This week's "Mad Men" review arrives a bit late in the week, as Johnny Firecloud is currently hopping around Europe - time apparently moves differently over there. Apologies.
If you love "Mad Men" like I do, if you've been pensively cheering on Don Draper's newfound quest to gain stability and control in his life once more, Sunday night's episode was nothing short of a gut-punch.
Three episodes from the end of Season 4, the seams are splitting and the wheels are coming off the hellbound carriage known as Sterling Draper Cooper Price. The episode's title, "Hands and Knees," is rife with metaphorical interpretations, and for all the right reasons.
Let's just blast through these points, because the implications are far too severe and far-reaching to get lost in indulgent analysis of nuance. In short, the castle looks to be crumbling in rapid, devastating fashion. Following Joan and Roger's post-mugging tryst, she discovers that she's pregnant. Roger handles it like a businessman would, looking for a quick fix and barely batting a nervous eyelash. Joan, naturally, isn't quite as coldly logical, but doesn't want a bastard child who believes that her (inevitably doomed) Vietnam-bound husband is its father. Will she go through with the abortion, despite the social stigma (she can't even go to her own doctor) and her longtime connection to Roger?
Speaking of Roger, he's dealt the most serious of blow when Lee Garner Jr., the arrogant prick dealmaking heir for Lucky Strike, unceremoniously pulls out of their longstanding lifeline-supporting deal with SDCP. Panicked at the short notice, Roger lies to his partners at the office when asked on the status of the account, offering only a thumbs up.
Lane, the London contingent of SDCP, receives an unexpected visit from his father rather than his anticipated reunion with his young son. The distinguished codger has leaped across the pond to bring his son home, to "make his family whole again," and it appalled when he comes to realize that Lane has actually fallen hard for a black waitress at the Playboy club. Despite Lane's initial laughing refusal to return to his homeland, a serious cane-beating from the elder Pryce (resulting in flowing blood from the head) sets the younger businessman in line. He announces a leave of absence from the company, beginning immediately.
All that melodrama was just the appetizer for the main course of devastation, unfortunately. The dual identities of Don Draper and Dick Whitman all but implode, with the secret of the man's history on the verge of being discovered when SDCP lands a prospective client in the Department of Defense. They're no slouches at vetting their associates, and in a time of Red hysteria and all-time-high Communist paranoia, the government suits are going to great lengths to make sure that they're dealing with real Americans.
The problem, of course, is that the real Don Draper is dead. When Don the impostor catches wind of the DoD's investigation - specifically that they went to his wife's home and questioned her for 40 minutes on his details - his worst fears are realized. The cool Draper facade completely dissolves, leaving a terrified, panicked and hyperventilating Dick Whitman scrambling to find any kind of solution - even if it means leaving his whole world behind and going on the run.
As it turns out, Pete Campbell - conveniently the only soul in the office who knows the truth about Don - has a friend at the DoD. The problem can go away, he explains, but only if SDCP abandons the $4 million account they'd just landed with the government. Naturally, Don is wildly enthusiastic about the prospect, unaware that Lucky Strike is on the chopping block. Pete is incredulous that he would be expected to sacrifice the account to save Don's hide, and you'd better believe that it's no casual favor when he actually takes personal responsibility for the loss of the account - rather than spill Draper's secret. His pious devotion to the job doesn't completely erase from our memories the first impression we were given of Pete - that of an antagonistically juvenile, jealous and hungry player in the ad game.
The fast-budding relationship between Don and Faye deepens exponentially when he shares his darkest secret with her, and her reaction is maternal and caressing. Unfortunately, not moments after we find ourselves finally warming up to the idea as a couple do we come to realize that their furthered connection is more a side-effect of the crisis than the driving force of his heart at play, as we come to find in the final moments of Sunday's episode.
We need look no further than the final scene to see if Don is able to shake off the temporary terror and get back to the dysfunctionality of "normal" - the episode closes on him while staring at Megan with the eyes of a hungry wolf sizing up its prey. Miss Blankenship had been around just long enough for us to forget Don's complete lack of self-control around his more pulchritudinous secretaries.
As a diehard "Mad Men" fan, I've gotta say I'm not looking forward to Sunday's upcoming episode at all. Not because of waning interest, but because the downturn has begun, and things simply cannot get much better before they get much, much worse. The government may be off Dick/Don's back (for now at least), but SDCP is in a tailspin that it may not be able to pull out of. Fingers crossed!
Catch up on our previous "Mad Men" episode recaps from Season 4 below.
Review: Mad Men 4.09 'The Beautiful Girls'
Review: Mad Men 4.08 'The Summer Man'
Review: Mad Men 4.07 'The Suitcase'
Review: Mad Men 4.06 'Waldorf Stories'
Review: Mad Men 4.05 'The Chrysanthemum and the Sword'
Review: Mad Men 4.04 'The Rejected'
Review: Mad Men 4.03 'The Good News'
Review: Mad Men 4.02 'Thank You For Bringing My Keys'
Review: Mad Men 4.01 'Public Relations'
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