Photos
Joan walks into Roger’s office. ARE THEY GOING TO DO IT? She locks the door and says they need to talk. DO THEY NEED TO TALK ABOUT DOING IT? Oh wait. No. They already did it. And now they have to talk about, you know, doing it. (Abortion.) I know that Joan and Roger’s story has become incredibly sad and that their relationship has no future and that there is something despairing and discouraging on an existential level about people’s self-perpetuating misery and the accumulation of more misery based on the miserable decisions they make in reaction to that initial misery, but I guess my point is that I would watch Joan and Roger be miserable about the PHONE BOOK as long as they were miserable about the phone book together. When Joan tells Roger what’s what he gets a lot less JOKES and a lot more WHISPERS. Joan explains that it can’t belong to her husband because he’s been gone for seven weeks. Roger doesn’t want to start their relationship with a scandal. He promises though that he will help her take care of it. He has the thoughtful, quiet sadness of a person whose life is not being affected by the thing that makes him sad at all. You know what I’m talking about? He’s intellectually sad about the whole idea of it, while Joan is intellectually freaking the fuck out about the whole fuck there is a baby inside her. (Of course, neither of them is doing either of these things because they don’t exist and this whole thing is make believe, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, LET’S JUST KEEP GOING.)
Don calls Sally and blows her mind.
He has two tickets to see The Beatles at Shea Stadium. Well, he’s going to get two tickets to see The Beatles at Shea Stadium. To be honest, whether Matthew Weiner intended this or not, the whole “Beatles tickets” thing gave me hives. Where were the tickets?! I really thought that Don was not going to get the tickets and that Sally was going to masturbate herself off a bridge. I just had that uneasy feeling that without the tickets in his hot little hands, Don was going to turn out to be a Disappointing Father, as if there is any other kind, and it would lead Sally to swallow an entire bottle of masturbation pills. But SPOILER ALERT he does get the tickets in the end (although whether or not he takes Sally and/or disappoints her so intensely that it forever corrupts her ability to find trust and safety in this world remains to be secretaried I MEAN SEEN) so we can all rip our shirts off buttons-first and relax.
Lane has a visitor. It is his son, come to visit. And by son, I mean super old dad. And by visit, I mean come to bully him and take him back to England. Don joins them for dinner at the Hooters of the 1960s. Seriously. In retrospect, the Playboy Club, or whatever that place was called, looks elegant enough with its red leather banquettes and tasteful lighting, and the waitresses’ bunny suits are certainly more tasteful than the wing-sauce spattered torn half-tops of today’s Hooters waitress, but not THAT much more tasteful. Lane’s dad probably loves it. “I love it here,” he is probably thinking. Lane puts his arm around a black waitresses waist and tells her how hard they tried but failed to be seated in her area. Even Don is like “uh, dude?” Careful Lane. You’re kind of asking for a shaleighleigh to the dome.
Ding dong. Who is it? Telegram. The FBI shows up at the Francis residence and asks Betty questions about Don for a security background check because of his upcoming work with North American Aviation. Uh ohhhhhhhhh. They mostly ask questions about Don’s allegiance to the Communist Party, as if Don would ever. Come on, G-Men. Get real, G-Men. But then they are like, “do you have any reason to believe that Don Draper is actually Dick Whitman, son of a prostitute, raised on a farm by an abusive father, who then switched identities in Korea and whose best friend just died?” And Betty is like, “gulp.” It turns out that Don signed a form without looking at it requesting a security clearance. Yoops. AND THUS BEGINS THE GREAT DRAPER MELT DOWN OF 1965.
Holy smokes, pull it together pal! That night, when Don is done shitting his face and puking his butts out, he finally tells the doctor all about his secret past because he doesn’t want to live with the lies anymore. Is this a new Don Draper? An open and honest Don Draper with the ability to emotionally connect with other human beings and finally live his life free from the crippling fear of having his inner-self “discovered”? Perhaps. And perhaps this:
Meanwhile:
HELLO, TRUDY!
This episode is seriously a Pete Campbell’s Bitchface Factory. He doesn’t understand why he is always called upon to make sacrifices on behalf of Don Draper just because Don Draper is a Man of 1,000,000 Secrets. Well, Pete, guess what: themz iz the rulez! Don asks him to contact his friend at the Department of Defense and call off the investigation, and to drop the aviation client. Pete is like “bitchface!” And Don is like “rulez!” Pete comes over to his house after the GREAT DRAPER MELT DOWN OF 1965 and is like “more bitchface!” and Don is like “more rulez!” And also:
Pete does take the bullet for Don, because he’s a street soldier. He’s the Bodie of Draper, Price, Sterling, Campbell. He’s got them WMDs.
Meanwhile, Lane’s traditional, double-breasted House of Lords father is not particularly impressed with Lane’s black Hooters waitress girlfriend. Weird. It’s funny how Lane can be the founding partner of a successful (kind of) and influential advertising firm in a foreign country, but can’t foresee his dad not liking his new black waitress girlfriend. So, you know, BOOM.
No wire hangers, etc.
At the partners’ meeting, Roger screams at Campbell because a) he doesn’t realize that Campbell is taking a bullet for Don, and b) he is venting his own frustrations because the night before he had dinner with the homo from Lucky Strike, and Lucky Strike is dropping Price Cooper Sterling Draper Campbell. But Lucky Strike was the only thing keeping the company afloat. Uh oh. Roger is so mad. He slams the table and makes a passing reference to how the homo from Lucky Strike is a homo. Eek! You almost spilled the cognac, Roger! The truth is, everyone at this table is just a mess.
Roger apologizes to Pete for using the “bleep” word. Pete accepts his bitchface. Lane is going to England for two weeks “or a month” to get his house in order. Roger pretends like there’s nothing wrong with Lucky Strike when there is definitely something wrong with Lucky Strike. Joan is beautiful, hi, Joan. Burt Cooper won’t put the newspaper down, presumably because the newspaper holds the ghost of Ms. Winterbottom (or whatever her name was, but it was probably Winterbottom). And Don finally gets those Beatles tickets. The doctor comes to his office and picks up some files, because no one in the office even knows that Don has sex, so that’s a good cover, because he definitely doesn’t sleep with everyone, sometimes in his office in the middle of the day practically, so she picks up those files and everyone is like “files, professional,” I’m sure. Don says he needs to be alone tonight, but they will see each other the next night. Oh, OK. It’s cool how Don is just a good father who loves his children, and a thoughtful, caring boyfriend with his eye on the future.
Right.
 |
 |
You Might Also Like
 Mad Men: Season 5 Finale |  Mad Men: This Is A Good Show |  Mad Men S04E12: Blowing The Whistle On Big Beans |  Mad Men S04E09: Looking Good, Ladies! |
Leave a Reply
Sign inSign in with FacebookYou must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
I missed it, did they discuss the time/reality warp that allowed them to create the real-life, modern day nightmare of a slogan that Garden Ridge is using? That is the only explanation I can come up with.
This add makes Don Draper barf.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
He meant “add” as in “This add(ed commentary from Steve Winwood) makes Don Draper barf”.
He’s psychic.
Oh, man. Really? 2010, ladies and gentlemen.
Somewhere, somehow, Mary Wollstonecraft is weeping.
I bet Freddy Rumsen was involved in this…
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
Incorrect. They lose both.
30 days! Maybe Roger will finally deliver on all of those handjobs he’s been talking about and save the account.
you missed that whole dinner conversation, huh?
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
He was lying his silver-fox butt off.
Sorry dudes, I just figured it out… my bad, okay?
Some people should not be allowed to watch television. PAY ATTENTION!! Television is important.
The is the best recap yet. Also, I just about had the Great Shoogyboom Meltdown of 2010 watching this episode. So much anxiety and sadness!
“This” is the best recap. Shoot me.
So much better than the little kid recaps. What was he called? Ben maybe? Or was it Benji? I dunno. I’m just so glad he’s not writing for videogum anymore. Sorry kiddo.
If there was an Emmy category for most realistic puking noises, Jon Hamm would win hands down.
And for the most. Don Draper always seems to have lots of puke in him.
This is Joan’s 3rd abortion. That’s a lot.
So many abortions! Just have the baby already — you are 36 years old! Your husband is going to die in Vietnam! Roger will never leave his wife for you! (I secretly hope that the abortion “didn’t take,” Charlie Kelly-style.)
I have a feeling she might not have went through with it.
Maybe she didn’t follow through? Her exchange with Roger afterward did leave some wiggle room. I just don’t think Joan would want to keep his kid after their talk at the diner. Seriously, Roger was a butthole.
I wish Roger would leave his bitch-ass wife for Joan. I hate his wife. What did she have that Joan didn’t that made Roger finally leave Mona? Poor Joan.
Trust me. She’s having the baby. After her appointment she tells Roger “We avoided a tragedy.” It’s ambiguous on purpose. The tragedy to Roger would be a bastard child and Joan getting caught by her hubby. But to Joan the tragedy would be killing another baby. Plus she says “Life goes on.” As in, the fetus’s life. Mark my words. She’s going to have it. I’m guessing we find this out in episode 13.
“The tragedy would be killing another baby” ?? ” ‘Life goes on.’ As in, the fetus’s life.” Geeeeeez.
Mark my words, your comment made me barf more than Don Draper after seeing two FBI-looking dudes in the hallway of an apartment building.
Is it? That’s subjective, I think. Three does seem like a lot of abortions for 1965.
Anyway, at 36 in 1965 she’s not going to have much time left to have the kids she seems to want. That’s the saddest part; she might have had to give up another one of her dreams because of her relationship to men. Ugh.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
no politicalgum.
Sorry, didn’t know so many people love getting abortions!
Needs more Peggy.
AGREED!
next week on mad men: a bunch of mysterious lines out of context and people looking concerned.
Right. I love how the first line of the “preview” was someone saying, “What are you talking about?” Um, exactly.
I always thought the preview’s for the next week were frustratingly obtuse on purpose in order to drive you to amctv.com for that “extended look”. NOPE. They show half of what seems to be a non-essential scene from the upcoming episode. Foiled again!
The matter of the Beatles tickets were eleven times more suspenseful than the Secret Identity storyline (which will probably be resolved by Dr Faye’s candy store father, righto?) and the ending was at least six times more ambiguous and unsettling than whether the old neighbor got pears.
Also: bitchface Pete is rapidly becoming the true hero of this show.
Pete whining about how the “good people” have to cover up for the liars to his pregnant wife who doesn’t know she’s carrying his second child, because of all of his awesome integrity… Shut up, Pete.
well, sure. but he didn’t know about that until much too late.
not that he’s free of slime, he’s just more aware of his own sliminess than most of scdp.
I had real feelings of “Pete’s right” at so many points in this episode. Then I hated myself for feeling that, cause yes, “shut up, Pete.” Then I thought about it, and Pete is right, 4 million dollars is so many dollars. It’s even more dollars in 1965. The lucky strike guy was right. It’s not personal, it’s business.
It’s so maddening to agree with Pete the au pair rapist, but he’s good at business, and Trudy is great! And then that poor German girl’s scared face.
oh hell. i’d tried to forget about the business of the au pair rapery. but you’re right. NEVER FORGET.
Fucking rape. I hate rape.
yes, but SCDP doesn’t have a business if Dick Whitman’s in lockup for desertion. Which is probably the “it’s business” Pete went with in cutting them loose.
Joan lying about having a daughter was just too sad for me to bear! The lady with the daughter was all, “We’re both super old, so you can’t be here for your own brabortion.” Maybe in 1965 there weren’t pithy idioms about how bad assumptions can be.
“How old is your child?” — Lady
“15″ — Joan
“Mad Men, please stop breaking my fucking heart.” — teacherman
Was it just me, or was that other lady in the abortion clinic waiting room the bulimic chick from Center Stage?
yes it was and she was also in 10 things I hate about you AAAAAND Open Water 2! How do i know that last fact? I admittedly saw it on IFC (that gives it some cred right?) and it was very TWMOAT worthy.
You watched the whole thing? I saw a few minutes of it, but as soon as I realized their was a baby on the boat, I had to stop.
somewhere a benefit is being planned to have the cast of “The Wire” perform scenes from “Mad Men” please?
????????????? Who would play who? McNulty in drag as Joan? Lester Daniels as Roger Sterling? I’m just not seeing it.
Stringer Bell could be Price. Did you guys know he was British? I really didn’t think he could be any sexier, and then he showed up on The C Word and was like, “‘Ello, Guvnah!” and I was like, “orgasm.” (In England they call orgasms lorries.)
Where is the gif(t) of Sally screaming when she hears she is going to see The Beatles???
OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this one better.
I can always count on you, Concert Addict!
you got one of Price v Price cane attack?
I was late watching this episode today (WORKZ) but I knew the second I got on here this GIF would be waiting for me.
I have been waiting for this since last night. Thank you a million times over!
When I watched this, my jaw dropped. How old do you have to be in England before your dad beats you over the head with a cane for dating outside of your race?
I’m gonna be SUPER pissed if Don sleeps with his secretary. He’s got a good thing going with Dr. Faye, and now that he’s spilled his secret I’ll be really disappointed if he just drops her.
Also, I liked how it seemed that Betty was really happy for Sally and towards Don for arranging the concert tickets. Not even Betty can be mad about The Beatles! Maybe that’s part of the reason why she cut him some slack later on when the FBI was questioning her.
I’ve gotta say, kudos to Weiner and co. for giving Betty some actual humanity for once. It’s fun to watch her be The Worst as mothering and generally everything else, but being happy for her daughter and helping Don out did a good job of pointing out how people can surprise you.
Still lols about her lying to Henry Francis about “not keeping secrets” though.
In other news, Jon Hamm is turning in some of the best acting I’ve ever seen this season. Anywhere. Period.
Could we get a campaign going to get Jon Hamm an Emmy? It worked for Betty White and every guest spot on television.
Yeah, I’m bummed that Breaking Bad won’t be back for so long, but taking Bryan Cranston out of the running practically guarantees a Jon Hamm Emmy win. Either that, or I quit the Emmys.
Yes, I loved that concert ticket scene too– it was so nice to see Betty smile genuinely for ONCE and it was such a kind, unexpected Dad thing to do for Don. Have we ever seen such a moment for Sally? Poor girl. This is definitely the calm before the storm for her, and by “storm” I mean “hard-drugging and whoring it up.”
She’s so pretty when she smiles! I haven’t really found her attractive lately because she is so sour and slappy, but that smile is just beautiful. I wanna hold her hand. (Lame.)
Betty also had my favorite exchange of the episode:
FBI: Hi, we’re the FBI, and we’re here to ask you questions about Don Draper.
Betty: Mind if I get my cigarettes
Betty’s Facial Expression: Oh boy, I’m definitely gonna need all my cigarettes for this one.
So my wife subscribes to “US Weekly” and a couple of weeks ago I was reaching for my copy of “A Rememberance of Things Past” when the “US Weekly” feel to the ground in front of me and opened up to a page showing *SPOILER ALERT * Jon Hamm and Jessica Pare on the set in their bathing suits. So I’ve been kind of seeing this coming for a while now, it looks like at the very least they go swimming. And in the future “US Weekly” should be more careful what it puts in its magazine, some of us were just trying to read Proust, y’know?
The same thing happened when I saw a certain character in a military uniform from a certain Rolling Stone pictorial posted by a certain blog (this blog)… Not that I didn’t actually have a conversation with my friend about who we thought would be drafted before seeing that (it is 1965 and Johnson did order a 50K troop increase) and we both agreed that character would absolutely be drafted, but still it was not very cool.
I know the photo you’re talking about and Matthew Weiner is notoriously anti-spoiler so I don’t think that he would let such a massive plot point like that be photographed, so I like to think that particular person was wearing something that only resembled that shirt. Also, that plot development would just break my heart.
I’m concerned that our younger monsters didn’t get the “No wire hangers” reference.
It’s before Roe v Wade, duh.
Well then they have research to do. You’re a teacher, assign them some homework!
Good point. Napoleon Complex, 750 words on Mommie Dearest by Friday. Also, don’t forget about your videogum vocabulary quiz. The only word is schadenfreude.
ANYBODY ELSE NOTICE THAT THE ABORTION MOM IS THE RICH BITCH FROM CENTER STAGE AND ALSO JULIA STILES’ BFF IN 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU???
YES I DID. Maureen, the best goddamn dancer in the American Ballet Academy!
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!
What, did you go to a special bitch academy or something?
(Did we just turn this into a “Center Stage” quote comment thread? Yes, yes we did.)
Oh oops, I totally asked this question above without seeing this. Glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed that!
Being nice when you say something pricky is even prickier.
Trudy looked like a giant Hostess snowball in that nighty.
I really though we were gonna see her crotch. That thing was SO SHORT.
F’real. First time I ever felt excitement upon seeing a pregnant lady. She is the prettiest.
I really think AMC and HBO should do a crossover in which Ted Danson’s Bored to Death character makes a cameo as Roger’s brother and vice versa, that would make both shows even better!
I can’t help but wonder what Benji would have thought of all this, what with all the paranoia and abortions and whatnot.
He’d probably be like, “what’s a gagortion?”
Really? Any mentions of Benji gets automatic downvotes?………ok
You can’t say the name. It’s like Voldemort.
Never speak of that boy again. He never happened. It will shock you how much he never happened.
Wow. He really was just the worst, wasn’t he? Not that I even know what we’re talking about right now because none of it ever happened. But still. So awful. (btw, up-votes X 1,000 for Josh).
I watched the first “premier” showing and then watched both encore showings. Each time the Lucky Strike guy tells Roger that he doesn’t owe him anything because “You inherited this account.” OOF! I laughed out loud (literally) three separate times. Hurts so good.
Also, I have maintained in these forums for a long time that Mad Men reminds me of Edward Hopper paintings. Well, that scene of Joan on the bus on the way back from abortion land, that scene was the Edward Hopperest scene. So grateful for the Lord Jesus for giving me eye sight.
There are so many shots in this show that I want to just blow up and frame on my wall, that one of Joan being one of them. The shot of Joan, Peggy, and Faye in the elevator last week is another one.
Joan in her office, her face framed by all the pictures taped to the glass.
Holy Shit! Also:
IF I COULD SEE THE UPVOTE BUTTON I WOULD GIVE YOU TEN MILLION!
So glad someone else notices all the Edward Hopperness. (Hopperisms? Hoppernalia? Hoppersyncracies?)
It makes a lot of sense that you would see, and that they would create a show that reminds you of Edward Hopper. Even though he was painting earlier than the show is set, his works often have themes of isolation and loneliness despite being picturesque, urban settings.
i have a feeling this is going to the Top of the Pops
Yeah secretly Jim fixed it for Sally to get to Shea. Sorry US folks for scary lorry references you won’t get unless you’ve been caned over the head by your father well past childhood.
That’s SIR Jimmy Savile to you.
I bet Sal Romano is going to come back and sleep with Lucky Strike guy to save the day and then the Lucky Strike guy is going to say something about “getting Lucky” and then Don is going to use that as a new ad campaign…”Get Lucky”…and then Lucky Strike guy is going to like it and say “Well, I was Lucky to give you another chance (have sex with a guy who used to work here)”
I hope I’m not the only one whose first thought upon Lee telling Roger that was it was “SO NOW YOU CAN BRING BACK SAL, YES?!”
Absolutely! They may have no one left to give them money, but whatever, Sal!
Lots of love for Mad Men last night. But I’m dying to know? Eastbound & Down recap today? I need to see a Kenny Powers crossing himself at the dinner table gif.
You got your Wire mixed with my Mad Men… and it tastes great!
<3
Oh, and this episode was directed by Humpday’s Lynn Shelton?
samesies. PLEASE bring Sal back! And Peggy! Where was she this week? (Oh yeah, busy getting deeevorced from the SNL guy. Sad).
Gabe. You mean shillelagh, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shillelagh_%28club%29
Roger’s solution to Luck Strike = Bring back Sal
ugh, never again will I post without reading everyone’s comments.
Please help me remember how the whole Don Draper / Dick Whitman thing works. The real Don Draper was killed in Korea, but the military thought he was Dick Whitman. Okay. So Jon Hamm takes the name Don Draper to leave Korea since the government thinks he’s dead. Couldn’t he have taken any identity? Or invented a new one? Why did he take on the name Don Draper is my question. How did it benefit him at all? Thank you monsters. I bid you good day.
If I remember correctly, he switched their dog tags right after Draper died. After that, keeping the Draper identity was probably just convenient. Also, as a creative type, he’s most likely fond of alliteration.
I know that by the time I’m posting this early Wednesday morning that this comment thread is long deceased but I didn’t catch Mad Men on my DVR until earlier today so I’m late to the party. I just had to comment that I’ve had a really awful horrible day involving a long-term relationship falling apart and very complicated adult stuff happening to me that is extremely buzz-kill and not easy to deal with
BUT
every single sentence of this Mad Men review made me smile such big smiles and made me forget all the shit in my real life for just a few minutes. Particularly “Sally, stop masturbating” (no pedo) and Bodie as accounts exec Peter Campbell (I’m seriously stealing both of those). So I offer you a sincere thank you, Gabe, even if you never read this. Thank you for making me forget about serious, complex life-altering crap for a few minutes. You sir are doing the lord’s work and deserve all the internet Academy Awards presented to you by January Jones who you are then obligated to politely embrace and kiss because that’s what people in Hollywood do (but not like Brody did to Halle Berry because that was kinda rapey and not Hollywood classy at all). But seriously you deserve awards and a kiss from January Jones. Thanks for cheering me up. Carry on now.
I’m sorry to hear about the awful horrible day, rumpus. Reading videogum is good for cheering through tough times. The smart humor, glorious photoshops, and honest moments (like your comment above) make this my favorite site. It’s brought a smile to my face when I’ve been feeling pretty down.
Here’s my internet hug to you. I hope things look up.
thanks for the kind words and e-hug. it actually means a lot. and things will look up eventually. it’s just never any fun breaking someone’s heart.
The two of you should get together.