Apologies for getting this out so late. My internet connection has been finicky and odious and not only did it take approximately two hours for the episode to download from iTunes this morning, but as I write this I have no connection at all.
I have a feeling that last night’s Mad Men episode, “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,” is going to be one that needs to simmer for a little bit before I pronounce judgment. I was uncomfortable during most of the episode and I think I started to misinterpret that discomfort as dislike, when really the episode is probably just as brilliant as previous episodes and if I think about it for a few days I will come to recognize that.
I also need to get this out of the way: SALLY DRAPER’S HAIR IS SO CUTE. OMG.
But, OK. To have Sally cutting her hair and masturbating (for the first time? I’m not sure) in the same episode seems both perfect and a little too perfect. Does that make sense? The cutting of hair is supposed to be, I think, a cultural marker of a woman’s sexual maturation. This is understood intuitively — Sally tells Phoebe that she wanted to look pretty, and Phoebe also understands that Sally wanted to look older. But it also made me think of The Rape of the Lock. (I know, of all things, but bear with me.) Pope’s mock-heroic epic poem about a man cutting off a lock of a woman’s hair likens that act to sexual violation in more than just the title.
What Wonder then, fair Nymph! thy Hairs shou’d feel
The conqu’ring Force of unresisted Steel?
Furthermore, Sally’s hair experiment garners more shock and disapproval (that SLAP, so hard that both Don and Henry go “Whoa!”), it seems, than her “public” act of masturbation (yes, she was technically in public, but the other girls were asleep, as we see her check. She also cut her hair in private. I’m just sayin’). While it’s possible that Betty is too humiliated to smack Sally again, or is simply at a loss and can only threaten to cut Sally’s fingers off, I think it’s telling that there isn’t a greater explosion over it — but then the sexual transgression has already occurred, with the haircut.
Or I could just be full of crap and the writers were only thinking about Judy Blume’s Deenie, in which not only does Deenie masturbate while in the bath (though Blume never uses that word), but she also hacks off her hair because the back brace she has to wear to fix her scoliosis makes her feel ugly.
(So my mind went to Pope before Blume. Once an English major, always an English major.)
Anyway. I am also sure that Sally views being sent to a psychologist as a form of punishment, particularly since none of her parents go with her on the first visit. What really killed me, out of all of this, is that Sally’s feet don’t reach the floor when she’s sitting in Dr. Edna’s waiting room. That actually choked me up a little.
I am glad, however, that Sally has a psychologist. We all knew she’d need one at some point. I am equally glad that Betty has a psychologist who will not tell her husband everything. I did read that correctly, right? Dr. Edna suggests to Betty that they meet once a month or so to check in? If, as Betty confirms, the purpose of these visits is not to discuss what Sally talks about, it stands to reason that these visits are for Betty’s benefit.
I understand why Betty was reluctant to discuss her previous therapy experience with Henry, and why she initially thinks it won’t do Sally any good — Dr. Wayne’s betrayal of her confidence back in Season 1 is still shocking to me. And I like that by the time she sits with Dr. Edna, Betty’s able to understand how the events of the past year might have taken their toll on Sally. Even though she still manages to make it all about her:
Betty: I feel like Sally did this to punish me somehow for everything.
Dr. Edna’s face: Srsly?
I was also impressed that Betty correctly pinpoints the beginning of these changes in Sally’s behavior (not that I think masturbation is bad behavior or in any way not normal, but would I think that as a parent in 1965? I don’t know) as the death of Grandpa Gene, also known as the only adult in Sally’s life who ever really “got” her. He teaches her to drive (bad judgment, sure, but from Sally’s perspective? Hello, awesome!); he doesn’t punish her for stealing his $5.00, but he knows and she knows he knows; he tells her she’s smart and can do anything she puts her mind to. His death didn’t just take Sally’s grandpa away, it took away her only ALLY, and a mere six months later her mother leaves to get a Reno divorce, and then immediately after that she marries another man. And now, Sally only sees her father every (other?) weekend and even then her dad leaves her to go be with another woman.
Sally: What’s her name?
Don: Bethany.
Sally: I don’t like that.
Me: Me either!
A couple random observations before I get to the Honda thing:
* Had I been Sally’s age in 1965, I probably would’ve been into David McCallum too.
* Mrs. Blankenship is a travesty, and it’s already not funny. Please don’t let this devolve into some sort of cliche sitcom thing.
* Funniest exchange on the show came early, with Roger’s laxative jokes and Bert’s exasperated, “We’ve had that client for 18 years, Roger.” Subtext: We’ve heard them all before. Multiple times. (True, since Sal and Paul have a go early in Season 1!)
* Smitty!
As for the SCDP/Honda plot:
1. I like it when Don gets all schemey. It felt like the end of season 3 when they create SCDP in the first place, with the 60s caper music and everyone playing a part. Interesting that Don turns to an extremely risky scheme in light of his disapproval of Peggy and Pete’s ham fight stunt. I realize that it’s a little apples vs. oranges, but still. (I was greatly amused by Peggy riding around on the motorcycle on the empty set.)
2. The scenes with Roger were super-charged and fantastic. It’s already been established, as far back as the first season, that Roger dismisses anyone who didn’t serve in WWII, including other army vets who served in Korea (like Don), but I still wasn’t expecting the sheer rage at the idea of possibly doing business with Honda.
2a. Pete’s speech, accusing Roger of wanting to keep SCDP dependent on Lucky Strike, was amazing. And how weird was it to see Don side with Pete there, given all their history? Interesting alliance shifts.
2b. Joan and Roger’s quieter scene was lovely. She is as calming an influence on him as Henry seems to be with Betty. Their scenes together don’t have quite the same punch for me as Peggy/Pete scenes, but these are also two people with a great deal of history, and I love watching them together.
3. HOWEVER. The Honda executives leering at Joan and the question, “How does she not fall over?” is a horrible, horrible misstep. It was beyond stupid. What purpose does that scene even serve? It’s not funny, it objectifies Joan in a way that not even Paul Kinsey ever managed to do, and it makes the Japanese businessmen look like idiots. Honestly, it’s the main reason this episode doesn’t sit right with me. (And the exchange between Joan: “Not very subtle, are they?” and the translator’s response, “No, they are not,” is all too easily interpreted as being about Joan’s breasts, not the Honda execs. This scene was a big heaping pile of crap.)
4. On a more positive note, I did enjoy the conversation between Don and Faye at the end, even though once again it puts the “theme” of the episode in Faye’s mouth, that people talk about stuff because it makes them feel better. And then Don starts opening up to Faye, and even though he’s drinking it doesn’t feel like he’s boozing. If the writers are setting the two of them up for a romantic relationship, I like the way they’re doing so.
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