Mad Men: Maidenform   Rewatch 
August 3, 2014 6:42 AM - Season 2, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Don and Duck take a stab at making peace. Peggy tries to insinuate herself into the execs’ after-hours meetings. Duck deals with a family visit at the office.
posted by tracicle (11 comments total)
 
The LOOK on Pete's face when Peggy sits in the customer's lap. She's having a good time and enjoying the camaraderie of the thing and he's having a canary.

Vincent Kartheiser can express SO MUCH with his face. Shock, excitement, anger and contempt. It's all naked for us to see.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:48 AM on August 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


The conversation between Duck and Pete about having an office dog. Priceless. Pete just doesn't get it.
posted by tracicle at 6:49 AM on August 3, 2014 [5 favorites]


Poor, poor Chauncey.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:06 AM on August 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


And I guess I should say "Poor Duck," considering that he sucks at his job and his kids don't like him. It's so clear that he doesn't fit at SC, but I suppose he is determined to rebuild his reputation after whatever happened in London, so he just digs in.

(this must be the Rewatch with Empathy tour for me)
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:10 AM on August 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


So, knowing what happens in the future with Peggy, Pete, and Duck makes this rewatch all the more interesting.

Peggy is so invisible right now, to everyone but the accounts/creative boys... And they're not really seeing her. Freddy and Don see her potential.

Ken is one character I find myself liking more on rewatch. He's making it a little hard in this episode.
posted by RainyJay at 2:37 PM on August 3, 2014


Love the brassiere and undergrarments* layout in the opening. Long line bras, I'm so glad I never knew ya.

Pete calls one of the models "a cheerleader for the University of Dour". Pete is clever but not quite reliably enough for creative. Lack of courage in himself? Love that line. :P

Peggy is taking Bobbie's advice to heart about being a woman to get her job done and how powerful it can be.

We see Sterling's second wife warming up to the kill ... I cannot believe anyone can get that sunburned by accident. No freaking way.

I'm not sure about a line of the episode as I found this one kind of weird - the dynamic between Peter and his brother about their family was just ... sad. :|

I guess the guy from Playtex who told Peggy she should stay on his lap all night.


*undergrarments is not a typo
posted by tilde at 8:29 AM on August 4, 2014


(this must be the Rewatch with Empathy tour for me)

Yes, me too.

The theme running through the ep. is presentation/PR. It starts off with the opening montage of Betty, Joan, and Peggy getting dressed for the day. Presentation through clothing. We later get an actual PR rep speaking to Don at he country club about doing PR for the invasion of Cuba.

Don standing up with the other war vets to be recognized looking so uncomfortable. The deserter knowingly presenting himself as an honorable vet. Later, Bobbie, who can't stop talking, let's unknowing Don realize the extent of the reputation he's gotten from his philandering. And it truly pissed Don off. That part of his presentation is out of his control. He must have never seriously considered it. Finally, Sally innocently drives the knife home with the remark "I'm not going to talk. I don't want you to cut yourself." Bobbie has already done the job, and Don is left with a depressing realization about himself.

Duck presents himself as a winner, but he is actually failing at his new job and has already failed as a family man. So out goes Chauncey as a symbol of past defeat and eventually back to the bottle. A man who hasn't come to grips with his limitations.

Betty being a little flustered with Arthur seeing her with her children. I suppose for her it makes her seem so much older in Arthur's eyes. Hence the bikini purchase, which Don quickly shot down with the remark "It's desperate."

Bobbie was also concerned that having children, esp. older children, would make her seem old. So she slowly let that info out to Don, which surprised him.

Peggy getting some straight up and tough advice from the queen of presentation and PR, Joan. "You want to be taken seriously? Stop dressing like a little girl." Peggy takes the advice and shows up at the Tom-Tom club looking very different.

Joan is a past master at presenting herself and she most definitely knows people talk and she takes steps that that talk will not reflect on her negatively. Which is why so many people had a hard time accepting that she would really expose herself by sleeping with the Jaguar guy for a partnership. Would that character really do that? I'm still on the fence.
posted by cwest at 2:14 PM on August 4, 2014


I'm still on the "no way would Joan ever do that" side of that fence.

I wonder if Don and Duck went out for a shave together instead of a non-lunch, like Roger and Don do in season 3, would it all come out differently?
posted by donajo at 6:57 PM on August 4, 2014


Which is why so many people had a hard time accepting that she would really expose herself by sleeping with the Jaguar guy for a partnership. Would that character really do that?

I think it becomes more evident about how Joan lets good opportunities pass her by in favor of those in her wheelhouse in "A Night to Remember." So she's Broadcast Operations and she's doing a great job in her off hours. Instead of taking the bull by the horns, like Peggy did, she's shocked when Harry hires a guy with no experience to take her place. She didn't claim what was rightfully hers! She was waiting to be asked, and discovered that when you wait, you have to take what you can get, rather than what you want.

Even in the realm of men, she dumps Roger in favor of Dr. Rapist. She could have had Roger, just as easily as Jane did, but she didn't want the charming Mr. Sterling, she wanted someone without complexity, who fit her idea of a dream husband. Joan, you idiot. So she settles for Greg, a rather ersatz version of a knight in shining armor.

I think that by the time Jaguar comes into the picture, Joan realizes what shitty decisions she's made. Shit job, shit husband and no real way of changing any of it at her stage of the game. So what's one more random fuck? And she's not wrong. Sure, she's not getting respect, but who cares, they never really respected her anyway.

Now she's a partner and she's managing accounts and she's finally making the life she wanted to marry. It's about time.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:24 AM on August 5, 2014 [4 favorites]


Ken: "They come off easily enough." (or some such). Really the ladies man.

Duck's wrong. Losing Mohawk was bad for SC.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:00 PM on August 6, 2014


She could have had Roger, just as easily as Jane did, but she didn't want the charming Mr. Sterling, she wanted someone without complexity, who fit her idea of a dream husband.

I don't think Joan could've had Roger, though, at least not at this point. (In 1968, maybe). He dumps her, remember, after his heart attack. Well, maybe "dumps" is too strong a word. He cuts her loose, so as not to continue to string her along. Even if Dr. Rapist hadn't come along, I think Roger and Joan's relationship was over.
posted by donajo at 8:04 PM on August 8, 2014


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