Ep 6 Character Thoughts
Heck of an episode. Each of the characters that were featured revealed something about themselves that helps us know them better and leaves us even more curious as to what will happen.
Don Draper- the secret to his success so far has been his ability to compartmentalize his life and his thoughts. He has kept his true identity and personal life a secret and now both are in danger of being revealed.
As has been the case for the past few weeks, Bobbie Barrett has been the catalyst for revelation in Don's life. We know that Don's mother was a prostitute and we have inferred that Betty is the mother he wanted, and wants for his children. However Don has an image of a "mother" as a non-sexual being- Madonna/Whore; Betty/Bobbie. Bobbie's casual revelation about her own children has forced Don to see Bobbie as both a whore and a mother. The 2 sides of his female image have come together for him and he is scared. Don's attempt at dominating Bobbie is his attempt at putting the 2 images back in their proper places in his mind. He doesn't want her to talk because he doesn't want anything else to intrude on the images he has created in his mind. When he sees Betty in the yellow bikini, the 2 images again crash into each other and again he suddenly acts out by calling Betty "desperate". He leaves her looking like she is about to break down, so devastating was his remark.
Bobbie's comment that she found out about his prowess from someone else was shocking to Don. Not because he had earned a reputation, but because he now realized that separate data points that have made up his private life are now being connected. It is only a small step and a matter of time before a connection between private and public can be made. The house of cards will come tumbling down for him- and this is terrifying because he has spent the last 15 years carefully keeping the different parts of his life separate, unconnected and distinct. Don has already made the decision to sever his relationship with Bobbie. Given what we know of Bobbie's personality, a spiteful act should not be ruled out as her form of retaliation.
The final scene with his daughter- "I won't talk, so you don't hurt yourself" My first thought that was this was a direct reference to Bobbie. The contrast between Sally's innocence, Bobbie's sexual attraction and his infidelity. He looked at himself in the mirror, then at his razor, then at his image again. His expression changed to one of abject terror and he told his daughter to leave him alone. While he also made the connection between all 3 elements, I also think he flashed back to a previous episode in his life. I think he may have tried to commit suicide and was institutionalized for a period of time. In this light, Don's comment to Peggy regarding how easy it is to forget something traumatic makes much more sense.
Unless Don has an epiphany and does change his ways, we are starting to see clues that maybe he is headed for some kind of breakdown.
If we had any sympathy for Pete Campbell it has disappeared. He is a self-absorbed jerk. When he looked at himself in the mirror after coming home from his tryst, he had a little smile on his face as if to say, look at me, I got away with it again. I don't think there will be anyone who will be unhappy to see his marriage dissolve. He is still attracted to Peggy, and to a certain extent she may be attracted to him. I expect more unresolved personal issues to surface between the 2 of them.
Peggy is still trying to fit in. She is slowly realizing that she has to be more aggressive in creating opportunities for herself rather than waiting for things to come to her. Since this is essentially uncharted water for her, she will make mistakes- showing up at the strip club and then sitting on the client's lap was one of them. It will be interesting to see how her character develops in the coming weeks.
Joan had a very minor role this week, but we found out that she does seem to like Peggy. Peggy came to Joan and asked for help. Joan admitted that Peggy has surpassed her in the office- then said something interesting "You haven't listened to anything I've said to you". She has been trying to help Peggy all along and now maybe Peggy will realize it and come to regard Joan as a resource.
Duck Phillips was shown to be a person in distress. We have found out just how close he is to falling apart. He has been sober for 18mos after his alcoholism destroyed his family and marriage. For the past 18mos he has held on to the thought that he was slowly recovering and eventually his life would be back to what it was. It was a fantasy that he needed in order to get through what was a very difficult time. All at once the fantasy was torn apart, he realized his family was not going to reunite and he was going to be alone. No wonder he thought about taking a drink, and his dog reminded him of what he had lost. His despicable decision to turn Chauncey out to the street was probably an act of vengeance directed at himself, his life and his future. (While I have no sympathy for PETA, I was appalled that he turned out the dog. But if true, I suspect the dog would be in new home within a week or 2. Either he would be taken in within few days, or he would have ended up in the dog pound. A purebred dog at the shelter would shine like a diamond in the rough and would be adopted almost immediately.)
While Sterling told Duck and Don to make peace, he admitted his fright and vulnerability to Don in their conversation. I think his frank admission shocked Don and for the time being they will get along in the office.
Betty wants to be regarded as a sexual person. Her annoyance when her children interrupted her flirting with Arthur and then her appearance in the yellow bikini were all about sexual repression. She is simmering and will soon boil over.
Once again, just my random thoughts. This episode raised so many questions that I hope will be resolved in future episodes.
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Great post, rl1856. The Madonna/Whore thing with Don occurred to me during the Valentine's Day scene where Betty's wearing black lace...Don suddenly can't perform. Hmm.
The network of women that Don has bedded makes this a very small world and Don finds himself up on the radar. From Bobbie's comments, he's shocked into the realization that no man is an island. I'm afraid Bobbie is in love with Don and will not be rejected. There could be hang up calls to the house, harassment at work, threats to expose the affair to Jimmy and/or Betty...and maybe a boiled bunny??
a pure bred dog will not shine like a diamond in the rough at the pound. The shelters are filled with pure bred dogs every day. Take a walk through some of your local shelters, You will see how many pure bred's you see there. No dog in the pound is ever adopted within a day. Some dogs languish there for weeks before they are killed, some are dead within 5 days. A lucky few, purebred and mix make it out. If it were not for the rescue groups, pure breed and mixed hardly any dogs would make it out of the shelters alive.
Also, I know a lot of people do not like Peta. I am not a member but I support the work they do in getting animals out of research labs, dealing with animal abuse and dog fighting. Recently 30 beagles were saved from a life of horror in the research labs by Peta and placed at an animal sanctuary.
As far as the dog being sent loose, I was not surprised. That was common in those days, although probably not for pure bred dogs. Chauncey was turned loose in Manhattan, not in the backwoods of the Bronx. He likely was picked up by someone within a very short period of time.
Annie, you are applying today's standards to the dog situation. In 1962, not all towns even had animal shelters. I don't know if new York did or not, but with all the hundreds of people in from of the building where Duck turned him loose, I'm sure that obviously healthy and well-cared for Chauncey was snatched up by someone.
In my opinion, PETA are terrorists. I don't believe in abusing animals, but I don't believe in PETA' abusive tactics either. People need to have their pets spayed and neutered - we have more dogs and cats in this country than people and that is ridiculous.
I made a lot of these same observations on a different thread, however I said them in a much more compact way. Many good points ,but do you see all the mirror comparisons? I agree with annie. Although I know why they used the dog as a plot point, I was totally upset, being a rescuer of any animal that comes my way. My dog for the last 9 years was set for the gas chamber before we rescued her, she's been the best dog I've ever had. Read mirror images
good analysis rl1856. I agree that Don's reaction to his daughter's statement in the bathroom was the result of some remembered trauma in Don's earlier life. What was it? Don told Betty that his dad beat the hell out of him, which made him look forward to the day that he could kill him. Something to do with his father's abuse, or maybe things got worse after his father died?
I thought his Don's reaction to Sally's statement in the bathroom (and the look on his face when he stood at the Memorial Day celebration during the veteran's tribute) were more about how he saw his daughter perceiving him. That is, he's realizing that the veneer is slipping. People can see through him and his daughter will soon be one of them.
I can't help but parallel this to the Sopranos episode where Meadow, now a young woman deciding on a college to attend goes off with Tony on a exploratory tour and she really gets what her father is all about. She asks questions of him and he knows that she's too smart not to figure it all out.
I think Don is seeing that Sally is smart -- and while she's just totally adoring her daddy right now, she's going to see through him down the road. I also think that he realizes that his daughter will grow up and date men, perhaps men like him and that he's shaping her perception of men for the future. Girls do grow up to look for their daddies in the men they date. When that relationship is flawed (or worse), it can be devastating.
I agree with Zebra. Additionally, the Maidenform ad pitch was built on the premise that women want to see themselves through the window of the male perspective. I also think, in that moment with Sally in the bathroom, Don was hit with the realization the these women are also daughters. And Sally may one day be at the receiving end of the same treatment he's been doling out to the many women in his life.
Chauncey is, indeed, a diamond in the "ruff" and I hope that the show gives us happy information about him. Bless the beasts and the children!
rl - yours is surely one of the most incisive recaps out there. VERY well done on all points. Not much for me to say here - you've hit each story line nail on the head!
I agree about everything and agree with everyone else...you hit every story's important parts. I must say though, that I don't think Peggy made a mistake going to the club.
Duck Phillips was shown to be a person in distress what kind of dog is Chauncy
PETA kills 90% of the animals brought to their shelters, therefore they get 0% support from me.
Chauncy was an Irish Setter.
"I won't talk so you won't hurt yourself." is what I recall Sally saying. Place that against what he told Bobbie, "I told you not to talk." Bobbi won't. She already knows he can be violent.
But Sally looking up at him innocently, trusting, first at the recognition of veterans and later in the bathroom is reminiscent of Chauncy looking up at Duck. In both cases, the man sees inside himself that he's not worthy of that trust. But I don't think Don would have dumped Chauncy that way. It's not that Don thinks Sally will come to distrust him, it's more that he feels he's not worthy of it.
Don has his philandering compartamentalized within itself. He doesn't like women talking/comparing him to others. Rachel didn't know about Midge, Bobbi apparently didn't know about Rachel. But she had heard about him from another woman and heaven only knows how many other women that woman had talked to. He likes to think that their only connection is with him, not with one another.
If Peggy continues to dress in this more "grown-up" way, what do you think Don will think of her? Will it turn him off because of how he previously perceived her? Like an Irene Dunn? Hmmm...
Am I the only one who noticed that when Bobbi stayed with Peggy, she changed her clothes three times, and at the end when she went to ask Don for the bail money, she was in a very tailored blue shirt and slender skirt, with gold earrings.
I'm not trying to over think this, but perhaps she's Billy Budd - an innocent on board a man's ship....
No, I did not notice Peggy's change of clothing. Interesting.
Did you notice Don was wearing a jacket when he came home after the Country Club event on Memorial Day when everyone was saying how hot outside it was. Why a jacket?
And why have that scene at all of him drinking from the milk bottle and looking out the window?
Don had 2 major breaks involving Sallie looking up adoringly at him: first as he's hailed as a heroic veteran, which sent him straight to Bobbi, and then in the bathroom, which just sent him close to the edge. I found a little mroe hope in the second instance - at least he's starting to see the truth in himself.
If Don were a loser, with no job or money, he would probably be sexually fantasizing about a free spirit like Midge, or Rachel the business woman, or Bobbi the floozy - women he could never attain. Since he is Don Draper, he can have these women sexually and fullfill his sexual fantasies. He gets upset when the fantasy hits a bump. Midge not being quite the free spirit, Rachel not interested, and Bobbi not only a floozy but a mother as well, and to boot she is commiserating about him to others. Things that aren't part of the fantasy. Then he goes home to Betty and has real issues, and real problems of being a husband, and father and he can't handle it.
The madonna/whore complex is an interesting one. This was reflected in this episode in more that just the Playtex campaign. As someone already pointed out, Bobbi suddenly had kids coming out of the woodwork, ruining Don's fantasy of her as an ex-prostitute. Suddenly, she reveals her self to be a mother to a son and a daughter and that seems to really rattle Don. She crosses the line from whore to madonna. Then, he freaks when he sees Betty wearing that bikini. She is a married woman with a son and a daughter (hm, just like Bobbi). She can't cross the line from madonna to whore. After seeing her talking to Arthur at the country club, he must be starting to wonder, if Betty could possibly turn into Bobbi. What do you think?
KaeSyraShiraz....
Peggy's changes of clothing were one of the few ways to identify the passage of time. While Bobbi laid around in the red slip (one of the few things she had to wear), Peggy set her up in the apartment and went to work (not sure how many days, but at least one). There were three distinct changes (plaid blouse/solid skirt, pink shirtwaist, blue sweater/skirt), then she wore the blue blouse and skirt the day she asked Don to pay her back the bail money. So the period seen on the show covered at least five business days.
Another way I note time passage is to watch the men's ties in the office. The shirts are always white and the palette for their suits so tight they don't help...the ties are the key.