Season 5 Episode 12 - Commissions and Fees

"Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling" - Proverbs 16:18

This episode was a disappointment as it seemed like a clip show screened prior to the season finale. It was hurried and seemed to wrap up loose ends while trying to move the characters forward. Lane's suicide was not unexpected, only the method was a surprise. The humor of the car failing to start was a great piece of writing. The men laughing in the office prior to discovery of the body, and again, the entrance of Don and Roger laughing prior to learning of Lane's death seemed false and artificial. However, Lane's motive for embezzlement was revealed to be selfless and we actually see him as a sympathetic character: his tax problems are the result of liquidating stocks in order to capitalize SCDP; and we are reminded that it was his British connection that initially brought the Jaguar account in play, thus putting the agency on a firm foundation and as a force in the advertising world. Per his wife, played with exquisite flair and elegance by Embeth Davidtz *, Lane "never spent anything on himself" only on her and their son's expensive education. He thus becomes the sacrificial lamb to the God of Mammon Avenue. Lane's fatal flaw though is pride. In Ancient Greece, pride was a crime against Olympus as the self inflated individual can not be more important than the gods. Pride keeps Lane from being honest with his wife and his partners at the firm. He can not suffer the humiliation of exposure that he is not the man that he portrays.

Glen, played by the wooden (I can't tell if it's poor acting or just a creepy role) Marten Holden Weiner, is once again shown to be the tortured weird kid at his private school when he tells us that classmates urinated in his locker. Glen addresses the Draper women (Betty and Megan) on a first name basis, to show his equality and sexuality. But with Don, it is Mister: he respects the alpha male, but not the women. When Glen confides to Don and asks why "things turn to crap", Don's response is "you're too young to think like that". With Glen, we are given tantalizing bits that perhaps he too may go off the deep end. He takes Sally to the American Musuem of Natural History where dead stuffed animals are shown in dioramas. When Sally asks about the bison, he says "I hope it's a family that was killed." His book report is also on Nat Turner, the slave that started a rebellion in Virginia that resulted in over 160 deaths, both black and white. When the episode ends, Glen, the young boy with a budding mustache, is shown driving down the road with Don, the only father figure we have ever seen. But clues hint at a violent future for him.

Sally becomes a woman in this episode. When her blood is shed, we also see the blood mottled chin of Lane in death. Her knowledge of her period is humiliating for her, just as Lane's exposure as a counterfeiter was to him. But, we see her as a child not as a woman as she rushes home to her mother for comfort. This brings satisfaction to Betty, who has been jealous of Megan for her youth and figure and her influence over Sally.

The stars are also aligning against Pete. As well as Roger's long standing disdain, we now have Don aggressively pitching Dow Corning because he believes Pete thinks too small. Kenny also wants to sideline him if they land his father-in-law, which Roger calls a "whale" account. Dow Corning will bring them into the "big league" of advertising firms which is what Don wants: more prestige, more power, more pride.

Lane's suicide and Don's resulting guilt will propel the show to it's season conclusion.  Don has been on shaky ground for awhile both professionally and personally. Just when he's getting back into the game, he's dealt with a crisis of conscience. It will be interesting to see where it leads.

* I love Embeth Davidtz early (pre-nose job) role in Army of Darkness, Sam Raimi's time travel spoof of a horror flim, as well as her work in Schindler's List, Matilda, the sappy Bicentennial Man and artful Junebug. Her limited role in Mad Men does not allow her to show the vulnerability that she can bring to the screen. She really is an amazing and versatile actress.

Season 5 Episode 7: At the Codfish Ball

This episode opens and closes like a flower, with Sally, on the verge of becoming a young woman, talking to her young male friend, Glen, who is away at private school. The episode begins and ends with this artifice, and while as a whole did not gel for me, I have come to realize how much of this show is about the complex nature of women: their interactions with men and with each other. It is this depth of character that makes the show so enjoyable, even if the overall assembly is slightly flawed. This particular episode seemed choppy when put together, especially with the final scene of Sally commenting on the city (life in particular) as being "dirty", which sounded like an echo of her mother. But when looked back upon the intricate range of situations, emotions and reactions, it is indeed a flowering and living organism.

Sally, talking on the telephone, causes the grandmother to fall and hurt her ankle when she trips over the telephone cord. Later, we find out that Sally has blamed her brother's toy for the accident and has taken credit for calling the police (which she didn't). Sally's deception to her father (and extended family) to make herself more important (and blameless), takes credit for something that is not earned. This is mirrored in Don receiving the award from the Cancer Society for the newspaper advertisement that he wrote when they lost the Lucky Strike account. Don receives credit where credit is not due, and furthermore realizes that it is all a sham when he finds out that his betrayal to a client is considered dishonorable, as he broke the concept of trust. This is also the accusation by Megan's father, that she married a man with a beautiful apartment ("exquisite decadence") and wealth, but she did not earn it on her own; that she has sacrificed her personal goals to achieve social advancement by marriage. Sadly, even when Megan does deserve credit (for saving the Heinz account), she does not accept it. Megan walks in a twilight world of wife, co-worker and daughter, and is uncomfortable transiting through the roles.

In this episode, Megan's character is developed with more background about her French father, a left leaning author (and teacher?) who has a current relationship with a young graduate student; her alcoholic mother, who flirts with men in order to make her husband jealous and has an sexual encounter with Roger which Sally observes (but does not inform). Megan's mother is also a youthful competitor with Megan for the affection for Don's attention, which she notices, but he doesn't ("she touched you six times").

The role of the daughter is shown in varying conditions with Megan / Emile, Sally / Don, Peggy / Kathy. Megan disappoints her father; Don doesn't want Sally to grow up ("remove the makeup and boots"); Kathy doesn't want her daughter to be used by the boyfriend and is against her moving in with him. Emile's comment that "they spread their legs and fly away" is the summation. The rancorous relationship between child and parent is offset by the truthful and honest bond of sisterhood that runs through the episode: between Joan and Peggy, when Peggy goes to Joan for advice ("it's a proposal; go shopping"); between Megan and the wife of the Heinz executive ("I like you like a friend") and tips her off that the account is not going to be signing up with the firm; between Megan and Peggy, when Peggy tries to make Megan take credit for her work, but Megan declines ("this is the best it gets"). Even when Kathy, Peggy's mother is about to leave the apartment. While she disapproves of the living arrangement, she still gives advice (re: loneliness) "get a cat. Twelve years later when it dies, get another one". Sally is the only one who does not have a female confidante. Her role is still that of a child and has to rely on talking to another child, Glen, who as a male, can not be told everything she knows. Sally, who at the beginning of the episode wants to be an adult (Rogers' "date" at the ceremony) is deflated, disappointed and depressed by Rodger's and Marie's sex act. It is knowledge itself that is dispiriting. It is knowledge that makes this show so much fun to watch.