MAD MEN: "THE QUALITY OF MERCY" S6E12 (REVIEW) at FORCES OF GEEK

How can Season Six be over already?

In the penultimate episode of Mad Men for this year, the darkness is penetrating the tone as a mad dash is made to resolve loose ends as we step ever closer to the 1970s.

Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is reeling from the effects of the last episode and is drinking over his problems.

Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) is concerned with Bob (James Wolk) as he takes over the Chevy account from Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) and Sally (Kiernan Shipka) takes a trip upstate.

Why is Ken moving away from his Chevy account? Well, they’ve already injured his leg, but the cold open after Don & Megan’s morning ritual shows Ken out on a hunting trip with the Chevy executives. He’s had to do tap-dance to keep these guys happy and full of steak “Its my job”, but these goons have gone too far with the hazing by SHOOTING KEN IN THE FACE. The buckshot does not kill Ken, but after talking with Pete, the newly expectant father walks away from Chevy with at least his life intact.

Pete, who is desperate and lonely takes the traveling job offer from Ken, pending partnership approval. We’ll get to that later!

The Ocean Spray/Sunkist accounts are competing still after Don’s promise to Ted that he drop Sunkist. Harry (Rich Sommer) comes through with a multimillion dollar buy from Sunkist if they drop the cranberry campaign that Ted (Kevin Rahm) and Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) are working closely on.

In fact, Ted and Peggy are working closely in the office together—and others are taking notice. Especially Don, who seems to be taking the Sunkist ad and shots at Ted in order to break those two up. Don is jealous of their relationship and of Ted’s success.

Pete learns that Bob comes with the Chevy assignment, and after their awkward leg touch last episode, Pete is resistant but agrees with this when the partners force Bob on him, albeit reluctantly.

Pete makes a call to Duck (Mark Moses) to have him look in to Bob Benson’s past. The reveal is that Bob is a fraud, and like Don, has forged a new life out of nowhere and weaseled his way into SC&P.

When Pete confronts Benson, he doesn’t expose his fraud to the world, instead he maturely accepts Bob as his partner on Chevy on the terms that Benson not go after Pete or his family any more. Bob’s friend/partner, Manolo (Andres Faucher) is asked to step away from Pete’s mother.

Sally does an overnight at the boarding school she’s applying at, and trouble follows her there. She invites Glen (Marten Holden Weiner) and another boy, Rolo for a party. How they got these boys here after just a few hours of conspiring is beyond me. The kids get drunk and stoned, ending in a ruckus of Glen protecting Sally by attacking Rolo. The girls give Sally a glowing recommendation to the headmaster to be accepted to the school after so much excitement.

At SC&P, Don embarrasses Ted in front of the St. Joseph’s aspirin people, but to the benefit of saving the account and the ad that Peggy and Ted ran over budget. In a sinister way, Don’s actions make everyone uncomfortable around the table. Don is picking at Ted’s bones—and Peggy knows this and calls Don a monster.

Don’s business acumen is now leaning more toward being a shark than having creative ideas. This can’t be good for the partnership. Ted is enthusiastic and idealistic, Don has dark secrets affecting all of his relationships. This conflict may carry over into the next season or we may see this resolve in the finale in a big way.

There’s no “On The Next Mad Men” this week as we all speculate on the season finale. Let’s recap some important characters. Betty and family seem to be doing OK and Sally is on the track to go to boarding school. Megan is playing two roles on her show (a soap opera that Don clicks by after seeing her on screen as he’s home sick). Megan’s strength is carrying her on to be an independent woman that loves Don.

Peggy and Ted are flirting, but not beyond that. Pete will move to deal with the Detroit account. Roger and the senior partners are taking a step back from the limelight. Harry Crane could predictably move to a Hollywood career.

What surprises are in store? We’re happy to have the Bob Benson reveal in this episode, because we couldn’t wait any more! We always hope to see more Joan in the finale as she continues to define herself at the company as a partner.

Tune in Sunday at 10 for the season finale!

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MAD MEN: "FAVORS" S6 E11 (reviewcap) at FORCES OF GEEK

Mad Men’s favorites are calling in favors this episode as we approach the end of season six.  Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) deals with pests in her life (including the desperate Pete Campbell), Don’s (Jon Hamm) favors are crossing the line, and young Sally (Kiernan Shipka) solidifies her Daddy issues when she sees something that can change everyone’s world for good.

And Bob Benson reveals more of himself this episode; have we cracked his code finally?

 

Peter’s senile mother Dot (Channing Chase) visits the office with her new caretaker Manolo (Andres Faucher). Peggy entertains Dot, but the old bird mistakes her for Trudy and asks about their child! Awkward, Pete and Peggy sired a child way back in season one.

Sylvia (Linda Cardellini) and Dr. Arnold’s (Brian Markinson) kid Mitchell (Hudson Thames) is dodging the draft and had dropped out of college. He seeks downstairs Canadian neighbor, Megan’s (Jessica Paré) help. Arnold explains the dire situation over drinks to Don. If guilt is a motivation for Don, he’ll find a way to help if he can but at what cost?

Upon talking with Pete, Don broaches the subject of helping Mitchell at the firm’s Chevrolet dinner. The right wing arms manufacturers are not quick to talk about the war or helping his plight.

Roger (John Slattery) and Ted (Kevin Rahm) get Don out of this awkward rabbit hole with the client. Don’s been slipping out of creative and now is struggling with business etiquette. Where is the confident and controlling Draper we all know and love? Has his love for Sylvia blinded him from his business and family obligations?

At SC&P two sales leads, Ted and Don assemble their opposing juice teams. Ted has Ocean Spray about to sign and Roger and Don have Sunkist. Both juices are important clients but they must only present to one.

Manolo drops off Dorothy to visit Pete at his apartment, where Dot admits to Pete she and her nurse are getting intimate.  Pete’s infuriated and threatens to fire Manny for his perversions. Mom tells Pete how it is, “You’ve always been unloveable”. She leaves Pete, forever alone, with a face not even his mother can love. Where is Pete’s redemption this season? All signs pointing to Pete suffering this year!

At Peggy’s apartment, a blood trail goes from her bedroom door to under the couch. It’s not the blood of another harpooned boyfriend, we’ve got a rat trapped under there. She calls on Stan (Jay R. Ferguson) to help her clean it up, but he is otherwise occupied. Not even the tease of a snog will entice him uptown, he is already with company.

Ted is willing to help Don with Mitchell’s draft problem by calling in a favor to a high ranking general that taught him to fly. They agree to drop Sunkist and get along. Ted seems to be dominating at the company as Don’s distractions sustain.
  
Ted assumes Don doesn’t have many friends, so that this is important. Meanwhile, Ted struggles at home as his wife feels neglected.

When Pete confronts Bob Benson (James Wolk) about his nurse hire, Bob talks of love and affections. Bob nudges Pete’s knee with his in a very suggestive 60 frames of video. Do these two-seconds of leg touch reveal that Bob is not only gay but in love with Pete? Or is it that ‘60s Pete can’t take a leg touch from another man. Oh, Bob, you sly enigma, you!

At the end of this episode our heart takes a jump!

Sylvia is grateful for Don’s assistance with the kid’s draft problem so they rekindle their affair at Sylvia’s house. Mitchell and Arnold are gone for the day. Sally was pranked by her friend and heads back to the apartment building to retrieve a love letter written to Mitchell. The doorman gives Sally master keys to the apartment complex. Sneaking in the back door of the Rosens. She doesn’t initially see the letter on Sylvia’s kitchen floor. What she does see is her dad and Sylvia doing the deed!

She’s startled and drops the keys, startling everyone.

Finally some drama that hits close to home. How will this affect Sally’s relationship with her father, but more importantly is she going to tell her mom or Megan?

The young adult is now under a lot of pressure to do the right thing. Don tells Sally that he was consoling Sylvia, and that it is complicated. Sally stays locked in her room, obviously upset.

Don’s world can start to crash around him at any moment. The chaos is consuming his life. Arnold and Mitchell come down and thank Don for his efforts. Don’s in a cold sweat and goes straight to bed.

On the next Mad Men, the penultimate episode for the season we’re teased with a hunting trip for Pete, the trouble with Sally and Don wearing a turtleneck like some beatnik.

Let’s see if Sally told Betty about the affair or if she follows her father’s lead and starts to keep dark secrets.

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MAD MEN: "THE BETTER HALF" S6 E09 REVIEW at FORCES OF GEEK

The family dynamic is explored in depth on the latest episode of Mad Men.

Now that Don (Jon Hamm) has more time to focus on his work and relationships, will he drown in a sea of margarine, or stay afloat on his bourbon ice cube?

Who will Joan (Christina Hendricks) trust to be the father figure to Kevin?

It’s not that smiley Bob Benson (James Wolk) is it?

Roger (John Slattery) has difficulty connecting with the children in his life, but Don and Betty (January Jones) re-connect at Bobby Draper’s (Mason Vale Cotton) upstate summer camp.

We open on Don and Ted (Kevin Rahm) arguing over the price of margarine, or rather the strategy to woo the Fleishman’s Margarine account.

 

Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) , Harry (Rich Sommer) and Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) try to stay neutral, but Don’s insistent on Peggy’s input. She doesn’t relent, as she is loyal to both men and the company itself. In fact, her loyalty to Ted may be romantic. The two have feelings for each other, but Ted does not want to have an office romance (though his feelings for her are strong).

Harry recommends Pete see a headhunter, a familiar face, Duck (Mark Moses) from Season 2. The men are weigh their options on leaving the firm with no name but Pete’s not worth much to the market these days, he’s not a partner.

On the set of Megan’s (Jessica Paré) soap, we find Megan in a blonde wig, playing double duty as Collette, her character Marie’s twin. Megan opens up to Don about work drama over a drink, as we hear the din of sirens in the city as the ‘60s youth revolts and a crime wave hits Manhattan.

Don hits the road for the weekend to visit Bobby at summer camp. Along the way, he runs into a slim Betty at the gas station. The two make love at the Motel and talk about Don’s relationship to Megan and his disconnectedness to the act of sex. Betty has a line that steals the episode, “That poor girl, she doesn’t know that loving you…is the worst way to get to you”. Betty admits that she’s forgotten about how upset she was with Don over the events of the last episode, leaving his kids alone in the apartment as it was robbed.

Megan invites fellow actress Arlene (Joanna Going) over to talk about the acting craft, but Arlene is more interested in making more passes at Megan, which Megan denies. Arlene’s husband, also a swinger is Megan’s boss, so she fears recourse. In the end, there are no hard feelings as Arlene leaves to walk back home.

Uptown, Peggy and Abe (Charlie Hofheimer) are feeling unsafe. Abe has been stabbed and mugged, but refuses to tell the cops what the race of the perps were. Peggy feels uneasy in her new home, and Abe stays on the side of the oppressed.

Peggy sleeps with a homemade harpoon by her bed with a knife attached to a broomstick. A smash and grab outside startles her from bed, armed with the harpoon. Abe is there to ask what is up, and Peggy ends up stabbing her boyfriend…with a harpoon! This unexpected violent act was comic relief for many, I’m sure.

On the way to the hospital, Abe breaks up with Peggy. He does so not because his girlfriend stabbed her, but because he sees her as part of the establishment, and he is a cutting edge journalist. They simply cannot exist in the same world. Peggy is left alone at the end of this chapter, as Ted pushes her away when she confides in him of the breakup. Poor Peggy, but we’ve seen her on the prowl as of late, she will bounce back.

Hey, how about that Bob Benson? He’s swell and certainly has found himself at Joan’s apartment for a trip to the beach! As Joan (elegantly) is packing beach blankets for the trip with Bob and baby Kevin to the beach, Roger pops in with Lincoln Logs for the little tyke (Roger is Kevin’s biological Dad). Roger doesn’t recognize the brownnose Bob from the office, and feels awkward coming by unannounced. Joan flawlessly conducts Roger’s exit and makes Bob feel at home. Oh Joan, you are so independent and wonderful. And a supermom at that! Yay Joan!

Poor Roger, this is his second failing with kids this week. His daughter Margaret (Elizabeth Rice) wasn’t happy with Roger taking 4 year-old grandson to Planet of the Apes. Maybe 4 years old is a bit young for that movie, but that’s when I saw it…and I’m obviously perfectly fine!

When Don returns home to Megan, they talk about their relationship.

Don promises to be more present, though we will have to see if anything else distracts him. Let us not forget, the main motivation to having this talk with Megan was an affair he had with his ex-wife.

This episode explored how close we can get to people in our lives, and once again we see how being close to people makes it easier to hurt them. Quite literally in the case of Peggy and Abe! Pete searches for something, we don’t know what, but Bob Benson has come to Pete’s rescue with a nurse recommendation for Pete’s senile mother. Don and Megan have some issues to work out, and both seem willing.

On the next Mad Men puzzle game we hear Ted talking about “kissing the ring”, perhaps Don’s ego is pushing his business acumen from the subtle to the blunt. Ginsberg talks of body bags from the war and Roger calls a partner’s meeting. Let’s hope Peggy gives up her dream to be a whaler and concentrates on what she does best, writing copy and breaking hearts.

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MAD MEN: "THE CRASH" S6 E08 REVIEW at FORCES OF GEEK

Back in the days before Red Bulls and when red eye meant a late night flight, not an espresso infused drink, some well to do movers and shakers saw a doctor for an energy boost in the way of a vitamin shot.

The secret ingredient?

Speed, amphetamines, uppers aka dope. Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin) prescribes the shots for the yet unnamed agency in the latest episode and we see more running around and hear more phones ringing than ever.

Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton) is seen speeding with a carload of drunk executives in a Chevy Impala. He’s there in Detroit to get approvals on the new agency’s ideas. They nearly kill him with a game if chicken. He returns with a 3 year approval schedule from the company. The partners are disappointed, though Ken has been injured from an accident related to playing chicken on the highway with the Chevy executives.

Don (Jon Hamm) struggles with his ending affair with Sylvia (Linda Cardellini). An upsetting phone call from her brings us to the first of a series of flashbacks to Dick Whitman’s childhood (Don’s original identity).

New partner and artist Frank Gleason (Craig Anton) passes away and the firm mourns by getting energy shots from Jim Cutler’s doctor.  The speed gets everyone going, including Roger (John Slattery)—the only one there with a heart condition.

As the stuff kicks in, Don heads back in time to his whorehouse upbringing. Aimée takes care of a young Dick Whitman, and this leads to sexual abuse and Don losing his virginity to the prostitute.

After the commercial break, the creative department is swimming around and grasping for ideas, cranking out lists of cracked out gibberish all the while Don is sweating and running around like a mad man. Time passes in psychedelic jump cuts with dialogs references to Alice and Wonderland and even a cult favorite 60s psych. spy-fi show The Prisoner is shown in the background of a scene.

Sally (Kiernan Shipka) and get brothers are left at home in the Manhattan apartment and across town Don speed binges on work and obsesses over Sylvia. 

Also at the office, Stan (Jay R. Ferguson) gets ‘accidentally’ stabbed with an Xacto by Ginsberg (Ben Feldman).

Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) heals his wounds, and Stan leans in for a kiss. Peggy seems like she is dissatisfied with her boyfriend and is flattered again by another man passing at her.

Sally hears someone in the apartment, discovering that she is being burgled by an older black lady Ida (Davenia McFadden).

At the conclusion of the episode we find that Don left the rear door open in his drug addled frenzy. The children were not harmed, but Megan (Jessica Paré) and Betty (January Jones) realize the kids are not old enough to be left alone. 14 year old Sally did try to call the cops but the robber intercepted the phone call.

Draper, still at the office cranks out some nonsense on his typewriter, and calls in Peggy and Ginsberg.

As I have stated before, Don’s creative energy is tapped out. He has lost sight of the Chevy overtime goal, has ignored his family as he reflects on his loss of virginity at a young age.

When he returns to his apartment he finds Betty, Henry (Christopher Stanley), Megan and the police. 

By now the weight of the amphetamine rush, his professional and personal failings drop him to the ground like a ton of bricks. The 3 day binge has taken its toll on Don. 

He also misses Sylvia and this is the closest he has gotten to expressing his real emotions. The disgrace of another flashback to his past wakes Don up.

The next morning, Don and Sylvia share an elevator ride. They only mutter pleasantries, though barely so.

The episode ends with Don being rested and a bit more clear headed, fresh in his suit. He tells Ted (Kevin Rahm) that he will be the creative director for the Chevy campaign but not a copy writer. The long-tail of the assignment has Don weary.

This was a purposely confusing episode with rapid paced jump cuts to portray the passage of time. Learning more about what makes Don tick, sexually and personally is intriguing but the reveal that he lost his virginity at the whorehouse he grew up in was not surprising. Imagining the young innocent Dick Whitman growing up to be the Don Draper we know today is a huge leap. The background flashbacks do paint a picture of how he deals with women in his life.

A highlight of the episode, and the meme posted the day after air was Ken Cosgrove’s “It’s my job” speed-induced tap dance. With the writing on the side, he’s a triple threat on the sales team!

To speculate on the next episode from the teaser is fun but hardly fruitful. Pete and Joan are getting along, tensions are high between Don and Ted, and Don takes a road trip. I think we’ve seen all of the Dick Whitman reveals for the season, my feeling is that the will be taking a break from flashbacks for now.

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MAD MEN: "The Flood" S6 E05 (review) - FORCES OF GEEK

A time of tragedy and catastrophe strikes the nation and the world in the latest episode of Mad Men.

Echoing the feelings evoked by present day headlines these past weeks, we see how everyone reacts to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in “The Flood”.

The serious tone of the crisis seeps through everyone’s dialogue in this chapter as some choose to carry on, whereas others are deeply affected and influenced by the shocking news.

We open on to a realtor showing Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) an Upper East Side apartment. Boyfriend Abe Drexler (Charlie Hofheimer) shows up late and confuses the realtor. Abe’s not the buyer, but we see another empowering gender role reversal as Abe is reduced to apartment consultant.

Actor Paul Newman speaks at the awards for The Advertising Club of New York, where both Megan (Jessica Paré) and Peggy are up for nominations.

The usual pleasantries and Roger Sterling (John Slattery) client appeasing happens over drinks as the ceremony starts with Newman endorsing Eugene McCarthy for President. His speech is interrupted by someone calling out to Mr. Newman the news that Martin Luther King is dead. They all take a break from the celebration and we see the look of surprise and disgust from the tables.

In Brooklyn we cut to a virgin Michael Ginsberg (Ben Feldman) on a set up date with his dad’s friend’s daughter. In the diner, the radio broadcasts the news and black dishwashers take time to sit speechless.

Over at the Betty Draper (January Jones) household, Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley) leaves to attend to city business, a calling of his profession as the Director of Public Relations. Fearing riots, he vocalizes his worries and scares the kids Bobby (Mason Vale Cotton) and Sally (Kiernan Shipka). Betty refuses to watch the TV, scared of the things they may show. At bedtime, Bobby exhibits some at the time was probably misdiagnosed bad behavior by peeling the wallpaper off of his wall because they patterns did not align. Seems more like an OCD symptom than anything else.

Pete’s (Vincent Kartheiser) returned to his Siberian exile in his Manhattan apartment, calling Trudy (Alison Brie) to check in on his family. Trudy appreciates the call but stands her ground by not letting the womanizing husband back to the homestead. In a time of crisis, Pete is looking for the support of home, but the consequences of his actions are that he needs to stay away, with only Chinese takeout as his only friend.

At Don Draper’s place, Megan argues with her Marxist father over the phone, as Don stares deeply into a bottle of Canadian Club whiskey as he watches the news of race riots on national news coverage.

Megan won the award that night for her Heinz Beans campaign. In light of the news, no one really gives a bean, including Megan, who left the award on the couch with her jacket.

An awkward day after happens at SCDP as well as at Cutler Gleason and Chaough, both firms have black employees. Peggy is slightly better at consoling her secretary than Joan is of trying to give Don’s Dawn (Teyonah Parris) an unwanted hug.

Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) breaks up a yelling match between the hurt Pete and Harry (Rich Sommer). Harry is concerned about the loss in advertising sales because of the tragedy, and Pete calls him a racist. Bert cannot seem to diffuse the tension.

Down in Draper’s office a meeting with a new client has everyone confused. An insurance man claims he was visited by Dr. King’s spirit last night and has a bizarre idea for a campaign that involves a molotov cocktail. Don’s not impressed, but hey, his own work hasn’t been much better lately!

Home early from work, Don is back at the TV with the brown stuff. He’s forgotten to pick up the kids from Betty’s, and his relationship with his kids is suffering.

Megan takes Sally to an MLK vigil in the park, and Bobby feigns illness to stay home with Dad. The two boys play hooky and check out a matinee of Planet of the Apes.

In between the first and second showing, Bobby has a moment with the black usher that’s the highlight of the episode. He asks the usher if he has seen the Ape movie, and recommends it to the gentleman. “Everyone likes to go to the movies when they are sad”. This from the mouths of babes moment is evokes emotion in Don, something we see little of.

At the end of the episode we have Harry announcing his bid for state Senator and taking more of a leadership role in his career.

In all a dramatic episode, with diamond facets of how different people deal with tragedy and loss. As truth is stranger than fiction, the timing of this episode being released so near to a time of a tragedy in the Boston really hits home. Another way for us to lose our selves in a television show about the past here, as we switch to national news coverage ourselves and keep our loved ones close by.

On the next Mad Men, we are teased with Peggy being annoyed by someone’s presence, more steamy silver fox bedroom scenes with Roger, and Peggy’s boss Ted Chaough possibly up to no good.  These teasers are harder to gauge or extrapolate as we get later into the season. Lots of Don opening his office door and Roger on a payphone.

We hope to see more Joan next episode, of course, with her hair down.

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