Mad Men, S05E06
This episode was broken into three stories told from different perspectives. First, Peggy had a blowout with Heinz during her last attempt to please the client with the ad they asked for. After she had been successfully fired from the project, she learned a little about Max and gained a little perspective on things in life she had been neglecting for work. Roger and Jane went to a party held by her friends where they all took LSD. While high, Roger and Jane discussed the problems in their marriage and rationally agreed that they should get a separation. However, the next day Roger was the only one who still seemed calmly resolute about the divorce, while Jane was surprised that they had made such a decision. Don whisked off Megan to visit a Howard Johnson's instead of doing work, and Megan revealed her displease of how he was mixing their married lives with their work lives. After they fought, Don left her at the diner and lost her when he returned and spent the night worried out of his mind about her. He found her at home, but they continued to fight until Megan realized how scared Don had been. The next day, Don and Megan seemed to have gotten past the horrible day, but Don realized that he couldn't afford to keep putting his wife before his job anymore.
I liked that Peggy spoke her mind at the Heinz meeting even though the client was so angry at her. It was the sort of thing that Don would have done, except he would have managed to convince the client that he was right (usually) and he wouldn't have had the danger of getting fired. That client was such a typical client asshole who doesn't appreciate the creative process. It's the kind of person who hires someone to do work for them but expects them to pull ideas out of thin air that will exceed their unknown expectations. Even Peggy, who sometimes can be irritating, didn't deserve to be treated like she wasn't doing her job just because the client was too lazy to tell her what he really wanted or too stupid to see that she was going him good stuff. When Pete told her that she had been pulled off the Heinz account, I was so angry! I was also a little angry at Don because he wouldn't have let that happen (under normal situations). Cosgrove did his best to support Peggy, but Don would have made sure that Peggy didn't even explode at the client in the first place. It was ballsy of her, but I respect her outrage. I hope that they lose that Heinz account (even though, I'm sure they need it) because that client is too much of an ungrateful dick.
Another person who was irritating me was Max. He kept making Peggy sound like she was being nosy when he was talking to his father on the phone and when he popped up at work. Just because he didn't want to share (at first) that his relationship with father was unusual, didn't give him the right to act so icily. Geez. Calm down! I was still angry at him, even when he finally told Peggy that he was an alien (I was annoyed that he was speaking so seriously that he was) because he had been told that he was born in a concentration camp and had no idea who his real parents were. If that turned out to be true, that would be an amazing story, but Max seems insane so I'm hesitant to take his word for it. It would explain why he's not the most sociable guy at the office. I swear he only likes Don, whom he doesn't even know yet.
Onto the Roger story. It's been a little painful to watch him and his wife lately. He just seems like he'd be happy if he threw her off a bridge, and I'm not so sure why or how it got like that. Also, I felt bad when Roger tried to play hooky with his good pal Don, but Don took his plan and just decided to take his wife with him instead. It's times like that when I feel so bad for Roger. He just wanted to have a little fun, but Don was shutting him out. I expected his bad mood to continue through the party, but things got interesting when they all took the drugs. I never expected it to go in that direction, but I was glad it did. He just seemed to connect with his wife and talk about things they never seemed to be able to when sober. It was pretty amazing. And it seemed sweet at first. However, the next morning when Jane didn't even realize what they had talked about, I started to feel bad for him again. Roger seemed lighter and happier now that he thought his wife had been waiting for one of them to bring up divorce, but she seemed like she was the opposite. Also, she mentioned that divorce would be "very expensive." Well, I guess it's not going to be nice and easy and she's probably going to take a lot of his money. With Roger not exactly being the go-to guy at SCDP, he may not be able to afford a fund-sucking divorce. At the end, Roger was clicking his heels, but will he still be able to do that if he doesn't become the top dog at work again and Jane takes him for every penny he's got?
The saddest story, by far, although it didn't look like it would have been, was Don's. It was just a disaster, to say the least. I knew that Megan was upset that Don took her away from work, but I didn't know that their argument was going to be so bad. I understand why he would be angry at her for taking a low blow and asking why he didn't call his mother, but that was no excuse to leave her at the Howard Johnson's. I have no idea how long he left her there, but they had intended to stay there overnight (I guess since they had a room?), so I don't know why she didn't just go to her room there. I started to think something bad had happened to her too when Don came back and couldn't find her no matter how long he waited. I even was scared that she might have been the one who had had the accident in the pool (even though they said it involved kids). It was a relief when she was at home, but it was pretty scary when she was running from Don afterwards. I thought he was going to choke her or something! The thing is, Don never apologized for leaving her there and making her take a 6 and half hour bus ride back home. I hope that at some point he did, but we just didn't see it. I think that Megan understood that Don was terrified for her life. I didn't think that he would get so worried that he would be holding onto her for dear life as if they had just gotten past a life-threatening experience.
To make things worse, Cooper was waiting for him at work the next day to lay down some truth. I've been thinking it, but I still felt bad when Cooper had to tell him that things were getting out of hand with his lovey-dovey mode. Then again, I guess it had to be Cooper to tell him because which of his other co-workers was going to have the balls or the right to tell him? It's true that Don hasn't been balancing his work well with his love life. He definitely has been going overboard with his focus on Megan, but I loved it about him. He was just happy about something, and I don't think he ever had been about work, even when he does his job well. I don't know if that talk with Cooper is going to make him turn into a hard ass again or if he's going to find a way to put more balance in his life. I don't really want to see him miserable at work again, unless it means that he's going to be yelling more at Peggy and Max.
What sad stories, but wonderfully told. It was nice to see the same day unfold but from different characters' points of views. Once again, the scale of happiness has tipped and Don may have to go back to being a bit unhappy now that Roger seems to be in better spirits. Peggy is always a bit in the middle, so there's not much of a change for her (nor was it that shocking when she gave a stranger a hand job--oh, Peggy). I just hope that if anything comes about from her story it's that she finds out more about Max. He's irritating as hell, but perhaps his background story could explain why he's not as pleasant as he could be.
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