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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