“I saw one at the Met. It’s perfect in every way. Except it couldn’t make music.” – Ken Cosgrove

Salvatore and Kitty are the model of a modern couple. Sharing common interests and household chores in their boldly decorated apartment, on the surface they’re everything Pete and Trudy, for example, are not. But we know who Salvatore is, and no matter how hard the mama’s boy from Baltimore tries, his interests lie elsewhere. Seeing in Ken the soul of an artist, it’s no wonder his interests are drawn that way.

Like Ken’s gold violin, Salvatore’s marriage is perfect in every way. Except it can’t make music. Just like Don’s happy family – picnicking in the woods, music playing from the Caddy, kids at play – is a sham built on a dead man’s identity and nostalgic ideas culled from magazines and movies. Neither man knows how, nor wants, to live as himself in the world, so they have built simulacra based on observation.

Ken finally tunes in that something is amiss at the Romano’s and gets out; Kitty doesn’t have the same luxury. Her love for Salvatore blinds her to the reality of the situation and sadly she’ll likely remain that way until ’69, assuming her husband can even then accept who he is. Ken doesn’t get out before an extremely sensuous/uncomfortable moment as he lights a cigarette under Salvatore’s amorous eyes.

Don, provided entree to the halls of the powerful, should remember the lessons of his past. A fuzzy photo in a newspaper led Adam Whitman to his office last year; a used car circular led our mysterious blond to his door in 1952. The more people see his face and hear his name, the more skeletons will rattle free from his closet.

And of course every new secret he tries to add to the collection increases the pressure and increases the chance of being caught. As he is by Jimmy Barrett.

Jimmy got everything he wanted: his show, his contract with Utz, and a wedge between Don and Betty. It was obvious from the moment he called Betty at home that he knew about Don and Bobbie; less obvious were his intentions. His reveal to Betty was suitably subtle. Her distrust of Don will verify Jimmy’s innuendo, but Jimmy can almost plead ignorance with her. Even the ugly anti-semitism of her reaction can be smoothed over by Jimmy if he wants to pursue Betty out of spite and lust.

In contrast, his comments to Don were clear and concise, leaving no room for interpretation. He got everything he wanted.

“You know what I like about you? Nothing. But it’s okay. You got me everything I wanted. What did you get? Bobbie? Lots of people have had that…Please. I laugh at you. I go home at night and I laugh at you…You. You want to step out, fine. Go to a whore. You don’t screw another man’s wife. You’re garbage, and you know it.”

After the Stork Club revelations, after too much champagne and too much truth, Betty does what the children couldn’t do. She messes up the new seats of the Caddy.

Amongst the stellar performances, to tonight really stood out for me. Bryan Batt plumbed depths we haven’t seen since last year’s “The Hobo Code” when his sexuality was again front and center. He consistently walks the line between cariacature and real live boy without missing a step, but on a night when he needed to demonstrate his desires plainly to us while still keeping them (mostly) hidden, he walked on the narrowest of paths as if strolling in the park.

Patrick Fischler, meanwhile mixed menace with humor to show us Jimmy Barrett at his finest. To anyone who’s seen Goodfellas or The Dark Knight or just been to a low-rent circus, it comes as no surprise that clowns and comedians can be scary. I had no doubt that Jimmy could have beaten Don down without breaking a sweat had it come to that. But he knows he doesn’t have to. Don’s a coward as well as a mimbo.

I hope (though don’t expect) that next week we’ll learn more about the woman from the real Don Draper‘s past. I imagine Matt Weiner will sit on that for a little while to let it steep. If I had to guess, I’d assume that’s the real Don’s wife and mother to his children, giving us several possibilities for the recipient of the copy of “Meditations in an Emergency” in the season premiere.

What did everyone else think?

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

You’re never going to get that corner office until you start treating Don as an equal. And no one will tell you this, but you can’t be a man. Don’t even try. Be a woman. It’s powerful business when done correctly. – Bobbie Barrett.

The boys in the office might think the new piece of eye candy sitting outside Don Draper‘s office is the new girl, but we know it’s Peggy. Peggy is Don’s protege, his wingman, and his project, but tonight she asserts herself as her own woman. It takes a kick from a former dancer, but she finally knows she has to treat Don as an equal.

That’s easier to some extent now that she and Don have both covered for each other and both helped each other through trying times. We have a much clearer picture of what happened to Peggy after last year’s finale, finding her in the hospital unable to accept or comprehend why she was there. Don’s words of advice, as true to his nature as any he’s ever uttered, could have been stolen from the hobo’s code.

But if Peggy followed Don’s advice and did whatever the doctors wanted, did she ever actually accept that she’d given birth? Or has she been going through the motions for over a year, smiling and nodding whenever her mother or sister bring it up?

Don’s best line of the night, possibly of the series, was his final comment to Peggy at her bedside: “Peggy, listen to me. Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.” That sums up his entire life, a series of disconnected events with no past and no real future; it also adds resonance to his heartfelt, nostalgic presentation to Kodak last year. He has no nostalgia, no strong desire to look back on his past, because it’s completely forgotten.

In sharp contrast to Peggy willingly or unknowingly giving up her child, Trudy Campbell wants a child. Whether her biology demands it or, more likely, she’s driven by her desire to fit in and do “the next thing they’re supposed to do,” Trudy needs that baby. And now she knows the failing is not Pete’s as she’d always assumed. It must have come as a horrible shock, since all failings in her marriage have always been Pete’s.

Pete of course is just happy to know his swimmers are strong.

Peggy finds a kindred spirit of sorts in Bobbie Barrett. Unlike the women around Sterling-Cooper who define – or want to define – themselves in terms of men, Bobbie does not. She is not, like Joan, finally settling for an engagement ring. Neither is she like Jane, the newest office fixture driving men to distraction with her decolletage. Peggy is a modern woman learning to find her way in uncharted territory; Bobbie is a guide of sorts, having picked her way through at Jimmy’s side for many years.

Peggy will not become Bobbie, but she can learn from her.

And finally, the funniest joke of the night: Roger whacking away at his paddleball while Pete’s filling his sample.

What did everyone else think?

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

My father beat the hell out of me. All it did was make me fantasize about the day I could murder him…And I wasn’t half as good as Bobby. – Don Draper.

For those viewers completely turned against Don Draper after last week’s events, I doubt three weekends in church and some time in the confessional are enough. Particularly as it wasn’t Don asking forgiveness.

The confession from Peggy’s sister was more about indicting Peggy than seeking absolution, more about a jealous older sister complaining about her baby sister is treated by everyone else. Peggy lives with remarkably few repercussions from her actions, almost unheard of today, let alone in a conservative Catholic household of 1962. Her mother is proud of Peggy’s accomplishments and never touches on her failings, though she’s too happy to apologize to Father Gil (Colin Hanks) for Anita’s overcooked chicken.

Anita’s little performance in the confessional was clearly for Father Gil’s benefit, to show him the dark side of her sister and drive a wedge between them. She has to raise her children, raise Peggy’s child, take care of her husband with a “bad back”, and yet Peggy gets all the praise and rewards. Taking her down one peg was small, but real comfort.

In contrast to the little Peggy’s past seems to haunt her, Don’s haunts him immensely. Throughout the episode, he sees Betty’s attitude and behavior toward his children, particularly Bobby, but he does little beyond voicing his reluctance to spank. When he finally reacts, throwing Bobby’s toy robot across the room at dinner, the sudden display of violence is unexpected and disturbing.

It looks like it’s going to quickly escalate upstairs. A comment from Don about throwing Betty through a window in response to the lost American Airlines account leads to her shoving him and him shoving back harder. Then it stops. She leaves the room and he sits on the bed, silent. Bobby comes in to apologize.

Don: It’s okay. Dads get mad sometimes.
Bobby: Did your daddy get mad?
Don: He did.
…
Bobby: What did he like to eat?
Don: Ham. And this candy, it tasted like violets. In a beautiful purple and silver package.
…
Bobby: But he died.
Don: Long time ago.
Bobby: We have to get you a new daddy.

Other, more momentous events tonight don’t seem as important. As we all knew, Sterling-Cooper failed to get the American Airlines account. In an interesting turn, Duck’s friend Shel Kennely was fired the morning of the meeting. When he comes into the prepped board room, the SC denizens waiting expectant on the opposite side of the conference table like Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”, the news hits hard. They finally know the account is lost, even if American is still coming in to witness the stillbirth.

Roger’s dalliance with an escort – first seen with Pete, Ken, and Marty Hasselback from Gorton’s – is incredibly awkward. His real desire, to experience the chase and first taste of a new conquest, is at odds with the practical reality of paying for sex. He pays, but he really wants a lover, not a sex partner. So he pays double to kiss, and pays for a second session to take her to Lutece. She’s new business, like a first cigarette: “head gets all dizzy, your heart pounds, knees go weak.”

Bobbie Barrett’s return to SC, and her midday sex in Don’s office under Joan’s watchful eye, signal more of the Barretts in the weeks ahead, but that can only be bad for Don. Unlike his former lovers, Bobbie (the wonderful Melinda McGraw) is in charge of this affair, Don’s assault notwithstanding. When she wants sex, she takes it from him. Whatever she wants, she will take from him. I believe Don will find himself pushing Harry to sell Bobbie’s idea for a TV show for Jimmy, “Grin and Bear It”, before too long. He wants to say no, but she commands him.

I am a bit concerned where Matt Weiner is planning on taking Peggy and Father Gil, but willing to go along for the ride for the next few weeks. I’m also wondering what to expect between Don and Betty now that he’s opened up to her in a small way.

What did everyone else think?

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

For Harry Crane – the always wonderful Rich Sommer, it meant a $25 raise and promotion to the head of the new Television Department at Sterling-Cooper.

See, anyone else would lead with Don’s manhandling of Bobbie Barrett. His actions toward her in the lobby at Lutece were certainly shocking, particularly as they echoed Betty’s stern advice to Arthur. But I’ve never been surprised by Don Draper, the things he does, or the way in which Jon Hamm manages to keep him sympathetic.* So while I was aghast watching Don “pull up on the reins,” it was fleeting. Back at the table, after he calmly restored his facade and wiped his hand – the one that held Bobbie’s hair – I fell back in beside him.

In reacting to Bobbie the way he did, Don tried to reassert himself in a way he’s been unable to with Betty since their detente. Whatever arrangements have been made, she’s the head of the Draper household now, and in an era of male dominance, that’s emasculated Don. He can’t perform for his wife, but no longer cheats. He can’t get his way at work, and watches Duck win every argument. He can’t even get Bobbie Barrett to bend to his will without resorting to violence.

While Don’s lost his mojo, Betty’s learning to play with hers. Here we get another episode of Betty using her beauty on a man, this time the hapless and hopeless Arthur. Once Betty learned her usual riding companion would be away on Saturday, she changed her plans and left the children home with Don, lying about it being just mommies. This freed her up for some very WASP-y flirtation with the young rider with the very wealthy fiancee.

But once the flirtation turned serious, Betty cut it off and ran. One of these times, she’s going to encounter a man who, like Don Draper, isn’t going to take a tease and a no. She’ll find a tow truck driver without honor, or a man in his twenties who is more insistent. This time, she just gets the shakes, something we haven’t seen from her since early in the first season.

Arthur does get one thing right about Betty. She is “profoundly sad”. She tells him she’s not, that she’s grateful, but that’s only superficially true. Betty has everything she was told she should want. She has a devoted and faithful husband, two children, a beautiful home, and a true partnership with Don. On the way home from Lutece, she finally cries, realizing that she got what she wanted and it doesn’t fill her emptiness. She and Don might “make a great team,” but that doesn’t make her any happier.

Harry’s wife Jennifer seems happier with her lot than Betty. Whether that’s just her nature, or indicative of the healthier relationship the Cranes have, it’s hard to say. They seem to communicate better, though not perfectly, and have what appears to be a more modern relationship-as-partnership. I found it interesting that Harry did not want to tell her about the subject matter of the show he’d used as his parlay into the promotion, but that could be nothing more than a husband protecting the feelings of his pregnant wife.

Other Thoughts

I noticed that Sal was changing an old Mohawk ad, presumably for an American presentation. We don’t know what’s transpired on that front yet, whether Sterling-Cooper got the account, or is just in the running for it, but American looks to still be in play. Sal actually got a few interesting moments tonight. He got to tell Harry he’s worth every penny he’s paid, implying he’s not worth a penny more. He also had an awkward moment with the Belle Jolie representative who had hit on Sal last season.

Sal’s closet is beautifully decorated, as one would expect from a man of his tastes, but it’s still confining. That scene, where he was cold to (presumably) the first man to ever acknowledge Sal’s preferences, was short but compelling.

Don’s front seat dalliance with Bobbie Barrett was…odd. His reluctance was commendable, but he finally did succumb to her advance. The hail striking the car, her aggression, and his acquiescence were strangely out of sync, almost as though Weiner wanted us to see Don playing the traditional “female” role here and giving in to the advances of the more dominant partner.

That too, Don’s perceived emasculation at the hands of yet another woman, might have played a part in his lobby assault.

Belle Jolie lost out by not taking a risk on that episode of The Defenders. Harry was right to push for that ad placement and it was the right move for Roger to make him the head of the new television department. As the decade goes on, Harry’s star should rise as his print colleagues see their position and power diminished.

There was a lot of fun, and one incredibly insightful comment at dinner at Lutece. First off, Jimmy biting down on his hand after his apology. He delivers a pitch perfect apology to Mrs. Schilling, but her response, “I know that’s what you do, I guess I just don’t have the stomach for it,” was almost too much. Fortunately, she didn’t see Jimmy’s reaction.

Finally, amongst his comments to Don and Betty, he tells Don he liked him in Gentleman’s Agreement. An excellent movie to be sure, and Don does have the square-jawed, cleancut good looks of its star, Gregory Peck. But the movie was 15 years old at that time. There were far more contemporary Peck films Jimmy could have referenced. Clearly, Jimmy’s choice was knowledgable and intentional, as Gentleman’s Agreement tells the story of Peck’s character, Philip Schuyler Green, a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to expose the blatant and widespread anti-Semitism of the day.

Don, passing as someone he is not, is obvious to a clown like Jimmy.

*Oops. Had to edit the post to put in this little footnote. I may think Don is still sympathetic, but that is definitely not going to be a universal opinion. TheWife believes he’s crossed a line too far.

What did everyone else think?

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

Fourteen months, thousands of cigarettes, and one beard later, we return to the offices of Sterling-Cooper and its denizens. In the first season of Mad Men, creator Matthew Weiner braced his agency against the rising tide of youth culture. But even against the backdrop of JFK’s generational campaign, 1960 was still dominated by the ways and mores of an earlier time. The few cracks that did show were personal rather than cultural.

Now in early 1962, the future is seeping through a bit more.

By making the timejump, Weiner has pulled a cover back over his characters. At the end of last season, we knew too much about these people. Less than we might know today about a stranger in a restaurant, carrying on a cellphone conversation oblivious to the people around her, but more than Weiner wants us to know about Don Draper and those around him. What we can surmise is that accommodations have been made all around:

• Don and Betty have achieved some sort of detente. He seems to be putting more effort into his marriage, even as the two of them are drifting further apart emotionally. The obvious joke about a woman and her horse is certainly applicable here as Betty attempts to sublimate her unmet desires. Don meanwhile, is trying to reach out to someone with whom he feels a more substantial connection. Whether that’s Midge, Rachel Mencken, someone new, or someone from Dick Whitman‘s past is a mystery for now.
• Harry and his wife have also found a way beyond his infidelity.
• Peggy got a three-month break after giving up her baby. The rumors swirl around the office – whether she was pregnant, who the father might be – but they remain rumors.
• Pete’s still Pete. Clueless as ever, he believes he’s failing to give his wife the baby she desperately wants. The only person who doesn’t seem to know Peggy had a child is the one who fathered the child.
• Salvatore’s married. If you’re new to the show and maybe missed the opening montage of scenes from last season, suffice it to say that the flamboyant art director should not have a wife.

Mad Men is an impressionist painting in progress. We watch in closeup as Weiner lays down seemingly disconnected strokes; a dab of emerald green here, a touch of eggplant there. Only with time and distance does the picture form. Tonight’s episode began a new canvas to be filled over the course of the season, but even when it’s complete our understanding and appreciation of it will be subjective and partial.

As always, Jon Hamm plays Don with perfect reserve. Like figures dancing in our periphery at night, we can only catch glimpses of his loneliness and confusion when glancing askew. This isn’t a showy performance, but one of the most subtle ever seen on the small screen. In his silences – sitting alone in the bar, thinking of the Mohawk account – we hear his thoughts rumble below the surface. Even a throwaway line to his daughter – mockingly upset that she greets the dog before her father – has layers. He really is upset. His reality doesn’t live up to his perfect family of still images projected on wall.

The rest of the cast is as good as always, from January Jones frightened and thrilled on a lonely country road as she plays the role of make-believe party girl to Vincent Kartheiser as clueless as ever about his wife, Peggy, and everything in between. Finally out of her fat suit, Elizabeth Moss can now pair her missing sex appeal with the cruel and laser-like focus she honed in its absence. In many ways, Peggy and Pete are the future of advertising, but they still have to wrest control from Don.

What did everyone else think?

R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

The hit series for AMC called Mad Men is returning for its second season on July 27th. But if you are like me and missed the first season, you can at least find out if you like it for free.

AMC has released the pilot episode for Mad Men online for the very first time and it’s broken up into the three segments you see below.

I haven’t gotten around to it yet, as I’m about to bust through Burn Notice in the next few days, but this is probably next on the list.

If you are still looking for a good movie to rent, try In Bruges.

(Mike’s Recommendations)

Mad Men: Season 1

Sometimes I don’t like recommending DVDs that I’ve never seen, and this is one of them. However, the good things I’ve heard about Mad Men make me believe it HAS to be worthy of of checking out, and it’s already on my Blockbuster queue.(Amazon)

The Closer: Season 3

Egh, I’ve never seen the show…ever. But TNT plays the commercials about a bazillion times during the NBA playoffs and I have this strange desire to post about it.

People like the show, so who am I to judge. I’m sure you fans will be looking to watch season 3.

Blu-Ray Releases

Some cool Blu-Ray titles this week like Gangs of New York, Mad Men, In the Line of Fire, Point Break and the original Batman with Adam West.

(What you’ll probably rent)

Vantage Point

The Matthew Fox-plus-a-ton-of-other-actors action thriller which looked pretty cool, but had a pretty bad ending from what I hear. Still, if you are looking for a fun ride, this might be worth your while.

Drillbit Taylor

A comedy with Owen Wilson from the guys of Knocked Up, Superbad, etc. The word on this was that it just stunk up the place and wasn’t very funny, but that’s from the critics. You guys may like it, so check it out!

Just a quick note for my fellow Breaking Bad fans out there, season 2 will begin production sometime in July, with a premiere date still up in the air.

And Mad Men, another critically acclaimed AMC original series that I’ve not seen yet, will debut its second season on July 27th. If you missed the first season like me, you can pre-order it over on Amazon.com right now, or just wait until it’s released tomorrow. Or snag it off Blockbuster like I’ll be doing.

You can see a quick recap of Mad Men’s first season by visiting AMC.com. Or you can check out this “Best Of Season One” video below:

With Burn Notice and Mad Men to catch up on, my July is looking pretty packed!

Here is a bonus video from Breaking Bad’s executive producer Vince Gilligan, where he talks about “finding” the comedy in the series.

Most notably and highly frakking sad in my opinion, is the continued disregard for Battlestar Galactica. I guess not enough people watch the show. I can only assume if it was on FOX, enough people would have seen it and voted it into this group.

Honestly…Grey’s Anatomy over BSG? Really?

On a happier note, I’m LOVING that Flight of the Conchords made the Top 10…that’s just outstanding. Good for them.

Can’t say much bad about the dramas (aside from Grey’s). Dexter from the four episodes I’ve seen so far is awesome, I heard amazing things about The Wire, and it’s cool to see Friday Night Lights get some more love. Not sure I still get the love for Boston Legal, but I don’t watch it, so who am I to judge?

I’m going to slap little asterisks next to my predictions for the five series who make it to the finals. There just MIGHT be a bit of wishful thinking in there, but I don’t care!

Comedy Series:

• Curb Your Enthusiasm*
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords* (sleeper pick!)
  
• The Office*
• Pushing Daisies* (super sleeper!)
  
• 30 Rock*
• Two and a Half Men
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds

Drama Series:

• Boston Legal
• Damages*
• Dexter*
• Friday Night Lights
• Grey’s Anatomy
• House
• Lost*
• Mad Men* (sleeper?)
  
• The Tudors
• The Wire*