Don (Kowalewski, not Draper) - I promise you, nobody loves AMC's Mad Men more than spunkybean, hence we'll spend the better part of three days agonizing over every detail of every episode, often debating details I'm sure the writers never intended to mean anything - like, why did Peggy suddenly change her coffee mug? Will there be a flashback in a future episode explaining why? She's always had the pea green mug and now she has a cream colored mug. It's that new assistant of hers, we're sure of it. But enough of that ...though we hope that old mug gets it's own Mad Men spinoff.

I'm the lazy member of the Mad Men spunkybean roundtable who watches TV and then doesn't write about it for a whole host of reasons. Mainly, I'm lazy like Roger Sterling. I am to spunkybean as Roger Sterling is to Sterling-Cooper ...I started this thing, hired quality people like Myndi (Peggy with a dash of Joan) and EJ (Kenny Cosgrove with two shakes of a Pete Campbell and a lovely Herman "Duck" Phillips glaze ...mmmmm ...duck glaze). But with the right amount of caffeine and two pretty boring Monday Night Football games, I could offer an insight or two.

This week, I'll read some mail from fans of spunkybean and discuss some points of interest.

Q: Don? That episode was kind of all over the place. Was Sally’s teacher the same woman that Don was checking out during the May Day May Pole dance thing? Do you think Don will be hooking up with Sally’s teacher soon?

A: Yes, t'was the same foxy little teacher (queue Van Halen ..."I brought my pencil ...now give me something to write on" -David Lee Roth). Don Draper is a creative genius, a great ad man, and he knows how to pick 'em. Mrs. Sally's-Teacher (hey, she may be a passing character, you learn her name) is giving Don Draper all kinds of temptation. But with the bizarre hospital waiting room conversation Don had with the prison warden, and with the whole "Betty-won't-let-me-come-home because-she-knows-I'm-a-cheating bastard" thing, I know he wants to be a better man. But, boy oh boy, he sure left the door open on that one, ya know ...just in case.

Q: The whole birth thing was strange…and it is scary to think about the baby riding without a car seat, don't you think?  Didn't you have a bad feeling that Betty was going to go all post-partum and do something  bad?

A: First, is it highly inappropriate of me to chuckle about the possibility that the 1990s phrase "he went postal" (referring to the rash of Post Office shootings, and meaning a person goes temporarily insane) could be replaced by the horribly non-PC phrase "that dude went post-partum"? Try it out and report back how the phrase was received by the masses, won't you? As for the birth-dream sequence, I think EJ covers it below well enough. Betty is grieving the loss of her father and whatever freedom having a 10 and 7 year old allows a woman of the late 60s. As we see later in the episode, as a crying baby wakes her up out of bed, she struggles to find the will and the energy to do this all again - we can see she is feeling trapped. This baby doesn't have much nurturing in its future, now does it? Granted, as a father of three, I know this late night walk of the dead rarely comes with skipping and humming of jaunty tunes, so it could be nothing. Right? I'm sure Weiner and the writers just told her, "look tired." Ha!

The more compelling late-night sequence took place while Betty was at the hospital following the birth of baby Eugene and Don was home playing Mr. Mom. Again we found him in the kitchen, alone, just as we saw him open this season when he flashed back to his very troubled beginnings. But instead of looking back, we found him confronted with his present circumstance - his daughter Sally. She is awakened by, I can only assume, the sound of red meat (or was that pork?) frying up in a pan and she stumbles into the kitchen. Don could give her a drink and send her right back to bed, but instead, he invites her to eat with him and he shares a tender moment with her. It was very sweet and I was happy for Sally - she needs someone to show her some sort of attention. Side note - nothing says childhood obesity like the Sumo diet ...late night hash and eggs, baby!

So moved by this exchange, I ran upstairs and woke up my own 6-year-old daughter and dragged her downstairs for some bacon and eggs - but being without 60s era staples, I had to settle for left-over pizza and ice cream. She wasn't too thrilled about being pulled from her cozy bed, but I explained this was because it was important for her and I to bond, less she start snagging $5 bills from Grandpa's nightstand.

"I'd never do that," she explained.

"Not if we have nice moments like this, little lady. You'll thank me later for my keeping you out of trouble."

"Dad? Can I please go back to bed?"

"No," I said. "I just watched a TV show and it made me all kinds of sappy and nostalgic for your early years and how my nurturing, or lack thereof, might affect you down the road."

"But, Dad. You are great. You are always there for me. It's 2009 - men are much more in touch with their feminine selves than at any time in history. Please ...I'm tired ...and I have school tomorrow. And you can't be nostalgic for a moment you are currently living or have yet to live."

"Oh," I said. "I guess maybe I got caught up in the moment."

"I'll say." She continued. "And have you been hiding a secret past? Did you assume another man's identity somewhere in your early 20s, and are you now living a complete sham of an existence?"

"No, I didn't and I am not," I said.

"And do you regularly cheat on Mom with other women - multiple women - and lie to your loved ones? Did you reject your long lost brother when he finally found you? Do you smoke? Drink excessively?"

"Um, no."

"Well, then you have nothing to worry about, Dad. And you know dairy upsets my tummy ...ice cream and pizza? Really? I'm going back to bed. Now go and flashback onto your Rockwellian infant years when you were born in a hospital of two loving parents and how you were not abandoned by your birth mother to be raised by an abusive alcoholic, Mr. Whitman." She kissed me, patted my head, and headed back to bed.*

*Hey, if Matt Wiener is going to use a dream sequence and a random encounter with a prison warden in a hospital to advance a story line, I'm going to invent a conversation that never happened with my 6-year-old. Touche, Mr. Wiener. Touche.

Q: Do you think Peggy will go work with Duck?

A: No. Duck is shadier than Don Draper. Do you really think Peggy's going to get some golden parachute by jumping firms with no real resume of work to show? It isn't as if she's dreamed up any outstanding campaigns on her own outside of the orgasmic underwear thing, right? Nope, she'll stay put. Her threat to leave might get her more money and ruffle loyal Pete Campbell's feathers, but she's loyal to Don Draper. I vote: she stays.

Q: Don and that guy in the hospital had that whole emotional exchange and then they did not look at each other in the hall?

A: I've been thinking about this, and I think the warden dude was just embarrassed he spilled his guts to a complete stranger. Something tells me where he works, Sing Sing, he can't exactly open up like that - and doesn't. "Hey, Gunner. Which was scarier? Having a teenager you couldn't connect with, or robbing a bank and the eluding police in a high speed chase?" "Glad you asked, Warden. I'z did some crazy things, but nothing is scarier than holding a little baby in ya hands and knowing youz responsible, ya know? Takin' a life - or a few dozen - t'aint no big deal, ya know? But making a life, Warden ...yeah, it's like mind blowing." "Thanks, Gunner. Good talk."

But, the warden's monologue about being scared, not knowing what he'd do if something happened to his wife, and then vowing to become a better man for the sake of his child ...that's something most men do when that big day comes and they have a baby of their own. They realize there's a bigger purpose and a more important life to worry about than their own - why do you think the guys on Maury Povich who are informed they are "not the father" go all wiggy crazy? Because they know they don't have to have the "warden moment".

Q: Will it be enough for Don Draper to stay on the straight and narrow?

If the Kodak Carousel wasn't, and being kicked out of the house nearly forever didn't work, I'm going to bet on adultery. Hey ...he can't change overnight, right?

Q: The whole “urban” marketing thing was interesting too, eh?

A: Yes. We had Roger Sterling in black-face a couple episodes ago, and now we had liberal use of the word "Negro" which is also upsetting, no matter if it's in a period piece or a Quentin Tarrentino movie - racially insensitive words make me nervous. But, for those of you not in advertising, this was and is a very real challenge for brands and marketers. These episodes are taking place in 1963, correct? Just before Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and Kennedy's assassination. You can't write, direct, and produce a period piece like Mad Men and not address the women's movement and Civil Rights. We see women taking on productive roles in the workplace, we see Betty and Joan completely unfulfilled by "home making" and we see little pieces of power slipping away from the Ivy League, Caucasian males of Manhattan and Wall Street. The show began in 1960 in a man's world, and now its taking us kicking and screaming into the teeth of the 60's sexual and race revolutions. Heady stuff for a show about advertising and the business world, but we're going there and there ain't no turning back. We shall over ...um ... analyze.

MYNDI

Unlike Don (Kowalewski, not Draper), I don't really get fan mail.  I'm not quite that big time.  So, I'll just try to cover the things that spoke to me in this less frantic episode.

Couple of things, dear Mad Men producers.  To date this season, there has not been nearly enough Joan.  I'm waiting for that to change.  There was also not enough of the Peggy/Pete fallout, which is probably just simmering.  However, his parting shot during their dustup in the SC bullpen, "Your decisions affect me", was about as pointed as anything anyone's ever said on this show.  I do love that you can count on these writers to bring old storylines full circle, as was the case with the re-emergence of our old pal Herman "Duck" Phillips.  And now he's saying words like "nosh" and wearing turtlenecks!  I agree with Don (Kowalewski, not Draper) that it seems clear Peggy will ultimately stay put at Sterling Cooper, even without the raise she was ballsy enough to ask Don Draper for this week.  Once again I can see the parallels between belt-tightening corporate mergers of 1963 and the same thing in today's ad world.

Pete has found a kindred spirit in Lane Pryce, who backed his pitch for integrated media to the Admiral TV people when both Roger (who called him Martin Luther King) and Bert Cooper were furious.  Watching the show lay out such an extensive and well-researched campaign, circa 1963, was a cool thing for the media professional in me to see.  When it comes right down to it, Pete is good at his job, and looks like he might even be a bit of an innovator.  Who knew? His conversation with Hollis in the elevator was what we today might call "out of the box thinking" and he has better instincts than I'd ever thought before. He also has a fan in Duck, who remains a little shady.  It's impossible to imagine anything Duck is doing isn't just to benefit Duck in the end.  He's not that magnanimous.

Betty's pregnancy arc came to a bleak end, but thankfully not a tragic one.  I was as surprised as anyone to see that baby Eugene was born without any complications or harrowing circumstances.  Those labor dreams were strange and surreal, but they were drug-fueled, so it's hard to pin too much significance on them.  The overall experience of giving birth in the 60's looks way more scary and depressing than joyful, doesn't it?  This is coming from a woman who's had two babies.  Trust me, my nurses were sweet and encouraging, and I my husband coached me through it all.  I can't blame Betty for wondering where Don was ("Have you seen him?  He's never where you expect him to be.") or any bad feelings post-partum.  I just hope if she has them, that she reaches out for some sort of help.  I was happy to see Francine watching the kids and hope she sticks around for some bonding.  She always seemed like the one person with whom Betty could let down her guard.

I also loved the kitchen scene with Don and Sally.  It seems that the show is working to put these interactions in more often, in an effort to contrast Don's warm and affectionate side with Betty's icy demeanor.  At least she gave Sally a small kiss on the top of her head when she greeted her and baby Eugene upon their return home.

I'm not sure if Don's going to ultimately cheat with Sally's teacher...if only because he tends to keep his mistresses in his work world.  Say what you want, but we have yet to catch Don diddling the neighbor.  There is certainly a lot of talk about him staying honest for now, but it still seems as if the damage is done in the Draper household, and there's no going back.

EJ

You had to know that the arrival of the newest Draper on Mad Men would not be a “very special episode” complete with wacky hijinx when Don gets trapped in an elevator.  Actually, we did get some wackiness in the elevator, but by “wackiness” I mean “uncomfortable discussions about race”.  And that appearance of Yeardley “Lisa Simpson” Smith caused no small amount of delight in the spunkybean offices.  Also, I finally realized that Betty’s friend Francine is played by Anne Dudek, best know as Cutthroat Bitch on House.

This episode continued with the “TV theme” that’s been showing up through the season, focusing on TV as a tangible object.  Pete’s ahead of his time with the idea of using advertising to target minority groups, but as ever, he can’t manage to sell the idea.  And I don’t think it’s a case of Pete being too progressive – I think it’s just that he assumes that everybody else sees the dollar signs first, ahead of their own beliefs and prejudices.  I did really like his interaction with Hollis in the elevator.  To Pete’s credit, he didn’t come off as a bigot.  Mildly condescending, but that’s pretty much par for the course with him.  He talked to Hollis the way he’d talk to any focus group, and he wasn’t shy about doing it with other people in the elevator.  And how great is it that Pete didn’t even get Hollis’ joke about every job having “its ups and downs”.  Pete just isn’t as great a writer as he’d like to convince everybody he is.

I liked the discomfort with the racial issue – I don’t think we’ve ever seen Roger as mad as when he lit into Pete this week.  It seems like people are aware that a change is coming but they would prefer not to be involved.  Nobody (except Paul, of course) is going to march for Civil Rights, but they’re not burning crosses either.  There’s this sense that they’re spectators to this part of history.  They’re certainly risk-averse in this case – it’s not like Roger to turn down a way to make money.

Race factors into the story in a couple of other places – there’s a reference to Carla, who used to be the Draper maid.  Francine Hanson actually says “I can’t believe you didn’t force her to stay”, which is kind of creepy.  You could just force a person to keep cleaning your house back then?  And did I miss something, or was this the first we knew that Carla left?  It was good to see her stand up to Gene a couple of weeks back, and I’m sorry we won’t see more from her.  But then if Duck can come back, anybody’s fair game, right?  It’s also possible that she meant “stay” in the sense that she would live there full-time to help with the baby.  In that case, disregard everything above, except that it’s still kind of creepy that you can force people to live at your house against their will.

The other interesting racial theme came from slain activist Medgar Evers.  Sally’s teacher mentions him early on, saying that Sally’s been asking question about his murder.  (Sally is taking a rather precocious interest in the news of late.)  He was instrumental in desegregating the University of Mississippi.  He was shot on June 12, 1963.  And he’s more than a passing reference in the episode, as he’s also the dead man in the kitchen in one of Betty’s hallucinatory dreams.

It’s interesting that Betty and Sally both focus on Evers, though Betty does so unconsciously.  Her mother and father are cleaning up the mess of something she heard about on the news, which is probably what Sally wants right now.  Betty is alarmingly childlike in many ways, and this apparently runs all the way to her psyche.  But what’s really disturbing to me is that in the dream, Gene is mopping up somebody else’s blood.  I’m not going to bother with blood spatter, because this is Mad Men and not Dexter.  Still, in Betty’s mind, the Evers’ blood is behind him, and her mother is blotting it up with a napkin.  Gene’s mopping up blood ten feet in front of him.  That’s somebody else’s blood.  Is it just that she has trouble accepting the fact that her father killed people in WWII, or is there something more sinister at work?  And note that Betty’s mother and Evers are not visible in the room until Gene points them out.  Her idea of her father defines the reality of her dream, which makes Gene the most important figure in the dream, even moreso than Betty herself.

I think Betty’s dreams will require a closer look.  Matthew Weiner wrote the greatest dream sequence ever, “The Test Dream” from Season Five of The Sopranos. That episode was basically a forty-minute dream absolutely steeped in symbolism, foreshadowing, and insights into Tony’s character, some of which were never verbalized over the course of the series.  I think this is our first real dream sequence of Mad Men, and you can’t write it off as a flight of fancy.  It will be significant.  (Also, Weiner wrote an episode of Andy Richter Controls the Universe.  That blows my mind.)  Right now the important things are a fear of her father, and the idea that her psyche is not significantly different than that of her young daughter.  Just listen to how Dream Gene describes his death - “I had to go away”.  That’s what you’d tell a child.

When Don passes the prison guard in the hall, the guard refuses to acknowledge him.  I think Don and I differ in our interpretations here, but I think the guard’s wife lost her baby.  You can only see her face for a second, but it’s not the beaming of a new mother.  She looks shattered.  The guard himself isn’t smiling, even before he sees Don and averts his eyes.

Peggy has a couple of really good scenes this week.  First is her meeting with Duck and Pete.  Duck was not exactly a friend to the creative types during his tenure at Sterling-Cooper, but he’s made a wise choice with his selections here.  Peggy wasn’t that plugged into the big picture when Duck was in his heyday, and Pete just wants somebody to tell him that he did a good job.  I think if Peggy hadn’t been at that table, Pete would have signed on with Duck right then and there.  He’s desperate to find somebody who values him.  And isn’t it great to see how Pete acts whenever Peggy’s around?  Pete’s still devastated that he will never know his son.

Also noteworthy is Peggy’s scene with Don, and the unspoken subtext that he now has a third child and Peggy gave up her one.  I think Don believes that’s what their conversation was actually about.  “What if this is my time?”  He’s reading this as regrets about the baby, since he doesn’t know that Duck is in the picture.  I’m not certain that Peggy knows that much about Don’s back-and-forth with Pryce, so I have to think she’s reading his attitude as dismissive.  Peggy seems inclined to ascribe the worst motives to Don lately.  Of course, he’s also the reason why I don’t think she’d ever take Duck on his offer.  As independent as she’s becoming, Peggy still needs that security blanket.  I think she’s very conscious that she would have to start over with her quest for respect at any new company.  She knows that Don believes in her, and she needs to be around the person who’s keeping her secret.

Still, Duck’s in a position to do some damage.  I think there are going to be more dissatisfied creative types, and a few clients who are worried about the change in management.  We haven’t seen the last of him and his jaunty turtlenecks.

Is it me, or did Sally’s teacher seem a little off?  When she called Don to check in, she certainly acted like she had her prey in her sights.  That sounded like a Kennedy-Era booty call to me.

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