This was a very interesting exploration
about friendships. Don, in his new role as "family comes first"
transformation, vehemently does not want to be friends with partners or
subordinates. When he is talked into going to the "country" for the
dinner party, the "rules" set by Trudy are "no talk about business or
clients". As a result, the awkward socializing (visually expressed by
the clashing coats worn by the men) is magnified at the dinner table,
when it comes out that Ken is a sci-fi writer, no one cares nor
understands nor is supportive of his efforts because there is no
connection between them save business.
There is also the false
friendship that Lane tries to have with the British Jaguar client, with
pointers by Roger and Pete on how to pretend to be friends in order to
win the business.
There is the failed seduction between Pete
and the high school girl, as he tries to seduce her through a false
friendship, but she is uninterested and eventually spurns him for Mr.
Handsome who is younger and more direct.
The violation of trust
between friends is broken when Ken doesn't invite Peggy to lunch and to
tell him about meeting with a publisher and about his writing "the
vow".
The violation of trust is broken between spouses with the visit to the brothel.
The
outward surface of business friendship and civility is broken between
the partners when the fist fight breaks out between Lane and Pete
(perhaps the funniest scene for me since the Managing Director loses his
foot in the tractor episode and gets fired because he can't play tennis
anymore {or was it golf?}).
The platonic friendship morphs
towards the beginnings of a sexual relationship between Lane and Joan.
Joan's response is get up to open the door for propriety, but it is also
a visual metaphor for leaving the door open for a relationship between
them.
There is also the complete humiliation of Pete in this
episode. He can't score with a girl unless he pays for it; he can't fix
the sink; and he can't fight. He is completely emasculated and as he
says in the elevator, crying, he is nothing.
In contrast to the
broken and damaged relationships above, the relationship between Don
and Megan shows her to be a wife but not a mother. (I don't even
remember her being in the same room as the kids this season). In the
car, Don asks her to have a baby. She says impossible. As Don becomes
family centric, my guess is that she will become more independent and
either have an affair or leave him.
On a technical level, I
really didn't like the editing. Good editing is not noticeable. I
haven't looked, so I don't know if the editor is new or if it was done
on purpose, but there were a lot of jump cuts that were jarring and
reminded me that I was watching a costume drama. There was only one
interesting edit that had Ken reaching for the doorknob to leave his
office and cut to Lane in the same position opening the door to his
office. There were also some tracking shots that I found gratuitous and
unnecessary.
As an aside: I'm 99% sure that the exterior shot
that was used as Betty's home with her new husband (a large 3 story
brownstone), is located on So. Figueroa down by USC in Los Angeles. Can
someone confirm? I use to live down there years ago, and that's my
memory.
Great viewing!
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