Please Lane, give Pete Campbell a proper beatdown. I completely condone this act of violence. Although this awkward "fight" reminds me of another series of films where the male characters reveal themselves as ineffectual fighters.
Thankfully, in Mad Men, these two men are not fighting over some woman. No. Pete just told Lane Price in his ham-fisted, self-pitying, sniveling way that Lane is useless at SCDP in front of the three other named partners. I would have liked to see some glove slapping and then some rapiers. Pistols at dawn No such luck.
The problem with this week's episode was that it was almost all about Pete, a character for whom I have virtually no sympathy or empathy. The series seems to be reminding us this week who the true villains of the show are, just in case viewers have trouble forgetting that last episode Don Draper had sex with a woman, strangled her to death, and then kicked her under the bed like a broken toy. But it was all "just a dream!" Not one I will easily forget. This week Don fixes a sink in the suburbs and abstains from sleeping with some prostitutes at a Manhattan brothel, so he's clearly on the road to redemption.
Here are what I consider some of this week's highlights in a relatively lackluster episode that gave short shrift to the series' female characters:
Having Meghan and Don visit Pete and Trudy in the suburbs helped to remind viewers of "Old Don" while comparing him to "New Don." Don now sneers at the bridge and tunnel crowd, even though just a few short years ago he was a denizen, taking that commuter train home to the wife and kids, when he wasn't hooking up with one of his lady friends. Meghan's motivations are more interesting to me than Don's here. She seems to want to try out the suburbs like a new sweater, and see if it itches as much as she thinks it will. She even purchased this abysmal "sports jacket" for Don to wear on his sojourns to the country--I guess in order to fit in with these other horrible "blazers." I immediately asked my partner if his Dad ever wore anything like that, but if so, he cannot remember. (He has an incredible memory, so I chalked this reaction up to a justified blocking out of a traumatic event).
The drapes are hideous as well. I get it, though. Living in the suburbs turns you into a tasteless, pretentious oldster. Certainly Betty and Henry's "Haunted Mansion" attests to this crisis of style. Maybe that's why Pete chases some 18 year old cheerleader while taking his driver's education class (hence the title of this episode, a classic auto safety film). He is living in hell, especially in comparison to Don and Meghan's swinging cool pad in the City.
Still, more interesting to me is Meghan's curiosity toward this other suburban world. Everyone else acts like they've been served tasty shards of glass, and continue to treat each other with courtesy, even if they are bleeding internally. She seems to be sincerely interested in her fellow guests, asking questions at dinner and uncovering Ken Cosgrove's "secret" life. When Ken's wife outs his moonlighting as a science fiction author, Meghan eagerly asks for more details about Ken's creative side. The most hilarious scene occurs when Ken tries to get his wife to stop praising him by begging "Cynthia" to stop. Meghan then joyously shouts "CYNTHIA!," who politely answers "what?" not realizing that Don and Meghan have been trying to remember her name the entire night. That moment of triumph is the funniest minute in the whole episode by far.
When Cynthia, in turn, asks how Meaghan got interested in advertising, she remarks that she became intrigued watching Don and Peggy at work (rather than sleeping with and marrying her boss). Everyone exchanges a series of uncomfortable glances at this point to emphasize that Meghan's connection to Don is always in the forefront of their minds. Meghan's past as an "actress" is brought up yet again, and I cannot help but think that she has some intriguing secrets of her own. Here's hoping that she rises above her reputation and reveals some of her talents without usurping Peggy's position at SCDP.
As the women start cleaning up, there are sudden shrieks and laughter heard from the kitchen, and the menfolk run in to see the fuss. Turns out that Pete's "fix-it" of the dripping faucet from the night before only made matters worse, and water is now spraying throughout the kitchen.
How Trudy has managed to throw a dinner party without turning on the sink before this moment is besides the point. Thankfully, ex-suburbanite Don Draper is at hand, and quickly strips down to his t-shirt and shuts the water off, while Pete fumbles for the right "tool." Ha.
On the ride home from this fun Saturday night, Don gets amorous while Meghan drives, and asks her to pull over, suggesting that they "make a baby." Meghan responds "that does it for you?" or something along those lines, and tells him "that's impossible." Huh? What? And why is Don even saying this? Does he miss his old life, or just want a do-over with a different lady? Let's hope this little exchange is foreshadowing something messy and complicated further down the line. Could Meghan not be able to have children? Or not want them? She does pull over for a little vanilla necking, but only because his sink fix turned her on. She likes to dip her toe in the suburbs, but is definitely not interested in diving in. Babies=Suburbs during this time period.
Later, when the men of SCDP, sans Lane, visit the brothel, everyone partakes but Don, who is at the bar watching all the shenanigans.
Earlier, Don's comment about having experience with "outhouses" seemed to fall on deaf ears, so as another reminder of his humble beginnings, he tells the Madam of the brothel that he grew up in a "whorehouse." Luckily all his colleagues are getting busy, so this remark is not overheard by them, but said for the sake of the audience still recovering from last week's Don Draper debacle. Don's escaped a tragic past, in case you forgot! Last week was a nightmare brought on by a fever! Oh, and the scene where Pete has sex with his prostitute is especially telling. After running through some standard sexual roles and scripts, she finds the only one that turns Pete on is when she calls him "her king." Nice detail.
When the boys go home after their fun, Pete and Don are the last ones sitting in the cab, squished in the back with Pete's oppressive guilt. He complains that Don is judging him, but Don tells him that he's a different man because of Meghan. Don states that if he would have met Meghan first, he may not have screwed his last marriage up so badly (that's right, blame Betty, the other villain). Ah, Don's next step toward redemption. He's learned from his mistakes. The show is willing to drum up sympathy for Don at every turn, even after he "fake" murders someone. Pete is always a jerk, no matter what happens to him, because he's never painted as a victim, and he's always bitterly unhappy with his lot. He causes his own problems, and that makes him even more loathsome. Now that Pete's been lecherous toward the cheerleader, cheated on Trudy, and insulted Lane, on top of all his past sins, he's once again seated firmly in the villain chair. Don's off the hook.
Which makes Lane successfully knocking Pete flat all the more satisfying. If you want to see this entertaining .gif, visit here. Here's hoping that next week Peggy, Joan, and Dawn get their due, because I don't want to sit through such a whiny sausage-fest again.
