Oh Sal....all of a sudden you got morals. Don sure didn't. Anything for an account

Of course Sal has morals. Just because he is gay doesn't mean he has no morals. Bryan Batt was magnificent in tonight's episode. The man is just a terrific actor.

Sal, I am so worried about what is going to happen to you. I sincerely hope that tobacco peddling weasel smokes himself to death real soon.

I like zerelda's comments. Bryan Batt did an excellenct job of portraying discrimination on the job 1) he was discriminated for his sexual orientation and 2) for being sexually harassed at the time. The titile of the episode could have been called is there a Lawyer in the house. Sal still loves his job and what he believes in so of course he wouldn't sue.

I felt so for Sal...no matter what he does about getting propositioned, it will be bad.

I guess Don only stands by him when there's no money involved.

One thing about Don, when anyone hurts his pride, he's immediately on the prowl....happens every time.

It's about bloody time Matt... Thank you [for Miss Farrell]... Anyone know who the closing song was by? Excellent jazz. Thank you for that as well Dave.

I can't imagine someone like Sal of that era trying to sue a son of a famous tobacco tycoon. It would be out of Sal's character to ruin the reputation of Sterling Cooper even if he could. The scene ended with Sal late at night with thugs in the background. Hope he doesn't get hurt. It also seemed like he had a motive of some kind. If he has intentions of finding the harasser to make amends, I would definitely lose respect for Sal.

The song at the end was Prelude to a Kiss written by the legendary Duke Ellington. I believe that was Ella Fitzgerald singing, please correct me if I am wrong!
I don't agree that Sal just developed morals. The poor guy didn't stand a chance in that environment during those years. It was a matter of time and we all knew that.

My dear Zerelda, now now! At the rate all of our beloved characters are smoking, without a doubt they are sure to suffer the same fate. However, I do agree that Mr. Batt should remain on the show for he is a tremendous actor!!

SC fan, I did feel for Sal, too, and I am not going to make excuses for Don's lack of support for him. It was atrocious and unforgiveable, but Don is in way over his head and since he cannot run away, he has to strike out to try to save SC.
Roger is not going to do it; he's basically phoning it in while everyone else does the work.
Bert Cooper is not going to do it; he already knows Don is the only chance they have of saving the company as evidenced by his playing the Dick Whitman card to make Don sign the contract.

Harry Crane is the person who should have been fired, and he would have been if this had been the old SC. Roger would have fired both Sal and Harry, and Don would have saved Sal's job.
What I think Don should have done and would have done if he had not signed that contract is this: he should have gone to see Lee Garner, Jr. and threatened him much the same way as he did Bobbie Barret (not with his hand up Lee's pants leg, though!). Had he threatened to out Lee in select circles, he may have been successful in saving both the account and Sal's job. In either case, Don would have done what Don always does-save the day, but this is a new Don.
I'm beginning to think that Conrad Hilton could be the worst thing that could have happened to Don. He is basically trying to run SC and be Hilton's lapdog at he same time.
Matt Weiner told us to be prepared for choices the characters would make when confronted by change, and he did not lie!
I can't wait to see the rest of the season's episodes. Contract or no contract, I'll bet by the end of the season that Don will run or he will be unrecognizable by Season 4.

All due respect KathieMarie, but surely you can't compare
female, Bobbie Barret, agent and girlfriend to that comedian to Lee Garner, Jr. Ms. Barret like most of the women had the hots and a fling w/Don Juan whereas this bully as Sal calls him, is calling the shots and will stop at nothing to get his way.

1) homosexuality is immoral, at least to the God i believe in
2) there was no such thing in the 60's as discrimination or harassment, in the legal sense anyway
3) remember, this show takes place in the early to mid 60's. things were different then. as late as 1970, landlords had the say-so whether they rented to you if you had children. there was lots of what we call rights we have now that we did not have then.

Dear Sweet SugarMagnolia--Sal certainly did have a motive at the end of the episode. His motive was to get some "action." Gay men would "meet" other gay men in the park to satisfy their sexual urgings while still being able to maintain their heterosexual facade of a life.

lcwarne is correct. Sal will likely be killed off after rough sex in the park. Buh-bye...

Can someone explain to me how the writing has deteriorated to a 'soap' level and the characters have become stereotypical? Last night Don again picked up a hitch hiker, female runner in the middle of the night in 1964, how is that possible? Joggers in 1964, and it turns out to be his children's teacher wow that is certainly a reach.

Are there different writers this season? Really weak.

Bogart, I respect your opinion, but I don't think the writing has deteriorated to soap opera level at all. Yes, if you had been watching from the start, you would know it is the same writers. Miss Farrell is a 'type' of Joy from S2; Don asks her the same question he asked Joy, "Who are you?" As for running, it is symbolic of Don's running or the fact that he can't run now that he has signed the contract. Watch it a few more times, there is a lot going on here.

I don't understand why Don doesn't just chuck SC entirely and open his own agency....he's rich now and doesn't need the job there....why does he feel compelled to stay and take all the crap? Many Maddicts have posted this very thing in the past and who they think he will be able to take with him....I think Peggy and Pete would likely go, and Sal, of course, hopefully he will ask Joan, too.
JMO

Where are the writers? Don flirts. Betty flirts. Repeat. I'm a big fan, but this season is a little too predictable and uneventful. Regretfully disappointed.

I was a little disappointed in Betty's lack of adventure, or finishing what she started. Not that I don't agree with the locked office being a bit tawdry-but she could have met him somewhere else. The chemistry that was there when they first met seemed to wane everytimg she saw him after. I wonder if this is the end of Henry and Betty or just the beginning of another dalliance for Don. I can't help but feel the steam schoolteacher will reel Don in and cast him back out and keep him wanting more. They didn't build up several months of flirtation between these two for nothing. Sal, poor guy- I saw this one coming- he's going to meet with foul play in the park- people will wonder if Don knew?

I was a little disappointed in Betty's lack of adventure, or finishing what she started. Not that I don't agree with the locked office being a bit tawdry-but she could have met him somewhere else. The chemistry that was there when they first met seemed to wane everytimg she saw him after. I wonder if this is the end of Henry and Betty or just the beginning of another dalliance for Don. I can't help but feel the steam schoolteacher will reel Don in and cast him back out and keep him wanting more. They didn't build up several months of flirtation between these two for nothing. Sal, poor guy- I saw this one coming- he's going to meet with foul play in the park- people will wonder if Don knew?

I can't believe that this show has sucked me in that I'm writing on a blog. I love Sal and I can't believe that dog Don thinks he is so morally superior. As for Betty, she needs to get rid of her maid so that she's not so bored. It's funny the way she reacted to the woman. I know it's because she expected whatever his name is to show up, but I couldn't help but think this woman probably controls more of her own life than pretty Mrs Betty could ever dream of. Can't wait till next week. Tthis show makes me thankful that I'm a woman at this time in history.

I was shocked by the reality of the handling of Sal, but it is typical of the time. Business, although lenient for some employees, caters to the paying customer. Each week gets closer to the season end and I find myself wishing for a few more shows. Why cant we get 26 Weeks? I'd settle for a few less than stellar shows just to watch TV like I did so many years ago.

First time poster: I have to say I'm beginning to worry about the show's direction. This season doesn't seem to have an underlying theme other than Don is being slowly submerged by forces beyond his control. This seems to be a problem with critically acclaimed shows, for some reason they hit a " junior year " wall their third season. They start to rehash old story lines or make characters regress back to earlier behavior with no good explanation for why they would.

I thought both Roger and Don's desire to immediately fire Sal was a bit much. I can't believe either of them would just fire an employee with a long successful history so abruptly just because a client with obviously something to hide said they should. Don protected Paul from the mad as hell MSG people, and Roger reamed Pete but protected him from the angry guys at Admiral, and neither Paul nor Pete are Don or Roger's favorite. Another thing that is bothering me is the inconsistency of behavior from Don, he finds out about Sal, but tells him it's fine, just be careful, and then promotes him and even defends him against the can't make up their minds clients at Patio, then suddenly he's so disgusted that Sal didn't sleep with Lee Jr. that he fires him? I know the writers are trying to sell the audience on the idea that Don is under a lot of stress, but come on, the tongue lashings he gave Peggy and Betty and his over the top disdain for Roger ( Not completely believable either.) was enough to convey that.

I also question the validity of the comment about Lucky Strike being able to bankrupt the company, maybe back in the first season when as Duck later put it: They were struggling on the third tier of the industry. But not now that they are a subsidiary of a much bigger British firm and they clearly have a lot of big name companies through PPL on their portfolio as well as other ones like John Deere. It's as if the writers are trying to go back to the early first season episodes when the focus of the show was: Look how different things were in 1960 ! people were so unenlightened back then. Part of what makes the show great was that it decided that tack was not sustainable or very interesting over the long haul and decided to focus on story telling and character development. Just my 2 cents.

The closing music is Prelude to A Kiss by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, lyrics by Irving Gordon, and sung by Nnenna Freelon. It caught my ear right away. I had to listen to it a few times. What wonderful chords and lyrics, "If you hear a song in blue, Like a flower crying for the dew, That was my heart serenading you, My prelude to a kiss." Ms Freelon and the accompanying piano trio hit it out of the park! Uh, uh, uh!

How many episodes left?

Maybe Duck will take all the best from SC, especially Sal. Possibly, even, Don will take Hilton and set up on his own, although I can see him beginning to lose patience with the man who, like so many men with money and the power money holds, likes to ruin other people and bring them down by way of their profound unhappiness.

Isn't Don taking a risk by telling Betty he is going out to meet Hilton. Hilton is sure to call, so that Betty will know perfectly well Don is back to old tricks.

Didn't you love the way Sal directed the commercial? And the new clothes? Pete's coughing was the best comment on the product and the commercial, which quite frankly sucked (so the speak).

Sal is not going to get written out - not with the story line of his wife's shocking understanding.

Can't wait for the next episode. How are we going to pas the long winter months until MM returns?

14, Four episodes left, and we are at the same point we were last season with Roger forcing Don to help him fire Freddy Rumsen.

SC, Don is rich and, I suppose he could just quit and not work. He may well do that; sometimes I wish he would, too. But he signed that contract with a 3 year "non-compete" clause so he would not be able to work at all. I think as evidenced by his being ready to come home last season after only 3 weeks that he is a man who has to work. Then again, he didn't know that he had half a million dollars at that time last season!

wwddd, it is even more important now for SC not to lose a huge client like Lucky now that are under control of PPL. A loss like that could cost them their last vestiges of autonomy. Yes, I was surprised that Don took that risk, but he is very nearly at a "Midge let's go to Paris tonite" or a "Rachel, I have money, we can go anywhere" crisis point and has clearly "not thought this through"! Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but just like Seasons 1&2, the best is yet to come. Matt Weiner like Don Draper always satisfies.

Oh yeah, kathie, forgot about that pesky contract!

Ick...well, I guess they've got him over the barrel but good, huh? Too bad, he had to do that, but he really had no choice...unless he just comes clean to Betty about his identity (what Bert used to coerce him into signing) and get it over with....just a matter of time anyway before that gets outed. Might as well come from him.

Then he can just go to work for Hilton (depending on how he feels about identity theft, and will have him or not!) until that 3 years is up....maybe being his main honcho in charge of all those Hiltons, thus nothing to do with advertising.....

I thought for a long time Don/Dick's and Betty's marriage could be saved, now I just don't know....he seems to care about it less and less. Of course, she has just decided what's good for the goose is good for the gander now, so it's kinda pathetic actually.

I think the dynamic between Don and Connie is causing Don some major heartburn. They started out as friends but now Connie has become more of a father figure to him, he even thinks of Don as is son. Don feels the same way about him, and then Don gets rejected by Connie as he gets blasted for ignoring his desire to include the moon as a destination in the campaign. Don was practically pleading for his approval after everyone else left the room. Is Don looking for some unconditional love here? Any thoughts?

In the early sixties, the scientific community still considered homosexually a mental disease. If you were gay, you were fair game for discrimination, police brutality, etc.; being outed could be the kiss of death. We always want to apply modern day ethics to the horror stories of the past; therefore, I applaud Mad Men for taking a realistic approach to this issue.

By the way, having seen Darren Pettie on Broadway and in "Taking Woodstock", I was delighted to see him on Mad Men. He is a great actor and makes a great villain. Kudos to Mad Men for bringing in fresh talent.

Watching Roger, then Don, fire Sal hurt my heart. I've been thinking about this and came up with the following: if Don had stood by Sal and confronted Lee(Lucky Strike Guy), Lee might have turned the situation around and said that Sal came on to him. Who would SC believe? The $25 million man or Sal? Either way Sal has lost this round.

Bryan Bratt played his scenes so heart- wrenchingly it brought me to tears.

Another thought, I don't think Sal was on the "prowl" after he made the phone call. From what we know, the bellboy was his first encounter, but he might look like easy prey by those rough looking guys hanging around the phone booth.

I do hope we see more of Sal in the future - MM wouldn't be the same without him.

Does anyone know who the singer/song that played as the screen went to black at the end this past week's episode?

It was a slow bluesy jazzy number. It sounded like Dinah Washington or Sarah Vaughn....
Please help, I must have it!

Dear Detail-Obsessed Producers!
You outdid yourselves on historical accuracy in Ep. 9: Henry Francis's return address on his note to Betty is Whippoorwill Road in Chappaqua NY. I grew up in Chappaqua in the Mad Men 60s. Whippoorwill indeed exists and the town address -- Chappaqua 14, New York -- is accurate too. Well done!
Matthew Weiner: did we know each other at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua? Go, Quakers!

Drea Besch

It was a rare person in 1963 who didn't harbor a deep, unexamined prejudice against gays. Even extremely open-minded people of that day would have been shocked to learn that one of their co-workers was gay. Sadly, the way Sal is treated in this episode is inevitable. Any more tolerant treatment would seem quite unrealistic.