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| Photo Credit: ABC |
After last week's mid-season premiere
“Severance,” depicted Don, Joan, Peggy and Ken grappling with
their past selves while trying to seize control of the present, this
week's “New Business” mines similar thematic territory, as
several characters struggle to make a new start—and shake the
baggage of their current circumstances.
The literal new business comes in the
form of Pima Ryan, a powerful female photographer whose reputation
really gets under Stan's skin. He's rude when he and Peggy go to meet
her one set, but as we learned through his early clashes with Ms.
Olsen, his brusqueness is a cover for his own insecurities. And
underneath his seeming contempt for Pima is a strong admiration for
her artistry. All of which amounts to him freaking out over trying to
impress her.
Stan's girlfriend Elaine partly
relieves his worry by offering herself as a model. Pima pulls some
world class mental jujitsu by seducing Stan in the dark room, doing a
masterful job of making him (and us—or at least me) feel as though
she genuinely likes his work and is attracted to him. Until she tries
to run the same game on Peggy, who after talking with a gleeful Stan,
sees what's up and hips him to it, declaring Pima a hustler who she
won't hire again.
At first viewing, it's a curious
B-story to “New Business,” whose primary focus is on Don dealing
with the emotional and financial fallout of his divorce. But then
again, this is the same show whose protagonist got his big break by
getting his future boss drunk and then “reminding” him he hired
him the next day, and where a partner earned her partnership by
sleeping with a client, so Pima's actions are hardly beyond the pale.
And it fits into the hour's theme; Stan is dissatisfied with his job
as an ad agency art director—an oxymoron in his mind—and Pima's
presumed interest in him and his work offers a chance to view his
creative output in a more legitimate, artistic way. At least until
Peggy bursts his bubble.
But back to the main event. After dangling the possibility of a
reunion with Rachel Menken in front of our tortured protagonist's
face before tragically pulling the rug out from under him,
“New Business” shifts focus to Don's tumultuous relationship with
another beautiful, dark-haired woman with whom he tried to fulfill his
fantasy of running away with: Megan.
Things have gotten tense between these
two since we last saw them on screen together. You knew a divorce
couldn't end too amicably on Mad Men. Megan
thinks he's drawing out the divorce proceedings, while Don
says his finances are a mess since the McCann deal.
Things get more complicated once
Megan's family—her mother Marie and her sister Marie-France—enter
the picture. If you're familiar with Marie's style of parenting, you
know that her helping Megan get the last of her things out of the
apartment also includes berating her for allowing Don to treat her
like a prostitute (by giving her a check to pay for moving expenses).
Marie-France, who is married with kids, and judging from Marie's
flippant quip about her going to “cry in church” either very
religious, conservative or both, isn't much help either, viewing
Megan's divorce as sacrilege. It's late in the game, but showing
these family dynamics, particularly with Marie-France, gives a
clearer of who Megan is, who she wanted to be and how it ultimately
landed her in New York and with Don.
While talking about the divorce, Roger
makes a bitter remark to Don about remembering he gave Megan the good
life; Don asserts Megan's not Jane, and while that's true, her life
obviously got an upgrade when they wed. It's a fact her family picks
up on, and expects certain things from her because of it, as when
Marie-France pushes her make their girls' night out one full of
expensive food and much wine drinking. Her life has Don's
fingerprints all over it, and despite her best efforts, she can't
seem to wipe them away.
Megan ends up making some of the same
charges to Don as Jane did to Roger, accusing him of lying to her and
stealing her youth. They're accusations that, at least in my opinion,
don't exactly land. Don hasn't been a saint—the affair with Sylvia
and basically calling her a whore for kissing on camera are obvious
examples—but compared to the massive amount of wool he pulled over
Betty's eyes for a full decade, he's been pretty upfront about his
past with Megan, and made a real effort to support her dreams of
being an actress. And compared to way he reacted to the demise of his
first marriage, he's been relatively calm during this second go
around. If anything, Megan may be taking out all of the day's
slights—Harry proving he's still a colossal a-hole by promising to
help her land auditions then making a pass at her, learning of Marie
and Roger's affair, dealing with her sister's judgment, facing the
prospect of a waning career—on him.
Don waves the white flag and writes
Megan a check for $1 million dollars, and they seem to come to some
understanding. It could be that Don is, like he says, really tired of
fighting. Or maybe his push to resolve things could be because he has
another romantic option on standby Or so he thinks.
He continues to pursue Diana, the woman
he slept with/projected his feelings of Rachel onto last week, Don's
insistent on meeting and getting to know her, inviting her to come to
his place.
“I took a cab with six dollars in my
pocket to a stranger's apartment. I was hoping it looked like this,”
Diana says as she looks around the apartment, slightly in awe. Diana,
already tipsy, falls into his arms and they spend the night together.
Like many Mad Men hookups, the scene and dialogue play on the
thrill and fantasy of a new face or place, then bring things back
down to reality when daylight breaks.
We learn Diana is a Wisconsin
transplant and recent divorcee with no children. Well not really—it
turns out she does have a little girl, but she died of the flu, as
the sight of Sally's room reminds her. Later, she tells Don she
actually has two daughters, and left the living one with her husband.
She asks Don if he wants to why she did it, almost daring him to ask,
but he doesn't. Why would he want to? It would spoil the
fantasy—much like Betty's psychological issues or Megan's wish not
to be his partner in love and advertising did.
Diana says she's not ready for a
relationship with him, or to feel anything in general. Don
acknowledges his own first post-divorce wreckage, but she's unmoved
and he leaves, putting the gift he brought her on the bed. Diana is
living a similar life to fourth season Don, drinking heavily, having
empty (for her) sexual encounters and coming home to a ramshackle
apartment. As Don puts it, she's punishing herself.
This may or may not be the last we see
of Diana, but she appears to have taken the same path as Marie—who
Marie-France tearfully says has run off with some man (Roger). As
Megan tells her sister, their mother was unhappy for a long time, and
right or wrong, she did something about it.
On to new business.
Other Thoughts:
--Betty's going back to school for a
masters in psychology—since according to her, people seek her out
to speak in confidence. If you say so hon.
--Speaking of Betty, the way she turns
her complete attention to Henry, Bobby and Gene once Don leaves
reinforces she really appears to have moved on. Don on the other hand
looks back, getting a glimpse of the happy family he never had with
Betty (or anyone for that matter), but imagines or wishes that he
did.
--Arnold and Sylvia make an appearance.
Arnold, drunk off his ass, enters the elevator with Sylvia, and makes
borderline rude comments about Don “bringing the whole restaurant
home,” when he sees Diana in her waitress uniform. On some level,
he must know about the affair, or maybe he's just jealous of Don's
new single life.
--Who else was hoping for a Roger/Burt
Peterson reunion on the golf course? Drop dead ya' limey vulture!
--Watching Meredith and Harry interact
is like watching two high school kids talk awkwardly in a hall way.
---So Marie's taking off with Roger
hmmm? No disrespect to Megan's dad, but if this means more Marie for
this last go around, then get it girl.
--One of Jane's claims in her divorce
was that Roger“thwarted her career.” Again, if you say so hon.
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