Peggy looking slightly bewildered on Mad Men
Photo Credit: AMC TV
A review of “The Strategy” as soon as I put this beer down
right in the middle of your cake…
“She’s doing it the way she wants to do it!”
-Don
Every season there is always that episode of Mad Men that
reminds me why I love the show so much. It’s not that the show isn’t great on a
regular basis (which quite frankly it is) but there is always that special episode
that really invigorates my love for the show. “The Strategy” is that episode, a
beautiful, near perfect hour of television that could have strangely acted as
the Mad Men series finale.
The best thing that “The Strategy” achieves is how well it
manages to make Peggy look by the end of the episode. It’s not that I’ve really
minded how Peggy has been treated by Weiner and crew over the last season or
so, but for once it’s nice to see Peggy get some redemption, especially in regards
to her relationship with Don. Peggy getting the thumbs up on her pitch for the
burger project gets squandered early on when Pete wants Don to do the pitch for
the project instead of Peggy. On top of this Don manages to try and sneak in
his own idea regarding the add making Peggy fear that not only does her idea
suck but that Don is going to change it up during the actual pitch itself.
The result is one of the best sequences in Mad Men history.
Peggy and Don share a moment in the office for the first time in forever (remnants
of what some would argue is the best Mad Men episode ever “The Suitcase”)
brainstorming a new idea. For the first time in potentially forever it seems that
Don actually cares about Peggy and her work and treats her like his protégé. It’s
a great moment and everything lines up, the performances of both Jon Hamm and Elizabeth
Moss are so perfect, the musical choices so perfectly unsubtle but beautiful,
and the final dance being so beautifully emotional as a culmination of their
relationship. If this was the end of the Don and Peggy relationship for the
rest of the show (which it most certainly isn’t) I couldn’t imagine it ending
on a more tender and perfect note. The sequence never forgives all the sins of
these character’s past, but it also never forgets the special bond that these
two have. Don never gave up on Peggy and thinks the world of her no matter how
little he shows it and no matter how much she brings herself to hate him Peggy
still looks up to Don as her mentor. As previously touched on above the
sequence all culminates in a little dance to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” a song
that not so subtly sums up their relationship. These are two broken people
who have had a bond since the beginning of this show and while they’ve had
their many ups and downs they will always have this bond, and no matter what
both of them will end up doing things their own ways no matter how right or
wrong.
While the Don and Peggy sequence was easily the best thing
in “The Suitcase” it was not the only great event to take place throughout the
episode. Heck this was the triumphant return (and probable send off) of one Bob
Benson! Bob returned to find out that Sterling Cooper and Partners are losing
Chevy, and that he has many opportunities through internal add production for
Buick. Of course this is going to throw off his relationship with Joan, which as
is discovered in this episode is much more complicated than it appeared at the
end of last season. It seems that Bob isn’t really looking for love (and in
fact is probably gay) and is essentially using Joan as a means of keeping appearances.
His strange proposal to Joan perfectly illustrates this; he tries at first to
sell Joan on the idea that he has true feelings for her but Joan sees right
through it and eventually he transforms it into the “let’s be practical” speech
(or as I like to call it the Walter White pitch) at one point promising her a
mansion in Detroit. In season six we explored the idea of history repeating
itself and Bob Benson essentially being the next version of Dick Whitman/Don
Draper, but this takes it to a whole other level. Say what you want about Don
but he never went this far to farther his career (notice the music and lighting
changes whenever Bob is on screen it’s much darker and sinister in tone even
during the proposal it seems that he is lit much darker). Joan backs up right
away and rightfully so and tells Bob that she will never give up looking for
love no matter how hard she tries. It’s a wonderful little sequence that is a
good possible send off to the character of Bob Benson and finally reveals what
his true intentions have been throughout his entire run in the agency.
Finally there are the marriage problems on both Don and Pete’s
end. Pete seems unwilling to let Trudy go as he when she isn’t there the whole
time he’s seeing his daughter (who as a representation to just how detached
Pete really is with his former life manages to be afraid of Pete) he just waits
for her and leaves his new seemingly more awesome girlfriend Bonnie alone in
the hotel room while he drunkenly waits for Trudy to come back and allow him to
pin his emotions on her. It shows that Pete, no matter how happy he is in
California still has the same broken person problems that he’s always had. Pete
is still really the same guy he’s always been just literal distance has kept
him away from his problems. As Bonnie (and really a lot of the audience who
have dealt with despicable Pete for many seasons) puts it that she hates him in
New York.
Don’s marriage problems aren’t quite as obvious as Pete’s
but are troubling none the less. Megan is growing much more distant from Don;
she’s no longer as receptive to his affection and is beginning to take all of
her things away from Don’s apartment in New York. She is so far removed from
Don’s work life that she has no idea of his current working predicament nor
does she know how to handle Peggy and Stan really at all. When she heads off on
the plane on her own at the end of the episode (as we presume without Don really
getting her there) we see that this marriage is falling apart at the seams and that
Megan is probably much happier on her own than with Don. Potentially troubling
times await…
Some other musings:
- Useless Ted comes back to deliver very useless comments to Peggy.
- We get a nice little nod to Ginsberg in this episode as he gets mentioned by Megan and Stan briefly. Off at a funny farm or something one can maybe assume.
- I love that Harry Crane becoming a partner was met with either utter indifference or complete disapproval depending on which partner you are.
- Having business meetings in a steam room should be a regular occurrence.
- Lou manages to go a whole episode without being all that awful! Yay Lou!
- Bob Benson always chooses to work for the unshadiest people who don’t manage to get themselves thrown in Jail… Great Job Bob!
- Also Great Job Bob is the best potential Mad Men spin off. Pair it with Better Call Saul and you have a great Sunday night lineup.
Okay time for me to get out of here. I can’t believe that we
only have one more of these left this year.
That’s just me folks. What did everyone else think
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