Aug 032008
We’re watching from separate homes tonight.
From AMC:
Paul hosts a party at his apartment and introduces someone special to his Sterling Cooper colleagues. Peggy visits her family for dinner. Despite a conflict of interest, the Sterling Cooper agency aggressively pursues an airline account and Duck attempts to appeal to the client using an unorthodox approach.
317 Responses to “Open Thread: Flight 1”
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Hey S. Tarzan! Just saw that Denise Crosby played Gertie? I can't remember which person Gertie was! I looked for pics on line of her, I'll have to take a quick look at the show I recorded last week to see if I get a glimpse of her. Thanks for pointing out the Star Trek connections though (the character Shell played by Vaughn Armstrong – didn't notice this either!) I'm a trek fan and love seeing the actors in other rolls, keep the connections coming!
Gertie is the riding instructor at the beginning.
Mel, I can see that. It is probably pretty frustrating to think you know it all and that you know how to play the game. Then along comes an innocent girl, who uses nothing but her mind, and actually gets fat during the time, but still rises up the office ladder. She pretty much didn't listen to Joan on anything except for the "Boss's Mistress" situation.
I mean Peggy never used her sex or looks at all in the office. I did kinda get a kick out of Peggy using her power over the guy in the hall last night. She played him so well.
Joan has got to feel a little panicy about losing her looks. I bet she is one of those women who today invest a lot of money in plastic surgery and such.
I dunno — now Betty would be a botox/surgery junkie. Joan, I think, were she finacially set, could let the looks slide.
This board's starting to remind me of the conversation Don and Roger have in New Amsterdam – every generation is critical of the generations that follow!
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Hell, I'm only 23 and I find myself worrying about younger kids getting fat and playing too many video games.
On another note, thought the episode was great. So glad when the writers don't go for the easy cathartic moment – which in this case would have been something like Pete going to Peggy to be consoled and crying his eyes out or something.
Thought his twist at the end was interesting, and this whole Don/Duck power struggle could get good.
I mean, Don's right – it's really shitty and unprofessional for them to just dump Mohawk like that.
Line exchange of the night for me:
Peggy: I'm capable of making my own decisions.
Peggy's sister: The state of New York and the doctors didn't seem to think so.
Literally made me say "OH SHIT!" out loud.
I have to wonder about the peanut allergies. I am a flight attendant and we no longer serve peanuts, but every now and then you have people who tell you that they have severe allergies to peanuts or other foods and they want us to make sure that they do not come into contact with them. To which we always nod and smile as we walk away rolling our eyes. If you have such a serious allergy there is no way to control it on an airplane, much less a school for all the bans that are in place. People have to realise that they cannot place their children in a protective bubble, perhaps you can convince institutions and companies to ban certain products, but that has no effect on whether or not other people will obey those rules and if your children will come into contact with those products in the big wide world!
John beat me to it re: Sukiyaki and Kyu Sakamoto.
It should be pointed out though, that "Sukiyaki" was released in Japan in 1961 as "Ue O Muite Aruko" (I Look Up When I Walk) and was a #1 hit there before it was released in 1963 in the States. So it's not an anachronism or goof (as someone else wrote) that the song would be playing in an Asian restaurant in 1962. It's perfectly reasonable that they would be playing popular music from Japan there.
Is there a link somebody will post to download Sukiyaki? I'd really like to have an mp3 of it…
A really interesting PODCAST from Barbara Lippert of ADWEEK:
http://nielsenpodcasts.com/thecritic/
Peter, Thanks for sharing. I worked with Barbara Lippert at Adweek (I was on the copy desk, she was a star columnist) and she sounds exactly the same. What's funny about this is how he describes the business guy (Duck, I presume) as a buffoon! Also funny to hear them discussing Peggy's story line like two old friends obsessed with the same show.
In rewatching this episode, I noticed that Peggy's "sister" looked old enough to be her mother. Is it possible that history is repeating itself here? There seems to be a big age difference between the 22-year-old Peggy and the sister. Could it be that the sister is Peggy's mother and she was raised as her sister?
My two cents … what the hell
I think Joan and Peggy are kindred spirits on a certain level — "They can't stand it. They'll drag you into the garbage out there. They just want you to be as miserable as they are. I say, let them have it." Peggy escaped Bay Ridge (mostly). I wonder what Joan's background is? And of course there's Don's transformation from Dick Whitman … They've disappeared into Manhattan. They've found refuge in their work.
Think it's interesting that Pete's last name is "Campbell." It's a Scottish name and in Liza Campbell's memoir, "A Charmed Life" she shares some history of the Campbell clan (chapter 6), betrayal being the key theme of an episode in the 17th century. She writes, "If there has been retribution for the betrayal at Glencoe, it is that the name Campbell carries the stigma to this day." And apparently there's a common phrase, "Never trust a Campbell."
On a lighter note … Loved Betty's line, "I don't need a book to know what little boys do!" (At some point, I think Betty's going to have a problem w/her daughter's weight.)
What's wrong with Paul's hair? I thought it was a toupee upon first viewing, but it looks he Grecian formula-ed it darker or something?
On rewatch, Joan doesn't seem quite as racist, just clueless. Is Peggy in a new apartment? Her room looks different and I think she had a twin bed last season.
#312 – the name Campbell comes from the Scots Gaelic "cam beul" (crooked mouth).
No offense to any Campbells who may be reading this, but it's the perfect name for Pete. Not only is his mouth metaphorically crooked (due to his many spoken deceits), much of the time it's literally crooked, or twisted, into a pout of discontent.
I know I'm jumping *really* late on this, but something occurred to me that I don't think has been mentioned here. (I did a search in this thread and the not-so-live one, but didn't have the patience to actually read all 400 comments between the two, so please forgive me if I'm being redundant.)
During the Mohawk pitch session, Don tells Peggy, "You are the product." From the characters' point of view, he's conveying the level of dedication he expects her to put into every account. From a meta point of view, though, he's revealing something that rings true for both of them. They are both trying to sell images of themselves to the world at large.
Don Draper is clearly a product of Dick Whitman's making. He's been selling his facade — powerful ad exec, loving husband and father, endearing cad — for years now. Don is what Dick decided to be, and he has even sold himself on this new persona to the point that he vehemently rejects anyone who tries to relate to the old one. Even his own brother.
Peggy, on the other hand, isn't trying to sell people on something new. She's trying to convince them that nothing has changed, that she's still the spunky, ambitious, young copywriter she had become by the end of last season. None of her co-workers (with the possible exception of Don) knows about her pregnancy. The only ones who do are her immediate family, who are willing (although apparently grudgingly) to care for her son. Among her colleagues she is just the bright young thing who handles all the feminine advertising they don't really want to do anyway and sometimes still gets spoken to like a secretary.
Don and Peggy share a desire to be seen as they wish, not as they truly are. They are advertisers, masters of coercion and manipulation. And they are the products.
[...] Robin left this comment in the Flight 1 open thread, two weeks past where most of you would see it, so [...]
I have to say this about the Paul/Sheila/Joan situation.
Is Paul a poseur? Of course he is! I'm sure that Joan must have known this already before she met Sheila. Remember that play he had written and which she and Sal had peformed before the other Sterling Cooper minions in "Nixon vs. Kennedy"? His reaction to the whole easily told anyone that Paul can be an intellectual poser.
So, why did Joan finally decide to call upon his bullshit when she met Sheila? Why then? Someone had suggested that she was trying to warn Sheila in her own way. I rather doubt it. There was too much anger in Joan's demeanor for her to care about Sheila. And the fact that she insisted on believing that Sheila was a check-out girl, instead of a store manager? What was that about?
I'm not claiming that Joan is an out-and-out racist who is a card carrying member of the KKK. But I do believe that despite Paul's pretentions, she may have been upset that a man she once dated (before the series had begun) and might still be slightly attracted to, is dating a black woman.
After all, she and Paul have not dated in over two years. Both had moved on with other people. She had once suspected that Paul and Peggy might be interested in each other. Joan may have been catty to Peggy about a lot of things, but I don't recall her being catty in regard to Peggy's alleged romance with Paul. She did try to give Peggy some advice about the latter's appearance, not realizing that Peggy was pregnant.
Now . . . if Joan had already seen a glimpse of Paul's pretensions in Season 1 and not see the possibility of a relationship between Paul and Peggy as a threat, what was it about the Paul/Sheila relationship that led her into bitch mode? What does that say about her?