Mad Men Re-Up: The Gypsy and the Hobo
Betts said three words last night which completely blew away the deceitful foundations of Don Draper: “Open the drawer.” I honestly didn’t think we were going to see the drawer confrontation until maybe the last two episodes. We’ve never seen Don so vulnerable and we’ve never seen Betty so in control. She seemed to be still riding the wave of anger which began with the pow-wow concerning her father’s house. When he realizes that she has already seen the contents of the drawer, he exhaled, and there was a brief shot of him unclenching his fist on the desktop. That small motion symbolized the death of Don Draper (at least in married life).
After being surprised with Betty’s confidence, Don then shocked me with his amount of disclosure. I’m pretty sure that he only fibbed about the army “making a mistake” and how he saw it as his way out of Korea. We know he switched the dog tags himself. But he spilled everything else about Uncle Mac, Anna, the whore, and, most painfully, his half-brother Adam. Betty had him up against the ropes up until that point, but after hearing how he drove his own blood to suicide, she proceeded to comfort him – even offered him breakfast the next morning. We’re left with an uncomfortable pseudo-acceptance and there even seemed to be a bit of relief on behalf of both Don and Betts. The cat’s now out of the bag, and we’ll see over the final two episodes what the score is.
Also, knowing Miss Farrell was still outside in Don’s car this whole time? Holy shit. It was true suspense waiting for her to knock on the door and blow up the Draper household.
JOAN SMASH! Greg would have been a miserable psychiatrist, huh? I’m not sure how I feel about him going into the army. We’ve already seen him devolve into a self-loathing, anger-projecting child a few times; does he really think he has the constitution for the army? There’s a good chance he’s not coming back if he he’s shipped to Vietnam. Mad Men isn’t a show that always goes for the emotional jugular – like say, Battlestar did – but something seems frivolous about a show that comments on the ’60s not killing a character that ships out to Nam.
Silver Fox Roger’s still got it. But he also had something else last night we usually don’t see from him: self-control around a woman.
Biggest LOL of the night: Peggy asking how to pause something that’s going on live. Psshht, women. Am I right, guys?
October 26th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I stand by my theory that Greg is going to be the victim of a wartime identity theft, restarting the entire Don Draper cycle. If a new Dr. Rapist returns from Vietnam, do you think he’d divorce Joan like Don divorced Anna or just thank his lucky stars he stole that terrible surgeon’s dog tags?
October 26th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
What If? Mad Men Fan Fiction. I’d thank my lucky stars if I stole some schlub’s identity and came home to Joan. Joan would be happy with me. I know it.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
No pointing out of Sterling alluding to Joan as “The One”?
October 26th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I remember that but I can’t place where it was in the episode. Was it after his dinner with Horse Meat?
Either way, his phone conversation with Joan was so good and bittersweet.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
It as after dinner when his old fame tells him “you’re the one” and he says something like “but you’re not mine”.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Hmmm…when he told Horse Meat “You’re not mine,” I really figured he was talking about Jane. But he very well could be talking about Joan.
Affairs on Mad Men are always so much more meaningful than relationships.