Joan and Peggy. These two have been the subject of much contrasting over five seasons of Mad Men, and this week’s episode, titled The Other Woman, casts their differences in the sharpest relief yet.
That title – The Other Woman – refers to a mistress, which is how Don and his creative team think of Jaguar. As he explains it to Megan, “The Jaguar is beautiful but unreliable. It comes with a toolkit the size of a typewriter. You basically have to have another car to go places. What we’re saying is it’s your gorgeous mistress.” Megan is not impressed. “So, a wife is like a Buick in the garage?” “We’re trying to make a weakness into a strength. We’re selling to men,” Don explains. “No, I get it. Doesn’t being a mistress make the car immoral?” Megan asks. “The word ‘mistress’ won’t be in the ad,” Don says. To Don, this is simply a metaphor, but for Megan, it’s a reminder of Don’s past, and it stirs her insecurities.
The episode gives us other mistresses, second-place women looking to make it in a man’s world, and are thus making the weakness of femininity into a strength. We’re talking about Joan and Peggy and the wildly diverging paths that each takes to a better position and what they’re willing to trade to get there. And though each can leverage herself to a new plateau, in the end, one will feel like a trap, while the other, though terrifyingly unknown, will feel like flying.
And in the middle of all of this is Don Draper, whose great victory will be tinged with bitterness and loss.
The episode opens with Don, Stan, Ginsberg, and some freelancers huddled up in the conference room, struggling to develop a big idea for the Jaguar campaign. They’ve decorated one wall of the room with various photos and icons designed to inspire. But it’s not working.
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Peggy catches Don in the hallway and asks him to approve some copy for Secor Laxatives, but he’s in a rotten mood and brushes her off, telling her she’s in charge of everything other than Jaguar and to make a decision. It’s a great vote of confidence, but in life, it’s not so much the message but how it’s delivered that counts.
As this exchange is wrapping, Joan shows up with a fancy lunch – lobster – that is wheeled into the conference room courtesy of Roger Sterling. The men applaud as the covers are removed from the trays. Peggy watches this from the other side of the glass wall that separates her from the big-time action.
While Don and the creatives tackle the look and feel of the campaign, Pete and Ken work on the campaign’s politics, securing it against some formidable competition. This includes wining and dining guys like Herb Rennet (Gary Basaraba), the Jaguar dealer’s association. Herb plays his cards close to the chest until the end of the meal, when Pete assures him that SCDP will do whatever it takes to make him happy. Seeing his opportunity, Herb tells them that there is one thing that will certainly help them win his vote – a night with Joan Harris. A night in bed with Joan Harris. In a show filled with slimy guys and shady deals, this is a new depth. Luckily, Ken Cosgrove is at the table, but just as he’s about to inform Herb that Joan is married, Pete cuts him off.
Herb excuses himself for a moment, and while he’s away, Ken asks Pete why he didn’t tell Herb the truth about Joan, rather than lead him on. Pete says that Herb himself is married, knows that Joan is married, and doesn’t care about either. Ken is disgusted at this. “Well, we wanted to be in the car business,” he says, lighting a cigarette.
Don arrives home from work to learn that Megan has a big audition the next day. She’s nervous and needs support, but she shifts the attention to Don, asking him what he plans on doing. “I was just going to watch Carson and cry myself to sleep,” he says, giving her a hangdog look. She tells him not to worry, that he’ll think of something. He says that maybe she’ll think of something, inviting her to help. She goes along and asks for the strategy. That’s when he tells her about the Jaguar being like beautiful, high-maintenance others or another’s mistress.
These two have been tiptoeing through a minefield these last few episodes, each always on the verge of saying or doing the wrong thing to set off an argument. This time it’s Don who gets under Megan’s skin, but rather than fight, she retreats to the living room, leaving him with Johnny Carson and his drink.
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The next morning, Pete shows up early and corners Joan in her office. “I got bad news last night,” he tells her. “And I hoped you’d help me deliver it.” Like it was her responsibility.
Being the gossip she is, Joan is all ears, and Pete takes his time building up to the ask. “I don’t know what to do,” he says. “It turns out he wanted something we’re not prepared to give. Something very unorthodox.” “What does he want?” Joan asks. “We’re going to lose Jaguar unless an arrangement is made between you and him,” Pete says. Joan is shocked, but Pete piles insult on top of insult. “If you can think of some way to break this to the company, I’d appreciate it.”
This launches Joan on the offensive, and she reminds Pete of her marital status and what an asshole he is. He throws up his hands, saying it’s Herb bringing this up and not him – the don’t-shoot-the-messenger defense.
The scene is like a boxing match, and Pete counters Joan’s moral outrage by being the amoral pragmatist. He brings up the idea that we all make mistakes in life – mistakes that don’t get us anything. They’re free. Well, this is a mistake that could help her tremendously. She could get paid for this mistake.
“You’re talking prostitution,” Joan says. “I’m talking about business at a very high level,” Pete counters, sounding like the devil himself.
Pete goes for his knockout punch – the offer of power. “Do you think Cleopatra was a prostitute?” he asks. “She was a queen,” he continues. “What would it take to make you a queen?” “I don’t think you could afford it,” Joan says.
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Next, we find Peggy and Ken in Harry’s office. They’re about to get on a conference call with Chevalier Blanc, who wants to pull their Beatles-inspired campaign. Harry asks if Peggy will pose as Ginsberg’s assistant (Ginsberg can’t be pulled away from Jaguar), but Peggy refuses, making Harry introduce her as Ginsberg’s supervisor, which he does.
When they get on the call, Harry and Ken start off talking, but soon the hot potato is tossed in Peggy’s lap, and she improvises a compelling new campaign, set in France with a Lady Godiva theme that the buyer from Chevalier Blanc loves.
Score one for Peggy – she maintains her dignity and saves the account in one call.
Pete gathers the partners to tell them the news about the dinner with Herb Rennet and his demand. At first blush, all the men are shocked by this news and make a show of being outraged, but after Pete does the math for them, their moral outrage eases, allowing for the proper rationalizations to be made, allowing them to sleep at night.
Bert gives way. Roger says he’ll go along, but he won’t pay for it. Lane makes a weak stand, telling Pete he has some nerve. “That’s right,” Pete says. “We’ve gone too far to walk away…over what?” It’s a chilling remark, but Lane folds. It comes down to Don, who is no stranger to misogyny. He’s against the proposal, but for mixed reasons. He’s disgusted by the blatant filth and arrogance of the demand, but he also has his pride mixed up in his reasons. He thinks they can win despite Herb, based on the strength of his and his team’s ideas. He wants to win the business fair and square, or not at all. But Pete won’t back down. Don states his position and leaves to return to his work.
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With Don gone, Pete does the math for the remaining partners, reminding them that they don’t need Don’s blessing to do this. “So, we’re 75% of this company. There’s no need to create a conspiracy by having a vote, is there?” Like Pontius Pilate, they wash their hands of Pete while giving him their blessing to pursue Joan for the deal. One by one, they slink out of the office.
Back in the writer’s room, Don tells the guys to abandon the mistress concept. “It’s vulgar. We’re going back to racing heritage,” he informs them, feeling not only the weight of what he’s just witnessed but the sting of Megan’s judgment from before – that this is immoral.
