TV Club

Mad Men recap: Glen’s parka, Roger and Mona reunite, Joan and Peggy are friends.

Why was Glen wearing a parka and no pants?

Mad Men's Glen.
Glen Bishop after a rousing game of Hockrosscer

Screengrab/AMC.

Thank you for setting me straight on Hockrosscer, Patrick. Now, can you explain to me the outfit Glen donned for his second phone date with Sally? He appeared to be wearing nothing but a fur-lined parka, as if he’d been called to the telephone just as he was about to administer an atomic situp to some unsuspecting dormmate.

Patrick, in your first post you said you don’t think Peggy should be taking cues from Joan about how to navigate the world of men. I know what you mean—it is sad that Peggy’s professional success has come at the expense of her personal life and that she’s still so clearly in need of a life coach. But I found myself touched by the scenes between these veteran colleagues last night. Joan may have primed Peggy for the wrong question from Abe, but her guess was closer to the mark than Peggy’s, who thought she was in for a break-up. (As Joan sagely notes, “Men don’t take the time to end things.”) Had Peggy not sought Joan’s counsel, she might have walked into the Minetta Tavern spoiling for the kind of fight we saw break out at the beginning of last week’s episode. And whereas the Joan of 1960 would likely have chided Peggy for agreeing to shack up without a commitment, it was sweet how supportive she was of Peggy’s decision last night. “It sounds very romantic,” Mrs. Harris assures Ms. Olson. Obviously, that sweetness is informed by Joan’s experience of marriage, but I sensed there was also some acknowledgement of Peggy’s independence and her less traditional view of the world. Watching these very different women develop a fondness for one another has been one of the Mad Men’s quiet pleasures over the years.

A few stray notes:

-It’s Ken Cosgrove’s father-in-law who tells Don that the heavies gathered at the cancer dinner feel that he stabbed Lucky Strike in the back with his tobacco letter. So do we think Cosgrove already knows this, and has been keeping it to himself? Does he figure that between Ben Hargrove’s royalties and his pact with Peggy, he’ll land on his feet?  

-Julia, I couldn’t agree more about how great it was to see Roger and Mona sharing a scene again; I hope this isn’t the last we see of Talia Balsam this season. LSD may have put a boyish spring in Roger’s step, but as one of the commenters in our weekly Facebook chat noted, it was nice to see Roger mixing it up with some women his own age for a change.

-I loved how Harry Crane tried to horn in on the retelling of the Heinz score. Quoth Cosgrove: “You weren’t even there!”

-Can SCDP please have a new campaign to work on next week? I don’t think anything more can be asked of Heinz’s beans: They got us to a Stones concert. They raised the specter of college kids sitting-in. They tied into themes of generational divide and familial togetherness. They spurred Peggy to try being Don, Megan to try being Peggy, and Don to try being himself again. They’ve done enough. Let’s move on to Playtex.

Have a drink, be nice again,

John