Mad Men #15 (2.2), 8/3/08: Overkill

95 people die in a plane crash.
The agency dumps a faithful client on the outside chance of landing a bigger one.
Pete leverages his father's death, determined to get some posthumous benefit out of the jerk.
Paul plays an ubercruel joke on Joan for being a mean spirited, bigoted bitch.
If I missed any more overkill, I apologize.

It's February 28, 1962.

Pete and Trudy go to a party at Paul's swanky bachelor pad that's way far out. Trudy mentions that some of the other madmen are Pete's employees; somehow I missed this, but it would explain why he recently got a bigger office.

Peggy has met a guy named Eugene who went to Princeton with Paul. Paul, who is wearing a neckerchief and smoking a pipe, brags about all the culture in his neighborhood.

Ken's date Donna is smashed. He tries very hard to make time with her.

Sal's girlfriend's name is Kitty - she's the woman who was watching Jackie Kennedy with him last week. I guess that means Lois didn't get to go out with him. Or maybe she did and it didn't last - I mean, it's been 15 months at this point...

Joan is here without a date. Apparently Dr. Boyfriend is on call tonight. Paul claims he has a pain in his right abdomen (not sure if he's joking or not, but there are several organs that can go wrong in that area). She thinks it's lame and pretentious of Paul to have fancy brandy but no sofa.

Paul introduces his "baby" - an African-American girl named Sheila White. Paul is called away to deal with a nosy neighbor; he begs the women not to talk until he comes back.

Joan tries to be friendly, but makes the gaffe of assuming that Sheila can't afford to shop at the market where she works. She also feels compelled to mention that she and Paul dated and that she didn't think he was "open-minded."

Ken notices that Paul took home a typewriter from the office. Someone else was blamed for its disappearance and nearly got fired for it.

Eugene wants to take Peggy home. She turns him down cold and goes home. She sleeps late the next morning, letting the phone ring and ring.

It's March 1, 1962.

On the Sterling-Cooper elevator, Roger Sterling is grumpy about the traffic jam caused by a ticker tape parade in honor of Colonel John Glenn, who, just over a week earlier, became the first American to orbit the Earth. Roger bitterly complains that there's nothing heroic about circling the planet if no one is shooting at you. Don likes Glenn. Roger teases him.

A crowd is gathered around the radio at the office. An American Airlines flight has gone down near Idlewild (now JFK) Airport, killing all 95 people aboard. (This really happened, and it was horrible.) Don tells them to turn off the radio and stop crying. He has them pull all of their Mohawk Airlines ads so that people don't see the Mohawk ad next to a photo of the floating remains of a crashed airplane.

Peggy shows up late with a vacuum cleaner. It looks like an old Electrolux. Nobody notices. She looks at the crowd around the radio and sneaks into her office.

Lois has to be prompted to answer the phone ringing on her desk. The guys start making tasteless jokes about plane crashes. Pete fires off the best one - something about a planeload of dead golfers turning the bay plaid. Even Roger has to crack a smile at that one.

Duck meets with Roger and Cooper. He thinks someone should tell Don to pull all of the Mohawk ads. Man, he's smart. Is it just me, or is anyone else hoping this guy either gets murdered or sent to jail very soon? He has a contact at American Airlines who says the airline will be looking for a PR makeover. Cooper and Sterling are intrigued.

Pete, who told the best airplane crash joke, gets a phone call and starts drinking. He steps out of his office and looks around blankly. Everyone notices that he doesn't look well. Stunned, he strolls into Don's office to say that his brother called. Pete's father was on the plane. Pete doesn't know what to do. He starts babbling. Don closes the door and pours him a drink. Pete keeps asking Don for advice. Don tells him to go home. Pete thinks he's not going to tell anyone. He wonders if he will cry. Don tells him again to go home, because that's what people do. He lies and says that's what he would do, too. Pete is confused because everything seems the same. Don cancels Pete's meeting with a client and sends him home. He tells Pete that there's life, and then there's work.

It's the nicest I've ever seen Don be with Pete.

Still in shock, Pete wanders back to his office. People are still making crash jokes.

Cooper, Sterling, and Duck are waiting for Don. (Way to give your boss a message, Lois!) They break the news about American Airlines wanting a new agency. Don is shocked that they're talking about this while the bodies are still floating in the bay. He wants them to stick with Mohawk, the airline that didn't crash. But American is a national account, and they have to dump Mohawk to even be considered. Duck wants it. Roger plays neutral. Cooper doesn't say anything, but it's clear enough where he stands. Don doesn't want to dump a loyal and timely paying account based on a wink from American. (I can definitely vouch for the merit of Don's point of view. Often, when you have mostly medium-size accounts and then you land a really huge one, you find yourself at the huge client's mercy, to the detriment of your smaller customers.)

Pete's mother frets about the funeral plans. She's sure that older son Bud and the lawyer Dunham will forget something. She's upset that there are no remains. (She spies a pink elephant figurine on some furniture, is offended by it, and demands that Trudy keep it.) Bud's wife says nice things about her dead FIL. "What a nice thing to say," Trudy says with a note of irritation in her voice; I sense some tension.

Pete's brother Bud confidentially reports to Pete that Dad died insolvent, and he also cashed out most of Pete's mother's trust. Not that Pete was expecting to inherit anything, but where'd all the money go? There wasn't a woman; rather, it seems he blew it on oysters, travel, and club memberships. Pete's mom doesn't know. They don't want to tell her. She says their father called his sons "salt" and "pepper." (I don't know which is which.)

That night, Don is not thrilled that Francine and Carlton are coming over to play cards, but he makes nice. Sally gets to play bartender, actually mixing their drinks. (I think she's about 8.) Don complains that she didn't do a good job of "muddling" the ingredients in their Old Fashioneds.

Carlton confides to Don that his babysitter is hot. He complains that Francine is irritable even though he gave up his apartment in the city and is taking her to Nassau.

Peggy brings the vacuum cleaner (evidently, she borrowed it) to her mother's place. Her sister is there too. They're talking about the crash. They heard that sharks (in New York, in March) were feasting on the victims' bodies.

Mom says that "people" have been asking about Peggy. Peggy's not interested. Mom suggests that Peggy light a candle for her father. The sister says their mom lies about Peggy's whereabouts to explain why she's never at their church. Peggy says she's capable of making her own decisions. Her sister says the State of New York didn't think so, and neither did the doctors.

(Ah, so that's where she was for "a few months" as the madmen were saying last week...)

Peggy says goodbye to her mother and sister. The sister prompts her to say goodnight, pointing to a door. Peggy approaches the door nervously and peeks inside, where a terrifying monster stares up at her eagerly from his crib... wait no, that's just her 14-month-old baby. Two other small children are in the room; one of them says says "hi Aunt Peggy." Peggy says nothing and leaves.

Sally and Bobby listen to their parents and the neighbors complain around the card table about urban sprawl. Francine is clearly miffed that her husband turned down the chance to buy that property; the silence is awkward. Next they talk about the crash.

Bobby sneaks down for candy. He says he heard something. Don brings him upstairs. Betty says she doesn't care what the kids do once they're in bed, as long as they're quiet. Don says Bobby saw a ghost and was scared. Betty says he's a liar. He traced a picture of George Washington at school and took credit for what he didn't do. Francine says "the book" says they start fibbing at that age to see if they can make it come true. Betty says she doesn't need a book to know what little boys do. Don smirks.

Later, Betty tells Don that Helen Bishop is trying to prevent the installation of parking meters at the shopping plaza. Does she think this is a great thing? Hell no, it's meant as some kind of slam against Helen for being "chummy" with some administrator at the high school.

She thinks that Carlton's weight gain indicates that he's happy. Don expressed doubt. Betty angrily says that Carlton should be happy and grateful at home after cheating on Francine. Don is not in the mood for a fight. Betty takes out the trash. Don takes another drink and watches her light a cigarette outside. He checks on the sleeping children.

Pete is remembering his last conversation with his father. It was a dumb argument about dog breeds. Trudy knows more about dogs than Pete does; it turns out Pete was wrong. Pete is disappointed that his father won the argument posthumously.

It seems that the strange young Smith boys from last week have been hired; we don't see them, but Paul needs his secretary to give them a copy of some memo. Paul is giving Joan the cold shoulder. He knows Joan said something rude to Sheila, but isn't sure what. "Describe her to me," Joan says cheekily. She mocks him for dating a "checkout girl" (Sheila's an assistant manager). He says Joan's jealous. She thinks he's just doing it to show what a cool guy he is with his fancy apartment and his pipe and his beard. (LOL, she really is jealous. Not sure if it's because she's jealous of Sheila, or if she resents not being able to grow a beard.) Paul stares at her with contempt and stalks off.

Pete broods in his office with the blinds drawn. Duck comes in to pep-talk. He read about Pete's father in the newspaper. Pete says he doesn't want to talk. Duck's father was a Boston adman. Pete realizes he knows little about his father except that he didn't like advertising. Duck says he's noticed Pete's acumen. He breaks the news about trying to land American Airlines as a client. He wants Pete to take a large role. Pete's not comfortable. He hasn't cried yet. Duck apologizes and leaves. (Can I call him "Dick" from now on? I probably shouldn't, since "Dick" was Don's original name...)

A man's arm reaches into a locker and pulls out Joan's new red purse.

Don's annoyed with Lois for bringing him the wrong papers. (This girl is skating on thin ice.) Roger comes in for a meeting and kicks her out rudely. He wants Don to set up a meet with Mohawk in a public but quiet place to dump them. This will show American that they're serious about wanting their business. Even if they don't get the account, it will make them look good just to have been considered. (Don thinks it will merely make them look desperate.) Roger indicates that this is not up for debate.

Pete wants to call his wife. No he doesn't. He looks at Peggy. He breezes past Lois to talk to Don. Don is in a bad mood and throws him out without explanation. (Lois tells Pete that he can leave Don a note. "People do that," she explains solemnly.)

Some people are giggling at a photocopy of Joan's drivers license that's been posted to the bulletin board with her date of birth circled. (Both the bulletin board and the copy machine are still in Peggy's office.) It seems that Joan was born on 2/24/31, which means she just had her 31st birthday! Peggy tries to make it out as a compliment, but Joan is deeply wounded by this cruelty. She wishes people would leave their personal problems at the door. Peggy says she even looks forward to it. Joan makes some bitter observations about people wanting to drag her into the trash so she'll be as miserable as they are.

The Mohawk guy shows up for his dinner meeting/execution with Don. Even though he knows what's coming, he's still shocked and heartbroken when he hears it. Don disavows the decision, but the client doesn't believe him. He recalls that when he signed on with Sterling & Cooper, he was told that Don was the guy who really ran things. He's disappointed that their relationship is ending after all of Don's big promises. "You fooled me," he accuses. He leaves without even a drink.

Duck is pushing hard - maybe a little too hard - to close the deal with Shel, the American Airlines guy. He's surprised when Pete shows up; evidently being blown off by Don helped him make up his mind about throwing in his lot with Duck. Shel says it's too soon to decide yet. Pete points out that it will be a delicate operation to rebuild the public's and stockholders' confidence - he says they'll put someone on the account who knows what they're going through. (Duck suppresses a smirk, perhaps surprised by Pete's cutthroat approach.) Pete leans in for the kill: he tells Shel his father was on that flight.

Shel is taken aback by this borderline-blackmail effort. With a perfectly straight face, Pete says "it's a horrible thing, but hopefully something good will come of it." Shel promises to think about it.

A pretty Asian girl (who almost looks like Betty in a wig and makeup) at the restaurant tries hard to get Don's attention. He stares at her, uncomprehending. She's not his waitress, but she offers to come back. He decides to leave before she can do so.

Peggy goes to church with her sister and mother and her beautiful monstrous blond baby. She sits out Communion. I don't know if the local people realize that the baby's hers, or if they assume it belongs to her sister.

Quote of the week: "I like to offer a nice bouquet of thoughts." (Pete's sister-in-law)

This episode was dedicated to Christopher Allport, the actor who played Pete's father in the first season. Allport died in an avalanche while snowboarding in California this past January. He was 60.