TVSquad

it doesn't seem like pete was that close to his father and his death didn't really 'bother' him all that much so it makes sense that he 'went to work'. Pete is ambitious and if he can use his fathers death as a way to win a huge account, i don't see why not. again, i know when my father passed i wouldn't have been able to do that but i'm not pete.

another good episode. i think all the press/emmy love actually has me tempering my thoughts on the show now. although i still love don drapper. every man wishes he were don drapper, either secretly or openly.

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I think Duck's manuever was less about Pete capitalizing on his father's death than it is Duck using Pete like a pawn. Duck wants to after big accounts so this is just a means to that end. It will also allow him to create an ally in the office and stake territory in a power struggle with Don.

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Duck sees Pete as a pawn and an opportunity.

Don sees Pete as a child and a liability.

Pete sees Don as an ideal.

When Don turned him away, he made the least personally ethical choice in the name of the company.

Pete respects Don's ethics. Duck sees them as a liability.

In turn, Duck gave Pete status as "the head of the account". It would be huge. He will probably take it away once Don becomes aware of it.

Pete also discovered that his father was broke and had spent all of his money pretending to have money. This is going to come out.

This episode was brilliant.

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I felt that the scene with Pete's mom and brother had something seriously flawed with it, I don't know if it was just poorly delivered or bad acting but it was irksome in a way beyond that of grief. It was bizarre.

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Did anyone catch that the song "Sukiyaki" (a number one single in 1963) was playing in the background when Draper was accosted by the Asian waitress? The song was by Kyu Sakamoto who interestingly died in a famous plane crash in 1985.

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Paintist-
I too had that reaction to the scene with Pete's Mom and family. It was stilted. On 2nd viewing, I thought that maybe the characters were struggling with how they were supposed to greive when they all don't like each other very much. It's all about appearances, right? But what was with the elephant statue?

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I'm with LW--Duck doesn't actually care about Pete one way or another, but built him up so that he could use him to land an account...which would not only cement his own standing at S-C, but would knock Don off a perch. It's clear that Duck and Don don't get along.

And, as I've observed elsewhere, Pete didn't simply pimp his own father's death to further his career, or out of the pain at Don's rejection: he actually used the death of his advertising-hating father (a fact the script carefully reminded us of) to further himself in the very career his father hated. That was pure, sweet revenge.

This was a well-constructed episode, with fewer of the flaws I've griped about in episodes past, and more lovely observations. The Draper kids, sitting on the stairs listening to the grown-ups, when they should have been in bed, was a lovely touch and--as discussed over on Alan Sepinwall's excellent Mad Men thread--as true to its period as it would be implausible today. I also really liked the way they're showing Don and Betty's changed relationship: now it's DON who will do anything to avoid a fight, and who sits by impotently (oops! again?) as his wife lights up outside. He calls her Bets now, all the time, never Birdie. Their dynamic has shifted considerably.

I felt for Don at the end, with Henry Lamont from Mohawk. Lamont said Don fooled him, when Don was actually being sincere--the man who has built almost an entire adult life on fooling everyone around him.

There has also been some discussion over at the Sepinwall blog on the woman at the very end: was she a particularly attentive waitress, or a hooker? I tend to think the latter, myself.

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Duck's move just underscores what hasn't changed in advertising over the years: that an account guy would sell his mother, his left kidney AND his soul just for the chance to be at the table for a new business pitch. The shamelessness of Duck using Pete is nothing new...or perhaps it was new in 62 and in 2008 is just chalked up to "tradition."

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wasn't it Mohawk airline that went down, this is my first ep of Mad Men and i love it

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Last year, we lost my little sister suddenly. It was the first time I'd ever really had to deal with that type of grief. I thought the scene with Pete's family together was amazingly accurate. No one knew what to say, people noticed stupid things - like that elephant, people sat around uncomfortably, silently. My step-mother was overcome with grief and tried to focus, almost randomly, on other things in the room that she'd somehow never noticed before.
Having just gone through that type of unexpected, sudden death in the family, I commend the writers for their accuracy. But I'm sad for them as well - it means at least one of those writers has lived through that type of situation recently. It's horrid, and awkward, and uncomfortable. And the scene was just so accurate.

I loved the rest of the show as well - I wish I could find something wrong with the show. I loved seeing Peggy's absolute denial that the child is a part of her, and her sheer ambivalence at holding the baby. And I do love Betty - she's a tv character that I actually worry about.

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Anyone else think that the only thing funnier than Paul with a beard is Paul with a beard and ascot?

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I've noticed in both episodes that Betty is now being called Bets and Betsy. This is such an odd alteration, did anyone else pick up on it?

I'm trying to figure out why the change and here's my theory. Matthew Weiner mentioned that one of the things influencing his creation of Mad Men was The Dick Van Dyke Show. In season one, Mary Tyler Moore's character was called Laurie. Then it was changed to Laura and never explained. She remained Laura forever. Could Weiner be doing an homage -- very slyly -- to that show by changing Betty to Betsy?

Any thoughts?

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Shel, thanks for that. And how terribly awful. But thanks...

I thought that the scene was brilliant. Here you have an all-appearances, tight-ass, dysfunctional waspy to the utmost family, and I thought it was portrayed perfectly. I thought that the pink elephant moment was stunning. Just the kind of controlled, random mini-meltdown that hints at a woman whose world has just crashed down, but who feels strongly that decorum must be maintained.

I don't know about the Laura thing, but I do know that Weiner likes changing her name up. Sometimes Don calls her Birdie. I think it has something to do with the idea that she doesn't have much of an identity; she'll take whatever you throw her way.

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