Turn and Face the Strain: Mad Men Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2, For Those Who Think Young, Flight 1

SPOILER ALERT-If you haven't seen these episodes, and you want to read this anyway, you can find some recaps here: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/flight_1.php
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/mad_men/for_those_who_think_young.php

So what has changed, and what has stayed the same? At first, there doesn't seem to be much change from 1960 to 1962. Sterling-Cooper is still the same boys club, Peggy is still busting her ass and not being looked at as anywhere near equal to the men, Don and Betty are still miserable and Pete is still a slimeball. But in both of these episodes, you can see that though the changes in the characters may seem subtle on the surface, they are in fact radical.

Jon Hamm is a great actor, and I think that he has done a terrific job projecting the changes in Don Draper's personality just slightly. In the first season his face looked as if it was almost carved out of stone, an almost inhuman facade of coolness. This season, after the indignities of being exposed to his boss as a fraud and learning that his brother committed suicide because of his rejection, he holds himself just a little differently. He's feeling his age, and feeling the weight of losing Rachel and so many other things he has wanted. His face is a little softer, his eyes a little haunted and wanting. It is just subtle enough that you completely buy that his wife and co-workers have no idea.

Betty, on the other hand is changing in a way that Don can see. She is much more assertive, whether ordering room service or telling Don her opinions. Her strange interest in her friend's life as a high class call girl in the first episode makes her desire to be wanted palpable. In "Flight 1", it is clear that she has become hard, abrasive and even a little mean. Living with Don and his inability to express emotion, being cheated on, taken for granted and ignored have taken their toll on the once sweet Betty. January Jones does a great job portraying someone who is constantly trying to keep up her happy act, but cannot help letting the mask slip once in awhile. In both episodes she is particularly critical of her children, which is of course ironic as one of the main reasons Don married her is that he believed she would be a sweet and loving mother. So they are still miserable, but for slightly different reasons!

Peggy's most obvious change is on the outside, as she has lost all of that extra (baby) weight she was carrying last season. Now she is of course carrying this weight metaphorically, and she seems to be reminding herself that her career is worth it. In "For Those Who Think Young", her pain just barely registers when Pete asks her if she ever wants children (already had yours, bucko!), and when she is forced to hold her child in "Flight 1", you can see there may not be a maternal bone in her body.

Pete is still Pete, but I have to admit, that after he found out his father had perished in the American Airlines plane crash in "Flight 1", I actually felt a bit of sympathy for him. He didn't know how to react to the death of someone he didn't particularly like and he was supposed to love. His flailing leads him to Don's office of all places, where Don does his best to comfort him in his own Don-like robot man way. "Go home. That's what people do." Pete is looking for a new Daddy ASAP, and a nicer one preferably. But business leads Don to bite his head off a few scenes later and Pete ends up looking to Duck, who had distastefully asked him to help land American Airlines as a client. Though he initially refuses to help him, after Don's rejection of him sends him straight into Duck's phony emotional comfort and to pimping out his father's death to get a client. I think Duck and Pete are going to end up being formidable business foes for Don, possibly even making Don wish he had given Pete the job instead of hiring Duck.

I have to mention the Paul/Joan altercation here!

Joans reaction to Paul having an African-American girlfriend was

mean but rather on point about Paul and his pseudo-bohemian ways. I have to say though, it made me glad to be a 21st century gal when I saw that all it took to humiliate Joan was for the office

to learn that she was over 30. (And still single! gasp!)

The gender politics on this show are mind boggling, though

unfortunately not as far fetched as it should be. Women

are still shamed for being single when they reach a certain age today,but at least it wouldn't qualify as someone's darkest secret!

I also must mention how happy I was to see Roger out and about in episode 2! John Slattery is so great as the almost-lovable rouge, I was really hoping he would make it to the other side of his heart attack in decent health. He certainly hasn't slowed down his drinking or smoking much!

I am really interested to see some of threads we were introduced to in these two episodes play out over this season. Peggy's mother, sister and baby, Betty's transformation from fragile victim to subtle victimizer (and back to to victim again? If she keeps acting as though she'd be willing to trade, ahem, "favors" for car parts then that might just happen.). Don struggling with his age, his wife, his identity and his work. Pete and Duck aligning against Don. Joan's vulnerabilities starting to show and all of the intrigue at Sterling-Cooper. I am excited to see what's coming next!