# Mad-Men: 6.12 "The Quality of Mercy" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150 "2013-06-17T01:00:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150/121 "2013-06-20T20:08:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I got this totally wrong. :smack: When Betty quoted the headmistress as saying, “You’ll have plenty of options and she hopes you’ll choose THEM,” I took that to mean that the headmistress hoped Sally would choose her\* other options\*, NOT Miss Porter’s. Yikes. People had best not try to be subtle when communicating with me. ☹ I might miss a marriage proposal or something. Will you (ThelmaLou) marry me (Made in Macau)? MiM ---
**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 20, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150/122 "2013-06-20T22:30:22Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > Will you (ThelmaLou) marry me (Made in Macau)? > > MiM So…what exactly do you mean by that? BTW, thank you. 🙂 Maybe later. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150/123 "2013-06-20T22:59:18Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > Will you (ThelmaLou) marry me (Made in Macau)? Has **ThelmaLou** ever indicated that she is a judge or an ordained minister? She may not even have the ability to marry you. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150/124 "2013-06-21T06:26:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > At one time, the standard commission for agencies was 15% of the media buy cost. Finally, companies started figuring out that in the age of soaring budgets for television this was an incentive for agencies to overbuy to run up their bills. They started negotiating and flat fee pricing. Agencies fought back by creating special divisions for research, marketing, promotion, branding, consulting, etc. that had their own set of charges. > > This change took place over a long period. We’re probably still mostly at 15% standard in 1968, although some negotiations on commissions were taking place. Agencies started to be bought up by international conglomerate agencies around then and into the 1970s and that’s when they became supermarkets of services. [Saatchi & Saatchi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saatchi_%26_Saatchi) is the model, though it wasn’t founded until 1970. (Interpublic was earlier.) You can see the long list of agencies and company types they bought over the years. > [@Bob Ducca](#): > > You’re spot on, but I’ll mention that I’ve worked in media buying for awhile and more often than not, you’ll see 15% is still pretty much the standard agency fee. This issue is brought up in the episode after they land Jaguar as something new to the firm. Pete says Jaguar wants to go with a fee structure as opposed to straight commission and Roger is immediately bored with Lane’s explanation of what it means. Don says something like “The client asked for it, that’s not good.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150/125 "2013-06-21T11:37:57Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Not only that but Ted is married. Peggy might not care in the context of non-stop flirting and all that but, from the outside perspective – what’s this going to be? Does Peggy think Ted will divorce his wife and leave his kids? Does Ted think this (almost certainly not)? Or the fallout when it’s discovered by his wife? Does Ted break it off with Peggy and keep working with her? This isn’t like one of the secretary dalliances of Don or Roger where you just put a new girl on the desk. > > Regardless of where it came from, what Don said was correct – Ted & Peggy are being stupid and should nip this off right now. Peggy has been known to get her freak on at movie theaters. ---
**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 26, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150/126 "2013-06-26T01:54:45Z")
End credits over the “porpoise Song” by the Monkees. Brilliant! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-6-12-the-quality-of-mercy-open-spoilers/661150.md?page=6)