Mad Men: Indian Summer Rewatch
July 6, 2014 6:49 AM - Season 1, Episode 11 - Subscribe
Peggy is given a difficult assignment. Roger's work problems provide new opportunities for Don, and Pete grows more frustrated. Betty finds a new outlet for her growing dissatisfaction.
ChrisTN, Don's the blue ribbon committee of one, to pick a new head of accounts.
And I'd forgotten that Don was the one who brought in Duck!!
So, the conversation between Roger and Joan when she's putting makeup on him - the "you're the finest piece of ass" - is he breaking up with her? Or this is the closest he can get to telling her that he loves her? Or had they broken up earlier, after the bird? It is so strange and sad, but Christina Hendricks is lovely in that scene.
I love watching the mentor/protegé relationship at this early stage - the surprise and delight on Jon Hamm's face every time Peggy has a breakthrough.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:20 PM on July 6, 2014
And I'd forgotten that Don was the one who brought in Duck!!
So, the conversation between Roger and Joan when she's putting makeup on him - the "you're the finest piece of ass" - is he breaking up with her? Or this is the closest he can get to telling her that he loves her? Or had they broken up earlier, after the bird? It is so strange and sad, but Christina Hendricks is lovely in that scene.
I love watching the mentor/protegé relationship at this early stage - the surprise and delight on Jon Hamm's face every time Peggy has a breakthrough.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:20 PM on July 6, 2014
Ah, of course. I was watching too quickly through that part. Thanks.
posted by ChrisTN at 8:14 PM on July 6, 2014
posted by ChrisTN at 8:14 PM on July 6, 2014
So, the conversation between Roger and Joan when she's putting makeup on him - the "you're the finest piece of ass" - is he breaking up with her? Or this is the closest he can get to telling her that he loves her?
I read it as fitting in with the theme of women not getting what they need physically or emotionally. Roger tells Joan that he missed her, but then describes what he missed. He missed her body, not her. Joan rightly looks annoyed. She cares for Roger and was deeply worried about him. But all she got from him was "You are the finest piece of ass I ever had..." I imagine it was quite clear to Joan that the bottom line of their relationship was just physical. Just another married ad executive having an affair with one of the women from his office. I think that was the final nail in the coffin for their relationship in Joan's eyes. (And the reason Roger brought any of this up with her is because he probably thinks at this stage, due to his health, his days of drinking and womanizing are over.) Joan doesn't get what she needs emotionally.
Rachel is not going to get the future she hopes with Don. She's smart and practical and deep down she knows it isn't going to work. So, like Joan she has the sexual relationship but will not get much emotional satisfaction.
Betty, while still not getting what she needs emotionally from Don, is not getting any sexual attention from her husband due to his adultery with Rachel and his being preoccupied with the sudden changes at work.
Peggy isn't getting the emotional or physical attention she needs, but she is getting her new passion for copywriting satisfied.
It's interesting that both Rachel and Peggy (or at least Peggy is starting to) are getting their passion for their work met, but it's in fields that were considered at that time to be man's work.
I laughed when Don said, "Our big guns have been silent." He was talking about coming up with something for the "weight loss device", but it fit in humorously with the female masturbation parts of the theme.
posted by cwest at 9:25 PM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
I read it as fitting in with the theme of women not getting what they need physically or emotionally. Roger tells Joan that he missed her, but then describes what he missed. He missed her body, not her. Joan rightly looks annoyed. She cares for Roger and was deeply worried about him. But all she got from him was "You are the finest piece of ass I ever had..." I imagine it was quite clear to Joan that the bottom line of their relationship was just physical. Just another married ad executive having an affair with one of the women from his office. I think that was the final nail in the coffin for their relationship in Joan's eyes. (And the reason Roger brought any of this up with her is because he probably thinks at this stage, due to his health, his days of drinking and womanizing are over.) Joan doesn't get what she needs emotionally.
Rachel is not going to get the future she hopes with Don. She's smart and practical and deep down she knows it isn't going to work. So, like Joan she has the sexual relationship but will not get much emotional satisfaction.
Betty, while still not getting what she needs emotionally from Don, is not getting any sexual attention from her husband due to his adultery with Rachel and his being preoccupied with the sudden changes at work.
Peggy isn't getting the emotional or physical attention she needs, but she is getting her new passion for copywriting satisfied.
It's interesting that both Rachel and Peggy (or at least Peggy is starting to) are getting their passion for their work met, but it's in fields that were considered at that time to be man's work.
I laughed when Don said, "Our big guns have been silent." He was talking about coming up with something for the "weight loss device", but it fit in humorously with the female masturbation parts of the theme.
posted by cwest at 9:25 PM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
Knowing what the PER is beforehand, the part where the men are talking about how their wives used it is hilarious. Freddy saying his wife hasn't seen a change on the scales but keeps using it anyway. Ha! Paul's wife would be kicking herself if she knew.
posted by tracicle at 11:47 PM on July 6, 2014
posted by tracicle at 11:47 PM on July 6, 2014
I had forgotten how much of Don's professional advancement came on the back of Roger's health issues.
posted by drezdn at 5:08 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 5:08 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Paul's wife would be kicking herself if she knew.
There's no Mrs. Paul. You must mean Harry's wife Jennifer, who told him to use it himself.
posted by orange swan at 6:48 AM on July 7, 2014
There's no Mrs. Paul. You must mean Harry's wife Jennifer, who told him to use it himself.
posted by orange swan at 6:48 AM on July 7, 2014
orange swan, you're totally right and I realised after I posted. I often mix those two up because they're similar in colouring and build. Stan's arrival didn't help...
posted by tracicle at 7:10 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by tracicle at 7:10 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
My love for Hildy is well-documented here (because I keep forgetting that I've said it before). Is this the episode where she says something like, "Sure. I'll just sit here and watch the door"?
posted by Sweetie Darling at 3:02 PM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Sweetie Darling at 3:02 PM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
Yep. I love her as much as I want to slap Pete.
posted by donajo at 6:39 PM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by donajo at 6:39 PM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
That is a lot!
I love Rachel's dress in the restaurant. And Harry Crane sees the future, just like with TV.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:38 PM on July 7, 2014
I love Rachel's dress in the restaurant. And Harry Crane sees the future, just like with TV.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:38 PM on July 7, 2014
Yeah--how had I completely forgotten about Hildy? I want to marry her.
posted by ChrisTN at 9:56 PM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by ChrisTN at 9:56 PM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hildy ain't got time for Pete's nonsense.
posted by donajo at 7:09 AM on July 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by donajo at 7:09 AM on July 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
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Don's younger doppelganger, the air conditioner salesman. This is the "Don" who would have actually been willing to follow Betty to the bedroom, something she's getting more rarely from the real Don.
Dammit, I wanna know what Rachel's fortune cookie said!
Something was in the collective unconscious to move people to do stories about vibrators and lady parts a few years ago. This episode aired in October 2007; In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) premiered on Broadway in February 2009.
"There's a bar in Manhattan where the glasses are chilled." Oh, Peggy. She's really not (yet) a Manhattanite, as much as she wants to be.
What the hell is the "blue ribbon committee" that Don's part of when he's made partner?
posted by ChrisTN at 3:19 PM on July 6, 2014