Mad Men: The Grownups

[falafel_musings]

Review: The Grownups

Loved this episode. Isn't that a relief? And yeah, on a surface level one of the main things I loved was how this episode featured nearly every important MM character, except for Sal (where are you Sal!!). This episode not featuring Miss Farrell was also a big plus for me. But I also loved that MM was returning to its roots as a period drama, which lessens the soap opera feeling induced by too much time with the Draper marriage. I know Matt Weiner wasn't crazy about depicting the Kennedy assasination, but I'm glad he sucked it up and did it, because I thought he did it extremely well. I loved the tone and the stillness of this episode. I have certain images caught in my head... 

-  Pete and Harry complaining about their jobs while the first Kennedy story plays on the TV set behind them, completely unnoticed. Then Don wandering into the empty secretarial pool full of ringing phones. 

- Carla sitting down next to Betty to watch the news, crying and lighting a ciggarette. We've never seen Carla crying, smoking or sitting. And Sally comforting her mother as she grieves and watches the awful news story even though Betty never consoled Sally when she was mourning her Grandfather and watching a monk set himself on fire.

- Pete and Trudy huddling together on the couch, watching Lee Harvey Oswald's shooting in slow motion, their faces looking almost identical with the same expression of angry defiance.     

The episode wasn't perfect. A lot of S3 storylines have suffered from being underwritten and shelved. The Peggy/Duck hook up has been ignored since midseason, but now we find out that Peggy has been fucking Duck for months and we are expected to care. The Pete Vs Ken story has also been ignored since midseason and we expected to care about that again too because they need to give it a rushed resolution. Roger's personal story with Jane, Mona and his daughter hasn't been featured since the earliest episodes of S3 and all of a sudden we are plunged into it again. All these stories feel like they have big holes in them...big holes where Don/Betty ate all the screentime pie.

However, I think there have been some S3 storylines that have overcome their minimal screentime and been very powerful, largely because of the strength of those stories and the fact that they were at least evenly spaced throughout the season - the story of Sal's sexual awakening and exposure is one, the story of Joan & Greg's rapidly disintergrating marriage and then Pete & Trudy, the only couple whose marriage is becoming stronger in S3. It's really surprised me in S3 how Pete/Trudy have gone from being my least favourite couple to my favourite spouses on the show. In S1 they were just two spoiled brats in a dollhouse marriage. In S2 they gained a little pathos with their infertility, but they were still unsatisfied and disconnected from each other...

In S3 I've been struck by how balanced and in harmony Pete/Trudy seem together. Their perfect Charleston was a great representation of this unity. These two really listen to each other. When Pete was rude to Hildy about his instant hot chocolate, he caught himself and apologised. He was careful not to lose his temper in front of Lane when he got the bad news about the accounts job. Trudy's mothering has done Pete a lot of good. She's taught him manners like his own parents never did. And at the same time Pete is teaching Trudy to question things and rebel like she has never done before. They are melding together and becoming one person, just like Pete always wanted. It feels like Peggy needed to reject Pete before he could fall back in love with Trudy. I'm passionate about both those love stories because Trudy and Peggy are such complete opposites - the rich Prodestant girl & the poor Catholic girl, the selfless devoted wife & the self-driven career woman, Trudy who wants to be a mother but can't have babies & Peggy who had a baby (Pete's baby) but didn't want to be a mother. Even though I've bitterly missed Pete/Peggy interactions in S3 I've loved the development of the Campbells this year. Especially that last shot of them sitting together on the couch, looking boldly towards the future, trying to see the truth in what's going on. Pete and Trudy may have began their marriage as two bratty little rich kids. But they've changed, they've learned...they've grown up.

Going back to the Head of Accounts job, I'm as confused as Pete. What was the point of this? Like Pete said he and Ken have been matching each other's billings. If all it came down to was "Pete tries too hard with people while Kenny makes everything seem effortless" wasn't that obvious from the start?! I wonder if they always wanted Ken were just using Pete to build up Ken's drive and ambition? I did go awwwww when Pete and Ken shared sad looks over the news. And then I just died laughing when Pete said "Head of Accounts has gone to Kenny and his haircut!" I loved Harry suggesting that Pete should go into Market Research instead. That never occurred to me before but...of course, Pete should be a researcher!! Pete doesn't have the people skills for Accounts and he lacks the flair for Creative, but a Research job would be so perfect for him. Finally his insights would not be wasted!

Fuck it, I'm just going to talk about Pete for this whole review. I loved that they brought back the Pete-Kennedy themes from S1. How Pete was the only person at Sterling Cooper who was positive about Kennedy, because Pete wants the same changes. Pete was Sterling Cooper's Kennedy and now Pete's time at that agency is at an end. His decision to leave and burn Sterling Cooper by taking his clients is a decision I'll support. SC & PPL have been treating their employees like crap and getting away with it for too long. But I fear for Pete joining Joan and Sal in limbo. Can they all go to Greys? I like the idea of rival ad agencies in S4. 

Still not enough Peggy! Especially since I seem to be blanking out Peggy/Duck. I'm wondering if there is any point to this fling other than to see Pete's face when he finds out. I loved that Peggy's only personal response to Kennedy's assassination was concern for how it was going to affect her Aqua Net campaign. I also love that Don had no response whatsoever.

I'm not a Joan/Roger shipper but the idea of them restarting their affair pleases me. I think Roger might be the one person Joan might confide in about the trainwreck her marriage has turned out to be. Or if she won't at least they'll have fun together. Roger's and Jane's happiness spell seems to be wearing off. It freaks me out how much Roger's wife looks and acts like his daughter. And Mona is a lioness. I like that Roger respects her, even if he still sucks for leaving her.

I'm sure Don/Betty will be discussed exhaustively in MM fandom this week, so I won't bother saying too much here. I liked that Betty told Don she didn't love him anymore. It may be a truth that is hard to hear, but then so was Dons. I hope that Betty isn't going to cave this time because I'm more than ready for the Drapers to divorce. If they have earned anything in S3 they have earned that divorce. And I hope that Betty doesn't remarry Henry, because a) Henry is too boring, and b) I want Betty to face being Helen Bishop. But she's got to leave Don. If Betty stays with him her whole life will be reduced to "Take a pill and lie down."     

Damn, it's getting late now....

Comments

[lenina20.livejournal.com]

I think Betty's destiny has always been to become Helen but I don't think she has the guts. You always sad she was waiting for a marriage proposal and you were so right. Betty is a coward. Betty was trained to live one life and she can't and won't stray. I just hope she and Don divorce just so I can laugh in the faces of the stupid Don/Betty shippers who have ruined this show for me. Something tells me thouhg we'll see the teacher next week and something unexpected will happen. I keep thinking that now that Don's story has been completely told, this show really could do with a Don's assassination.

I didn't like the Kennedy thing much. I think they way this show portrayed the people's shock and terror was much better and much original and more subtle with Marylin's death (that moved me) and the nuclear threat. it felt like Mediations only worse. So yeah, the world is changing. i feel like everything something bad happens, that's the main ideological discourse. Things might be changing in SC but the world does not change because the American president gets shot, no matter how hard certain discourses want us to believe that. But it is true it was wonderfully directed. It put me off idologically, but it was nicely crafted.

Pete/Trudy are so amazing. I loved the contrast you drew with Peggy. I am sure now that Pete and Trudy will end up together and happy - or at least that they should, but I still think that their wonderful, Macbethian interaction this week is a lead for the moment when they walk into duck's agency and their world falls apart or at least, is threatened to. I also think the sheer stupidy of Duck's being so horny for Peggy's love that he unplugged the TV was nothing but a reminder of their relationship - it had no follow-up in the actual episode for next week.

I didn't love this week episode, but the presence of Pete and Henry's proposal and Trudy's awesomeness and Peggy sleeping with the guy Pete is going to call to ask for work has got me interested in next week's ep. MM finales are always superb. I hope this season doesn't disappoint me in that, at least.

[falafel-musings.livejournal.com]

I think Betty is slowly moving towards being Helen. Remember in S1 when Betty said "That John F Kennedy. I hate him." because she associated JFK with Helen and divorce and the liberation she fears. Now Betty is mourning Kennedy. You're right that Betty won't jump without a safety net and Henry has offered her that. But I hope something goes wrong and Betty ends up divorcing Don while losing the Henry option too.

Don/Betty shippers *sigh* So many of them are hating Betty for not rolling over for Don. It's like some people really think Don deserves to keep Betty as his trophy wife despite all the lies and the cheating and the oppressing. Because Don is sooo handsome and Don's angst is so profound and Don deserves to be happy more than Betty does, apparently.

Ha! Macbethian Pete and Trudy! I love how Trudy changed from "Sweetheart, we must go to the wedding and kiss a little ass" to being all badass and saying "Peter, I want you to screw your bosses like the bitches they are." But I agree with port that I didn't find Pete/Trudy villianous. I think they are disillusioned and rebellious and this is a comeuppance that Sterling Cooper richly deserves.

[pacejunkie.livejournal.com]

I can't believe MW ever considered not featuring the Kennedy assassination. He's doing a show set in the early 60's, hitting on ever major news event as a backdrop, how can you skip the biggest? I thought it was very well done, it was that generation's 9/11 and it threw everyone for a loop not knowing who was behind it and why and what the ramifications might be. The world felt a little less safe. And the title was a reference to the fact that the country all became grown-ups on that day in the worst possible way, their innocence shattered.

So the Beatles arrive in JFK soon don't they? Can't wait until they get to that.

[falafel-musings.livejournal.com]

I think Weiner was just concerned that the JFK assassination had been depicted many times before and he felt there wasn't a new way he could do it. But he did owe it to the viewers and I'm glad he put those expectations above his own misgivings.

Yeah, I interpreted 'the Grownups' title in the same way. Other fans are trying to work out who acted like grownups and who acted like kids in this episode, but I think you're right that it is about an entire generation losing their innocence and being forced to grow up.

I think Beatlemania will come in S4. Some fans thought Pete's black turtle neck was a reference to Meet the Beatles album cover, soon to be released in America.

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

Very excited you liked the episode! I actually kept thinking of the way you've compared Betty and Pete before, because it seemed so fitting that they were the two characters most affected by the assassination, that we saw both of their reactions to the Oswald shooting, and that it's put both of them on the verge of making life-changing decisions.

Pete and Harry complaining about their jobs while the first Kennedy story plays on the TV set behind them, completely unnoticed. Then Don wandering into the empty secretarial pool full of ringing phones.
Loved that too. People have really been holding their breath for how the show would handle it, and I love how it had so much weight but was also almost anti-climactic in the way it unfolded, starting like an ordinary day. All these mundane details of people being unsure what to do. Since I didn't live through that time, it was all very reminiscent of 9/11 for me.

You know, the things that you mentioned as being flaws didn't bother me so much because they weren't flaws for *this* episode -- this episode did a perfectly good job balancing all those storylines from earlier in the season, and it's just a shame we haven't been seeing more of them. :(

"Head of Accounts has gone to Kenny and his haircut!"
Ahahahahawwww. I love Pete and Trudy's relationship too. And loved how you laid out the contrast of Trudy and Peggy! *glomps your brain*

[falafel-musings.livejournal.com]

Yes! Pete and Betty's reactions mirrored each other, just like Don and Peggy's reactions mirrored each other. I liked that Pete and Betty both saw the event as a wake up call make huge changes in their lives. It's those type of reactions that changed a whole generation in the 60s.

I was remembering how I felt on 9/11 too.

You're right that the imbalance of stories wasn't a flaw in this episode, but I think certain stories would have had more impact overall if they hadn't been underwritten or in Don/Bettys case over-written, previously in S3.

I find it interesting that Peggy and Trudy both appeal so much to Pete while being so wildly different. But then I see the appeal of both women too. Peggy's taste in men is interesting also. After her pregnancy she went for non-sexual relationships with a priest and a gay guy. Now she is having sex again with a college boy who looked like Pete and Duck who is in some ways like an older version of Pete. I don't think Duck and Pete both wearing turtlenecks was an accident.

[falafel-musings.livejournal.com]

After being with someone who only sees you as a distraction from tragedy how can you feel right having your own reaction in front of others?

You may be right, but Peggy's response didn't come through that clearly for me. Maybe if she and Duck had an argument about it or we had seen her expressing some frustration with Duck to her roommate, Peggy's feelings would have been clearer to me. I'm not against the Peggy/Duck thing, I just find it hazy and underdeveloped. I wish it had been given more focus.

Consequences? That's interesting. I wonder if Peggy could actually get fired for courting another agency and sleeping with the enemy, as her bosses might percieve it. I really want Don to find out that Duck is trying to poach Pete and Peggy. It would hit him where it hurts. Not just because Peggy has been his protege, but because Pete knows his secret.

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

I'm not a Joan/Roger shipper but the idea of them restarting their affair pleases me.

I am kind of a Joan/Roger shipper, so this pleases me also. Well, as much as I can be pleased by another Roger affair. I think I just appreciate that they actually manage to be good friends. I feel that deserves some sort of accolade on this show.

Pete/Trudy were awesome. That is all. And Pete was hilarious, as usual. I can't wait to see him take his clients and kick ass. If that ever happens.

Not much to say on Don/Betty. I did like them quite a bit last episode. I think they should go for that divorce, mainly for the Betty being independent thing. Don too, for that matter. I can't decide if I think Don and Betty are capable of having an equal relationship (such as Pete/Trudy) eventually, or if they're ultimately incompatible. I don't know what I'm rooting for. Basically at this point I'm more interested in seeing them apart - and alone - than together.

[falafel-musings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I prefer the friendship in Roger/Joans relationship too. I basically feel the same about Pete/Peggy these days. Aside from their past sexual relationships both those pairings have a great rapport. Which means they could be a good emotional support for each other, even if they aren't sleeping together.

I still miss Joan/Kinsey though.

I feel the Draper marriage is now completely stale and beyond salvage. A new baby couldn't refresh their marriage. A wild romantic holiday couldn't refresh their marriage. Don confessing all his secrets couldn't refresh their marriage. All these things should have brought them closer together. But instead these developments seemed to have emphasised the emptiness of this marriage. Love ain't here anymore. They are both unfaithful to each other, seeking escape in other flings. Their marriage has been ruined for a long time and Betty is finally admitting to it. I definitely think they are headed for divorce. But why stop at divorce? Betty knows that Don broke the law. If Betty discovers the Farrell affair she would have both the grounds for divorcing Don and keeping the kids, but she might also have a motive for reporting Don to the police. Don has more to lose than a wife; but his home, his children, his reputation, his job, etc. I'm not interested in Don/Betty as a love story. Never have been. I think the more interesting aspect of this relationship is how they both fight the emptiness of their marriage. And for the first time Betty has the power to triumph over Don in this fight.

The Pete/Trudy ship has changed into something else entirely. Not only did Pete & Trudy not really love each other at the start of their marriage. They didn't even know each other. Pete thought Peggy was the only person who knew him. But after being hurt by Peggy, Pete has gone back to Trudy as a source of comfort. I think this is where they started to connect. Pete is needy and Trudy wants to be needed. Since they've established that their relationship has gone from strength to strength. Their marriage is now full of equality, compatibility, intimacy and team work. Most of all I love that Pete and Trudy are making each other better people; Trudy by acting as a moral compass for Pete and Pete by getting Trudy to stop conforming to society and looking at the world through rose-tinted specs.

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Watching this episode I was struck by the fact that Pete and Trudy are total equals, unlike some other pairings we could name. I guess while some part of me will always think that Pete and Peggy are OTP, I don't really have much interest in seeing them together. And really hope nothing screws with the Pete/Trudy marriage.

Aside from their past sexual relationships both those pairings have a great rapport. Which means they could be a good emotional support for each other, even if they aren't sleeping together

Platonic relationships FTW. This is probably why Don and Betty really don't work anymore. They were never friends. Fatal flaw #1.