Mad Men: The Night Everyone Disappointed Their Parents
Have you already forgotten Sunday's episode of Mad Men? We haven't. It had all the ingredients of a Russian novel: sad families, death, and bad Ann-Margret imitators. Also like Dostoevsky, we learned five new ways we can fail our parents.
Everything last night had to deal with family dynamics, and pretty much all of it was bad. There were a few light moments, like gay Sal doing an impromptu show for his beard wife, but most of the hour seemed to tell us that we can never understand our parents and can't even come close to pleasing them. That sure is a bleak way to look at the world, but would you rather be caught in an upbeat Patio commercial? Yeah, didn't think so. Matt Weiner and company did come up with some inventive ways to show parental disappointment, though. Try not to go into a dark place while reading about them.
Not Understanding What They're Going Through: Throughout the 60 minutes, it was clear that Betty's father, Gene, was dunzo. Not only was he trying to give away his possession, but he made some attempts to connect to the family around him. When sitting down with Betty to discuss his will and arrangments, she didn't want any part of the discussion. God forbid death, with all its messy finality, enter into her perfect domicile of beautifully browned toast, spotless appliances, and exquisite coifs. Gene was obviously looking for a connection and trying to thank Betty for taking care of him, but she is too cold, distant, and afraid to accept the gesture.
Strike Out on Your Own: Peggy's mother was not having any of her daughter moving to Manhattan, thinking that her daughter will forget all about her family and where she came from now that she's tasted some success and moved to the big city. Peggy's arguments—shorter commute, no runs in her panty hose—were rational, but her real reason to find a place of her own is a continuation of her growth into a modern, liberated women.
Horace Cook Junior has the same struggle, trying to make his father proud by making Jai Alai the new national past time, and spending all his money doing it. At dinner with Don and Pete, it becomes clear that he doesn't really have the passion for the sport, but really a passion for doing something of his own, and this is the first scheme he's landed upon. When meeting with Don and Cooper, Horace Cook Senior shows he little to no faith in his son, but at least is willing to let him fail to escape the "cloud of my success."
Though it was less about paternal politics, the moment between Joan and Peggy in the break room showed their older sister/younger sister dynamic continue to play out. Joan steps in to show Peggy, disgraced and humiliated at the hand of her coworkers, how to get a roommate. She crafts a better ad than Peggy in about 60 seconds, and helps her to land a find a nice fun Joan-alike to live with. Peggy may be the one "getting ahead" but Joan is still the one in the know.
Give Them What They Want: In the instance of the doomed Patio commercial, Sal is the child, and the Pepsi executives are the parents, who are disappointed when their ad agency gives them exactly what they asked for. Sal did a competent job translating the grating opening of Bye, Bye Birdie into a grating commercial for Patio, but they're not happy with the results, it just goes to show you that even if you do exactly what authority figures expect of you, it is something the wrong thing.
Similarly, Pete has been charged with bringing in new accounts to Sterling Cooper, and when he lands a plum one like Horace Jr's Jai Alai fantasy, Don—a paternal figure for many on staff—chides him for finding someone without a chance of succeeding. Of course, in the end, money is what really matters, and Don gets on board with the scheme.
As Don says, the one good thing to come from the Patio debacle is Sal's new role as a commercial director, and he gets a pat on the back from his workplace "father" Don. Maybe it's because it was Don's idea to give Sal the gig in the first place. Sometimes, when you do what daddy asks, you are rewarded. Now, if Sal could only get himself a little man-on-man action, then he would really be happy!
Call Them Out: Betty is none to happy when little lisping Sally calls her, and the rest of the adults out, on not really caring that grandpa Gene just died. Of course, Betty is upset, but she can't allow it to show through her pristine exterior, while her money grubbing brother probably only cares whether or not he gets the house. Not able to deal with the emotional strain, Betty sends Sally away, to be comforted by the ills of the world on the evening news. After the incident with her father in the dining room and failing to comfort Sally when the policeman comes to announce Gene's death, this is Betty's third time failing to connect with a family member. It seems that any chance she has for bonding is gone.
This is contrasted with Gene's budding relationship with Sally, who shows her some much-needed warmth despite (or because of?) her stealing his money last episode. Sure, letting her drive the car and eat ice cream before dinner probably isn't the best behavior to instill in the child, but growing up with Betty and Don, she needs someone to show her a little bit of affection. That's why she takes Gene's death the hardest of all, and little Sally shows us that children are plenty capable of being disappointed of their parents as well.
Hats: It wouldn't be an evening without our favorite Mad Men accessory, and this week it was a little bit different. When Grandpa Gene tries to make friends with his grandkids, he does it by giving Bobby a souvenir from his tour in WWI. Don takes offense and tells his son to take off the "dead man's hat."
The ironic thing is that Don's whole identity is a "dead man's hat" that he stole from a dead soldiers. Don doesn't want his son behaving the same way he did, and wants him to have respect for the dead and their artifacts. Later, Don looks at picture of his own parents while staring into the moonlight. Is he thinking about his disappointment in them for not giving him the opportunities he craved or about how he disappointed them by disavowing them for a new life. Probably both, but now he's stuck in a dead man's hat.