Mad Men Season 1 Episode 9

Mad Men Season 1 Episode 9: Shoot

            The episode opened with both Don and Betty at an event in the city. Jim the owner of a rival ad agency goes and meets both of them, Don gets hauled away for drinks by Jim’s wife while Betty and Jim start talking. Betty let’s out that she used to do a little modeling and misses it, at which point Jim starts in by offering her a chance for a modeling opportunity at his office. The next day at Don’s office, there is a gift from Jim waiting for him. Don now has to decide if it is worth leaving his current advertisement job for one with Jim in which he has plenty of large clients, money and people to work for him. At home, Betty is modeling for her friend all of the dresses that had been designed for her when she used to model. After which she decides that she would not mind taking up the offer to try out for the modeling job with Jim.

            When Betty showed up for the audition, she was accepted right away and they got started with the pictures. At the office, Don gets another gift from Jim this time it’s golf clubs and Roger mentions giving Don a raise. A few days later, Don gets another package from Jim and this time it is the photos of Betty modeling. Don looks at them and storms for Rogers office demanding the raise and no commitment. Don then calls Jim and tells him that he won’t take the job, when Jim replies with being sorry to lose both Don and Betty.

            One of the themes that has been going throughout the season and is continued in this episode is that of contentment. Don seems to be finding himself happy with his job and with Betty, but Betty seemed to want to find out if she really wanted to do something besides being stuck at the house all day. Biblically we know that we should look to God for all answers, to seek God in all things for we know that God is everything!

Mad Men Season 1 Episode 6

Mad Men Season 1 Episode 6

            The story of Don and his relationship with his wife begins to unfold, in how he seems to be resisting something when he is with her, yet he still seems to be pleased with her all the while she is desiring him more and more. Babylon, the title of this episode starts with him making a breakfast tray and bringing it up to the bedroom when he slips and falls on a toy at which point sends the tray and everything on it into disarray. Later that night, Don and Betty joke about it as they are going to bed and she admits to loving him more and more. Another relationship however is unfolding as the next day at the office shows. Roger’s wife and daughter show up at the office because his daughter is getting a haircut, when Joan comes along and shows them around to some places. The relationship that unfolds however is Joan and Roger, when admittedly Roger wants to divorce his wife and run away with Joan and she on the other hand likes her life just the way it is.

            We see as well, the relationship between Don and Rachel, the Jewish department store owner whom has apparently taken a liking to Don and admits as much to her sister over the phone stating that her father would not like the man that she had met. In the mean time, Peggy has begun to make her name known as a creative person, she developed a name for a client when they were trying out a bunch of different lipsticks and she called the trashcan a basket full of kisses, referring to all of the tissue’s with lipstick kisses on them.

            The whole episode seems to be continuing this idea of how unhappy people are with themselves and with the things that they surround themselves with. The smaller themes that I have been commenting on in these last episodes I think have barely brushed the surface of what is happening with these characters. Every time that I watch this show, I get this growing sense of angst where I feel so caught up in the lies, the unrest and the frustration I know I have when things like this happen to me. See, these characters, Don, Betty, Peggy, Joan, Roger and the rest of them are so caught up in the moment of the time. They are so focused on doing the things that make them happy and in trying to maintain that happiness, not just for themselves but for others as well. We see Don trying to appease his wife when he is at the house, doing things for her and yet we wonder why he hardly speaks when she says she loves him. Then he goes and talks it out with midge and somehow with Rachel. Roger has the same thing with Joan, he does not seem to be able to control or be happy with his wife so he seeks out an attractive entertaining soul whom is willing to sleep with him. But no one seems to be able to control or maintain the thoughts or feelings that they have, which is why I sit here watching this episode and saying to myself, when is this all going to hit the fan? Even Peggy in this episode seems to be growing more and more distant as she becomes happier with the job that she has. I can’t tell if the theme however is unrest, or trying to hide from their true feelings or even it’s them trying to control what they feel.

            

Mad Men Season 1 Episode 5

Mad Men Season 1 Episode 5: 5G

            The episode starts with Don and his wife at the house after a late night out at a party in which Don won a horseshoe shaped trophy. The morning holds a hung-over Don who is late or going to be late for work. Before lunch, Don takes a call that ends up being Midge, the lady that he is with typically when he stays in the city for the night. During this phone call, Peggy listens in and realizes what is going on and why Don leaves for lunch early and comes back late. That night, Pete asks his new wife to talk to her first man and try to get his own book published. The reason Pete wants this is out of a fit of jealousy in which a co-worker has successfully gotten his paper published in a big newspaper. His wife however is asking not to have to do this because of the old relationship and how it ended, in which Pete characteristically forces her to meet this guy.

            The next day holds the biggest surprise of all. Don gets called out of a meeting because a man named Adam Whitman was there to see him. With a shocked air about him, Don goes out to meet him and drags him aside so no one could hear the conversation. Adam then enthusiastically tells Don that he is his brother. After trying to hush Adam, Don agrees to meet for lunch later at the local diner. During that meeting, Don attempts to get Adam to forget all about the meeting and being his brother. When Don returns to the office, he finds his wife and kids waiting to go to the family photo shoot and Peggy apologizing for not being able to remind him of the shoot. That night Don drops off a lot of money at Adam’s apartment in order to keep him quiet and from talking about who Don really is. At the house, Don agrees to going to Cape May as a summer vacation with the family on bequest of Betty, because he admits they don’t have enough money to buy a house on the cape.

            A theme that we see throughout this episode is that secrecy. How keeping secrets or at least not talking about the things that concern you creates issue with others. An example of this secrecy and how it creates problems in this episode is when Peggy listens in on the call between Don and his mistress. Peggy has to hold this all in while she talks to Betty in the office. The other major example of this is how it visibly rips both Don and Adam apart when Don wants to keep things private by paying Adam off, Adam is crying after the encounter.

            In relating this to a Christian life, we can make the connection that secrecy is not the best policy, trying to hold things in and cover for other people breaks them apart. We see the bible address this issue when it says not to let the sun set while you are still angry (Ephesians 4:26). We know as people that in letting anger be slept on, we tend to become angrier or more upset which causes issues that we may or may not be able to control. I think that the lesson from this episode that we can take away and apply biblically is that as Christians are we willing to cause other people issues by hiding our own problems?