Mad Men Season 7 Episode 4 The Monolith

Mad Men Season 7 Episode 4 The Monolith was a really mysterious episode. To begin with when Don first arrives at work and finds the place deserted, as though the entire staff had been evaporated by aliens, leaving phones off the hook. I actually thought he was dreaming until he heard the voices upstairs.

It turns out the entire staff had been yanked from their desk to hear about Harry Crane's new computer that would be replacing their Creative Lounge. We are also introduced to Lease Tech the company that will be installing the computer room and it's owner Lloyd Hawley.

Immediately the tension between creative and the computer is felt. Mathis bemoans the loss of the lounge as being what "made this place unique". Ginsberg yells into the void that they can't be erased. When Harry tries to sooth Don with "this is not symbolic" Don retorts "No it's quite literal." Don asks Hawley, who is replacing more human his company or IBM. The message is clear Man Vs. Machine.

Then I googled Monolith. At the risk of having trash heaved at me from my classic film circle, I will now admit I have never watched 2001:A Space Odyssey. But it turns out, now that I've read a film synopsis, that this episode is largely pulling from that film. The film is about these big black monoliths that have effected mans development. Teaching them to use tools as cavemen and on from there. Several lines from the film are used throughout this episode.

Which is how I know Lloyd Hawley is a bad guy. In 2001 HAL is a bad computer on a space ship who is killing off all his astronauts and blaming it on "human error" just like Lloyd does with his lighter to Don. There is also Don and Lloyds talk about the fear of tech and Lloyd's comments about it being "Godlike to possess infinite knowledge" through mastering computers. Sounds a bit like the snake and the tree of knowledge to me.

In other stories Pete gets a new account Burger Chef and Peggy gets to be head of creative on it. The good news bad news is she gets $100 a week raise and she has to have Don on her team. Don has been sitting around for 3 weeks twiddling his thumbs and I think the partners want to give him as a hard as a time as possible. He gave them all the worst time and if he wants to return he is going to have to be cleansed by fire (earlier reference to evil and the bible intended)

Of course, Don does not like this one bit. First lashing out by throwing his typewriter at his window, then just leaving for the weekend early, then he tries to change the conversation by bring in a new client and is shut down by Bert, and as his final act of aversion, he gets drunk. Fortunately, he sees Lane's Mets pennant and decides to call Freddy to go to a game. Freddy shows up and gets Don out of the office without anyone realizing he's wasted. With the possible exception of Lloyd Hawley who he more or less calls the devil on his way out the door.

Joan and Peggy have one of their pow wows, that we all love. Discussing Don and the partners. Peggy telling Joan that she can't make Don do his assignment and wondering what the motives were of the partners, putting them together on this account, other than to see which of them would survive the test. Joan assures her that Don is not up to his full powers as a partner and that in all probability the partners had not given it that much thought. The old, don't worry what others are thinking of you because they're not.

Our third story line bring us to the Sterling Clan. Roger's daughter Margaret has abandoned her family and gone to live in a commune (that looks suspiciously like Don Drapers early childhood home). Mona and Roger go up to try to convince her to return to her family, but she refuses. When they try to play the mother card on her she throw it back at them. First confronting Mona with her apparent hiding in the bathroom with a 1/5 of gin. That's all Mona needs to hear and she leaves. Roger stays and tries to finesse the situation. But in the end says she needs to go home and take care of her son. Margaret asks him if he had any problem leaving her and having his secretary buy her birthday gifts. Roger has no answer and also sulks off.

At the end of the episode we find Freddy waking Don with coffee and giving him a tongue lashing for getting drunk and encourages him to quit drinking. Don resists but Freddy is persistent and manages to convince Don that he needs to shake off his pride and do the work to regain respect and his place at the office. And it works, at least for that day. We cut to Don in the office telling Peggy he'll have his work in by lunch and we go to black with The Hollies song On A Carousel.

Loved it!

I'll post our wrap up from tonight's Mad Men Podcast this evening

Mad Men Season 6 Episode 4 To Have And To Hold

To Have And To Hold really isn't the characters of Mad Men's strong suit. With the possible exception of Ken they are all cheating on their spouses, clients and co workers. All of which is shown in the opening scene of tonight's episode. We find Pete and Don meeting Heinz Kecthup behind Heinz vinegars/sauces/bean back, after they promised they wouldn't, and in Pete's city "apartment" no less.

We did get to see into Joan's life a tiny bit, with her visiting friend Kate. Who of course, is not only looking to jump from Mary Kay to Avon but is also looking to have a fling in the city, while her husband and boys are at home. She does tell us that Joan has always had bad taste in men. Which explains how she didn't get married until so late, and then to  a complete jerk. She also mentions a Scotty, It's unclear if Joan was married to him as a young girl or just went out with him, for the worst 6 months of her life...

Harry Crane makes a stand to be partner, but not without throwing Joan under the bus in the process. When Roger and Bert give him a bonus that is bigger than his annual salary, he still threatens to jump to another agency, as he walks out the door. Once he's gone Roger asks if they should fire him before he cashes the check.

When Don, Pete and Stan go to pitch Heinz Ketchup they find that Chaugh and Peggy are coming in to pitch right after them. It's just another example of how there is no loyalty. Not only has Peggy left SCDP but she also gave her new agency the Heinz info Stan told her in confidence. Peggy even steals Don's "If you don't like what they're saying change the conversation." Oh yeah and Peggy had Pete's baby and gave it away....

Finally, Megan's character on the soap is getting a love scene. She is very careful about presenting it to Don. The lead actress and her head writer husband offer to try to help smooth it over with Don by taking them out to dinner, but it turns out they're looking for a little swinging. No thanks. Don, while not happy about the love scene, seems like he is resigned to it, that is until the Heinz fiasco with Peggy. After that he shows up on set to watch Megan's love scene, after which he calls her a whore (more or less). Then he's straight on to their neighbors apartment for an actual love scene.

It's no wonder everyone is drinking so much. Dawn says it sounds like New Years eve when their trash is emptied. When these characters say to have and to hold they mean until no one is looking or I think I can get away with it. I don't know if they all need to switch to acid or what, but I need a little ray of sunshine in this mess.

This and That:

Black people might actually get a story line, looks like Dawn's part is growing

Lancers wine

Calling Don James Garner

Bert telling Harry "I was different than you in every way"

Stan giving Peggy the finger

For more Mad Men posts

Mad Men Episode 4 Season 4 The Rejected

The Rejected:

Dr. Fay gathers up the under 25 year old girls in the office to form her focus group to see how the Ponds ad should be promoted, behind the glass we watch the first girl break down into a rejected mass of feminine insecurity, then Allison, Don's secretary follows suit in tears thinking about her rejection by Don. Don is on the other side of glass sweating it out that Allison will spill his secret.
Things are tangling up for Don in the office, where previously Don did not fool with the secretaries, now he doesn't know to keep business and personal separated. Allison says to Peggy, "Don is a drunk, and he pretends things didn't happen". This is the third time someone close to Don uses that pejorative.
Pete feels rejection when the client demands that Clearasil is in conflict with Ponds, and must be dropped by SCDP. Pete fought to get that contract from his father-in-law, and now he must tell him that the contract is dropped. To Pete's credit he "turns chicken shit into chicken salad" and demands that with Clearasil gone, his father-in-law must award SCDP the larger part of the company's business. His father-in-law knows Pete won this round because he can't refuse Pete his demand, since Pete and his daughter might now give him a grandchild. He mutters under his breath son-of-bitch... Pete played the grandchild card, and won.
With Pete telling everyone at SCDP that he is to be a father, Peggy feels a real stabbing rejection, since she has already given birth to Pete's first born son, she holds fast to her secret and just surprisingly bangs her head against the desk, a few times, without messing a single hair on her head. (One criticism I have about pregnancy talk - at this time, no one would mention their pregnancy until they would be "showing". It would be kept secret between a husband and wife. Miscarriages could take place easily during the first 4 to 5 months and one should not tempt fate, so secrecy was the practice.) Peggy does maintain control and leads with her head instead of her heart.
Dr. Fay tells Don her Focus Groups shows that the ad of Ponds Cold Cream must be rejected - the one that is a new idea, that women want to do the beauty ritual - 7 day beauty regime - for themselves. Dr Fay declares the Ponds ad must show women's desire to get married is fullfilled by using Ponds. Don knows that that concept is old-fashioned, like Peggy told Freddie.
The biggest Rejection, and what this episode is named for is illustrated with Peggy's initiation into the world of NYC Art scene. Here she is partying with the Counterculture glitterati in the bohemian anti-establishment world. Smoking weed, watching film art, hobnobbing with famous photographers, meeting a lesbian friend, (Joyce), discussing radical politics, (Malcolm X assassination) , kissing a journalist in the closet while the party is raided by police.
At lunchtime, when you see the SUITS on the right of the lobby and the counter-culture kids on the left of the lobby, you see Peggy locking eyes with Pete, each ensconced with their peer group - separated by a dimension of glass, a metaphor for the real separation that is taking place in society. The Suits vs. the youth, but it is a portent of what is taking place in society. Change.....
Don the Drunk stumbles with his key into his apartment, and watches the geezer across the hall berated by the old wife, "Did you get pears?" "We'll discuss it inside". Even the geezer has to experience his rejection - until he is buried and the gravedigger is throwing dirt on him.
Remember Dr Fay said the human condition is the conflict of "What I want to do vs what is expected of me. "

Lady Madonna

This post was written by Madonna from the Mad Men Yahoo group. I am currently roaming with the buffalo in Yellowstone national park, where there is no TV (the horror). I am only out of the park for a day, so I am able to post this.

A huge thank you to Madonna for taking this on. It's so good I'll be embarrassed to do it next week.