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Mad Men: Episode 4.07

2010 September 5
tags: , , , ,
by deez

ALL ABOUT PEGGY?

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Well, that’s what last week’s scenes for episode 7 would lead us to believe!! Ken’s back too! kicked back in the lounge…his devil-may-care attitude draped across the sofa…and Pete, with just a glint of worry in his eye. (see video)

Can. Not. Wait.

I shall return with a brief recap after the show! But, if you’d like to start prepping now:

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OK I’M GOING TO TARD!!!!1111!!!!! This was the BEST episode ever. I said that last week, but I lied. I don’t know where to start. To be honest, I’m not sure I can remember everything, due to the recent “activities”…I’m going to begin with the comic-relief!

Miss Blankenship! (a hellcat? Blankenship and Cooper? A ball-less Cooper? Damn this episode was LOADED) Don laughing at that tape was priceless, “ROGER’S WRITING A BOOK?” LOL.

Blankenisms: “You got a call while you were in the toilet.”, “If I wanted to see two negroes fight, I’d throw a dollar out the window”

She’s a piece of work, lol.

POOR PEGGY! I WANT TO HUG YOU! Don has just belittled her, and her Duck in Shining Armor calls to woo her away to his new agency!!!! His new agency…that doesn’t…wait…Oh Duck, are you drunk? It continues. She sees pregnant Trudy in the bathroom, who is sweet(?) but then tells her (with an expression of pity)”26 is still pretty young”.  Then they come out, and there’s Pete! Prince Charming Stan leaves her to fend for herself with Samsonite, and the snowball begins gaining speed. Peggy finally tells Don what she’s been needing to say: Can you not say “THANK YOU?” Don grills her on a spit and sends her crying to the Ladies’ Room! Peggy’s taking more of a beating than Sonny Liston.

Meanwhile, her undeserving bf is waiting for her at a restaurant for her surprise BIRTHDAY PARTY (wow what a nice romantic day with the whole damn family…nice going idiot). Of course, she can’t go, so he informs her he’s out forty bucks. Strike 2,douchebag. Then, then HE AGREES WITH HER MOTHER???? And, that’s a deadly curveball nipping the outside corner! SteerikeTHREE,and you are OUTTATHERE!

OK…that comedrama is giving me time to rethink my hatred of Don. He apologizes in that Draper way that isn’t really an apology, but you know it’s the best you’re gonna get. (and that it’s sincere)
“Everybody thinks I slept with you.” Thank you Peggy! You finally said it. THATS WHY SHE NEEDS SOME RESPECT IN THE OFFICE!
Don spills secrets, Peggy spills secrets, they go eat! I’m so full of LOVE now. Must take a break from the Kiss and Cry for this jewel:

“Why is there a dog in front of the Parthenon?” “That’s a roach. Let’s go someplace darker.”

Drunk Don and Drunk Duck (was that a song by the Captain and Tennille?) Duck gets caught just as he starts to embrace his inner phantom shitter. (I definitely like Drunk Don better) After Peggy (my god is she awesome, or what?) dispenses with Duck, she plays mother to Don! (OK, I teared up when Anna came to say Goodbye) Is that a common thing? I thought it was just me. Whenever someone close to me has died, I dream about them exactly one time. It’s always a dream where they drive by my house and honk, or wave to me from their garage or something. Something simple. Is that universal, because I really don’t know.

Don finally gets up the courage to make the call, and gets the news he already knew. Peggy is just right with Don. She says exactly the right thing. “That’s not true.” When Don touched her hand I was bawling like a fraking baby. A big, stupid fraking baby. I love Don. I love Peggy. “Leave the door open” Gahhhh what a metaphor. Now the mood gets totally ruined by scenes of Bitchy in her non-sensible clothes, with her non-sensible hair BITCHING. SHUT UP BETTY. I love to hate Betty, I’m gonna forget I saw any of that next week Bettyfest.

(Almost forgot. Duck killed 17 men in Okinawa.)

Update: Since I’m too lazy to re-write, I will add this little P.S. It has been brought to my attention (what remains of it anyway…since I fail at perceiving any degree of subtlety) that the theme here was “baggage”: Don’s baggage, Peggy’s baggage, Duck’s, a little hint at Roger’s…How does a person miss that when the show is centered around the SAMSONITE account? Crap.

Anyway, that suitcase got pried open and people’s drawers were flying left and right! (Roger should’ve been more discreet with his. Locks are useful.) Peggy and Don discarded enough luggage to clog up the works at a large airport. The fact that they didn’t sleep together cheered me immensely. Don can get THAT anytime. Peggy’s dad is gone, and her child is gone. She hates her folks. She respects Don, and is grateful to him. ( everybody wants validation from Dad.) Don is a mess. The fight with Duck pretty much nutshelled his issues with women. Peggy doesn’t know everything, and she may never know the whole story, but Don has somebody he can trust. (I KNEW it would be Peggy)

Mmmm. Fresh air. Leave the door open.

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from → Randomness

  • deez

    Next week’s sneak peek:

  • wino

    most likely this will be the episode both actors submit to emmy voters , it was pretty outstanding work. and yes, i see don and peggy as soulmates..but not in the romantic sense. they are each other’s partner, equal, and confidant. so far, this season has kicked ass.

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      I finally watched the episode today and WOW. FUCKING WOW.

      This episode was so beautiful. Anna’s goodbye, while wearing a smile and carrying a suitcase, as Don rested on Peggy’s lap was just too perfect. Because Peggy IS the only other one who knows him, and he has her in his life. Now Anna can rest knowing that he has her.

      Don finally breaking down into tears over his grief, not just over Anna, but of how his family is gone (well, no one should shed any tears over ice bitch Betty, so I’m just counting his brother, Sally and Bobby into that one), and how close he is to becoming Duck…Just so amazing. GIVE HAMM HIS FRAKING EMMY!

      This may be one of the greatest episodes of any TV show I have ever watched. (I also dug how Peggy dragged Don into the men’s room so he could vomit. Kind of symbolizing she’s one of the boys at the office now. She’s an equal.)

      Oh Flying Spaghetti Monster how I love Don & Peggy’s relationship.

      • CayKat

        BEST EPISODE! I loved this so much.. just saw it by the way. Perfection.

  • Lucky

    Just wanted to chime in about crying my eyes out while I watched. Thanks deez, I don’t feel like such a dope! Probably the best episode of the entire series. These two are such great actors who have wonderful chemistry together. I sincerely hope Don and Peggy don’t ever sleep together it would ruin their dynamic.

    • deez

      This makes me want to go watch it again! I am upset, though, because I forgot to save the episodes as a series, and episode 1 has disappeared! Does anybody know if they rerun the series after it ends. (stupid me).

  • blacklisted

    I’m just a casual viewer, meaning, I’ll watch a few scenes if I happen to fall on the show while channel surfing but jeez, I started watching this episode half way through and just had to watch it from the beginning. I’ve never been as interested or compelled. I knew enough of the characters to figure out what was going on but I didn’t expect Don to open himself up to that degree to Peggy. All the info about his past, getting upset at the whore comment…and we know why, although Peggy still doesn’t.

    Those two are cut from the same cloth and probably know one another better than anyone else knows them.

    So glad Peggy got rid of the boyfriend and that Don realized that someone else understands him. Anna’s death is huge, he needed this.

    PS I’m glad the icy blond wasn’t in this episode. Adding to it being the perfect episode. NOW I’m compelled to check the show out from S1 to understand better what the hell is going on.

  • Blue Eyes

    I wonder if Don and Peggy are soulmates? Seems like the women that Don has not had sex with mean more to him. This is a poignant episode.

  • auntieaimee

    Sooo sad when Don broke down after hearing (confirming?) that Anna had passed. Don’s got some deep seated mommy issues, and I think Anna represented an idealized mother figure for him. And now she’s gone. :( My husband thinks I read too much into it and he was just sticking up for Peggy, but I think Don snapped when Duck called Peggy a whore because of Don’s shame about his own mother. That fight was a hot mess, huh? Drunken grappling and general awkwardness– that’s what a real fight looks like. Funny stuff.

    • deez

      You are exactly right about the reasons for that fight! I don’t think there are too many things that happen in that show that aren’t wrapped up in about six layers!

    • blacklisted

      Bingo. Damn, I just wrote that whore comment before noticing your comment.

      Anna was important to Don b/c she was the first woman who was kind and nurturing to him, like the mommy figure he never got. No other woman gave him even a bit of that outside of sex. Don definitely lost it w/ Duck b/c the whore comment hit too close to his own mom and his unresolved issues with her.

      I loved his breakdown. That was amazing work.

      • deez

        I can’t believe that I totally forgot to put that fight in the recap.
        Trolls. *hmmmpf*

  • caspar

    deez- I’m interested in your ‘farewell’ dreams. I assume you mean that you have these dreams after finding out the person has died? or…*cue Twilight Zone music*

    • deez

      After they die!!! Lol, I’m not thinning the population with my subconcious!

    • jukejoint

      I haven’t had any dreams like that, deez, although other people have told me they have, after losing someone they loved. My dad passed away last year and I haven’t ever dreamed of him, and that seems kind of weird. After my mom died, I had several dreams about her, but they weren’t the peaceful suitcase kind of dream. More like she was sick and I was trying to take care of her, knowing it wasn’t going well, that kind of helpless-and-wishing-it-could-be-different kind of thing.

      An older lady I know told me that she dreamed about her mother all the time, and it was so nice, because they would just be sitting in the park having a conversation, and she said it was like getting a visit from her mom and she really looked forward to it. Now I’m sitting here missing my mom and choking up and wishing I got that kind of dream.

      Anyway, I think they did the Anna dream visit just perfectly. She was at peace, she smiled at him, she was carrying his baggage away…

      • deez

        Awww. Sorry JJ. My Great Aunt (who I was close to) died when I was in college and I dreamed that I lived in the same house I did when I was around 8. I was walking to the mailbox, and she was in a gigantic Lincoln. She pulled up to the mailbox as I was taking letters out, she rolled the window down, smiled and drove away.

        After my Stepdad died, I dreamed I drove past my Mom’s house and he was working in the garage and waved at me (that one wasn’t too profound). My Dad died 5 yrs ago and I dreamed he called me that night. (I only saw him maybe once a yr, so most of our contact was by phone) I had a dream about my Grandpa too the night after he died, but I can never recall it. IDK what that means, if anything.

        My mom and grandmother are still kickin around (although grandma’s 92).

  • DeeDee

    IMO this was the best episode so far this season. Love, love, love the Don and Peggy relationship! I just get nervous that they’re going to sleep together (just no please). The vision of Anna broke my heart, but I’m hopeful that now Don will stay out of his funk because frankly, he was starting to bore me.

    • deez

      I don’t think they’ll go there. These writers are smart. Don and Peggy definitely fill each others needs, just not in that way. They both need family.

      • blacklisted

        I agree. They won’t have sex. The actors have chemisty (besides Hamm has chemistry even with his couch) but their relationship is not about the physical. It’s spiritual and about finding someone who understands them. They are closed in and secretive people who are aware that they are not just similar but that the other ‘knows’ their true selves.

        Sex would mess their dynamic.

        • jukejoint

          I hope you’re right because I completely agree that those two should not have sex. They can end up together as soulmates and perfect partners in about 20 years, but for right now… Don needs to get himself together and stop drinking and figure out that there is more to sex than sleaze and power, while Peggy needs to grow up and find herself and figure out who she is. She’s done sex just for fun (Duck, I suppose, and this Mark guy) and even sex-with-a-weird-kind-of-love (Pete) but now it’s time to grow and blossom and then fall in love with someone she can respect who respects and loves her back. Will the agency end up as Draper Olson someday? Draper Campbell Olson? With Sal as their art director? I have my fingers crossed.

          • Blue Eyes

            I know exactly what the show is doing. They are building up to the moment when they do have sex, and when they do, it will mean something, but for now they have a very strong connection, but it’s not love, maybe more friendship? But, the spark has been lit.

  • jukejoint

    Hint to Deez: I think this episode was about baggage. Baggage, fights, drinking and… More baggage. Does that help with your recap?

    • deez

      OOOH nice catch Juke, definitely about baggage, I was apparently too busy being a BAWLING CRYBABY TO PICK THAT UP. Crap, I’m dense. The episode was even entitled “The Suitcase.” I probably need to update and incorporate that somehow. This hasty recap probably sucked balls. (just not Cooper’s)

      • jukejoint

        This hasty recap probably sucked balls. (just not Cooper’s)

        And why not? Because he doesn’t have any!!

        • deez

          *rimshot*

  • et

    I really, really need to find some way to catch this show. Dammit. *Sob*

  • et

    Uh oh, trolls in the Mad Men thread? Deez is gonna kick some ass ;)

    • jukejoint

      Hope so!

  • deez

    Check this out!

    Don could’ve sneezed into a handkerchief to produce better material than that! MM definitely does its research though. (per Don talking about avoiding their current “health angle)

    Pro- tee-in??

    • jukejoint

      I did not remember The Days of Pro-Tee-Un. The husband did. I do remember that commercials were really bad back in the days of black and white.

      Who will our advertisers be tonight? I wait with bated breath.

      • deez

        The commercial was dated 1962. My first memory of color TV was watching “I Dream of Jeannie” and realizing her costume was pink! I was fascinated with Jeannie living in that bottle. Oh I forgot…add Major Anthony Nelson to my childhood crush list.

        • jukejoint

          My first memory of color TV was Mission Impossible. We got a color TV pretty early — my dad always liked gadgets and new technology — but I don’t know what I first saw in color. Wonderful World of Disney or something? I know that was all Color! Color! Color!

          But I do remember having a color TV while pretty much everybody else had black and white and I told the kids at school that Peter Graves/Mr. Phelps’ hair was gray, not blonde, which freaked them all out.

        • tardspotter

          Peter Tork was my babe :) And I loved Life cereal! That was some damn fine proteeyun!

    • Red Baronness

      What’s a pro-te-an?

  • JaneRochester

    That pic of her is beautiful. Those folks really go all-out on the art direction.

    “White-Out fortune” my fanny. Mike was ALWAYS the cute one! :D

    • jukejoint

      Mike was totally my fave (my sister was so common and cliche — she liked Davy!) long before I knew about the White Out fortune. I was just looking out for Peggy’s financial well-being as well as her romantic health.

      (And my husband looks like Mike Nesmith. Without the White Out money. Hee.)

      • deez

        My fav too…the pre-teen me was all over the TV during the Monkees! He was my 3rd TV crush. The first TV crush I remember was Flipper (not Bud or Sandy…Flipper), then Wally Cleaver, then MIKE!!!!!!

        (then I left him for Robert Wagner on “It Takes a Thief”)

        • jukejoint

          I went for Ilya Kuryakin (Like Sally. Except not, you know, in the same way as Sally.) and then Mike Nesmith and then Alexander Mundy/Robert Wagner. I was just watching IT TAKES A THIEF reruns (Seriously, one of my favorite shows ever. And Fred Astaire played his dad, which was SO AWESOME.) on youtube the other day.

          Right now, MAD MEN is making me crazy. Orchiectomy? Seriously, people?? A freakin mouse? And a freakin roach? When are they going to go higher in the Animal Kingdom to get to the gorilla that jumps on the suitcase? (Wikipedia tells me that was actually American Tourister, not Samsonite., so I guess no gorilla to grace my screen.)

          And now we have serious barfage. Didn’t need to hear that. AND poop??? We’re punching all the high class buttons tonight, aren’t we? Poor Peggy. She gets to babysit all the drunks, I guess. And get called a whore by one of them. If Don comes on to her or even worse, they sleep together, I won’t be responsible for my actions.

          There is a rumor that somebody dies this season (besides the obvious Anna, who seems to have bought the farm tonight, if the vision is anything to go by) and I want to put my guess as Mrs. Blankenship right out here where I can get credit if it’s true and it really is her. Especially now that we know Roger slept with her (or committed some perversities with her) when he was young and presumably she wasn’t a gorgon like she is now.

          • deez

            It was Roger??? I thought it was Cooper while he still had em hangin’! Damn I need to watch that again!

          • deez

            Dies? I would bet on Duck. He’s going down fast.

          • jukejoint

            I’m not sure about Roger. That’s what I thought I heard, but it would make more sense (and be slightly less horrifying) if it was Cooper. She had to be pretty old by the time Roger joined the agency.

            I will take your Duck wager while I stick with Mrs. Blankenship.

  • jukejoint

    Look at Peggy with her flip and her hat. She’s adorable. Go, Peggy! Hook up with a cute guy who treats you right and encourages your career success. I’m thinking Don Hollinger or Rob Petrie. You?

    • deez

      Well, OBVIOUSLY, it’s one of these four guys, right after she finishes the Kellogg’s ad!!

      • jukejoint

        Clearly she should choose Mike and get some of that White-Out fortune. Like, duh!