Mad Men Retro-Perspective S6:E4

Welcome back! In this week's Mad Men Retro-Perspective, we'll be continuing to follow along with Mad Men Replay. So be sure to do a quick scan of the notes, questions, and fun facts about this episode, then pour yourself a (strong) cocktail and join the live-tweet!

This week we'll be covering S6:E4 and starting at 10pm, but next week we have a double whammy: episodes 5 AND 6, starting at 9pm! Tag your snarky tweets with #mmr to appear on the Mad Men Replay feed with all of the other clever viewers. 

If you have any questions or remarks (been using that term ever since watching Roger's mom's funeral), please leave a comment or contact me on Twitter. Happy reading!

In a show all about adultery, this episode is all about adultery. We've seen Don cavort with a variety of women over the years, and most of those affairs occurred while he was married. Last season was literally the only season in which Don only had one sexual partner (and you see how that turned out). 

So what makes this episode notable? Every storyline, even Peggy's, deals with disloyalty and breaking a bond. We have Don cheating with Sylvia, Megan "cheating" with her co-star, Scarlett cheating with Dawn, Kate cheating on her husband, Don cheating on Beans (his name is Raymond, but Beans is better), Peggy cheating on her friendship with Stan...the list goes on. 

Why does this matter? The consequences are different for everyone. So as you watch, take note of how each character's "adultery" affects them by the end of the episode. Observe where the gap is narrowing when it comes to gender equality...and where it isn't. You know where the characters end up at the end of the season. How does this episode get them there?

S6:E4 To Have and To Hold

• What did you think of Pete's awkward offer of his apartment for Don? Why do you think he does things like that? What does it tell you about the way Pete views himself and his relationship to Don (even after all these years)?
• How is Dawn different from Don's other secretaries? (Don't be crass, you goon.) How is she similar? Judging by her scenes with her friend, what do you think her goals are? How do these differ from Joan's in the Sterling Cooper days?
• Is it just me, or has the chemistry between Don and Sylvia increased since the last episode? Do you think we're witnessing the effects of their agreement to keep things simple and not fall in love? Knowing how Sylvia later ends the affair, how would you say each of them do, holding up that agreement?
• What do you think about Joan's friend, Kate? And my god, how great would it be to be close personal friends with Joan?
• How does this new "neurotic" Ken Cosgrove compare to the Kenny we met at the beginning of the series? Would you say he is becoming more fleshed out, or is he being used as a foil to other characters, as he has been for most of the series (Pete particularly)?
• What exactly do you think is going on between Harry and Scarlett?
• What was your reaction when Arlene told Megan she was going to have a love scene? Did you think about Don, or did it take you a second?
• When Arlene said they should all go to dinner to help make Don "comfortable", did anyone else think, "Oh shit, that's the swinger scene"?
• How likable do you find Megan? What would you say are her defining qualities? How do these complement Don's? Why do you think their marriage doesn't generally work?
• How did you like the interaction between Joan and Meredith? Did it make you think of a plane crash?
• Do you think the Broadway Joe approach is a good strategy for Dow? Just curious.
• What do you think about Harry's quality of work? Do you think his demands for advancement are reasonable? How does this scenario compare to Season 2, when he was first promoted to the Head of the Television Department? Why do you think Roger and Bert are unwilling to make him a partner?
• Was Joan being too harsh when she fired Scarlett? Do you think everyone at SCDP still treats Joan like a secretary, or is that just her emotional reaction to Harry undermining her authority?
• Which was the better Ketchup pitch, Don's or Peggy's? Why?
• Do you think Don ever brushes his damned teeth before he crawls back into bed with Megan after sleeping with Sylvia?
• Should Megan have kept the love scene a secret from Don? Would he have known? What would Betty have done? What is the best approach when dealing with Don?

• As a Tom and Lorenzo convert, I find it VERY difficult to unsee all of the blue and green, and it's especially obvious in this episode: Pete's apartment (down to all three of their suits), Joan and Dawn when Scarlett gets fired, and Scarlett and Harry. Oddly enough, "cheating" is involved in all three of these examples: Don and Pete secretly meet with Ketchup behind Beans' back in Pete's love-pad (and Ketchup makes a rather overt reference to his own adultery), Dawn and Scarlett get caught in a liaison behind Joan's back, and Harry and Scarlett are OBVIOUSLY sleeping together ("Harry has great ideas." "We ARE attached."). See what I mean?
• Kate was double-double-timing: she went out in the city with Joan intending to cheat on her husband, and she was in the city to meet with Avon without Mary Kay's knowledge.
• Both Peggy and Megan are tossing around Don's token phrases. Peggy uses his favorite "Change the conversation" line during her Heinz pitch (much to Don's chagrin), and Megan (unknowingly) throws out that she could have kept the love scene from him and it would have been like "it never happened".
• More and more smoking Megan. Even Arlene, the not-so-subtle-swinger lady made a comment!
• We had three ladies in black and white this episode: Sylvia in the elevator with Don, Megan in her maid's costume, and Joan the day she gave Dawn her new responsibilities. 
• In the scene Kate and Joan have dinner with Joan's mom, Joan says, "You should come more often. Turns out someone is proud of me." This very closely mirrors the scene in S2 when Father Gill has Sunday dinner at Anita's house and Peggy says, "I'm glad you're here, Father. I didn't know they knew what I do."
• Ketchup may have been the client in this episode, but Harry, Stan, and Ted were all in mustard.
• Don has always been extremely hypocritical when it comes to jealousy and his wives. Remember that time he was SO UPSET about Betty letting that AC salesman in the house even though he started sleeping with Rachel the episode before? Yeah.
• Don makes an joke about how they would have "bask(ed) in the afterglow" if he and Megan had taken up Mel and Arlene's offer, probably meaning that they would have woken up hungover with makeup smeared all over their faces. Joan and Kate actually DO wake up the next morning hungover with makeup smeared all over their faces. 
• Joan tells Kate she can go home now, and she'll "find everything right where it belongs". This is very close to the advice Carla gives Betty in S2 when she kicks Don out of the house. 
• Shoutout to Scarlett's boots! She must have seen that cute photographer's assistant wearing them in E1 and bought a pair.
• While the Broadway Joe show never came to fruition in real life, Joe Namath did have a talk show. Watch here to see why it only lasted one season. I mean, really.