‘Mad Men’ Recap: Public Relations
S4:E1 Last season on Mad Men: TOO MUCH! As in, more arguments and surprises than a summer at an all girls sleep-away camp. But if you committed the atrocity of watching the World Cup instead of catching up on your Mad Men, I’ll re-brief you on the essentials. Betty was looking to divorce Don so she could fully commit to Henry, some loser whose best feature is only as good looking as Don’s hangnail. Don, Rodger, Harry, Cooper, Lane, Peggy, Pete and Joan severed their ties with Sterling Cooper and went balls to the wall and started their own agency in a suite at the Pierre hotel. The new agency is called “Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.” Are you sweating in that familiar ecstasy over tie clip resurgence right now? Oh, and Don moved into an apartment in Greenwich Village. By his lonesome.
Last night’s episode opened with Don being interviewed by a veteran of the Korean War who’s also a writer for Advertising Age. He had a fake leg but very cool glasses by today’s standards. The reporter kept trying to get Don to talk about himself, but since Don is from the Midwest, he explained he was taught it was rude for a person to talk about himself. It’s true for most Midwesterners, but not the ones who’ve found work outside of sculpting butter for state fairs. Don gave very little information about the kinds of ads he creates, and as the reporter wobbled off out of the restaurant, Rodger cracked the newspaper was so cheap it “couldn’t afford a whole reporter.” That’s the kind of joke Donald Trump makes in his dreams!
Back at Betty’s, Henry wouldn’t kiss her when they’re lying in bed. He said he was too full from dinner, but he might as well have said, “I don’t want to because this is some other dude’s bed and it’s totally weird just grow a pair Betty and move out of this house!” Out in the hallway, Sally tried calling her dad to tell her she hated staying with her mom and she wanted to live with him. But Betty interrupted her quicker than a villain who sometimes randomly redeems himself by feeding some pigeons. The next day the kids went to the city to hang out with Don. He was quite nice to them and had bunk beds for them. When Don brought them back to their mother’s, she wasn’t there because she was out with Henry doing whatever women do when they treat their husbands like crap, only until they need money from them. When Betty and Henry got back to the house, Don demanded Betty move out. She gave no indication she will.
One final meeting with the two-piece people: Don presented to them a suggestive ad, where a woman’s on a beach wearing a bathing suit bottom. But instead of wearing a bathing suit top too, there’s a bar across her chest that says something witty and fantastic and smart and great. But those shlubs hate it! They didn’t think it was wholesome at all. Don went insane when he realized they didn’t like it and he threw them out of his office. In a fit of rage, he told his secretary to call someone from the Wall Street Journal and to set up a time to give the badass and cocky interview the Sterling family seems to want from him.
You go kick some ass, Draper. But your daughter might also have an eating disorder because after she tried calling you, she stuffed her face with Cheetos. You should consider squeezing that splinter out first.
