A lunch with Harry, who she thinks could help find her a new agent, turns sour quickly when he hints at taking her up to his hotel room. In the next scene, she returns to her old apartment to find Roger buttoning up his shirt after a passionate tryst with Marie. For a woman with a static career in Los Angeles returning to a city where anybody seems to be taking advantage of everybody, the whole day is a rude awakening. Paré’s work this week, with its icy anger and shades of vulnerability, is tremendous, reminding one of January Jones at the end of season three, when she divorced Don.
Speaking of Betty, she gets a brief encounter with Don this week. Since their canoodling at Bobby’s camp back in season six, the adult Drapers’ attitudes toward each other have moved from chilly to congenial. If there is any bitterness between them, it is hard to detect when she tells him about her night out and then brags about her decision to enroll in a Master’s program. (In psychology, of all things!)
As Don tries to figure out his distance from the various women in his life, we get some sexual tension at Sterling Cooper & Partners this week. Famed photographer Samantha “Pima” Ryan (Mimi Rogers) is hired to shoot a print ad about Italian vermouth. Peggy is at the helm and is an obvious fan, although Stan feels a bit snubbed that his art will not be needed. She is tickled to be working with a powerful woman, yet Stan is the one who aches to get a good review from someone so established.
Pima will likely not be a recurring character, although it was a nice splash of levity to watch the sexual tension between these characters. Peggy and Stan have always shared an attraction and to see their reactions to Pima’s come-ons was a wry touch for an episode so focused on romantic commitment (or the lack thereof). Nevertheless, it was a bit of a random subplot that didn’t really tie into the themes of “New Business,” although it did seem fitting given the episode title. Pima oozes the gaudy New York flair that Megan has come to abhor.
“New Business” works best as an hour of Mad Men that explores the various women in Don’s life at once, to see how his relationships with them have succeeded, faltered or lie somewhere in between. Even Sylvia eyes him in the elevator, spurring Diana to ponder about how many women he has bedded in the building. Betty has thrived being on her own without him and despite their past hostility, there seem to be few harsh feelings at the surface. (Don is even welcoming to Henry.) Currently, Megan is a sore spot in his life, but despite a very Betty-like wardrobe this week, Don even musters up an apology – in the form of a $1 million check. For that sum, he can shrug off his guilt for, as Megan explains, punishing her for being young.
However, does Diana occupy a place in Don’s bed and, ultimately, his life? She feels out of sorts in Don’s world. He is rich and successful and she realizes that power is an elixir to him. Could he have a stable life with her, or would he soon forget about her if things weren’t well between them, moving on to the next gorgeous woman he eyes in a diner? Diana speaks of how being with Don makes her forget about her daughter. In this same way, Don forgot about Megan and Betty, abandoning his wives to live out his fantasies. Without these connections, both her and Don’s lives seem as bare as their apartments.
