Mad (Wo)Men 6x13: "Well, aren't you lucky to have decisions?"

Everyone’s disappointed that Mad Men‘s clues and parallels between Megan Draper and Sharon Tate didn’t pan out in the season finale. But my question is: Didn’t it?

There was no physical violence or murder plot carried out, but if we think back to Don’s L.A. hallucination: Megan appeared to him. Surprised to see her, she explained to Don: “But I live here.” She then revealed to Don she was pregnant. So if Don and Megan become a bi-coastal couple, what’s to say Megan won’t move out to L.A., take on a little more of the stereotypical “relaxed” L.A. lifestyle, and get pregnant?

But for the meantime, Megan lets herself get jerked around by Don. First, Don announces he wants to move to L.A. so he can build a desk for SC&P on the West Coast.

“We were happy there,” he tells Megan. “We can be happy again.” He doesn’t want Megan to give up her career, but plans are made after that, and Megan tells the powers that be at work, who agree to write her off the soap. Just when everything is planned, Don gives the L.A. position to Ted, so he can sort out his affair with Peggy.

Of course, when Megan hears Don gave the position to Ted (she doesn’t know the why behind it), she’s pissed. “Fuck the agency,” she tells Don. “I quit my job.” Megan says if he wants to be alone with his liquor and his messed up kids and his ex-wife, that’s fine. Don tries to reason with her, saying they can be a bicoastal couple and telling her he loves her, but she won’t listen and storms out of the apartment.

But since Megan already quit her job and has meetings lined up in L.A., it seems likely she will, in fact, move with or without Don. And just may make Don’s hallucination come true. (And moving to L.A. also seems to extend the parallels between Megan and Sharon Tate even further, although Megan is older than Tate.)

Peggy Olson

From the beginning of Ted and Peggy’s flirtation, the relationship was set to end poorly, since Ted is a married man. But Ted, who Peggy claimed was a “good man” is almost as bad as Don, running off to California rather than confronting the complexities of being in love with a woman he works with, Peggy, and not being a man who can give up his family.

So after sleeping with Peggy, he tells her he’s going to California. “You can stay here and have your life and career and let this be the past.” Peggy thinks it was Don’s decision to send Ted at first, but Ted explains, saying Don gave up his spot for him. “I wanted this, but I have a family,” Ted tells her. “I have to hold onto them or I’ll get lost in the chaos.”

“Well, aren’t you lucky to have decisions.” Peggy replies. And in that sentence, therein lies the rub for the women on Mad Men.

The men are always running off, creating options where there may not have been options before, and the women are stuck where they were. Megan, although she has control of her own career, had given up some of that power to go along with Don’s decision. She gave up her role on the soap opera for a move to Los Angeles which isn’t happening because Don changed his mind.

Joan tries to make inroads at the firm, but she is stuck in her position as a glorified secretary, because the partners at the firm do not see her as anything otherwise.

Peggy, another who has made advancements in her career, can’t seem to break out of Don’s molding of her. At CGC, she thought she had broken free from him, but then her budding flirtation and relationship with Ted complicated whatever freedom she was feeling. Even if she had been able to make the St. Joseph’s aspirin commercial the way she wanted it, it was because of Ted’s support. She wasn’t rewarded the opportunity purely for her talents, but because of Ted’s infatuation with her.

Peggy tells Ted to get out of her office. Later, we see her working on Thanksgiving in Don’s office, because “that’s where everything is.” When Peggy sits down in his chair and looks out the window, the shot of her profile is the same shot as the profile of the ad man at the end of the show’s credits.

Mad (Wo)Men 6x12: "My father's never given me anything."

Sally Draper

After Sally walked in on Don and Sylvia, this week, unsurprisingly, she has no interest in visiting Don and Megan in the city. When Betty calls Don to tell him, he is expecting her to know everything. He’s waiting for the lashing that is to come, but Sally hasn’t informed Betty of the incident.

Instead Betty tells him Sally is interested in attending boarding school. The girls Sally stays with during her overnight visit are the stereotypical “bad girl” boarding school types. They expect her to provide liquor and smokes. Sally comes through by calling her friend Glen, who attends the boys’ boarding school down the road. He brings along a friend, and when Glen and the blonde girl go into her bedroom, it leaves Sally with Glen’s friend, Rolo.

No doubt Sally is going to have daddy issues after last week, but even despite that, her parents divorced and remarried other people, and it’s unclear what effect this has on Sally’s psyche regarding relationships. She seems less preoccupied with boys and more interested in activities and friendships. Last week, it was clear her friend had more experience with boys and Sally concentrated more on her memorizing for their Model UN event.

This week, Sally politely tries to change the subject when Rolo tries to get her to fool around. When that doesn’t work, she calls in back-up in the form of Glen, who abandons his make out session to physically defend Sally’s honor. “She’s like my sister!” He yells at his friend. Sally is pleased by Glen’s actions, but apologizes to Glen and the blonde for ruining their fun.

Some have claimed Sally was being manipulative in using Glen, but after Don let her down, she needs someone she knows will defend her. In this case, it happened to be Glen.

Peggy Olson

Peggy and Ted are more giggly at work together than usual and it’s obvious to everyone in the office, including Ginsburg, Ted’s secretary, and Joan.

It’s unclear whether Don had noticed their flirting previously, but when he and Megan run into Ted and Peggy at the movies, Don isn’t tricked by the flimsy excuse that they were simply seeing the movie as inspiration for the St. Joseph’s aspirin commercial pitch.

Once Don realizes the aspirin commercial is severely over budget, he informs the client, and watches the fallout happen. When Peggy confronts him about the situation, she claims he did it because Don can’t stand that Ted is a good man.

“He’s not that virtuous,” Don replies. “He’s just in love with you.”

Peggy is furious Don essentially, if not literally, called out her and Ted’s relationship. Her anger may be valid, considering Don is a cheating cheater who cheats, but if the situation were reversed, Ted would be PISSED that Don was withholding information from a client because of his feelings for a woman.

“You’re a monster,” Peggy tells him before leaving. When Peggy quit in The Other Woman, it was because she knew she had to get away from Don in order to grow in her role as a copywriter and she thought CGC, specifically, Ted, supported this growth. But now she is back at SC&P and she feels she can’t grow because she spends so much effort dealing with Don’s petulant behavior. However, in this scenario, Don might be in the right.

Over the past few episodes, Peggy has shown how she does not support other people’s  rule breaking. She didn’t support Joan trying to land the Avon account because by the rules, it was Pete’s account to have if Ted or Don deemed it so. She wasn’t supportive of her ex-boyfriend, Abe’s choice to move to the developing UWS neighborhood. Peggy wants things the way she wants them and her relationship with Ted is no different. She doesn’t seem to mind breaking the rules, not only at work, but personal ones–Ted’s marriage vows, for one–as long as it’s what she wants.

But if someone points out she’s in the wrong, she is loathe to admit it, especially if Don is the one doing the calling out.

Joan Holloway

Even though Joan’s appearance this week was brief, she was having none of Ted and Peggy’s flirting during the casting session.

Joan was the one who filled in Don on how overbudget the commercial was. While many think she did not have cruel intentions by doing so, it could also be a backlash against Peggy after the Avon situation.

Mad (Wo)Men 6x11: "Maybe I'll make it worth your while."

Peggy Olson

Despite Peggy’s quick progress up the corporate ladder as a copywriter, this season seems to be demonstrating how traditional Peggy’s values really are.

Last week, when Joan went against the grain to bring in a new client, Peggy chastised her for being in the wrong, which is the same argument Pete Campbell presented to Joan when he found out about the incident.

Both sticklers for the rules, this week, Pete and Peggy crossed paths once again, something that hasn’t happened all season. When Pete’s mom drops by the office, Peggy speaks with her while waiting for Pete. His mom apparently thinks Peggy is Trudy and mentions the child they have together. The comment hits a little close to home for Peggy, since in fact, Pete and Peggy do have a child together. Pete’s mom goes on to speak about her new (sexual) relationship with her male nurse.

Later, Pete, Peggy, and Ted are out to dinner after presenting to Ocean Spray and while Ted is settling the bill, Pete comments on the obvious tension between Ted and Peggy. Peggy is surprised Pete can read her so well, but says nothing can happen. “He’s in love with you, too,” Pete insists.

Peggy tells Pete about the conversation with his mother and they’re both laughing when Ted returns to the table. Ted must notice the chemistry between Pete and Peggy because he looks a tad jealous.

Back at her apartment, Peggy’s dealing with a rat problem. When she gets woken up in the middle of the night from sounds of its scrabbling, she attempts to rely on a guy to fix the problem for her. She calls Stan. When he won’t come over, she flirts with him, “Maybe I’ll make it worth your while.”

Stan says she won’t, but Peggy comes back with, “Then why are you using your sexy voice?” Stan tries to brush her off again, because he has a girl in his bed. Peggy gets that his brush off is code, though. “Oh. Why didn’t you say something?”

Sally Draper

Speaking of traditional values, when Betty finds out only one other girl is going on the Model UN trip to the city, she tells Sally she’s not allowed to go. She doesn’t want her staying in a midtown hotel with all those boys. Sally points out there will be chaperones, but Betty is not budging. Sally says she’ll stay with Don. “You hate that he supports my dreams,” she tells Betty, before flouncing off.

For their Model UN trip, Sally and her friend Julie stay with Don and Megan in the city. They meet the Rosens’ son Mitchell in the lobby. That night, they’re writing a list of “Why I Like Mitchell” when Megan warns them it’s past time for lights out.

In a cab on the way to their Model UN event, Sally is quizzing Julie about the country of Manila. “All the boys are going to think you’re dumb,” she chides.

“Don’t tell me how to get boys,” Julie replies. She informs Sally that she slipped the “Why I Like Mitchell” list under the Rosens’ door. Sally is horrified and comes back to the apartment building to find the letter. She gets the keys from the doorman and goes up to the Rosens’ apartment, sneaking in the back door.

She finds the letter there, waiting for Mitchell, but she also sees through a cracked door her father and Sylvia having sex. Sally drops the huge keyring in shock and they both look up to see her.

Don chases after Sally, but can’t find her. When he comes home later that evening, he finds Megan and the girls already having dinner. Sally won’t even look at him. When the Dr. Rosen and Mitchell come to the apartment to thank Don for fixing Mitchell’s 1A situation, Sally can’t contain her outburst. “You make me sick!”

Megan is about to go after her, but Don goes instead. Julie explains to Megan that Sally has a crush on Mitchell and unknowingly keeping Megan oblivious to Don’s cheating ways.

Sally won’t open the door to let Don in, but listens to him on the other said. “I was comforting Ms. Rosen. It’s complicated.” Clearly Don has no concept of how mature Sally is. Even if she isn’t experienced with boys, she’s probably smart enough to know Don wasn’t simply ‘comforting’ her.

It reminds me of back in season three, when Don was involved with Bobbie Barrett. The next morning, when he was home, Sally came in to watch him shave. “I just like watching you,” she said happily. Don gave the mirror a requisite thousand yard stare, presumably thinking of how one day, his little girl might one day be someone else’s sex object.

While that hasn’t happened yet, Sally is now a part of her father’s web of lies to protect not only his idenity, but his marriage to Megan.

Mad (Wo)Men 6x10: "I have to do it by myself."

Crossposted here. 

“I hope she didn’t make any promises,” Joan says to her lunch date.

She could almost be referring to the incident with Jaguar. Understandably, Joan may be hesistant to the idea of other people making promises for her. But in this case, Joan’s lunch isn’t a date or someone she’s going to have to woo to win company business, it’s a potential client. The guy works at Avon and is looking for an agency. And Joan’s determined to reel him in on her own, without having to bed him.

Once Joan realizes this is a business transaction, she wisely plays herself as more important to the firm than she is. She even picks up the check.

When she gets back to the office, she checks in with Peggy, to see what she should do about the potential client. “I thought it was a date, but turned out to be better!”

Joan says she would take the Avon news to Don, but she wants in on this account. Peggy thinks Ted will understand and help, saying he’ll make Joan the account man, if she wants. Peggy, however, just made Joan a promise she can’t keep. Ted calls in Pete to take care of the account side, putting Peggy on the creative side. The men are still wrapped up in the traditional way of doing things and can’t understand why Joan needs to be involved, since she’s not an account executive. “Don’t worry, you’ll get all the credit.” Pete says, trying to placate Joan.

At the breakfast meeting with Avon, Joan arrives instead of Pete. Peggy wonders how they’ll conduct the meeting without him. Joan confesses he’s not coming, because he wasn’t invited. Peggy is shocked Joan would break the rules that way, but Joan gives her an out, telling her she can leave if she’s not comfortable.

When Peggy and Joan arrive back at the office, Peggy is not pleased with the way Joan handled the whole situation with Avon. While Peggy has confidence that Joan could do the job, she advises Joan to play into the system. “I worked my way up,” she tells Joan.

Joan makes a comment about how Don carried Peggy into the deep end of the pool. “I never slept with him,” Peggy tells her in a rather tense moment. Peggy’s disgust that people would think this of her comes through, but her response and tone almost seem accusatory about Joan’s past sin with Jaguar.

“Congratulations,” Joan replies tersely. Joan tells Peggy she’s just like them–”them” meaning the men at the firm–and it’s hard to disagree. Peggy seems more concerned about Joan breaking the rules than helping her friend get an account. Peggy could speak up on Joan’s behalf, but whenever she has the chance, she bows to the system of the boys’ club. In the past, Peggy has been vocal with Don about various issues at the firm, so it’s curious she won’t speak up more for Joan. (Of course, she and Don are not getting along, and he’s in California, anyway.)

“I have to do this myself, Peggy!” Joan tells her. “This is the only way I could do it. Because all that matters now is who has a relationship with that client. Who is the client going to call?”

Once again, Peggy states her worry for Joan’s breach of the rules.

“I’ll be fine,” Joan replies. And knowing Joan, there’s no doubt she will.

However, when she gets called into the conference room by Pete Campbell, she doesn’t seem as sure. Pete has found out about the Avon meeting, because Avon sent a box of free samples to the office with a note. Peggy arrives as back up for Joan, but again, doesn’t speak up for her.

Joan stands her ground with Pete. “Isn’t the point to make Avon happy?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re making him very happy,” Pete replies, once again throwing Joan’s Jaguar incident in her face.

When Pete calls Ted in to mediate, he kicks Peggy out. But Peggy listens in via the PA in Joan’s office. Pete says he doesn’t even care if Joan takes the account, but he’s upset because of the breach of company etiquette. In this way, Peggy and Pete seem to be made from the same mold.

Just as Joan is drawing a blank on what to say, Peggy sends in the receptionist with a message saying Avon is calling Joan. Ted tells her to take the call. Via the PA, both Joan and Peggy hear Ted tell Pete that possession is 9/10ths of the law. “We’re all working together,” Ted tells him. “All agency business is your business.”

Joan thanks Peggy for tipping the scales in her favor. Peggy simply replies, “You better hope he really calls.”