Mad Men Power Rankings, Week 12: 'Everything's Going To Be Fine'
3. Roger Sterling (even) Last week: 3
"Everybody? Everybody! (taps microphone) OK. Go fetch my wife, I have some nice things to say about her, haha. What? She's watching the Kennedy thing on the TV in the kitchen with everyone else? Then go get everybody. Wait. You know what? Don't bother. I'll just give my spiel and then we can all get on with this tainted sham of an event, maybe have some cake. Oh, I'm being told there's no cake. Great. (Holds up glass) Well, there's plenty of booze! Where was I? Right. This could've been an awful day. Actually, it is an awful day, but we're doing out best to distract ourselves from that fact by celebrating the two of you. Let me tell you, if you can make it through a day like today, marriage is a cakewalk. Well, some other kind of easy walk, since there's no cake. They shoot the president, the cake-makers take the day off, I guess. Anyway, love you both. Cheers."
4. Peggy Olson (up) Last week: 7
Archival news footage, circa Novermber 1963:
Reporter: "So where were you when you heard the news?"
Peggy Olson: "I was, um, at a business lunch with some coworkers. No, wait. I was going to the printer. The printer, yes."
Reporter: (sneers) "I know a nooner when I hear one."
Peggy Olsen: (blushes, bursts into tears) "But I didn't know what was happening! He turned off the TV!"
Reporter: "Disgraceful, just disgraceful. Our president lay dead in the back of a convertible in Dallas, and all you can think of is your own thrillingly liberated libido. Reporting from Midtown, this is Gene Lawrence. Back to you, Walter."
5. Henry Francis (up) Last week: unranked
This f*cking guy, right? We knew he was persistent, but had no idea he was hanging-around-a-ruined-wedding-the-day-after-Kennedy-was-shot-hoping-Betty-would-be-there-so-he-might-finally-get-some persistent. Or the kind of persistent that just throws out a proposal in the front seat of a car, frustrated by all the annoying Romeo-and-Julietting around they've been doing over the course of the season. Time to shit or get off the pot, lady. This f*cking guy, he's persistent.
6. Pete Campbell (up) Last week: unranked
Things Pete Campbell is sour about this week: everything at Sterling Cooper, tenuous job security, watching Kenny and his haircut get promoted ahead of him despite doing a great job with what he was given in an arbitrary contest, Lyndon B. "Who Elected This Guy, No One, That's Who" Johnson, this damn tie that's too tight, that spoiled Sterling brat's wedding, the way everyone in the office talked about Kennedy, the inadequacy of Lee Harvey Oswald's security detail, Harry Crane's stupid fake job that he just made up to make himself invaluable, that his wife is moonlighting on Community when he's trying his best to be the breadwinner.
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Comments
Am I the only one who thought this was the worst Mad Men of the season (and possibly ever)?
I feel like the only purpose of it was for Matt Weiner to show us why he didn't want to do a "Where you you?" episode in the first place. After seeing it, I agree with him. I just don't know why he changed his mind. Did AMC put a gun to his head?
Most depressing episode ever!
It was definitely weak, I thought. For all the things that were happening, nothing really happened. And yes, depressing, too.
On a side note to M. Lisanti: "get his chew on" is awe-inspiring.
I totally disagree with Sally not being ranked. She was looking menacingly at Betty as if to say "What happened to ol' Jack could very well happen to you mommy."
Or maybe that was me projecting. Weak episode. Then again, I was watching the Yanks snuff the Phillies in their crib.
which is it? Is Weiner playing Bets for an idiot for seriously considering Henry's proposal after a cup of coffee and one period of tonsil hockey, or is Henry serious, and MW's playing his audience for idiots. I really can't decide.
No you are not the only one. I just kept watching and thinking "This show is really going down hill."
I thought Mona should have been ranked over Margaret. "How very Jane Siegel Sterling of her..."
No comment on the "they're a couple of homos" line? From Duck's mouth to God's ear.
I don't think I could have continued to watch the show if it left out the Kennedy assassination. What's the point of setting the show in the 60s and then ignore the decade's most defining moments?
I thought it was great, but sad. It was like the whole show was mourning Don's disintegration. The end where he was peeking in on his former life like an audience member was heartbreaking.
Betty may be using Henry's interest to free herself from the marriage. After talking to lawyer and learning she had no power and could lose her kids, she was resigned to stay. Henry is plugged in enough to bring the hammer down on Don Draper's usurper.
Best episode ever - those not living then cannot appreciate how the JFK assassination hit the nation's broad middle class between the eyes like a bowling ball...
After Ike, Truman and FDR, the future belonged to "a new generation of young Americans", and the fashion culture, Camelot etc., became a new thing with Jack, Jackie and their 2 kids--until he was murdered in broad daylight on a US street.
Peggy gets it--she can't deal with the anguish everyone's going through.
She also sees Don's despair at the very end - JFK was his role model -the embodiment of the well-spoken empty suit and haircut, with trophy wife and young family - cut down in the prime of life--replaced IMMEDIATELY by the crusty, mercurial Master of the Senate, Lyndon Johnson (Pete Campbell comments on this 'back to the same old guard' disdainfully);
It even gets to Betty: She can't deal with how quickly the conformist life-path that she and Don are following is crumbling before her eyes, when Lee Harvey Oswald--who is heard yelling "I'm just a patsy" in one of the file footage scenes (as he's first brought in by police)--
is later assassinated himself,
thus
robbing Americans (especially younger ones) of the possibility of ever gaining closure (via trial) over the reason for the murder of their first pop culture Presidential couple.
Later polls in the 1960s revealed that well over 50% of Americans did not believe Oswald acted by himself.
This gave rise to a well-funded industry designed to assure the truth would never emerge - vital records are sealed for over 70 years, and many of the key witnesses died within 24-36 months after the assassination.
Good for Betty for finally getting to the top of the power rankings!
You should have included Sally's PatricideWatch for the look she shot her dad after he told her to go upstairs.
Don hated JFK. He was a Nixon man.
I agree with those that wanted a Sally ranking this week. She was clearly moved by Lee Harvey.
Surprised nobody has commented on Peggy's Aqua Net storyboards: pretty much an exact replica of the Zapruder film! (which hadn't been unleashed on the public yet)
Very clever of MW.
True, Don did seem to express an inclination toward the Ike/Nixon "Establishment".
However, if you recall, that was prior to the 1960 election, when Sterling Cooper was hired to promote Nixon
(they ultimately failed in their mission partly because the JFK camp understood better than they did the amazing potential of television to market the first particularly telegenic, well-spoken candidate who appealed to a younger audience, as well as a female audience)
ANY challenger (as JFK was) is going to be viewed skeptically until he earns his stripes, first by winning, second by governing effectively (I see parallels to the present USA)
When Don was asked who he voted for, he answered "I don't".
Which may be taken as the right attitude of any King-maker or Adman:
If I spend my time going to stand in line to vote,
that is wasted time that should be spent swaying 10 million undecideds in swing states over to my client's candidate, whoever they pay me to promote...
Don is now a JFK man, because JFK won. JFK was the new boss and role model for his time, for better or worse. JFK has a beautiful wife and 2 kids and has tremendous purchasing and style influence over the American Consumer Public, which Don is paid heavily by Corporations to influence.
In the aftermath of the assassination, Don is wondering (anguishing?) whether the bridge "back to LBJ" is a bridge too far...
Why did Don hate JFK? Because JFK was a skirt-chaser? Couldn't keep it in his pants? Cheated on his beautiful wife with Marilyn Monroe and legions of others?
Sure, not much of this was public at the time, but much of inside Washington knew (especially Nixonites and J Edgar Hoover).
Based on what we know about 1960 NYC, who really cared, as long as public appearances were kept up? No such thing as TMZ, National Enquirer, YouTube, etc.
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