Season 5 Episode 11 The Other Woman

"That place is my baby and I would prostitute myself for it" Walt Disney

Advertising and prostitution have been synonymous since J. Walter Thompson created the first "sexual sell" for the Woodbury Soap Company in 1911 ("The skin you love to touch"). The metaphor becomes real in this episode with Pete, the skilled salesman with no moral compass, metamorphoses into a panderer for an influential car distributor who will help decide on which agency lands the Jaguar account. The episode also explores the multiple roles that women have in society: wife, mother, co-worker, partner, prostitute and actress. It is also about the women close to Don who are and may be leaving him.

In the opening scene, the Jaguar creative team comes up with the brand idea that it's a "mistress that will do what your wife doesn't". During lunch with the married car dealer, Herb Rennet, Herb mentions to Ken and Pete of his desire for Joan. Ken's initial reaction is to reject it outright. Pete's is to run with it. In fact, it is Pete that makes the fantasy come true. Without him promoting and pushing the idea forward, what might have been considered guy talk during lunch becomes real. This display of raw male power, of trading women and sexual favors for business advancement, ultimately spoils the pleasure of winning for Don. For a brief moment, Don was becoming re-invigorated in his job. Yet the interference by Pete made him doubt if they won the account on merit or because of Joan's sexual favors. Pete has also destroyed one of Don's few core beliefs, which is motherhood. Pete prostitutes motherhood in this episode, which is symbolized by Joan.

Joan's ascension to partnership by sex instead of by her work ethic, job performance or loyalty also shows the moral corruption of the firm. Lane's advice on asking for partnership instead of cash is her way to be equal among the men. It also buys time for Lane to further hide his embezzlement from the firm. Joan is already perceived by the super's wife to be a "loose" woman as she doesn't have a husband any more. As a result the super's wife won't let her husband come over to fix the refrigerator. Peggy's pitch to Chevalier Blanc includes Lady Godiva, the legendary noblewoman who rode through Coventry naked on a horse to shame her husband and to save the populace. But Joan is not altruistic. Joan shames her husband (revenge) and saves the firm on the alter of consumerism for a percentage piece of the business. She becomes a partner where Peggy does not.

Megan's rejects Don's "mistress" theme for Jaguar when Don discusses it with her at home. But her visit to Don at the office where they have sex, is more in keeping with a mistress than a wife. Her friend Julia's performance on the conference table in her short dress and exposed underwear doing a sexy tiger dance also reinforces the perception that actresses are prostitutes. When Megan gets a call back to the producers of the play everything has to do with looks. We never hear her try out her lines. She is simply told to "turn around, honey".

In contrast to Joan, we have Peggy who did not use sex for advancement. Her prior relationship with Pete did not result in any favoritism or promotion. When she talks to Freddie, he treats her like a friend and equal. The same with her meeting with Ted. He treats her with respect for her work and offers her a job at a higher salary than she has asked for. He makes her feel better about herself. In her relationship with Don, Don has given her power, but not respect, especially in this episode when he throws money in her face.

From the male perspective, we have Herb who thinks he is a sultan in a harem when Joan comes for sex. In a Norman Rockwell tableau, Pete is a doting father reading to his daughter with no remorse for pimping Joan to a stranger. Pete, who wants to be sexually free, lies to his wife by suggesting he get an apartment in the city. Even the partners show no little thought for the consequences of their decision. Don is the lone outcast. Joan calls him the "good one" for being the only partner to not want her to prostitute herself. But Don is the embattled monarch trying to understand the changing roles of women. Don is the former used car salesman who has risen to the heights Madison Avenue but with old fashioned values. When Peggy gives notice to Don, he is the supplicant kissing her hand showing respect like a son or a servant to a monarch. It is at the same time quaint and vulnerable.

1. The car dealers name is Herb Rennet. One of the properties of rennet is that is coagulates milk, causing it to separate into solids (curds) and liquid (whey). Perhaps Herb is a metaphor for being the catalyst for the break up of the agency?