Spoilers. It's all about reflection, duality and perception this week. It's an episode full of mirrors and meaningful looks, as various characters indulge their alter-ego's and a few become hurt by the realization that their loved ones don't know them, or know them too well...This week's ad assignment is for bra manufacturer Playtex, who want to update their current campaign to something sexier like their rivals. Paul (Michael Gladis) hits on the idea that women want to see themselves how men see them, and the most desirable women around right now are Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. Indeed, Paul proves to Don (John Hamm) that women in the office subconsciously model themselves on Jackie or Marilyn. So, a campaign is devised to push the idea that Playtex holds a mirror up to the modern woman, whichever starlet they aspire to be like.
A chunk of "Maidenform" is spent developing Duck Phillips (Mark Moses), with the arrival of his two children and his precious Irish Setter Chauncey to the office. His kids reveal that his ex-wife has agreed to marry her boyfriend, who has a dog hair allergy -- so, Chauncey is being returned to their father, despite Duck's intention for the dog to be their element of continuity post-divorce.
The specter of Duck's alcoholism also returns after his children leave in an excellent sequence where he causes an employee to leave his liquor unattended. Poised to take a swig, Duck locks eyes with his faithful pooch (who has likely seen his master in a drunken stupor many times before.) Just as we suspect the dog's talismanic presence will keep Duck on the wagon, Chauncey is marched outside and abandoned on the street, allowing Duck to quaff his drink in peace. Well, that's what I assumed. While we never actually see Duck return to his booze, but I felt that was the intention behind him ditching his beloved pet.Elsewhere, Don and Betty (January Jones) attend their country club's Memorial Day function (that includes a swimwear fashion show), with Don noticing his wife talking with smitten horse rider Arthur, who visibly backs off when Betty's two kids rush to their mommy's side. Young Arthur may find Betty attractive, but maybe he isn't the type of man to accept the complication of a young family and dealing with a cheated-on husband.
Later, Don has to accept a degree of mislaid adulation as a former serviceman, when the emcee of the Memorial Day event asks everyone with a military background to stand for public recognition of their sacrifice. Of course, Don feels a pang of guilt because he's not really decorated war hero Don Draper, just opportunistic private Dick Whitman -- a dishonest farmboy who stole a dead officer's identity.
Perhaps to console herself over Arthur's retreat when faced with her motherliness, Betty buys a skimpy banana-yellow bikini from the club's auction, to elicit attention at the swimming pool, but only succeeds in getting a disapproving quiet word from Don -- who doesn't want her attracting lecherous male attention while he's at work.
Pete's (Vincent Karthesier) role in this episode is slight, but it was amusing to see him once again betray his own lack of individuality by musing on getting an office dog, just because Duck has brought one in -- considering them a good aide as a business ice-breaker, and not a companion. Later, he successfully flirts with a buxom model heading home from the company's Playtex casting call, and they have sex back at her place. Arriving home from his illicit liaison, unfaithful Pete can't resist flashing himself a congratulatory smile in his own hallway mirror. He's actually the only character who takes delight in his duplicity, rather than bury it in his psyche.
Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) finds herself struggling to be accepted as part of the team for the Playtex account, despite the obvious insight she could bring to the campaign as a woman. First Paul secures the account based on his Marilyn/Jackie idea, then she's denied access to the casting call for Playtex models, and enquires to Joan (Christina Hendricks) about why she's not receiving relevant office memo's about important meetings-- only to be told she needs to learn to speak "the language" of the creative/accounts teams, take herself seriously, and "stop dressing like a little girl."
Later, when the Playtex execs decide against changing their conservative marketing approach (despite a great pitch by Don and his team), the execs are taken to a strip club after work, where Peggy makes a surprise entrance -- sans ponytail and wearing a revealing blue dress. While it could be construed as a backwards step to be perched on an elderly bra magnate's knee to watch a burlesque stripper, it's perhaps the only way Peggy can endear herself to her colleagues and make them include her in future get-togethers. Predictably, Pete throw a disapproving look Peggy's way, that she catches almost expectantly. He's once oddly perturbed, or perhaps threatened, whenever pussycat Peggy starts roaring.The really clever thing about "Maidenform" was how it maintained the theme of duality and perception throughout, in obvious and subtle ways: Don's family don't know about his real history or affairs, affable Duck has a darker battle with the bottle (and only his dog really knows him for who he is), Betty actively wanted to ditch her mommy look with sexy swimwear, likewise Peggy threw off her little girl look with a foxy new dress, the obvious parallels to the proposed Playtex campaign throughout, and Pete's guiltless handling of his own Id (the only one who can look himself in the mirror, unlike Don.)
One of the best moments arrived between Don and latest squeeze Bobbie (Melinda McGraw), who certainly knows how to push his buttons, as we see Don in a far more uncomfortably place sexually this week. In bed with Bobbie and indulging his kinkier side, Don's frozen in his tracks when Bobbie accidentally lets slip that he has a reputation in certain circles. Unable to deal with the knowledge that there's a clique of ex-mistress's gossiping about him, Don ties Bobbie to her bed and leaves. At home, shaving in a mirror with daughter Sally at his side, Don suddenly sees something in reflection he doesn't like. Ordering his daughter to leave... we leave Don sitting on a toilet to gather himself, as the camera pulls back to divide the eerie scene with a well-placed mirror.
Overall, there was lots to take quiet delight in here. The quality of writing and acting is never in question. Taking a broader view, I'm still unsure what the overall purpose of season 2 is, as it lacks a core mystery that fuelled season 1. There are a few moments that prick our interest (like who Don sent that poetry book to in episode 1), but nothing concrete enough to be considered a throughline. And I'm a little concerned by how often Joan is being used to receive a knowing joke about Hendrick's oversized chest. Still, while "Maidenform" lacked big impact, it got under your skin and writer Matthew Weiner sure knows how to play with a theme.
17 March 2009
BBC Four, 10pm
Writer: Matthew Weiner
Director: Phil Abraham
Cast: Rich Sommer (Harry), Bryan Batt (Salvatore), Aaron Staton (Ken), Michael Gladis (Paul), Jon Hamm (Don), John Slattery (Roger), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), January Jones (Betty), Christina Hendricks (Joan), Elisabeth Moss (Peggy), Mark Moses (Duck), Joel Murray (Freddy Rumsen), Alison Brie (Trudy), Gabriel Mann (Arthur Case), Melinda McGraw (Bobbie Barrett), Peyton List (Jane Siegel), Rich Hutchman (Bud Campbell), Matt McKenzie (Crab Colson), Jason Peters (Len McKenzie), Alexandra Paul (Pauline Phillips), Gina DeVivo (Patricia Phillips) & Edmund L. Schaff (Chester Rockingham)
