'Mad Men': It's all about recognition

"Just because I got nominated doesn't mean they're going to give me the award."

In case you were wondering, that's a quote from Don Draper, not Jon Hamm. Season 4's self-referential streak continued Sunday night, as both "Mad Men" and Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce picked up big awards. Hamm may have lost out on the best actor prize, but his fictional counterpart didn't go home empty-handed. Don picked up a Clio, along with several dozen Canadian Clubs, a waitress named Doris, and possibly a few STDs. So Jon, perhaps it's best you didn't win after all.

This episode was all about getting recognition. For the paranoid Pete Campbell, this meant a brief showdown with his old nemesis, Ken Cosgrove, and a confrontation with Lane, who explains the decision like this: "Roger Sterling is a child and we can't have you pulling the cart by yourself." It wasn't flashy, but there was something very effective about their exchange. Lane respects the unglamorous work that Pete has to do, and I think Pete probably feels the same way about Lane -- that is, when he can put his petulant grudges and paranoia aside.

Speaking of which, Pete's latest nemesis would appear to be Joan (or, should I say "Madame DeFarge"?), whose unofficial status as a partner he clearly finds threatening. Pete has blossomed professionally, but he's still nagged by congenital insecurity.

Peggy's greatest adversary is not a person so much as the phenomenon of institutionalized sexism. It all starts with Stan (Jay Ferguson), the agency's new art director. He dresses in work shirts and leather jackets, like a wannabe Jack Kerouac, and tells Peggy she's repressed because she thinks clothing serves a useful role in the workplace. He's the very worst kind of chauvinist: The kind who thinks he's politically progressive. Stan thinks of himself as a genius, mostly because he worked on the Johnson campaign (though not on the infamous "Daisy" commercial). Peggy's gripes with Stan are justified, but Don doesn't seem to care. "Stan is talented and more experienced. You need to learn to work with him, not the other way around," he says. Translation: Quit being a crybaby.

Holed up at the Waldorf with a deadline looming, Peggy has no choice but to call Stan on his bull. If Stan is so comfortable with his nudity, then can he work in the buff?  It was a stroke of genius by Peggy, whose feminist awakening is easily the best thing about Season 4.

Peggy also had to confront Don for stealing a tagline from "Roger's idiot," Danny (Danny Strong).   We've seen Peggy stand up to Don before, but this was different. She wasn't just defending herself; she was chastising her one-time mentor for reckless, unprofessional behavior. Once again, the women of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce are cleaning up after the mess made by the men.

This episode also examined Don's and Roger's "frenemy" relationship. While Roger becomes more irrelevant, Don's star is ascending. Roger, of course, feels threatened by this changing dynamic. To underscore this point, we were treated to a flashback -- the first so far this season, I think -- which shed some light on the genesis of their troubled friendship. Roger wants credit for discovering Don, but it turns out that that isn't exactly true. Back in the day, Don was an eager beaver fur salesman who liked to come up with ads in his spare time. Roger is irritated by Don's aggressive salesmanship -- perhaps because Don's naked ambition exposes Roger's easy, entitled rise to the top -- and only gives him a job after getting drunk. It's a pivotal moment in the story of Don Draper. Don might have been an advertising genius, but his rise to prominence was anything but fate. There's a parallel between Don's and Roger's meeting, and the moment in Korea when Dick Whitman assumed Don Draper's identity. Only this time, Don only needed a few martinis -- not a dropped lighter, a fortuitous gasoline puddle and a some switched dog tags.

The flashback might have solved one "Mad Men" mystery -- how Don landed at Sterling Cooper -- but now a few more have emerged. We'll probably never know whether Roger actually hired Don in the first place. But what I'm wondering is when Roger and Joan began their affair. There's no explicit indication of what year it is in the flashback, but I'm guessing it's 1953 -- the year Don married Betty. Don wasn't wearing a wedding ring (yes, I checked ), but we see Betty in the Heller's poster, so we can assume they've met. The point being: Joan's and Roger's relationship started this far back? They broke it off in Season 1 (1960), which means they were together for seven whole years.

While we're on the subject, I'm not sure what to make of the congratulatory kiss Don gave Joan after his win. In fact, the entire scene gave me a minor case of dramatic whiplash. First Roger grabs Joan's hand ("They still love each other. I knew it!"), then Don does the same ("Oh my god, does Don love Joan, too? Or is he just drunk?"), and then Don pulls an Adrien Brody, kissing Joan triumphantly ("Oh, he's really drunk.") The kiss was awkward, and judging from her "I just found a dead mouse in the kitchen" posture, I sense Joan was not thrilled about it, either.

So how are we to interpret the kiss? Is Don just being inappropriate? Or could it be a harbinger of things to come? I tend to think it's the former, though the tender hand-holding certainly confuses things. I know a lot of fans out there would like to see sparks fly between Don and Joan; if it does happen, you can bet that the Cold War between Don and Roger would ignite into a full-blown nuclear armageddon.

Unlike Roger or Peggy, Don's biggest adversary is himself. After his Cleo victory, Don embarks on a two-day blackout bender. He goes to bed with a talented (and patriotic!) jingle writer, only to wake up 36 hours later with a bedraggled-looking diner waitress named Doris. In case it wasn’t clear that this was a big slip-up, he's even introduced himself to her as Dick. Even worse is the fact that he accidentally plagiarizes a terrible idea and presents it to the Life executives. His work has always been sacrosanct, but not anymore. Piece by piece, the veneer is disintegrating.

This season, the writers have made the choice to turn Don into a pathetic drunk, a decision that I am finding more and more irritating each week. The appeal of "Mad Men" is the nuance and unknowability of its characters, yet the show is moving in the opposite direction -- towards the obvious and heavy-handed. When Duck Phillips shows up, martini glass in hand, at the Clio Awards, there's but one way to interpret it. I love "Mad Men," but surely there are more dramatically compelling ways to watch Don unravel. To quote Joan, the show has "crossed the line from lubricated to morose."

What did you think of this episode? Was the awards night theme clever, annoyingly self-referential or just a coincidence? Is Don's boozing getting a little too "after School Special” for you, too? And could Danny Siegel be the next Don Draper?

Other thoughts:

-- Did anyone else notice that John Aniston -- aka Victor Kiriakis from "Days of our Lives," aka Jennifer Aniston's dad -- played host at the Clios?

-- Pete Campbell's WASPy exclamations are getting more and more outlandish. Last week was my favorite, "Christ on a Cracker!" but this week's "Judas Priest!" was pretty great, too.

-- Is Jane Sterling (nee Siegel) Jewish? In the preview for next week, Harry refers to Danny as Jewish, so I'm guessing that she is. Has this fact ever been discussed before? Given how Rachel Menken's ethnicity was such an issue in Season 1, you'd think this would have come up by now, no?

-- Why did Joan -- and not Lane or Peggy -- get to go to the Clios? By way of explanation, Don tells Peggy that "there will be a lot of other people's clients there." I wasn't sure how to interpret that. Does it mean, "Joan is hot, we like to bring her and show her off?"

-- I cannot wait to see how Roger's navel-gazing memoir will turn out. The snippets we've heard so far sound positively inane.

-- I love how subtly Jon Hamm plays the various incarnations of Don Draper. There's California Don, who is friendly and at ease; then there's Pre-Sterling Cooper Don, whom we've seen only in fleeting glimpses. Unlike Drunk Divorced Don or Married Philandering Don, Pre-Sterling Cooper Don is eager, striving, and anything but cool. He even speaks faster. Someone give this man an Emmy, please!

-- Meredith Blake

twitter.com/MeredithBlake

Photo: Is that a love triangle I see forming between Don (Jon Hamm), Joan (Christina Hendricks) and Roger (John Slattery)? Credit: Mike Yarish / AMC

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Comments

[D. Rodriguez]

I think it is great the way the are showing, in a realistic and compelling way, how Don is unraveling. I am tired of the way hollywood shows hard-drinking, fast living, mysonginist, sociopaths like Don Draper as being happy and successful. The reality is that they are always in a downward spiral and their lives are empty, meaningless and destructive. I am glad the writers are "keeping it real" and showing how alcoholism is not a joke. Don is a horrible person. Sure he is sexy and handsome but he uses people, he is a liar, he is a phoney and a fake. I find him utterly nauseating. I am glad the writers aren't making his downfall some kind of dramatic event. Let it eat away, little by little, piece by piece. That is how it usually happens with these types. Remember his drunk driving accident? Remember all the women he supposedly "loved" and wanted to abandon his family for? He is an absolute monster. I can't wait to see him reap all he has sown. It is the best part of the show. Watching a bad person get their due!

[Bebe]

Wasn't Pete's "Madame Defarge" comment an allusion as to why Joan would be attending the Clios?

[Dani]

I thought that the final flashback of Roger giving Don a job was a juxtaposition to Don's 36 hour drunken stupor. Be the devilish boy glance that Don gave Roger in the elevator, it seemed obvious to me that Roger never gave Don the job, but that Don purposefully got Sterling sloshed at lunch and cabbed him back to the office knowing that he wouldn't remember their lunchtime conversation.

Similarly, Don had spent the weekend so drunk that someone could have easily taken advantage of his memory lapse(such as Peggy, if she were so deviously inclined) just as he had with Roger so many years ago.

[snot]

i think don was just super drunk and willing to cling to the closest female companionship he could find in general in that episode. joan seemed like the mens' surrogate spouse at the dinner mostly because she seemed to know all the ins and outs of the ceremony itself. fortunately she and peggy seem to the be the only two women in the office he hasn't tried to force himself on. (that we know of anyways)

and i find it fascinating that don is now everything he hated about roger. especially the hint that maybe don lied his way into his job. and now roger actually is looking like a better man compared to don.

[vegasgirl]

I agree with poster D. Rodriguez. Draper has to use something to cope with the divorce and his own haunted past.
(I don't think Draper is that bad of a person; perhaps a bout with the bottle will help him gain some compassion and more humanity.
I love that Peggy is kicking butt and taking names -- but Joan and Don hooking up? No way.

[Raleigh]

While I thoroughly enjoyed last night's episode, I think Don's descent into alcoholism is starting to teeter into the realm of been there, seen that. I have faith that the writers won't take us there but they're getting very close.

Don's final look in the elevator said it all -- I'm not sure how long this is going to fly but I'm riding it to the end.

[erica stephens]

As I lived in New York in the 60,s and worked for an ad agency (Fuller Smith & Ross)I can tell you,the writers are making a mistake if they are showing the alcholic decline of Don Draper.The executives drank at lunch,then not again until dinner,it was a very competetive business they worked long hours trying to sign all the new products.Don,by now would be encouraged to remarry,clients often came from small town America and much of the business was done with the wives in tow.A single lush would not be exceptable,only a nice solid family man would do.

[rechercher]

As I reflect on the episode, it seems to me that it was Dick Whitman and not Don Draper who was throwing out all those awful Life cereal slogans--the tone of his voice, the flop of his hair, his aspect all resembled the eager salesman Don of the flashbacks and not the rock that no one had ever turned over from season one. The more Don drinks in the quantities he's been drinking this season, the more Dick starts to slip out...

[babypants]

Don is becoming a disgusting drunk...Now that Don is overtaking Roger at the firm, he's becoming more like him on a personal level. Ms. Blake, do you think Don will have a come to Jesus moment or just continue his slide? And any predictions on what's next for Sally? Things are really spinning out of control. Christ on a cracker!

[Maureen Ogle]

Don grabbed Joan's hand only because he was drunk enough to let his "I don't give a damn" cool down: HE WANTS TO WIN THE AWARD. He's got a lot riding on the new agency; this award gives him some chops.

I have to disagree about Don's drunkeness: the guy is in melt-down. He's a jerk, something most of the rest of the world already knows. Now he's finding it out for himself.

What I loved best about this episode was the way we see Don's future in Roger's decline. There but for fortune and youth goes Don -- and unless he changes his ways, that'll be him in another 20 or so years.

[jF]

which is it Cleos or Clios

[DrMom68]

Don's downward spiral is simply a device to allow Dick to slip out, as previous posters have noted. Don letting Dick out of the closet was an implied promise from the get go. Just a matter of when. Seems unlikely Don would ever consciously "out" Dick - alcoholism will be the vehicle for the big reveal. Then what? Show over? Or does Mad Men become Mad Women - a show about Don's self describe extension of himself - the ambitious and equally secretive Peggy Olson.