Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Every Monday I will review another episode of seasons four, five, and six. The last season will be covered in the summer of 2022 (now updated to winter 2021-22). I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on August 22, 2010/written by Erin Levy; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" points both backward and forward while anchoring itself very firmly in the moment. The Japanese motorcycle company Honda becomes a potential goldmine client for SCDP, triggering a furious Roger's war-fueled resentments from the forties while hinting at the Pacific nation's eventual dominance of the auto industry in the eighties. (The notion of Japanese cars seems so absurd to the admen that, when they learn they have a shot at marketing the company's brand new models, they wonder if they really want to.) After Roger ambushes a business meeting with ratatatat insults involving barely-veiled references to Pearl Harbor and the atomic bomb, a furious Pete accuses him of having ulterior motives: is this really about promises made to dead sailor pals or is Roger worried that if Pete starts bringing in big hitters, Roger's own Lucky Strike account will carry less weight? Don nearly salvages the account when he cooks up a plan almost as conniving as the legendary creation of SCDP in '63 - he pretends to shoot an expensive spec commercial, in direct violation of the Japanese business' scrupulously written rules, in order to provoke his obnoxious rival at the CGC agency, Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm), into filming his own ad. Then Don self-righteously removes himself from the competition by telling the Honda reps that it would be dishonorable to compete against someone who flouted their conventions so brazenly. Don, reading the postwar anthropological study from which the episode takes its name, believes he's got a solid read on their cultural conventions; we'll see whether or not this stunt pays off in the long run, but early signs are promising. At any rate Ted faceplants, which is good enough.
While Don continues to thrive professionally, he's flailing in his personal life. A visit with his kids in the city heads south when he leaves them with a babysitter (neighbor Phoebe, whose unflappable demeanor in previous episodes collapses to the point where she is humiliatingly fired by Don). Sally decides to cut her hair, leading to an outburst from Betty who is particularly pissed that Don pranced off with a date rather than watch the kids himself during his one night a week. She's also alarmed by indications that the little girl is growing up all too fast. Encouraged by Henry to go easy on the kid, Betty lets Sally attend a sleepover which backfires disastrously. As her unsuspecting friend slumbers on the couch, Sally becomes ever more fascinated with the handsome men on TV and - tactfully, under the notable guidance of a female writer and director - we quickly find out how few inhibitions Sally harbors...as does her friend's mother (Amy Sloan). Deposited back at the Draper home as punishment for "playing with herself," the humiliated Sally is more confused and morose than ever and so Betty agrees, with Harry's prodding, to send her to a child psychiatrist, Dr. Edna Keener (Patricia Bethune). As quickly becomes apparent in their first meeting, it's Betty who needs a therapeutic outlet as much as anyone; we're right back in Betty's first season childishness as she sits in the playfully decorated office and starts inadvertently spilling her own guts to the intrigued shrink, who carefully sets up monthly meetings with mother as well as daughter - ostensibly just to check up on the child's progress. Don, kept abreast of his daughter's crisis from a distance, finds his own solace over sake with Faye in the company kitchen, finally sharing the familial troubles he withheld for so long. She, in turn, confesses that she wears a fake wedding ring as a prop to keep men away, although Don is quick to note that he must, implicitly, not be one of the ones she wants to keep away. Faye is able to exit this encounter without going any further, but we strongly suspect this won't be their last temptation to further let down their guard.
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