data: Man With a Plan

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-07 "A Man with a Plan" written by Matthew Weiner and Semi Chellas.  Semi Chellas is credited on possibly the two most memorable episodes from last year "Far Away Places" which featured some unconventional scripting for Don and Megan's trip, as well as Roger's LSD trip.  The episode is directed by John Slattery in his fourth effort for the show.

This episode airs on Mother's Day so as a treat, Pete the Prince treats his mother horribly.  Brings to mind the night SCDP won the Clio ("Waldorf Stories") while the cast of Mad Men celebrated winning the Emmy for best dramatic series.  Even more "coincidental" the episode features an obtuse Life cereal client who thinks Don's pitch may be "too smart for regular folk."

• The episode ends on  June 5, 1968.  We know it's still between Mother's Day and then earlier in the episode when Ted drunkenly polls the staff.
• Pete's inferiority complex, often noted in his interactions with Don, comes full on when he kicks a girl out of a chair due to the perceived slight.  No one else, except for possibly Harry, would be so thin skinned about a crowded conference room.
• The look Joan gave when "ascending" was explained during the partners' meeting is worth a thousand conference room chairs.
• Is there anything on television more terrifying than the thought of Joanie being sick?
• It's the late 60s so Ted says "groovy" in a way, I want to say Ken, used lingo in the earlier seasons to mark the times.
• When you write a scene, there has to be conflict.  The partners' meeting does this in the dramatic and literal sense, as they root through conflicts of interest between the companies.  Conflict is immediate and strong.
• Burt Peterson, who I love simply because he averts this, hilariously gets fired again.
• Don's mid-day call from Sylvia, bringing to mind a similar call from Midget in season 1 which Peggy overhears
• I cannot figure out what the heck switch flipped in Don there.  The only scene of him alone prior to that in the episode is when he overhears the fight from the elevator.  Could that be it?
• Bob Bentsen does what Bob Bentsen does, which is introduce himself
• After last week, I wanted to believe he's sincere.  I want to, but I can't yet
• Possibly the titular "man with a plan" as posited by Joan's mom?
• Whatever his motivations, he is empathetic/sympathetic.  Much like Margarey Tyrell.  Even if she is playing everyone in King's Landing she is making it the better for it
• No surprise that Ted takes a different creative approach than Don.  Where Don looks for his team to come to him with an idea which he then tears apart, Ted does a groovy free association, which goes nowhere in this case. 
• Sylvia is reading Last Picture Show
• After being drunk under the table by Don (who also took an opportunity to essentially demote Peggy as well by asking her to set up a meeting), Ted gets to turn the tables and unsettle Don in the plane
• In "Waldorf Stories" which features the Clios, Chaugh remarks on Don and Roger's drinking, asking at the bar if they left any drinks for the rest of them.  It's clear on the second drink that Chaugh can't hang, but he still sets out to keep up with Don, which may indicate some insecurity with the new arrangement, despite engineering it 
• After losing Sylvie
• Don's numb to everything including the assasination and his wife's feelings
• He stands there in the hotel shocked and saddened
• This, I believe, I believe is a microcosm of what's coming with Matthew Weiner's end game  
• Part 2 on that tomorrow
• So groovy now
• According to Wikipedia, this song debuted the day before the RFK assassination and rose to #1 that summer

Hey everyone, just a reminder that Joan's kid is Roger's and that Peggy and Pete have a kid together too.

Raw Data: For Immediate Release

These are initial observations for Mad Men episode 6-06 "For Immediate Release" written by showrunner Matthew Weiner and directed by Jennifer Getzing, a longtime script supervisor and director for this show.

• Title refers to the header on a press release, voiceover-ed by Peggy at the episode's conclusion
• Deadwood fans will dig a laudanum reference
• Pete appears to have taken on some of Lane's responsibilities (probably because Don and Roger have zero interest in it), based on Bert's comments about running the business while keeping it lean and his involvement in taking the company public
• Seeing Roger hustle, which happened a bit last year, is great.  The first few seasons Roger was aloof and distant, playing with these things and losing accounts.  In Season Five he was going after accounts again after he realized Pete was trying to push him out.  He even gave Lane some advice on how to act like an account man, revealing just how much Roger knows about the game and that he's not always as drunk as he seems.
• We got a whiff of his fake drinking again when he ordered a water for himself and a double for his whale.
• Also saw that while Roger didn't have any great ideas, it so happened his whale came up with one himself, and it so happened to involve Roger.  Good job Roger!, I mean Mikey!
• Time in the Mad Men world passes at roughly one month per episode.  This episode is obviously May 1968, specifically Mother's Day.  And Peggy says the date again when she Carrie Bradshaws.  In one more month we'll be at the assasination of Bobby, who got a mention from Peggy.  
• Abe supports Gene, though he obviously didn't go "clean" for him.  Peggy supports Bobby, and we saw she still hangs JFK's picture in her apartment.
• At first I thought Herb wanted someone who could plagiaraize off Don, but then, according to Don, he wants to essentially have creative control.
• Trying to think of a more awkward  moment (in history) than between Pete and Trudy's father.  Not coming up with anything.
• If the stairs do symbolize success, then Pete's in for a rough landing this season
• HAHAHAHAHA
• Joan is the only person who can and will speak to Don like that
• Burt won't, but we know he's more about subtle power since he blackmailed Don into signing a contract
• Roger could, but won't
• Pete can't, but does anyway
• When it became clear that SCDP and CGC were going to merge, the only shocking thing was how fast that happened
• The merge is like a late game move on Survivor.   Castaway may be in a steady alliance, but knows they are on the bottom and don't wield much power.  They can hang around and play the string out.  Or they can make a big move.  They may not get far on their move, but the payoff could be huge and they sure aren't going anywhere if they remain static.
• Looking back, this was set up a bit when J. Walter Weatherman, I mean J. Walter Thompson, won the Heinz account, beating them both.
• Joan's actions appear to be the worst kept secret in the office.  Certainly now if it wasn't before. The consequences continue to reverberate throughout SCDP, with bitterness abound.
• Joan at least wanted to enjoy the spoils of probably the worst day of her life, set up well when they explained her 5 percent would be worth over a million dollars, more than she'd ever imagined and more than a single mom in 1968 could hope for.
•  Don appears to have given up on learning French.  Last season, when he was more invested in his marriage, we saw him reading a book on French.  His interest in the language and his wife (more or less) has gone by the wayside.
• If only I could express my disdain in French for those I find so contemptible, and to do so right in front of them.
• Ted observed something about Don to the effect of "this is why everyone hates you (Don)" which is a new take on Don.  Weiner may be taking Don down the Tony Soprano path from what we've seen so far, but this has to be the first time we've seen someone in-universe refer to Don that way.  Until now, he's been pulling rabbits out of hats to make pitches work as well as viewed with some reverence and legend (from how clients speak about him when meeting him).  This is different.
•  On the next episode of AMC's Mad Men....Stan reacts to things.

Do you act, or react?

"For Immediate Release" pushed plot lines like Mad Men rarely does.  It did so on within the episode and on a macro level for the whole season. Roger has his storyline of chasing down GM which fit into his larger storyline of finding his hustle again.  Anytime a pitch for a particular client is involved, it makes for a storyline within the episode, which occupied Don, Ted and Peggy.  The GM pitch then made for what will most likely be one of if not the biggest move of the year, the merger of CGC and SCDP, two companies that have been on the ropes.

There are times when Mad Men is a lot like when Joey Tribbiani teaches soap opera acting, it's about reacting, and watching the characters reactions.  "For Immediate Release" focused more on their actions, a rarity.

Matthew Weiner's End Game Part 1

Don Draper's taken a turn toward the unlikeable in the (likely) penultimate season of Mad Men.  It brings to mind another leading character who went down a similar path  in the show's final episodes, Tony Soprano.  The link is the Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner (also given writing credit on nearly every episode) who was a writer on The Sopranos 

Toward the end of the series, following the events of "Members Only" which begins to set up the finale, Tony had a come to Jesus moment which altered his behavior for a time.  However, he slowly forgets his new lease on life and devolved into more and more unsympathetic behavior as the series finale drew near.  Considering Matthew Weiner's own hand in Tony's journey those episodes, is it likely Don will follow the same path? 
 
Weiner is credited on eight episodes in the The Sopranos: Season Six (final season), including four each in Parts I and II.  These episodes feature some of Tony's most despicable acts:
Being on staff, Weiner no doubt had some hand in all or most of the scripts from that season, but this will focus on a few key acts which also happen within scripts credited to Weiner.  It's also possible the credits are provided on a rotating or semi-rotating basis.  The season can be viewed as two seasons, airing one year apart.

Part I
Members Only
Join the Club
Mayham (Weiner)
The Fleshy Part of the Thigh
Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request
Live Free or Die
Luxury Lounge (Weiner)
Johnny Cakes
The Ride
Moe n Joe (Weiner)
Cold Stones
Kaisha (Weiner)

Part II
Soprano Home Movies (Weiner)
Stage 5
Remember When
Chasing It (Weiner)
Walk Like a Man
Kennedy and Heidi (Weiner)
The Second Coming
The Blue Comet Weiner)
Made in America

Following the shooting by Junior in "Members Only" Tony has a new lease on life.  Starting from his hospital exit in "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh", he appears to be more forgiving.  When a medic he accused of robbing him attempts to pay back the supposed money he stole, Tony waves him off.  During a garbage dispute, Tony looks for compromise citing "There's enough garbage for everyone."

Shortly after, however, in "Mr. & Mrs. Sacrimoni Request" Tony appears weak when he collapses entering through security at the wedding.  He also sees his colleagues' disgusted reactions to John's moment of weakness as the marshals return him to prison.  What follows is an example of a situation cited at the end of the series that leads Melfi to end their doctor patient relationship. (Elliot's assertion that sociopaths are not helped by therapy to get better, but helped to get better at committing crimes).  Melfi suggests that Tony do something to appear a decisive strong leader.  In response, Tony picks a fight with his muscle bound driver (who knows not to fight back) attacks him when defenseless and beats him into submission knowing he can't fight back.  Tony's taken on a lot of tough people but this is the first I recall a complete "innocent" * being on the other end of things.

* Meaning the character did not behave in a way to proximately cause the beating





"Soprano Home Movies" - Forcing/coercing Bobby, the most "innocent" of all the mobsters to execute a young father in order to grease an illegal pharmaceuticals deal the Sopranos negotiate with some Canadians.  Not only that, but he does from a position of bitter pettiness, being a sore loser after a Monopoly-caused rumble with Bobby earlier that trip

Chasing It - Tony completely alienates Hesh, one of his oldest and dearest friends.  THeir relationship deteriorates quickly once Hesh gives Tony a $200k loan to feed his recent gambling habit/losing streak.  Tony harps on perceived slights from Hesh, including insulting his heritage.  It never comes to a boil but upon Hesh's girlfriend's passing, Tony repays the debt with only a perfunctory condolence.  Clearly their long friendship is ended.  This was, for me, the most difficult and upsetting to watch.  Additionally, Tony wants to get his cut off Carmela's spec house, even though he doesn't need the money (aside from gambling with it) and knows the joy of t


Kennedy and Heidi - murders Christopher, admits to Dr. Melfi he feels relief at Christopher's death.  Then goes to Vegas, bangs a stripper and takes peyote.  He's even happier when his gambling cold streak appears to have ended.  So, Tony is having a good time as he gets worse. 

Tony did some terrible things in seasons 1-5.  He personally murdered people and he ordered other people to murder people.  He did it on a whim and he did it premeditated.  He extorts and manipulates people on a constant basis, but his actions in the final season resonate on a different level.  He continually "kicks the dog". As any NFL fan knows, animal cruelty is the worst act imaginable.

Some other actions of note:
"Johnny Cakes" Sells out a building in the old neighborhood to Jamba Juice, seemingly in conflict with Tony in the early seasons as he takes both Meadow and A.J. around to show them the neighborhood, specifically the old church.

"Kennedy and Heidi" In a separate storyline, Tony is dumping asbestos into the water supply.  Also has a crew of illegals working with asbestos without protective gear.

"Chasing It" Tony doesn't want to pay the relatively (to him) low cost to Vito's wife to relocate and start anew due to her son's troubles.  Instead he enrolls Vito Jr. in an obviously violent and ineffective "camp". 

It is pretty clear David Chase set out a path to completely alienate Tony from the audience and Weiner played a large part in doing so.


Part II - Coming soon

Raw Data: The Flood

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Mad Men episode 3-05 "The Flood". Written by  Matthew Weiner and Tom Smuts, a co-producer this season.  Directed by Chris Manley, the director of photography for 54 episodes of Mad Men and the pilot of Homeland.  Manley also directed "Commissions and Fees" last season (when Lane gets busted).

• Title refers to Ginsberg's father referencing The Great Flood, the one Noah built the ark for.  Or Don's flood of emotion for his son.
• This show is nothing if not there to create characters and show their reactions to both benchmarks in their life and in American history.  You can have an episode on the Kennedy assassination.  You can have an episode about building your kid a playhouse.
• That said, while the previous episode could only be placed in "early spring" (?) and during the presidential primaries, this one is more apparent *.
• Need a weird creepy guy?  Someone call Tom Cruise's cousin, William Mapother.  Better known as Ethan Rom (Other Man) from Lost or Delroy from Justified.  You know you are in for something strange when he shows up on the screen.
• Joan's consolation of Dawn was perfunctory and awkward, while Peggy was sincere with her own secretary
• Following that, the insensitive nature by which SCDP tried to be sensitive.  Closing the office early...after Dawn had already slogged in with a lot of effort**.  And Burt closed the office but didn't close it.  Kind of like those voluntary mandatory things you have at work.
• For that matter, Don treated Don with indifference, telling her to go home more as a duty he felt he had to do than out of genuine compassion.
• Not dissimilar to the awards ceremony which planned to hold the news until the end of the event.  Their solution to "take ten minutes to talk out this terrible event and then resume the program" is even worse than SCDP's waffling on closing the office. 
• Some people on this show do not change, comparing the JFK and MLK assasinations
• Pete becomes indignant at Harry for not being solemn enough.  Pete skipped Roger's daughter's wedding, incredulous that they would still have it following the presidential assasination, and was also offended at remarks overheard ("...the man had enemies.")
• Not that Pete hesitated to make the delivery guy truck through the riots
• Roger sarcastically mocks the MLK assassination "Man knew how to talk, I don't know why but I thought it would solve the whole thing."  About a month after the JFK assasination in "Shut the Door, Have a Seat" Roger wonders if the bar they are in will ever take that Kennedy picture down
• Peggy's JFK photo still appears prominently in her apartment

•  What did Roger mean when he said his weird friend "talked him off a roof" once?  Roger, were you tripping again?
• "Henry's not that important."

Ginsberg's reaction to the MLK shooting was "They had to do it" as in "of course."  His father merely pulls a sweater over his head and goes back to sleep.  Being born in a concentration camp, Ginsberg, and obviously his father too, have less surprised reactions than everyone else.  Perhaps because they come from a such a violent place, specifically violent towards minority groups.

* April 4-8, 1968

** Granted, Joan did try to call her and Dawn said she preferred to work, but there didn't seem to be a sincere thought toward Dawn at al.  Don seemed indifferent handing his Rolodex back to her.

Raw Data: To Have and to Hold

Updated 28 April.

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Mad Men episode 3-04 "To Have and to Hold". Written by  Erin Levy of "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword".  Directed by Michael Uppendahl of "Six Months Leave".

• Unable to place the episode on the calendar.  The only clue I remember is hearing Bobby Kennedy mentioned on the radio (so before June, but that was obvious anyways), but it was too tough to hear on a first watch.  Maybe on the second.
• Pete is always a day late and a dollar short on "being Don Draper," his life's work.  He offers his bachelor pad for Don's use, but Don's already moved out and back into the city again.  Too slow, Pete.
• Two people Don has a lot in common with: Tony Soprano and Barack Obama. 
• Likely in the penultimate season of Mad Men, Don is becoming less sympathetic.  Not unlike Tony Soprano's arc from the start of Season 6: Part I to the finale. More coming on this...including Matt Weiner's role in Tony's end of series spiral
• Barack Obama is an introvert. Not a backslapper who prefers to surround himself and draw energy from people.  While they both can turn on the showmanship when it's needed (as introverts do for people/work they love), neither are super excited to spend time with other people
• Interesting Dawn points out how messed up the SCDP is.  For us not familiar with the era, we were taking their behavior as the standard, but it is apparently outside the norm.  And midway through the fourth hour of the season is the first mention of Lane?  These are decidedly unsentimental men, but still...
• "Project K"?  What a code.  The CIA will be knocking at your door to get more unbreakable ciphers out of you, Pete.
• Going behind Heinz Beans' back is only made worse by doing it in Pete's skeezy apartment and proposing they get a hotel room.
• Let's hear it for Stan's jacket with fringe.  Really,  let's just cheer for Stan every week.  And Scarlett's boots, which Don would not let his daughter wear last season.
• The show's Nixon man, Burt Cooper, is about to be a pig in slop.
• Was Joan married before Greg?
• Harry Crane had a rare good moment to help the company.  Then he squandered it by blowing it on something petty (his secretary) instead of using it as leverage for a partnership.  Great job to go about asking in the worst way possible, interrupting a partners meeting for an issue so trivial Joan would never have brought up in the first place.  Harry managed to impress Sterling (and Cooper) for the first time since he demanded a raise.  ($200. Say yes.)  But his moment to ask for a partnership came and went when Burt Cooper threatened to tie him up and lock him down in the building for the weekend when they were raiding clients from the old Sterling Cooper.    That was his maximum leverage, until he has another offer to play against SCDP.
• A second Sopranos tie in?  The last season was heavily focused on the Iraq War, and while this will no doubt focus on Vietnam, I wonder if it will have a similar approach.  They are selling Dow and Dow is selling the war, or at least profiting from it.  I don't have it yet, but there's something there...Don is against the war though.  Let's see him march.

Despite besting him head to head at the old Sterling Cooper in Season Three, Ken has never been Pete when it comes to landing accounts meaning he doesn't put it above everything else in his life.  Conversely, Pete has never been Ken either, considering that Ken has other pursuits like his writing.

Ken never would have encouraged Joan as Pete did at the end of season five.  He even went so far as to say he doesn't want to be a partner because he sees what in involves..  He was always hesitant to reach out to his father in law, of Dow Chemical, for business.  This while Pete not only asked his father-in-law for a gimme account with Clearasil, he had no qualms parlaying it into a larger deal at the expense of his relationship with Trudy's dad.

Given Ken's reservations and Pete's overly ambitious nature when it comes to landing accounts, it's no surprise Pete pushes for going behind Heinz Beans'  back while Ken is kept in the dark, all the way until he loses the account.  "Nothing like being known for your loyalty" makes it even more cutting.  For the same reason a pious person falls harder and farther than a regular person from their indiscretions, SCDP's liaison feels so much worse than if someone else had done it.  Why is it so much worse when a trustworthy person goes back on their word once, compared to an untrustworthy person goes back on it repeatedly?

There is a great interview with Aaron Staton, the actor who plays Ken, here.  

Raw Data: The Collaborators

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Mad Men episode 5-03 "The Collaborators".

• Hearing news of the Tet Offensive from the radio and the good doctor put this in early 1968 still.
• A cursory Internet search using the Carson clip as a reference put it specifically at January 31, 1968
•  Pete could just as easily been getting those keys out of a bowl...
• Man Men, one of those shows which lives in grayscale, seems to have placed all the black/white-ness of its characters into Herb, the car salesman with no redeeming qualities
• Don's childhood flashback, moving in with Uncle Mac, with his pregnant de facto step-mother/guardian fits in the timeline between the flashbacks in "Shut the Door, Have a Seat" where Archie bites it and "Babylon", featuring Adam's birth
• Don's step mom and Catelyn Stark would have a lot to discuss
• Roger seemed to walk a line of indifference following the Jaguar meeting, more noting to Don "well, that happened" than taking a stance on either side
• Pete still wants to be Don, but can't help but ascend no further than "poor man's Don"
• How old is Sylvia?  Is she Don's contemporary?
• While Peggy outgrew her old role under Don, the next interesting step will be how she reacts when coming in direct conflict with thim
• Compare and contrast Peggy's reactions to the prank this week versus the drawing by Joey the freelancer

Raw Data: The Doorway

Welcome back Mad Men!  We all started watching you late in the game (at least a season in), binging on DVDs, watching one episode after another.  Now your season premiere is one of the most eagerly anticipated television events of the year.  Before I become biased by the reviews and analysis out there no more than 12 hours after the episode ends, here's some initial thoughts on episodes 6-01 and 6-02, "The Doorway". 

• Knowing Mad Men had two seasons left, I wondered if they would progress the series enough to make the 1970s as cool as they made the 1960s. 
• Speaking of, did you see Pete's sideburns?
• Mad Men season premieres have a built in game for us fans to figure out what year it is.  Time jumps between seasons have varied.  The first timeframe hints are Christmas lights and a Christmas song when Don is in Hawaii so either very late or very early in the year.  Second is a mention of President Johnson, so pre-Jan 20, 1969.  Third is a mention of Oakland and Houston facing off for the Super Bowl* berth.  That cements us at December 1967-January 1968.  I hear some stuff happened in 1968.
• Matthew Weiner provides as little to no exposition as possible, or providing it in passing like the bombshell in last season's premiere when Megan casually refers to Dick Whitman, letting us figuring things out in due time.  Betty and Henry fostering some sort of ward, as I'll refer to her, is one of a few "and who is that?" moments. 
• How did PFC Dinkens identify Don as a lieutenant?  
•  PFC Dinkins sidling up to Don at the bar made me think of the Green Beret at the wedding in The Deer Hunter, despite their opposite dispositions
• Betty looked like Henry's mom at the end.  I need to grab some screenshots.  Gross.
• Don's Carousel made another appearance, and depending how you look at it, he's feeling very similar or very different to how he did at the end of Season One
• Peggy handled the client push back in a much better and different manner than she did with Heinz
• Sally refers to her mom as "Betty" to Henry and Betty doesn't bat an eye 
• WHAT was Betty talking about with Henry?!
• A quick pan the office wall following Don entering shows it remains SCDP and not some other version including "Campbell"
• Maybe the stairs symbolize the success of the company? I wonder if we'll see more shots and scenes take place there.
• Megan does not seem to be taking the acting seriously, possibly because of her safety net, if it was a precarious time for her to go on vacation, casting-wise
• Last year's cliffhanger manages to hold off until the very end, when we're not even thinking about it anymore
• The shot of Don in his hat with the snow was almost as cool a shot as him on the film set at the end of last season's finale.
• The references to death came early and often in what I will take as painting a backdrop for further escalation in Vietnam and the Tet Offensive, until I'm told otherwise.  Even more so than last season ("you could be dead by Christmas")
• Episode opens with CPR (the guy kind of looks like Don laying there)
• PFC Dinkins talks about married guys being more likely to survive war
• Betty's ward: "My mom is dead"
• Roger's mom dies and we attend her memorial
• Roger's shoe shiner, Giorgio, dies
• Don to Doorman "You died!"
• Morbid joke about the doctor finishing surgery early
• "What's it like to have someone's life in your hands?"
• Reference to suicide in A Star is Born
• Also involving a concept which Don acted out at the end of "The Mountain King" when he walked into the ocean
• Don's sketch includes a tie that looks conspicuously like a noose
• Which we know he's fond of doodling
• 
  

 * Did they call in the Super Bowl then? Unofficially perhaps?  I can't imagine they got something wrong like that given their attention to detail, so I will assume yes.