Mad Men: At the Codfish Ball   Rewatch 
December 17, 2014 12:46 PM - Season 5, Episode 7 - Subscribe

Megan has visitors. Abe takes Peggy to dinner.
posted by drezdn (18 comments total)
 
I'm trying to decide whether or not Megan's dad was actively trying to sabotage her relationship with Don by needling her about following her dreams.
posted by drezdn at 12:48 PM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


This is also the title of a Shirley Temple song performed in Captain January.
posted by brujita at 2:58 PM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


[Side note, just because I'm obsessing and planning out the rest of my year: are we still going to follow the original plan to take the last couple weeks of the year off from our rewatch? Thanks. Now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion.]
posted by ChrisTN at 7:07 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Sally knows just what to say. 'Tripped on one of Bobby's toys," hah.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:16 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


This picture from Sepinwall's review Is another of those iconic shots.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:00 PM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


I forgot we decided that, ChrisTN. (And thanks drezdn for posting today - the morning got away from me!)

I'm all for modifying the schedule to keep posting during the holidays. I'll be off work for a couple weeks and would love to get caught up!
posted by Sweetie Darling at 8:05 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm all for modifying the schedule to keep posting during the holidays.

Yes, if it's o.k. with ChrisTN and everyone else, I would prefer to keep posting. If we stop it may be hard for some people to get started again (for example, me).
posted by cwest at 3:54 PM on December 18, 2014


I'm trying to decide whether or not Megan's dad was actively trying to sabotage her relationship with Don by needling her about following her dreams.

I tend to think it was yes and no. Yes, Emile doesn't like Don. Don stands for everything Emile is against. And then no, because Emile seemed to be genuinely concerned about his daughter not following her dream, not pursuing what truly makes her happy (which turns out to be acting). Emile might be able to tolerate Don if he felt that his daughter was living up to her potential. Emile has mixed feelings, so he's somewhere in the middle I suppose.
posted by cwest at 4:02 PM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


This picture from Sepinwall's review Is another of those iconic shots.

Profound disillusionment at that table.
posted by cwest at 4:04 PM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


There are so many great scenes in this episode.

Peggy seeking Joan's advice. Poor Peggy, she looked so hopeful and happy when she arrived at the dinner with Abe. She even bought a new dress. Is that the first time we have seen Peggy wear pink? And then again Peggy and Joan meeting in the little break area. Joan gave Peggy her full support and even said, "I think you're brave." Peggy didn't expect that from Joan and Peggy looked so surprised and pleased.
posted by cwest at 4:14 PM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


The tagline for the pitch, "Heinz beans, some things never change," could easily be, "Mad Men, some things never change." As often as people keep repeating themselves, especially their mistakes, throughout the show.

Emile: "Don, there is nothing you can do. No matter what, one day your little girl will spread her legs and fly away." Megan: "'Wings,' Daddy." And Roger in the background laughing his ass off.

Roger: "He's at Dow Corning. They make beautiful dishes, glassware, napalm."

Sally: "Go get 'em, Tiger!"

Katherine Olson: "You know what your Aunt used to say? 'You're lonely, get a cat.' They live 13 years, then you get another one and another one after that. Then you're done." Later on in the show, we will see Peggy sitting on her couch with a cat.
posted by cwest at 4:29 PM on December 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Yes, if it's o.k. with ChrisTN and everyone else, I would prefer to keep posting. If we stop it may be hard for some people to get started again (for example, me).

It's peachy with me. If I end up taking some time away, I'll catch up with y'all on the flip side.
posted by ChrisTN at 7:38 PM on December 18, 2014


I'm game either way.
posted by drezdn at 5:51 AM on December 19, 2014


The hat that Megan is wearing when she comes back from shopping is easily in my top 5 Megan outfits.

I love that Joan gives Peggy the permission/support that she needs to feel okay about moving in with Abe, especially when Peggy doesn't get it from her mother.
posted by donajo at 7:08 PM on January 9, 2015 [2 favorites]


Here is Shirley Temple singing "At the Codfish Ball". Sally, like Shirley, finding herself the lone child in an adult and male dominated world. The codfish is there, sure enough, but it looks gross and tastes peculiar. Sally's final reply to Glen's question "How's the city?" - "Dirty!" is my favourite line of the show.

I also love the scene of the successful dinner party pitch to Hienz. Don seems to think of Megan as an aspiring copyrighter - but her adept management of the situation here show how great she is at handling clients and pitches.
posted by rongorongo at 11:34 PM on September 17, 2019


I'm trying to decide whether or not Megan's dad was actively trying to sabotage her relationship with Don by needling her about following her dreams.

That's just the thing, isn't it?

I really love this episode, for so many reasons (it's gotta be in my top ten), but the main reason is how so many characters are truly being lovely and kind to each other throughout it. Emile and Katherine are the real flies in the ointment there (and Roger and Marie do no one, including themselves, any favors at the end) but elsewhere...

Megan has a genuinely great idea, soup-to-nuts, fully formed. Whenever she tries to shy away from taking credit for it (except at the pitch, where her instincts are right about Heinz probably wanting it to come primarily from Don, just as she's right that "Mrs. Heinz" is going to step up to assist in that moment) Don and others insist on giving her the praise and credit she deserves.

And it's just so wonderful, seeing Megan capable, working like a dynamo with Don, and getting hers. Peggy's speech to her about how she should be jealous but is just genuinely happy for Megan to feel this experience is beautiful, as is Joan's support of Peggy getting kind of a silver medal but still something worth being happy about if she wants to be happy.

Prior to the last scene, Roger is a great "date" for Sally, making her feel informed and important in a room full of old men. But then it all falls apart...

Because what the episode is "about," recognizing that Mad Men rarely wears its themes on its sleeves like any other series would, is that we can get all the approval in the world from elsewhere, but parents still have a hold on those strings. I can't imagine everything that Sally is feeling when she walks in on Roger and Marie - except that I was surprised that she doesn't throw up on her new dress. She sees something she doesn't have a place for filing away, for one thing. But also, Roger made her feel like a grown-up after Don (who can hardly be blamed for reacting with mixed feelings seeing his eleven-year-old in makeup and fuck-me boots) needed her to be more of a child than she wants to be just now. She knows enough to know that her "date" just ran off to do something "dirty" with her new stepmom's mother. I imagine she's feeling rejected, confused, disillusioned, and conned. On the night when she was trying to show her dad what a grown-up she can be.

Peggy, well, I don't know what reaction Peggy expected. Katherine is, as the saying goes, a real piece of work. Though I liked that as dyed-in-the-wool Catholic as Katherine is, she immediately rejects the idea that it's about Abe being Jewish. But then she lays into Peggy with the sort of casual domineering cruelty that has always defined their relationship. Peggy trying to get Katherine's approval was Quixotic at best, but Katherine's approval matters more to her than Joan's does.

And thus we get to Megan and Emile. If this episode is showing us any theme, it's that our parents, particularly the one with whom we share a relationship like Megan describes between herself and her dad, have both the responsibility to know us better than we know ourselves, and to tell us when we're taking the wrong path, and the power to exert great influence over us when doing so. What they don't always have is the knowledge of how using that will affect us, nor the wisdom to separate guidance from spite.

Emile is right that advertising wasn't Megan's passion when she was a little girl. Megan is right that this isn't an end, but a beginning (potentially.) But because Megan can't feel comfortable with her big-ass success unless Emile gives her the go-ahead, copyrighting can't be Megan's dream, no matter how good she is at it.

And Emile just had his dreams crushed earlier that day, and on some level knew that his wife was off blowing Don's business partner at that moment. He was most definitely using his power spitefully.

Bonus Note: Pete and Emile's conversation was great, both for Pete really building up Emile's confidence, and then utterly pulling the rug out from under him with what advertising entails at all levels. Damn this is a great ep!
posted by Navelgazer at 3:30 PM on February 19, 2020


Also, I think it's worth mentioning that Jessica Paré's father is (or was, I'm not sure) actually a professor at McGill University in Montreal. After introducing her in the background of season four, they seemed to do a lot of building Megan Calvet/Draper's character around the facts of Paré's life (aside from her name, which somebody named Megan pointed out in a different thread is not a Québecois name nor one they even know what to do with, pronunciation-wise.)
posted by Navelgazer at 3:40 PM on February 19, 2020


Notes on moments that made me crack up:

ABE: She's making ham. It's my favorite!
KATHERINE: Really.

JOAN: Better yet, go shopping!
posted by Navelgazer at 3:54 PM on February 19, 2020


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