This, ladies and gentlemen, is the sweet spot for Mad Men.
Ehhh, I would've bet on Pete. Maybe.This, ladies and gentlemen, is the sweet spot for Mad Men. To be honest, even though this season hasn't been bad, it's been pushing the limits of how tongue-in-cheek and self-aware the show can get. Finally, we have swung back into the depressing depths of these characters' minds. Or, at least, Pete's (Vincent Kartheiser) mind. For a very long time now, the show has been presenting the idea that Pete is a man who is consistently emasculated, and who feels inferior to the men around him. This episode dealt with this character issue head-on, and the lase-like focus and stripped down cast made it a truly effective character episode.
It all started with the reveal that Pete is taking driving lessons, thus the "Signal 30" video that he is watching as the episode opens. At first, the glances he was stealing at the high-school girl seemed like something any man would do, but as the episode progressed, we saw that Pete is actually a very creepy man. If you look at his failed flirtations with the driving school girl, and his bizarre moment at the brothel, it's pretty clear that Pete was determined to cheat on Trudy tonight. The cab ride between Pete and Don (Jon Hamm) later in the episode revealed how much Pete thinks Don represents the ideal man, and how badly he wants to both imitate him and earn his approval. He fails at both.
There was also the not-so-subtle fixing of the sink, or lack thereof. For the time period especially, it was a sign of manliness to fix things with your bare hands, and Pete wasn't even able to fix something so small as a sink. And then, the women at the dinner party had a good laugh at the broken sink, unknowingly laughing at Pete's failure.
The entire dinner party scene as a laugh riot, though. There is something very bizarre about the Campbells, and it isn't all because of Pete. In my notes for this episode, I commented that any episode with a bit of Trudy (Alison Brie) is a good thing, and she was very fun to watch this week. The stuffiness and overall formality of the dinner parties that have been shown on Man Men make them seem insufferable, but it was fun to watch Trudy try to navigate the waters.
So, we've established that Pete was a scumbag to Trudy this week, but the list is a bit longer. As per the norm for this season, he took his shots at Roger (John Slattery) at every opportunity, but I think Roger gained a little ground this week. He proved that he still knew how to do his job when he was talking to Lane (Jared Harris), and even managed to make the Jaguar client happy when Pete couldn't. Beyond Roger, Pete was also terrible to Lane, saying some rather harsh things to him at the end of the episode. We learned throughout this week's episode that Lane was also dealing with some stuff at home, and a bit of an internal conflict about his culture, so it was inevitable that the two men would eventually take out their confusion and anger on each other. The fight was hilarious, especially watching the reactions of Don, Roger, and Bert (Robert Morse), and of course Pete had to lose. The man cannot win at anything, nor does he deserve to.
The difference between Lane and Pete was made clear in the minutes after the fight. The scene between Lane and Joan (Christina Hendricks), who is suddenly back at the company, showed us that Lane knew he was being stupid, and he was apologetic about a lot of things that he probably doesn't need to apologize for. Pete, on the other hand, was still trying to gain Don's approval, and it sounded more like he was making excuses. The thing is, Pete had zero victories in this week's episode, so there is no way that we are done watching him try to figure out what his life is supposed to be like.
Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) was another one of Pete's victims this week, but to a lesser extent. Watching Don and Megan (Jessica Paré) try to remember his wife's name (Cynthia!) was a funny moment, and a nod to the viewers, who have not seen much of her ever. It was also very entertaining to watch his brief scenes with Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), and it turns out they have a bit of a friendship brewing. It was not so great to watch Roger tell him to stop writing, even though he was still writing by the end of the episode. I don't think Ken will ever be a frontrunner in the series, but I think it's fun to see him pop up now and then, and to have some minor effect on the series.
That's about all there is to write about that was of any importance this week. Mad Men has to deal with the challenge of maintaining so many great characters, but when the writers let only a few shine, as they did this week, the show is at its best. So far, the last two episodes have been focused on one character dealing with something in their life, so perhaps that is what this season is going to be about; each of the ensemble dealing with some deep issue. We'll see what happens next week. For now, feel free to leave a comment below, and thanks for reading!