I wonder what the error that reflects so poorly on Joan is.
Jane is going to suffer horribly at Joan’s hands. It was bad anough she used the m-word, but going over her head to Sterling:eek:. I was disappointed that they didn’t expand on Don’s flashback to the used car dealership; hopefully it’ll come up again in a later episode. Sal actually got married to Kitty?:dubious: And his mother is apparently living with them (where was she during dinner:confused:)? Oh, and Betty’s “cleaning up” at the park was absolutely disgusting:mad:. What that really acceptable behavior in 1962? I was less shocked at Duck when he abandoned his god.
What exactly is the backstory with Don Draper and his assumed identity? I watched most of AMC’s 1st season marathon, but I missed the last few episodes, and I only picked up from these threads that Don literally isn’t who he says he is.
He assumed he identity of a superior officer who died in the war. The real Don Draper was days away from being discharged and was starting a new unit with only our Don (Dick) having arrived. When he officer died, “Don” took his dog tags, was discharged and disappeared.
Yep, our Don was actually a hapless dirt farmer’s son named Dick Whitman (his mother was “a whore”, whether professional or otherwise) who came to live with his distant father and long-suffering stepmother when he was born. He had a younger half-brother, Adam, who adored him and who was the only one who saw him cowering on the train when the coffin containing the body of the (burned beyond recognition after Dick accidentally blew up the ammo depot they were guarding) actual Don Draper was dropped off at Whitman’s hometown as that of Whitman. Said brother actually tracked Dick down in his new identity in NY and eventually committed suicide when the frantic Dick disavowed him and tried to bribe him with $5,000 to go away forever.
And oh yeah, Pete somehow got the box Adam had of Dick’s old stuff and, after trying to blackmail him with it, showed it to Bartlett Cooper. Who waved it off. So now Pete and Bartlett know he’s Dick (although they don’t know the entire story) but nobody else, not even his family, does.
Fantastic episode–lots of office antics, power struggles between Joan and Jane, Mark Rothko jokes, not too much Betty angst (except at the very end), and Don being called out by the cuckolded Jimmy to his face. Great stuff.
And Don tossing his beer can. Yes, it was accepted behavior. It wasn’t until Ladybird Johnson’s “Beautify America” campaign that people really started paying attention to litter. (There were no trash receptacles in that park.) That scene fit in nicely with the disposable diapers, which despite 40+ years of “Give a Hoot – Don’t Pollute”, we still see in roadside ditches.
I’m worried for Sal.
ETA: Do we really know that Don’s mother was a whore? Heck, did we ever see Don’s mother? I don’t remember.
AFAIK, the only word we have that Don’s mother was a whore is from his step-mother, who said it in front of his father, who would know, I guess. Why Mr. Whitman would accept the child of a whore as his son, as presumably she was having sex with other men, I don’t know. I was hoping to get more Whitman backstory this ep, but what we got was just tantalizing.
I really hope Joan wreaks havoc on Jane, and on Sterling too, for trash talking about her to Jane.
Big revelations from Jimmy Barrett-- for the first time, Betty is forced to be aware that Don is having an affair, and with whom. And Jimmy lets Don know that he is also aware of the affair and makes Don feel like trash. So there’s the culmination of the trash we see throughout the ep, as a reflection of Don’t feelings. I love how Betty showed her moral nausea…
What did you make of the bit about Cooper’s painting? It was just an investment, after all, and he had no concern about it’s artistic merit either way?
Looks like we may find out a bit more about Peggy, the priest, and the baby in the next episode, from the previews. Speaking of, since I missed the end of last season, just what do we know for sure about Peggy and the baby?
- Do we know that Peggy had a baby?
Assuming yes: - Do we know if it’s Peter’s? Don’s? Someone elses?
- Was it given up for adoption? Or was it one of the kids at her sister’s house?
I’m just trying to sort what is known as fact, what is strongly insinuated, and what is just us, perhaps incorrectly, filling in the blanks.
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I vaguely recall the last episode of season 1 featuring the birth. But if not, it’s strongly insinuated that she had the baby.
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It’s strongly insinuated that Pete is the father, if only because that’s the only person they’ve actually shown Peggy be with. Don seems to have a strange but special relationship to Peggy, even before he came to see her in the hospital ward during the flashback. It doesn’t seem sexual, though.
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This seems to be speculation, but I do recall someone anticipating that this was going to be revealed a few episodes back. Peggy’s sister was pregnant last season, so none of the kids over there are likely Peggy’s.
Also, this:
is now my favorite quote ever.
- Peggy had a baby, but she didn’t know that she was pregnant until she went into labor, and she wouldn’t hold or look at her son when the nurse brought it to her at the hospital.
- Pete seduced Peggy on the day she started taking birth control pills. It’s unlikely to be anybody else’s. It’s never been implied that Peggy slept with Don. He was a bit surprised when she got up the nerve to call him “Don” a couple of weeks ago, and I think that kind of defines their relationship.
- When, in the flashback, Peggy’s mother and sister visited her in the hospital after she gave birth, the sister was heavily pregnant. The implication is that the child we thought was Peggy’s is actually her nephew, and hers was given up for adoption.
I actually hope Jane is able to bring Joan down a peg or two. She’s just so damn haughty and wields more of a sense of superiority than her position warrants. I think we’re going to see cracks in her armor brought about by her engagement (since she won’t be getting her regular injections from Roger any longer) and the younger and prettier Jane now hiding behind Roger’s shield (who she’ll be sleeping with before long).
Great episode. I liked that Jimmy waited until his series was picked up by ABC, and his relationship with Utz had stabilized, to bring the smackdown to Don. He may suffer in the long run, but he made his point.
Sal wants him some Cosgrove in a bad way, and I don’t think Kennie has any idea.
Having a crush on a straight boy never ends well. Sal’s trying even harder to stay in the closet than last season. Until the scene with him and Kitty after Ken left I was starting to think she was a lesbian and they were eachother’s beards. She actually thinks the marriage is real.
What’s your take on the “It’s not a jingle – it’s a song” presented by the Sterling Cooper kids? I think the timing is right. I’m remembering the instrumental from an Alka-Seltzer ad. Was that the first song from an ad that ended up on the pop charts?
My impression was that the hipsters didn’t like the term “jingle” because it was too advertise-y, and they’re down on traditional advsertising because they don’t want to be told what to do, daddy-o. So basically, semantics. I can’t imagine that particular song actually getting play outside of the commercial itself, but I wasn’t alive in 1962, so it could be legitimate and historically accurate.
I didn’t get it at all. But then - I’m not “their generation.” My dad is. (Born early 1940s- pre-baby-boom. Exactly the age that those “kids” are supposed to be selling to.) I don’t know that he would get it either.
I felt so sorry for both Sal & Kitty - both of them are going to get their hearts broken. But damn, I loved that apartment. It’s now my favorite Mad Men set, and there are a ton of good candidates for that position. I want Sal to come over and decorate for me. (I accidentally painted my bathroom the same color as their dining room. I now know what’s going to work in the space.)
I want Joan to win.
And to answer pulykamell’s questions: Yes, Peggy & Pete been shown together twice - and Peggy’s never been seen with anyone else, and uncertain - but my money’s on “that’s Peggy & Pete’s baby at her sister’s house.”
I was alive in 1962 and I wouldn’t have liked that song either. Peggy said it was what – catchy?
I was surprised at the mention of the SDS, thinking it was too early. But Wiki says they had their first convention in July 1962. I don’t remember hearing of them until the late 60’s.
I’m confused about the Pampers. My mom used to complain about nobody inventing disposable diapers, until her youngest (me), was too old to wear them. I was born in '63.
According to Wikipedia, Pampers were introduced in 1961, and a more refined version came along in 1966. My youngest brother was born in December 1965, and I vaguely remember him wearing Pampers at some point (I was only about 4-5 at the time, so it’s a bit fuzzy). They might not have been available nationwide at first.
In a previous episode, when Peggy was at her sister’s house, as she was leaving, her mom said something like, “Don’t you want to say goodnight to the baby?” which to me implied that there was some particular reason to do so. But now that the sister’s pregnancy is mentioned, I don’t recall there being more than one baby there, so maybe Peggy’s was given up for adoption, and her mom is just trying to elicit some kind of maternal feelings, in hopes of her having a legitimate child some day. I’ll have to go back through the TWoP recaps.
I think we’ll find out that Peggy did give up her baby. The hints are there – only one child of that age in the household and Peggy’s sister being very pregnant when Peggy delivered. Any other resolution would be really contrived, and so far Weiner hasn’t contrived much – except for the Don/Dick thing.