Mad Men: The Jet Set
October 13, 2008 by Kath Skerry
Can someone talk with me about last night’s MAD MEN? The episode certainly left a number of questions about Don Draper…and Dick Whitman? The first of which is, has Don been leading a double/double life? I thought he had left his Dick Whitman days behind him, but based on the phone call last night, that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case.
That last little twist saved what was otherwise a bewildering episode. Just what was going on in Palm Springs? Maybe I’m not hip to the lifestyle of Joy and her “father”. Were they gypsies? Bohemians? And was Pete Campbell not at all concerned that Don just disappeared? If there’s anyone that can fill in the blanks I’d be grateful.
And speaking of being grateful….Jon Hamm nearly naked the entire episode? Thank you! His look has always embodied old Hollywood, but the scenes with him in the pool were almost artistic they were so gorgeous. And how about that last shot of Don on the couch, which seemed to be a nod to the Mad Men logo but with stark contrasts? Stunning!
Since we are already chatting, can we please discuss the heartbroken yet slightly panicked expression on Sal’s face when his colleagues condemned Kurt when he revealed he was a homosexual? The subtly of the change in his facial expression was so amazing. That’s at least another twenty or thirty steps back in the closet for Sal.
Also it’s worth mentionng that yet another episode has passed where Duck has not given me a single reason to like him. He’s always been smug and self centered, but now he’s attempting to sell of Sterling Cooper from right underneath them? I fear it could happen. And I fear that Don, Roger and maybe even Cooper himself will soon be reporting into Duck. Then again it could all blow up in Duck’s face. Either way, those bottles of Tanqueray aren’t going to help the situation at all. Looks like Duck has got to be drunk to make bold moves. First it was the dog, now Sterling Cooper.
No Betty or Draper family business tonight. Don had visions of her when he was in Palm Springs. Was that his guilty conscience at work? Does he even have a conscience when it comes to his wife? Based on the way he was looking at those little children at the pool, it seems that maybe Don is starting to realize just how close he is to losing it all. Including himself, apparently.
A confusing yet ultimately satisfying episode of MAD MEN. There’s nothing like some brilliant TV on a Sunday night.
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I loved the episode. I don’t know exactly why, maybe its all the questions that they left hanging and the prospects of what to come but its that type of episode that makes me anxious for Sunday to come. I think the people in Palm Springs were old money Europeans who could do what they wanted, where they wanted, when they wanted.
I almost died when they showed Sal’s face following Kurt’s coming out. I don’t know if it will be a step back though for him. Maybe this will give him the courage to embrace who is; perhaps not in the work place but in other ways.
As for Don, I think we’re kind of seeing a gradual transformation into a hybrid Dick/Don. His life as Dick wasn’t great so he became Don. Now his life as Don isn’t great either, with all his marital problems and a sort of melancholy about his work at Sterling Cooper, I think that he is trying to find a way to reconcile his past and his present and become on the outside what he is on the inside.
I’d also recommend this website, http://www.lippsisters.com/. It is a fantastic web site dedicated to Mad Men with tons of information, discussion and the like.
Let’s not forget Betty’s premonition about a suitcase… as the lost luggage finds it’s way to her doorstep without the owner.
Can we also say a hurrah that Peggy’s ponytail is gone?!