(Spoilers) After a
year-long hiatus, a personal favorite of mine is back as the final episodes of
AMC’s Mad Men arrive. Don Draper
(the incomparable Jon Hamm) seems to be up to his old tricks again as we open
in a sensual casting session with a striking model named Cindy. Cindy is wearing a chinchilla coat, and not
much else, for an advertisement showcasing Sterling Cooper’s new client Topaz
pantyhose. A clever camera angle shows
Don alone with Cindy, until is revealed that four other members of the team are
watching. Don’s mile-wide grin and
steamy directions for Cindy’s poses suggest that he probably didn't notice
anyone else either.
Not
just the tip
We
move to Don, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and three young women at a small
diner, over-dressed in tuxedos and fine gowns after a party. Don asks the waitress if he knows her, and
the waitress says no, considering it to be a common pick-up line. Roger makes a few jokes at the waitress’
expense, but leaves an $88 tip to make up for it.
Don
arrives back at his apartment to find messages from several different
women. A young woman named Trish is the
subject of one of these messages, and not soon after this, she arrives at Don’s
door. It is not clear if these women are
prostitutes or simply women he met at parties, but Don’s intentions are clear
to even the most casual Mad Men fan.
In an early moment that piqued my interest, Trish finds a piece of Megan’s
(Jessica Paré) jewelry while rolling around the bedroom floor with Don. She asks if it is from another woman he’s
sleeping with. He says it’s from the
woman he’s not sleeping with, his
ex-wife! This was a shocker, and forced
the audience to wonder when this divorce actually occurred. Don then coldly tosses the jewelry away to
signify his emotional disconnection with Megan.
A campaign with Leggs
Sterling
Cooper’s new account is with the pantyhose brand Topaz, a direct competitor to the
popular Leggs brand. They want to get
Topaz out of drug stores and onto the shelves of department stores. The plan is to sign Macy’s, so Peggy (Elisabeth
Moss) and Joan (Christina Hendricks) pitch to McCann Erickson, who have a
connection to the department store. The
meeting is a disaster, as the immature men that Peggy and Joan pitch to cannot
control themselves from making sexual jokes about panties dropping, “Leggs”
being spread all over the world, and Joan’s bra size. This leads to tension between Peggy and Joan
when Peggy says that men don’t take Joan seriously because of the way she
dresses.
Meanwhile,
Don dreams that an old flame comes in for a casting call. Rachel Katz (Maggie Siff) an old love
interest of Don who hadn't been seen since Season 2, walks through the door modeling
the beautiful chinchilla coat. Don is
floored by her appearance, and she simply says “I’m supposed to tell you that
you missed your flight”. I’m not
completely sure of the meaning of this, but it is possibly a metaphor for Don missing
his chance to see her before she died.
Don’s secretary Meredith (Stephanie Drake) later informs him that Rachel
passed away from leukemia a week prior to his dream.
Ken the pirate
Eye-patch rocking Ken
Cosgrove’s (Aaron Staton) story line has been a bit difficult to follow through
the long and complicated life of Mad Men. McCann Erickson boss Ferguson Donnelly (Paul Johansson) no
longer wants Ken’s business, as the result of some Irish slurs aimed against
him, and Ken’s departure of McCann with $4 million dollars of Bird’s Eye
accounts. Worse even, Ferguson and Roger
want Ken to give up his accounts to the insufferable Pete Campbell (Vincent
Kartheiser). Ken’s girlfriend insists
that they have plenty of money to allow Ken to quit his job and pursue his
long-neglected writing career. She
remarks that he has already given them his eye, and he doesn't need to give any
more.
Ms. Spontaneous Peggy Olson
Peggy’s
co-worker Johnny Mathis (not that Johnny
Mathis) offers to set her up with his brother-in-law Stevie. What at first appears to be an awkward first
date turns out to be quite fun. A
conversation about how advertising agencies get to shoot commercials abroad
turns into Peggy planning an impromptu trip to Paris with her new friend of a
few hours. While trying to balance some
intense kissing and fishing for her passport, Peggy decides to wait on the
Paris trip. She feels that she may have
found someone very special, beyond simply a fling. Peggy also decides to hold off on any sex on
the first date, and this may lead to Stevie losing interest quickly. While Peggy feels like she may have stumbled
upon a long term boyfriend, Stevie’s mannerisms and hesitance to reschedule the
trip for a few weeks later show that he was probably interested in the
opposite.
Sitting Shiva
Don
attends Rachel’s Jewish shiva, and is met with a warm welcome, that is until the
host finds out who he is. Don’s earlier
comment about his ex-wife is now explained, as Don admits that he is about to
get divorced for a second time. He is
prompted when the host asks if he left his wife for Rachel.
Finally,
we learn that Ken Cosgrove has accepted a new position at Dow Chemical. Roger is stunned to find out that not only
will Ken become the new Head of Advertising at Dow, but he will be a very “hard
to please” new client of Sterling Cooper.
The
final scene sees Don confiding in his favorite waitress Diana, at the diner
where he had previously left an $88 tip and spent some time with her in the
alley on a cigarette break. He tells her
that he had a dream about Rachel before finding out that she had died. Diana is quick to warn Don not to have any
dreams about herself, lest the same fate would follow.
Thoughts
It
is great to have Mad Men back, if only for seven more episodes. This hour saw Don back to some of his old
vices, and the decision to divorce Megan seemed abrupt. More explanation of this action should follow
in the next few episodes. It will be very
interesting to see the final fate of Don play out during the next six
weeks. The business dealings and the
technical side of the agency has admittedly been my second favorite part of the
show, and hopefully these will take a back seat to the human drama in the final
hours. However, the advertising pitches
have given us some of the most beautiful scenes of the series, including Peggy’s
pitch to Burger Chef in the previous episode, playing off of the sense of
community people felt while watching the 1969 moon landing. Balance will make the best episodes, as
always. I can’t wait for next week!
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By Jesse Quigley
