Dark Shadows (13 May 2012)

A depressed Betty tries to make things uncomfortable for Don and Megan, Roger tries to take out some secret weapons for a meeting with a prospective Jewish client, and Don makes a snap judgment that angers the creative department.

Director:

Scott Hornbacher

Writers:

Matthew Weiner (creator), Erin Levy

Stars:

Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Hamm	...	Don Draper
Elisabeth Moss	...	Peggy Olson
Vincent Kartheiser	...	Pete Campbell
January Jones	...	Betty Francis
Christina Hendricks	...	Joan Harris
Jared Harris	...	Lane Pryce (credit only)
Aaron Staton	...	Ken Cosgrove
Rich Sommer	...	Harry Crane
Kiernan Shipka	...	Sally Draper
Jessica Paré	...	Megan Draper
Christopher Stanley	...	Henry Francis
Jay R. Ferguson	...	Stan Rizzo
Robert Morse	...	Bertram Cooper
John Slattery	...	Roger Sterling
Peyton List	...	Jane Sterling

Storyline

Betty is going to Weight Watchers to deal with her weight issue. Whether she wants to admit it or not, she is aware that her envy of Megan is part of her unhappiness and associated eating and weight gain. After an incident with Megan (of which Megan herself is unaware), Betty decides to use Sally as a pawn, which places Sally, Don and Megan in the middle of Betty's game, of which only Don seems aware. At the office, Roger is hustling for the Manischewitz wine account to show that he, beyond financing the company, is still useful in a day-to-day sense, and to show that Pete, who has lined up a potential major New York Times article featuring SCDP, is not the SCDP wunderkind he makes himself out to be. Roger's plan, the creatives for which he plans to pawn off as his own to the clients, includes the use of both Jane and Ginsberg, which doesn't sit well with Peggy or ultimately with Jane. And Don decides to go back into the creative realm, coming up with an idea at a brainstorming ...

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Plot Keywords:

manischewitz | weight watchers | family tree | thanksgiving

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2012 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Center Studios - 450 S. Bixel Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate Television, Weiner Bros.

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When working on a project involving a product named "Sno-Ball" one of the ad men suggests naming a pig that, but doesn't give a reason. In fact, Snowball is the name of a pig who is one of the main characters in George Orwell's classic anti-Communist novel ANIMAL FARM.

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Goofs

At the beginning of this episode, Don Draper is seen checking colour proofs of ads. However, digital proofs of the kind were most definitely not available in 1966. He should have been looking at Cromalin or Geva analog proofs.

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Quotes

Roger Sterling: They make wine for Jews, and now they're making one they want to sell to normal people. You know what I mean - people like me.

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Connections

References Dark Shadows (1966)

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Soundtracks

"Sweepin' the Clouds Away"
(uncredited)
Music & lyrics by Sam Coslow
Performed by Maurice Chevalier

User Reviews

A fitting title for a show that studies era so much deeper than this weekend's big release did

While it is highly unlikely that Matthew Weiner and the writers and creators of Mad Men titled their ninth episode of the fifth season "Dark Shadows" before they knew it would be premiering the same weekend as the Burton/Depp adaptation hit the silver screen, it is incredibly fitting that they would give an episode of this show such a title. In fact, I had just been thinking about the new Tim Burton film (which I saw the night before) right before this episode premiered last night.

What struck me about the new film adaptation was how forced everything seemed. While staying relatively true to the time period the film is set in (1972), the film constantly seems to throw in extra set pieces or songs to beg its audience to buy that the film is set in the early seventies. Mad Men, meanwhile, is a show that is sometimes stunning to realize that it is being filmed a decade plus into the 2000s. Instead of putting a rock 'em sock 'em robot game on the screen or playing music that is some of the most popular from the period, Mad Men develops its era through character interactions, costume, and story arches.

Take last night for example. Our main story revolves around the relationship between Don and Betty as a split couple, namely Betty's attempts to make Don's life a little more unpleasant. While Betty is married to a very wealthy politician and she lives in an incredible and luxurious house, she struggles with many problems that women do around her age. As she stands in Don's apartment for the first time, she sees Megan in the bedroom putting a shirt on over her skinny torso. Betty can't look away for several seconds as she realizes this is what she used to be: Don's model/trophy wife that was everything the man could ever want. But who is Betty now: an overweight house wife that struggles with self-confidence and eating problems.

To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: http://custodianfilmcritic.com/mad- men-5-9-dark-shadows/