Mad Men: season five, episode seven At the Codfish ball | Mad Men

August 2020 · 7 minute read
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Mad Men: season five, episode seven – At the Codfish ball

The Heinz deal comes to a head, Megan shows she's more than arm candy, and Sally sees more than she bargained for ...

SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for those who are watching season five of Mad Men on Sky Atlantic. Don't read on if you haven't seen episode seven

Paul Macinnes' episode six blog

"I should be jealous but I look at you and I feel like I'm getting to experience my first time again. It's a good day for me." - Peggy Olsen to Megan Draper

Megan Draper – An Apology. In recent weeks, this series blog may have given the impression that Megan Draper, née Calvet, was a tottering airhead who had shacked up with the boss for his money and whose ambitions extended no further than having a gay old time in the office with her young pals. We would like to make clear that this portrayal was thoroughly innacurate and that Mrs Draper is, in fact, a first class mind with professional instincts uncannily close to those of her husband and with a level of emotional intelligence heretofore known only in dolphins. We would like to apologise for any confusion this may have caused.

I had a funny feeling as I watched the unlikely conclusion to the Heinz deal. I was thoroughly absorbed at the time: it was the kind of moment that Mad Men had seemingly been lacking for a while; that exhilarating thrill of watching creative talent at work. The way Don ran with the concept gleefully (as soon as he understood what was happening), the way Megan quietly pulled the strings while barely saying a word, the way Ken Cosgrove kept nearly, nearly, ruining the whole thing. It was taut, tense and delightful. Then, later, I thought: "Oh pass the sickbag Maud, how annoyingly serendipitous is this?"

At the time of writing, I'm kind of inbetween those two positions. I definitely was "in the moment" – very much, for example, wanting to punch Ken in the face – and for that I am grateful. But I also feel that when Mad Men slips into melodrama, as it did here, it undermines all the satisfaction one gets elsewhere from a world so well realised. Mostly, however I am asking myself: why was Don so surprised?

Why was he so surprised that his wife, the woman who caused him to tremble like the DTs only last week, had such creative potential within her? It was pleasant surprise, thankfully, but a surprise all the same. Had he really thought so little about her that this possibility could strike him as if out of the blue? If not, and he had thought he knew Megan's strengths and weaknesses, it doesn't say much for Don's fabled emotional intelligence. It all just felt a little unconvincing to me, however happy the Don-finds-soulmate outcome.

But enough of the moaning. As I said, my feelings are mixed and I certainly was able to cheer when Megan pulled off her big trick. The way she carried herself across this episode was full of grace and sophistication. And not just in pitching and executing her ideas either. The way she tucked her drunken mother up in bed, the way she read the torrid relations between her parents, the way she co-opted Sally into her girly day out. After last week's sour notes, this week Megan came over like a cross between Jackie O and Jane Fonda. Which is a good combination at any time of year.

It's possible that one of this week's subtexts – as well as the uncertain power relations between parents and children – was a reflection on corruption and innocence. The portrayal of Megan would fit into this, of course; this seemingly picture-perfect woman getting her just rewards. On the other side there would be Don's reminder of the hypocritical nature of the world in which he works, as a sozzled Ford executive tells him the same people who gave him his prestigious award would never give him any work. But all that stuff is just a side issue. The heart of the matter here concerns Sally Draper.

No one should have to see Roger Sterling receiving oral pleasure, least of all an 11 year old. The resulting effect was one of apparent horror. But was Sally horrified at witnessing the act itself, or at the contrast between what she saw and the way Roger had behaved towards her previously that evening? All innocent larks and "go get em tiger", Roger had encouraged Sally to think of him as a pal, a playmate. It turned out that he had been planning something far less innocent. It's probably a mixture of the two, but i wonder which drove the obvious horror more.

Is Sally someone destined to be damaged by the things she has seen as a child? And if so, in what way? Given the Kuryakin incident and her make up and boots combo, the Roger exposure might be seen as another blow in an inevitable premature sexualisation of the eldest Draper child. But the last word of the episode suggests not an incipient wildchild but a putative prude.

The city is "dirty", she tells Glen over the phone as the screen fades to black, repulsion clear in her voice.

A further apology: previously this blog might have suggested that Sally Draper had formed a burgeoning and substantive relationship with "Grandma Pauline". Indeed, we went as far as to claim that "by the end of the hour Pauline has formed a bond with Sally so great that they can get doped up on sleeping tablets". Once again, it has become apparent to us that, in fact, far from being a potential role model, Bluto is in fact a fat drunk who can't even walk down the hall without taking a pratfall. We would like again to apologise for any confusion we may inadvertently have caused.

Trying to read Peggy Olsen's expressions as she sat through her beatnik proposal was like trying to understand a Kenny Dalglish press conference. Was she delighted, was she disappointed, was she – as I thought most likely – oscillating between the two like an ocelot on a windscreen wiper. In the final reckoning, after meeting with the moral approval of Pope Joan, it turned out that Peggy was entirely behind the project, so much so in fact that she was willing to send herself into the third circle of hell by inviting her fulminating mother round for dinner. It appears there's something close to anti-semitic feelings coursing through Mrs Olsen's veins, but I also wonder whether her bleak prognostication – that Abe will never start a family with Peggy – might come true also.

This week's notes

What an image that was, the extended Calvet family, all in a row, all lost in their own miserable thoughts. Happy days!

It's great to see a big set piece event in the show again. I'm sure you'll all be able to come up with some better examples, but I'm thinking of Roger's blackface shindig in season 3, Don's Clio acceptance in season 4. A sense of scale, a sense of glamour.That is part of Mad Men after all.

Roger's exchanges with his ex-wife were excellent, full of hidden meaning and barely revealed emotion. I did think watching Roger at work that, yes he's gotten old, but there are distinct advantages to maturity too.

Time stamps: Almost entirely devoid of them I thought. Please set me straight.

Culture club

"Did you get the Spoonful album?" Glen to Sally. According to the big Wiki in the sky, the Loving Spoonful released three albums in 1966, all hot on the heels of their successful 1965 debut, Do You Believe in Magic. The most popular 66 release was the cheesy by name, cheesy by nature, Daydream. Their heady, Brit invasion challenging mixture of folk, pop and rock didn't stay popular for long (they were a busted flush by 68) but obviously, for a certain time, they were big with the kids.

"Ken got you tickets to the new Edward Albee play" That would probably be A Delicate Balance which won both a Tony and a Pulitzer prize the following year. It's also a play about bitter familial relations. No wonder!

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