SkimIt
What we learned from this week's episode of Mad Men is that, just like Will Smith told us back in the day, parents just don't understand. Everyone has a run-in with a parent or an in-law. Or, in Roger's case, someone else's.
Welcoming the In-Laws
Megan (Jessica Pare) and Don (Jon Hamm) welcome her parents Marie (Julia Ormond, looking as stunning as ever) and Emile (Ronald Guttman) to New York. Emile, an old-school Marxist professor, resents Don's wealth and openly insults his daughter for skipping the struggle that Don went through to make it to his current position and simply enjoying the material rewards that come with it. Sealing the Deal
But Megan isn't resting on Don's laurels. She has a sudden brainstorm that finally results in a decent ad campaign for Heinz, and then expertly guides Don into charming the client with it as if it's his own idea. Still, she's worried about how Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), who was removed from the account by the same client, will react. But it turns out that Peggy not only is proud of Megan for landing the account, but she feels like it's part of her own journey within the company. I'm telling you, Peggy will be starting her own agency at the end of this show.
Setting the Table
Peggy has her own home crisis. She thinks Abe (Charlie Hofheimer) is about to propose, but in fact he just asks if they can move in together. At first, she seems a bit dazed by it, as if she didn't quite get that he wasn't looking to make it legal, but by the next morning, she's spelling it out awkwardly to Joan (Christina Hendricks), looking for her approval much as Megan did with her. And she needs that at work, because her own mother (Myra Turley) is so outraged that she's shacking up that she storms out of the home-cooked dinner Peggy and Abe made for her.
Winning the Battle
Don, Megan, her parents, Roger (John Slattery) and Sally (Kiernan Shipka) go to a banquet to see Don get presented with an award by the American Cancer Society for penning that letter against cigarette advertising. Before they leave, Don and Megan overhear a screaming match between Marie and Emile concerning his latest grad-student girlfriend. At first, the banquet seems like a success for all concerned. Sally even gets an avuncular Roger playfully flirting with her at her first grown-up party, even if Don won't let her wear makeup and go-go boots with her sparkly silver dress.
Losing the War
But Roger and Marie are making eyes at each other all night while she stews about her husband's latest transgression. So when Sally wanders away from the banquet looking for a washroom, she opens a door to find her step-grandmother and her dad's best friend in, let's just call it a compromising position. And while this is going on, Don talks to Ken Cosgrove's father-in-law (Ray Wise), who sets Don straight: The letter may have won him an award, but none of the businessmen on the board will ever work with him after seeing what he's willing to do to an ex-client. By the time everyone is back at the table, they all look, understandably, shell-shocked.
Should Don hurry up and land another couple of big accounts because Sally's therapy bill is about to double? And isn't it nice to see that even though Roger's had his mind expanded by his LSD experience, he's still Roger?
Best Lines:
"Emile is confused. His eyes and his politics are having a fight."
--Marie apologizes for her husband's hostility to Don and Megan's plush apartment.
"This is the ballroom? There's no staircase!"
--And just like that, Sally loses another childhood illusion.
"You're lonely, get a cat. They live 13 years. Then you get another one, then another one, then you're done."
--Peggy's mom doesn't care if her daughter lives alone.
"It's not fair that just because you're a boob-carrying consumer that your opinion means more."
--Stan (Jay R. Ferguson) doesn't think what Peggy says goes on the Playtex account.
"He's at Dow Corning. They male beautiful dishes. Glassware. Napalm."
--Roger knows why Ed thinks no company would work with Don again: They all have products they don't want to talk about.
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