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Mad Men “For Immediate Release” review: SCDP is now SCDPCGC, Peggy gets a little kissy kissy, and Don Draper loves puppies, apparently

Mad Men has a tendency to totally shift the entire trajectory of the show in one totally unexpected moment, and this week’s episode “For Immediate Release” was a prime example of that phenomenon. One word: CHEVY. Well I guess more so MUSTANG, but either way, in a heated moment that results from a series of misfortunes (cough, PETE NOT SHOWING UP TO DINNER, cough!), Don inadvertently ends up telling off Herb after he criticizes Don for his business. In turn, Pete is enraged (making for the most popular GIF of last night: his award winning performance falling down the stairs) because this ruins the chances of them all becoming millionaires.

But that’s all okay, ’cause Rog has been doin’ some top secret investigative work (sleeping with super hot young flight attendants named Daisy) to make sure they get ins on Chevy’s new top secret endeavor. He arrives back at the office just in the nick of time (like, before Pete could have probably broken a window) to deliver the news, and the next thing you know Don’s on a plane to Detroit to present the company’s perfect pitch.

My heart aches for Joan in this case, because if anything, she’s the reason SCDP got the Jaguar account in the first place (takin’ one for the team in last season’s “The Other Woman” with Herb), so when Don ruins their chances of going public and she hears he’s made “other” plans, the moment of resentment is never more apparent. Don promises “he” will  fix everything, but Joan is quickly to respond, “just once, I would like to hear you use the word ‘we.'” Burn! Will any dollar amount from Don ever make up for Joan’s sacrifice to get the Jaguar account?

Oh, and can we talk about Peggy’s hellish apartment experience thus far? I love Abe, I really do, but the pre-marital bliss is starting to wear off, and their standards of living keep clashing in the “new” apartment (I mean, who’s actually OK with human poop on their stoop?!). We briefly get a glimpse of their political differences: “Everything’s getting better. Johnson’s gone, the war is going to end. We’re going to have a new president,” Abe promises to Peggy. But Peggy, uncomfortable with change, doesn’t seem to feel the same way. And after her little smooch with Mr. Tim (that I’ve secretly been waiting for!), her mind is quickly transfixed on having him (even to the point where she hallucinates him reading the Ralph Waldo Emerson classic Something!).

I’m glad to see Megan and Don gettin’ sexy with it again (as they should!). With Sylvia caught up in her son’s visit, Don doesn’t have anyone to get it in with on the side, so you know, he settles for his super gorgeous TV star wife. This might have something to do with Marie being in town for Mother’s Day, when she notices Megan’s been acting “more married” than normal, leaving her with the advice to keep Don wanting what she’s got in between those legs. Kind of awkward motherly advice, but hey, it seemed to work.

“For Immediate Release” is full of impulsive decisions without consent: Roger jumping on the Detroit opportunity, Tim and Don deciding to merge their agencies—making for nothing other than confusion, selfishness, and all of the great / terrible things that make Mad Men the show it is.

Until next week…

Quotables:

  • “Everyone wants you, don’t they?” – Pete 
  • “I can hardly walk and you know it” – Joan
  • “Daisy, you’re a tease.” – Roger
  • “You’re supposed to have your ear to the ground.” – Roger
  • “So we’ll just maintain every aspect of this marriage except the one that matters.” – Pete
  • “I have big things coming, you have no idea.” – Pete (OH SH*T)
  • “Theres poop on the stairs again.” – Peggy
  • “Let’s enjoy our reprieve.” – Don
  • “I love when you whisper like that. What are you wearing?” – Roger
  • “I’d live in my car if I could.” – Roger
  • “You talk like a woman who’s been married much longer than she has been.” – Marie
  • “I always end up at SAKS!” – Herb’s wife, whatta drag!
  • “Do you ave any brandy? Spirits of Elderflower?” –
  • “I love puppies.” – Don (wait, what?!?)
  • “I’m done with all yas!” – Herb
  • “Forget my name.” – Marie
  • “I have a high level accounts question.” – Pete
  • “I close things.” – Roger
  • “You’re Tarzan swinging from vine to vine!” – Pete
  • “I love how you work every account like its make or break.” – Ted
  • “Those kids are living on our stoop, lighting firecrackers, and playing their music—and you keep waving to them!” – Peggy
  • “I love Bobby Kennedy!” – Peggy
  • “It’s one thing to want something, it’s another to need it.” – Ted
  • “I had a heart, and a kid who needed the heart. And now they’re both dead.” – Arnold
  • “I don’t cut people open, but I don’t believe in fate. You make your own opportunities.” – Don
  • “I’ve had enough psychological warfare today, why don’t you take a table?” – Don

And if anyone was wondering, here’s that catchy song that played towards the end:

(photo via Screen Crush)

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kaitlinduffy

Kaitlin Duffy is a writer from Cleveland. When she's not blogging or pondering the great complexities of the world and outer space, she is finding rare vinyl steals, visiting new places, laughing often, Instagramming everything in sight, watching movies, or working on her first feature Port de Cleve.