# Mad-Men: 5.12 "Commissions & Fees" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980 "2012-06-04T00:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/121 "2012-06-05T10:20:43Z")
Ken was at the dinner with Pete when the Jaguar guy expressed his desire for Joan. Ken was appalled that Pete didn’t immediately shoot the idea down… ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/122 "2012-06-05T10:22:52Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Ken was at the dinner with Pete when the Jaguar guy expressed his desire for Joan. Ken was appalled that Pete didn’t immediately shoot the idea down… Right!!! D’oh. :smack: Thanks- that makes perfect sense now. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/123 "2012-06-05T11:39:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > No it doesn’t. There is no requirement that a commercial entity have a person with the title of president. > > This really means nothing by itself. Once a fictional entity is created, it’s no longer “his” name. And, if this had happened on real life, they would have sold the Sterling Cooper name to the Brits, so they wouldn’t be able to use the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce name now ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/124 "2012-06-05T12:22:38Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Why didn’t Roger fire him, as Don suggested? Why doesn’t he want Pete to be involved? Thanks I don’t think Don was really demanding that Kenny be fired. He had just gotten out of a meeting with Lane and has for a few weeks now, been sick of the bullshit and the lying and being in anything but first place. So he says “Roger, we’re going after first place.” and Roger responds with a weak excuse “But what about Kenny?” “Fucking fire Kenny then. We’re doing this.” Don really didn’t care about Kenny’s status. He just didn’t want anything standing in the way of his pitch. ---
**Author:** ![JSC09021952](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@JSC09021952](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSC09021952)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/125 "2012-06-05T13:14:49Z")
With regard to SCDP, I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is a partnership is dissolved upon the death of a partner. The Partnership agreement should determine the method of dissolution and how the assets will be divided. Of course, they (the partners) must have put some thought into what would happen as a result of a death to a partner (particularly Cooper). It will be interesting to see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/126 "2012-06-05T13:33:26Z")
> [@JSC09021952](#): > > With regard to SCDP, I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is a partnership is dissolved upon the death of a partner. Only in the absence of some other arrangement put in place by the partnership agreement, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/127 "2012-06-05T14:19:15Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Ken was at the dinner with Pete when the Jaguar guy expressed his desire for Joan. Ken was appalled that Pete didn’t immediately shoot the idea down… And honestly, who thinks Pete can keep his mouth shut? Anybody interested in the history of menstruation, particularly in how companies presented their products and “explained it all” (and a lot of young women were introduced to the idea by a booklet from Kotex) the Museum of Menstruation site is awesome - a coworker and I spent a long rainy afternoon at the desk once reading all these Marjorie May[booklets](http://www.mum.org/compbook.htm). Totally worth the read, since they’re actually more explicit and useful in the early days than later! ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/128 "2012-06-05T14:28:37Z")
OT: I suppose I’m the last person on earth to know that Elisabeth Moss is a scientologist. I need to learn not to read about the personal lives of actors and actresses, especially if I enjoy their work. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/129 "2012-06-05T14:35:28Z")
Oh no…, that makes me sad. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/130 "2012-06-05T14:45:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I was wondering if Lane tried to kill himself in the Jaguar as a fuck-you to Don, because doing so would probably lose them the Jaguar account. That’s possible, but I think it was more that using the Jaguar was the most convenient method available to Lane. Because dying in the Jaguar would hurt SCDP, it would hurt Lane’s wife Rebecca a whole lot more. They had a rocky relationship but I think they genuinely cared for each other. She got him a gift that she thought he would love since he never seemed to spend money on himself. She was hurt when he refused to drive it for seemingly no good reason. She’ll be devastated when she finds out he’s dead, but it would have added huge insult to injury if it had been in the gift she bought for him. So I’m curious how the suicide will be treated. Wasn’t it seen as more shameful back then? Would it be possible for it to be covered up as a heart attack or something like that? I know that the coroner must know the actual reason for death and that all the officials must know, but would they allow for the family’s sake that the official reason being released to the public was natural causes of some sort? I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see any of the fallout from Peggy leaving, but I guess it wouldn’t have fit in with everything else going on in this episode. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/131 "2012-06-05T15:03:02Z")
I noticed there was no mention of her in the “Next week…” although that means next to nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/132 "2012-06-05T15:09:28Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > So I’m curious how the suicide will be treated. Wasn’t it seen as more shameful back then? Would it be possible for it to be covered up as a heart attack or something like that? I know that the coroner must know the actual reason for death and that all the officials must know, but would they allow for the family’s sake that the official reason being released to the public was natural causes of some sort? I think they already told the police that Lane had hung himself – they mentioned to Don that the police told them not to move anything “because it was a crime scene now”. Come to think, suicide might void that insurance policy someone mentioned earlier, too, even without Lane’s formal resignation. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/133 "2012-06-05T15:13:37Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > OT: I suppose I’m the last person on earth to know that Elisabeth Moss is a scientologist. If you read this [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scientologists) list, you’ll probably find one or two other disappointments among the current and former members. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/134 "2012-06-05T15:14:17Z")
In a previous episode, Pete mentioned his insurance policy–that covered suicide after two years. The death has already been reported as hanging–probable suicide. But I wonder if the partners will tell his wife about the embezzlement or just leave it at one of those tragic cases of undetected depression… (Besides, it would look better for the company if the embezzlement remained a secret.) ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/135 "2012-06-05T15:23:11Z")
The thing is, I don’t see Pete letting the embezzlement go without being a total bitch about it, it’s just who he is. I think he is also going to be pissed at Don for trying to settle it behind the backs of the other partners. what I am also going too find interesting is how much sympathy they try to make us feel for Joan as the truth comes out and the whispers start. I am hoping they make Joan own it, that would be the most empowering thing she could do. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/136 "2012-06-05T15:32:35Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Can someone catch me up on why Ken is so opposed to working with his father in law and why this was a huge plot line? I seem to have missed/forgotten something. This has already been elaborated on, but Pete has worked with his father-in-law (Clearasil/Vicks Chemical) and essentially killed that relationship; he also used his father’s death in an American Airlines crash to try to land them as a client. Ken was trying distance himself from Pete, but when he saw what Pete did to land Jaguar, he realizes that he has to play dirty a little bit. Interesting juxtaposition of rites of passage: Glen’s “driving for the first time” and Sally’s “having your first period”–one happens by choice and one is forced upon her. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/137 "2012-06-05T16:02:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m thinking that Cooper will do something drastic next week. Speaking of “next week,” I’ve noticed that the episode previews for _Mad Men_ are the most incomprehensible I’ve ever seen for a show— and I can’t tell whether whoever’s editing them is completely incompetent or they’re intentionally cut to reveal nothing about the coming show. They always seem to be a completely random collection of dialog snippets quick-cut together in no apparent order. I don’t want spoilers, of course, but every preview just leaves me saying “huh”? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/138 "2012-06-05T16:09:02Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Speaking of “next week,” I’ve noticed that the episode previews for _Mad Men_ are the most incomprehensible I’ve ever seen for a show— and I can’t tell whether whoever’s editing them is completely incompetent or they’re intentionally cut to reveal nothing about the coming show. They always seem to be a completely random collection of dialog snippets quick-cut together in no apparent order. From what I’ve heard, it’s completely intentional and practically an on-going joke at this point. Weiner doesn’t want any sort of spoilers and I think AMC demands the “Next week” previews. The result is what we get. My all time favorite was a woman asking Betty if she was contemplating suicide… in the context of buying a new couch. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/139 "2012-06-05T16:13:40Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > The thing is, I don’t see Pete letting the embezzlement go without being a total bitch about it, it’s just who he is. I think he is also going to be pissed at Don for trying to settle it behind the backs of the other partners. The only person who knows about the embezzlement is Don. As someone else said, Cooper thinks Don just signed off on the bonus Lane had been whining about for the last two months. No one knows the check was a forgery except Don. The only way anyone will know different is if Don tells them. The $50k credit extension is certain to come to light but that, by itself, doesn’t mean embezzlement. To everyone else, the assumption may be that Lane committed suicide when he mismanaged (not necessarily stole) the company books and found himself in a hole he couldn’t find a way out of. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980/140 "2012-06-05T16:33:39Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > what I am also going too find interesting is how much sympathy they try to make us feel for Joan as the truth comes out and the whispers start. I am hoping they make Joan own it, that would be the most empowering thing she could do. I’m not following what you mean here. The partners already know that Joan slept with the guy. “How much sympathy THEY try to make us feel for Joan” and “I am hoping THEY make Joan own it…” Who is “they”? And make Joan own what? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-5-12-commissions-fees-open-spoilers/623980.md?page=8)