When people think about the best moments or episodes of Season 3, usually the finale episode comes to mind. And I agree. "Shut the Door. Have A Seat." is a difficult episode to top. The boys from Sterling-Cooper give their British owners a giant middle finger by screwing them out of their deal to sell the agency. They grab a handful of SC employees with them and paste a business together in a hotel room to form Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. It's a riveting hour of television, but almost too easy to choose as a favorite episode. Every Mad Men fan has combed through the details of this episode to highlight everything that makes is so great. So, I'd prefer to talk about a different episode from the season.
Episode 5: "The Fog"
There is a specific scene in this episode that I love and could watch over and over: the hallucinatory dream that Betty has while giving birth to Gene. It's so beautifully shot: a perfect juxtaposition of vivid colors and imagery paired with a dark and cold narrative. What does it mean? Is this when Betty comes to terms with the fact that she and Don are truly over- is it the exact moment she falls out of love with him? Does she realize that the life she thought she always wanted is actually torture? Or is she just super doped up? All the while, Don is out in the waiting room forming a superficial relationship with a prison guard who is about to have his first child. They both bond over the thought of becoming better men in order to properly raise their children. But we never really see Don do this and I suspect the prison guard doesn't really do it either. As they're both leaving the hospital after their new sons have been born, the prison guard gives Don the stink eye. Don is confused by this, but I think we as viewers knew what it meant. Their kinship was fake; a product of circumstance. As were their promises to be better men.
Back at Sterling Cooper, both Peggy and Pete receive job offers from a competing agency at the same lunch. Pete is insulted that he didn't get his own private offer and immediately declines. Peggy feels an allegiance to Don, who has been a pillar in both her professional and personal development. Feeling confident about her ability as a creative ad agent, she attempts to get a raise from Don. She timidly, but firmly specifies that she desires a raise that would equate her pay with all of the men on the creative team (you go, girl!). Don plainly tells her "It's not going to happen." Whether or not it has to do with her sex, he doesn't say. His reasoning is due to the agency operating on a lean budget; Lane Pryce is pressuring the entire company for its over-use of office supplies as it is.
Lastly, we meet Miss Farrell (Sally Draper's teacher) in this episode. She becomes a major fixture in the show for the second half of Season 3, so her introduction is important. Her role in this particular episode is small. She appears in the beginning during a parent-teacher conference, where she upsets the Drapers by saying that Sally's bad behavior is the symptom of her grief over Grandpa Gene's death. She later calls the Draper household and apologizes to Don for overreacting to the situation. Their interactions are small and seemingly unimportant at this time, but they actually plant the seeds for a much larger plot point later in the season.
-----
What do you make of Betty's dream? What would you have done in Peggy's situation- take the job or stay loyal to Don? Come on back in a couple days to review an episode from Season 4!
-Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment