But it’s not as if Don Draper is somebody Dick Whitman made up. He was a real person with a paper trail. Sure PIs would find out dark secrets like how Don abandoned his wife after he was discharged from the army, but how would they find out the truth? Even the US Army fell for it even though they presumably have photos of both Don and Dick was well as dental records and maybe even fingerprints. :dubious:
This has got to be a sign of the Apocalypse, because I never. EVER. thought that I’d agree with Sam on anything.
Even a very cursory investigation would quickly uncover the fact that in group or individual ID photos of which there are bound to be copies, the Don Draper of 1963 looks absolutely nothing like the Don Draper of the Korean War. While Mad Men tries to be as accurate as possible the whole Don Draper ID switch going as seamlessly as it did (initially) is the weakest logical point of the entire show.
It hit me that Peggy was also trying to an approach with Don that I just couldn’t see her being able to pull off. Peggy is usually direct and confident, but she approached Don under false pretenses and also tried an odd toeing the dirt, aww-shucks approach. “I don’t know if they are looking for a woman’s perspective but…”
If I was Don, I’d have reacted similarly.
You’re seriously asking me HOW a PI could have figured it out? Really? That’s silly. Discrepancies are inevitable. There are any number of things that could have pinged a PI’s radar, especially since he’d specifically looking for things that seem out of place.
It was easier to change your identity back then, yes. But this was the 1950s, not the 1850s.
Did Don’s tirade at Peggy take place the morning after his little adventure with the hitchhikers? If it did, I can well imagine Don was in a WORLD of hurt, with a mammoth hangover.
Two days later I’m still going “EWWW!” at the whole Duck/Peggy bedroom scene. I read in a blog [I think LJ] that the poster compared that scene to “seeing your best friend boning your dad.”
EWWW.
No, the morning after the hitchhikers, Don mumbled his “car accident” excuse to Peggy who was busy trying to hide her Walk of Shame wearing the same clothes she’d had on the day before.
He ripped into her the day before, then went home and fought with Betty, then left and picked up the hitchhikers.
Great episode, although showing the three principals at the end and then showing us how they got there is a tired old gimmick.
One thing I’ve always noticed about this show is that Don (and to some extent the other characters, but mostly Don) is always asking, “What do you want from me?”, “What do you want?”, and, his favorite, “What do you want me to say?”
He always squints, shakes his head, and tightens his mouth. It’s almost…petulant.
How dare anyone question Don? How dare anyone challenge him? How dare anyone have an opinion? How dare anyone think for themselves?
He is a bastard. What makes him so intriguing is he has some pretty damned good traits, too. I was never a fan of J.R. Ewing…I don’t like characters I’m supposed to “love to hate.” They’re one dimensional. I don’t hate Don. I don’t love him, either. But I am sympathetic, even as I’m also judgmental. That’s like real life.
I’ve never seen Don have a conversation with someone who had a different opinion where there was give and take. He’s a great listener. He’s great at giving advice. He’s great at giving his opinion. But he can’t debate. He can’t argue. I wonder if he’s incapable of it?
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…I get it!
I really didn’t see Cooper as blackmailing Don. When he said, “Would you say I know something about you?”…I really thought he just meant, “I know you, and you should do this.”
But then he says, “Who’s really signing this, anyway?” I.e., Don Draper signs it, but he’s dead.
Yes, you all explained it, and I read it on Slate, but until I went back and rewatched it just now…I didn’t get it!
Brilliant 
The meeting where he ripped into Peggy came after Bert, Roger & Lane met with him & gave him a copy of the contract they wanted him to sign. Which made the high he got from scoring the Hilton account evaporate. So he came down on her harder then necessary.
The next day, he had been rolled & she had spent the night with Duck. So they were ready to get back to their “normal” lives.
Heh. Love how you mention getting mugged as equivalent to sleeping with Duck. 
I’m still squicked out by that. He’s old enough to be her father, and I didn’t think Peggy was the type of person to sleep her way to the top. Surely she’s not that lonely?
No, but I think she’s never been propositioned so aggressively. She reminds me of when I was her age and much less sexually sophisticated. It’s a brand new world for her, and her path of experimentation and error is familiar feeling. You know you have this power and you don’t really know how to use it and be EMpowered by it yet. So you stumble around and are easily taken advantage of until you learn the ropes.
Good point. Right about then he was probably regretting having ever met Hilton in the first place. Then you have Peggy in there saying “Gee gosh golly! Hilton, huh? Ya think they want a woman’s perspective? winkwink*??”
Prior to the contract meeting, Pete came right out and told Don he’d like to be on Hilton and, while Don gave him the usual chain jerking (“Aren’t you supposed to be bringing me work?” and “How’s that avionics contract coming?”) he didn’t seem hostile about it.
Nobody seems to have noticed that this was the second time Cooper has said to Don, “Would you agree that I know a thing about you?”
The first was in the season 2 episode where SC landed Martinsen Coffee. The guy from Martinsen invited Don to some board of directors for a folk art museum or something, and when Sterling and Cooper were telling him about it, Cooper asked Sterling to leave, then Cooper said to Don, “Would you agree that I know a thing about you?” and then recommended he accept, as “philanthropy is the gateway to power.”
In that instance, it comes off as Cooper trying to relate to Don. I know you and I know what’s best for you.
This time, however, I took it as saying “you aren’t even Don Draper, so who cares what you sign?” Though there may have been some blackmail mixed in with his intentions as well.
I hate that Don signed the contract, and I also hate that I can root for his former ability to disappear and leave his wife/kids behind. He’s done a pretty good job of staying no-strings-attached to the world, though that seems to have taken its toll on him.
I did know about the eclipse once they brought it up…Stephen King wrote about it in Gerald’s Game and Dolores Clairborne.
And what kind of ding-a-ling is Betty that she looks directly at the sun? I think she felt embarrassed after Henry covered up her eyes.
And is it just me, but does it seem every male/female (and even male/male, with Sal) interaction has an undercurrent of sexuality? Like given the right circumstances, the parties involved would be tearing each other’s clothes off.
Also, he seems to believe in her abilities (and frankly, I agree that she’d be perfect on the accounts he mentioned), which is pretty damn attractive in a man.
Re. Betty looking at the sun – it fits well with her teen-like death wish, which she flits in and out of (going to lunch with a stranger who clearly likes her but then not letting him walk her to her car).
Time out here re “innocent” Peggy.
Peggy fucks her co-workers when they show up at her door at night. Peggy fucks her co-workers right in the office when they tell her odd stories about killing and eating a rabbit. Peggy fucks older competitors in hotel rooms. Peggy fucks young boys she picks up at bars. Peggy makes out at parties with strangers. Peggy is an aggressive fuck machine if the mood takes her.
Peggy may be a lot of things, but she is hardly innocent of the ways of the world and is sexually aggressive when she wishes to be. This notion of Peggy as some naive naif re her sexuality is bizarre.
I didn’t say she was innocent. I said she was unsophisticated. Just because she recognizes she likes to fuck and can fuck does not mean that she is savy in her choices of who to fuck (and wise enough to go home to a forceful tub faucet when choice of partner is dangerous - like Duck). She’ll gain sophistication, surely, to match her libido. But at this point in her fucking career, she’s experimenting, testing, assessing outcomes and her power. I don’t believe she’s experienced enough to deal with any potential negative fall-out from her Duck fucking (Ducking?), nor intimidating enough (ie Joan or even Don’s more self-assured daliances) to make sure Duck keeps his mouth shut (if he even had plans to).