Anybody see “Mad Men” this week?
If so, what do you think?
Is it all over for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce?
The firm has had enough trouble clawing its way back, and now this…
Don Draper, who created a sensation last season by biting the hand that fed his agency — Lucky Strike — with an anti-tobacco letter published in the NYT, seems to have been vindicated. He’s to get an award for taking a courageous stand, and captains of industry will be there to see him get it. Roger Sterling goes along to the banquet and is happy as a clam passing out his business cards in that target-rich environment. (By the way, I’m sort of the Roger Sterling at ADCO, because that’s the sort of thing I do. Fortunately, dropping acid is optional.)
But then, in a calculatingly offhand manner, the guy from Dow Corning confides to Don that sure, all those people will give him awards, but none of them will ever work with him, because his letter demonstrated that no client could ever trust him. And then asks him if he’d like another drink. Yes, as it turns out.
The episode ends with Draper sitting back at his table at the banquet looking like he just got hit by a stun gun. (Everyone else at the table looks the same way, for differing reasons.)
So was the guy from Dow just blowing smoke? Was he just saying Dow will never work with SCDP? Or was he delivering a message on behalf of the other fat cats? Or was he just speculating? And will Don share what he’s learned with his partners (I’m guessing not)? Or will Roger, his mind having been expanded, figure it out?
I don’t know, but I wish I could have found a clip of my favorite line of the episode. It’s when Roger shares yet another “brilliant” insight with Don, and Don tells him that even some people who have not experienced LSD know that…
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The Dow guy is Ken Cosgrove’s father-in-law (and Laura Palmer’s father–which means that Ken Cosgrove married….watch the owls–and have some pie). Can you take what he says at face value, or perhaps he has an axe to grind with the writer who stole his baby girl’s heart? You can never tell with Weiner & Co. (and I could live without Weiner’s kid showing up to act poorly periodically)
Also, Ken’s father-in-law is the Old Guard. Remember when the Sterling Cooper guys mocked the VW ads? There’s been a lot of generation gap happening (“It’s happening now!”) this season; perhaps this is a further example. One thing you know for sure–there’s another season planned, and it’s hard to keep re-imagining Sterling Cooper plausibly and it won’t be interesting if they all go their separate ways, so chances are it will prevail.
Happy Star Wars Day!
May the fourth be with you!