Mad Men 6.11: Damned If You Do, Damned If You’re Don

Mad Men is in full swing (wink, 1960s joke). Each week we’ll take a look at who’s shilling what to who; follow our recaps here. Obviously, spoilers.

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MAD MEN CLIENT MEETING

6.11: ‘Favors’

THE PRODUCT:

Ocean Spray. Sunkist. Understandings. Misunderstandings.

THE PITCH:

“I don’t want his juice, I want my juice!”

Ted’s tantrum over conflicting clients might just have included the best line for the now defunct Sunkist campaign, but he scuttles the whole project before it can start. Once again with conflicting clients on the cards, Sterling, Cooper & Partners remind us that you can’t have all the fruit cocktail options at once.

With mortality taking up all his thoughts, Don’s been missing memos at work and at home, causing confusion in the ranks. That is until his downstairs doyenne’s kid gets vaulted towards Vietnam, and he decides to stick his foot (ahem) in everything. Is Don getting worked up over the idea of a kid going to war, or his friend’s rumpled grief? Or is this more about the opportunity to remake himself as a man — The Man — again in his mistress’ eyes? Whatever it is, Don gets proactive in a manner reminiscent of his bridge-burning in the office, nosing around for a military contact to help the 19-year-old dodge the draft.

Once again, this week it’s the issues of the era that puncture the safe seclusion of moneyed Manhattan. Change doesn’t come down to dumb chance (like it did for the death of Pete’s father), and it’s not just the price of doing business (like Lucky Strike’s exit); it’s the global events that poke at our lives until something gives. What with Sally staying over, the Rosen’s teenage son downstairs, missing notes and muffled phone calls, those descending service stairs from one apartment to the next finally lead to a shameful discovery. It looks like we’re heading for quite a bang.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Abe’s exit, Peggy’s still feeling boxed-in by her Plan B blowout. Ted’s going to make things work with his wife and kids, and any flirtations that might slip between he and his Copy Chief are stuck between sweet and sour; between orange soda and cranberry cocktail. Ted hates being stuck, so he’s sticking with what he knows.

Peggy gets along with everyone from Pete to Stan, and yet, just as her mother advised when she moved in with Abe, here she is, alone with a cat for company.

Everyone’s stuck. Back in season one, Don was set to sprint on a wing and a (Judaic) prayer with Rachel Menken, ditching his family for a new fantasy life. In season four he looked ready to run again, when the standard security checks of potential Air-Force clientele threatened to expose his past. But now, just like so many of his colleagues, he’s accumulated too much: too much family, too much history, too much feeling for those around him.

Right when you think you’re out, they pull you back in, and Don’s overly exercised feelings towards Sylvia get spotted by Sally. Now he’s got a tween-aged time bomb ticking in his life that’s set to blow both his and the Rosen’s marriage. There goes that one functioning relationship in your life, Don.

TAGLINE:

“Not all surprises are bad.”

OLD BUSINESS:

Pete’s mother pays the office a visit, and with all the magical precog powers that the televised demented can muster, blurts out some unknowingly accurate babble about Peggy and Pete’s long-gone baby. Here’s hoping that after the next season, Elizabeth Moss stars in a spin off sitcom, The Awkward Adventures of Olsen, because she is the best at awkwardness.

NEW BUSINESS:

Turns out Roger can juggle!

Oh yeah, and Bob’s big secret (or one of them? Or his latest lie?) is that he is gay, and very much in love with Pete. Bizarre. Perfect.

ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF MAD MEN:

Pete’s getting ready to do a little hunting, and Jim will have no more surprises from Don. He’s going to be pretty pissed when he sees Draper in that uncharacteristic turtleneck, then! Do these guys still represent the London Fog? Cover it up in a mac quick, Don!