Oh, boy. This episode.... wow.
First, Pete Campbell is repugnant It speaks volumes that he did not answer Joan's hypothetical about Trudy when he gave her the proposition. I wanted to take a shower after this episode but it speaks to how effective and excellent it was between the writing, direction, and cast performance.
There were these hints that Peggy was unsatisfied be it being intrigued by Ken's meeting (that turned out to be about his writing) and their work pact in "Signal 30" or how Stan told her that it would be easier for her to hire a mediocre copy-writer instead of her hiring her eventual successor (and I definitely think Michael is going to replace her among a group of free-lancers). She got buried in the Heinz Beans account that she got kicked out of, she was off accounts simply because she is a woman, and she did two Ginsberg accounts with no credit whatsoever. I can definitely see why Peggy reached a breaking point not being involved in Jaguar or even getting credit for her pitch in the episode (I mean, even Harry thought she was brilliant and told Don so).
I am most surprised that she took up with Ted Chaough's firm. I know she trusts Freddy like a father but him giving her off to Don's smarmy rival would piss Don off, as his reaction showed. I do hope it works out for her in the end, and of course I hope we still follow her story as she was why I followed the show in the first place.*
I do wonder if the pact with her and Ken is still in tact. I am thinking maybe not with her dismissal of it after Don yelled at her because I think in her mind, Ken has never experienced what she has experienced working there. Plus he has an escape, writing, whereas she has only known copy-writing/advertising as her profession.
I wonder how long Stan is there for too. I am oddly invested in him and Peggy's relationship and he has hinted that his time could be numbered with the rise of photography in advertising.
This should be Christina Hendricks' Emmy submission episode. I loved the looks Don, Peggy, and Joan each gave to each other in the final 5-10 minutes of the episode. I was in tears in the Don-Peggy scene in his office.
My only issue in this episode is that Roger seemed completely fine with what Joan was doing or rather, what Pete told the partners (that little smirk he gave when Joan gave him an ambiguous enough response rather than a direct 'No' made me recoil in terror). Maybe Roger and Joan really have hit an impasse after the Pearl Harbor Day talk. But still, she is the mother of his child and it says a lot that she wore the fur he gave her to her 'date'. Lane was shown more about his relationship with Joan and how it involves him than Roger and that struck me as curious, beyond the fact Lane gave Joan the partnership option to save his own skin with his financial issues.
**POSSIBLE SPOILER**
*-AMC's Inside Mad Men on its website has cast-members, still in their clothing from what I believe is from the finale episode, talking about each episode up until the finale and Elisabeth Moss with her costume makes me think we will still see her in the final two episodes of this season.
Updated On: 5/28/12 at 04:09 AM