Ken Cosgrove's Eyepatch
Ken took such a DELIGHT in being mean to Pete this week and it was just great all around, albeit not in a MAKE OUT kind of way. First of all, I laugh every time I see this eyepatch. Second, this was, overall, just a stellar Pete Campbell episode. Vincent Kartheiser and his comb-over are treasures and Pete truly belongs in the Deeply Enjoyable TV Weasel Hall of Fame. He's pulled off this trick where it's WONDERFUL to see him get his ass handled to him, but we also enjoy him handing other people's asses to them. ANYWAY, here, Ken is REALLY making Pete work to get him to approve an ad campaign for bathroom cleaner, but as soon as Don shows up and says one word, Ken totally agrees with him, and Don has to do literally no work at all. There is no better way to push Pete's buttons than that.
SHENANIGANS
Okay, first, let's tackle the main plot of the hour: In short, despite a variety of 11th hour scrambling (the kind this show does so beautifully and with such finesse), SCP is being absorbed into McCann. There is a LOT of freaking out about this -- unless you're Ted, who is delighted to go back to a big firm -- and a lot of sadness and frustration. We leave this hour not quite knowing how this change is going to work out for our protagonists. McCann (and you KNEW things were going to get nasty with them when Dan Scott showed up; that man shot his brother in cold blood then blamed it on a suicidal teen, then felt real bad about it, then accidentally set said brother's grave on fire) claims this is ONLY to the good, and promises to hand out some huge accounts. Don, for example, is allegedly getting Coca-Cola, which is basically the Apex of All Accounts. But this also means losing what independence they had left and, noteworthily, Joan is not promised any account at all. It feels right to me that this show would end with SCP having ceased to exist, and it's a good way to eventually send all these characters on their way, but it's certainly very bittersweet.
ANYWAY. We kick off this aforementioned plot when some dunderhead at McCann gives notice to SCP's landlords, and Roger thinks someone has forgotten to pay the rent. Many a secretary and office manager is called in to discuss this. As ever, Caroline looks frazzled. Poor Dawn is stressed. Shirley -- AKA my SCP Secretarial Pool Style Icon -- looks awesome and also like she's pretty sure whatever is about to happen is going to be bullshit, and Joan is wearing the best skirt.
Dan Scott
See? This man doesn't bring you good news! Unless you like news about evil doers whose hearts are eaten by dogs, which I do. Also, it's fair to note that Dan Scott DID save his grandchild from a psychotic nanny TWICE, so he's not 100% evil. Sure, he also is an arsonist and a serial cheater and he started a shady motivational speaking empire once he got out of prison and married the classmate of one of his sons, BUT. No one is perfect.
Roger and Joan
MAKE OUT! (Not really. Roger is not a good life partner. But I sincerely enjoyed how this episode put people together who we want to see interacting the most: Joan and Roger, Pete and Peggy, Pete and Trudy, Peggy and Stan.)
Joan and Bruce Greenwood
Joan has a boyfriend, anyway, and while I did not care for Bruce Greenwood at all last week, he has begun to redeem himself. Also, Joan's office is very glam from this angle.
OKAY FINE
When she calls him to tell him, tearfully, that she got bad news at work, Bruce Greenwood hops onto a red eye to come to her side and be supportive. I slowly am coming around on you, Bruce Greenwood. DO NOT MISTREAT JOAN. Also, never wear a leisure suit again. Thanks.
Lou Avery
NO ONE wants to make out with Lou Avery, who calls in the midst of Don, Roger, Joan, Pete, and Ted's frantic scramble to maintain their autonomy, and quits. He's moving to Japan because his comic strip is being made into a movie, and he basically tells Don that he's DELIGHTED to be quitting and he wishes he could laugh in Don's face in person. Oh, Lou. Don't let the door hit you on your way out, but I'd love to take ownership of your tiki bar if you're not going to need it.
Lou leaving also gives Don the idea that they try to talk McCann into letting them run an independent satellite office from Los Angeles, allowing them to keep all accounts -- like Sunkist -- with which McCann has conflicts. This does not fly, but the fact that his quitting in a jerky huff only inspired Don Draper would surely stick in Lou Avery's craw, and ergo I appreciate it.
Meredith
I also love that Meredith, who has figured out that SOMETHING is afoot, is watching things unfurl under a sign that reads, "the most accurate watch in the world." Also: apparently Meredith has no soda brand loyalty, as she was drinking a Tab last week and a Coke this.
Ken Cosgrove's Eyepatch 2
In which Ken wears a HIDEOUS yet period-appropriate blazer and takes great, great pleasure in telling Roger and Pete that they cannot take Dow Chemical along with them to SCP West. Ken is getting to stick it to a lot of people this final season, and I enjoy that. Albeit not as much as he does.
Ted's Mustache
They are really giving Ted THE WORST of early 70s fashion and facial hair. BUT! Ted, he has found love again after finding it with Peggy and then blowing it with Peggy and then breaking up with the wife he was going to leave for Peggy. It's an old college girlfriend, and he describes her thusly to Don: "She's not too young, and she's gorgeous, and she's even a little bit deep." And Don is like, WHERE did you find one of THOSE wonderful mythical creatures? And as a person who is Not Too Young, I enjoyed this conversation. (That particular part of the equation is easier to master than Gorgeous and Deep.)
Don at Work
You know SCP is serious about talking McCann into this Los Angeles plan because they're having Don do the pitch. How long has it been since we've seen Don give a pitch? Not that it matters. McCann doesn't want to hear it, and insists that this is GOOD NEWS for SCP. They swear!!! All I want to know is: What kind of monsters don't at least want to experience the Don Draper Hard Sell in person? Come on, you guys. Let him give you The Wheel before you tell him no. (Maybe they were scared that if they let him talk too long, he'd talk them into it.)
Shut The Door, Have a Seat
They don't seem particularly sold on the Good News aspect of this change, do they? This bit, where Jim at McCann hands out Five Star Accounts to everyone but Joan, was also so well-acted. EVERYONE only responded to their assignment with the subtlest facial expression, but it was so perfectly executed.
This also seems like as good a place as any to note that this episode was directed by Jared Harris, AKA Lane Price, and it was BEAUTIFULLY done. This show is always a pure visual pleasure, but this episode was particularly well executed.
To Bert
Post steamrolling, everyone goes out to drown their sorrows -- and drink to the dearly departed Bert Cooper.
Pete and Joan
I'd like to note that I don't want these two to make out, either, EVER. But this scene was wonderful: Joan is sadly noting that no one at McCann will ever take her seriously (especially as they're starting out without her getting a new account; I can only hope she gets to stay on Avon), and Pete says, very sincerely, "they don't know who they're dealing with." And Joan smiles. It was a really nice moment, and it's so satisfying to see the core members of the cast have meaty bits together. Occasionally, just occasionally, Pete is not the worst.
Roger and Don
MAKE OUT MAKE OUT MAKE -- no, this was not the couple for which I was agitating, but I also loved this scene. (I told you this was a good episode.) There's a wonderful exchange where Roger notes to Don that this is the end of Sterling Cooper, and also the end of "Sterling," period, as he is the only son of an only son, and has only had a daughter. "What's in a name?" Don shrugs, which is, of course, a very pointed wondering from one Dick Whitman. "In another lifetime, I'd have been your chauffeur," he then tells Roger, who notes that, in that case, Don probably would have been "screwing [Roger's] grandmother." Yeah, that seems accurate.
With that, Roger has to leave to go meet his new lady, and then breaks the news to Don that said lady is his own former mother-in-law. Don is appropriately gobsmacked, but tells Roger he's happy for him. "Thank you," Roger says, before taking Don's face in his hands. "YOU ARE OKAY," he announces, and then kisses him, sweetly. The Benediction of The Sterling. Would that we all get this blessing from that silver fox John Slattery.
These Dudes
So, everyone has gone off to their Person; Joan to Bruce Possibly Not Crazy Greenwood; Pete has gone to call Trudy (don't worry, WE'RE GETTING TO THEM); Roger to Marie; Ted to his Gorgeous Old Girlfriend. And so Don of course goes to find DIANA THE TIRESOME WAITRESS. He only finds these two dudes where she once lived -- this does seem to put to rest the idea that Diana: The Sarah Bunting of Mad Men is a dream, at least. These two dudes, by the way, are for sure going to be making out at some point, as they are a couple.
Dawn and Shirley
The next day, at SCP, things are in an upheaval. Everyone knows something is going on. Dawn and Shirley can't imagine they're going to be taken along (Dawn says McCann doesn't need another office manager; fabulously-attired Shirley doesn't think they need "another black girl," AND is pretty sure Caroline is going to "elbow [her] out the window").
Meredith
I choose this grab of Meredith rather than one from the next scene because once again she is next to A Prophetic Framed Slogan. She WON'T apologize anymore and in fact she STORMS into Don's office and demands to know if he's taking her with him or what. (He is.) "In a month, you're not going to have an apartment, and you're not going to have an office. Do you want to lose me, too?" she wonders. Draper loves nothing more than a sassy secretary. I hope this show ends with him marrying Meredith too (it won't, and I actually don't). But I do love her polka dots.
This Goes Over Well
So, the Powers That Be gather everyone (including SO MANY RANDOS we've never seen before) and tell them the scoop. They try to frame it positively, but they lose the crowd immediately. People start chattering amongst themselves, then they all start dispersing actually while Roger is talking. The troops have 100% NOT been rallied. I can't help but think that the ridiculous outfits on Ted (typical) and Pete (who looks like he's going to Royal Ascot sans the top hat) must have hurt. So consider Office Morale a big fat question mark for next week. (PS: Harry Crane yells, "THIS IS GOOD NEWS" at everyone as they wander off, and wouldn't it be divine if HARRY got laid off?)
Trudy
And now to People I Kind of Want to Make Out Part One. I freely admit I squealed when Trudy popped up, because I love her and her muumuu and her hot rollers. She's calling Pete in for Dad Duty because Tammy didn't get into their pre-school of choice, and she thinks it's due to their divorce, and that, ergo, it would help their cause if they went in to meet with the headmaster and presented a united front.
Pete and Trudy
She does so in this NUTTY hat and wee curlicues and basically this meeting is one of the best things that ever happened on this show ever. The headmaster first tries to say that Tammy didn't get in because she failed her Draw A Man test ("Your daughter's had only a head, mustache, and necktie") but it REALLY comes down to...and this is hilarious....a 300 year old beef between the Campbells and the MacDonalds (of which the headmaster is one). See, the headmaster is rude to Trudy and Pete gets all defensive and asks the headmaster if he'd like to "step outside," and the headmaster is all, "are you sure you wouldn't like to get me while I'm sleeping? LIKE A REAL CAMPBELL? NO MACDONALD WILL NEVER MIX WITH A CAMPBELL." Pete is appropriately taken aback that THIS is the reason their child was refused enrollment. "You should know that his clan took advantage of the gift of hospitality and murdered my ancestors while they slept!" the headmaster dithers at Trudy. "THE KING ORDERED IT!" Pete points out, hilariously. And then the headmaster tells Trudy that she should be grateful she can remarry and "get rid of that name," and...
BAM!
...Pete hauls off and punches the dude. It was great. I love any scene in which Pete punches someone or is punched.
MAKE OUT
And it is when they get home that I really want Pete and Trudy to make out and get back together. She tells him she's having issues making friends, and that men (husbands and headmasters alike) are always trying to get fresh with her -- Pete is sympathetic/a little punch-y about this -- and then she sighs that in ten years, no one will pay any attention to her at all. "Nonsense. You're AGELESS," Pete says, extremely sincerely, and then gets an idea how how SCP can keep Secor Laxatives. That unromantic detail aside: I just want Pete and Trudy to reconcile. He thinks she's ageless, and they've got that wonderful history of choreographed dances. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?
Peggy and Pete
And now, my favorite plot of the hour (although, frankly, as I noted, I thought this episode was REALLY excellent). Oh, Peggy. I love you the most. I know some people like Joan best, but you are my girl.
So, one of my favorite things about this episode is Who Immediately Told Whom the secret about SCP and McCann, which was supposed to be VERY on the DL. Pete told Peggy, and the instant Peggy left his office, I thought, "she's going to tell Stan," which she did. They both told the one person at the office who means something to them outside of work (Pete actually tells Peggy after watching her interact with some kids who are at SCP for an audition).
Not for nothing, but I love this painting, also.
Peggy and Jimmy
And so Peggy, of course, worries about her job security and she calls in a headhunter, whom you may remember as Lauren Tanner's dad on Make It Or Break It on ABC Family, or Jimmy Who Talked About Himself In the Third Person on Seinfeld. Jimmy thinks Peggy should go to McCann. It will be great for her career, it will boost her salary, it will make her. Jimmy just wants Peggy to succeed. Jessica likes Peggy's dress.
MAKE OUT
Let's take a brief moment and enjoy Stan's Denim on Denim ensemble, and also the way that Stan is good with kids, and also the way that Stan removed a staple from the finger of a child left in the office while her mother ran an errand. I love Stan and this episode was REALLY good for his character. He was so nice and also sensible, which as anyone who read our recaps of The Good Wife knows, is high on our list of Things That Make a Dude Hot. I am not interested in you bad boys. I am interested in a cute boy who has reasonable, calm solutions for my life problems.
Awkward.
Completing this week's People From Non-Prestige Teen Dramas quota is Nikki DeLoach, who plays the mom on Awkward and who looks great in this wig. She's the mom who left her child actress daughter in the SCP offices for two hours while she went to pick up her other child, and she FREAKS OUT about Staple Gate, leading to a very ugly exchange between her and Peggy, wherein Peggy insinuates that Nikki DeLoach is stealing her child's acting money, and Nikki DeLoach tells Peggy SHE can do what she likes with HER children, and Peggy can do what she wants with HERS! "How did THAT turn into THAT?" Stan wonders, reasonably. Hotly.
MAKE OUT
And then later...this was so good. So, Peggy and Stan are working, and Peggy is consumed with this exchange with this other mother. Peggy says she understands "the entire psychological situation," and that the other woman shouldn't have talked to her that way and Stan tries to be sympathetic to her ("You got to a certain point in your life, and it didn't happen, and I understand that you're angry about that. But you've got a lot of other things!" he says, in a line that hit me personally a little too close to home), and very very slowly it unfolds that (a) Stan himself had a shitty mother and (b) Peggy resents that she can't move on from her unwanted pregnancy the way a man could (she theorizes). And there's this shot of Stan's face as Peggy talks in vague hypotheticals and you can tell that, all of a sudden, he just knows it's not actually hypothetical at all. "What did you do?" he asks. And she tells him: she gave the baby up for adoption. (She does NOT tell him who the father is.) And after that? "I don't know. But it's not because I don't care. It's because you're not supposed to know. Or you can't go on with your life."
MAKE OUT
Is it wrong that I spent a scene about the lingering psychological effects of Peggy's pregnancy wanting these to to just MAKE OUT? (I mean, I was also really glad the show hadn't forgotten it happened, no matter what Don Draper had predicted.) Stan apologizes, of course, saying he didn't know. "You don't know lots of things about lots of people, that's the point," Peggy chirps. "No, it's not," Stan tells her, quietly MAKE OUT YOU GUYS I DON'T CARE ABOUT BRIAN KRAKOW ANYMORE MAAAAKE OUT. MAKE OUT.
MAKE OUT
And then the next day, before the Big Announcement, Stan calls Peggy from his office. "Figure out what you're going to do?" he asks. "I'm going to McCann. And you can too, if you want," she tells him."Everything's going to be fine." And then Peggy asks him to stay on the phone.
MAKE OUT
And then they just...work together in companionable silence, each on the other end of the phone. MAKE OUT.
(Also, nice bracelet, Stan. We're very proud.)