Furthermore, in regards to Zou Bisou Bisou/Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo, the album the English version is from is “Peter and Sophia,” released in 1960. Gillian Hills’ discography has her recording date as May 23, 1961. Also, this article on Gillian Hills states: “Her next EP (Barclay 70387, recorded May 1961) sported a charmingly kittenish version of Sophia Loren’s ‘Zou Be Zoo Be Zoo.’”
We’ve known that since Season 1. In fact, it was a major plot point at the end of Season 2, when Don disappeared to go hang out with the Jet Set and left Pete alone to coordinate meetings with potential clients.
I think it’s part of Pete’s traditional New York Dutch aristocracy background. Driving is something a servant does.
Sorry, but I’m having a hard time believing that someone wrote a nonsensical song in English that just happened to work very well as a love song when phonetically translated to French. I’m sure it’s possible, but the other way seems more likely.
I agree. Putting them in similar places (I seriously thought Pete had bought Don’s old house when he first walked into his kitchen) I think is going to be used to highlight their differences. They aren’t going to play out the same way because.. frankly what would be the point of us watching that AGAIN?
I think Pete is going to be the example of the changes in business coming now that the drinking and womanizing is going to be seen in a different light due to the social changes.
It seems perfectly plausible to me, and the facts seem to support it, unless you can find a cite for a French version of the song predating the 1960 Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers version. I can’t find anything that places the French version of the song before the Sophia Loren version.
There aren’t an abundance of definitive cites on the web, and this is one of those instances where I’ll sleep just fine drawing a conclusion based on the word of the recording artist. I really don’t care that much one way or the other.
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It’s the subtle stuff among the women (including Sally) that runs thru this episode. Peggy hates Megan (crush on Don?, Megan taking the easy path to copy writing?). Megan hates Joan (probably thinks Joan and Don have a thing), etc.
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My take (which may not be correct) is that Megan didn’t invite Joan because Jane hates Joan, and Joan is easier to not invite to the party than Roger, who will absolutely bring Jane. I think Peggy hates Megan because of the “easy path” thing, plus nobody who wasn’t married to a partner and tried being a moody whinebag over an insult and then announced she was going home early would be invited to go home permanently instead and Peggy really doesn’t have that power over Megan even though she’s her boss. (Don might or might not back her in the matter; ot1h he’s actually a fairly decent guy when it comes to things like that in general- no doubt he’d let her fire or chew-out Pete’s wife or Roger’s wife- but otoh after a miserable marriage and divorce he really can’t emotionally afford more turmoil or financially afford another ex-wife [I doubt he pays alimony to Betty since she remarried but he paid a big chunk of their marital assets and substantial child support].)
This article on Vulture seems pretty clear on the history of the song. They credit the English version as first and the French one as 2nd, especially given the extra song-writing credit on that version for a guy that also wrote for Edith Piaf.
Megan did invite Joan; the invitation was just late. All her invitations were late – Trudy mentions it to Pete, and Peggy assumes she may not be invited because Megan left it until so late to talk to her about the party.
Whether this is a sign of Megan being out of her depth in Don’s social world, or that Megan is more used to casual affairs with her artsy friends, I don’t know.
I don’t actually think that Peggy hates Megan. I think she likes her. But she doesn’t like the “married into the job aspect” and it puts her in some uncomfortable positions.
Given the range of misbehavior that has been tolerated and excused just on the show, I think that’s demonstrably untrue. She asked if she could go home because she wasn’t feeling well. There are plenty of bosses who wouldn’t threaten to fire you for that.
Betty made a point of not asking for any money. So, definitely no alimony and I’m guessing there probably wasn’t any court-ordered child support either.
I think this is going to be one of the main themes of this season. Megan belongs to a generation that is very different from Don’s. They’re comfortable with sexy performances in front of colleagues; they’re more casual with invitations. They’re starting to merge “regular” people with Midge’s “bohemians.” In other words, part of the conflict is not that Megan is naive, but that she’s modern.
While I think you are right about the nature of the conflict I also think that Megan was being a little selfish in throwing the party. There was no real point to it other than satisfying her vanity since she already had reason to know that Don would not enjoy it. She just wanted to show off and thought that she could make him change his mind about it.
Betty knew that Don wasn’t used ti money because he didn’t know how ti spend it or invest it. Je kept piles of cash at home.
I agree; I don’t think Peggy hates Megan. I think Peggy is just irritated at Don throwing his weight around in the form of special treatment for his wife, who is navigating a relatively smoother path than Peggy did. We got a little of this at the end of last season, where Peggy (and Ken) brought in the first new account since the Lucky Strike debacle, and Don stole her thunder with his ridiculous engagement. Contrast this with the fact that Don wouldn’t even back up Peggy in the Heinz presentation. It’s kind of like last season when she resented him for not giving her a nod for her Glo-Coat idea.
I also don’t think Megan was being selfish in throwing the party. She’s just naive. She “knew” that Don wouldn’t like it, but she also thought that she knew better, and that she could turn him around. Not only did that not happen, she embarrassed Don and herself with her performance, and now she knows (thanks to Henry) that everyone in the office is making fun of her for it. I thought that was a great thing about this episode - Megan just does not understand these people. I also agree with your point about the generation gap. Joan, for instance, upon hearing the story from Lane, knew exactly what Don’s reaction had been.
Earlier, a poster commented that Roger’s lines seemed a bit uncomfortable. I think that’s intentional. Roger is bored. He basically has nothing to do all day but follow Pete around and try to poach some work and/or credit, and his home life can’t be that great since he and his wife don’t like each other.
That, I think, was an overall theme in the premiere. Everyone is bristling. Megan can’t figure out Don’s social or business world. Peggy is resentful for what she sees as a lack of support from Don. Pete is basically the only thing keeping SCDP in business, yet gets little respect at work, and doesn’t like living in the suburbs. Roger is basically useless, and knows it. Lane misses his days at the Playboy club. Joan misses work.
All of them are chaffing under various pressures, and acting out because of it.
Interestingly, Don seems pretty okay at the moment. For him, anyway. He seems to still be carrying around some of the happiness he found with Megan at the end of last season. The birthday party incident might turn out to be the first crack in that veneer, since I expect them to wind up like Roger and Jane if they remain together that long, which I doubt.
I really liked the bit where the party guest remark that you can still here the traffic over the din of the party in their luxurious apartment, and Pete sighs longingly.
I agree. I thought it was interesting how she backed up her initial claim that everyone would want to go home and have sex after the party by giving that performance…but Don was immune to it (and we know Harry wasn’t).
And how much is Layne going to enjoy picking out the new black secretary? He could hardly contain himself when gathering the applications. 
That’s interesting, too. I think what Megan wanted to happen, and genuinely thought would happen, was for Don to have had a great time, to admit that Megan was right about the party, and to have been really turned on by her performance. What actually happened is that Don acted exactly like he said he would, and on top of that, this was the one time in the episode he wasn’t sexually interested in her. And now everyone else is mocking her and she’s embarrassed.
It was sort of an interesting contrast to Betty, too. Never in a million years would Betty have done what Megan did, because she knows better.
Considering Don and Megan’s weird dom/sub role-play thing at the end, I’m wondering if Don ever really got over his phase of wanting an escort to slap him around. Compare that to his little role-play with Betty in Italy.
My sources say the new black secretary will be played by one of the following:
1- Gabourey Sidibe, whose character will be gradually revealed to be a 300 year old oracle and can heal with a song
2- Wanda Sykes, who will cap each episode by making a comment about rich white people
3- Tyler Perry in his first non-Madea female character
In any case, they will fend off sexual harassment from Lane.
And not just any guest - it was Trudy who said that. For her part, she seems to have adjusted to suburban life without a hitch. That makes sense; everything’s working out for her pretty much exactly like she wanted.
The only person who think’s Megan hates Joan is Joan & her mother. We’ve seen nothing to suggest there’s any real antipathy towards them (other than Joan’s bemused reaction to the engagement when it was just her & Peggy). And Joan’s primary reason for thinking this is that she think’s Megan snubbed & sent her a last-minute invitation out of “politness”; she doesn’t know Megan invited everyone at the last moment. It doest help that Joan’s beloved [del]smother[/del] mother is feading her all kinds of crap to further her own agenda of making Joan the housewife she didn’t have the chance to be.
Megan doesn’t have the slightest clue what she’s doing and Don’s zero help to her. As fucked up as their marriage was Betty knew the difference between social entertaining and business entertaining & how to be a good hostess in both circumstance; Megan can’t grasp the difference between the two. It doesn’t help that Don has no friends outside of work; or any relatives besides her & his kids.
Pete’s a New Yorker; he’s spend his entire life living in the city (well other than time spend at boarding school & college). He truly despises living in the suburbs and his resentment at Trudy for strong-arming him into moving to Greenwhich will only grow. Trudy probally grew up in a house in the suburbs of course she’s adapted. It is kinda funny that whenever they go anywhere he has to depend on his wife to drive him. Usually the situtation was reversed then.