MAD MEN 1.3 – "The Marriage Of Figaro"

Writer: Tom Palmer
Director: Ed Bianchi

Cast: Elisabeth Moss (Peggy), Jon Hamm (Don Draper), January Jones (Betty), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), Christina Hendricks (Joan), Rosemarie DeWitt (Midge), John Slattery (Roger Sterling), Michael J. X Gladis (Paul), Aaron Staton (Ken), Maggie Siff (Rachel Menken), Bryan Batt (Salvatore), Rich Sommer (Harry), Darby Stanchfield (Helen Bishop), Alexa Alemanni (Allison), Price Carson (Jack Farrelly), Kate Connor (Nancy Wallace), Stephanie Courtney (Marge), Candice Cunningham (Secretary), Anne Dudek (Francine Hanson), Emelle (Secretary), Zachariah James-Jadon Evans (Robert Draper), Jennifer Fitzgerald (Judy), Lauren Hackman (Carol), Kent Kasper (Train Conductor), Jerry Kernion (Larry Kryzinsky), Julie McNiven (Hildy), Jonathan Nail (Henry Darling), Sarah Jannett Parish (Secretary), Kristoffer Polaha (Carlton Hanson), Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper), Jeanne Simpson (Marilyn Farrelly), Adrian Tennor (Janet Darling) & Drew Wicks (Chet Wallace)

Pete returns from his honeymoon, conflicted about his pre-marital fling with Peggy. Don grows increasingly dissatisfied with his home life after his relationship with businesswoman Rachel intensifies...

Rachel: It's hard to get caught in a lie.
Don: It wasn't a lie; it was ineptitude with insufficient cover.

It's always interesting when a new show moves from its early creator-written episodes to one by a staff-writer. Can the quality be maintained? Tom Palmer takes the reigns for the third episode – a slow but smooth look at Don's (Jon Hamm) family/social life, his increasingly knotty love life, and the first clear sign of a secretive past...

Don't murky past is alluded to in the opening scene, when he's approached on a train by a portly man called Larry Krizinksy (Jerry Kernion), who refers to Don (uncorrected) as "Dick Whitman". Curious. I'm guessing that Don has assumed a new identity after serving in World War II, given further credence by the Purple Heart medal we saw him gazing at in the first episode. Anyone agree?

The Marriage Of Figaro heralds the return of Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) from his Niagara Falls honeymoon (immediately pranked by colleagues, who pay a Chinese family to set up home in his office.) Throughout the episode Pete seems excited about married life – but probably only because he has dinner cooked and waiting for him after work each day!

Pete also takes the time to formally end his pre-marital fling with Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), who you sense genuinely liked Pete and longed for a spicy love-affair similar to the one in Lady Chatterley's Lover, a book she's given by one of the switchboard ladies. Moss has a reduced role in this episode, but her understated and endearing performance still registered with me.

Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff), the Jewish department store owner, makes a welcome return – and her relationship with Don progresses further, after she buys him some expensive cufflinks to replace the meddlesome ones he wears. Later, after being given a guided tour of her store that finishes on the rooftop, Don can't stop himself kissing her. But he breaks it off, admitting to Rachel that he's married, and they part company.

The next morning, it's Don's 6-year-old daughter Sally's birthday, and he spends the day building her a playhouse, in-between slurping cans of beer. The episode actually becomes quite slow at this point (intentionally, to juxtapose with the business world?), although the change of pace isn't detrimental. Mad Men has been particularly good at allowing its story time to develop, and its characters room to breathe, and this episode's birthday party scenes are a fine example.

Friends of the Drapers arrive, including new neighbour Helen Bishop (Darby Stanchfield) and her young son Glen – a woman the rest of the snobby women can't help bitching about behind her back; with respect to her choice of car (Volkswagon), single-mother status, and the fact she wrapped Sally's birthday present in Christmas paper.

Don seeks solace in the garden, watching the kids play (later joined by Helen, escaping the kids inside), before deciding to film the part with a 8mm camera. A little later, Betty (January Jones) asks her husband to get the birthday cake, and Don leaves the party. But, given an excuse to leave, Don just spends the free time sitting inside his parked car, watching trains pass by on a level crossing.

Back at the party, Helen comes to Betty's rescue by bringing a Sara Lee cheesecake around from her freezer, before the guests all leave. Later, Betty finds her husband has returned unannounced -- with a golden retriever as a birthday present for his daughter. Betty is dumbfounded at her husband's bizarre actions, and Don himself once again distances himself from reality by closing his eyes. Blocking out the world...

This episode was definitely more relaxed and easy-going than the previous two, but even when you realize you've just watching Don make a playhouse for 3 minutes, there's something very involving about Mad Men. It's done a wonderful job to creating a style and atmosphere in only a few episodes, and it's a pleasure to just soak up the ambience and watch these characters interact.

I'm already at ease with the set-up at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency, meaning it's easier to focus on individual characters now – although a few of the ad men and Betty's friends are yet to become anything but recurring faces loaded with great dialogue.

Don is particularly entertaining and agreeably mysterious. He clearly has some kind of war-related past he'd prefer people didn't know about; the events of which have possibly made him discontented with his home life. Is he one example of the thousands of US soldiers who returned home from war-ravaged 40s Europe and were unable to re-connect with their families after seeing such atrocity? Well, maybe.

It'll be interesting to see where Don's storyline goes, and if he'll ever decide to leave the comfort and reliability of his family – turning his wife Betty into Helen, effectively. I think artist Midge just offers him no-strings sex, but store-owner Rachel Menken is a rare example of a powerful woman in the 1960s – and that seems to be the lure for him. Or does Don just enjoy the thrill of chasing any attractive woman he comes into contact with?

I think there's a vague parallel to Don developing in Pete, too -- who seems to be Draper in the making. Pete's now married, possibly only for the home comforts a wife affords him, but still with an eye for the ladies. I know he laid things to rest with Peggy here, but it's surely just a matter of time before he resumes his chase – as soon as Mrs Campbell's home-cooked meals start losing their taste.

Overall, Mad Men has yet to put a foot wrong. There was less vigour to the storyline this week, with the episode practically crawling in the last 15 minutes, but its beguiling characters and immersive 60s setting make up for a measured pace. It's slow, but never boring, and I'm already more invested in Don's state of mind than I thought possible. The nods to advertising practices are also amusing (the reason for headless mannequins explained!) and interesting, with the ad men discussing the pro's and con's of a Volkswagon advert. Quality drama, taking you to a not-so-distant world you never realized existed.


16 March 2008
BBC Four, 10.00 pm