“Mad Men” Water-Cooler: “At the Codfish Ball”

Welcome to the Studio 602 “Mad Men” water cooler, where spoilers reign! If you haven’t seen last night’s episode, we suggest you join the lobsters dancing in a row as they shuffle off to Buffalo at the Codfish Ball…

Mad Men Water Cooler – “At the Codfish Ball”

Two things before we begin:

-Does anyone else want to get Sally Draper a cookie and a therapist, stat?

-Major props once more to costume designer Janie Bryant, who is knocking it out of the park this season. Did anyone notice the eerily similar necklines, colors and accessorizing on Peggy and Megan for their respective evenings out? The square-scoop necks, almost identical shades of pink, with each girl wearing her best jewels – both women were wearing outfits that presented them as the ideal of femininity. They face problems that are as similar as their wardrobes – both are discovering what they really want in life, and what they have isn’t it.

This season the name of Dick Whitman has barely been spoken, and yet it is constantly nipping at Don’s heels. This week found him in bed, forsaking his earthier James Bond novels for a more high-brow read in order to impress wife Megan’s parents. No matter how hard Don tries to outrun Dick Whitman, it seems that there’s always something to tug at his sleeve and remind him of how much he lacks.

So just what was Don reading in bed in order to impress his in-laws? That would be Bernard Malmud’s novel “The Fixer,” published to international acclaim in 1966. The fictional story, based on a real-life case from 1913, centers around Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman who was unjustly imprisoned for murder in Tsarist Russia. Yakov endures beatings, interrogations and isolation, during which he looks back on his life and his own beliefs. He strenuously proclaims his innocence and that he is apolitical in his views, but the novel ends with Yakov led to trial, as he concludes that there is no such thing as an apolitical man.

To be apolitical is defined by Merriam-Webster as having no political significance, or having an aversion to political affairs. By the end of the episode, Don will have learned the same thing that Yakov believes to be true – Don cannot and no longer exists in an apolitical world. As an advertiser, his job was to remain neutral, and do his best to sell the client and the product. To have an opinion about the product was irrelevant; sell it and move on.  However, once Don wrote his letter denouncing tobacco products, he decidedly announced his beliefs, even if they were to sell another product (in this case, the American Cancer Society).

This season has been about the longing to return to the way things were. What Don and company finally seem to be absorbing is that there is no way to return; the line has been drawn in the sand, and there’s no way to walk back to the other side. Don has announced his cynicism and his beliefs to potential clients, and it will take a whole lot of fixing before Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce can succeed.