Appearances, apperances: Season 1, Episode 1

“Do this again--old-fashioned, please.”

And with the iconic shot of the back of Don Draper’s head, the enigmatic antihero of the series, the first episode begins. (OK, technically, it begins with the black background and white lettering defining what a Mad Man is, which reminds me of the opening shot of Pulp Fiction).
Draper’s favorite drink? An old-fashioned. How fitting. This is a series which is sure to end before 1969, the pivotal year in 20^th century America; this is a series about when old-fashioned men like Donald Draper still ruled the world and the rest of us had better accept that fact… or else. It’s 1960, and as is apparent in that very first scene, racism is still rampant (the black waiter), women still belonged in the home (the bar is dominated by men), and old-fashioned men like Draper are still the ones calling the shots (and of course no hint of other type of people other than white middle class people in the bar, but I digress).

In that first scene, we are not only introduced to the new old-fashioned America we’re in, but also to Donald Draper. Draper just in that first scene is apparently a man who likes to smoke, drink, and work, and not necessarily in that order. Of course, as the episode progresses, we also find out that Draper is a man who enjoys the company of women other than his trophy wife, Betty, but definitely not with the women who he works with (he rebuffs Peggy’s advances). Much like his sexy counterpart, head secretary Joan Harris, Don lives by a set of rules in the workplace. No sex with the secretaries for him. A few clean, crisp white button-up shirts in his office drawer, just in case. Alcohol to drink. A couch to make others and himself comfortable on (he sleeps on it from time to time apparently).
And as he cuts down junior executive and eternal frat star at heart, Peter Campbell, to size, Draper demonstrates why he is the alpha male every man in the office respects and looks up to, he just gets it. It’s a small world in advertising and a man’s (and woman’s) reputation is everything. The young, immature Campbell needs to realize he’s not in the frat house anymore and act like an adult with some sort of sense in him. (Side note: I was instantly re-so-put-off by Pete in his first 30 seconds onscreen.)

“Advertising is based one thing: happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on side of the road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is okay. You are okay.”

I absolutely love Don’s face when Jewish client Rachel Menken tells him and his crew to shove their coupon idea up their asses. Don, of course, storms out of the office because he won’t have “a woman talk to him this way.” (Much less a Jewish woman at that. Damn, even the anti-Semitism was rampant back then.) But, this won’t be the last time Draper walks out on a client. Draper has a streak of being ferociously independent throughout this first episode and certainly throughout the series.
Although, he likes his liberated mistresses—“I don’t do plans and I don’t do breakfast,” says beatnik Midge the morning after he stays over and the hot chemistry between him and savvy business woman Rachel Menken is obviously turning into more than just a business relationship—Draper likes the fact that his stay- at-home wife, Betty, doesn’t question what he’s been up to and has food ready for him to eat when he comes home at all hours of the night. Betty tending to the two kids and perfect white suburban home completes the image Don wants to project of him being the husband, father, and genius ad man (the improv he pulls at the Lucky Strikes meeting was pretty damn genius)—all without getting in the way so that he can do whatever the hell he damn well pleases.

But Rachel sees through it all, through the image he so desperately tries to project, even through his dazzling ad spiels, and through him. He’s just an alienated outsider, like her, looking into a world he desperately just wants to fit into. And so that last Norman Rockwell scene of Daddy Draper kissing his kids goodnight with angelic Betty standing at the doorway is so ironic (and so telling of the show itself) as it shows an alienated man with seemingly everything he could want at his feet but still not complete. It’s a picture perfect image made for an ad, but definitely not happiness.

"I don't what it is you really believe in, but I do know what it feels like to be out of place, to be disconnected, to see the whole world laid out in front of you the way other people live it. There is something about you that tells me you know it, too."
 

Random thoughts:

I love the scenes that show just how outdated the Mad Men are. The typewriter is easy enough for a woman to understand says Joan, the junior executives being crude skirt chasers throughout the entire episode, and the “rumor” that cigarettes are bad for your health are just my top three.

The foreshadowing in that first episode is pretty blatant to me now particularly with Pete.

Sal is so gay. Funny, how none of the characters pick up on that.

I like that they eventually get rid of the upbeat 1960s jazzy music. It was a little out of place even in that first episode.

Roger’s description of Nixon is misleading great: “young , Navy hero, clearly a winner.” .