Mad Men S04 E05 "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword"

REVIEWS - TV

We join the politically incorrect crowd at Madison Avenue...

Mad Men (AMC)

 

Dapper Don Draper and the Psexy Psychologist are in his office, when he gets a call from the New York Times. The reporter has a quote from the guy who is taking Sterling Cooper’s cast off clients (Ted Chaough) – “Whenever Don Draper looks in the rear-view mirror sees me.” Don’s response, “Never heard of him.”

The client of the day is Honda – Roger has some predictably racist remarks left over from WWII. He vetoes the client and storms out; everyone else decides to continue without him.

Back at Don’s apartment, he leaves his kids with cute nurse neighbor so he can go on a date. Hey, Father of the Year! How about finding the kids a new mommy on your own time, the other 28 days per month? Then again, considering MOTY’s parenting skills... get on it. Now, and quit your job to do it if you must. Sally is not happy about being left with the sitter, and shows it by hiding in the bathroom and hacking off her hair. She comes out, shorn, and starts asking the babysitter sex questions. IS this a normal 10 year old thing? It really doesn’t feel normal. Sally, your mom is going to lose her mind over the haircut.

Don’s date is not digging on Benihana, the tramp. Meets Ted Chaough - the guy who keeps stealing his clients. He gets home to the giant hair cut debacle, then the next morning returns the kids to Betty’s House of Pain (and Manicures!) Giant fake slap for Sally, and a big fight with Don; but Not-Don actually calms her down. Go Not-Don.

The Honda meeting is going well, till Roger Sterling crashes it and offends everybody. The Japanese accept gifts and still invite SCDP to present. Afterward, Campbell and Sterling almost get into a fist fight – Campbell accuses Sterling of blocking new business because when new business comes in it reduces their dependence on Lucky Strike and therefore their dependence on Roger Sterling. Don kicks Campbell out but says he’s right. The wha? Campbell’s paranoia is actually on the spot. Dapper Don and Psexy Psychologist share some sake and she confesses that her wedding ring is a blind - she's actually psingle. Wonder if that will play out in the future?

Sally at sleepover – cute haircut, Sally! She’s watching TV with another girl sleeping on the couch – but then the TV gets fuzzy and oh my GOD I’m pretty sure Sally is, um, flicking the bean at a sleepover? Yoinks. She gets caught and brought home in the middle of the night; Betty is informed and in a truly well-adjusted manner, expresses her concern by threatening to cut off Sally's fingers. Shit. Not-Don suggests therapy. Not-Don is clearly a genius. Maybe Sally is not the prime candidate for therapy here? Baby steps, Not-Don.

So SCDP is trying to figure out the Honda thing and this is awesome – Honda’s rules for presentation say no finished work, and it would bankrupt the SCDP to do a commercial. But it would also bankrupt Ted Chaough’s company… and so begins the most awesome evil genius plan ever; seriously, Lex Luthor is taking notes. SCDP fakes out the competition to make them think they are turning in a finished commercial to Honda. Chaough has to do a commercial as well to keep up – even though a commercial on spec will bankrupt them as well. They actually block Chaough’s people from the filming – and inside is Peggy riding around and around an empty sound stage. At the presentation, Chaough goes right before SCDP and taunts Don about not bringing a commercial. Don goes in to the meeting and tells Honda that he resigns – because he doesn’t want to be a part of a competition where people are allowed to break the rules. And that is the awesome part – he makes it a moral issue totally unrelated to Roger's racism, where he gets to be the honorable man. Sublime evil genius! They don't get the Honda motorcycle account, but do get the Honda automobile account. And Chaough's company is done.

Betty interviews a child psychologist and after some conversation, the gentle suggestion is made that Betty get some of that juicy therapy for herself.

A fantastic conversation between Joan and Roger, where he tries to explain how his feelings aren’t racism, really, it’s just left over from the war. Joan reminds him that her husband is an Army surgeon and she doesn’t really want to hear about Roger’s dead war buddies. Fair point.

Sally is waiting in the outer room of the psychiatrist’s office. It’s her first visit… with the housekeeper. It’s Carla who drops her off, waits with her and smiles encouragingly. Where the hell is Betty?

So we finally get to see what happens to lost clients - someone out there is picking them up. SCDP doesn't function in a void! Who knew? Using this as the backdrop for their first foreign client makes it meta - and the fact that it's an Asian client, with the Vietnam war approaching, can't be overlooked. Finally, too, we get to see how Don's chameleon tendencies translate to the international stage (extremely well). He takes a really basic knowledge of Japanese business customs and turns them on their head to his own advantage immediately.

The thing I loved about this episode was the humor - you rarely get laugh-out-loud moments in this show but this episode had 3:

1) Weasel Campbell announcing to the Japanese businessmen what their wrapped gifts were (when they refused to open them immediately): Cantaloupe, Johnnie Walker Black, Johnnie Walker Black.

2) Japanese businessmen checking out Joan's rack: How does she not fall over? Joan: Not very subtle, are they? Translator: No, they are not.

3) Office workers checking out a toy bird: I don't know what makes it work! Don: I don't know what makes *you* work.

Total throwaways, all hilarious. Is Joss Whedon writing for Mad Men now?

 


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