After the trauma of the JFK assassination last week, Mad Men‘s finale takes a much lighter approach. Consistent with its title, Shut the Door. Have a Seat offered viewers a comfortable chair (or Wentworth) to cool down in after the wild ride of Season Three. That’s not to say important things didn’t happen. They did. And there’s still a lot to be resolved (Sal’s future, most notably). But more loose character threads were tied up than left dangling. In some cases, I felt these threads were a little too neatly mended as Don, Bert and Roger get “the band” back together. But, perhaps more on that another time.
A common element running throughout Shut the Door. Have a Seat was the idea of losing one’s blinders of blissful ignorance to the shocking light of reality. This is done by literally depicting many of the characters being jolted out of a deep sleep.
In fact, the first shot of the episode shows Don waking up. He’ll be facing many surprises this episode: Betty’s affair, the sale of PPL, Peggy’s bitterness toward him, the fact that he really likes the ad biz, etc. Bert complains to Don about being woken up for an “emergency” meeting at Sterling Cooper. When Bert expresses reluctance about buying the company back, a frustrated Don tells him to go “back to sleep.” There’s a glass of milk on Bert’s coffee table that’s echoed later when Carla gives the Draper children milk before being putting them to bed.
Pete scrambles to find his pajamas when Don and Roger pay a surprise visit to his apartment. Ostensibly, it’s to support his claim of being sick. But, the hurried manner in which Pete throws on his robe is consistent with someone gathering themselves after being thrust awake.
An offhand comment by Roger forces Don to “wake up” to what’s really been going on with Betty for the last few months. And when Don does confront Betty about Henry Francis, he gets her out of bed.
After the heavy scene with Don and the children and what must certainly seem to her as the “tawdry” manner in which she’s dissolving her marriage, Betty sits on a plane to Reno contemplating the larger journey ahead with a less than enthusiastic expression on her face . Conversely, Henry Francis, in the seat next to her, is seems fast asleep.
286 Responses to “Rude Awakenings”
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I think Don was surprised by both Peggy and Pete that they would put aside their hero worship of him and look beyond his orbit for professional fulfillment. This season has been a big wakeup call for Don that he is expendable.
Frankly, the hero worship that co-workers like Peggy & Pete have for Don has always seemed pretty unrealistic. Bosses that unpredictably vent and humiliate are universally hated by their underlings, regardless of how much respect they may have for the boss' creativity or competence.
#249 Falafel. I think you are right. I change my opinion of Pete and Don. Roger may not respect Pete- but Don -yes I like it- has a "grudging respect" for Pete. Your examples prove me wrong. He is slowly turning around for Pete. But Pete clearly doesn't believe him entirely yet. Good. I liked your comment.
Thanks Suzanne! I think ever since Cooper's line "One never knows how loyalty is born" the writers have been building an unlikely alliance between Don and Pete. Though considering this connection was "born" out of Pete discovering the truth about Dick Whitman, I think there is an edge to it. Sometimes I wonder if Don's relationship to Pete is really an elaborate example of "Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer". Regardless of Don's grudging respect for Pete, I also think Don treads carefully with those who know his secret.
Back to the Lane Pryce thread:
# 190 Soupcon the Cat Said:
"What Lane brings is simple: He’s the bean-counter… Lane’s the only one who can do it. "
# 191 David Ogilvy Said:
"Sure… Lane will be the Managing Partner. But in a small firm, with only a handful of accounts, that's probably not a position you need to have a Partner responsible for …. You hire an Operations Manager, rather than give him 25% of the store.
…. if I were Bert Cooper and had to fund this startup, I'd take out a huge term insurance policy on the life of Donald Draper… or should that be Dick Whitman?"
Ogilvy is right to say that you could hire someone,
cheap (relatively so), to do Lane's job,
but, and it's a biigggg BUT:
Lane would not play with a major stake in the rogue firm.
Draper, Sterling, and Cooper were all tied up,
legally, probably with the "standard non-compete clause". All needed to be severed from that obligation.
(and I wonder, if Weiner wants to go there, if PPL/SC won't sue anyway, to enforce those contracts)
(even if they do, however, they will not recapture the lost accounts. SCDP's lawyers will delay, and PPL/SC will settle for peanuts)
(remember Cooper and Draper still have most, if not more, of the PPL money from the buyout)
S, C, and D could play dirty and screw P
- but if they were that kind
then S and C would have
screwed D last season at the buyout.
Oh, like Ogilivy, I would definitely, no-doubt-in-my-mind, also take that big term policy out on not only Draper but on Sterling.
Once Sterling gets used to wearing out the shoe leather and schoomzing clients, he'll be unbeatable again.
In fact, I look forward to Cooper working clients, too.
I think Roger is right that Don is not good at relationships because he doesn't value them. However, it felt clear to me that Don was angry at Roger because he used him as ammunition for his divorce from Mona.
So this is where you all are!
esme, I saw more Tony and Carmela in the scene in question than George and Martha — but that's because I know their script better, and Tony and Carmela were such excellent fighters. Their arguments were great, scenery-chewing small-screen stuff. Terrific chemistry between equals.
I also saw that from the moment Don reacted to Roger's news in that bar, he understood for the first time who his wife really is (and what she wants). The thrilling clarity of his angry words to her confirmed that.
It was a tough scene to watch, but dramatically necessary. Every word of it, every gesture, was essential.
As for the rest of this thread:
I had a hypothetical constructed around a snuff film
Only you, l-o-m. Only you.
Anne B: yes, we've been over here for ages, chewing away at the finale….
I think Don, Roger and Bert have come to realize the value (begrudgingly of course) of Lane's talents. Lane understands the numbers side of the business — how to make their crazy enterprise actually profitable.
Don was the first to recognize that none of the rest of them could do that. Ever since "Guy" I thought Lane and Don had developed a sort of understanding and respect for each other. There will always be clashes between the guys who spend money (Creative and Accounts) and the bottom line guys. When they have respect for each other, the enterprise can thrive.
I thought Don figured it out and pointed it out beautifully to Bert & Roger.
I hope Lane is with them for a long, long time. He's essential for SCDP and great for the show.
I thought Don was mad at Roger because he sold the company just to marry Jane.
@260: Everything gypsy_howell says. Also, isn't it lovely to watch how Lane is opening up, smiling more, and actually LIKING this set-up and these people? It may be the first time he has really felt like a team player, or even knew what that really meant.
It will be interesting to see what his wife is doing next season.
Also, just a shout-out to Jared Harris, who has played such amazingly different characters in his career so far. I couldn't believe he was the same actor who played Captain Mike in Benjamin Button!
And, just because, I looooooved Richard Harris in… well, everything.
Anne B. Yes, this is where we all seem to be coming back. Do you think we will hit 300 posts on "Rude Awakenings?" My phone keeps shooting me more comments here, so I keep coming back. So, was Don angry w/Roger b/c he sold the company or b/c he thought so little of him w/Jane? Was Roger right to think Don was "judging" him? Roger does seem to read people well. When Don was first told that the SC was being sold to PPL upon his return from his Jet Set excursion to California, he didn't seem angry w/Roger about it. When did that change? What was all that commentary about at the Kentucky Derby when Don told Roger that everyone is laughing at him. I never quite understood why Don shut out Roger. Thoughts? Clarification?
#263, why Don shut out Roger:
What was the episode in which Don found out that Roger had used their private bar conversation to tell Mona that Don had encouraged him to follow his "dreams" and get a divorce? Don was not intimating that at all, he was actually talking about himself, but drunken Roger took it to give him permission to leave Mona and grab Jane (and Don had no idea that Jane was even in the picture).
Later, Mona came storming in to Don's office to accuse him of being the reason that she and Roger were divorcing. I think this was the impetus of the Don/Roger feud, as it cost Sterling Cooper the company, and it made Don subservient to PPL.
Yes, Don made got a significant financial windfall. But he had to sell his soul to the PPL devil. I can see why Don was pissed at Roger.
I think that Roger has felt "judged" in general, since he married Jane … in part because he knows the judges are right. (And to be fair, the harshest is Bert: "that trollop", and all.)
And I think his decision to marry Jane is now one Roger regrets. She is a bratty child, and she seems more childish in contrast to the women he still loves: the "lioness" Mona, whom he has lost, and his one true love, Joan.
Don meant what he said to Roger at the Derby Day party, but he spoke in anger, which is a tragic flaw of Don's. (And now we see where he gets it.) Don did see Roger as foolish, but he also saw his happiness, and he may have been jealous of it: Roger had succeeded where Don had failed.
But what it comes down to with Don and Roger is that Roger broke a confidence. Roger took Don's casual comments in the bar as both a life direction, and a parting shot to Mona; in the couple of seconds it took for Mona's announcement to sink in, Don connected his earlier conversation with Jane ("I'm a discreet person") with what Roger had done to Mona. And to him.
I think that Don angry is frightening, and he does hold a grudge. It took ages to bring those two back together. Roger's apology to Don when he thoughtlessly dropped Henry's name in that bar was so heartfelt — I mean, he said he was sorry TWICE — you really felt for the guy.
He was scared of losing his best pal. Again. And so were we, right?
258- it was probably a pirate snuff film, too. =: O
#264 goodsally. The Don & Roger bar chat happened during "The Six Month Leave" after they took Freddy Rumson out for his goodbye night on the town. Mona barges in the next day & blames Don for her marriage break up & Don is unhappy when he realizes the secretary that Roger is leaving Mona for is his own, Jane. He tells Roger: "I want her taken off my desk." Don seemed angry that it was Jane- not that Mona barged in & blamed him. Later, he goes to Ca., comes back to discover SC is sold to PPL -but he will make $500,000. He doesn't seem angry at Roger then. So, when? When the rift? It doesn't really seem to have happened until their exchange at the Kentucky Derby Party. Was that it?
See, it's backchat about pirate snuff films that's going to vault us to #300, and well beyond.
Thanks, esme. Ahoy!
Anne B. I saw your post late. So, its just about Roger using Don's words to break off his marriage w/Mona and Don feeling a confidence was broken and maybe jealousy too that Roger is/was happy? Then of course, being one who doesn't value relationships, Don just cut Roger out…. OK. I think that just demonstrates how bad Don is at relationships: unforgiving and/or having the ability to hold a grudge.
#269 Suzanne,
I think what I believe is that while Don can communicate, he is better at leaving than he is at staying. So that is what he typically does.
But he can build and cultivate relationships — in fact this is something he is getting better at, and the world is turning more his way, as honesty comes into vogue. But he is also learning that one size of communication does not fit all. It's generally women who teach him this.
Don's great gift is his ability to listen, learn, and move forward with the new skills he has adapted. The man we saw at the end of "Shut the Door. Have a Seat" was already remaking himself, and his corner of the world.
Succeed or fail, I have to think that's better than waiting to see what the old order has in store for you.
#265 Anne B:
"And I think his decision to marry Jane is now one Roger regrets. She is a bratty child, and she seems more childish in contrast to the women he still loves: the "lioness" Mona, whom he has lost, and his one true love, Joan."
In "The Grown Ups," Roger says to Mona on the phone (about Jane), "We both agree that she's nuts and she should shut up." So!
#271 goodsally. I thought that when Roger was talking to Mona on the phone about Margaret's tantrums & possibly calling off the wedding, he was talking about Margaret – not Jane.
#264 Suzanne Mills: I will watch "Six Month Leave" again… but I think something Don said then (at the bar, something that had nothing to do with Roger and Mona) prompted Roger to tell Mona that DON SAID he should just leave a marriage that wasn't satisfying him. Again, I'm remembering without rewatching…
AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!! GGGH!! (cough,cough) RRRGHHhHHH!!!
A little floggin' and groggin' is guid fo' what ails ya' wenches.
Hee! We're all posting at around the same time, so overlap… Anne B. is gettin' us all straight. Thanks.
Agree about Don being able to learn and grow, being able to build and cultivate relationships as he learns, and that's what makes him so interesting to watch each season.
The look on his face at the end of the finale was priceless… it was like a redemption. He had bared his soul and been told he wasn't worthy, but he found out that indeed he was worthy to some. He had begun to learn how to value relationship.
#271 Suzanne Mills: Oh! will rewatch. I totally took that to mean he was talking about Jane. Wishful thinking on my part perhaps! :
#271 goodsally. I thought that when Roger was talking to Mona on the phone about Margaret’s tantrums & possibly calling off the wedding, he was talking about Margaret – not Jane.
Grog aside, this is what I am for. Gettin' ye all straight.
No, really. This is why I moved to San Francisco. SOMEbody had to do it.
Seriously … I do think that Don comes to a point, at the end of "Shut the Door. Have a Seat", where he genuinely wishes Betty well. He knows how different she is from him. Trudy is a huge help in this regard: she is a physical, visible reminder of what a happy woman who's a good match for her husband looks like, and will do when she wants to be with him.
God bless Trudy. God Bless Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, every one.
274 – careful. or anne b will give you a go round like you've never had before.
goodsally – I don't know if there is anything redemptive about this show. maybe. maybe that's a goal but I have never gotten the impression that the show aims for "growth." I do think it aims for a look at "change."
going back to the very first impression of the series, the opening credits, I always see that as a moment when the ground shifts beneath Don's feet. The shadow of the horrors of 9-11 are there in that fall as well, to me, but are not literally referenced.
I've read some people see that opening sequence as a jump. I see it as a fall.
And the interesting thing is that Don ends up surviving without seeming to change all that much.
278 Esme. Oh no, yuck, sadness, I never put the Don jump/fall in the opening credits scene in connection with the shadows of September 11/people jumping out of those buildings here in NYC. Interesting…. However, I have to wipe that image out of my mind now, or it will just make me sad…..
You’re welcome Falafel! I originally thought Don uttered “the little shit” comment, and I drew my conclusions from that statement. On replay, because someone on this blog pointed it out, I saw it was Roger who made the comment. I have a thought about Don and his relationships with people. It is hard, in general, to assess whether he now respects Pete or others b/c he really has had no relationships on this show to observe. In other words, having never really seen him be a good friend or value others, it is hard to tell when or if he is starting to do just that. He has had no male friends (other than Roger for a short time, whom Don turned on very quickly once Don started “to judge” him for marrying Jane), and even Roger couldn’t get through b/c Don is “so secretive.” I loved Roger calling him out during the final episode on his inability to have relationships: “You don’t value relationships because you are no good at them.†Maybe his friendship w/Roger can start again- I loved their interactions & their comradery (albeit it always seems to be taking place in a bar). I think Roger was always trying to get close to Don and figure him out… he was trying to figure out where he was from, why he dropped his Rs, etc. Roger is a people person (and now I understand what an account person is)…but poor Don is not. I hope he can become one.
So we're out in the back forty of the Whitman spread talking of Roger now?
How'd that happen? These blood drenched fields remind me of Shiloh.
A quick Roger-ing if I may. And Happy Christmas.
Roger really mentored Dick/Don into Don Draper. Don was writing copy and still wet behind the ears and probably still dry in the liver too. Don followed Roger's lead; copied all the manly affectations, developed the cynicism and skirt chasing, bought his way into the GoodLife and still wasn't happy. Don begins to resent the Glib One, especially as he eventually sees Roger is not happy either. Don the former used carsalesman realizes he bought a lemon of a role model in RS. But at the bar in Six Months Leave, Roger takes Don's philosophizing as solemn advice thereby switching roles with the Alpha Role Switcher himself. Mentee is now unintentional Mentor. Roger decides to reverse those roles, break the pact and radically pursue Happiness, leaving Don feeling burned and responsible. This resentment just grows from there. And I think DD isn't even really specifically certain why he dislikes RS. They're more on equal footing now, it could be fun to watch.
—————
Anne B, you've been released! You are in good company.
The Corleones made it out of NYC somewhat successfully, but it kept pulling Michael back in.
The Giants and the Dodgers both got out and had some fun in the sun. (though the Large Guys without the LARGE guy haven't been the same)
And of course, we can't forget this guy.
Welcome back Snake P Anne B!
And she brings the goods too! @277. I'll throw in another two centavos and go a little further. Just theory but that smile when Don sees Trudy reminds him a specific Betty moment we have not been privy to, probably in the Year One of the Drapers before she got pregnant and before he started to calcify in MadManDon. She brings him a sandwich when he is actually working late in his new job at SC, they eat, they talk, they make Teh Hawt passionate monkey-love on a ragged sofa. Life is good. For a while.
esme– @278 answering with worn pop lyrics again, (it's my go-to pitch)
"Maybe the time has drawn the faces I recall
But things in this life change very slowly,
if they ever change at all
There's no use in asking why,
it just turned out that way
So meet me at midnight baby
inside the Sad Cafe.
Two steps forward, one step back.
Sorry for verbosity and overlap, Dial -up BLOWS!!
l-o-m.
Silly. I wear the patch on the OTHER eye.
And if I may make a tepid, vague defense of the snuff film hypothetical, it was that or an Auschwitz allegory. Things were heated. I was tired. I gamed out the rhetorical scenarios and felt I might just as well go thermonuclear; turn the whole place to glass. Declare victory, depart the field, get a Fresca, move to another blog.
But Rosenfreude seized the initiative and made my point, very succinctly, before the fail/safe marker.
The Draper Showdown was very, eerily personal for me and my dander was up.
sorry Suzanne. the credit sequence also reminds me of Blade Runner with the huge smiling adverts. but it's too bright to be quite that dystopian. Or a tragedy of real life.
l-o-m – the jump from Trudy to Betty to monkey sex sounds like a very special episode of the show inside your head.
I thought Trudy reminded Don of the every day grace we can bring to life… and that wishing Betty well was his way to attain a moment of grace. As creepy as Pete is, he loves Trudy and she reciprocates. Unlike Don, who was relived when Betty asked him to move out in S2. Or Betty, who has decided she'll be relived to be without him, too.
I really love the Trudy character because she is so relentlessly happy but it doesn't make you want to roll your eyes at her. that's pretty amazing, for me.
okay, so here's how it went down in Six Month Leave. Marilyn Monroe died. Jane went to Roger to keep from getting fired and they started to start to have an affair. Joan knew this was on its way b/c she knows Roger. And Jane's m.o. Jane was going for the bosses. don or roger. (no guy who writes shorts stories for her. I loved that look she gave Ken in the elevator…but that's another episode.) Speaking of…Betty had confronted Don about his affair with Bobby, so Don was staying at the Roosevelt. Jane got a call from Sally and tried to insinuate herself into Don's personal life and he shut her down. Later she (I loved this part) got Don more shirts… from Menken's! … and Don was mightily skiiiiived since she was also trying to fix him breakfast. Rumson pissed his pants and Pete and Duck (duck, goose) got him fired b/c of. btw, that was a great lampshade in Freddy's office behind Pete. Is there a reason why the designated drunkard had the best lampshade? Sterling and Don took Freddy out for a night because he got fired. (Jane had told Roger that Don was staying at the Roosevelt, because, when they're making plans to take Don out, Roger pointedly asks if Don needs to call the misses and Don knows Jane was talking about him to Roger. Jane, bad idea. Just ask Bobbie.) Heartbreaking and killer series of scenes and Freddie gets into that taxi forever. Sterling confronts Don about being on the outs with Betty. Don talks about this being "your life" like the big "you" and Roger, apparently, takes this to his recently messed up heart. "You have to move forward." Mona does a lioness prowl into Don's office because Roger used Don's words as a way to back up his decision to leave Mona. Roger. bad form. Mona thinks Roger is leaving her for HIS secretary. Don's all "huh?" Mona leaves and Roger comforts Jane, who starts crying and Don gets that both Sterling and Jane have seriously messed with his boundaries and Don tells Roger he wants Jane off his desk.
so, yeah, Roger made it sound like Don was giving advice to Roger when Don was talking about life in general and himself in particular but not Roger leaving Mona for Jane "Rumson" – and that's sort of poetical-ish irony that Roger was sort of snarky with Freddy about how Roger's dad was funny drunk to the adults but not the Roger kid and then Roger falls in love with the drunk girl.
This woman's voice soothes my soul.
Cat Power on Jools Holland.
Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or water fall could stall me
And then came the rush of the flood
The stars at night turned deep to dust…
apropos to nothing.
"I think she's got it, by Jove I think she's got it."
Are you tired after that? The stream of consciousness flows swiftly.
re: that special episode, the monkeys are tame; Trudy and Betty, not so much. They all wear blue to start, naturally.
Oh and another thing. The pirate snuff film logically morphs of course into the undead zombie pirate film. You left that out earlier, smart stuff!
@ 250 Dark Peggy- I see your point now. Sally being a Stones fan was totally unrelated to rebellion.