Mad Men (recap)

By Tom Rose
Fancast.com

Last night on Mad Men Don Draper (Jon Hamm) was having a crisis of conscience. Although his whole life is a lie (he was an early practitioner of identity theft) he feels loyalty to Mohawk Airlines and is eager to make them as big as Pan Am. But his bosses force him to bail out on the fledgling Flyer when American Airlines drops the hint that they are looking for a new Ad Agency. It seems they have an image problem after one of their planes dives into Jamaica Bay on a perfectly clear morning.

And the big boys have found the perfect man to run the campaign in the eager beaver hands of Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser). He’s been itching for a shot at the title and it literally falls from the sky. The only problem is, his father was on the plane. Yikes. Talk about a conflict of interest. But American sees the sense of the plan. Who better to feel their pain then a grieving son?

It’s just that Peter didn’t know his dad very well. And the old man was broke. Before his unexpected demise he was working on draining Mom’s trust fund and she’s in danger of being poor. Not very fashionable in 1962 NYC.

What was fashionable is interracial romance. Paul’s got a new girlfriend and she looks like one of the Supremes. Joan (Christina Hendricks) is miffed so she lets it slip that she and Paul were once an item and she’s glad to see he has become more open minded. This happens at the house warming party for Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis) at his new apartment in Montclair, New Jersey. Montclair? He may as well be in Kansas. No one in the office crew can bear to live anywhere else but Manhattan. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) has to literally drag herself to visit mom in Brooklyn. Mom wishes she would go back to the Catholic Church, but her secret baby prevents that. Before Peggy leaves she’s shamed into taking a peek at him in Grandma’s crib. So that’s where they’ve been hiding him… In the closing fade Peggy is allowed into the church for Mr. Campbell’s funeral mass. When the child is placed in her arms he wails uncontrollably. As the image fades the boy begins to quiet down and accept his fate. Will Momma ever love him?

I usually tune out commercials but an interesting trend has developed here. Usually targeted ads are the province of the Super Bowl or a specialty show, like “Bass Masters.” Looks like Mad Men has become ingrained in the American Mind much sooner than I thought. Many of the spots that ran had either a early ’60s nostalgic hook, or were Ad Agency themed. Interesting.

Back to work. Joan is the object of derision when a receipt with her birth date is tacked up on the bulletin board. She’s 31. Peggy says she never would have guessed she was in her thirties… wasn’t it a Hippy thing not to trust anyone over thirty? I can’t wait until this show explores the Summer of Love, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, LSD… Groovy baby.

Don has to Stick It To The Man at Mohawk but he resists. “What kind of a company are we going to be” if they drop a valued and reliable customer? “The kind where everybody has a summer house” is the reply from Roger Sterling (John Slattery). No crisis there. Sterling Cooper will do anything to land American Airlines. Draper invites the Mohawk Man to dinner but the wily old rascal can smell the blood in the water. He doesn’t even sit for a drink. He tells Don “I almost hate to admit this, but you had me fooled.” Don is so disturbed at being forced into being a schnook, he fumbles the pass from the stunning Chinese waitress. But I have a feeling he’ll get over it. Soon.