As a side not every one’s always going “poor Joan”. Joan has some admirable qualities, but she’s a world class home wrecker in her own right, and a borderline hooker in some ways. The world may not be very feminist, but a lot of stuff that happens to Joan is entirely based on her own decsions about what men she chooses to boink without any appreciation (it seems) of whether they are married or not.
I watched the scene just now. Pete says that he checked with Russ and Don has been flagged. But if they end things with NAA the investigation will stop where it is.
That’s seems correct. Security clearances eat up so much time that no agency would pursue one when it didn’t have to unless it has already found a serious security risk, not just a question about a background.
I know everyone, including me, wanted Lane to take his father down. But the scene was played just like Don’s surrendering to Duck. In real life, you’re not thinking about fight moves after a blow from a club that knocks you down and draws blood.
Trudy’s got legs, and she knows how to use them.
So is there any conceivable way the company could stay afloat for a time without Luck Strike? True it’s 70% (+/-) of the billings but the 30% remaining is still substantial and probably more than the revenue many smaller agencies have. If not then I think bring Sal back and blackmailing Gene may be the way to go.
Which homes did Joan wreck? Exactly how is she a “borderline hooker”?
I guess you’re dreadfully disappointed that Little Joey got the sack…
I don’t think that’s the way they’re going to go. Seems too cheap and would be seen as desperate people making lies up. Someone is going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
One thing that is puzzling is that in show after show they are seen getting major new accounts. Honda, all Pete’s FIL’s business, Ponds, etc. etc. and they are still shown are dead without Lucky Strike.
I have the same questions, astro.
I’ve been replaying the scene, and I disagree.
Pete says “I spoke to Russ. And you haven’t been flagged.” Don looks relieved. Pete continues, “And if we end things with NAA the investigation will stop where it is.” Don: “(Long exhale). Thank God.”
Pete sort of mumbles the “And you haven’t been flagged” line, but I do believe he says “haven’t,” which also fits with Don’s reaction and the fact that Pete follows up with “And if we end things…” If Pete had said, “And you have been flagged,” it would have made more sense to say, “But if we end things…”
I also thought that Joan might have kept the baby, but wouldn’t be surprised either way.
I have to say I was impressed by Pete’s ability to take the abuse Roger heaped upon him without ratting out Don for killing the account. This episode shows some remarkable growth on Pete’s part.
It’s not necessarily all that puzzling. Different businesses have different ad budgets, and they often have multiple firms for different segments of their markets. So far, these are pretty small accounts. And big potential accounts like Honda won’t pay off for years. I don’t think they’ve made a cent off that yet. They need Lucky Strike to keep the cash flow moving until money starts rolling in from other things.
They didn’t get Honda but were told they could try for Honda’s car line when it was released in the US whereas CCG was no longer invited. But you’re right about the rest of them… you’d think Vicks Chemical would spend as much advertising its entire line of products as Lucky Strikes does the one brand of cigarettes. But then they lost a couple million from the Jai Alai account. But then supposedly Cosgrove was bringing accounts in with him.
…I don’t know?
I noticed wot’s-is-name from Lucky Strikes told Roger that Roger had inherited the account, presumably from Sterling Sr. Lucky Strikes was always the account that sort of justified Roger being there and I guess he never actually “won” it personally but rather maintained it.
Me three. The only homewrecking she’s done is that she hired Jane–her relationship with Roger spanned something like ten plus years and not one single breath of scandal was ever brought up, conclusive evidence being that she’s kept her job all this time. We’ve also never seen her with anyone else she wasn’t married to, and she’s been quite ethical about honoring her own vows–it took a near brush with death after being well-nigh abandoned by her husband to send her off the rails and even so it was a one-off. I think your assertions are more a reflection of your own prejudices than anything intrinsic to the character.
Sterling’s idea of selling and marketing is basically entertaining the client – taking them out for drinks, dinners, getting them laid. That was his criticism of Pete – all you had to do was hold their hand.
I suppose this is a depiction of how people really used to do business during a certain era. Because these days any smart company is going to be relentless in examining costs, quality of work, etc., but to my modern mind it’s inconceivable – how did people stay in business when decisions were so haphazard and capricious, based on personal prejudice?
Actually, maybe not everyone was like this, I read recently about General Electric’s decision to enter the market for manufacturing refrigerators for residential use. Before doing that they commissioned a study that thoroughly examined the available technologies, market projections, and other hard information before they spent a dime. And that was in like 1923 or something. They did such a good job that they managed to make a success of it even though their product introduction basically happened during the Great Depression.
And who knows, maybe I’m naive, and a lot of business is still done with prostitutes and whiskey?
“Home wrecker” was the wrong word, but she’s whatever the word is for a woman who knowingly maintains a secret long term sexual relationship with a considerably older man who has a wife and children, is given numerous very expensive “gifts” by the man over time in exchange for his appreciation of the relationship, and her reaction to getting mugged is to have the older man fuck her in the alley of public street. She’s not just a victim of fate, she makes a lot of bad moral and ethical choices some of which are now biting her in the ass.
Beyond this, you get the sense she didn’t marry Dr. Rape because she truly loves him in any way. She’s marryied him just to be married. Everything’s some sort of calculation with her.
Man, you guys need to come around on Pete. He’s ruthless, but he’s the only character who can really draw the line between his professional and personal self and he’s possibly the most forward-thinking male on the show. My favorite character, hands-down. Pete supremacy!
I love when any relationship is paralleled to Pete and Trudy’s. This episode we saw Pete and Don with the same problem: They both had a secret that their partner could see they were holding, that they were reluctant to tell. Pete knows that he can’t tell Trudy what’s going on; there’s nothing she could do and the fewer people that know, the better. She insists that he can tell her anything, but she also seems to understand that sometimes he can’t. Likewise, he seems to know that she can be trusted even though it’s best not to burden her. They’re a pretty fantastic couple.
Don has the same problem when Faye confronts him at his apartment, and he confides in her the way he has several other times this season. Something about Faye really pulls it out of Don and he’ll just start babbling. This attracted him to her in previous episodes, but this time he shared something he didn’t want to, and it pretty clearly ruined the relationship for him.
Pete came off quite well in this episode; he was by far the most responsible and loyal of the partners, and was a better man than any of them deserved.
That said, he’s a fucking rapist. Like all such he needs an ass-whupping.
No, he isn’t. What he did with the au pair was sleezy, but it was not rape. Not in 1963, not in 2010. It was at worst sexual harrasment.
At least Pete seemed to understand later that he was vile (though he was more upset with himself for cheating on Trudy than raping the girl). He’s about as disgusting as the other principal males, but he at least says “hey Trudy, I’m awful. Please keep me in line before I act like a 12 year old in a suit again?”
But yeah, it’s really interesting to see the rise of Pete Campbell this season. Don’s line that “you could run this company without me” is pretty serious, and honestly with the way things are looking Pete may have to in the near future.
Folks, when you strip info or coding out of an embedded quote, please make sure you attribute what’s left to the correct person.
Thanks,
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
Yeah, that au pair was totally asking for it when she told him not to have sex with her. Her fault for letting him force the door open!
I agree. In one early episode, he suggested that the client place ads in black-owned periodicals, both to attract a new audience and also because it was cheap. And I think Matthew Weiner said in an interview that Pete is the one who relies on focus groups and statistics in business. (I think he said that Pete is “always right.”)
Just so you know, there are times when all you do is hit “quote”, do nothing at all to the coding, and the quote gets attributed to the wrong person. That’s a “feature” of the nested quote function. Happened to me the other day because the coding was a bit screwed up in what I had quoted.