(S02E03) "Some glib ad man, in that suit, cigarette perfectly in hand, not a hair out of place...here to tell him he's a bad boy?" - Jimmy's wife Bobbie, explaining to Don while Jimmy hates him
I was eating a sandwich (late dinner) while watching this episode of Mad Men, and you know what I was eating with it? Utz potato chips! I actually bought them specifically for the episode today because I knew that one of the plots had to do with an Utz account that Sterling Cooper was handling. This could be a trend, eating/drinking/using a product that a Mad Men plot revolves around. I'm not saying I'm going to be wearing Belle Jolie while watching an episode, but if there's one show that could make me do it it's this one.
Now, who does everyone think Jimmy was modeled after?
I'm kinda ticked off at Don. All the fooling around he did in the first season - with Midge, with Rachel, and anyone else he was fooling around with before the first episode started - it didn't bother me. I knew that he loved Betty and the kids, even if he didn't know what he wanted. But now he's doing Jimmy's wife in the front seat of the car seven minutes after meeting her? I don't really know what happened in the 14 months since the end of the first season, what type of relationship Don and Betty have now, exactly, but I think this is a little too much. In the first season Don said to Roger "who could be unhappy with all of this?" I think he was right then and I think he should smarten up. And does anyone else think that final scene with Bobbie was a little creepy, Don being a bit more violent than usual?
Harry and Jennifer seem to actually have the more modern, nuanced, secure relationship, even if he did stray. The conversations they have make it seem like they have a real 50/50 marriage (if the guys at work found out the way he is with her they'd probably give him a lot of shit), and I like how she was actually helpful in giving him advice about asking for a raise (but seriously Harry, opening up Ken's check without first knowing how you'd repair it? Really dumb move.) As Matt Weiner says in the video below, this episode is about married people being a team, helping each other: Don and Betty, Harry and Jennifer, even the Utz couple.
I didn't realize that Vincent Kartheiser was missing from this episode (probably still dealing with his dad's death?) until the very end. Not that I wouldn't want some Pete Campbell in this ep, but it's amazing how big and good this cast is, and everyone seems to have a little bit of a role here tonight: Don, Betty, that guy at the horse riding place (Betty turns down another!), Ken, Roger, Duck, Fred, Sal, the ad guy from Belle Jolie, Jimmy and Bobbi. Even Peggy. Though she wasn't given much to do in general there was a really nice shot of her reaction while the staff watched the abortion episode of The Defenders (wow, if this show starts talking about television advertising of the early 60s I'll be one happy guy). I also loved the quick shot of Sal erasing Mohawk Airlines from his drawing board.
The ending: Gah, Betty is really heading towards some fall, isn't she? When she starts crying and talking about being a part of Don's life and saying how happy she is, I think I spy much guilt/sadness on Don's face. Where is this couple heading, anyway?
More quotes that stuck out to me:
"You're so profoundly sad." - horse rider, to Betty
"Is this one where I talk or don't talk? - Betty, about meeting with Don's clients
"Open your mouth sweetheart, I want to see if Geppetto is building a fire in there." - Jimmy, to Edith (Utz woman)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-11-2008 @ 11:11AM
Allison Solow said...
Bob, I think Don only screwed Bobbie because she was forcing the issue. He knew for the sake of the account and getting Jimmy to apologize, he'd have to do her. That perfectly set of the scene in the restaurant where she was messing with him and seeing if she could make him do want she wants again. Instead of bowing a second time, Don put her in her place in an action she could understand -- a sexually overt and coarse move. Was it unsettling -- absolutely! But it showed her that he's the one on top, not her. It was a power thing.
It was shocking and I've never seen anything like it in movies or TV! Another reason I think Mad Men is brilliant.
Now, who's Jimmy? With the insults, you'd like Don Rickles, but I think he'd be too smart to pull a stunt like Jimmy. Maybe someone who'd been big and was one the slide doing a commercials in 1963 -- Jackie Mason? In 1964, he was thrown off Ed Sullivan for giving Ed the finger.
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8-11-2008 @ 11:24AM
Bob Sassone said...
Yeah, that's probably why he did it, but I was just kinda crushed that he actually did it with someone else - whatever the reason - after having the affairs in the first season and realizing in "The Wheel" that he really loved his family and went home to an empty house at Thanksgiving.
That scene with Bobbie...the coarseness of it really shocked me, heh.
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8-11-2008 @ 11:30AM
Karen said...
It sounds to me like you're forgetting that Don hasn't been able to get it up with his own wife; remember their hotel anniversary night? And here's Bobbie, coming on to him like gangbusters, and he's trying to be a good boy and say no. But she puts her hand down and says that his lips may say no but his....well, I for one wasn't surprised for a minute.
Besides, he likes independent and assertive women (Midge, Rachel; NOT Betty), and there's no question that Bobbie was assertive.
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8-11-2008 @ 11:56AM
Bob Sassone said...
Yeah, Midge and Rachel are assertive and independent, but they're not nasty and manipulative like Bobbie.
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8-11-2008 @ 12:25PM
Curbur said...
Actually, I think Jimmy was an homage to the character "Chuckles the Chipmunk" in the play/movie "A Thousand Clowns" played by the great Gene Saks. Chuckles, a children's television star with a dirty mind, also had a potato chip sponsor and did a very a very similiar comic bit with the chips as Jimmy did in this episode. A subtle reference, but I bet it's real.
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8-11-2008 @ 1:27PM
Allison Solow said...
Yeah, a reference to "A Thousand Clowns" would be very Matt Weiner. You could be right.
Oh, one other observation: The song on the radio when Betty told Don how happy she was that they were a team was Jack Jones' "Lollipops and Roses," a really hokey, romantic song about how a husband should romance his wife. I think it's a comment on how Betty buys into the fantasy that she and Don have a wonderful romantic marriage.
8-12-2008 @ 2:52AM
zkam said...
"Lollipops and Roses" may be about romancing a woman, but also (particularly that was played), about how women are complex and unfathomable.
"One day she'll smile, next day she'll cry,
minute to minute you'll never know why.
Coax her, pet her, better yet, get her
roses and lollipops and lolipops and roses."
http://www.lyricstime.com/jack-jones-lollipops-and-roses-lyrics.html
8-11-2008 @ 1:15PM
bc said...
My interpretation of Harry's description to his wife and Sal of what happened was that the envelope was delivered to his desk and he assumed it was his and opened it without looking at the cellophane window--I've certainly done that with neighbor's US mail mistakenly delivered to my mailbox. Big props to the props people for finding a vintage bottle of rubber cement--I recognized the label from my childhood.
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8-11-2008 @ 1:24PM
Frank Wrench said...
Sure, that was his description. But we all saw him look at the name "Ken Cosgrove" on the envelope.
8-11-2008 @ 1:24PM
Frank Wrench said...
Like the others, I thought that Don was clearly just screwing her to get the edge in the Jimmie-Shilling affair. I think he's beginning to slip back into his Season 1 fatalism after he saw how the company treated Mohawk. Skipping work to watch an artsy movie? It's clear to me that, despite what he's said to the contrary, Don's searching for some kind of meaning in his life, and failing to find it.
I saw some parallels in Harry's storyline this week and Pete's last week. Both of them seemed to compromise their principles in order to get ahead. Notice how Harry didn't want to talk about the show he pitched to Bell-Jolie with his wife.
Sal and the Bell-Jolie salesman are bound to hook up at some point. The real question is: Is Sal's wife just a beard, or will his coming out surprise her and ruin his life?
Anyone wanna start a Freddy Rumsen dead pool? The man's clearly a crazy alcoholic, and I could see a plot where the Sterling-Coo guys have to deal with his death.
Was it just me, or did it seem like everyone was dressed down in next week's preview? Is Sterling-Coo gonna have a casual day, or a bring your kid to work day? (Becky was shown talking to Joan in the break room) Either way, it's yet another indication that times are changing.
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8-11-2008 @ 3:35PM
Carissa said...
I was sickened at this episode. Don is very disappointing, and for the first time, I can see why lifestyles changed quickly after the Kennedy years.
Bobbi was a horrific character and did need to be put into her place. The method which Don chose was close to evil, in my humble opinion. He is really hitting the dark side, not only in his home life but with his coworkers. Whatever happened to him in the 18 months since the last episode changed him forever. Was it his brother's death? Was it that profound? I'm sure we have much to discover.
It still amazes me that this show and all of its crudeness, and lying and infidelity doesn't get the scorn shown for Swingtown. Both period pieces examining lifestyles that are much different than things today. At least in Swingtown the women get to take part; in Mad Men I actually feel degraded when I am watching sometimes. That's powerful television, to be certain.
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8-11-2008 @ 4:06PM
Karen said...
I think Don is trying to do the right thing, but in that business environment, screwing Bobbi would get him what he wanted, so while not morally ok, it was the right thing for the job. He felt bad. You could tell from when he walked in the door and was faced with the inscription on the watch.
As far as how he treated Bobbi when she went too far...that was PERFECT! She is crass and that is the language she understood. I wasn't offended by it at all, and actually cheered him on.
I think the fatalism comments are right on.
I don't think Betty buys into the fantasy of her marriage at all. She doesn't buy it, but she is desperate for it to work and be real. She realizes she is of little value except to look pretty. That is aslo why she asked if if she was supposed to talk or not and when she thought the night went well, why she wanted to take some credit for it and call them a team. She needs to have value in her life. But then again, so does Don.
The music choices were fantastic. This is just a great show!
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8-11-2008 @ 9:19PM
tim said...
Another great episode.
Maybe I'm spoiled by the attention to detail, but I couldn't help notice two jarring anachronisms in the show:
First, the Utz bags. These are much later designs and the wrong material. Utz chips at the time came in stapled waxed-paper bags (printed on the outside, waxed on the inside).
Then the phone in Don's den. The clip-connector on the handset wire was at least 10-12 years ahead of itself.
Little things, but in a show this careful with the set-dressing, I wondered whether somebody in the props department took a sick day.
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8-12-2008 @ 1:32AM
Jeff N. said...
This show can be disturbing but it makes you think. In fact it's one of the more thought provoking TV shows since the first season of The Sopranos. My wife I actually discussed this show for quite awhile after watching it.
I wish there were more TV shows like this one. One more thing, this was a great episode. Great writing and great acting.
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8-14-2008 @ 9:41AM
Saragee said...
My first impression of Jimmy was that he was patterned after Jerry Lewis. Jerry was known for insulting people, being a notorious bad boy, doing bits with food, AND having an overinflated ego.
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8-19-2008 @ 12:08PM
Cjax said...
You all clear give the characters in this show too much credit. Very few of them have anything approaching a healthy psychological existence.
Don whores around because he has little conscience, and doesn't particularly care about the effect his actions have on others. In the words of Sterling, he's "been living like [he's] on shore leave for the last twenty years."
The point of this show is to expose the emotional immaturity and pervading prejudice of the characters. We are supposed to dislike them even as we relate to them. They are pre-modern humans shown to us "moderns" so we can revel in our superiority.
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9-01-2008 @ 10:37PM
kathleen said...
I think the Jimmy character is modeled on either Jerry Lewis or Soupy Sales, or a conflation of both. Both men were clearly inspired and seriously disturbed. Soupy even looked a little like Jimmy.
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