No argument there.
Social status isn’t tied to bank balances. Pete’s family was never publicly shamed, and his mom didnt even know they were broke.
IIRC, one of the reasons Pete was brought over as an original partner at SCDP was because his client list was particularly impressive.
As I recall, the primary reason was because they needed Vicks. Remember that Pete didn’t stand out so much against Ken that they (SC under the Brits) made them both “co-vice presidents” of Accounts. (or co-heads; I don’t remember the exact title)
But, again, I’m not saying he’s a bad salesman. He obviously isn’t. I just don’t think he’s anything close to irreplaceable.
His father spent them down to broke maintaining the social status they had. If you can’t afford your club fees and house and clothes and dinners, etc you can’t pretend that you’re that social status just because. Do you think Mrs Campbell is spending a lot of time at the marina these days?
Pete’s father spent the family’s capital; he didn’t live off the interest. He probably could have “maintained”–but didn’t; his sons were shocked at his spending. But Pete still had a whiff of the old blue blood; is that as important as it was in 1960? His wife’s daddy’s business was also important; gone, now. But Pete *has *done other good work.
Everybody in the company has their uses. (Well, nobody seems to know what Bob does.) And I’m pretty sure Ted likes his own folks–although the creatives that meet with Peggy have not impressed me.
The merger is supposed to create a new, large company. The *plan *is to keep everybody. But it will be quite interesting to see just how they all get along in future weeks. This episode was #6 of 13…
What? Yes, I do think she’s probably still having lunch, playing bridge and visiting with friends that she has known her whole life. What does that have to do with Pete?
You were the one relating Pete’s family and social standing to his connections.
As I said, we never see Pete doing anything “old money” these days nor bringing in anyone directly related as such. One can guess that maybe it happens behind the scenes but, if it does, it’s not anyone notable enough for them (or their company) to get face time on the show. I’d say that Pete is successful and does well for himself (obviously not as well as the senior partners) but is largely divorced from blue blood scene both by present circumstance of his family and because it didn’t really seem his bag anyway.
There is nothing to indicate that there has been any significant break with his entire friend set. If you think that all his prep school friends and fraternity brothers from Dartmouth would break ties with him because his father secretly went broke, you’re mistaken. They kept it secret from their mom for a while, so I’m guessing most people don’t even know. Even if they did, they aren’t going to totally shun her for that. You are confusing social standing with financial standing.
There’s nothing indicating any continued connection either. From the evidence actually presented in the show, Pete doesn’t do a lot of hobnobbing with the wealthy set. Honestly, Pete doesn’t have many friends at all from all appearances. Coworkers and the occasional fling but the closest we’ve seen him relate to a non-SCDP person was his train buddy last season. I don’t think they hang out much these days.
Absent any evidence, I will assume that nothing drastic has happened. If something changed significantly, I would expect to be shown.
Nobody other than Don Draper is shown in social settings for more than a few fleeting seconds. They very pointedly set up an exhaustive upper-class background for Pete. If he experienced a dramatic fall from social grace, they would absolutely document that for the audience. They haven’t.
On top of that, Pete is very Machiavellian and would do everything in his power to keep those valuable contacts.
In short, there is absolutely no reason to think Pete isn’t still in contact with his dozens of lifelong acquaintances.
Pete brought in Vicks through his father-in-law and didn’t Ken bring in Dow Chemical through his father-in-law? So part of their success isn’t even from competence but instead from family connections.
Absent any evidence, I would assume Pete’s not bringing in loads of high society clients. There’s no need for a “dramatic fall from grace”; Pete has just drifted away from that scene. He obviously favors the modern playboy city life over the blue blood scene.
That’s inaccurate. They’ve had multiple episodes about Peggy meeting people and making friends. They’ve showed Joan interacting socially. I think it’s pretty implicit that the major male characters don’t have much of a social life outside of their spouses/children. Megan couldn’t think of any friends on “Don’s side” to invite for his party who weren’t work friends. Roger pretty much just chases skirts; even his LSD “friends” were through Jane. Pete is basically living off Chinese takeout and Triscuits in his apartment now that Trudy threw him out. His idea of a celebration is taking Bob from Accounts to a whorehouse.
That said, there’s no reason to keep going in circles. I see absence of evidence as reason to believe Pete isn’t currently traveling blue blood circles; you think he is because no one has explicitly said he’s stopped doing so. Without something coming up on the show directly addressing it, it’s just guesswork.
I think Pete is going to have a hard time adjusting at the new company. But maybe the merger is the perfect distraction so he is spared the prolonged humiliation of losing Vicks.
Peggy’s look of abject misery was the best. She thought she was going in to get a little sugar from her confident, strong, nice boss and instead she discovers to her horror that neurotic, moody, self-hating Don has weaseled back into her life somehow. Her comment “I just bought an apartment” seemed directed at herself; as if she had first said silently, “Oh my God, I have to quit now!”
The loaded, unfired gun in the character of Bob Benson is starting to grate on me. He was conspicuously introduced, conspicuously shown each and every episode, and yet he still does nothing. It must be a doozy. It better be after this unbearably tense build up.
IIRC his supposed social connections were one of he reasons he was hired at the original Sterling-Cooper (the Dykemans owned “half of Manhattan before the Crash”). That didn’t work and he was on the verge of being fired before his father-in-law gave him Vicks.
I got the impression that his father squandered the Dykeman fortune on foolish investments and his mistresses, not maintain the family’s upper class lifestyle per se.
Obviously, he’ll grab the loaded, unfired gun of Pete’s rifle and protest the merger.
Last week, the previews showed someone saying “I can’t believe it” and “This isn’t happening”* so I know it’s true.
*I have no idea if the previews said this. They always say something close enough. Speaking of, the audio has been messed up all season and the previews are played almost muted. Not that it makes any difference but I found it amusing.
They pointed out that she is the copy chief of one of the top 25 agencies in the country before the age of 30.
I don’t know exactly how many people were in that situation in the 60s, but I’ll bet that every single one of them became a name partner in an agency before the age of 35.
Her future is more golden than anyone else’s on the show right now. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when she realizes that.
I’ll further bet that every single one of them has a penis. Peggy’s accomplishments are a huge dead for anyone, man or woman (though she’ll always be a failure in her mother’s eyes). I do wonder what’ll happen if she finally hits a glass ceiling she can’t shatter.
Peggy will be copy chief but she’s getting a lot of baggage in Ginsburg and Stan. It is so much easier to be the boss of people you weren’t formerly coworkers with. Plus, I’m sure she’s not looking forward to reporting to Don (not to mention seeing Pete around the office!).
She reinvented herself at the new agency and now SCDP drags her back in.
They aren’t mutually exclusive.
There is absolutely no reason to think Pete has abandoned his entire scene. That’s why his wife had to drag him kicking and screaming from the Upper East Side.
LOL. Three seasons ago for 1/8 of an episode. My point stands.
The social lives of the secondary characters are just not important enough to take up valuable scene time.
Totally agree. This has been fun. This exchange could only exist within the context of a well-crafted world.
Cheers.