Don is well-known in the advertising industry – he’s one of the reasons the Brits wanted SC. We’ve seen that he, himself, is a draw for clients signing up with SCP. If he goes to another agency it’s a twofold hit:
Other agency has Don and his mesmerising ad pitches. Clients might sign with other agency just because they’d have Don.
Now everyone would know that SCP doesn’t have Don – and they’re really weak on Creative talent otherwise now. Their main other Creative talent moved off to California (may as well be Siberia to NY). Lou is a dud. Peggy doesn’t have a “name” for herself.
While Don was in limbo, SCP could maintain the illusion to clients that Don was still working for them, and prevent him benefiting other agencies. (Plus, SCP can’t afford to buy him out as a partner.)
It’s not that Don is a net liability to SCP, it’s that they’re tired of his antics. He’s a skirling ball of chaos, and as anyone who’s had to deal with that kind of person (addict, narcissist, whatever) can tell you, eventually you just run out of the energy to deal with it.
I think we were supposed to understand it was a compromise. Roger and Bert intended Don to return at some point, so they didn’t want to actually fire him.
Ted and the other guy (and maybe Joan?) wanted him gone gone so they could have more control over the company.
So Don ended up psuedo-fired.
Or maybe not? I’ll stop complaining about it now, but for such an important plot point, the whole “leave” thing really should’ve been explained better.
I think its Roger whose the man with a plan here. He forces the issue by having Don show up, leaves Don with nothing to do but sit around in creative all day to let him remember the part of the job he liked best, and forced the meeting to happen with Don actually in the building, where Joan and Bert would presumably feel worse about deciding against their former co-worker.
I’m finding it hard to believe that the man who does all-day drunks after a lunch with his daughter and sleeps on the floor with a bevy of hippies has been doing long-range planning. It seems far more likely to me that he simply didn’t expect Don at his door and said something to make him go away. Then the next day he oversleeps because of the girl he was with and comes in late completely having forgotten about Don. He sees an opening to battle against Jim and takes advantage of it. No plan at all.
I don’t think it was the next day. Don talked to Roger Friday night, and went in Monday morning. Thats part of why I think it must’ve been planned, its kind of hard seeing even Roger spacing out for the entire weekend.
Plus the end of the last episode pretty clearly was meant to indicate a Joe v Roger showdown, and despite being a train-wreck, Roger’s job is to manipulate people, and we’ve seen that he’s pretty good at it.
I agree with this. Roger had no plan. He was probably tripping balls all weekend which explained why he was so surprised to see Don on Monday. He had plum forgotten all about it.
But Roger winged it and was able to show a flicker of his past ability, even though he was half-drunk.
Roger regularly spaces out during meetings, whether with clients or between the partners. It’s kind of hard seeing Roger keep it together for a few minutes, let alone an entire weekend.
Grovel. I saw the look on the face of a guy who sat on his ass for a year expecting the agency to call him. Did not happen. So even though he is a partner, he takes a bullshit contract because he is desperate.
His situation did not seem so dire. If the past is any indication, Don could have left to a different company and would have been just as successful. He could always sell his shares in the company and quit, leaving him with loads of money and job opportunities. I think he took the deal because he’s trying this new thing where he stays and solves his problems instead of running away from them.
Exactly this. I think it’s interesting that both times Don met with the new firm guy, he was offered an affair. At the first lunch, the guy mentions that one of the female employees would totally be up for it and then at the dinner there was the awkward approach from the random lady.
I think it’s supposed to symbolize that if Don goes to the new firm, he’ll become the Don of old: womanizing, boozing, unhappily brilliant. Don doesn’t want the same old life. He wants the hair shirt and to win back the trust of the people who are important to him. That’s why he took the absolutely awful deal. He wants atonement.
The link below is a Mad Men blog I came across via The Guardian newspaper’s episode blog. Very interesting thoughts about subtext and motifs. Added to Tom and Lorenzo’s blog, it makes for fascinating reading, especially for me, about Betty in this episode.
It’s not mine nor anyone I know btw.
Don was not desperate. Andiethewestie is reading his or her own animosity towards the character into his actions, as has been obvious in every post he or she has made here.
Don has another offer in hand. He can’t be fired because he is a partner, and SCP can’t afford to buy him out as a partner. SCP can’t keep him in limbo indefinately because he is a partner, and because keeping him in limbo risks rivals or (even worse) clients finding out that SCP’s star Creative talent isn’t doing SCP’s work. And Don has another offer in hand – rivals and clients are about to find out.
Don isn’t desperate, because he has SCP over a barrel, something that Roger actually forced the other partners to recognize. They had to either fire him (and buy him out) or let him back (with conditions). Either way, he was leaving SCP that day with his situation forced to a resolution.
Airing SCP’s dirty laundry with Don to the rest of the industry would’ve reduced the values of Don’s shares, so less than desirable. But it is obvious that Don was angling toward getting back into SCP; he showed no commitment toward getting that other job he was being wooed for. He went into SCP wanting to get back to work, and that is what he got from them. How could that be desperation?
I was thinking he could sell his shares to the other partners. They can’t keep paying him for doing nothing forever.
If Don wanted to leave to another firm, he could offer SC&P a good deal on his shares. They would have no choice but to agree because paying Don profits and a salary for doing nothing is not a viable long term business strategy.
Sorry to nitpick from seasons-old episodes, but I don’t think Don factored into PPL buying Sterling Cooper. Duck says PPL has been looking for an in to an American presence and Sterling Cooper offered few conflicts. After the sale, Cooper suggests the British are coming to confer upon Don some grand and lofty position, but it turns out to be a reorganization with Guy above Don. So, while everyone knows Don is an asset, he didn’t really stand apart as a reason for the buyout.
I have no idea who you referred to in response to my linking to a blog, but I know I’m much more interested in symbolism and subtext than the actualite of computer availability.
I linked in case others were similarly interested. It seems you aren’t.
That’s fine and no one is hurt.
MiM
Bill Simmons is well-known sports writer in America infamous for being obsessive about his subjects, having a total recall of every detail of every game in history, posting ridiculously long screeds every time, and having odd lapses about ordinary facts outside his obsession, such as not knowing how magazine dating works.
It was a quip, not a reflection on you.
So what does my post on a completely different subject to a completely different poster have to do with anything?
Roger regularly spaces out during meetings, whether with clients or between the partners. It’s kind of hard seeing Roger keep it together for a few minutes, let alone an entire weekend.