By Michelle Lerner
Tonight’s episode of MAD MEN shall henceforth be known as the vibrating episode. In it there are not one, but two examples of women having fun with appliances.
Peggy is given an assignment involving a curious looking weight loss contraption. You put it on and it exercises for you. But what Peggy found upon trying it is that it simply vibrates. It is an interesting set up for a couple of reasons. First, Peggy is given the assignment because she did a great job on the Belle Jolie account. They also give it to her because over the course of the season she has gained a tremendous amount of weight. Every time a woman walks into a room at Sterling Cooper, the men leer at her like a pack of lions eyeing a wildebeest: Lunch.
When Peggy tries the thing, hoping to lose weight in her sleep, she opens her eyes with a WOOP, and throws the thing to the floor like it’s attacked her. Watching her struggle with how to present the benefits of this new account while also remaining modest is great. Every time she gets in a tough spot, she looks at Don for help yet she is also willing to get tough herself, and say what needs to be said. Considering how little regard these men have for women, it says something about how strong and good she is. Then again she falls into a sweet spot with them. She’s pretty enough that they eye her too, but also plain enough that they forget she’s a woman, or girl as they would say. Joan Holloway would never get to be a copywriter.
Don is proud of his secretary. When she asks for a raise he tells her she pitched like a man, now she’s got to fight like one. Alright then. I cringe thinking that that was what it was like.
On the other end of the spectrum from Peggy, we have Betty, Don’s very sexually repressed wife. And why should she be? He’s running around with not one but two mistress, (though I think the Greenwich Village one has a new love.) At the beginning of the episode Betty lets an attractive air conditioner salesman into the house, and comes very close to letting him see the bedroom. Betty is unpredictable, and I watched thinking that she very well might make a move on him. But she doesn’t, yet part of her wants Don to know something, so she tells him that she let the guy in. Don yells at her, which I suspect Betty enjoys. She dreamily tells her friend about how protective he is.
None of this adds up to any relief for Betty. Not until she notices that the dryer, heaving and bucking, is coming out of the wall. She leans against it, and voila, images of what she would have liked to do to that man stream in to her. It’s hot in Westchester!
It’s hot in the city too. Roger comes back from his hospital stay, only to have another heart attack in front of Lucky Strike. There’s a great scene where he tells Joan she’s the best piece of ass he’s ever had. It’s actually touching. This guy knows he’s dying, and he wants to say what he’s got to say. I have to say, it’s really refreshing after all the death bed theatrics of shows like GREY’S ANATOMY, to have a guy in a suit tell a woman how much he loved climbing her mountains.
As a result of the second heart attack Bert makes Don partner. The competition for head of accounts begins immediately with that kid from ANGEL asking if he can be considered. Then he goes into Don’s office, sits at his desk and steals a package Don’s weirdo brother sent to him before he killed himself. I’m dying to know what’s in it. Don’s got a super creepy back-story; his mother was a prostitute, and stepparents raised him. Will he get found out? And in the crazy rags-to-riches world of 1960, does it matter? Or will his myth be burnished by his story?