“The Collaborators” is a collection of some really strong scenes, but in trying to tie them together, Weiner and Igla are forced to reuse throughlines we’ve already seen the show apply in better episodes. While the apparently real Carson set from last week had everyone wondering how the Vietnam War was going to affect business, the start of the Tet Offensive puts many in a warring mindset, much like how the Richard Speck murders landed everyone in their own personal horror movie back in “Mystery Date.” Trudy draws a line in the sand after quickly figuring out that Pete has outsourced his philander-ees to their own backyard, and watching her cut her miserable little shit of a husband to ribbons makes you hope Alison Brie will be around for much more this season. “If you so much as open your fly to urinate, I will destroy you,” she threatens, and whooo boy, does Pete believe it.
In the next scene, he’s barely together enough to do the one thing he’s good at: kissing ass. When Herb comes up with a harebrained idea for how to run the Jaguar campaign, Don has to tank Herb’s stealth pitch to the other board members, using a little anti-Don Draper salesmanship. “Fellas, this is going to work,” he tells them, convincingly enough to make it sound like Herb’s plan is as terrible an idea as it probably is. Pete, as is his wont, is livid that Don would sabotage a client’s request, but Don has his reasons. Joan barely needs to pass a word to let him know how disgusted she still is by Herb’s indecent proposal from last season, and since Don was unaware at the time that SCDP was going to pimp out one of its employees for a sale, he’s taking this opportunity to prove he’s better than his upbringing.
To wit, the episode is bookended by a pair of flashbacks to Don’s childhood, appearing about as awkwardly as the heart attack fakeout from last week. We don’t really gain much from these brief trips back in time, as the young Don’s Anton Chigurh haircut, and love of peeping through small holes a la Norman Bates, make this look like the origin story of a serial killer, not a womanizer. The flashbacks further indulge the episode’s need to put too fine a point on things, with Don handing Sylvia a stack of cash after their pre-work workout like it were a pocket guide to how he views their relationship.
By the time Don slumps down outside his front door, exhausted from the feeling of familiarity, it’s hard not to sympathize. Scenes like Sylvia and Don at the restaurant having an Out of Sight moment of sexual tension intercut with real sex, or Peggy and Stan shooting the shit over the telephone, are terrific individual moments amidst an uneven, and routine whole. “Bad Mad Man” is relative term, because “The Collaborators” is still pretty damn good TV compared to most anything else; I just don’t want the characters repeating their same mistakes to mean that the show has to as well.
- Stray Thoughts
-A couple notes about last week: I said Dr. Rosen was in the same building as SCDP, and that Jonesy was the office’s doorman. As it turns out, the building they’re both in is actually Don’s. Bigger correction: Sylvia is played by Linda Cardellini, of Freaks and Geeks fame (and sadly, little else). Prepare for plenty more of these overdue corrections, courtesy of me having to write these reviews after only one viewing of the episode.
-Meghan haters are going to have a field day this week. I’ve really liked the character, but the show has Betty-ized her with alarming haste. Notice the similarity between her housecoat, and the one Betty wore last week (eat your heart out, Tom and Lorenzo!).
-How weird are those Christina Hendricks Johnny Walker ads? She’s got more screentime in them than she’s had on the show in two weeks (rapier-witted barb about Herb’s…girth, notwithstanding). I wonder if the folks at Hendricks Gin are trying to get Paul Walker in a similar ad as a means of counterprogramming.
-The Superbowl is brought up again this week, and looks like it might be a big plot point this season. I wonder what Don would make of your average GoDaddy spot?
-“I know ketchup’s the gold standard!” “It’s the Coca-Cola of condiments!” Only Mad Men could make huge stakes out of dipping sauce.
-I will never, ever, get tired of watching Don listen to shitty client pitches for an ad campaign. Herb’s impression of radio chatter was great, but Raymond’s “we want beans!” idea from last season is the brass ring of awful advertising.
-“That was the deftest self-immolation I’ve ever seen.” Alright, maybe I’m okay with forcing everything to be reflective of the war if Roger’s the one doing the talking.
-As usual, the promos for next week reveal nothing. Now ask yourself: would you rather watch the episode promised by those clips, or the episode promised by these ones?