Great. You've both made me feel like an ogre for questioning Kiernan Shipka's acting chops, and Patrick is now blaming me for the death of Grandpa Gene. With regard to the latter, I accept no responsibility: The man was sick! He was salting his ice cream! But I'm willing to admit I was wrong; it was much more fun having the old coot around than I thought it would be. How can you not love a guy who believes he should have received a commendation for beating the clap? Still, I prefer being surprised by his early exit—and feeling a little wistful that he won't be around to stir things up anymore—to having had Eugene Hofstadt No. 2 wear out his welcome.
As to Kiernan Shipka, I'm going to stand my ground. I mean, I don't think she's terrible. As child actors go, she's pretty darn good. But in a couple of key scenes this episode, I felt as if I was watching the most talented kid at the school play. The sequence Patrick mentioned, in which Betty abandons Sally on the stoop, asked a lot of Shipka, and I found myself focusing more on her acting than Sally's predicament: the slightly too whiny "No, no!" when the policeman announces Gene's death; the slightly too studied walk to the door her mother's just closed in her face.
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StumbleUponHave I mentioned I'm not fond of kittens? I'm glad Peggy took down that "free kittens" sign when she posted her roommate-wanted notice. I hope those kittens never find a home.
Speaking of symbolic fruit, Patrick, how about Betty devouring that peach at the end of the episode—Sally's peach, the one Grandpa Gene bought especially for her, Bobby's allergy be damned. Couldn't Betty have made herself an English muffin if she was feeling peckish?
I will say this for the scene between Sal and Kitty: I loved how creaky their bed was. (Thanks to reader jonwcollins for confirming I wasn't just hearing things.) There clearly hasn't been any tending going on in that bed for quite some time. The neighbors would have complained.
One of my favorite things about Mad Men is that you never really know what the next episode will bring. If you thought this week would explore a growing rift between Roger and Don, you were disappointed. Roger barely showed his face in Episode 4, though he did get off a good line. Why didn't Sal's painstaking replica of Bye Bye Birdie work? "It's not Ann-Margret," says Roger. As Julia pointed out, Peggy smiles smugly after the Pepsi people reject the Patio ad. She believes she's been vindicated: Cosgrove should have persuaded them to take a different approach, one that was tailored to the target audience of women. She may be right—her ad might have sold more Patio. But would it have gotten past the Pepsi reps and into production? I can't help thinking that it's Roger who's figured out why they didn't go for the ad. They wanted Ann-Margret, and Sterling Cooper delivered only a good copy.
(In this week's "Inside Mad Men" video on the AMC site, Matthew Weiner makes an interesting point about the Bye Bye Birdie ad, explaining that he sees it as a metaphor for other failed imitations in the show, including the Draper marriage.)
On the subject of selling ads, have you guys noticed that it's been a while since Don last worked his creative magic? Other than the London Fog ad in the first episode—which I thought worked better as a coded message to Sal than a come-on to coat shoppers—we haven't really seen Don doing his thing. He approved the direction of the Patio ad; rescued, temporarily, the Madison Square Garden account; and looked in on the jai-alai meeting. But we haven't seen him really wrestling with how to sell a product the way he has in past seasons—with Lucky Strike, Israel, Kodak, others. I miss that glazed look he gets right before inspiration hits him, and I'm eager to see whether the changing times will register in his campaigns.
Possible new TV Club featurette: "Unexpected Joan Harris Extracurricular Activity of the Week." Last week: the accordion. This week: Ibsen. Next week: captain, Sterling Cooper softball?
Magnanimously,
John
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Series creator Matthew Weiner has stated he leaves nothing for future seasons and puts everything out there each season, like its the last, and this episode could almost double as a series finale. I think when Mad Men eventually ends its run, there will be discussion whether this episode was the proper series finale and should have called it quits right here, or will Weiner have new and interesting places to take us in season 4?
-- guyroy
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"And the way that they saw themselves is gone." Julia, I think this pretty clearly refers to Peggy having her child and giving it away. Until Peggy told Pete about the baby, Don was only person on the show outside of her family and priest that knew her secret. Don was the one that visited Peggy in the hospital after she gave birth and had been out of work for a while.
-- BumblebeeMan
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Who's in charge, Betty or Henry? Something that surprised me was the amount of involvement Henry had in Betty's divorce advice. Does it ring true for the period that Henry went to the lawyer with Betty and apparently also knew the lawyer and may have selected the lawyer for Betty? And, when Betty told Don that she would be consulting with a divorce attorney and Don should too, was she simply parroting Henry's words?
Certainly since Henry's divorced he knows the routine and I can understand him giving Betty the benefit of his experience. Last episode Henry was willing to give Betty the time she needed and he would wait. Now, things are fast-tracked to Reno. I'm sure that it's been hard for Betty to continue to live in the same house with Don who continues to deny Betty's feelings. But, seeing Betty sitting in the lawyer's office on the sofa with Henry, reminded me of Betty sitting on the sofa with Glen last season. Then, when Don confronts Betty about Henry, they seem to be having their first real fight.
Anyway, I wonder if Betty/Henry are the 'lasting love' mentioned in the Roy Orbison song at the end.
-- lkd711
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I think season 4 will include a serious health issue for Don-perhaps lung cancer. Note the cough at the beginning of the last episode. Also the brief scene when Sterling's dog food heiress old flame states that her first husband died of lung cancer, there is a brief cut to Don lighting up another. Thoughts while I write an order for Don to get a screening cat scan.
-- ldbmd
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