Juvenile Cinephile

Now last week, I told you that I knew of a certain spoiler that I discovered reading details of a clip that circulated on the show’s carrier in the UK.  It was the scene where Pete gives the proposition to Joan.  Now I did not know she would accept it or how the partners would deal with the news or that Joan would ultimately fulfill my aspirations for her being the first female partner of the company.  But still, I think knowing that beforehand led to me not really having a severe, projecting, judgmental reaction to it like some viewers and critics (**cough** Linda Holmes **cough**) of the event.  This week there seems to be a more ominous and obvious turn coming from the previews for a few characters.  Let’s break down the promo for ‘Next Week on Mad Men’:

MAD MEN #5.12

“COMMISSION AND FEES”

Scarlett dictating a partners meeting that Joan is now apart of with a unanimous iraise of hands.  Scarlett has replaced Joan in her role given that Joan is now married to the company with 5% of the stake in SCDP.  You can bet she will not be silent or an easy push to get a vote.  

“You can’t tell anyone about this”- Don to Megan

-Is this work-related?  Or home-related?  Either way, that Don is imploring Megan to hide something is interesting given that they really do not cross-over into each other’s worlds at all anymore.  This pretty much stands by the idea that nothing leaves The Draper Love Nest without Don’s control.  But why would Don want Megan to keep a secret?  Is it regarding his identity get forged by Lane Pryce?  Is it that Don is so frustrated by the turn of events at the company that he tells her about the Joan incident?  Or is it something inter-personally about them?  The third option seems like the highest chance among the other categories since it is expected that whatever news is going on with them they both are in the position of power to tell whomever the want, except Don wants to control the message.  Megan looks a bit surprised and anxious about whatever he wants her to keep as a secret.  Is it their health?  

Will not say the p-word.  WILL NOT SAY THE P-WORD.   It could easily be Don’s health being an issue.  His smoking only seemed apparent in two episodes, “Far Away Places” (Megan hated his smoking in the car) and “The Other Woman” (stress with the Jaguar account turned him into a chimney for that period) whereas the man is drinking alcohol like a fish and it has come up more as a concern for Megan and Don before, even before they were even a thing.  

I do hope it is Don who finds out about the forgery and that maybe Megan, staying at home in The Draper Love Nest gets a call regarding the check.  Could that be the straw that broke the camel’s back?  Don may have no will to live in that agency any longer if they are letting it bleed in his name.  Sally is going to be in this episode but I do not see how it could involve her and why it would effect Megan or her having secrecy being asked of in that situation.  I think she knows well enough by this point that telling Betty anything that goes on at their place is a bad idea.  

“I’m sure there are others more deserving.”-Lane Pryce

-I am thinking Lane is out there about talking to some tax lawyer or banker with the interest of the company’s credit.  Could also be a client or it could be with his wife, Rebecca.  There is an air of unease to him as this could be a really be the character-defining episode for him and I am on pins and needles to see if he will go down like a coward or swinging.  Yep, I do not even think he can recover from the forgery. 

 “Were you celebrating with Don?”- Joan

There is a bit of sardonic side to her when she says that.  She could be talking to Pete, Roger, or Lane.   But I am thinking she and Roger are now on a strictly professional relationship, partner-to-partner with little cuteness.  Pete, oddly for a guy who put her into the position she was last episode he appeared to be most comfortable with her in the room at the partners meeting but I do not think they are suddenly talking to each other in that manner, Joan is a professional.  Since this appears to be a Lane episode I am thinking she is talking to Lane because I really hope that a Lane-Don drink talk has a lot of potential in fallout.  Don may not even know beforehand, it could just be Lane spilling and Don (understandably) freaking out.  

Also want to note that Joan’s outfit is what she is wearing in Inside Mad Men shorts on AMC’s website.  Usually, the characters are wearing what they wore for the finale/last episode.  I know Joan re-wears clothes but that red, white, and blue number is note for note what she wears in the shorts.  So, I do not think we will see any Joan for the finale.  With that said, I really hope she hope her screen-time regardless of length is significant this episode.  

“I don’t like what we’re doing.”-Don

-Don seems completely broken creatively after his Jaguar pitch got tainted by Joan’s tryst.  He may also be stuck on an account with a room of free-lancers and Ginsberg that is going nowhere.  Note, those free-lancers last week in the end were useless since Ginzo came up with the idea for the campaign and Don nailing the message.  He is hitting the bottle and as another life-line in his office leaves, he seems more alone than before, probably not trusting the partners or Joan in the same way again.

“So you’re drinking with a purpose.”-Roger

Could be Roger just being observant and trying to give Don advice since the Jaguar account or it could be that Don is working on an alcohol-related account, hence ‘drinking with a purpose’.  Not much time has past since the ‘incident’; it is still winter with the snow coming down in the background window of Don’s office.   Roger has also lost his existential breakthrough LSD afterglow and things could be returning to normal, for Roger, but not Don who probably wants to get more clients to move on from the stink of the Jaguar account.  

Don is leaving the office late at night and it should be noted that all of these shots in the promo have him in the same suit and tie, including his talk with Megan.  It would make sense that she could get a call from a bank, an accountant, the doctor, or wherever about ‘the secret’ while he is at work or it could be early morning.   Don has a lot  on his plate that day.   

“You know you can’t keep being the good little boy while the adults run this business.”-Bert

Looks like this will be another talk with Don.  Invokes both the love-leave comment from ‘”Far Away Places” and Pete’s comment in “Signal 30” that Don suddenly acts like he has the moral high-ground.  That Bert is having another talk with Don makes me think this has become serious.   Don is still rankled by the ‘incident’ or the continued behavior of the firm has defeated Don with Pete rising and while he is getting marginalized.  

Other Stuff in the Original Promo:

Don is answering the phone but says something to the effect that he finds this conversation to not be at the right time.  Could be Sally, could be Betty, could be Megan; I just think anybody on the other end of that phone conversation is family-related as he is trying to be work-focused.  But since he is in the same suit and tie as the rest of the promos, the call could easily have gotten forwarded to his home on his insistance knowing that Megan is there who tells him later that night.  

Also a shot of Rebecca Pryce telling Lane that they should ‘celebrate’.  I am assuming this is work-related with the company that Rebecca wants to treat him but this could be on false pretenses with Lane holding the bolt in the company and probably is too guilty of a man that he has to be pushed into celebrating.  

How were My Predictions Last Week, You Ask?

-Nailed the Jaguar stuff with a little help from Sky Atlantic HD and very dedicated viewers.

-Nailed that Don and Megan were going to have kinky sex in his office.  Did not realize it would be as much of a break for her as it was for him.  

-Knew Peggy would triumph in something related to a pitch but not that Don would have his mind elsewhere, again, that finally pushes Peggy out of the agency.  

-Knew Lane would not be revealed but did not realize the depths he would go to cover his tracks.  

Predictions:

Lane finally does get discovered.

Don’s issues are health-related and something he prefers to be discreet about.

Don is going to have thoughts of where he is within the company that may make him seriously contemplate his mortality with the company.  To echo Roger’s unease in “The Beautiful Girls” episode from season 4, Don does “not want to die in this office”.

Sally’s presence at The Draper Love Nest is going to make Betty freak out in some way that is just going to annoy the Drapers.  She may not be the subject of the secret but Sally may just get in on the secret based on her curiosity and precociousness.  

Pete is clearly becoming a rainmaker.

Joan’s assertion of power is going to bowl over one of the male partners, if not already with Don.

Some junior employee is going to put two and two together with how Joan became a partner.  It may be a Pete Campbell revealing ‘Dick Whitman’ to Bert Cooper in a season 1 type of blackmail that falls on deaf ears or it could lead to somebody leaving because of the grossness of it.  

I feel like since the previews show many of the characters in the same outfits, most notably Don Draper, that either this episode is going the “Far Away Places” route where the episode is in a day or something big is being withheld.  The end of Lane?  The end of somebody’s time at SCDP?

MAD MEN

“CHRISTMAS WALTZ”

#5.10

You can bet Sally and Bobby #4 were watching this and Gene was off in the distance playing alone with his toys.  

“Someone’s not going to be happy and I would rather not stare at it for a month?”-Don Draper

-Is somebody getting fired?  Was two weeks notice (and I am guessing Christmas vacation could play a role in this) a whole lot longer back then?  Is is a really bad pitch idea before going to Christmas break?  Or is somebody just choosing a terrible Christmas/Holiday decoration?  This looks like Sardonic Don Draper talking to either the partners or even creative.  His body language suggests let’s just put this situation under the rug.  Since Don really seems out of his element in work, talking to either Roger or Bert or Lane or the creative team are equally plausible.  

“Your promise was to EXTRICATE me from this situation altogether!”- Lane Pryce

-Why, hello again, Lane!  What the hell have you done since we last saw you?  Is this calling back to his stolen photo of Dolores in “A Little Kiss” that led to him meeting a shady as hell boyfriend?  The phone conversation is at night in his darkened apartment so it is either a really big secret that Lane is keeping from Rebecca or it may involve him back in his home country since the other line on the phone may very well be calling him in the morning from London.  

Either way it is good to see Lane back on camera again since his last appearance in “Signal 30” was one of the best episodes of the season and his story seems to hold a lot of the focus and most mystery.  Like Don last week, we see him in the office in the very odd, possible late hours, as well as look bitter, and not just from the cold, as he leaves the offices of SCDP.  I am not even going to bother to guess on this one, I want to be surprised.  

“He’s sorta been threatening to stop by.”- Unknown Secretary

Harry Crane still being at SCDP has been a real surprise.  He seemed to be in a Hollywood haze for all of Season 4 and there are many indications to suggest he wants to get out.  His only real job has been to get Don with The Rolling Stones and that failed.  He has mostly sat in Pete’s old office after taking $1,100 bribe from Roger and hanging out around the office, like talk to Pete when they are not even on the same wave-length.  Very little of Harry this season but that appears to change since he has been placed in the vague plot summary as, ‘Harry helps out of a friend’.  So is this “friend” the one who is threatening to stop by?  I say yes but since I not too involved in the Harry Crane universe, I have no idea who this person could be.  Maybe from Hollywood?  Last episode, very subtly, Harry openly expressed his discontent for his work as head of the Media Department being nothing but a “bunch of empty promises” which got a response out of Peggy in addition to Ken Cosgrove informing him that at least his office is in the same building.  I think Harry could be a candidate to leave the agency and hey, if that in some bizarre way in the Mad Men universe saves Ken or Peggy or even Pete from leaving as in also possibly leaving the show, I am okay with that.  

“You may have to stay until 5:30!”- Pete Campbell

-Is there a bigger concern troll in the offices of SCDP than Pete Campbell?  He is, of course, telling this to Don who may still actually need this push.  I am guessing Don followed Roger’s advise on him and Mona’s relationship that things need to be on a schedule now that Megan is out of his work-life.  Is Don taking off early before Megan leaves for acting classes for some afternoon delight?  I am going to imagine that this comes as surprise to Don given the holiday season happening but Pete’s tough love may be reflecting the different economic state of SCDP from Season 4 with that elaborate Christmas party to now post-Lucky Strike where it is all about business.

“I couldn’t care less!”- Joan Holloway Harris

I am not really paying attention to what Joan said but her outfit caught my eye.  She has worn this before and the rose-patterns are very much apart of her character’s relationship with Greg.  As Tom and Lorenzo have pointed out in their Mad Styles review of the “Lady Lazarus” episode, the dress may be seasonally appropriate but it looks like a bunch of dead roses on her dress that reflect her relationship with Greg.  Remember, in that episode she confided to Peggy that the marriage with Greg was essentially over in that outfit.  Joan’s body language in the scene comes off with a certain ease and casualness versus the front she usually puts on in the office.  I feel like only two people in the office are allowed to see Joan act this way and those two are Peggy and Lane.  I am guessing Peggy is at the other end of this conversation.  But the conversation also shows a bit of deflection, that she should care about something.  But what?  

She also wore that outfit when Don told her that Megan was quitting and spitting out venom to Peggy that she believes Megan, like Jane, follows the ‘second-wife playbook’.  Is there something with Roger or even Don that she could be talking about?  I think it may have something to do with the fact that her husband is not home for Christmas or more specifically, for Kevin’s first Christmas.  Joan not being too upset makes sense in her dress as she believes the relationship is dead and perhaps she has come to terms with the fact that she is not even going to bother to deny that Kevin’s father is not Greg.  But perhaps to somebody like Peggy who like the rest of the office only sees the surface of her relationship, the idea that Joan’s husband is not home for Christmas or to see his son’s first Christmas is very unusual.  I hope Joan can confide more about her personal life to somebody not named Roger in this episode.  More Joan in general is always good and it looks like she is spending the holiday at a bar, notably with a flower pendant that further minimizes the Greg relationship.  

“Maybe you and I should go as a couple.”- Don Draper

This again could be Sardonic Don and this clips wreaks of audience misdirection.  If this is Joan or even Peggy at the other end of this and that it will go anywhere, I will eat my hat!  He could very well be telling this to Roger Sterling or Pete Campbell.  He sounds a bit exhausted but not desperate, very casual, so I am thinking this is being dryly sarcastic and that Don is not being serious.  He could be answering advice to somebody like Lane or Roger about going to dinner without their spouse since one’s marriage is destroyed and the other’s marriage does not appear to be in good shape either.  Don and Lane last season bonded over their singles status so I could believe Lane would ask such a thing to Don.  But if this is Joan, oh boy, may it just be for posing…. which hopefully leads to absolutely no misunderstandings.  

“That’s a twist.”-Peggy Olson

Again pushing the misdirection by having Peggy follow the Don clip.  Who is she talking to.  Judging by the blazer that seems to try to be festive but looks out of date seasonally, I will eliminate Pete, Roger, and Bert from the blazer candidates.   The blazer in fact looks like the blazers Ken, Pete, and Don wore for “Signal 30” but looking again and the print patterns do not match.  But looking back at “Dark Shadows” it appears to be Harry Crane’s winter coat and that Peggy sounds happy for him.  Please, oh please, may this be him leaving SCDP!  

Other scenes and stuff only shown after the airing of “Dark Shadows”: There is a dialogue-free scene of Megan in a formal gown soaking in what I am going to guess is Don acting like a child about going out.  I am assuming she dragged him to see it because he seems very dressed down compared to Megan, just from work and does not look like he wants to be there as Megan’s looks for his reaction and it does not match hers.  I am assuming they are at a play for either one of her friends or a work by somebody that she is hoping will get her a gig with in future instances.  

Then there’s Harry saying, “They’re derived from reality but there are hopes and dreams.”  With him sitting down at an office of a higher-up.  Not sure if that is him a new agency or talking to the friend.  

Predictions:

Joan is going to open up to more people about the downfall of her relationship with Greg and perhaps the details as far as the paternity of her child, though stopping at Kevin not being Greg’s.  This seems like it could be Joan’s “The Suitcase” with opening up to somebody on a professional level about her personal life right down to the bar.  

Lane is in trouble and this will last more than a single episode whether he likes it or not. Why?  I want more Lane Pryce.    

Don is up to his neck at work to the point he and Megan can not have a holiday exhale which leads to a misunderstanding where Megan’s ‘orange sherbet’ is not well-received by Don and we have a reversal of ‘Far Away Places’, except no chasing around each other in the apartment but just a bitter Christmas.  

Harry has a lifeline to leave SCDP but that leads to the question of who now will be the head of Media.  The politicking begins.  

How did I do last week, you ask?

I nailed Betty getting jealous but I had no idea she would be the ‘Anna card’ on Sally.  I did get the chain of events wrong.  Her revelation to Don that Sally knows about Anna came after Sally and her were alone after Don took Gene and Bobby out to someplace we will never know about.  

I knew Megan was reading from a script but it was not for her but her theater-kid earnest friend Julia as Megan dismisses the script.

The smog did play into things on a literal, on-the-nose, 

Peggy was responding to Harry’s very woe is me ‘empty promises’ quip but that weirdly went nowhere that episode but could go further this coming episode.  

Peggy was really ignored this episode to the point her pitch got phased out like her dress on the couch when it became Ginzo vs. Don.  

Don does consider Ginsberg a creative lifeline but not somebody to put under his wing as Ginsberg does not operate in such a way and neither did Don by looking through his stream of consciousness ideas and pulling together an ad and dropping Ginzo’s ad.  

Pete was fantasizing about Beth but his sensitive, ‘you can’t be here’ was also in his fantasy.  That creep…..

Howard nor Beth died but Pete really wanted gave a truth-telling tongue-lashing to Howard that was so ridiculous out of context that there was no way Howard could believe Pete would dare sleep with his wife.  

Don was indeed working up a storm and he is very much off his game.  

Roger did invite Jane out for dinner and this deal required Roger to pull out Jane’s J-card that in Season 1 seemed like a suicidal task.  

The smog happened but the kids were not at Don’s for Thanksgiving so they were not in harm’s way from the smog although I will still refer to Betty as the Smog Monster.  

“Dark Shadows”

#5.09

NEXT WEEK ON MAD MEN FOR DARK SHADOWS

Time:

It’s Thanksgiving of 1966.  New York City has a smog issue.  It killed 169 people.  

Draper Love Nest:

Don gets the kids for the weekend (since it is November is it Thanksgiving weekend?) and takes Bobby and Gene out while Megan and Sally appear to be spending their time entirely at the Draper Love Nest.  Baseball season’s over, not sure if the Garden with Rangers or Knicks games would be appropriate for two little kids (Bobby #4 is super short) nor would Yankee or Shea Stadium for a Jets or Giants game.  Maybe a movie?  Only kids-related films I could find that could fit is the Adam West Batman film or the family comedy The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!   Would he take them to the parade?  Would Sally and Megan not go?  Screw it, Don is totally taking the boys to see Fantastic Voyage or 10,000 B.C. to keep up with the Raquel Welch quotient.  

Megan appears to be doing a table reading of a script she has.  It sounds very Betty.  Is she having Sally or Don do a table reading with her?   I believe it has to be a script because it seems un-Megan, especially given the context of her previous rapports with Don, Sally, or any of the kids.  

Henry and Betty have driven to the city.  Their conversation seems a bit too open to have the kids sitting in the back.  So are the going into the city for something?  Are they seeing somebody?  Or are they just picking up the kids for the Francis version of Thanksgiving?  Henry seems to be in a hurry while stuck in traffic.  This drive also seems to be all about Betty the way Harry talks to her in an exasperated manner and it does not seem like the first time she is having this little moment.  They’re going to some place she wants to that Henry is not too enthused about.  

Crackpot theory: Did Megan do the unthinkable and invite those two over for Thanksgiving dinner?  Surprise again, Don!   She does it because she got a TV or theater call back to play an evil mother.  She slyly invites Betty because Sally remarks how much the part is like her mother.  Betty is there to be studied!

Don does indeed appear to be surprised by something Megan tells him in a very Don, “Are you kidding me?!?” way.  Is it something to do with her new acting career or is it something as simple as the kids are coming at last second?  I notice that Don and Megan are in the same clothes as they are shown when Don kisses Megan goodbye when he takes the boys out (although it is not very noticeable with Don in an overcoat) which seems to take place after the news.  Given Betty’s propensity for such shenanigans, such as inadvertently planting the seed for Don’s second marriage by firing Carla for the Disneyland trip, this is believable.  But boy how I would love for some legit Betty-Megan interactions.  Betty last referred to her as the 20 year-old girlfriend.

I noticed that on the original promo telecast there was Sally remarking, “How did you do that?” or something in that vein.  I think she was talking to Megan.  So I am guessing there is going to be a little bit of girl time between those two.  Betty’s going to hate that.  

Prediction: Don and Megan get the kids for Thanksgiving weekend thanks to Henry’s tight schedule but Betty demands that on their way to what I assume is his political operative functions she wants to go to the Draper Love Nest to check in on Sally or just specifically, Sally and ‘that good for nuthin’ skinny French-Canadian harlot who stole my first husband when I was prepping to win him back with booze and angry sex in an empty house who has now also stolen my daughter’.   Megan is actually doing a table reading with Sally who will also be interested in acting and they watch the vampire soap opera Dark Shadows that Sally is OBSESSED with since neither of them want to even think about going out in the smog.  Also note, Megan still barefoot and in jeans (**gasp**).  Maybe Megan gets a Dark Shadows script.  Like many soap operas it was shot in New York and since the days of yore soap opera appearances provided a steady pay check to stage actors.  Dark Shadows, however, may be a little too pop history but it could just be the script.   

Now moving onto SCDP:  

Much like Don’s lonely exit from the office of SCDP after Megan left.  Did he pull an all-nighter (Megan’s acting classes are at night) or did he just go into an empty office on a holiday?  He does have a lot of catching up to do.  

Bert Cooper is telling who we presume is Roger that ‘This requires your finesse’.  Another feather in the cap for ‘Roger’s got his groove back!’.   Does Don’s fall mean Roger’s rise from the ashes?  Roger is also calling somebody to have dinner.  Is it Mona?  It cannot be Joan, since I think Roger would just go into her office to ask.  Or is it Jane’s pseudo-intellectual psychologist who introduced him to LSD?  Or is it a client/account?  

Harry Crane once again appears to project himself onto a situation because when he says ‘empty promises’, Peggy’s sarcastically inquisitive ‘What were you promised?’ seems like a line any character would ask to Harry in that situation because of what a total buffoon he has become.  Seems that the creative team may be getting a pep talk from Harry as Head of Media and Peggy acting out since really, when was the last time Harry was specifically involved in anything work-related besides him smoking pot at a Rolling Stones concert?  

Joan’s “It’s something to talk about.”  I notice her hair is less put together.  She may be talking about a current event, I guess.  Too oblique for even me to try and decipher.  

Pete is in Loveland over Beth, the poster girl for Mother’s Little Helper.  What else could he be laying down in his office looking stupid for?   But wait, who is this unexpected person in his office?  Is it Beth?  Pete’s tone makes me think it has to be a woman and a very vulnerable situation about to unfold.

Crackpot prediction:

Pete has been stalking Beth and she gives him a tearfully depressing piece of her mind to him before she splatters it while falling into Chekhov’s empty elevator shaft… or she just kills herself at SDCP.  Her death leads Howard to suspect the affair and as does Trudy who immediately wants a divorce that causes her father to take away the accounts he has given Pete through Clearosil.   The PR damage to the SCDP makes Don’s letter to Lucky Strike a distant memory and Pete has to be put on leave if not quit/fired from his position.  I could go on and on.  SCDP’s competition has to deal with dropping balloons on civil rights activists, they have to deal with dropping liaisons off buildings.  Either way, Pete is destroyed professionally, ethically, psychologically, and romantically.  

Transition into “You wonder who is going to get hit next!” by Don at a pitch meeting (Ginzo is beside him).  Okay now even the promos have the illusions to violence and death and given this comes off a Pete clip…. Nah, it could be Don trying to get his groove back too.  

Also missing from the original promo after episode is a scene of Pete with Bert Cooper, Don, and I think Roger all on an elevator telling all of them to be patient (But sadly no Lane Pryce).  Pete would be the first one to be neurotic about an account so I am pretty sure people catch on to his weird behavior.  In fact, I think he gets a look from Bert and Don.  They are all on an elevator in their trench-coats either all going to see a client are just had a rough time with a client. Side-eyes could mean latter.  

Prediction:

It’s back to work time at SCDP.  Don will finally try to be serious and the copy-writers are moving on to media with an account (oh no, are we back to the Heinz Beans account?).  Peggy’s work relations continue to be rocky while Ginsberg’s prospects are on the up with Don having him as his new ear to youth culture.  Roger definitely gets his groove back with a client.  Pete does indeed get a visit from Beth to cut it out and she probably is not long for this world but not as dramatic as my crackpot theory (coming back to the city was hard enough, I am thinking if there is a suicide it is in Howard’s love nest to spite him).   Pete Campbell is also probably gone from even reasonable work productivity, suicide or not.  Hopefully there is some Lane Pryce.  Maybe that is who Joan was talking to!