Angry Fellas continues with this week’s Mad Men, bringing back a newly sober Freddy Rumsen, Lucky Strikes villain Lee Garner Jr. and even fan favorite Trudy for a cameo.
Zoe
We’re almost halfway through the decade and everything is falling apart. Isn’t that just the way holidays feel sometimes, though? You have all these dreams of what could and should happen–from the presents you want to something as simple as a parent being present–and so rarely does the reality match up. Everyone’s dreams conflict and grind together, which is why the holidays can be the most stressful time. But if you’re on Mad Men and you used to be somebody, those holidays of 1964 are about telling you how much smaller you’ve become in everyone eyes.
From Roger having to ham it up as Santa to please the firms only client to Freddy’s old fashionedness being attack by his former underline to Don’s continued descent into pathetic drunken sadness (with a delicious topping of jerk, ruining Allison’s dreams) nothing is what it used to be or was supposed to be when dreams were being dreamed.
And then there’s Sally, angry and alone, finding solace in the frustrated, creepy friendship of Glen, a former pariah. I am not the child of divorce and I’m too young to have been a child of divorce when it was such a scandal, but Sally’s building frustration and anger is, of course, only going to grow to mimic the wider cultural anger that is about to explode.
As for Peggy, her dreams didn’t get dashed as handily as everyone else’s this week, but while we smiled at the joke of Mark thinking her a virgin and old fashioned, the truth is she’s more Freddy than future hippie. She wants the dream of marriage and happiness, combined with her dash of feminism. And looking so post-coitally let down it seems like her dreams might be dying too.
Dennis
This week’s returns include a recovered (but still old school) Freddy, the Drapers’ loveable housekeeper Carla, Lucky Strike louse Lee (it’s his fault we don’t have Sal anymore!), Pete’s wife Trudy (Community’s versatile Alison Brie), and the ever creepy neighbor boy Glen! It seems Mad Men is bringing back more and more familiar faces with each episode (the fact that Aaron Stanton and a few others from the old agency are still in the opening credits indicates there will be more reappearances to come).
I’m most excited to see Carla (the closest thing Sally has to a real mother figure) and Trudy back. It seemed that the season finale had primed Trudy to be a bigger presence in the new agency, but I wonder if Brie’s regular role on Community may have derailed that. Still, I’m glad to see she’ll still pop up in a guest starring capacity from time to time. I also dig the dynamic between Peggy and Freddy. Peggy seemed fairly broken up when a drunken Freddy was ousted, and it’s interesting to see him back with Peggy a much more mature, established person.
I’m least excited to see Glen, since I fear what his creepy plans are for sweet Sally. I do hope we see (not just hear) Glen’s mom Helen again, as I always felt like she too was previously primed to be a bigger character and am curious to see what remarried life is like for her. Maybe she and Betty can compare notes, without further slapping ensuing?
Meanwhile on the actually NEW faces front: I also wonder if this is the last we’ll see of Don’s nurse neighbor, as played by Grey’s Anatomy’s recently deceased doctor Nora Zehetner. (Is it me or is Don averaging like 3 love interests an episode now that he’s single?). And why did it take me TWO episodes to realize that Betty’s new beau is played by Blake Bashoff, aka Lost’s dearly departed Karl? He was one of my favorite recurring characters!
Ellen
Okay, so I had a nightmare that every Mad Men episode this season was going to revolve around a holiday, and it made me really upset. Not that Matthew Weiner couldn’t potentially pull it off, but I suspect every holiday will cause a wave of similar behaviors: Don, feeling guilty over the divorce, will spend too much money and then do something stupid with a lady to get over his guilt. Everyone’s spouses will make a cameo. There will be seasonal decorations. So let’s hope next week’s trip to Acapulco isn’t quite so seasonal.
On this week’s Christmas episode, we unwrapped all kinds of secrets: Freddy didn’t die! Peggy’s boyfriend is kind of a dim bulb! Making his first appearance in season 4, Gene is no longer a baby! Okay, we could have guessed that one.
I really had thought Freddy was dead to us, though, and his reappearance suggests that no one in the repertory is gone forever. As a Sal fan, comforting news indeed. Secondary case in point: Creepy Neighbor Kid Glen, working at the tree stand with his stepfolks. (Tangent: I learned on Twitter today that the kid who plays Glen is Weiner’s son Marten. I’d love to have heard that kneeside chat. “Son, I’ve got a part for you in my project, but there’s a catch…”) When Glen hears that Sally Draper wants to move he decides to “help” by trashing the entire place, except her room. Bit weird, that kid, but a great way to deliver the information that Sally also wants out of Bullet Park Rd.
Peggy’s decision to let Freddy’s words get to her and sleep with her unremarkable man was disappointing, but not surprising; she’s still trying to figure out the kind of girl she wants to be, and we are right along with her. (I had at least a 30-second memory blank before I remembered her affair with Pete Campbell. It’s been a long time since then!) I’m disappointed and surprised, however, in Don’s decision to add his faithful secretary to his list of conquests. The excitement of seeing Don back in action was ruined by his ill-picked and ill-timed target, even if she was right there falling into his arms. Really, who didn’t see that one coming out awkward? Are we going to have to send Don to “the fraternity” too? At least he could have written a check.