» 3-7: "Seven Twenty Three" 2009.09.27 (recap) Options

[EleanorAquitain]

It may also be harkening back to Peggy's assertion when asking Don for a raise that "my secretary doesn't respect me because she makes $78 more than me." (Apologies that this is probably not the exact quote.) Perhaps just one of the little behaviors Olive displays that in fact support this lack of respect.

To be fair to poor Olive, though, we haven't really seen any of the disrespect that Peggy described. I wonder if Peggy wasn't stretching the truth a bit to make the point that she is making little more than her secretary.

I didn't hear Don at all to be saying that Peggy isn't a hard worker. I heard him to be saying, "You work hard and turn out very good quality work. That's why you're even here at all, and still have a job. Now, if you want to go beyond that, the way to get there is not to keep raising your hand, but raising the level of your work. Do the kind of work that isn't just 'very good' but has people all across America talking about it at the water cooler the next morning, come up with a jingle that starts everyone in America humming, devise a slogan that becomes the punchline of a million jokes. Of everyone I have working for me, you're the one that can do that, and you're not doing it."

This makes it seem as if Don was giving Peggy a pep talk. He wasn't, he was giving her a dressing down. And while I definitely heard him say that he thought Peggy was good, he seemed to be suggesting that she wasn't a hard worker, IMO.

[LeDucDiableBleu]

I rewatched and I noticed when Don is discussing his contract with the other execs Roger asks how he knows Hilton. Don said "we travel in the same circles" instead of "I met him at the club bar during your derby party." That would shift the credit, so to speak, as regarding who brought in Hilton. Without Roger's party it would have never happened. It's ironic because at the beginning of their meeting Don made a joke about who was going to take credit for the Hilton account.

Also what occured to me that I thought was interesting was that Betty met Henry at Roger's party, too. A party that both Don and Betty didn't want to attend, yet met very powerful people who could change their lives.

I know Hilton wasn't a guest at Roger's party, just at the same club for a different event, but it shows how Roger is the type who belongs to the right clubs, knows the right people and was born into a social set that most people strive to get into.

[25framesaminute]

I know Hilton wasn't a guest at Roger's party, just at the same club for a different event, but it shows how Roger is the type who belongs to the right clubs, knows the right people and was born into a social set that most people strive to get into.

Great point. And Don wouldn't have met Hilton had he not walked out of Roger's Blackface routine in disgust. However, now Don is working under both Connie and Roger.

[peeayebee]

Also what occured to me that I thought was interesting was that Betty met Henry at Roger's party, too. A party that both Don and Betty didn't want to attend...

IIRC, Betty wanted to go to the party.

[albaniantv]

Not sure if Don is still working under Roger--where did Roger end up in the Brit chart? When the Brits put up the slide, Roger was overlooked, which Bert was first to catch. I don't remember the outcome...

[HickoryColt]

I think that Don really does love his children, Polka Dotty, but I don't think that would keep him from fleeing. I don't think it's a question of love, but fear and Don does have a flight mechanism within him. That locked drawer Betty was rattling doesn't just contain the Whitman family photos, it contains a fairly substantial amount of cash. I've always assumed that is money that Don keeps around to deal with any unforeseen emerging of Dick Whitman, up to and including running away money. We've seen him give that money to Adam, and he has since replenished the stash

I wondered what on earth she was doing at the end of that phone conversation scene. Now I know.

[25framesaminute]

Not sure if Don is still working under Roger--where did Roger end up in the Brit chart? When the Brits put up the slide, Roger was overlooked, which Bert was first to catch. I don't remember the outcome...

I think he works under Roger in the sense that he signed a contract for Sterling Cooper and Roger handed him the contract. So, I think Roger has the upper hand. We'll see how it plays out.

[Rosencrantz 13]

Everytime I see Pete, Ken, Harry and Paul I think: "Four little maids from school are we."

They were certainly "filled to the brim with girlish glee" when Connie visited the office. I wonder who'll get to be on the Hilton account? Maybe we'll see Pete Vs Ken and Peggy Vs Paul trying to outdo each other for Don's favour.

[lovethatdog]

Not sure if Don is still working under Roger--where did Roger end up in the Brit chart? When the Brits put up the slide, Roger was overlooked, which Bert was first to catch. I don't remember the outcome...

On the Brit's org chart, Don was not under Roger. Roger was under Bert, and no one was under Roger. But since that plan was scrapped, I guess we are meant to assume that things went back to how they were, with Don working under Bert, Roger, and Lane.

[PolkaDotty]

Did anyone else catch that Pete had his nose in Ebony magazine again? I wonder where this is going. I feel like the show is on the verge of bringing in another minor black character somehow.

I don't think we need another minor black character. I think Hollis definitely should move up (heh) from the elevator to the mailroom, which actually might be on a lower level physically, but would get him into the staff. I wonder who would have the idea, and who would have had the pull. I would have thought previously than Don did, but now I don't know where he stands. Could Pete have that much foresight? Would he have any pull in hiring? (I don't think so.) Roger never seems to notice that there is a real person in that elevator. Maybe he thinks it's one of those elevators that you can run yourself.

I was 14 then but I think I would have noticed this inequity. (I have always been one of those so-called "bleeding heart liberals.") I'd like to know if Hollis had a college degree, but this is the only job he could get.

And I think Peggy makes $71 more than her secretary, which obviously isn't a lot, but she doesn't make less than Olive does.

[Rosencrantz 13]

In 'Six Months Leave' Kinsey says that he roped Hollis into giving blood for the copywriters, because he "has a novel". Hollis definitely has his own creative aspirations. I'd love to see Hollis and Carla become more prominent characters over time.

[Cinder63]

I don't think we need another minor black character. I think Hollis definitely should move up (heh) from the elevator to the mailroom, which actually might be on a lower level physically, but would get him into the staff. I wonder who would have the idea, and who would have had the pull. I would have thought previously than Don did, but now I don't know where he stands. Could Pete have that much foresight? Would he have any pull in hiring? (I don't think so.) Roger never seems to notice that there is a real person in that elevator. Maybe he thinks it's one of those elevators that you can run yourself.

I'd assume Hollis works for the building management company, not Sterling Cooper. (Just because their name is on the building doesn't mean they own or run it; they pay for signature rights. We certainly have not seen a critical mass of staff to require an entire skyscraper.)

So that would be rather far- fetched, but I do agree that adding some people of color would make the dynamic more interesting. TV shows etc. of the era were beginning to include black actors in professional roles such as nurses, teachers, etc. -- OK, maybe not in 1963 but within a couple of years, and those black professionals didn't come to be overnight. I would've found such a story line a lot more plausible than the contrived Kurt "I make love with the men, not the women," declaration. That and the whole Peggy makeover by a gay guy on her Cosco kitchen stool still seems very shark-jumpy to me.

[PolkaDotty]

Bert Cooper tells Draper, that he had been "standing on someone's shoulders. I had originally thought the quote, "I have stood on the shoulders of giants" was by Einstein, then I was told it was Isaac Newton, and now it seems the phrase was almost as old as time itself. Thus, the modest little statement:

I can see far because I have been

Regarding the $1 bill that Doug and Sandy have left Don: around this time, 1963, my brother was giving me a ride when he realized he needed gas. He didn't have much money on him, so he bought $.25 cents of gas. (Yes, it bought us a gallon.)

This post has been edited by PolkaDotty: Oct 4, 2009 @ 8:56 pm.

[Constantinople]

I think he works under Roger in the sense that he signed a contract for Sterling Cooper and Roger handed him the contract. So, I think Roger has the upper hand.

Don didn't sign the contract until Cooper handed it to him and said "Would you agree I know a little something about you?", etc. Roger was about as effective in getting Don to sign the contract as Roger was with the President of MSG, which is not at all. Roger has no hand.

[Pepper Mostly]

Did she fit in with the secretaries when she was one of them?

Yes, she did. She was friendly and complimentary when Joan introduced her to the switchboard gals. Everyone took her out to celebrate when she got promoted. She fit in fine, other than a little naivete about what goes on in the workplace, only to be expected in a young woman in her first job.

I think Peggy is a perfectly normal person, someone who's not exuberant and outgoing, but fiercely intelligent, independent and circumspect. Remember how mortified she was when she tore her skirt? And when Kurt confirmed their "date"? She's private. And I agree that she's funny and witty, and I don't think she "doesn't understand" banter or only does it because other people do it. Her wit is dry and she, at this point in her life, is used to the notion that a lot of people don't get it. She's fine with that. I just LOVE her.

Oh, and one more thing. Her people are Nordic.