The Mad Men characters sure know how to make their relationships complicated, don’t they? This episode involved both Don and Pete’s affairs and the very different fallout it was having in their lives.
Don and Sylvia are in deep. She’s talking about avoiding falling in love, but looks to already be well on her way there. Her awkwardness around Don at that restaurant was very interesting, as she remarked, “You enjoy how foolish they both look,” about their respective spouses. Which probably isn’t true – Don has many flaws, but taking pleasure out of such a thing isn’t one of them – but man is Don trapped in a cycle. The flashbacks in this episode once again reminded us why his perspective on women is so complicated and screwed up, being raised in a brothel.
That being said, it was great seeing the more noble Don here too, as he did a wonderful job of torpedoing the uber-sleaze Herb, the Jaguar dealer, from getting what he wanted – in a bit of revenge for what happened with Joan. I’m glad that oh-so controversial storyline isn’t being ignored, as Don seemed so close to saying something to Joan when Herb showed up, but couldn’t – but then figured out a way to strike back for her and nearly verbalized the disgusting scenario no one would speak of, when he intoned, “So we just keep saying yes, no matter what?” to Pete and Roger.
Joan herself wasn’t seen a lot in this episode, after we saw her see Herb and retreat to Don’s office. As great as it was to see Don’s actions for her, I hope we more directly deal with her own fallout from this scenario as the season progresses. At the least, it would have been appreciated if she saw (and reacted to) what Don did in regards to Herb this week.
As for Pete's situation… Go, Trudy!
If you’re an Alison Brie fan, like me, this was basically the episode we’d been waiting for. It had been implied before that Trudy knew what Pete was up to, but chose to put on the happy, cheerful face she likes to project. But in this episode, she’d finally had enough. Pete did a stupid thing – he s**t where he eats, having an affair with their own neighbor.
Trudy’s big speech to Pete, basically six seasons in the making, was awesome, as she told him that their marriage, in truth, was over, but they’d keep up appearances – “You will be here only when I tell you to be here.” And her actually intoning, “I will destroy you, you understand?” was just awesome. Brie’s mostly known for her comedic work, both in Community and in films, and on Mad Men she’s mainly been asked to play cheerful (even if it was falsely cheerful), but this was a great, big dramatic moment for her that she completely sold.
Meanwhile, we got more of a look at the balance Peggy is trying to find, as we met her secretary, Phyllis, who had an open enough dynamic with her to note just how un-encouraging she is with the men that work for her – amusingly followed by her ordering them to sit down and stand up, as her mood saw fit.
I’m loving this greater look at Ted we’re getting via Peggy this season. He’s a genuinely nice guy, who didn’t want her to freak out when he walked in on her having a personal call...
…But he is an ad guy. And he’s not going to pass up an opportunity so plainly presented as Peggy telling him about the incident with Heinz at SCDP. Which means we’re likely about to see the first true faceoff between Peggy and her old company… Which, let’s face it, should be cool to see play out.
Then there’s Megan, who had to deal with a horribly emotional situation this week – having a miscarriage and her own jumbled reaction to that fact, as she felt the huge loss yet also knew being pregnant would have been terrible for her rising career. Megan leaning on Sylvia as a confidant certainly added to the big mess this situation is, as Don has created his own ticking time bomb, and a scenario that could end up worse for him than what’s happened to Pete. She lives in the same freaking building, Don!
Overall, "The Collaborators" was a very strong episode of Mad Men, after the solid but unremarkable premiere. Let the Heinz Ketchup Wars begin! Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN, IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman.
