Here's how I see it. This week's Mad Men was the closest way you'll be able to time-travel back to 1969. 'Mazing Mets fans- all baseball fans- will be ecstatic. Mad Men fans will be satisfied as usual. And even science-fiction geeks can get their fix here (Therein lies the title). Main storyline, Harry and Jim Cutler deliver on their promise to get SCP a computer. (Not an Imac, you know, the old-fashioned ones that take up a whole lot of space and require a noisy, long, house-building installation process). Harry and Cutler are so into the technological advancement that they seem brainwashed by it: relocating the creative department furrows Ginsberg's brow, watch it! They're almost as brainwashed as Margaret Sterling. Hargrove? She's run away to live with hippies, who are on the complete opposite side of the technology spectrum. They sleep in hay and refute electricity, even though they can't deny their dependency on it. Roger and Margaret are far more entertaining than last week's "parent- child" B-story. Margaret seems happy living the Amish lifestyle and its soothing to watch Roger spend the day with her. But in reality, it's a house of vice, she has a child, and she's just a headache for Roger. Her attempt to justify her actions by pointing the finger back at him is such a psychiatric stretch, but it bothers Roger and it'll be exciting to see how he develops from this. Don vs. Peggy. Peggy gets the opportunity to lead a Burger account and Lou (instigator) tells her to include Draper on her team. This is all thanks to the work of Pete Campbell, who from "on the next Mad Men" clip seemed like he was going to get more than the opening minutes. But Don is not willing to be treated like a cupcake. He does not take kindly to the 25 tags, which he treats like chalk board punishment. He wants things to be how they were before, so he starts drinking in the office again, just like old times, except it's against the rules! Drama. The Met's inclusion in this week's episode proves to be an inspiring metaphor. A team who defied the odds, then rose to be World Series champs. Hopefully this is foreshadowing Don Draper's path as well. But he'll learn in the episode it takes one win at a time, or one tag at a time, and being on leave could have made him a bit rusty. In addition to large 1969 computers, 1969 hippies, and the 1969 Mets, we get a reference to space travel, a man on the moon, guess what year the U.S. first put a man on the moon? You got it. 3 more episodes left, and Don just started working? 8/10
6 Reviews
So many missing the metaphor of the Mets pennant.
cheekygeek-234-21877017 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Some hamfisted writing, but it still seems to have gone over the heads of most viewers.
I'm somewhat amazed at how the Mets pennant in this episode is being missed for being the obvious metaphor that it is. Yes, many people have realized that the '69 Mets were improbable champions but that is not the primary metaphor for the pennant in this episode:
When Don finds the Mets pennant, what does he do with it? He throws it in the wastebasket. Then he proceeds to throw himself in the wastebasket by purposely breaking his contract. But what do his eyes alight on when awakening in his stupor? The very same pennant he earlier threw in the garbage pinned to his office wall.
What better metaphor for Don Draper, foreshadowing his being rescued from the garbage heap himself? Don's humbling of himself in Season 7 to first of all return to the agency and then to "do the work" as a "mere" copywriter under his former underling Peggy Olson, is just one improbable move in the ultimate survivor, Don Draper, who survived the Korean war by adopting the identity of a fallen comrade. Should we really be so surprised?
Similarly, I originally thought the low point of the episode was when Roger and daughter fell in the mud. I first dismissed it as simply unnecessary slapstick. Then I remembered the George Bernard Shaw quote: "Never wrestle with a pig. You'll both get dirty and the pig will like it." Mona was smart enough to realize that and left early.
This entire series is a bit of a misdirection. "Men" is in the title but the real stories are the women characters. This whole series is about how American society changed after the widespread adoption of "The Pill" (particularly how it changed the lives of the women). You'll recall that it was revealed that it was Joan who sent (the nominally Catholic) Peggy to the doctor to get on "the pill" in the very first episode. Freedom, like anything, can be used for good or for evil.
A great, great episode.
I'm somewhat amazed at how the Mets pennant in this episode is being missed for being the obvious metaphor that it is. Yes, many people have realized that the '69 Mets were improbable champions but that is not the primary metaphor for the pennant in this episode:
When Don finds the Mets pennant, what does he do with it? He throws it in the wastebasket. Then he proceeds to throw himself in the wastebasket by purposely breaking his contract. But what do his eyes alight on when awakening in his stupor? The very same pennant he earlier threw in the garbage pinned to his office wall.
What better metaphor for Don Draper, foreshadowing his being rescued from the garbage heap himself? Don's humbling of himself in Season 7 to first of all return to the agency and then to "do the work" as a "mere" copywriter under his former underling Peggy Olson, is just one improbable move in the ultimate survivor, Don Draper, who survived the Korean war by adopting the identity of a fallen comrade. Should we really be so surprised?
Similarly, I originally thought the low point of the episode was when Roger and daughter fell in the mud. I first dismissed it as simply unnecessary slapstick. Then I remembered the George Bernard Shaw quote: "Never wrestle with a pig. You'll both get dirty and the pig will like it." Mona was smart enough to realize that and left early.
This entire series is a bit of a misdirection. "Men" is in the title but the real stories are the women characters. This whole series is about how American society changed after the widespread adoption of "The Pill" (particularly how it changed the lives of the women). You'll recall that it was revealed that it was Joan who sent (the nominally Catholic) Peggy to the doctor to get on "the pill" in the very first episode. Freedom, like anything, can be used for good or for evil.
A great, great episode.
The failed promises of technology and hippie lifestyle
dierregi4 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Plot A is Don being very unhappy with working in a dead man's office under Peggy's supervision. Even the usually amenable Bert Cooper is ready to spit some venom on Don, to prove that once you're down, they all will trample on you. Once more, if I was Don, I'd get the hell out of there.
It remains a mystery how Peggy managed to become a Copy Chief, since she's whiny and weak, rather than assertive. It's impossible to see her as a leader of any kind. On a side note, she let herself be seduced by a coworker she just met, abandoned her child, shrilly pushed her way around Don, stabbed her boyfriend (albeit in an accident), had an affair with a married man and she's still considered a feminist heroine... it just beats me.
Plot B is Roger experiencing life in a hippie commune, when his spoiled brat of a daughter, Margaret AKA Marigold, runs away to live in nature with a bunch of other delusional freaks. After a whole day spent listening to hippie gibberish, Roger tries to take Marigold back to the city, pointing out that she's a mother and has responsibilities. To which she answers that Roger was an awful, absent father. Sorry, Margaret - I mean Marigold - but your absent father still provided for your lavish lifestyle that allowed you being such a spoiled brat. Not the same thing at all.
Finally, a computer is being installed in SCP, foreshadowing how technology will dwarf human input, especially creative input.
It remains a mystery how Peggy managed to become a Copy Chief, since she's whiny and weak, rather than assertive. It's impossible to see her as a leader of any kind. On a side note, she let herself be seduced by a coworker she just met, abandoned her child, shrilly pushed her way around Don, stabbed her boyfriend (albeit in an accident), had an affair with a married man and she's still considered a feminist heroine... it just beats me.
Plot B is Roger experiencing life in a hippie commune, when his spoiled brat of a daughter, Margaret AKA Marigold, runs away to live in nature with a bunch of other delusional freaks. After a whole day spent listening to hippie gibberish, Roger tries to take Marigold back to the city, pointing out that she's a mother and has responsibilities. To which she answers that Roger was an awful, absent father. Sorry, Margaret - I mean Marigold - but your absent father still provided for your lavish lifestyle that allowed you being such a spoiled brat. Not the same thing at all.
Finally, a computer is being installed in SCP, foreshadowing how technology will dwarf human input, especially creative input.
What goes around comes around ...
tforbes-25 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
In this episode, we see Don Draper not coping with his new role at SCP, and after a bad episode with Bertram Cooper, hits the bottle. He ends up in a small bender, only to be rescued by Freddie Rumsen, who seven years before, had a drinking problem and was himself rescued by Don.
Additionally, Don must now contend with Peggy, who is overseeing his work on a new account. At the beginning of the series, she was Don's secretary, putting up with his lack of decency as a boss. Now, the tables have turned.
And we see Roger Sterling get a dose of reality when he has to deal with his daughter, who left her husband and son to go to a commune. She confronts him about his past treatment of her.
While many people are not with the series like they used to be, this final season has been much better than Season Five, and somewhat better than Six. And the season bears watching, because things are reaching their end. Of course, we will have to wait until 2015 to see how it all ends.
PS: We get acknowledgment that Pete Campbell is divorcing Trudy.
Additionally, Don must now contend with Peggy, who is overseeing his work on a new account. At the beginning of the series, she was Don's secretary, putting up with his lack of decency as a boss. Now, the tables have turned.
And we see Roger Sterling get a dose of reality when he has to deal with his daughter, who left her husband and son to go to a commune. She confronts him about his past treatment of her.
While many people are not with the series like they used to be, this final season has been much better than Season Five, and somewhat better than Six. And the season bears watching, because things are reaching their end. Of course, we will have to wait until 2015 to see how it all ends.
PS: We get acknowledgment that Pete Campbell is divorcing Trudy.
Episode Captures the Rebellious 60s ****
edwagreen5 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Peggy is given the new account and Don is assigned to work for her. Is this a set up to get rid of Don? He must think so as he goes on a drunken binge before reality sets in and he starts doing his new assignment in a diligent way.
Roger is confronted with a rebellious married daughter who leaves her husband and son to go live with some cult up in the mountains. Roger and his former wife go there to try to get her back. Instead, Roger, in particular, hears of her bitterness directed towards him when she was a child. She apparently felt neglected.
A definite description of the 1960s with its rebelling against societal norms.
Roger is confronted with a rebellious married daughter who leaves her husband and son to go live with some cult up in the mountains. Roger and his former wife go there to try to get her back. Instead, Roger, in particular, hears of her bitterness directed towards him when she was a child. She apparently felt neglected.
A definite description of the 1960s with its rebelling against societal norms.
One of the Best Episodes
TheFearmakers26 October 2019
Continues where Don is basically a low level copywriter at work, and story b centers on Roger trying to rescue his daughter from a commune by sticking around. It's like one of the older episodes without all the complications and existential crap that's been in last season and this so far. Back to basics, and great at that.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
