Mad Men - Episode 4.01 - Public Relations - Recap

When we last saw Mad Men, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was forming its roots inside a hotel room at the end of 1963. Eleven months later, SCDP has a fully staffed office in the Time-Life building. Although it doesn’t have a second floor, or even a conference table, this “scrappy upstart” (as Pete Campbell puts it) has come quite a long way in less than a year.



“Public Relations” begins with a question that we have spent the last three years trying to figure out - "Who is Don Draper?" While we have discovered quite a bit about the Don Draper persona, he is just as uncomfortable talking about himself as he ever was when the reporter from Ad Age delivers this question. Don feels that it’s not polite to talk about yourself, a sentiment he shares with the reporter, and a fact that will create a problem when the article is run in the paper.

Don’s life seems to have been a mixed bag in the eleven months since he split with Betty. His work life is as good as ever; he is being interviewed by Ad Age as the creative face of SCDP, and his commercial for Glo-Coat is admired by everyone (including himself). However, his home life is not as fulfilling. He has a nice apartment with a housekeeper, but as she tells us he rarely eats, and he spends most of his time working (even when he has Sally and Bobby). Roger is worried that Don’s home life isn’t as fulfilling as it should be, and sets him up with one of Jane’s friends, Bethany. Things go well on the date, and while Don may only be interested in getting her into bed, Bethany is interested in seeing Don again.

While Don has been quite successful at SCDP, not everything is going smoothly. The SugarBerry account is need of a boost, but the company does not seem willing to spend much on advertising. Peggy and Pete take it upon themselves to create a publicity stunt, hiring two women to fight over a SugarBerry ham in a grocery store. Being close to Thanksgiving, they hope this will cause a stir about the product and lead to a jump in sales for the holiday. Things seemingly go according to plan as The Daily News runs a story about what happened and other papers picked up the story as well, and SugarBerry uses the publicity to promote its product. However, while it was successful from the business end

When the article about Don is released in Ad Age, he receives backlash from Roger and Bert for not giving the reporter enough information. They were hoping the article would be an advertisement for the firm, but as Roger so eloquently puts it, “you (Don) turned all the sizzle from Glo-Coat into a wet fart…plus you sound like a prick.” Harry returns from Los Angeles with news that he has sold the Jai Alai TV special to ABC. However, during the meeting he called to inform everyone, Pete enters to tell them that Jai Alai is leaving, because Don didn’t mention them in the article. Harry, deservedly upset, wants to do everything they can to get the account back, but Don doesn’t seem as worried, saying they can survive without Jai Alai. As Lane points out though, losing Jai Alai means that Lucky Strike is now 71% of their business. Bert decides that he needs to get Don another interview, this time with the Wall Street Journal, so he can make up for the Ad Age debacle.

As Thanksgiving comes, we see how different life is for Don and Betty since the divorce. Betty spends the day with Sally, Bobby, her new husband Henry Francis and his family. Don, meanwhile, spends the day with a prostitute. While their situations differ greatly, both seem to be miserable; Don because he is alone, Betty because her new family (mainly her mother in law) doesn’t approve of her. She doesn’t help the matter by forcing sweet potatoes into Sally’s mouth, which she promptly spits out onto the table, causing a scene simply because Sally didn’t like the food. While Betty is causing problems, Don (after getting slapped around by the prostitute) is asked to solve one. Peggy calls him asking for $280 for bail after one of the women from the SugarBerry stunt pressed charges on the other one for assault. When she arrives at Don’s apartment to collect the money, Don lays into her for not informing him of their plans, possibly because he didn’t want to be bothered, or possibly because of what happened with the Ad Age article.

Don gets to spend the day after Thanksgiving with Sally and Bobby (but not baby Gene). Although he seems genuinely happy to bring them home, he spends the entire day working while they sit in front of the TV. He brings them home promptly at 9, per Betty’s request, but the house is empty. He puts the kids to bed and waits downstairs until Betty and Henry get home, close to ten o’clock, and uses this chance to remind Betty that she was supposed to be out of the house a month earlier. He tells her that if she doesn’t leave he’s going to start collecting rent or sell the place to Henry. While Betty is angry at Don for bringing it up and doesn’t want to put the kids through any more changes, Henry tells her that Don has a point, but she doesn’t seem to care.

Back at SCDP, Peggy brings Don a ham from the people at SugarBerry, but no matter how impressed they were with the outcome, Don doesn’t want to resort to pulling stunts. He is concerned with the image of the company, but Peggy coldly reminds him, “nobody knows about the ham stunt, so our image remains pretty much where you left it,” (referring to the Ad Age article). Don tells her that he won’t need her for the presentation to Jantzen for the two-piece bathing suit. She believes he is being spiteful, but he tells her he just doesn’t want a girl in the room. As he begins his presentation, we can see the awe in the eyes of the Jantzen reps (one even asks to put his foot up on a table, as though he’s watching Don on a television screen). However, as he makes his pitch, and reveals his idea for an ad, the attitude of the Jantzen reps changes. They were looking for a wholesome ad, something that steered clear of the sexuality being used by companies selling “bikinis,” but Don’s ad is too suggestive for their tastes. Don tells them that they will never be able to compete if they aren’t willing to take chances, stating “you need to decide what kind of company you want to be; comfortable and dead, or risky, and possibly rich.” When they tell him they don’t want what he has proposed, he kicks them out of the office. As he walks back to his office, he tells his secretary to call Bert Cooper’s man at the Wall Street Journal.

“Public Relations” ends the same way it began, with Don sitting in a restaurant being interviewed. However, unlike the interview with Ad Age, Don gives the reporter from the Wall Street Journal everything he wants to hear. He tells him that he believes he is the defining name of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and tells him the story of how he asked to be fired from Sterling Cooper in order to create the new agency.

Mad Men is a show unlike anything else on television. The atmosphere makes you feel like you’re living in 1964, the characters are all rich and interesting, and the dialogue is incredible – I could listen to these characters talk for days. I thought this episode was a great introduction to the new agency and to Don’s new life. When Don says “believe me Henry, everybody thinks this is temporary,” I remembered that as Season 3 ended I was hoping Don and Betty would be able to reconcile their marriage. But after seeing the way they interact now, eleven months later, there seems to be no chance of that happening. While I still wish they could be together for the sake of the kids (Sally would obviously rather be with her father), their relationship is so strained at this point that I no longer think it would be beneficial for them to get back together. It will be interesting to see if anything substantial happens between Don and Bethany, or if Don sticks to his guns to get Betty out of the house. I’m also interested in finding out more about Joan (is she still with her husband?), the old Sterling Cooper, and Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s search for new clients. This was a great premiere episode and I can’t wait for next week.

Mike