DJariya

Episode 2 of 7

bluetoast

The Writer and Director credits are flipped.

TheStoicPaisano

The Zombies, hell yeah!

misterchimpy

Overall I felt this was a better episode than last week's discussion of clogged toilets, if only for Don's interactions with Sally.

That said, the writing otherwise was still pretty terrible, Peggy's storyline, once again, felt badly contrived--even the laziest sitcom writer wouldn't bother anymore with the "oh are those flowers for me" trope and yet here we are. She has easily been the worst aspect of the new season, maybe Matt Weiner decided he doesn't like Scientology, or maybe he was on Team Fred?

I felt like the racism in the episode was handled in a particularly ham-handed fashion as well, they have dealt with racism before in much more subtle and interesting ways. Bert's comments in particular, seemed very out of character, imo, he has always been the voice of wisdom and restraint on the show.

Plot wise, it seems obvious that they are moving towards getting the band back together.

MikahC

I thought the race issue handling (and Bert's comments) were spot on, as was Joan's frustration with the situation. Part of the difficulty in righting wrongs is that you're often addressing wrongs you have little to do with creating. Neither Bert nor that firm are responsible for prevailing racial attitudes. Bert isn't saying he doesn't want to see a black lady up front because he doesn't want to see black ladies. But he's right to worry that his clients (and/or potential clients) might not. That's just being a practical businessman and Bert is that (which is why he didn't care who Don was).

Unfortunately, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. The episode did a good job of showing a type of oppression/harassment of the black women pretty much only because of their skin color, even though there was no active intent by those involved to do so. And that's real racism (affecting their ability to do their job and potentially earn a living). Not the "racism" of a random person calling someone the N-word but otherwise having no ability to affect that person's life.

IMO, people confuse prejudice, bigotry, etc. with racism all the time, and I think this show got it right. It's not cool if Archie Bunker calls someone the N word or has other "racist" opinions and language, but the real impact is minimal in this day and age. I'd suspect it's far more important to minorities if they walked into his bar to apply for a job while having the ability to do a job but weren't given a fair opportunity to do it. IMO, that matters far more.

Fielding Mellish

Funny you should mention old Archie.

I was talking to my wife during the episode... and musing that they're now just two years away from the premiere of All In The Family.

uteotw

I liked it much better than the season opener. I liked Don telling the truth and just talking to his daughter, and I thought the ending was fantastic.

albert_m

I think they are simply showing a very frustrated and depressed Peggy that's all. I felt Bert was out of character too. While he is pragmatic, he's alsways had a laid back attitude on life that I think would have made him support the change.

The relationship between Don and Sally is one of the stronger aspects of the show.

conscience

Really, really enjoyed this episode. It was better than the premiere and all episodes from season 6. The goings-on at the office are my favorite part from the show so this was a win.

Peggy was a super bitch in this episode.

bluetoast

There was some subtelty, with Dawn and Shirley purposely calling each other by their own respective names (i.e. Dawn calls Shirley "Dawn" and vice versa) in the break room, as if to say nobody can tell them apart.

I don't think Bert was out of character. Like MikahC said, it wasn't necessarily what he personally thought was right, but rather his view of the public perception.

DJariya

I liked this episode better than last weeks premiere as well. The scenes with Don and Sally were very effective. They've had a very tense relationship since she caught him banging the neighbor, so it was good to see them break the icy tension between them.

They did tackle some racism in this episode, but I thought it was done in a subtle manner.

Tommy Ceez

I don't even know what this show is about anymore

Geofferson

I noticed the color red showed up in virtually every scene last night. Didn't really notice it until the flowers kept showing up and later the the Heinz ketchup bottle in the restaurant -- which also played into the theme of missed opportunities. Identity crisis also played a big part. Need to watch it again since I'm sure I didn't pick up on everything.

Hardly recognized David James Elliot (Jag) at lunch with Don.

HN

isn't it because it was valentine's day?

Geofferson

I get that. Just didn't pick up on the intended abundance of the color red initially. Then again, MM has always had a colorful eye for the narrative, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Red Dog

at Sally's Betty in the ground comment.

flashburn

What the hell guys? I came in here for some sandwich discussion like we had last week, only to find there isn't any?

That patty melt that Sally had looked pretty gross. Plus, Don's fries were cold. What a disappointment this episode was in the food department.

Seriously though, this is a ridiculously bad start, at least in Mad Men standards.

Those synopsis' used to be a joke with how little they explained what happened in an episode, but now they are actually pretty accurate and sum up the episodes well.

albert_m

Bad start? really? I think it's fine. It's a slow build. All the tensions etc are just getting started and expanding. There will be fireworks to come.

Jimmy James

I think some of the malaise is intentional. The late 60s kind of sucked in a lot of ways.

I think the rest of it is Weiner hiding the ball about where things are going. I sure hope that it isn't going to be 4 more episodes of that and one dynamite episode that explains where the last 7 will go.

Bert is trying to protect the firm's reputation. He doesn't want to see clients hear about them as the ones with the N-word receptionist from people who notice things on the elevator and then not give them a shot at all. I agree with the discussion above about what racism is. Sadly, I think that's the worst part of racism. It's the people who go along with what the bigots want because it's easier than doing the right thing.

I think my favorite part of this show has been and always will be seeing Pete miserable.

flashburn

You're right, we have all the time in the world since it's a 24 episode season. Oh wait.

n.phelge

I knew that West Coast Pete wouldn't last.

I really enjoy reading the weekly analysis (it is really much better than just a recap) by Molly Lambert: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...ng-me-flowers/

Coral

I liked it... definitely better than the first episode.

I feel bad for Peggy, then I want to smack her for being such a child.

The racism thing wasn't too in your face - there's only a certain amount of subtlety possible though. I find it interesting that we see the characters are tip-toeing lightly when being racist - aware of it being wrong, but with little effect. At the same time they have no problem referring to the secretaries (regardless of colour) as "girl(s)".

BTW, where's Harry? I can't remember if he's still with the firm.

Roger: This is a partners meeting - let's poll the partners, shall we?
Bert: Aye.
Roger: Aye what?!

andicus

As always, I enjoyed the scenes with Don and Sally.

As for Peggy, I thought she was completely out of line and that she had realized it. I was expecting her to come out and apologize. Nice how it all turned out, though, for Dawn.

Raul3

This was better than last week.

The Bert scene was out of place. Remember, this firm was the one that put a big ad in NYT saying that they will hire anyone. And then a huge line of black people was there. Would a client be surprised if they a black girl in the front? Of course not!

I know why they put that scene there, because this episode was about the ascension of Joan, they put her in a situation where she didn't know what to do, moving all the people around. But they somehow missed in that part with Bert.

Roger and Pete were great though.

Decker

More than the Bert thing, I was upset with the way they handled Peggy. She's always been progressive and understanding -- even if she were mortified, she wouldn't take it out on her secretary like that. It felt dishonest to her character. I certainly get that the theme they're shooting for now is how the agency has changed all the characters as the decade winds down, but that move was just too far.

Also : In an unusual twist, Stan instead of Roger had the best line of the night.
(to Peggy, upon seeing the flower arrangement) "Who knew your cat had that kind of money?"