Mad Men | 4x08 | The Summer Man

While last week’s powerhouse was always going to be a tough act to follow, this was as close to a filler episode as Mad Men gets. Not to say that nothing happened: on the contrary, Don’s turning over a new leaf, Betty’s issues begin to grate on Henry, and Joan’s tension with Joey from last week comes to an unpleasant head, just as her hubby’s finally shipping out to basic training. Oh, and Joan? Still capable of being an unnecessarily heinous bitch when she wants to be.

After weeks on end of rock bottom, it’s good to see Don getting some perspective, discovering exercise (all that booze can’t be helping the blood pressure situation), and finally bringing his endless flirting with Dr Faye to some sort of resolution. The fact that he spurned her advances in the car indicates he, like Bethany in the first episode, is looking for something long-term rather than a one night stand. Who knows whether he’s capable of sustaining it, but the fact that he’s trying is huge, and I’d say Faye has the best chance of any woman on the show because she – unlike poor, uncomplicated Bethany, who Don “already knows” too well – might just be complex enough to keep him interested.

Betty’s seething, though not unjustified, resentment towards Don rears its ugly head again after she and Henry run into Don and Bethany during a political dinner in the city. She’s visibly very upset by this and doesn’t handle it particularly well, prompting an argument with Henry in which he admits “maybe they rushed into this” (no shit, Sherlock) and she rants childishly until he sends her back into sullen silence with the immortal line: “Shut up, Betty, you’re drunk.”

Following sage advice from old BFF Francine (good to see Anne Dudek back), who tells her not to let Don get to her because “he has nothing to lose, and you have everything”, Betty pulls herself together and invites Don to baby Gene’s second birthday party. Though this serves mostly as a means of placating Henry by demonstrating that she’s unaffected by Don, there’s definitely something beyond indifference in the way she watches him play with Gene. It’s hard not to feel bad for Betty, much though she’s brought her situation on herself – being told what she’s "allowed" to say is clearly not what she had in mind when she remarried.

In contrast to Don and Peggy’s bonding last week, relations in the office are at an ugly low: following another telling off for his lack of respect, Joey asks Joan what she even does in the office, “besides walking around like [she’s] trying to get raped”. Christ. He even stubs out his cigarette on her desk as he leaves in a horrible, machismo full-stop, more male posturing to assert his dominance. I really, really hate Joey.

One pornographic drawing later, Joan tells the douche crew she can’t wait until they’re all in Vietnam and pining for the kind of treatment they get now. But razor-sharp though her putdowns are, there’s no getting away from the fact that she’s essentially powerless. The only way she knows how to operate is the softly-softly approach – in this case, going quietly to Don and Lane to report “complaints” about Joey – and it’s not enough to get the job done. So Peggy, fortified by Don’s encouragement, pulls Joey into her office and straight out fires him. And the viewing world rejoices.

Joan, however, does not. It’s literally like watching a puppy get kicked in the face as a proud, eager Peggy gets the harshest possible “thanks for nothing” from Joan. As far as Joan’s concerned, Peggy fired Joey to assert herself as a big shot, and has succeeded only in reinforcing the status quo, proving Joan powerless and herself frigid and humourless. “No matter how powerful we get around here, they can still just draw a cartoon” she tells a dispirited Peggy, and while she’s sadly right, there’s absolutely no justification for how callous she is here.

Joan’s most unattractive trait has always been her treatment of other women, which is cavalier at best and borders on sadistic at worst, and Peggy has long been her number one punching bag. There might be an element of the same fear of youth that’s driven Roger’s resentment of Pete this season – Joan is feeling her age, and Joey’s reactions to her do emphasise the point that this is a younger, more savvy generation who see her not-so-subtle sexuality as outdated and risible, rather than irresistible. Peggy, meanwhile, has found her place within this new order, and so however well-intentioned her actions are, Joan can’t see her as anything other than a threat.

Other thoughts:
- It’s not clear whether Don’s keeping a journal, or writing a series of never-to-be-sent letters (to Anna?) but either way it’s almost jarring to hear him lay things out so openly. Is this the first instance of true voiceover on the show? There were Betty’s letters to Henry last season, and Don reading Frank O’Hara earlier than that, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time it’s been used recurrently through an episode to underpin a character’s thoughts.
- Loved the way the iconic, painfully stylish shot of Don leaning against the wall smoking was undercut by the fact that we’d just seen him hacking up a lung in the pool. He seems to be substituting drinks for cigarettes, which isn’t the greatest long-term approach.
- Interesting that Betty said she’d never been with anyone before Don. That puts their relationship into a somewhat different light, especially her speech about not being able to concentrate all day because she wants him so badly – she was naïve in so many respects when she married him.
- I couldn’t figure out Bethany’s “What? Her?” reaction to Don explaining that Betty was his wife – was she upset because she found Betty intimidatingly beautiful, or pleased because Betty looks quite a bit like her? All I know is my mind went straight to Arrested Development. Her?