Anyway I was very excited to see Sal's almost-dalliance with the lipstick company guy in the previouslies. Since this season has him married, I knew we would have to revisit that eventually. As usual, the way it was revisited was much more nuanced than I was originally expecting. Watching Sal drool over Ken and his "beautiful" writing in front of his wife was difficult, but not exactly the kind of embarrassment I expected when that dinner date was made. I also liked the way that Sal's relationship with his wife was portrayed. (Ken's ideal apparently!) He really does seem to love her, and he seemed genuinely sorry for leaving her out and making her feel invisible. But that doesn't change the fact that she is invisible when Ken is around. The last scene with them watching TV together made me wonder how much longer their "domestic bliss" can last. As Sal lit his cigarette with Ken's lighter, you could see him struggling with how to continue to keep the truth just below the surface.
Everyone was lying and many people were getting caught this episode. From Jane's lies to get out of trouble with Joan "They made me do it!" to Cooper reminding Don that he knows his ultimate truth "I think you would agree that I know a little bit about you..." This episode was about thinking you have everything under control and then realizing that you really don't. Sal, Jane, Don and even Joan discover this throughout the episode. They all have carefully crafted persona's whose opposites are almost visible right under the skin. Happily married (straight) man, good girl, faithful husband, powerful woman. These are all the things they want to be, but they cannot help from being gay, or mischievous, or a cad, or vulnerable. Almost everyone on this show is a shadow in some way of Don, a man with a secret. Some secrets are practically harmless (I snuck into the bosses office, I'm losing my power are work) and some are explosive (I'm gay and it's 1962, I had a child out of wedlock) but they all seem to mirror Don's in some way. "I am not who I say I am."
Don and Betty (my faves) begin this episode happy and in love, and end it vomiting, which is never the trajectory that one is aiming for. The new car, the happy family picnic, all of that is "Don Draper's", what he imagines "Don Draper" deserves. He cannot buy the car at first because it reminds him (in a tantalizing little flashback) of being less, and of being caught (which we will no doubt find out more about.). Being on the car lot reminds him that he is not Don Draper, and then with a quick meeting Cooper reminds him that he is. He is great at his job, he does impress clients, and he does deserve that Caddy! The pretty wife, the happy life, the beautiful car, all of that is his. For a moment. Don is constantly on the precipice of deciding that who he was doesn't matter, and that who he is is what counts. But something always pulls him back, and in this episode it wasn't just the reminder of Dick Whitman, but the reminder of the other Don Draper, the one who isn't a family man, or a good person, the one who doesn't deserve happiness because he makes other people miserable.
Poor Betty, all flattered by Jimmy and excited for the party, just to be set up for a big fall. Even though it seems
he wanted them there for his own reasons of sabotage, I found the usually horrid Jimmy kind of sympathetic here, if only because the actor conveyed a man truly hurt by his wife's philandering. The way he brought Betty in so conspiratorially, like she knows, like she should know, like she isn't squeezing her eyes as tight as she can so as not to see the truth of her marriage, was cruel yet also somewhat generous towards her. He was assuming she was not blind, and therefore could see that her husband was cheating on her. This was the big moment of the episode, but it was almost understated. There was no big confrontation, Betty just got up, professing disbelief and dislike and it was over. Jimmy's dressing down of Don was similar. Don just looked at him with true confusion, as if it was completely impossible that Jimmy was actually right. Don and Betty are desperately trying to keep the shine on their life together, especially in front of someone who is trying to so hard to show them that they are down in dirt with everyone else. In the end of course, the only thing that cuts the uncomfortable between silence is Betty vomiting in her lap inside of Don's brand new Coup-De ville. Life is a lot messier than they want it to be.
Other Thoughts-
Jane Vs. Joan is on! Joan can play it smarter, but Jane can play it dirtier.
You know I love me some Roger! He played "Joan fires Jane" so perfectly. Any way it goes, he gets the attention of one of them (we all know Roger loves Joan's bad attention!) and now he has it from them both!
Peggy was looking good, not like "a little girl" at all.
I almost didn't miss Pete.
And Cooper's painting, that everyone wants to see as art, but he can only see as commerce. Perfect for an advertising executive.
2 comments:
I thought it was great that after the picnic, the whole family just got up and left, leaving behind their trash....Don even threw a beer can into the woods...I love the way Mad Men shows us how different things were back then....not so long ago...but so far away.
--Mark
That part was funny. I actually laughed out loud! I also think that it was representing the fact that the Draper's life seems so perfect, just like the picnic, but it's actually covered in trash.
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