Mad Men - "A Tale of Two Cities" - Review

Don Draper is getting old. His clean-cut, classically handsome good looks are beginning to feel more and more out of place. He’s a man of another generation, another time, and he is being replaced. He and Betty and Roger, and everyone who’s from the generation born and bred on the old code of the postwar United States are being outstripped by a younger generation.

Now let’s talk about instant milk for a moment. Don and Roger go out to settle an account for an instant breakfast company Carnation dissatisfied with the ad campaign for instant milk. What is instant milk? It’s a substitute; it can never really replace real milk. But it’s presumably less costly, and it’s convenient. It’s certainly got its advantages (not that I’d ever use it). It’s stepping in to fill the role of something else. Throughout the episode we find that happening constantly. 

But this is the story of Don Draper. Dick Whitman stepped into the part of Don Draper, took his identity and his life. Don is an opportunist of the first order. He’s consistently looked for ways to advance and better himself and often by putting himself into some role that needs to be filled or creating one from thin air. His initial employment at Sterling Cooper is one of many instances of this.  

Early on in the episode, the partners find themselves unable to choose a name for the new company. Cutler puts it plainly, “If we don’t choose a name, the world will”. It’s a statement that finds resonance throughout the hour. Those who take charge, who try to drive their own destiny and make something of themselves find opportunities and advance themselves, while anyone else is replaced or left behind. We see this most prominently of Joan in this episode, but we have also seen that all season long in Bob Benson. 

Bob has been hanging around on the fringes of this season until recent episodes, but there’s been one thing clear from the start. He’ll take advantage of any circumstance to better his position. He’s an opportunist, much like how the Carnation Instant Breakfast company executive derides Richard Nixon for being one. This pays off when an enraged Cutler has Bob go with Ginsberg to handle the Manischewitz account. Cutler, of course, himself is being an opportunist, taking this chance to pull one over on the SCDP side of the company. Now Bob finds himself the account man on the Chevy account. Bob just keeps getting his foot in the door with everyone around him. Now he’s done it by stepping into the role of Cutler. From the looks of his yelling at Ginsberg, Bob Benson isn’t a completely the nice guy he makes himself out to be (There’s something to be said here about appearances and how by filling a certain role, you have to play the part and make people see you the way you want them to). 

Ironically enough, the biggest opportunist there is (until Bob now) Pete Cambell finds opportunities closing around him at every turn. Cambell was ruthlessly effective at getting and keeping accounts, hence his position as head of accounts. But now Pete has lost accounts, his wife and his sense of grounding. By episodes end he’s no longer in the name of the company; he’s been replaced by simply “partners”. 

But the big story here is about how Joan foresees a chance to win over a client and have them answer to her. A friend sets her up on a date with a marketing executive from Avon (a reference to the notion of appearances and deception) and Joan jumps at the chance to get this client for the company. But when it becomes apparent that Pete will take all the credit for this account, she cuts him out of the meeting; she fills that role.  

Peggy is not enthused by this at all. In a fantastic scene, Peggy criticizes Joan for not working her way up to accounts. But Joan points out how she’s essentially been working accounts her whole time at the company. Peggy never had to replace anyone; she was given an opportunity certainly but it was a completely new position she was placed into. This doesn’t, however, stop Peggy from helping Joan out of a tight spot by sending the secretary to call Joan out of her difficult meeting with Ted and Pete over her course of actions. 

There’s also interesting things in the episodes about expectations versus reality. Everyone expects the Democrats to propose a plan at the national convention for getting out of the war in Vietnam. Peggy expects Ted to give Joan the account. Don expects his trip to California to be invigorating but instead it leaves him sick, tired and with a near-death experience. I bring up this new theme of discussion because dear lord at times I had no clue what was up with the Don storyline once we got to the party. Don has a bad drug trip and starts hallucinating crazy shit, including seeing himself dying. I guess seeing Meghan could sort of be tied back to the previously discussed ideas of replacement, deception and filling a role but I would sort of just be bullshitting you there. Roger’s storyline with a returning former employee Danny fits the thematic bill more, but in general the California stuff feels a bit more disconnected. But it does get us some great Roger Sterling one liners so we can all live with that. 

However, the ending to Don’s story fits into the issue of being real versus being fake. “Dying doesn’t make you whole, you should see what you look like,” the dead soldier tells Don in his drug trip. Don keeps filling the void of his unhappiness as if that’s comparable to actually dealing with his dissatisfaction. It’s not. Instant milk isn’t milk. Joan isn’t an accountant even though she does accounts. Bob isn’t a nice guy but an opportunist. We’re all would-be opportunist, until we get let down and stuck on a couch smoking some confiscated pot.  

Stray Thoughts:

-This episode was directed by John Slatterly, the actor who plays Roger, and once again it’s another great episode from him.

-The thematic stuff on divisions to me felt too slight and passing to really make it worth mentioning in detail. It’s there, but it feels more of plot interest than thematic.

-The sound design in Don’s drug trip was phenomenal and totally eerie.

-SC&P it is; though I feel like there’s better name in there somewhere.

-“Why are you always down here!”
-I've never been a big fan with how Mad Men deals with its California storylines and I feel similarly here. Also, it's drug trips are starting to become uninteresting. 

Grade: B+