Season 3, Episode 3

Synopsis

After an interview of a “Ann Margaret type” actress to star in a television spot, Ken and Pete ask Paul, Smitty, and Peggy to develop new concepts for Bacardi rum – over the weekend.

Roger and Jane are hosting a country club party, and the office executives are invited. Jane drops by the office and mentions her driver, which comes across as rather snooty to Joan, her former boss.

That evening, grandpa Gene has Sally read from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He mentions, “all hell is going to break loose.”

On Saturday, Paul, Smitty, and Peggy meet at the office and struggle with ideas. Smitty prods Paul to drum up some marijuana for inspiration.

As Betty and Don prepare for the party, Sally impulsively steals a five dollar bill from Grandpa Gene’s wallet while he’s in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Joan and her surgeon husband Greg are having his hospital co-workers over for dinner. Later, one of the guests oddly advises Joan to not get pregnant, and says Greg is lucky to have married her – no matter what happens.

Don and Betty arrive at the country club and are greeted by Pete and Trudy, and Harry and his wife Jennifer. Ken is solo.

Paul calls up Jeffrey, a Princeton colleague, who arrives with some rolled joints. As they light up, Olive, Peggy’s older secretary, warns her about entering the office. Peggy brushes her off, walks in, and asks to smoke some marijuana.

Roger sings My Old Kentucky Home while in black face. Bored, Don wanders off, and shares with an older guest memories of a demeaning childhood job parking cars. Meanwhile, Betty chats with an older man about her pregnancy.

Jeffrey mentions that Paul, despite his cultured and bohemian leanings, is actually from Jersey. Paul tries to kick him out, but then breaks into song – they were in a college singing group together. After the performance, Peggy admits to being very high.

After Gene and the maid search futilely for the missing money, Sally pretends to find the five dollar bill lying on the ground. As he takes it back, Gene seems aware of the truth.

At the country club party, Betty is caught in some uncomfortable discussion about divorce and quick marriage. Thankfully, Trudy and Pete impress on the dance floor.

While Paul lies on the office floor – muttering about the end of the world – Peggy focuses on work. As she leaves the office, Olive admonishes her for not thinking about her future.

At Joan’s dinner party, it’s revealed Greg made a mistake during surgery. To change the subject, Greg asks Joan to play the accordion and sing a French song, which she does seductively.

A very drunk Jane spills some food, and congratulates Don for getting back together with Betty. Betty runs away, and Don scolds Roger, saying everyone thinks he’s acting foolish for marrying someone so young.

That evening, instead of scolding Sally for the missing money, Gene asks her to continue reading. Meanwhile, Don and Betty embrace on the dark lawn.

Then And Now

• Patio Diet Cola was a Pepsi product that started in the sixties and became Diet Pepsi in 1964.
• Bacardi is a Cuban rum.
• Ann Margaret is from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. The actress does the “twist,” a dance craze inspired by a song from the late fifties.
• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was written in the late 1700s by English historian Edward Gibbon.
• Roger’s blackface: funny then, not funny today. The song he sings is My Old Kentucky Home, written by Stephen Foster in 1853.
• The song Joan sings is C’est Magnifique, a fifties song by Cole Porter.
• “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper” is a line from the poem The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot.

Thoughts

The episode featured marriages at different stages (Betty and Don, Roger and Jane, Greg and Joan), with a peculiarly Mad Men juxtaposition of the old and the new. The garden party had older, more traditional activities (needless to say, Roger’s blackface performance is today, severely offensive and at least, horribly dated), while the three youngest workers smoke pot at the office and ruminate on death (surely a reference to the Cuban missile crisis). Loved seeing reefer infiltrate the young Sterling Cooper ranks. It’s 1963; the times they are a changing. Peggy’s two lines “I want to smoke marijuana” and “I am so high” were classic.

A little more subtle was the interaction between the female characters, sizing each other up and evaluating their stage in respected marriage (or life, as Olive scolds Peggy). Jane’s mention of a driver is a hint to Joan that she “married up.” An older wife tells Joan to not get pregnant. Trudy expresses polite silence when greeting a noticeably pregnant Betty and Harry’s wife Jennifer discussing motherhood.

Then there’s Joan singing a French song on the accordion – the words have to do with a magnificent marriage, yet Joan is starting to realize, her marriage to Greg is anything but.

Meanwhile, Sally’s small lies test the boundaries of what she can get away with, and so far Don and Betty seem oblivious. Previous infractions were the sneaky drink in the office and was smoking a cigarette. And there will surely be further outlets for rebellion as the sixties continue on. In one scene, Gene asks Don, “How’s Babylon?” while Sally reads about the fall of the Roman Empire. I look forward to all hell breaking loose.

Next Episode: The Arrangements
Previous Episode: Love Among The Ruins

TV Shows: Mad Men

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Posted In: Mad Men

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