Mad Men Season 3

Time Line: April 1963-December 1963

Plot:   It has been six months since the Cuban Missile Crisis, which coincided with the purchase of Sterling Cooper by the British Agency PPL. Lane Pryce has been sent in from London to act as CFO. In a plan to cut costs, the agency is letting go of various members of the senior staff with tensions running high. Don is back with Betty but has not taken long in resuming his old habits and is once again cheating on her, firstly with an airhostess and later with Suzanne, his daughter’s teacher. At work, he is conscious of his growing importance. He came out better from the ultimatum he laid to PPL some months back and they ended up firing Duck Philips giving him more power within the organisation. He is trusted to visit clients without having to go with an account manager. He knows that clients sign with the agency and PPL’ s decision to buy them was directly linked to his creative genius. Meanwhile the agency continue to grow financially and successfully with the signing of major accounts like Jai Lai, John Deere and pitch to Hilton Hotels.

Yet the success of Sterling Cooper is not enough to bring the partners personal satisfaction.   Their new parent company treat them as their property “subtly” planning a business trip on the 4^th of July making them work on their National Holiday. They also learn disappointed that the main promotions will be reserved for their own top British executives. Towards the end of 1963 they learn that PPL is planning to sell them to McCann Erikson much to their shock and disapproval. Don who adamantly refuses to work for a huge corporation of their size comes up with a plan for him and the main employees of getting fired on purpose and so leave the agency freely to start over forming a new company.

 

Don Draper (Jon Hamm) – After considering quitting the agency, Don is now an even more quintessential part of Sterling Cooper. Professionally he continues to grow and at a party hosted by Roger Sterling and Jane Siegel, meets a mysterious stranger with whom he connects over a brief but friendly conversation at an unattended bar. Unbeknownst to Don, the stranger happens to be Conrad Hilton who will play a very important part in his life. Impressed by Don’s personal charm and self-confidence, he offers Don the chance to pitch to advertise some of his international hotels. Don puts his creative genius to work but more so over they connect on a personal level. Like Don, Conrad is a self made man from an impoverished past and instantly takes a liking to him filling in the role of a mentor and a father figure.

His personal life however continues to slide downhill, despite having promised Betty they would start over again with the pregnancy of their third child, he continues to cheat on her. He develops a strong attraction for Suzanne Farrell, Sally’s teacher at school and both begin a secret affair.   Much to his shock, Betty finds out about his secret identity as Dick Whitman and to avoid things from getting worse he breaks off the affair with Suzanne. His apologies and explanations towards Betty aren’t enough for his wife who finally divorces him.

Peggy Olsen (Elizabeth Moss) – Peggy continues to grow at Sterling Cooper as now one of the key creative writers at the firm. She has surpassed other male colleagues who have been at the company longer than she has like Paul who openly resent her. It is now quite clear that she has become Don’s favourite, yet his way of displaying his respect for her work is to ride her harder than the rest sometimes bordering on openly hostile. Outside of work she begins to have an affair with the ex- accounts director Duck Philips who besides his personal interest in her also attempts to woo her from Sterling Cooper and to work with him at Grey as a revenge from his ex-employers. The fact that she feels more appreciated by an outsider like Duck than her own boss leaves her frustrated and toys with the idea of leaving the agency.

Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) – Pete continues to excel at work at Sterling Cooper. His energy and enthusiasm bring in new accounts to the firm. Being a younger and more forward thinking man compared to most of his peers, including Don, he pushes to market a certain client’s TV brand within the black market, much to their shock and the telling off by his bosses. His rivalry with Ken Cosgrove continues to develop and PPL who become aware of this, promote both of them to Head of Accounts Services to see how they compete against each other. Whilst Ken sees it as an opportunity, Pete is dismayed and feels betrayed by the company. This was a position he has been coveting for years now and when he finally gets it, he is shocked to learn that he has to share it with his rival within the agency. Like Peggy he also begins to flirt with the idea of leaving the agency and begins to set interviews with other agencies.

Betty Draper (January Jones) – Betty pregnant with her third child has decided to start over again with Don. Yet it is clear that her devotion for him is gradually slipping away. She spends more time connecting with her father, a retired widower with Alzheimer who moves in with them. After some months living with the Drapers and shortly before her baby is born, her father passes away. Much to Don’s disgust she names their third child Eugene in her dad’s memory. On a business trip to Rome where she accompanies Don, the passion between the couple seems to rekindle only to fade back away upon their return to their dull daily life.

Feeling unappreciated by Don she develops an attraction towards a politician Henry Francis. After befriending each other and following the birth of Eugene, they begin a love affair, after finding out about Don’s secret identity she realises she doesn’t love him anymore and ends their marriage and beginning a new life with the more mature and attentive Henry.

 

Roger Sterling (John Slattery) – Roger who has begun a new life with Jane Siegel is increasingly seen as a frivolous man with little interest in his company and more drawn towards enjoying life. Don with whom he has always had a friendly relationship now sees him as foolish and slowly begins to distance himself from him. They soon begin to clash over Don seeing clients without consulting or involving the accounts team and his reticence to sign a contract upon Conrad Hilton’s request. Roger further angers Don by going behind his back to ask Betty to convince him to sign. PPL themselves have a (deliberate?) oversight by not including Roger in the company’s new organisational chart despite knowing full well he is one of the senior partners at the firm. In the end, in the wake of the decision whether to accept being absorbed by McCann or breaking free and starting afresh, Don realises Roger’s connection with Lucky Strike makes him indispensable and so both of them make peace to start afresh.

 

Joan Holloway/Harris (Christina Hendricks) – Joan now a married woman is spending her final weeks at Sterling Cooper. Her dream to start a family are getting closer yet shortly before leaving the agency she and her husband Greg are dismayed to learn that he has been denied the coveted surgeon position he has been training for. This leaves the couple in a difficult situation with her unemployed and he having to apply for a different field in medicine. She reaches out to Roger who helps her get a job at a department store. Unsurprisingly when Roger, Bert and Don make plans to start their own agency she is offered to re-join them.

 

Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) – Lane is a brilliant financial manager sent in by PPL to manage the finances and accounts of Sterling Cooper. He soon begins to cut costs wherever possible much to the disapproval of Don and other executives. The agency also fires old-timer employees like the senior Head of Accounts, Bert Peterson. Personally he finds it very hard to be accepted by the other employees. Even though he develops a strong interest in American culture and literature he is always perceived as a hostile outsider by the rest. His wife finds it very difficult to settle in New York missing her life in London, which makes his initial days tougher. Yet despite his efforts and achievements he finds himself unappreciated by his seniors at the London Headquarters who openly regard him as a pawn and decide to move him to Bombay once he is finally beginning to settle in.  This transfer is put on hold to his relief, following the freak accident of a top executive from PPL (Guy Mackendrick) on a business trip to their New York office. Upon knowing of PPL’s intentions to sell them to McCann Erickson and fully aware that his role is also on the line he accepts Don’s scheme to fire them, getting himself fired as well from head office and joins Don, Roger and Bert as one of the founding partners of their new agency (Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce).

 

Sally Draper (Kieran Shipka) – Sally begins to mature as an intelligent and inquisitive child. She shows her admiration for her teacher at school, Suzanne and woes to win her approval. She soon begins to bond with other grownups developing a very close relationship with her grandfather. She is shocked upon his death and finds it hard to accept the relative ease with which she perceives Don and Betty dealing with his death. Like her father she disapproves of her baby brother being named Gene and rejects him, imagining him to be the spirit of her grandfather. She also suffers greatly upon learning of her parents’ decision to get divorced.

 

Mad Men Season 2

Time Line: February 1962-November 1962

Plot: Season 2 focuses on the changing nature of American Society with the older more conservative generation slowly start to make space for the upcoming idealistic and beat youth. The storyline has jumped over a year since season 1. It also marks a society getting used to having a young and modern president like JF Kennedy.  The story shows the tremendous sadness and mourning the whole nation goes into following Marilyn Monroe’s suicide.

Since the signing of Herman “Duck” Philips as Head of Accounts Services the agency begins to flirt with bigger more ambitious accounts. Duck has not exactly lived up to his expectations creating a bitter antagonism between him and Don. Their constant frictions lead to ongoing power struggles between the Heads of Accounts and Creative. This obviously does not go unnoticed in the agency. The agency signs a star comedian to do a TV Spot for one of their accounts which turns out to be a commercial success but with very negative effects on Don’s personal life.

Outside of the office, the viewer is treated to learn more about the personal lives of the main characters. Betty has taken up a hobby horse riding and wants to be more involved accompanying Don on his business dinners. Sal Romano, a closeted homosexual who is the Art Director at Sterling Cooper begins to develop an emotional attraction to Ken Cosgrove, the youthful and easygoing account executive at the firm who has a talent for creative writing outside of advertising. Joan is engaged to a handsome doctor and Peggy is trying to fit in both professionally as a copywriter as well as personally in the agency despite still having to face constant obstacles and prejudices whilst balancing out an overbearing family who push her more to towards religion following her shocking pregnancy.

Don Draper (John Hamm) – Don now 36 and established Creative Director and partner at the agency has to deal with an unexpected power struggle with Herman “Duck” Philips. Ironically he is the one who recommended the agency they sign Duck a year before based on his international experience. He realises he is getting closer to 40 and has to grudgingly begin to accept younger creative writers simply because the clients like the idea and Duck insisted on it. He is also forced to fire Mohawk Airlines upon the behest of Duck who then starts to negotiate with American Airlines. Don is against the idea of letting go of a loyal customer simply “out of a wink from American Airlines” and deep inside knows the giant airline company are not taking Duck seriously. He is later forced to fire Freddie Rumsen due to his alcohol addiction, an older copywriter whom he esteems as a professional and personally.

His family life does not get any better from before and he begins to have an affair with the manager and wife of a TV comedian the agency has signed. The few times we see him content is in the company of his children, Bobby and Sally.  Betty this time confronts him when she finds out he is cheating on her and kicks him out of their home. His frustrations at work and personal disillusions lead to him to suddenly disappear for weeks in California on a business trip. In one of the series most revealing episodes he joins a group and wealthy hedonists and later goes to meet Anna Draper, (the widow of the real Don Draper). It is soon displayed that both Dick/Don and Anna have developed a strong friendship over the years. She understands him very well and encourages him to go back to New York to his wife.

Peggy Olsen (Elizabeth Moss) – Following her promotion as junior copywriter Peggy begins to show her incredible talent for copywriting. Yet she still has to face a sexist and sometimes hostile attitude from some of her co-workers. Her talent and tremendous work ethic however, do not go unnoticed in Don’s eyes who slowly begins to adopt her as a protégée and his favourite. Personally she still has to face the aftershock of her surprise pregnancy and labour more than a year before where being a single mother she was forced to give up her child in adoption. She is forced by her oppressive and old fashioned family to accompany them to church more often where she meets the new and young parish, who starts to develop an attraction for Peggy despite her lack of interest.

Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) – Pete is still excelling at work at Sterling Cooper. His ambition and zeal to bring in new accounts bring in added revenue to the firm. His progress is such that he is chosen to go to Los Angeles for an important business conference.  Yet outside of work his life is far from perfect of idyllic. He is trapped in marriage where he has to live up to other people’s expectations rather than pursue his own happiness. His wife is obsessed with having a child which blocks him, furthering her own frustration.   His father dies in a plane accident when he was flying with American Airlines, yet he does not display any outside pain or grievance due to the fact that their relation hardly had any affection and bordered on openly hostile at times. Such is his lack of connection with his father’s death that he accepts to pitch to American Airlines on behalf of Sterling Cooper shortly after the plane crash in order to win their business for the agency.

Betty Draper (January Jones) – Betty in an attempt to gain some control over her life has stopped seeing her therapist and begun a new hobby in horse riding. It is no coincidence that the control she has over a powerful and majestic animal gives her the reassurance she craves for and lacks with Don. She pushes to be more present in his business diners and in one of those evenings she learns the ugly truth that her husband is once again cheating on her. Whereas before she chose to suppress her anger, even her not acknowledging the ugly truth, Betty now has the strength to kick Don out of home.

Roger Sterling (John Slattery) – Following his double heart attack, Roger is now recovered and back in the agency albeit with a less involved role in the day-to-day operations. He is more involved actually in paying and surveying his daughter’s wedding, something, which at time frustrates him. He begins to envy older men with younger second wives or lovers and begins an affair with Jane, Don’s new secretary, a naïve materialistic and spoilt girl. He later divorces his wife Mona and begins an open relationship with Jane much to shock of his daughter and the disapproval of Don and Bert Cooper.

Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) – Joan has finally found a man who can provide her the life she desires, he does not work at the firm, or even in advertising, having a much nobler profession in medicine. He is handsome, ambitious and on paper seems a match made in heaven. Yet we soon find that her fiancée is not exactly perfect, being a petty jealous man capable of the ugliest of acts with Joan. At work she continues to command the secretaries, sometimes with severe discipline and upon Jane’s departure fills in temporarily as Don’s personal secretary, something both approve out of the mutual respect they have for each other.

Herman “Duck” Philips (Mark Moses) – Herman known as Duck is brought in to increase the revenue of the firm after Roger Sterling has to take a step back due to his health problems. He is in charge of Account Services and has up to now, not lived up to his expectations. He more often than not promises more than he is can deliver, something which irritates Don to no end since he is the one who recommended his signing. Don is further angered that Duck listens more to the clients than to him and forces his own agenda (signing new younger creative writers, firing Mohawk Airlines and then his copywriter Freddie). The truth about Duck is that he is a washed down salesman who had a previous breakdown in London due to his own problems with alcohol. His wife has left him and his children are openly uncomfortable in his company. His desperation to sign sooner or later become obvious to his clients who eventually decide not to go in his direction. Aware that the partners are not really satisfied with his performance he decides to scheme behind their backs for the sale of the company unbeknownst of the consequences it would have for him directly.

Ken Cosgorve (Aron Staton) – Ken, the likeable all American Account Executive continues to excel at the firm. His enthusiasm and positive nature help him bring in accounts for the agency, outside of work he continues to pursue his passion for fictional writing which sparks the jealousy of other executives like Pete or copywriters like Paul. In fact Pete openly sees him as him as a rival inside the firm and as his own nemesis. His talents and friendly demeanour do not go unnoticed with Sal Romano, the art director of the agency and a closet homosexual who begins to harbour a deep attraction for him.