It’s almost as if they’re pushing Don to the same fate. He’s a relic of an old era, one not dominated by Jim Cutler and free of computers. It’s fitting that the office creative room in tonight’s episode is destroyed to house a new IBM computer. It’s a symbolic gesture that’s way more literal than this show usually delivers. You can interpret it as it lies on the surface, another example of the shifting times and how the old guard is becoming outdated and obsolete, but I prefer to think of the creative room being representative of Don, being removed for Lou Avery, a cold machine, but an effective tool. There’s no emotional outbursts or drunken antics with a machine. Peggy, taking the lead on the Burger Chef account, is given Don as a part of her creative team, and the tension couldn’t be any higher. Peggy refuses to meet Don in his office, instead calling him to hers. Don skips the meeting she calls to play solitaire. Peggy doesn’t want to work with Don, and Don couldn’t be any less thrilled to be working under his former protégé. He purposely neglects the work she assigns, and Peggy can’t even get excited about a new raise or the big new opportunity because she’s worried about the partner’s intentions behind pairing her with Don the unwanted. It takes Freddy Rumsen, of all people, to get Don to quit brooding and boozing over his current situation. “They want you to kill yourself,” he says of the partners. They want Don to self-destruct again or get bored and leave so it can make the office less crowded and complicated. Rumsen tells Don that if he wants to get back on top, he has to do the work, which means doing Peggy’s work. Don needs to hear this. Just like with his marriage, Don wants things to return to the status quo without doing any of the heavy lifting to get there. This might speak to the privilege that people like Don are accustomed to. There’s only three episodes left of Mad Men this year and if the Don Draper Redemption Song is going to keep being sung, then he’s going to need to quit acting like a petulant child and demonstrate some real value. He needs to put his ego aside and make a real effort, at his job and in his marriage. Times are changing, but hard work and dedication will never go out of style. The Best of the Rest – Pete lands the Burger Chef account by running into George, a former employee of Vick’s, Pete’s old account. His appearance is another example of the show offering relics of its past in its last hours. – Pete also learns that Tom, Trudy’s father, has had a heart attack. – Ginsberg and Don move a couch, which made me realize that I could watch a whole episode of them moving furniture together. – Don is seen reading Portnoy’s Complaint, a novel that definitely seems like it would speak to him. – Lou Avery is deeply threatened by Don working on accounts, and he also gives Peggy a raise, but that still doesn’t mean that I like him. – Trust in Don is so low that Roger checks his attendance with his secretary daily. – “Meet the Mets” is sung by a sloshed Don Draper It’s truly a sight. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
