Peggy wakes up on the couch–is awakened, in fact, by a pack of neanderthals with a whistle. “Gimme 20!”. All laughing and grunting.
She walks into Don’s office–drags her ass might better describe it. Everything, including Don, is crisp and white and there is no evidence that last night ever happened. She immediately addresses it–”You look fresh. Did you go home?” He tells her he spruced up, and in the same beat brings her around the desk to show her his Samsonite concept.
I don’t know whose panic was bigger, Peggy’s or mine. Please, please don’t do this again. Please Don, don’t let last night, one of such impact and tenderness, remain one more thing to forget about and move forward from. And it is so easy to do under the glare of a sunny new day.
Anna is gone, with that loss, there is a possibility that Don’s last chance at humanity is gone as well. Anna was the only person that Don permitted to remember things about him–everything, all at once. And by the same token, Anna was the only person around whom he permitted himself to have all his truths coexist.
Let’s go someplace darker.
Last night, for the very first time, Don and Peggy discussed that which should never be discussed. Was there full disclosure? No, but that was privacy, which is not the same as dishonesty. This was a real exchange between the two of them about this huge event in Peggy’s life, one that Don shared. There was such an open dialogue between them about so many things. (Hah! I love that Katherine thinks Don is the father and hates him.)
And so Don taking Peggy’s hand the next morning, after he’d cleaned it all up–when it looked like he had once again whitewashed over everything–that was Don choosing to live. Don is leaving the door open for Peggy. There is one person with whom there is truth and love–he didn’t turn her back into a frog in the light of day. Peggy and what they shared remains. Peggy is a mirror for Don, and he is willing to look into it. And from there exists the possibility of expansion. Without it, had he closed the door on last night, Don would die. His only way to suppress it all would be more drink, more misery, more silence, more destruction–self and otherwise. And so Don now he has a true chance. To move forward. This time without forgetting about it in order to do so.
One more thing–the parallel from the pilot.
Don puts his hand on Peggy’s.
“…Go home, shower, then come back and give me ten tag lines.”
(Gimme 10!)
Peggy puts her hand on Don’s.
“Go home, put your curlers in; we’ll get a fresh start tomorrow.”
48 Responses to “In the light of the morning”
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When Don placed his hand on Peggy’s my wife recited the line from the first episode – “I’m your boss not your boyfriend”
Roberta: yeah.
Ahh! Amazing connection with the pilot. I think everyone got the hand thing, but the “Go home” line never occurred to me. Brilliant catch, and brilliant writing by MW.
Don needs Peggy now as much as she has needed him over the past few years. Not that he could ever admit it during office hours. That’s when he still has to wear the Clark Kent suit.
During his rant, I found it notable that Don admonished Peggy not to be so demanding “two years into your career.” She’s actually been at SC/SCDP for four years, but he’s apparently not counting those in which she was still officially classified as a secretary. Perhaps her career started for him when she got Freddy’s office.
Oh yes, his memory of the previous night’s events is a good sign!
I think our “baggage” (as in, crap that happens and accumulates in life) can be contained and stored, not necessarily hauled around and weighing us down every single moment of every day. We can self-select some of the “baggage”, purge some along the way, share or give away stuff. The suitcase Anna carried in that vision/dream Don had – it wasn’t really that big, so there’s hope we can keep the baggage to manageable size, be ready to go (like Uncle Mack said) as life calls or demands, and still keep the core essence of who we are and want to be.
OH! Don eeked out “uncle” when Duck held him down!
#5 mimiteacher, Anna’s suitcase was the very smallest size that American Tourister or Samsonite made. There’s one smaller called a “train case” that was more like a little rectangular box but it’s smaller than Anna’s. Here’s one: http://www.etsy.com/listing/26713571/vintage-train-case-suitcase-makeup-bag
When I got my first set of luggage for my first trip to Europe in high school, it came with a train case. But I didn’t get the baby suitcase, just three suitcases of graduated sizes that fit inside each other. This was just before wheeled luggage came into being, and these suckers were heavy when they were packed.
Great post, Roberta–I agree completely! There may still be rough spots–I’d almost be disappointed if there weren’t–but I believe this is the beginning of Don on the upswing. As you said, he’s chosen to leave the door open, to live.
Since you quoted them exactly, I saw a subtle, but telling, difference in the line from the pilot vs. the one last night: in the pilot, Don was (albeit mildly) sexist–”your curlers.” Telling Peggy to shower and come back with 10 tag lines was a statement made to a colleague–or a comrade in arms (in a fight?)–blunt but respectful of her abilities.
Wonderful episode!! I held my breath throughout, because I could see right away that this was a pivotal point, and I was worried that (a) Don would choose to “die,” and/or (b) Weiner would go down a road that would be disappointing. No such thing–instead, a triumph!
If there weren’t rough spots the series might as well just end. But if there wasn’t hope, same thing. I’m glad to be back in Camp Hope.
Agree with everyone’s comments…this was a terrif eppie, if perhaps not as glitzy and fast-moving as most of the others in this season, certainly one of the more satisfying.
I am satisfied with Don & Peggy’s relationship, just as it is.
Peggy was so real when she said to Don, “how long are you going to do this?” when he asked her to pour him a drink, before the Anna call. Real friends call other real friends “out”, even if it might sound like “moralizing” or whatever Don called it.
I love the trajectory their paths have taken, separately and together. Though I adore most of the other characters in the show, these two are my favorites by far, because of their depth.
My heart nearly burst with relief and happiness when he touched her hand. Just imagine the future if he didn’t, if he didn’t dare open up to her after all… We’ve seen enough of his potential future this season to know that Don is so, so lucky to have realized (semi-realized, anyway) he has a kindred spirit in Peggy. Not that Peggy isn’t lucky to have Don as a friend (semi-friend, anyway), but somehow I think she could still have a chance at a bright future without him
Great post. I had remembered the S1E1 hand touch, but not the dialogue. I saw the hand touch at the end as also Don saying “Thank you” to Peggy in a way that didn’t involve the money.
And when he told her to leave the door open, I almost jumped up and down.
Yes, yes, Roberta! Amazingly done. The parallel with the pilot was so terrific (the camera work, too) – this time Don’s hand tops Peggy’s. Did anyone else notice how amazing Elizabeth Moss looked? Her dress, her hair, the makeup? The still shots on AMC.com are spectacular!
In the minority, but I liked the neanderthals/get up and gimme twenty scene. Yeah, the new Art Director bozo took it too far by calling her “maggot”, but believe it or not, they are (to some degree) showing her respect by treating her as one of the boys, and she also gives it right back by grousing slang for rectum at them. Also thought the scene was a nice break from all the poignancy we’d just been through.
The hand clasp was well-earned and effective but I didn’t get as much out of it as when she was rubbing his back and reassuring him after he broke down; to me the hand-on-hand gesture is one I’ve seen a little too often on big screen and small. But again, it was well-earned and effective, which is about all you can ask.
Loved the morning sunshine and Don answering “open” to Peggy’s final question.
The boys in the office were waking Peggy with treatment to which they knew she would respond.
To them, she’s not a girl. She’s a soldier. She’s in the trenches with them. Every interaction they as a group have with her reinforces this.
I mentioned this over on Deb’s post … but I loved the closing of the parenthesis with “Smoke”, re Don and Peggy’s hands. I saw more in that gesture than simple reassurance and trust, too. Which is why I mention it in the context of Peggy being a “soldier”.
Thanks for a great post, Roberta.
(virtual hand-squeeze)
Oh Roberta, excellent! I’m teary-eyed
The look on Elizabeth Moss’ face when Don touched her hand was perfect.
So there is lots of speculation about whether or not Don and Peggy’s relationship will evolve into something more. So far it’s been strictly platonic and in all likelihood, it will probably stay that way. But now I remember that the Don Draper character is based on real-life ad exec Draper Daniels, who did marry one of those “firsts” career women at his office.
Re #16
I’m very interested in your interpretation of the look on Don’s face when he placed his hand on Peggy’s. To me it seemed very tense or uncertain, almost begging her not to pull away.
Your thoughts?
Roberta,
Beautifully said. I will be watching again tonight, but you are spot on. That moment when Peggy saw Don, sanitized from all the pain of the night they shared, struck me with fear too. It took her a moment, but I think Peggy realized Don was not going to belittle her and pretend it never happened, Thank God! When Don reached for Peggy’s hand I was flooded with relief. Magnificent.
On another note, did anyone catch Pete’s look of barely contained hysteria when Trudy and Peggy emerged from the Ladies room? It was priceless.
@ #19- I know! 20 years later it would be a Klymaxx song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_odTlZaoLCA
#19: Yes, I did! It was too much.
Roberta, It’s always great to hear from you. Thanks for elucidating so beautifully why that handclasp meant so much. Don and Peggy went through sooo much in one night, but that handclasp and the open door had me in tears.
*likes*
and although I noticed the parallel w/the pilot episode in terms of the hand-holding, I hadn’t realized the other parallel you mentioned: the whole “go home and come back” aspect of it. Wow. It was an amazing episode, for sure.
#19, re: Pete’s ashen face when Trudy & Peggy emerge from the ladies room…yes, it was priceless.
I am still in awe of the connecting of these two characters in this ep.
Peggy was being pulled by all the other people in her life to leave, Duck, Mark, and then her “Mother” – she chose to stay with Don – I think it was more than loyalty to her work – it was for him. She must have sensed he needed her and the demands he was making was more than work. She is tuned in to him. She knows him. She was totally in the moment the whole time.
Don was being called away by Roger – but he chose to stay – he did not want to be alone with his pain over losing Anna, and he knew somewhere inside that he could trust Peggy to be there with him. He NEEDED someone real and in the moment to be there with him and she was there all the way.
Great scene- great acting- great post
*Did somebody step on a Duck ?
I can’t claim credit for this–the blogger at TheAtlantic spotted the Pieta-like pose where Don was sprawled across Peggy’s lap after they fell asleep on the sofa together.
Peggy as the Madonna–I hope it foreshadows the resurrection of Don. It’s also clear that Don needs a female muse–a mother substitute. Anna was that. Bets couldn’t be–she was too in need of a father herself. Peggy can fill that role, and it may well be platonic, or it could be that Don falls deeply and truly in love and is at last able to be a faithful partner to a woman.
We will see…I would love to see both of them achieve happiness. And Peggy with the line about watching her dad die and about never fitting in–what a wonderful stepmother for Sally.
I have to say that this was probably my favorite episode so far of the season. Peggy got a lot of stuff off her chest and got closer to Don. Also, this was the first time we saw Don Draper actually cry and it was good that Peggy was there. There are no pretenses with her and Don respects her for that. I don’t think there is anything romantic between these two; just mutually understanding for all that they have been through.
“Let’s go someplace darker.”
Brilliant line. But, I also loved (when Don was lookin’ for the mouse):
“There’s a way out of this room we don’t know about.” (Or something to that effect.)
Brilliant.
The “boys” also watched Peggy walking down to Don’s office with her coat on, saying, “Don’t do it. Don’t go down there.” They knew she’d get caught up, and they wanted her to be able to leave at closing time, just like they were. It didn’t seem to be said with any kind of hostility or anything except a tone of “looking out for her.” Even Sal, the idiot, seemed to have arrived at that kind of cameraderie. It’s clear they aren’t Peggy’s friends, but they are co-workers, and they accept her as one of them.
Brilliant.
Insightful post, Roberta. Thank you.
You said in part, “Last night, for the very first time, Don and Peggy discussed that which should never be discussed.”
I was also thinking that while Peggy didn’t get the recognition she wanted for her professional contributions — on the Glo-coat ad, and for everything that “the money is for!” — Don did call her back and rewarded her by giving her the power of information. Namely, secrets about Bert and Roger (and Ida), which carry extra voltage, and gave her something a paycheck couldn’t.
On those matters, Peggy is now “in the room,” privvy to secrets none of the boys in the department know.
Don has trusted her with others’ secrets, including two men senior to him … and Peggy’s steady reaction, her lack of a wait-until-they-hear-this titillated response, indicates she’s trustworthy to hold more secrets … including the ones Don keeps “somewhere darkest.”
Again, thank you, all. As much as I love Mad Men, I love that there’s a place like lippsisters.com to experience it as a community and have conversations like these.
Going back to the theory I had last season about Matt Weiner channeling Ibsen:
To recap, Don Draper is Peer Gynt. And it looks like his Solveig was Anna. Now that she’s gone, that character’s responsibilities have been transferred fully to Peggy. They’ve always known something special about each other. Now, Don puts himself in Peggy’s lap and arms, literally and figuratively and asks, “Who am I?” and Peggy graces him and says she’s always known who Don is. Who you are is not a name. It’s the good and bad parts of you, the selfishness and the loyalty, the troll and the man.
The scene with Anna’s ghost put a chill up my spine. It was perfect. I think this is my favorite Mad Men episode of all time. I’ll watch it again and again and never delete it from my DVR.
Mad Men is in the process of “jumping the shark.” does anyone else see just how far this thing has gone from center?
I think MW will bring it back to reality.
What I think we are seeing is MW hates episodic television. Too many episodes. Too many stories to tell.
I think he would much prefer a four episode season. He would pack in important themes, leave out the filler and fanciful, and it would be maybe three seasons per year, him moving up the “year” each season.
it would also means the show would probably end a lot faster — like in a few years (or 9 seasons…).
This is what the BBC is MUCH better at: knowing when to go stop a story.
The BBC’s The Office was two seasons….of perfection.
Commercial crap requirements are driving Mad Men into the ground.
Can MW save it in the final two or three episodes of this season? Yes. He probably will.
But stop all the false love folks. The emperor has his undergarments on at this point.
It just ain’t THAT great…
TS
“Last night, for the very first time, Don and Peggy discussed that which should never be discussed.”
I loved how the appearances of the roaches and
ratmouse underscored Peggy and Don letting their dirty laundry out into the cleansing light of day.“Why is there a dog in the Parthenon?”
@29 Pele-Peggy’s now one of the boys, and that’s how they’re going to treat her. It’s the best she can hope for, at least for now.
@ #33 ts:
This very active blog shows how one (exceptionally rich and literary) drama can be so many different things to its fans.
Thanks to some commenters and Wikipedia I now know a likely origin for the phrase “jumping the shark” – but I don’t get why you think MM is flying off on its own motorcycle.
Why not chew on it and say why?
ts, some people like Dancing with the Stars, some people like CSI, some people like . Mad Men is dark and chewy and rich and delicious and full of empty calories and light hearted and satirical. There are many layers to Mad Men. It is not a straight, linear, first-this-happened-and-now-this. It appeals to some people and not others.
But there is one thing for absolutely sure: it most definitely has NOT jumped the shark. Not by a long shot. And one reason I know this is because Don has not truly fallen in love with anyone yet and when he does, he will have to resolve whether to come clean or stay a cypher. I’ll be glued to see what happens next to all of the characters whose lives are constantly arcing.
For several shows this season Weiner has set up some conflicts and in The Suitcase resolved them:
(Starting with the relatively trivial)
Art-Director-Boy – I have muttered “A$$hole” almost constantly during his interactions with Peggy – and finally she says it when he rudely wakes her up. Yet he showed respect for her in this episode (no one-D characters allowed).
(moving on to the heavy-duty)
All season long we’ve seen Draper ragging on Peggy, raising tension, making us wonder how long she’ll take it. Then Weiner teases – with Duck making overtures with his Phillips Olsen business card gift. The tease does not last – within a minute Peggy figures it out. Draper then keeps her late at work – on her birthday no less (though he did not know it was her birthday) and in conflict with what she thought would be a “romantic dinner”.
Which leads to another source of tension – her love life with a boy who is not in her league – with a fellow artist in the wings (the journalist whom she kissed in the closet). We knew the boy had no real chance, but did not know how the breakup would happen – until now. Nice Twist that he drops the bomb – shows some backbone. Weiner may have him grovelling back, but probably not. If he does, Peggy will shoot him down – within a minute, as she did with Duck.
Weiner turns up the heat – shouting match – grievances aired out. Peggy finally breaks down (only Draper could do it). Cathartic to say the least.
Then comic relief. “Peggy, come here”
“No”
“Peggy, come on. You gotta hear this.”
I love how Draper snickers at the revelations. Peggy, with her constant intergrity, is shocked (“like reading someone’s diary”). Come on, Peg – Sterling’s writing a book. She snickers. Tension released.
And, Weiner builds a bridge:
“I should go”
“Stay, and chat – we have personal conversations”
“No we don’t – you like it that way – I know I do”
“Suit yourself”
“He (boyfriend) doesn’t know me ….”
(etc)
Ending in the final scene with Draper showing how much he really values Peggy.
I’m with others who say that Draper has turned a corner – stepped back from the brink he was sloshing toward – only Weiner knows for sure.
#33 I don’t think you’ll find a lot of agreement here. I thought it was the best episode of the season so far.
#31, that’s a good point about Don sharing secrets with Peggy about Roger and Bert. I was just seeing the obvious comic aspects, but he could have been testing her to see if he could trust her with some of his secrets. I loved that he told her to leave the door open, I think it might signal his willingness to be more open about himself and is perhaps a turning point – I sure hope so!
I think women can help or hinder Don.
Sometimes their powers derive from who they ARE. Sometimes their power over Don comes from the power DON GIVES THEM.
I think Anna was special, but I don’t think that she was this “SAINT” and no woman before or since can ever compare.
Anna was a special woman, but there are other special women out there, too.
In fact, I think Don could have had special relationships with a variety of women–but not ALL women.
It isn’t always “the woman’s fault” when Don butchers a possible relationship. Nor is it always “the fabulous nature” of the woman that gets through to Don.
With Anna–she was a special person AND Dick/Don was willing to be open enough to her and respect her.
Anna knew some things about Don that other people didn’t know. I think her “one and only” status partially derived from the fact that Don chose to make her his “one and only” secret keeper by not confiding in anyone else.
Yet, even though Anna knew some facts about Dick/Don that others didn’t know, Anna never saw all of Don. She didn’t really grapple with him at work. She never saw him from Betty’s perspective. She didn’t see him in and out of beds. She didn’t see him from his secretary’s perspective.
It’s like a mother who is far away while her boy is at college–yes, she knows her boy. Yet, her boy often doesn’t tell her about the partying, the girls that didn’t work out, and so on. The mother doesn’t see her boy discovering physics or acting, or whatever. She loved him, she “knew” things about him, but yet she didn’t know him.
I think Don was partially trapped because he believed only Anna could really understand him. To the point that he hid things from everyone else. Even his some of his philandering and things from Anna.
Not everyone out there can be trusted–that’s for sure. Yet, I liked the way Peggy just told him flat out that it wasn’t true that no one else knew him.
There was a time when Don was bold enough to open up to Anna. There was a time Don was bold enough to face Bert. He can be bold again.
There are other people out there. Possibly Peggy–but many other possibilities.
As long as Don believes that Anna or Betty were “one and onlies” and they have been lost forever–he will be without hope.
But what Peggy showed him is that Don isn’t the only person with struggles, pain, secrets, and disappointments. Lane showed him this, too.
Regardless if Don and Peggy ever fall in love, I think Don learned something from Peggy. Life goes on, and it doesn’t have to go on without meaning or hope.
Also–he can be more like Dick and less like Don with people, and it leads him to more meaningful places.
She’s been tougher than he has been about some significant losses. He isn’t alone against a cruel world quite the way he thought he was.
I found it very interesting that he’d rather get in an honest argument with Peggy, chat with Peggy, and brainstorm with Peggy–rather than go out drinking with Roger.
Roger is one of those guys who is “everybody’s friend” –and yet he also isn’t much of a friend. He is extraordinary at dropping a well-needed bit of wit into a sour moment. He can put a smile in place of a frown.
Yet, Roger seems limited in many ways. Roger didn’t want to hang out with Roger while worrying about Anna.
I used to hang out (mostly lurk) at this blog for the first two seasons of Mad Men, but I didn’t get as involved in season 3. This was the first episode that drove me back to find out what everyone was saying and thinking. Can’t get it out of my head.
Elizabeth Moss is one of the best actors (of either gender) working, I reckon. She was amazing last night. Just had to say that
What I most liked about last night is that it acknowledged not only Don’s dependence on Peggy, but Peggy’s on Don. She should have left. Don did not make her stay – she chose not to tell him about the dinner; then she chose not to go. For that matter, she chose to walk down to his office and get chewed out over just leaving (the others calling out made it clear that was an option). It’s a dysfunctional decision in some ways, but in the end it’s the right one. She needs a close friend almost as much as Don does. Its clear she doesn’t have that elsewhere.
There’s a key line where she says to the boyfriend “I’m the only one who can do this”. And I think she knows then that this isn’t about suitcase ads, it’s about Don needing to work something through, and even if her role is punching bag, he needs something from her. It’s only later she realises that “having personal conversations” is maybe something they both need.
One more comment
Bits related to PEggy/Don’s professional relationship:
* Don knows his job is the important one – Peggy and others are paid to throw ideas at him until he finds one he can work with, polish, turn into gold. “Bring me 10 taglines”. Maybe a bit like being a showrunner in a tv show writers room
Peggy wants more, is capable of more. At some point, something needs to change there.
* At the same time, Don resents Peggy because her career glitters in front of her (and she has time to make mistakes), and he is at the peak of his. Roger says on the tape Bert resents him for his youth, or something like that (leading in to the Blenkensop affair) and I thought “this is Don telling Peggy something” before it turned funny
One more, actually, because I rethought the point above a bit.
Don does give Peggy a chance to be the “showrunner”, before the episode starts. The reason he sends the others out of the room is not because he has a beef with Peggy, but because he expected her to do his job – sort the wheat from the chaff and turn it into gold – “I gave you more responsibility”. When she fails, he chews her out for not realising that this is the job she wants – you take what you have to work with and do something with it.
I’ve watched the episode twice, and I was also very moved by how Don puts his hand over Peggy’s, gives it a squeeze, then sort-of dances his thumb over her hand, playful, almost fatherly. So sweet. That was one of the best episodes yet. They are bonded through secrets, but were able to be honest enough to air some of them together. Brilliantly written and acted.
When Peggy approached Don’s office the next morning, at the end of the episode, I felt her tension in anticipating his reaction.
Just like when Peggy paid his drunk driving fine, she told him she didn’t want him being mean to her because she reminds him of it. The next morning Don acted as if he had forgotten that he owed her money, she was taking care of Bobbie, etc. “This never happened”
So in this last episode, Peggy is approaching his office wondering “did this ‘never happen’? Is he going to bark at me?”
I was so relieved when that wasn’t the case.
As for the “closed, or open?”….it reminded me of Peggy’s early days, and maybe served as a reminder to both her and Don just how long they’ve known each other, how much history they do share.
there is so much to love about “the suitcase.” so much uphill ground covered. i wondered, like most viewers familiar with MW’s work, whether we were going to be denied the summit. but thankfully, we got there. and it seems from this blog that everybody is lingering for a moment, reflecting on the journey.
unlike the last few episodes, “the suitcase” leaves us with hope, and yet we remain dubious. sure he tells peggy to leave the door open, but what about the crushing months that will doubtlessly follow anna’s death? i can see how easy it would be to believe that don, not wanting to be an untethered soul orbiting madison avenue with a brandy glass in his hand chooses peggy as his replacement for anna. he knows he has already lost anna when he avoids returning stephanie’s call. he knows he is utterlyl alone in the world when he metaphorically and literally reaches to peggy for a lift up. and certainly peggy comes through. “i’m the only one who can do this.” (brilliant line.)
yes he finds solace in peggy, yes his eye contact with her marks the only soul connection he makes this season, yes he sees a peaceful image of anna with no limp stopping by to see him on her way out, and yes he answers the question “open or closed” in the way that we all hope he will. but nevertheless, there are some grueling months ahead of him when he starts to recognize the ineffable truth that, despite how important anna was to him, he could have been there when she died and he wasn’t. instead he was waste deep in indulgent self destruction. and she was decomposing bone by brittle bone. and he knew it.
i’m not saying i want don’s character to scrape an even lower bottom. (good god.) i’m just saying i feel a little naive thinking (hoping) that don’s ascent is going to be this easily earned. duck stumbling around our field of vision is a timely reminder of how well the wagon works.
#37, RD – Well Said!
There was so much that was magnificent about this episode. I too held my breath when Peggy and Don first saw each other “the morning after.” I was so afraid that he would treat her as he treated Alison after their tryst. What a relief! Neither of them would ever have recovered if he had made light of what they had shared.