Mad Men - "Mystery Date"

Season 5, Episode 4

It was a dark and stormy night on last night’s Mad Men, if only in the metaphorical sense, a cacophony of failed attempts to sleep and long, dark reflections into the self. If this sounds like a bit of cheesiness on Mad Men’s part, yeah, that’s true. But it’s also a cheesiness that mostly works, as it was a break of sort for the show, one that stopped worrying about any sort of ongoing plots (admittedly something that’s not a primary focus of the show on any given week) and instead took one final look at the characters before the late 1960s sends them teetering over the edge of bad decisions.

The show has played with the idea of the impending doom that the decade would bring for the denizens of the Madison Avenue lifestyle for the totality of it’s run, but for the first four seasons this was mostly an undercurrent to some of the larger concerns of the characters. As was the case in the season premiere, the status quo has changed, at from this point onward the show has become much more interested in depicting the 1960s at it’s most familiar, a time of revolution, violence, and in the case of tonight’s episode, terror.

“Mystery Date” makes no bones about the horror angle that the show would take, as the second scene of the episode reminds us of Richard Speck’s slaying of eight student nurses (which also means that this season has already jumped forward a month and a half across two weeks of airtime). It’s an understandably disturbing crime, at least to new hire Michael Ginsburg, if not for the SCDP vets. (More of that cynicism/optimism that was introduced in the premiere.) On one other occasion the show started an hour with a tragic event (“The Grown-Ups” with the Kennedy assassination), and much like with that episode, these murders that hang over the proceedings of the episode, in both direct and indirect manners. The Spreck murders didn’t have nearly the large impact that JFK’s death did, for obvious reasons, and thus the show turns Spreck into more of a symbol than an actual event.

The most direct Spreck effect occurs within the Francis household, where Sally, against the instructions of her Grandma Pauline, sneaks the paper in order to learn about the murders, an event which is perhaps too shocking for her young mind to deal with. In fact, a lot of Sally’s time in this episode seems to be trying in many ways to buck the childhood into which he is constantly being forced. She hates the control that Pauline asserts over her, trying to use Henry and Betty’s absence to gain a bit more control, if only for a few days, and only summer days at that. She also wears a piece of nighttime wear that seems to ape those that Betty used to wear when she was in better shape. Yet her bratty response to having to eat a tuna salad sandwich with relish in it, as well as her inability to cope with fear, belie that she is still a child at her core. It’s ironic then that her first true taste of adulthood comes from Grandma Pauline herself, who gives Sally half of a seconal, an adult sleeping aide. Odds that that will be the last bit of drugs that Sally tries are slim, and this grown-up thing comes because Pauline was trying to comfort her childlike fear.

In what is perhaps a possible explanation for his actions, even though it’s not explicitly stated, I have to imagine that Don was also exposed to the story of the nurse slaying in one way or another, given it’s popularity in both the news media and the SCDP office. Much like Sally, Don similarly seems to be attempting to move on to a new stage in his life, one that leaves behind his more childish ways behind in regards to his philandering. Unfortunately, it’s a memory that it brought up again my the reemergence of an old one-night (?) stand of Don’s, who even though he only sees her once, sticks in his head for many hours after. Yes, Don’s “murdering” of Andrea is quite silly, even if you figured out that she wasn’t really in his apartment before the “murder” happened (as I did), but it does serve as an interesting look at Don’s current state of mind.

Either Don killed Andrea as a way to exorcise his philandering demons in an attempt to continue to stay true to Megan, or (perhaps the more exciting theory) his murdering of her represented a release of the anger that he feels over being trapped by monogamy, and it’s only the start of the fallout between he and Megan. Either option provides a path for the character for the season, and both hint at some darker impulses within Don. Granted, Don’s always had to hide a lot of his true self thanks to stealing someone else identity, but the intensity with which his anger manifested itself, even if just his dreams, was frightening. What’s even more interesting is that Don had to be in the throws of a fever dream to realize, his own assistance to the next stage of his life, much like Sally and the seconal.

The rough nights continue else where in the story, and though they are predicated on nasty things besides Speck, there is still a certain darkness to them hinted at by the Spreck killings, as they also center on characters finding their way thanks to their own potent influences. In Peggy’s case, it’s a good deal of alcohol, and a smidgen of racism. Emboldened after conning Roger out of his money (and creating one of the greatest gifs ever), Peggy shows some benevolence on new secretary Dawn after catching her sleeping Don’s office. But it perhaps isn’t born out of benevolence but rather a selfish desire to find an available ear. While getting drunk, Peggy unloads her worries over becoming too manly in order to compete as a creative voice within the advertising world, and then to perhaps lessen her sense of gender betrayal, offers to help Dawn become a copywriter as well. (Obviously Megan doesn’t count in Peggy’s mind, since she’s sleeping with Don.)

All pretense of benevolence goes out the window however when Peggy show’s her true hand by pausing over leaving her purse out in the open, and thus within Dawn’s reach. Dawn doesn’t take anything, of course, but it does seem to belie Peggy’s own racism. Of course, the show makes us question even that, considering that there is also significant dialogue given to mentioning the race riots that are happening all over the country. Is Peggy truly distrustful of African-Americans, or are her sense merely heightened thanks to the riots? Do we see Peggy as progressive for offering Dawn a place to sleep, or as upholding the social norm by thinking, however briefly, than Dawn might become a thief. Obviously Peggy feels guilt for the reflex, but guilt doesn’t make up for the action, be it intentional or not, and it will be interesting if this causes larger instances of self-reflection in Peggy in the future, or if she will continue to revel in the cynicism and conning that thrives at SCDP.

Joan, however, who perhaps has the positive outcome of the four rough nights depicted, doesn’t need any sort of drug or mind-altering outside of some blistering, blinding rage. Of course, brining Greg will to that to people, and not just people in the show, but the audience as well. Greg has rightly been maligned within Mad Men fandom, and it seems a bit odd for the show to bring him back and create a bit of drama out of his return. As perhaps the most hated character the show has ever made (apart from those times when everybody hates Betty more), his return seems like the least organic thing that the show could do in order to manufacture drama.

In fact, I’m sure most people are disappointed that Greg just didn’t die in Vietnam, but it’s not like that matters much now, given the way Joan takes charge of things. On the one hand, Joan has ever right to be angry with Greg for going back to Vietnam without consulting her, and her throwing him out was an act of self-empowerment for Joan, which no doubt justifies her bull-headed actions. Yet as Joan lies on the bed with her mother and baby Kevin at episode’s end, a looking of dawning realization moves over her face; she now knows that while it may have made her feel good at the time, throwing Greg out is also going to make life a lot harder on her as a single mother. The clarity that anger seems to have brought to Joan only reaches so far. Much like the riots or Richard Speck, Vietnam hangs like a cloud over Joan’s home, clouding her judgment and causing her to react reflexively, and out of fear.

Other Thoughts:

The first thing I think of when I hear about the Richard Speck murders is that line from the Simon and Garfunkel medley “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night.” That makes me wonder if the show is going to touch on any of the other events that are mentioned in that track.

Super-alternate of Don’s fever dream: Don really did kill Andrea, and Megan just hid the body for him. Now how interesting would that be?