Mad Men: The Price is Right

Recaps

By McWeanis | Friday, June 1, 2012 | 11:46 pm | 10 Comments
Posted in: Game of Thrones, Recaps

Joan smiles and sweetly touches his face.

As we find out in the next few scenes, however, Don was too late. Joan had just returned from her creepy tryst when Don knocked at the door, which puts her sickly smile and shining eyes in a new perspective. The entire deal was so gross and sad, from sweaty Herb Rennet to the token necklace gift a la Titanic to his pervy “let me see em’!”

“she let me wear my chain (but not my turtleneck sweater)”

Don owns the creative presentation, with a shiny new slogan thought up by Ginsburg: “At last, something beautiful you can truly own.” When he finds out he got the deal, he’s thrilled – until Joan walks into the partner’s meeting, and he realizes what happened. The crestfallen look is just awful. Layne is also crestfallen: he thought he dodged the ‘no bonuses’ bullet, but in fact the bonus money will now be diverted to capital for the Jaguar campaign. Yikes.

dead eyes (adj. + noun): a clear sign of erotic excitement and unambigous consent.

 

Megan does whatever the hell she wants

 Don is pleased when he gets home for the office to find Megan’s been waiting up for him. (Like a mom? Who you never had? Like a daughter, who you no longer have? I don’t know, too many issues.)

DADDY DADDY LISTEN I CAN READ

Oh, actually she’s been waiting up practicing for a big audition! Her giggly excitement disappears pretty quickly when he offers her the ‘mistress’ Jaguar pitch. “Cause the wife is like a Buick in the garage?”

She seems to have forgiven him later, as she shows up at the office, mounts him, and takes off his belt – all in the name of gleaning ‘confidence’ for her audition. K? While she’s in there doing the dirty Draper, her actress friend is crawling all over the table with her ass hanging out, growling like a jaguar.

normal men

ginsburg

Ginsburg is characteristically weird; as the other guys drool, he stares at Don’s office, clearly jealous of Megan’s special privileges.

Don is as supportive as Don gets of his spouses until he finds out Megan’s play rehearses in three months. Megan immediately pegs him as not taking her acting seriously – as a hobby, and one she probably wouldn’t succeed at anyway. He tries to forbid her from going (she hasn’t even auditioned yet, so this as premature as dry humpo ejaculation). Of course, this doesn’t fly, because Megan is Woman of the Sixties and she does what she wants! As long as you still fund her! Don shouts after as she storms out with his most hilariously hypocritical diss yet: “Just keep doing whatever the hell you want!”

Poor Megan’s excitement gets stomped when she arrives at the audition, where the first thing they want her to do is a slow rotation so they can check her out from all angles.

wait… which one is paula?

Once her spirit is crushed, she and Don make up, as usual. At least it’s not on the living room floor this time. The kids play on that rug!

There’s no number.

As has been the case this season, Peggy is the unsung hero of SCDP this evening. She comes to the rescue on a conference call with the cologne company – which isn’t even her account – spitballing a way to continue the “Hard Day’s Night Ad” to get girls to want to buy it for Valetnine’s Day. Even though Peggy saves the day, Don gives the account – the accompanying trip to film in Paris – to Ginsberg. When she complains, Don snaps and throws money in her face.

make it rain, 60′s style

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McWeanis
About

first thing's first: the origin of "mcweanis."

It is not because I have a giant weanis (look it up) although it is usually unusually bulbous and crusty.

it is in fact because as a child i was dubbed Weanie (it rhymes with my first name, because i'm awesomely named)  by my older sister Drunk, which my friends co-opted and which eventually evolved into weanis and finally mcweanis or MC weanis depending on how gangster i am at the time.

i am a huge nerd of all kinds, especially tv, books, and school. i'll be going to harvard law school in the fall cause i'm so SCHMANCY! i plan to put my excellent time management skills to work in balancing my courseload and my must-watch-tv-load.

10 Comments

  1. 1
    Derek Hazelton
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 3:27 am

    Don is still an asshole. The only reason he didn’t want Joan to sleep with Herb was because he thought his work would be “good enough” to earn the campaign. And, remember Sal and the Lucky Strike guy in Season 2? Don isn’t above trying to use his employees to meet their client’s sexual needs. He just wanted to prove with Jaguar that he still had the chops he’s had in the earlier seasons, but Joan’s move to sleep with Herb muddied those waters. Don wasn’t thoughtful or kind; he wanted to reassert his status as the Number 1 Pitchman at SCDP without Joan’s interference.

  2. 2
    Tiffa_Leah
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 9:18 am

    @Derek – I don’t think I completely agree with you on that front. Sure, he’s trying to reassert himself as top dog, but he did seem to have some true horror about the pimping of Joan. It’s very clear that he respects her a great deal (How many women has he taken out, bought drinks for to cheer them up with NO INTENTION of sleeping with them? I can’t name any) and truly believes she IS better than that. Don, while an ass, is also evolving as a person.

    Pete though, will have to hit absolute rock bottom before we see any positive change in him. And perhaps that may not even be enough… Pete almost has the mindset on how Don USED to think about women, Don seems as though that idea he had is changing and maturing. It’s a struggle for him, but he’s not fighting it either.

  3. 3
    Elmstreet
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 9:44 am

    There is so much I want to say about the whole Joan situation (and all I feel is sympathy for her), but I’ll spare the essay and say this: I hope she shoots Pete with that rifle from season 1. I hope she remembers to double tap, too. That smarmy little shit has it coming.

    Peggy is amazing. The last five minutes of this episode were amazing. And I fist pumped when Peggy stepped in the elevator and “Girl, you really got me” started playing. I’m not ashamed.

  4. 4
    BlueCanary
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 9:58 am

    “Don storms out of the room, and since I’m pretty sure he doesn’t think people exist when he’s not in the room, he assumes the discussion is over.”

    That may be the single most accurate summary of Don Draper I’ve ever read. I can’t help but love him, but the man is so far up his own ass I’m amazed he can see daylight.

    The husband and I also noted Pete’s ugly baby. I felt bad about it at the time, but not anymore. Pete is a world class turd. We all know it, but every time I think he can’t get any worse, he goes and ups the ante. I think I actually screamed “Oh fuck you, Pete, you fucking pig!” at the TV when jaguar guy went to the bathroom and I saw that gleam in Pete’s eye.

    Love me some Cosgrove, though. I hope his feelings aren’t hurt when he realizes Peggy broke their pact.

  5. 5
    TalldrinkofH2O
    Posted June 2, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    This was a very disturbing episode. It showed how beauty and desirability can both empower and at the same time entrap a woman. Joan. I seem to recall that she’s a college graduate on top of her bodacious bod and people savvy. Peggy, on the other hand, is a graduate of secretarial school and a bit of a plain jane, naive to the ways of the world and men. She has probably envied Joan (and now Megan) for the “spell” that they cast over men. But, at the same time, I doubt she would have ever been pressed with a devil’s bargain the way that Joan was in this episode.
    I recently re-watched the very first episode of “Mad Men” and was appalled at how Ken leered at Peggy just as much as Pete. So, he certainly has evolved as a person to be in a pact with her and attempt to comfort her over the humiliation of Don barking at her after her big coup.

  6. 6
    MrsMiaWallace
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 12:22 am

    Well done McW- love the show and usually find nothing amusing in it until I read the snark.

    I do hope your predictions are wrong-for the sole reason that a failure of SDCP means Peggy did that horrible toad for nothing and loses her stake and all reward. That is a continuation of her season-long downward spiral and I want more for her.

    Also if Lane paid himself around $8k to settle his debts he should have$42k of the loan left? Is that enough to sink them? Did they pay out the “surplus” 50k to the non partners already? Tad confused here!

    Where is Betty!!??

  7. 7
    lagitha
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 7:55 am

    It’s important to remember that Joan tried hard to make it up the ranks with her brains, but no one would let her. She was the scriptreader (on her own time) who made Harry’s TV department first successful, but they wouldn’t hire her; they hired a man instead. And when she was essentially appointed as office manager, they wouldn’t give her any financial reward for the extra work.

    Last week we learned how difficult it was for Joan to recognize that she thought that in terms of desirability her better years were behind her, and thought that she had no more power. There is no way that Joan would have even acknowledged this deal two years ago. We saw a decision that was made by a woman who has been told that ther brains and her body have no more intrinsic worth, and she had to stoop to wringing out what little she had left in terms of power before it was completely sapped.

  8. 8
    maryedith
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    I think Elizabeth Moss really is leaving the show, at least as a regular. That would explain a lot about this season that kind of confused me. If they knew they had to write Peggy out it explains her descent into bitchiness and cynicism (which seemed kind of sudden to me) and also explains what Ginsberg is doing on the show. At first I thought he was there for Peggy in some capacity but now I see that he’s a pretty good replacement for her in that he has a minority/outsider perspective on the firm and an imaginative mind.
    I think SCDP is about to fall apart, but what the hell do I know? If not, the doom and gloom of this whole season will have seemed over the top, don’t you think?

  9. 9
    ChaCha
    Posted June 3, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    I heard Elizabeth Moss was filming a mini-series and that was one of the presumed reasons that she was written around, and may be into the next season. But then, with this show anything is possible. And once they realize how popular Peggy is, I suspect that they’ll keep her on the show somehow someway.

  10. 10
    LAC LAC
    Posted June 4, 2012 at 8:29 am

    Thank you for the recap!

    It was a sad and strange episode. It is a squalid way to get into the boardroom, but I agree with Lagitha’s assessment of why Joan did it.

    Good for Peggy – I am glad that she could rattle Don with her departure.

    God, this season is depressing and oppressive.

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